Empire of Shadows

Motive is always one of the most important aspects of the judicial system.

The officer glanced at Pang Da, finding no issues with his performance or reactions.

He didn't exhibit anything unnatural, spoke fluently, thought when he should, and naturally displayed awkwardness or displeasure when appropriate, at least during the initial questioning.

Or rather, he appeared normal until some significant sensitive issues related to him were discovered.

Therefore, the interrogators shifted their focus from Pang Da himself to the two leads he provided.

"Can you talk about what Webber discussed with you?"

"I assure you that this transcript will only be seen by those who need to know these things."

"No one else will see it, and no one will leak its contents."

Pang Da spread his hands. "What's there to hide?"

"However, you have to give me a cigarette first."

After Pang Da lit the cigarette, he took two puffs, as if reminiscing.

"I went to his office in the afternoon, expecting him to give me trouble. You know, the conflict between us sometimes became quite apparent."

"But surprisingly, he first told me that he didn't come here to steal my promotion opportunity."

"He said he had a major case in his hands, and if this major case was solved, he would have a great chance to move up."

"He mentioned some of Director Dale's poor performance…"

The officer's pen moved swiftly, recording everything Pang Da said. When he heard this, he raised his hand, interrupting slightly, "Sorry, can you tell me exactly what he said?"

Pang Da nodded and recounted Webber's words. These were the truth, and he didn't need to hide or lie.

"The bombing has made us lose face completely, you know, two bombings."

The officer nodded. Not to mention him, everyone in the Federation knew about such big news. Many heavyweight newspapers reported it, and it was said that even foreign countries had reports.

"He believes that Director Dale has problems with his management. He's too weak towards those criminals. He thinks we should be tougher."

"Then he told me that if he were the director, these things wouldn't have happened, and…"

The officer looked up at him slightly, "And what?"

"He also said that he would recommend me to become a senior agent, saying that there was no conflict between him and me. The senior agent position was just a stepping stone for him, and he hoped I could work for him in some way."

Pang Da had a look of disdain on his face, "He wanted to buy me off."

The officer understood a little after hearing this. He quickly recorded some things, "Tell me about Director Dale."

Pang Da's mind couldn't quite keep up with his pace. After several seconds, he said, "Director Dale… I don't really understand him, after all, I'm just an ordinary agent and rarely have direct contact with him."

"He's actually a pretty good person. From my perspective, he's relatively easy to approach and easy to talk to."

"His sense of time is sometimes not very good, but overall he's good to us…"

The two asked and answered many things. In the end, the officer looked at the key information recorded in his hand, and a rough outline slowly emerged in his mind.

"Finally, I have a question I want to ask you. Have you told anyone about the target of the operation tonight?"

"This is a very important question. You must answer seriously and honestly. It's related to whether you will be considered to have a problem."

Pang Da shook his head firmly, "I haven't told anyone."

"Okay, thank you for your cooperation, Agent Pang Da. If we need anything, we will contact you again. Recently…"

Pang Da put the cigarette butt into the ashtray and stood up, "I know, I won't leave Jin Gang City."

After the two shook hands, Pang Da came out of the interrogation room. He looked very tired, but deep in his eyes, there was a hint of relief.

The nature of this case was very bad. Even the governor and the attorney general called to inquire about the occurrence and results of this case, as well as their response methods.

Hunter sat in the office, and several key confidants were sitting opposite him.

He crossed his legs, holding a cigarette, while looking through the submitted statements and listening to them report on their work.

"…Currently, based on the evidence we have, the suspects are mainly concentrated on Dale, Pang Da, and… these few people."

The officer in charge of compiling the statements briefly explained the reasons for suspecting these people.

"If Webber could successfully solve this case, he might be able to replace Dale, so there is an irreconcilable conflict between him and Dale."

"This conflict is very sharp. Webber may have revealed his thoughts to more people. It is possible that Dale knew these thoughts, so he betrayed this operation plan."

"Pang Da's suspicion lies in the fact that the relationship between him and Webber has always been bad. Webber came to work locally directly from the State Liquor Control Committee, replacing Pang Da's promotion spot, so there is a conflict between them."

"In addition…"

He said all the possible conflicts and problems. Hunter put the report back on the table, "Who do you think is the most suspicious?"

"Although I don't want to think so, but analyzing from these evidences that we got, which temporarily cannot be discerned as true or false, I personally think that Director Dale is more suspicious."

Hunter didn't show any inclination, "Reason?"

"The conflict between Pang Da and other agents and Webber should be some differences in work. Except for Pang Da, the conflict between them is not so serious that they have to sell intelligence to those gangsters and then set up a trap to kill Webber."

"In addition, I learned that it should be difficult for Pang Da and the Lance family to cooperate, because under his leadership, several Lance family bars and warehouses were seized by him, with a case value of hundreds of thousands."

"The feud between them should be difficult to resolve."

Hunter raised his eyebrows when he heard this, "Why is he so at odds with the Lance family?"

The officer also expressed a guess, "Pang Da used to work with Lukar, and Lukar's death had something to do with the Lance family."

Lukar can also be regarded as Hunter's old colleague. He knows this person, a bit pretentious, but not too bad, and a good hand at work.

Of course, these are not the key points. The key point is that this reason is plausible.

Under the leadership of the old boss, Pang Da and the Lance family have always been in opposition, and then Lukar was killed, and he inherited some of Lukar's things.

In law enforcement agencies, "grand revengeism" also exists. If the boss is killed by gangsters, then the subordinates will get a lot of support and recognition for avenging the boss.

"You continue!"

He signaled the officer to continue.

"The only one here who may have a conflict of promotion is Dale."

"Since the establishment of the Hazardous Materials Administration, Dale has not been able to produce many achievements. The biggest scandal of the Hazardous Materials Administration also happened here, and he is also involved with the mayor."

"I personally feel that once he is replaced, he may be immediately marginalized and then eliminated."

"The conflict between him and Webber is the most irreconcilable, and someone must stop."

Speaking of this, the officer felt that he had said enough. This has already involved political issues.

The mayor was abandoned, so his good friend, partner, Director Dale, will also be abandoned, and he has done so many stupid things.

Is it possible that in order to save his position, he revealed this operation plan to others, and then exchanged it for these people to attack Webber?

This is very possible!

From a profit perspective, Webber's death would not make others take such a huge risk to do so, including Pang Da.

He claimed in his statement that he had planned to apply for a transfer, and in the inquiries to his colleagues, his colleagues also admitted this statement.

Then only Director Dale is left, he is the biggest beneficiary.

Hunter was a little unbelievable when he came to this conclusion, "Do you think you can believe it yourself after you say it?"

"The director of the Hazardous Materials Administration has a collusive relationship with the largest gang in the area?"

These are all his confidants here, or rather, those who are not his confidants have been transferred to other places to take up less important positions.

His confidant said without hesitation, "The mayor also has some relationship with Lance."

If it weren't for the mayor's call a few days ago, Hunter would have been able to keep Lance locked up for a long time.

This statement made Hunter's intuition, which was not so convinced of this speculation, show a trace of shaking, a trace of cracks.

Yes, Lance and the mayor have a good relationship now, and the mayor and Director Dale are also connected. They are fully capable of uniting together with the mayor as a bridge.

Not to mention how deep the cooperation is, but at least there is no problem in facilitating this cooperation!

Hunter didn't want to think so, but he had to investigate around this result.

"Issue a report to me, don't explicitly mention our suspicion of Director Dale, after all, he is still the director of the federal law enforcement agency."

"But you can guess and think from the perspective of the person writing the report, understand?"

The confidants certainly understood this matter. He paused for a while, letting this matter settle in everyone's hearts, and then he talked about another part.

"They all say this winery belongs to the Lance family. Was any evidence found at the scene?"

One of the officers took out a photo and handed it over. Hunter glanced at it, "Golden Lion Wine."

"Yes, we found some broken glass bottles near the farm, basically all Golden Lion liquor bottles."

"Whiskey, brandy, wine, they're all there."

"So Golden Lion liquor is Lance's business?"

Hunter licked his lips, "Sounds like this case is getting bigger and bigger."

"Is there any evidence to prove these guesses?"

He looked at his men expectantly, but unfortunately, they couldn't provide any of the evidence he needed.

"Let's leave it at that for now, proceed at our own pace, and don't alarm anyone."

"Whether it's Director Dale or Lance, we need to get enough evidence…"

At the same time, Director Dale also received a phone call from his good friend.

The first words out of his mouth were so loud that Dale had to hold the receiver away from his ear, "Are you fucking crazy?"

"I told you yesterday that Weber was going to replace you, and you offed him that night?"

Director Dale was stunned for a moment, then brought the receiver back to his ear, "Don't fucking talk nonsense, when did I off Weber?"

He was a little nervous!

But his friend wouldn't listen to that, "Come on, we've known each other for so many years, I know what kind of person you are, Dale."

"You felt that he would affect you, and then you found someone to off him that night, you acted too rashly!"

"You could have waited a little longer, what you did will put us all in a passive position!"

Director Dale also realized this problem at this time. Ordinary people may not have this information, and there is an information gap, so they will not have any abnormalities.

But for those who know this news, Weber's uncle is helping him to operate this matter, and Weber had an accident and died beyond dead. If there is nothing wrong with this, I am afraid no one will believe it!

"Damn it!"

"I swear to God, I absolutely didn't do it!"

"You know me, if I did it, I would definitely tell you."

His friend was a little doubtful, "Really?"

"Really!"

A sigh came from the receiver, "But now everyone thinks you did it, you have to find a way to clarify, otherwise the investigation team will be there soon."

"You know, when they decide to screw you over, you have no way to resist."

The more successful people are, the more problems they have!

Especially for politicians.

The federal government doesn't pay politicians high salaries because a group of taxpayers are watching.

This also means that if these politicians only rely on their own salary income, they will not be able to support their current lifestyle.

Of course, some people may say that the Federation allows politicians to do business, allows politicians to invest, and even allows political donations.

But these things also have standards and requirements.

These requirements and standards are only decorations 99% of the time and are of no use.

But when Congress decides to take action against a certain politician, they only need to ask them to explain where every penny in their pockets comes from, and they can find a way to deal with them.

The same goes for capitalists, they also can't explain the origin of every penny they have. As long as they say something wrong, or can't find proof that these money are absolutely legal, then it is absolutely illegal, it is against the law!

When he was in Gold State, Director Dale was very clear about these routines. He knew that Congress didn't need to use any force to deal with the people below, and he became anxious.

"Thank you for telling me this, I won't talk to you for now, I have to deal with it."

"But remember what I told you, this matter has nothing to fucking do with me!"

After hanging up the phone, Director Dale sat on his office chair for a while, then picked up the phone and asked to hold a general meeting.

The Hazardous Materials Management Bureau is ultimately a law enforcement department. Although they will cooperate with the work of the police, it does not mean that they will be detained by the police. They also have their own work to do.

Soon, senior agents and team leaders were sitting in the office, and Ponda was also there.

Apart from such a big thing, they must be on standby at any time.

"I am very sorry and very angry about what happened last night!"

"This is a huge harm and provocation to us. We cannot become negative because of such a loss."

"The Federal Congress and the people have given us everything, and this is exactly where the people need us!"

"We must never compromise with evil, nor surrender."

"We will fully investigate this case. No matter who is behind all this, we will definitely find this person and send him to the gallows to avenge our sacrificed brothers!"

He paused and said, "Senior Agent Weber was unfortunately killed, and another senior agent was also seriously injured and will not be able to return to work in a short time."

"Our work needs someone to lead, so I will re-select two candidates for senior agents from among you…"

Originally, everyone was a little absent-minded, but at this time, because of this sentence, everyone became energetic.

Director Dale's eyes swept over everyone, and finally fell on Ponda, "Ponda."

Ponda was stunned for a moment, and his heart became a little agitated in an instant. He stood up, "Yes?"

"You are now a senior agent."

"I had intended to nominate you before, but… but everything is back on track."

"You have a heavy responsibility now, not only to find out the situation of that factory, but also to find a way to find out the traitor!"

Ponda nodded vigorously, "I will, don't worry, Director."

There is also a reason for choosing Ponda. First of all, he should have been promoted to senior agent, and at the same time, he is very at odds with the Lance family.

It is absolutely no problem to reuse Ponda at this time. Everyone is saying that the distillery is related to the Lance family, so using Ponda, who is at odds with the Lance family, shows Director Dale's position.

In addition, he also needs to divert some attention. He wants people to remember that the first person Weber offended after he came was Ponda, not him, the director!

He is not sure whether it is useful to remedy it now, but doing it is definitely better than doing nothing!

After he appointed another senior agent, he asked everyone to go to work.

In addition to counting and putting those liquors into the warehouse and then destroying them, they also have to find a way to see if they can find an opportunity to move around.

How can he bear such a big pot alone?

The more suspects there are, the fewer problems he has, and the more hope he has to survive under heavy pressure.

People like him who go from Gold State to the local area and have provided some services to Congress have only two options: either live happily until they are old, or die suddenly at the moment they are suspected. There is no third option!

After a day of fermentation, more media and more distant places reported this news. Director Dale and the Goldport City Hazardous Materials Management Bureau became famous again, of course, not a good reputation.