The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 13: Trouble Reaches the Office
While William was observing Michael’s family, Michael had also been called into his superior’s office.
The Sabine City IRS office was not in the same district as the office cluster around Sabine City Hall. It was in another district, as if they wanted to use that distance to tell Federation Internal Revenue Service headquarters that they were not mixed up with the locals.
Of course, there was another possibility: their styles were simply different. Compared with City Hall and the other government offices, which looked rather shabby, the IRS’s decor could practically be described as luxurious.
That was not strange. Everyone knew the IRS was a very wealthy institution. They could not only use marble slabs as floor tiles, they could even hang camel-hair rugs on the walls to display their dignity.
Inside the office, a wide, semi-enclosed desk surrounded the director of the Sabine City IRS. He was a middle-aged man in his fifties.
He had gray-white hair, a few forehead lines and crow’s feet. Overall, he was fairly well maintained. At least he did not look much different from workers in their forties.
He wore a carefully tailored formal suit and a tie. At the moment, his brow was tightly furrowed. Michael, standing on the other side of the desk, was not quite used to the atmosphere in the room.
“I’m troubled, Mike!” Mike was what Michael’s friends, including his superiors, called him in life and at work. It sounded more intimate, more like one of their own.
Michael scratched his head. There was no sign of his hot temper at work. He even looked somewhat bewildered. “I don’t understand, George.”
“No, you do understand!” The director, whom Michael called George, sighed. He lowered his eyes and looked over the two files on his desk. “You understand, Mike. Fox has his lawyer collecting evidence of your abuse of power. Also...”
He flipped through the report in front of him. “Some people have opinions about your recent operations as well. I thought you had already secured enough certainty when I approved your actions, but clearly I overestimated you.” He lifted his gaze from the documents and looked at Michael. “Tell me, what am I supposed to do?”
Michael looked somewhat annoyed. “This is all because of that bastard named William. I don’t know what method he used to get around three of our searches, but I can guarantee you, George, that kid absolutely has a problem.”
“I watched those newsboys bring five thousand dollars into the room with my own eyes. They left the money there, but when I went in, I found nothing. He’s a slippery kid, and he was prepared!”
George raised a hand to stop Michael from continuing and pointed at him. “You’re exactly right. He’s smart, and he’s prepared. When he wasn’t prepared, you still couldn’t catch his tail. Now that he is prepared, you have even less chance of catching it!”
The meaning behind those words made Michael, still burning with shame and anger, cool down instantly. He looked cautiously at the director behind the desk. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t mean anything...” Director George spread his hands, then interlaced his fingers and leaned back, sinking deep into his chair. “Your several failed operations have created some very bad effects. Fox’s people intend to come after you. You’d better cool off for a while.”
The sharp-minded Michael immediately realized something. His voice rose at once. “You want to suspend me?”
“Suspend you?” Director George burst into laughter. “No, no, no. You’ve misunderstood. There’s a major operation over in Currilan City. They don’t have enough manpower, so they’ve requested support from us...” Director George shrugged. “You know our relationship with them has always been good, so I can’t refuse the request. You and your men will go to Currilan City at once and provide them some assistance. When you return, you can go catch William or whoever else. Understand?”
“But the situation may change during this period. Send someone else. I’ll stay. If we miss this window, it will be very difficult to catch William and Fox. We all know they’ve found a mature way to evade our investigation. I...”
Before Michael could finish, the smile on Director George’s face gradually faded. He looked at Michael. “This is not a request. It is an order. Do you understand?”
The two men stared at each other for a moment. Only after Michael realized he could no longer change the decision did he say angrily, “You’ll regret the decision you made today!”
Director George replied without hesitation, “I’ll only regret not finding you something to do sooner!”
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