A Scheme to Set Tiger Against Wolf (Part 2)

Of course, expecting all of Gotham to unite and obey the Godfather’s commands was impossible. Gotham lacked nothing more than rebellious thorns, and the most outstanding among them now was Sal Maroney.

Maroney was quite ambitious. You could tell from the name he had given his gang. In Gotham, not every gang was allowed to bear a surname. At first, only the Falcone family could do so. Now, the twelve Mafia families established by Falcone were all named after surnames as well. Aside from them, the remaining smaller gangs were named after their respective codenames.

Naming a gang after one’s own surname was an immense honor in Gotham, because Falcone had been the first to do it—and had achieved unparalleled success.

Maroney had done it, which meant that from the very beginning, he had harbored the ambition to challenge the Godfather.

After the Red Crow Gang was wiped out, Maroney devoured most of its remains and took the opportunity to eliminate another gang that had always opposed him. On that main street in the East District, he was now nearly unrivaled.

Naturally, he wanted to go further, especially since he knew the Godfather was old. The transition between the old and new generations of the Falcone family was precisely the best opportunity to make a move.

Falcone had handed many of his businesses over to Evans. Evans was clever too, but he lacked the Old Godfather’s experience and ruthlessness. The two bartenders attacked by outsiders from Metropolis this time had come from the two bars Evans wanted to reform.

From this incident, Maroney keenly sensed that the Godfather was running out of successors. Little Falcone was still too green. He wanted reform, yet lacked the Old Godfather’s ruthless decisiveness; he wanted stability, yet lacked sufficient experience. Maroney thought this was the perfect time to deal the Falcone family a fatal blow.

In Maroney’s estimation, the Godfather would not mobilize on a grand scale to deal with those killers. Losing face could indeed undermine his authority, but the Godfather truly was old. Compared to face, the transfer of power was more important. At such a critical moment, once his attention was divided, chaos could easily erupt. Falcone would not sacrifice the greater for the lesser.

Originally, Maroney had intended to make a big issue of this and further shake the Godfather’s authority. He had even planned to impersonate people from Metropolis and strike at the Godfather’s other businesses. But who could have expected Schiller to get himself hospitalized on the spot, sending the gangs into a frenzy as they hunted down those killers?

That completely threw Maroney for a loop.

Originally, he had thought that even if the Godfather hunted down those killers, it would not matter. As long as the Godfather’s attention was occupied, Maroney would eventually find an opportunity to nibble away at the Falcone family’s businesses.

Maroney was a man with outrageous courage. He did not believe the Godfather possessed any unshakable authority. Even if he did, Maroney wanted to bite off a piece of him.

But to Maroney’s great surprise, all of Gotham City erupted into action. Nearly every gang began digging three feet into the ground.

With such a massive commotion underway, Maroney could no longer make up his mind. If he acted now, would the Godfather target him like a madman? He wanted a sneak attack, not to openly step onto the stage and challenge the Falcone family. He could not beat them.

But if he did not act, Maroney had already made a few small moves. Once this wave passed, if he had not secured his footing, the Godfather would settle accounts afterward, and he would be completely finished.

Just as he was agonizing over it, something unexpected happened: the leader of those bandits came to him on his own.

Those people were unlucky enough themselves. They had originally been a group of terrorists active in the Middle East, working as mercenaries for hire year-round. They had initially been drawn to the East Coast by another contract, only to accept another job in Metropolis.

Their employer had paid generously, so they had worked hard. But who could have known that in that hellhole called Gotham, even Satan would be useless? They were chased all over the city, beaten black and blue, and the docks were all under the control of the Mafia families, so they could not get out either.

With no other choice, they could only cooperate with the enemy of their enemy.

Even Gordon knew about Maroney’s provocations against the Godfather, so of course these bandits knew as well. They wanted to make a deal with Maroney: if he was willing to get them out of Gotham, they could solve one of his problems before they left.

Maroney had not wanted to make this deal at first. But then he thought that anyone who could survive the siege of every gang in Gotham for so long must have some real skills. With a group of assassins like this, there was much more he could do.

Of course, Maroney would not have them assassinate the Godfather. That was meaningless, and they would not do it anyway. So he set his sights on another link in the Godfather’s newly developed industrial chain: the police.

Maroney knew that the Godfather was making considerable profits from this new chain of business. If it continued, the Falcone family’s rule would remain stable, and he would have no opportunity. So he had to destroy this industrial chain and prevent Falcone’s privately controlled prison system from continuing to bring him so much profit.

The police and judges were indeed important links in this chain. After all, they had to legally and reasonably arrest people, then try them, before criminals could be sent to psychiatric hospitals.

Falcone was willing to go to great lengths to protect Schiller only because he felt Schiller lacked the ability to protect himself. But he had provided the police with so much heavy firepower that he no longer paid them much attention. After all, anyone daring to be a police officer in a hellhole like Gotham had some ability, and with enough weapons, protecting themselves would not be a problem.

Maroney set his target on Gordon.

Back then, in order to deal with the old Director Victor, Maroney had chosen to push Gordon into office. At the time, he had not looked into this cop in detail. He did not think he needed to. Gotham’s cops were all the same; cooperating with gangs was perfectly normal. Even a minor clerk serving tea in an office had at least one gang behind him.

Maroney believed that since he had helped Gordon rise to his position, all he had to do was speak with him, and Gordon would naturally work for him.

Though defecting from the Godfather’s industrial chain to his side was dangerous, now that he had this group of bandits, if persuasion failed, force would do.

Gordon, meanwhile, was very happy, because his fiancée Barbara had finally arrived in Gotham.

He and Barbara had met at the Chicago Police Training School. Back then, he had only been a police cadet, while Barbara had been an intern lawyer. They had worked together on the same internship case, then fallen in love and gotten engaged.

Then Gordon came to work in Gotham. Originally, they could only have a long-distance relationship. Neither of them was well-off, so they could not quit their jobs, much less consider marriage and children. But now that Gordon’s financial situation had improved, they chose to come to Gotham and live together.

That day, Gordon came home from work as usual. Although he had not had any extra income recently, Barbara had some savings too. Together, they had just enough money to buy a decent apartment.

He and Barbara had agreed to look at houses that evening. If all went well, they could move into their new home within two weeks and never have to squeeze into this old rental again.

When he got home, he heard Barbara come out. The scent of food drifted from the kitchen. After taking off his coat, Gordon said, "What did you make? It smells so good!"

"Your favorite roasted lamb ribs." Barbara blinked, and Gordon held her by the shoulders as they walked together into the dining room.

"A friend gave me a good suggestion. I contacted the landlord at Pelican Apartments. We’ll go see the place tomorrow. If we like it, we can put down a deposit and move in right away."

"That’s wonderful." Barbara said, "You know my family wasn’t well-off. I’ve never lived in a high-end apartment. Does that place have a nursery? I really want a daughter—my little princess!"

"Of course. That’s what I want too." Gordon kissed Barbara on the cheek, and then they sat down separately to eat.

"I want my daughter to learn dance. I originally wanted to be a dancer myself, but unfortunately, I never had the chance."

"If you had become a dancer, you wouldn’t have met me, would you?" Gordon said with a smile. "I think our daughter should be free. She can do whatever she wants—dance, paint, or become an excellent lawyer like you."

"Oh, please." Barbara made a helpless expression. "That job is exhausting. I don’t want her to become a lawyer. It would be best if she could live an easier life."

"Dance is the same. You only long for it because you never studied it. I’ve seen those cheerleading students at Gotham University—they have to stretch their legs every day. Some dance majors have complained that it’s a profession for the young, and that once they get old, it’s easy to lose their jobs…"

"You’re really putting a lot of pressure on me. Tell me, what if our child doesn’t live well?" Barbara asked.

"You need to have faith in her. Besides, how she lives is her own choice."

"Even if she becomes a police officer in a dangerous city like this, just like you?"

"Oh, darling…" Gordon said. "Don’t say that."

"I know. You told me long ago that your dream was to become a police officer. You were born in Chicago, another dangerous city. A police officer saved your mother, so you wanted to become an officer who upheld justice too."

"But this job is just too dangerous. I’ve told you more than once that we could go back to my hometown and live there together. It would be fine even if money was tight. At least we would be safe."

Gordon sighed. He knew Barbara made sense. With the money he earned now, he could buy a villa in rural Arizona. He could find a job as an auxiliary officer there, and Barbara could work as a legal consultant. They would live an easy, happy life.

But even though Gordon knew Gotham was a hellhole, he simply did not want to leave.

He thought that if police officers could not remain in the most dangerous places to protect people, then what was the point?

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