Darkstone Code

Chapter 1230 - 1228: Blocking the Car

"It’s me..."

As soon as Hicks heard this voice, he knew who was on the other end of the phone—a call girl with whom he had maintained a special relationship for some time, and it was a very close one.

The military environment was harsh, and the Federation Army environment was even more complex.

What is a military of a country that practices "escapism" like?

There were reports before, corporal punishment, abuse, violations, such things were almost rampant throughout the army!

Later, someone wanted to create a series of reports to uncover this dark veil, but the reporter with grand ambitions was unfortunately stabbed to death in a bathroom.

It was a home invasion, and the killer was subsequently caught. During interrogation, he confessed his motives for doing it.

"I heard many people raised a lot of money for him to do some reports. My daughter fell seriously ill, and I needed money."

"I hoped he would lend me some money and maybe report about my plight, but he wouldn’t listen and kept telling me to get out, even calling the police."

"I had no choice but to kill him; I still needed to raise money for my daughter’s treatment..."

After the initial anger and shock, people started to become tolerant and sympathetic. The weak often inexplicably garner the majority’s psychological pity.

Ultimately, the judge sentenced him to sixty years in prison for second-degree murder, and because of this incident, a private charitable foundation announced it would provide free treatment for the girl.

Everything seemed perfect... except for the reporter who was killed in the bathroom. In the humanitarian, perfect ending, people forgot that he was the real victim and focused only on moving themselves.

This actually reflected many problems within the army. The conflicts of the strong are often external, only the conflicts of the weak are internal.

At that time, the Federation was the weak.

Hicks did not have particularly outstanding personal ability. After entering the Federation Army, he was unfortunately, like most recruits, subjected to various pranks and abuse by the old soldiers.

Some you could understand as a kind of "damn welcome to the team," with streamers, and ribbons, and at most being sprayed with champagne all over the face.

But some were malicious, were humiliating, were shameful.

After getting through the initial stage, it was said he gradually got promoted by doing certain favors for someone, and by the time he retired, he had already attained the rank of Captain.

After leaving the military, he joined the Conservative Party through some introductions, and with the Conservative Party’s help, became a lawyer.

He got married, had his own children, and everything seemed perfect.

But in reality, he harbored some secrets that couldn’t be revealed, some that couldn’t be spoken.

During those years in the army, he got addicted to both being abused and abusing others.

It was a simple yet crazy environment; both things essentially represented the shift of power—from being controlled to controlling others.

But back in normal society, he couldn’t find people to abuse him, nor could he find people to abuse, he could only resort to spending money.

He maintained a long-term relationship with an ordinary call girl, sometimes he was on the receiving end of abuse, sometimes he would hurt the woman, satisfying his twisted soul.

It wasn’t until the beginning of this year that the party deemed his image promising, his background favorable. The identities of soldier and lawyer added too many image points, supporting him to run for State Senator, that he finally cut off relations with this woman.

To keep her silent, he gave her fifty thousand dollars, and arranged a job for her.

It seemed like he was a very considerate person, but the real intent behind arranging the job was a better way to monitor the woman. If issues arose, he could discover them early.

Just later, many things happened, and the party revised the target from State Senator to Governor, which was somewhat unexpected for him.

Upon hearing the woman’s call at this time, his first reaction was that she was trying to blackmail him.

This was normal; he was a hot candidate for Governor. If she wanted to make more money, undoubtedly, calling him now was a very good idea.

Hicks thought about many things in an instant, "Sorry, I can’t recognize your voice, who are you?"

The woman paused for a moment, she stated her name, a very ordinary name, but then Hicks immediately denied knowing her, "You must have dialed the wrong number, I don’t know a woman by this name. If you need anything, you can call the police, they will surely help you."

He didn’t give the woman more chances, "I need to rest now, ma’am, good night..."

After hanging up the phone, Hicks quickly picked up the phone again, hesitating for a moment before dialing the emergency officer’s number at the campaign office.

Every candidate would have a campaign office; of course, city legislators don’t need one, but mayors, state senators, and governors all do; they all have this.

The role of this emergency office official is to handle matters that could affect the campaign. They are like cleaners or seamstresses, patching up things to ensure their employer always maintains dignity.

Hicks explained the situation, though he hid some inside details, like the way he found pleasure with that woman, simply saying it was a normal call relationship.

The official from the Emergency Office didn’t take it seriously after listening, "Honestly, a paid date is better than cheating. If things get messy, just say it was a business thing, and I’ll handle the rest quickly."

The official from the Emergency Office then passed the information to the head of the Campaign Office, who cursed under his breath and hung up, but didn’t dwell on it.

This kind of thing is common among the political circles of the Federation. People always talk about power-for-money trades, but sometimes, some people don’t have excessive desires for material things, not chasing numerical changes.

So, at this point, sexual bribery becomes another option. They’ve handled many similar matters without any incident.

Hicks thought this would be the end of it and didn’t think too much about it himself.

On the other hand, after hanging up the phone, the woman was a bit perplexed. Her original intention was to tell Hicks that someone was investigating that money, but Hicks seemed... a bit annoyed with her?

She didn’t believe he would forget her. After all, companies were still paying her salary, and she didn’t know what to do. There was a knock on the door.

"Ma’am, are you in any trouble?"

"If you don’t answer, I will break the door down immediately...", this is a rule to protect those under investigation, some choose self-harm or suicide when being investigated.

The woman hesitated for a moment, "Oh, no, I’ll be right out."

The woman was taken away, and several investigators searched the house for possible evidence.

About forty minutes later, the tightly closed door was suddenly knocked on, and it was clearly a very rude kind.

The investigators exchanged glances and quickly moved to the living room.

The people outside seemed impatient, banging on the door while cursing.

They were there to intimidate the woman.

Sometimes using the official way doesn’t work well with such women; they only become more reckless, acting according to their own wills.

But using some fearsome gang members is more effective. People living on the lower social ladder understand well the terror of gangs, and call girls are also part of the lower social strata.

When a cop says, I’ll **, **, ** you, it doesn’t really scare anyone because cops represent justice, and those lines don’t match their image.

When gang members say it, it’s very intimidating, after all, that’s their business.

The door quickly opened, and the three gang members with fierce looks at the door saw the dark gun barrels inside and the bulletproof vests with "Federal Tax Bureau" insignia, and immediately raised their hands.

In the interrogation room of the Federal Tax Bureau, the woman sat behind the interrogation table, with a man and a woman in charge of interrogating her.

They already had very direct evidence, placing it page by page in front of her.

"We investigated a bit, and there are about 140,000 in your account that wasn’t reported for tax. You are already suspected of very serious tax evasion, and we also have reasons to suspect you have connections with the Federation’s money laundering group."

"If you have any idea what I’m saying, it’s best to tell us who gave you every amount of money, where you used it, or to whom you gave it."

The woman was a bit stunned, then remained silent throughout.

The tax bureau has encountered many such suspects and has ways to make them speak, but since she just came in, it wasn’t suitable to use those methods directly.

At this moment, the interrogation room door was knocked on by two special agents.

Yes, the tax bureau has special agents; it’s not a big deal. They also have tanks and armies, so who would find it strange?

The two entered and signaled the two who were working toward the door, "We’re taking over this case."

The male investigator was a bit surprised, "Is that appropriate?"

One of the special agents was taking off his jacket. While hanging his jacket on the wall, he replied, "Director approved it."

The two investigators then exchanged a look, realizing the situation might be very complicated, and got up to leave.

The door closed heavily again. The woman felt somewhat cold, not knowing why, a bit stifled.

The special agent, who had already taken off his jacket, removed his tie and was rolling up his shirt sleeves, walked in front of the woman, "It seems you should understand this case is somewhat special, you are an outsider. I advise you to cooperate with our work."

"You can turn into a tainted witness, and we can help you apply for immunity or home confinement. Don’t let someone else’s matter delay yourself!"

The woman didn’t speak. The next second, a fist hit her chest hard!

The pain almost tore her apart!