New Gods of North America

Wayne found the "Understaffed, temporarily not accepting requests" notice in the newspaper somewhat bewildering.

The next day, the detective agency had two groups of people come in a row, but neither were extraordinary individuals causing trouble, but clients seeking to commission work.

Seriously,

you guys never came when we were open for business as usual, but as soon as we put up a notice saying we're closed, you come in pairs?

What's with this generation of clients being so capricious?

After lunch, the first to arrive at the detective agency was a lawyer named John Milton.

In America, "lawyer" is considered one of the most respectable professions at the top of the food chain; basically, as long as you can officially enter the profession and don't have too many student loans or other debts, you'll generally be considered at least a "middle class" person sooner or later.

But if you want to break it down, the status gap between lawyers can actually be worlds apart.

John Milton looked to be in the "late forties, early fifties" range, and judging from the style of his carriage, his attire, and his own image and temperament, he seemed more like a well-connected "big lawyer", the kind whose social status and disposable resources in a big city wouldn't lose out to an ordinary small-time rich person.

His commission was remarkably generous, $8,000 a year, and all the detective agency needed to do was provide security services for the shareholders and executives of his client company, ensuring their safety in Virginia—mainly in the Richmond and Georgeburg area.

However, the "client company" made Wayne feel a bit speechless; the name was familiar, it was "Cohen Pharmaceuticals", the one the detective agency had dealt with a few times before.

Is this supposed to be a way of "turning enemies into friends"?

If you just talk about the commission itself, this is actually the kind of business that the detective agency "can't afford to miss"; it's close, the income is high, and it's within the radius of many relationships.

But considering the "School of Life" behind them, and the fact that Virginia might launch a crackdown on hidden organizations at any time, it's not that simple.

At the very least, you have to consider "whether the hot potato is too hot to handle", or whether there's "another price to be paid".

However, the big lawyer also came prepared; after seeing that Wayne might refuse the commission,

he chatted casually, subtly deflecting while maintaining a "pleasant conversation" tone, and then had the servant take the contract from the file box, indicating that Wayne could take a look at it before making a decision.

Just as Wayne took the contract in his hand,

Doug knocked on the door of the reception room, entered like a qualified butler, and stood aside to ask if there were any guests.

After asking Doug to lead the guest to his office first, Wayne excused himself to the big lawyer, letting him smoke cigars and drink wine, taking the opportunity to leave temporarily and think about it for a while.

Taking the contract to the office,

there was another guy he hadn't seen before.

The atmosphere for meeting guests in America is actually still very simple; usually you sit down, drink coffee or tea, and then you can start talking business,

but if it's a conversation between men, and the amount of money involved reaches a certain level, then if the status is similar, the preferred drink is still various spirits, usually whiskey, or better yet, brandy or even higher.

According to etiquette, although a higher-level servant such as a butler can do it, it's best for the host to pour the drinks himself in this kind of occasion, to show closeness.

Taking the opportunity to pour wine, he exchanged a few pleasantries with the other party,

it turned out that this guy was a colleague and competitor of Mr. Russell, and also a shareholder in the steam train operating company.

It's just that the total mileage of the steam train lines owned by this company is slightly shorter, belonging to the "southbound west line" of Virginia, with a section of the route even entering North Carolina,

and this client who came over, compared to Mr. Russell, is a "small shareholder" with an even smaller shareholding ratio in this company, so he can only personally make a trip as a representative of the shareholders.

The source of this business was a bit unexpected for Wayne,

on the surface, it was a protection escort team led by the muscle man Sanders, but actually led by Lyanna, who previously went south along their section of the line.

At that time, the escort team probably still maintained a relatively "professional" formation, and also repelled a wave of steam train robbers near the border crossing—to be precise, they eliminated all the bandits who boarded the train,

so the matter went around and around and reached the ears of the shareholders of the steam train operating company, and after hearing that the detective agency had signed a long-term security contract with Mr. Russell, they thought of seeking security as well.

Good heavens,

so neither of these two clients today even glanced at the notice I posted in the newspaper, right?

This commission didn't require too much hesitation; the detective agency originally intended to expand this aspect of the business; except for waiting for the escort team's personnel to return, the other work processes were all things that the detective agency had initially explored, so temporarily copying it and opening a new office would be fine.

So Wayne roughly talked to the other party about some of the terms of the contract that the detective agency had previously signed with Mr. Russell,

while also discussing the price issue with the other party.

Although the steam train line's route was much shorter, the budget unit price given by this company in this regard was actually higher,

the total contract price proposed by the other party themselves was actually the same as the one that the detective agency had previously signed with Mr. Russell, also $6,000 a year.

Moreover, the other party seemed a bit worried that the detective agency wouldn't accept the order, and on the specific terms, they basically indicated that "the same as Mr. Russell's" would be fine,

which seemed much easier to communicate with.

After the preliminary agreement, the other party called over the lawyer they had brought, and began to draft the currently confirmed terms on the spot,

unfortunately, this gentleman didn't have the decision-making power to finalize it on the spot, and could only wait for him to take the drafted contract back and have the other shareholders look at it before making a final decision.

This could be considered a true "happy meeting between host and guest"; Wayne specially took out the most expensive cigars he had on hand for the other party,

the remaining time was relatively easy; Wayne occasionally cooperated in determining and deliberating the wording in the terms, while also taking the time to browse through the other contract he had just received from the "big lawyer" in the reception room.

The contract given by "Cohen Pharmaceuticals" was more lenient than Wayne had imagined,

one of the terms stated that if the "security target" violated the laws of various places or violated the requirements of the church, then the detective agency had the right to refuse to provide security for them, and could even cooperate with the local relevant departments to enforce the law.

Are they really giving the detective agency "protection money"?

Wayne thought about what had happened when protecting Mr. Ben Harmon before; Cohen Pharmaceuticals actually had a precedent in this regard,

—if it's easiest to eliminate the other party, then just eliminate them directly, but if it can't be done, then consider cooperation and win-win.

Hmm…

this sentence can actually be said the other way around; once the other party believes that the detective agency's strength is insufficient, they may switch to a "lower cost" method to solve the "problem" at any time.

As the saying goes, "thresholds" are just "thresholds" when you can step over them, but if you can't step over them, they are "doors" blocking the way.

"Sugar-coated bullets" are sometimes similar to "thresholds"…

Wayne continued to browse through the contract in his hand, and actually saw a letter of recommendation in the gap between the last two pages, which was for himself,

I didn't expect that I would also become someone who could receive a letter of recommendation.

Wayne opened the letter and found that it was written by Tom Hagen,

the content of the main text was not long, "The Cathedral does not target anyone, provided the rules are followed."

Wayne pondered for a while,

alright, the "big lawyer" was quite well prepared,

then he will accept it with respect, everyone will just have to make do and see how it goes.