After the carriage carrying Richard and his wife had gone far, Brendan returned alone to his study, picked up his abandoned cigar and took another puff, beginning to think quietly.
After a long while, he rang for butler Elliott to come.
"Tomorrow morning take $300 to pay a visit to Liam from the Public Safety Committee. If Henry's group goes out these next two days, find an excuse to detain them, preferably involving serious injury or loss of life."
"As long as he can manage to detain Henry as well to cooperate with our subsequent arrangements, there's another $700 afterward, and I'll support him becoming chairman of the Public Safety Committee in three months."
"Yes, sir."
Elliott took the order and left the study, but soon he hurried back in.
"Sir, scouts just reported a large-scale intense gunfight at the black market, plus huge explosions. The black market's main building was almost completely destroyed, the entire building nearly burned down, with over a hundred corpses left at the scene, all black market people."
"So Denver's black market is basically completely annihilated?"
"It appears so."
"How much does this affect us?"
"Mainly the $3,000 deposit for Henry's bounty, plus about $2,000 in deposits for two mercenary jobs with over 100 people each."
"Watch closely. The forces behind the black market aren't that simple. Keep the receipts safe - someone will come forward to give us an explanation."
"Yes, sir." Elliott again left the study.
'Which major force struck at the black market? How could such powerful military force suddenly appear in Denver?
Could it be the state National Guard taking action? But the black market's activities easily earned hatred, offending too many people - really hard to guess.
It's just a pity that the bounty mission on Henry probably has no one to execute it temporarily.
But fortunately, he's come to Denver.'
Brendan thought alone in his study, his desire to capture Henry becoming even more urgent.
——
After finishing his meal, Henry took out the safe he had just obtained, observed it carefully, and found that with his LV4 lockpicking skill he could open it, but it would take some time.
He stored the safe in his space to ponder later along with that Arizona map.
Henry took out TNT explosives and electric detonators, making 10 packages of 50 pounds each, half with 20-second delays, half with 15-second delays.
Then Henry prepared two packages of Dana black powder explosives, 500 pounds per package, one with a one-minute delay, one with a half-minute delay.
With everything ready, the time had reached nearly 9:30 PM.
Henry went downstairs to check out, retrieved his quarter horse from the stable, and began heading toward McKinley Manor in the southwest of the city.
By now it was completely dark, but Colfax Avenue had a gas street lamp every hundred meters, illuminating the entire road.
Henry galloped all the way. Though he hadn't done advance reconnaissance, the McKinley family intelligence included basic descriptions of this manor's situation.
Moreover, it was still early - nearly eight hours until dawn.
——
At the black market center main building, Denver sheriff Killian had a gloomy expression.
With this black market down, he'd lost a large source of extra income.
Fuck! It was almost month-end - couldn't this have happened after I got this month's money?
Killian angrily spat a thick glob of phlegm on the ground.
"Sheriff, there are 226 corpses total. Many can't be identified, and we don't seem to have found Dressler's. How should we handle these bodies? The morgue can only hold 36 corpses," Deputy Sheriff Keane asked.
Killian had a headache - not only was the money gone, but it was extremely troublesome. Such a massive explosion and gunfight in the city center - how to explain to the committee?
After pondering, Killian said: "Have the Public Safety Committee people haul the bodies to an empty warehouse for the night. Check carefully if there are any wanted criminals among them, try to identify them as much as possible, and post a body claim notice at the police station entrance. If no one claims them, send them for burial in the next couple days."
"Alright, should I have Liam bring people over?" Keane asked.
Killian glanced at Keane and nodded silently.
Keane immediately turned to quietly instruct an officer.
'Sigh! At least those who died should all be black market people - with all that fighting and killing, retribution finally came.
But over 200 coffins will cost quite a bit too. Need to figure something out with the church and committee.
Haven't received any intelligence about large numbers of armed personnel entering Denver either. How did such serious conflict suddenly erupt?'
Killian sighed heavily in his heart.
——
Denver Pinkerton Detective Agency branch chief Bowie likewise had a heavy expression after hearing his subordinate detective's report.
He knew the black market had intricate connections with their detective agency.
The two cooperated extensively, one dark, one light.
'Which powerful figure did the black market offend? How come I don't know anything about it? Could our detective agency's work have such big gaps?
No matter what, I'll send a telegram to headquarters tomorrow morning to report.
Also, these next few days we need to concentrate the detective agency's patrol teams, slow down taking new assignments, and first figure out the truth behind the black market's destruction.'
Bowie lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and continued pondering.
——
When Richard and his wife returned from McKinley Manor, passing near Hamlet Bar, they found many people gathered there in noisy commotion.
They minded their own business and returned directly to their own manor, finding several Fresco Town officers on guard at various positions, while Henry had already gone out.
Edith answered their inquiries: "Henry went out shortly after you left. Linda doesn't know where he went either."
Mentioning this made Edith feel dejected - she'd wasted nearly an hour carefully grooming herself.
Richard and his wife asked no further questions.
——
Over ten minutes later, Henry reached the fork to McKinley Manor's exclusive mountain road.
This manor was built on the mountainside of a five to six hundred meter peak through which the South Platte River flowed, nestled against mountains and water.
The mountain road could accommodate four-horse carriages, and according to the materials, it was about a mile to reach the manor.
This was somewhat similar to Devonshire Manor.
This manor permanently had over 100 guard soldiers.
Henry had no intention of sneaking in quietly tonight. For him currently, luring enemies to pursue was much easier than storming fortifications, so he rode openly up the mountain road.
However, he reattached those two beards and mustache.
After rounding the first bend of about 300 meters, the road ahead was blocked by barbed chevaux de frise. Three to four meters behind the barrier on the left was a sentry box built of granite stones with a gas lamp hanging on it and a horse tied to a nearby tree.
Hearing hoofbeats, three guards came out of the sentry box, pointing rifles at Henry and shouting: "Who goes there?"
Henry raised both hands while slowly riding closer, saying: "I'm sent by Fresco Town committee member Ballack to deliver a message."
(End of Chapter)
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