Matthew hurriedly snapped a few photos behind the beech jungle, then removed the lens from his camera, wrapped it in his coat, and cautiously left the bushes and returned to a nearby car.

He opened the trunk, stuffed the camera in, opened the door and returned to the car, took a cigarette from his arms, lit it, and took a puff to ease the tension. After a short while, someone came over and knocked on Matthew's window, it was Wood. Matthew opened the window, and Wood waved his hand to sweep away the smoke from the car, and said to Matthew, "Hey, why don't you go in and have a drink?" A rare opportunity. ”

Matthew flicked his cigarette ash out the window, licked his teeth with his tongue, shrugged, and said, "No, I don't like crowded places, besides, someone needs to watch outside." ”

Wood nodded, walked to the other side of the car, pulled the door open, sat in the passenger seat, asked Matthew for a cigarette and smoked it. Wood looks like he's in his forties, with a big belly, blonde hair combed back, and a hairline that's very far back. He has small triangular eyes, and you can't see him clearly if you don't look closely, just as you can't tell that he is an important player in the Gandolfeld family, the core of the drug trade in Lower Manhattan.

He is not the horn head of the family, as can be seen by the color of his hair, blonde, not of Italian origin. But he was the key person, the middleman in the distribution of goods, the middleman between the upper echelons of the family and the thugs on the street. He is a power broker who is a lube, a microphone, and a fox and a tiger in front of the big guys, but the operation of this world will never be without such people.

He was honored to be invited to his home by Jackie, but Wood was in his right mind, and he knew that proximity to power would give people the illusion that they had power as well. A broker has to know his position clearly, a person who can be replaced at any time, a person who dances on the edge of danger. At the party, he was very careful, did not show a little edge, did not steal a little limelight, and did not even drink too much wine.

You don't know that those mediocre-looking, even somewhat kind Italians carry a few lives on their backs and a few guns pinned to their waists. In front of those people, Wood considered himself a minor character, and that it was not a world he should be staying in for long. So he went outside, to the side of the road around him, and found Matthew, and only by Matthew's side, he felt that he could really relax.

Matthew was introduced to the Gandol family five years ago, starting from a thug at the bottom and a horse boy, and now he has become the family's inner bodyguard, responsible for guarding the vicinity of the mansion. Occasionally, he would be sent some tasks to complete, and he was a member of the Gandolfer family. The two met by coincidence, and during an FDA arrest, Wood escaped by jumping out of a window and met Matthew in an alley. Matthew, who was 20 years old at the time, helped Wood out of the FDA's tracking, and Wood left a phone call for his gratitude.

Half a year passed, and Matthew approached Wood over the phone, hoping that Wood would find him a job. Wood investigates his background, drops out of school early, works in a garage, and has parents in Nebraska who have gambling vices. The level of education is not high, the physical fitness is great, the lack of money, there is not too much to worry about, and it is very in line with the gang's employment standards. After a series of trials, Matthew becomes a member of the Gandolfil family's large but loose gang organization.

After five years, this emaciated young man was bold and careful, and he had surprisingly good luck. For gang gangsters, sometimes luck is more important than anything else. He rose through the ranks quickly, and it took him three years to rise through the streets. You know, some people can only hang out on the streets all their lives, never wear a suit, and don't know which day they will be shot to death.

Of course, if you put on a suit, you will be shot to death indiscriminately.

The two smoked silently in the car, and the lights of Gandofil's house seemed to be very far away from them, far away in the sky.

After smoking a cigarette, Wood turned on the radio in the car and tuned into the sports radio station, where the voices of Marv Albert and Marty Glickman came over the speakers:

"BJ Armstrong was fouled by Harper, it was a vicious foul, and BJ was obviously not happy about the action. But there's no way, that's the Knicks' strategy tonight, ferocious, brutal, and don't let the opponent have any chance to score easily..."

“…… BJ steals, he steals Harper's ball, gives Pippen, Pippen's layup...... Oh, what a nice dribble to get rid of, the last finger-roll ......"

“…… A strong assault from Charles Oakley with 34 seconds left in the first half as the Chicago Bulls maintained their lead over the Knicks...... At 52:42, the first half was over, the Bulls led by 10 points, and the Knicks were in some trouble......

The radio was broadcasting tonight's game against the Knicks, and at the end of the first half, the Bulls led the Knicks by 10 points on the road. This is beyond many people's expectations, and without Jordan, the Bulls are still suppressing the Knicks, which makes New York fans wonder, can't they still climb the mountain of Chicago this year?

At halftime, Wood turned off the radio, cursed in his mouth, and said: "Shit, I thought Jordan could win without the Knicks this year, looking at the ghost of the first half, he may still not be able to fight the Chicagoans!" TMD ...... "Wood cursed a few swear words, and as the playoffs began, a lot of people were betting on the game, and Wood was certainly no exception. He bought the Knicks to win the Bulls by more than five points tonight, and also bought the total points of the first half, and now he misses it.

Matthew was calm, his long horse face sunken inward, his eyes drooping, his curly hair draped over his head, and he had to run his hands through the hair in front of his forehead from time to time to avoid blocking his view. He looks like an addict, but in fact he does have drugs, which is a common occurrence in gangs, using gambling, drugs, and sex to control his people.

"The Knicks will win tonight, it's just the first half, Pippen played too well, it's not normal." Matthew responded to Wood in a flat tone, and he gambled just as much. In addition to basketball, football, rugby, and horse racing are all the objects of his betting. In Wood's eyes, he was an out-and-out poisonous worm and gambler, and such people could be trusted, because they couldn't hold anything else in their heads.

Wood didn't care about Matthew's words, winning or losing a game didn't matter to him at all, he just played and didn't gamble to make a living. After smoking two cigarettes, he opened the car door, walked through the beech trees, stepped on the lawn and returned to Gandolfel's mansion, and continued to plunge headlong into the world of criminals.

As the night wore on, the commotion in the Gandol Mansion waned, and most of the people got drunk, and with the help of their men, they returned to the car and left. When the feast comes to an end, the curtain comes down on this big gathering of Italian gangs in New York, and in the silence, the New York underground world seems to have ushered in peace again.

Jackie showed Arthur extraordinary courtesy, usually he did not send guests after the banquet, and went back to the upstairs room alone to close the door and enjoy the peace after the noise. Tonight he dragged Arthur out of the house and took him to the side of the road, thanking him for cooking for the banquet tonight. Arthur pretended to be flattered, and until now he didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Jackie's gourd.

Jackie saw Wood beside him and snapped his fingers at him, and Wood approached to give orders.

"Send someone to send Arthur back, be sure to get home, make sure he arrives safely, and if anything happens, I'll blame you, Wood." Jackie pointed at Wood and said, making Wood sweat and nodding repeatedly. But Arthur thinks that Jackie is saying this to himself, he is just going home, what accidents can happen? Unless, that's a kind of warning from Jackie to him. Jackie must know something about the Luciano family.

This can be seen from Jackie's reference to the television.

"I can follow Montolo's car..."

Arthur tried to get away with it, but he couldn't beat Jackie, and Wood led Arthur to Matthew's car, opened the door and stuffed Arthur into the back seat. Wood sat in the passenger seat, turned back to Arthur and asked, "Hey boy, where do you live?" ”

"Little Italy."

"Little Italy, which family are you from?"

"Luciano."

"Oh... Luciano, your last name is Luciano? ”

"Yes, but I don't do anything for the family, I'm just a cook."

Wood nodded, not asking any more, as to why Jackie cared so much about a cook, Wood had no interest in knowing. There are so many unbelievable things on Jackie, and if you want to figure everything out, then you may need nine lives to consume.

There was silence in the car, and Matthew started the car and headed for the Washington Bridge. He turned on the radio in the car, and the Knicks and Bulls game entered the fourth quarter, and the Knicks, who trailed by 10 points in the first half, fought back with their meat grinder-like defense in the second half, tied with the Bulls in the third quarter, and launched a Jedi counterattack in the fourth quarter.

"A jumper from Starks at the free-throw line...... Hit! Caused a foul on Paxson! Patrick Ewing drew the pack defence and Stexs seized the opportunity to score the crucial goal. John Paxson's hand touched Starks slightly, a little, just a little......"

With Starks hitting a 2+1 shot, New York's counterattack momentum became more and more violent, and the Bulls felt a little unbearable.

All three were listening intently to the radio commentary, and Matthew was looking at the road from time to time, and he had already driven to the vicinity of Lincoln Park, some distance from the Washington Bridge. The roads are lined with old zinc trees, mostly planted before the 30s, which no one planted after the Great Depression because it has so many fallen leaves. And one of the reasons they were transplanted from the south was that their wood was perfect for use as railroad sleepers, but the Americans no longer extend their railroads.

The branches of the zinc tree were very scattered, and the moon hid behind the branches revealing only a faint halo, and a gust of wind blew, and a cloud obscured the moon. There were street lights on both sides of the road, but after the moonlight was obscured, the street lights seemed to disappear with them. Matthew wondered in his heart, he had driven this road many times, why did there be no street lights, why did it become so dark?

The headlights became the only guide, and the two long light tubes resisted with the darkness, as if pulling the vehicle through the dark mud. After driving for a while, Matthew realized that something was wrong, he should be about to turn right in front of him, why hasn't he arrived yet? The car suddenly jolted, as if it had hit something, and Wood's head hit the windowpane, and he covered his head and yelled. This guy doesn't wear a seatbelt.

Matthew looked in the rearview mirror, it was dark, he couldn't see anything, what was he pressing?

When he came back to his senses and looked forward, he suddenly found that the headlights shone on a few trees, and there was no road ahead!

Matthew scrambled to make an emergency brake, but the car crashed into a tree, and Wood, who was not wearing a seatbelt, hit his head on the windshield, the glass cracked, and the airbag pressed against his body, so that he was not hurt more. Matthew also hit the airbag, he was wearing a seatbelt, and he felt like his body was going to fall apart, and his head was even more groggy.

He unbuckled his seat belt and looked back, and the back seat was empty.

What about Arthur? Where did Arthur go?

He hurriedly opened the car door, and when he looked around, it was all dark and dark. There was no road in front of the car, no lights behind the car, not even the moon in the sky. The darkness brought fear and enveloped Matthew, and he ran out of the car and ran towards the back of the car, he wanted to see what he had pressed. He ran out of breath, just as he had walked for many years, every step was extremely difficult and painful.

But there is something in his heart that supports him, supports him to run, go down, and even climb down.

"Ugh!"

Matthew screamed, he tripped over something and fell heavily on the ground. He struggled to get up and came to the thing, which was soft, as if it were a person. Matthew approached, and at this moment a light came, it seemed to be moonlight, and he could see clearly what had tripped him, it was a corpse, a female corpse, a female corpse that Matthew recognized.

"Martha, Martha..."Matthew saw the corpse, tears welled up in his eyes, this is his sister Martha, the younger sister Martha who was lured by drug dealers 8 years ago and accidentally died of heavy drug use. He stepped forward to pick up his sister's body and gently stroked her face, she was so young, they had left poor and boring Nebraska to come to New York together, Matthew believed they would have a beautiful future, but she was ruined by drugs. Even if she doesn't die, she will be controlled by drugs, and she will have to sell her body and eventually become a soulless shell.

Matthew is a simple, stubborn young man, and from then on he decides that he wants to eliminate the drug dealers in this city, even if this goal can never be achieved, he is willing to spend his life fighting them.

The light shone on his body, pure white and flawless light, was it moonlight?

Matthew looked up at the sky, only to see an incomparably large eye, also looking at him.