Empire of Shadows

"Mr. Chobaf, this is Lake. I've arrived at the warehouse, but here..."

The rain made his voice less clear, like the sound from a radio with interference, accompanied by a rustling noise.

Mr. Chobaf was a bit older, and his hearing wasn't too good either. "Speak up."

"Mr. Chobaf, there are only one or two thousand bottles of wine in the warehouse, not the tens of thousands you mentioned."

Instantly, Mr. Chobaf froze in place. The receiver in his hand fell onto the desk without him realizing it, making a loud "dong" sound!

The loud noise startled the person outside the room. "Sir, do you need me to come in?"

At the same time, the loud noise also woke Mr. Chobaf.

He quickly came back to his senses, picked up the phone, "No, no need."

Then he took out a pack of cigarettes, lit one, and the person on the other end of the phone didn't hang up, still waiting.

After about twenty seconds, the faint warmth brought by the cigarette couldn't save his icy heart at all. He flicked the ash, not even noticing that it fell on his favorite long cashmere carpet.

"Are you sure you didn't go to the wrong place?"

"No, Mr. Chobaf. When we arrived, the warehouse door was open. The floor inside is covered in water stains, and there are some tire tracks. They should have been transported away."

"But we didn't see any vehicles leaving when we came in. Maybe they were transported away very early."

He came back to his senses, "Immediately seal off the warehouse. No one can leave, including you."

"Do this well, no mistakes. Tell them I'll give them double... no, triple their salary. No one can leave, and no one can contact the outside world."

Lake's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Okay, Mr. Chobaf, I'll keep an eye on them and not let them leave."

After hanging up the phone, he pressed the electric bell. Soon, the assistant knocked on the door, "Sir?"

"Come in!"

When the assistant came in, Mr. Chobaf was lying weakly on the bed. He signaled the assistant to close the door.

"The warehouse has been emptied."

The assistant was also stunned for a moment, followed by great shock, "Did Arthur and the others move the wine away?"

There was some hatred on Mr. Chobaf's face, but it wasn't that strong. "Not sure yet. Lake said there's still some wine inside that didn't have time to be transported away, and the ground is very damp."

"If it wasn't their spur-of-the-moment idea, it doesn't seem like it was premeditated, but you never know. Who knows if he suddenly thought of these things."

The assistant's mind also started working. "Should we call the police now?"

"Call the police?"

"No, we can't call the police!"

"Not only can't we call the police, but you immediately go and order a batch of gold-label whiskey boxes. If all of this was premeditated by Arthur, then he will soon have to repay the loan in advance."

"That's wine worth three hundred and sixty thousand. Even if he's really willing to compensate me with some interest according to the contract, I'll still lose one hundred thousand!"

"If he didn't do it, then we can't let this news leak out."

"If he did it, it's meaningless no matter what we do. He will definitely respond."

This was Mr. Chobaf's consideration. If Arthur did it, if he stole the wine, then he should take the initiative to contact himself next, and talk about the early repayment related matters.

Any loan will have early repayment clauses. As the breaching party, Arthur needs to pay Mr. Chobaf three months of interest as compensation, and Mr. Chobaf now needs to return the wine worth more than three hundred thousand that he has mortgaged here to Arthur.

If he can't produce this wine, then there will be too many places to argue!

At this time, a series of commercial persecutions had already formed in Mr. Chobaf's mind, such as when the Prohibition is issued, he would bring up the repayment and demand the return of the original goods.

At that time, the entire state will prohibit the transportation, production, and sale of alcoholic beverages. Even if he has money, he won't be able to transport the wine in!

At that time, Arthur may demand double cash compensation. It won't be enough to satisfy Arthur's appetite with three hundred thousand, it may be seven or eight hundred thousand or even more!

There are too many commercial means to legally bankrupt him. Thinking of these, he felt a little shudder. So now the most important thing is two things.

Hide this news as much as possible. Secondly, stand on the Mayor's side as soon as possible. Only the Mayor can shield him from the wind and rain!

As for filing a lawsuit?

Councilman Williams, as the most prestigious celebrity in the area, is basically destined to lose a lawsuit locally, even if you go to the state court, you may not have much chance of winning.

What a vicious little bastard!

The assistant also realized this, he turned around and left, "I'll contact them here."

At this time, on the other side, in the warehouse rented by Lance, Lance gave the Howard brothers six hundred dollars.

"Sorry, I can't give you the wine, because they are still too sensitive now. I hope you don't think I'm too stingy, only giving you six hundred dollars."

The Howard brothers quickly said that Alberto asked them to help. Lance had also given them an extra sum of money, which had already made them very grateful, and there was no need to give them any more.

"We may need you in a couple of days, and we'll need you to make another trip then."

The two said that it was no problem at all, and then drove away.

Lance asked Hiram and the others to wipe the wine, some of the wine's outer packaging was stained with rainwater, and the rainwater hasn't soaked in yet.

Although the price of the wine will be slightly reduced after the shell is wet, the reduction will not actually be too much.

In the warehouse, Ervin couldn't help but spin around excitedly, at least three hundred thousand worth of wine!

"Do we need to transfer them?" Ervin seemed a little excited and nervous, and the other young partners all had smiles on their faces that they couldn't hide.

Lance sat on the chair, looked at the mountain of wine, and shook his head, "No need, there is no safer place than here."

"There are too many warehouses storing wine on this pier. There is no one's signature or seal on these wines. No one can prove that they are the missing batch of wine."

"And no one will allow them to mess around on the pier. What's stored here is not just wine!"

Various contraband, there are countless of them here. As the largest port in the Northern Hemisphere and its supporting temporary warehouses, who the hell dares to randomly open one of the warehouses and mess around?

If something transported by some big shot is found out, who will bear this responsibility?

No one is a fool, so without definite evidence, they will not randomly thoroughly investigate all the warehouses.

Not to mention, that's just Chobaf, an Empire guy, rich, but useless Empire guy!

"Go get something to eat first, and have a good meal." Lance counted a few two-dollar bills and handed them to Maurice, "I heard that the chopped beef store at the entrance of the port has very delicious things, go buy some back."

Maurice put on his raincoat and ran outside. About twenty minutes later, he came back carrying several large paper bags.

Inside was cooked chopped beef. Federal cuisine does not include "braising", but they know that adding sauce and seasoning to cook things until they are rotten is actually a Federal style of "braising".

As soon as the paper bag was torn open, the aroma of meat spread out, and the stomachs of Hiram and the others immediately began to growl.

They had been working hard during this period and hadn't eaten anything delicious. Smelling the aroma of the meat, they couldn't control themselves at all.

Lance beckoned them over, "Eat something before working."

These young people naturally gathered around. Lance made a large table, and the table was covered with meat.

There were no knives and forks here, and everyone grabbed it with their hands to eat.

Although it's unsightly, it really can promote appetite.

While eating, Lance suddenly asked, "Hiram, introduce us to your friends. This time, thanks to their help, we successfully pulled these wines out."

Hiram began to introduce these people, and Lance also took the initiative to ask about their living conditions in the Empire, saying that he hoped to understand each other better.

Ervin was thoughtful, he didn't think it was that simple.

When the introduction was almost over, Lance clapped his hands, "After we do this together, we are brothers. You also know that once someone leaks the news about such a valuable case and is caught, it is very likely that they will be put in the electric chair."

"So I'm saying the unpleasant things first. If someone is not strict with their mouth and talks nonsense everywhere, and I find out about the mess, then you will be unlucky, and your families will also be unlucky."

"But if you don't mess around, you may not know my personal style very well. Following me will definitely make you rich."

"Of course, if any of you want to continue living an ordinary life, that's fine too. I will arrange a good job for you."

"I know some people may feel that I am a bit... not very good, but these are just unpleasant words."

"Next, I'll say some pleasant words."

"According to the rules I set, 50% of this income will belong to me."

"The remaining 30% will be deposited into the company's account. You can all see this at that time. I can ensure that the company's accounts are fully open, and you can see every expenditure and know where it was used."

"The remaining 20% will be divided equally among all participants."

"This time, we have six people on our side, and you have eight people on your side."

"According to the price of this batch of wine, which is about 300,000, 20% is 60,000. If 60,000 is divided among you fourteen people, each person can get more than 4,000."

Everyone's breathing became rapid, greedy, eager, but soon there was also some panic, because this money was really too much!

Erwin suddenly interjected, "Lance, I have a suggestion..."