A few minutes later, the door was knocked, and then Andrew entered, placing a briefcase on the desk and said, "This is what you asked for."
"That's more like it, Deputy Warden Andrew."
David was very pleased with the other's astuteness and then gave a look to the three Nisenbakis sitting aside.
Nisen immediately came forward, opened the briefcase, and took out a stack of account books, after which the three of them began to seriously tally up the numbers.
Since these were the accounts of GCO Prison for the past three years, with numerous and substantial amounts involved, it took a full one and a half hours before the trio finally completed their calculations.
"My total comes to 67.65 million."
"Mine is 73.36 million."
"Mine is..."
After comparing their amounts, they added them up together, and only then did Nisen report to David, "Chief Tax Officer, the total comes to 211.22 million."
David nodded; the figure was about what he had estimated internally, which also proved that the people at GCO Prison had not dared to underreport their figures.
Then he looked at Andrew, saying, "You may go, Deputy Warden Andrew, but the undeclared tax amounts must be paid to me within four days."
Four days later would be the deadline for the assessment period.
Andrew did not reply, but his expression was one of tacit agreement, and then he turned and left the office.
"Check what time the earliest flight to Los Angeles is tomorrow morning."
A few minutes later, the plane officially landed at Long Beach Airport.
At the moment the door opened, they even felt the air was sweeter than in Nevada, although, of course, that might well be just the sweetness of anticipation and longing in their hearts.
Stepping out of the airport, David glanced at his watch; it was 9:10 AM, exactly the office hours for GCO Corporation. Now was the perfect time to go there.
"Chief Tax Officer, are we just going to go like this, without cooperating with the local IRS?"
GCO is a large company, closely collaborating with various U.S. agencies such as the Department of Justice, FBI, and CIA.
Thus, Simmons feared that if only a few of them went, they would not be able to handle the company.
Nisen gave him a look and said, "What are you thinking, Simmons? Have you gone muddled in your head? Don't you see where we are? This is Long Beach Branch territory!"
Hearing this, Simmons slapped his forehead, realizing he had indeed been confused.
The Long Beach Branch wasn't really the issue; it was that Bellamy Hattie was part of it.
That guy was now their rival in the god-making plan, and here they were on his turf, trying to collect a hefty tax; far from expecting cooperation, they might actually encounter obstruction hindering their tax collection effort.
"No need to find them, we'll go on our own."
David was well aware that he was in a fierce battle with Bellamy Hattie, who surely would not help him.
And he hadn't planned on involving the Long Beach Branch to begin with.
GCO might have a complicated network of relationships, and indeed, David might not be able to contend with the company in Los Angeles, but let's not forget, Nevada was his domain.