Chapter 531 - 246: Initiative
’Tell him you refuse to be recorded. You’ll prove your sincerity another way.’
’I want the upper hand,’ Leo repeated to himself.
This wasn’t just about his immediate safety; it was about positioning himself for the future.
His ambitions didn’t stop here.
If he was shackled by a Republican recording from the very beginning, it would become a noose around his neck when he tried to climb higher, or even break free from the two-party system to build his own political domain.
He had a long road ahead of him. He couldn’t shackle himself at the starting line.
Leo sat up straight.
"Mr. Taylor, I’m not going to repeat those words, and I’m not giving you anything you can use as blackmail."
Leo put it bluntly.
"Leo, are you refusing to establish mutual trust?" Taylor’s voice grew cold. "Having the upper hand is important to me. You’re in no position to bargain right now."
"Yes, I am."
Leo interrupted him.
"You want the upper hand? Fine. I’ll give you the upper hand, but in a different way."
"Tomorrow morning."
Leo laid out his proposal.
"I’ll hold a press conference."
"I will publicly blast the Democratic state committee, accusing them of weakness and hypocrisy on the issue of healthcare reform. I’ll portray Governor Campbell as a puppet of the insurance companies."
"I will rub salt in the Democratic Party’s wounds in front of all the media."
"This is my pledge of fealty."
"It will create a media firestorm and tear the Democratic Party’s voter base apart."
"I will personally incite infighting within the Democratic Party."
"Then I’ll hand you the knife. You’ll see the blood, the wound, and the chaos."
"Is that not enough?"
Taylor scoffed.
"Leo, are you kidding me?"
"Blasting the state committee? Accusing Campbell?"
"Isn’t this what you were going to do anyway? Your mutual-aid healthcare bill was shot down. You were already expected to attack him."
"You’re trying to trade something you were going to do anyway."
"That’s just trying to get something for nothing. There’s no sincerity in that."
Leo was silent for a moment.
He knew Taylor wasn’t someone who could be easily fooled.
"Alright."
Leo’s voice dropped.
"Since you want a greater show of sincerity."
"Then I’ll give you a bigger one."
"I will have all the Unions in the Industrial Revival Alliance publicly announce that the Democratic Party betrayed us on the healthcare bill."
"We’ll call on the workers to vote with their feet. Since the Democratic Party betrayed us, we’ll tell them to vote for nobody."
"I will create a political vacuum."
"In the blue-collar communities I control, the Democratic Party’s mobilization machine will be completely paralyzed."
"And at that point, if you Republicans are smart enough to even pretend to care about the workers’ jobs..."
"Those voters, utterly disillusioned with the Democratic Party, might just swing your way."
"I won’t actively tell them to vote Republican. That would look too fake."
"But I’ll open the gate and call off the dogs."
"Whether or not you can herd those sheep into your pen is up to you."
"Is this pledge of fealty enough?"
Taylor hadn’t expected the young man to be so sharp and unyielding.
Normally, a local Politician like him would be on his knees licking my boots just to survive.
But Leo was different.
Even while asking for help, he maintained an unsettling independence.
He refused to become a vassal, insisting on sitting at the table as an equal.
This intransigence annoyed Taylor, but it also gave him a strange thrill.
It meant the blade was sharp, and it was tough.
"Is the upper hand really that important to you?" Taylor asked. "Even at the risk of the deal falling apart?"
"Yes."
Leo replied, enunciating every word.
"Because I don’t just have to survive today."
"I have to survive tomorrow, and the day after that, and for a long time to come."
"If I put my neck in your noose right now, then there’s no point in my survival."
"That’s my bottom line."
This time, Taylor’s silence lasted a little longer.
’Have the Unions stop supporting the Democratic Party...’
Taylor muttered to himself, as if savoring the weight of the words.
This was a promise that would cripple the Democrats.
And this was precisely the opportunity the Republican Party had been dreaming of.
CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.
After a moment, Taylor actually started clapping.
"Leo Wallace."
Taylor’s voice was filled with admiration.
"You’re a natural-born bastard."
"At first, I wanted you to join the Republican Party."
"But now I see that someone like you is more valuable to us inside the Democratic Party."
"You’re the kind of cancer cell we’ve been looking for."
Taylor’s voice finally sounded satisfied.
"Tomorrow morning, I’ll be watching your press conference."
"If you really dare to open fire then, we have a deal."
"I’ll notify our people in Harrisburg."
"Next week, during the vote on the motion of privilege in the State Senate, the Republican caucus will support it unanimously."
"We’ll help you put that idiot William in the speaker’s chair."
"As for Kirk..."
Taylor paused.
"He’ll just so happen to be sick on the day the pardon committee meets. Or maybe he’ll be on an inspection trip out of town."
"He won’t vote against it, and he won’t vote for it. He’ll be absent."
"As long as he’s absent, the remaining votes will be enough for you to pass the pardon."
"This is the most we can do."
Leo breathed a sigh of relief.
His back was soaked with sweat, but he had convinced Taylor.
"Thank you, Mr. Taylor."
Leo said calmly.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
"Don’t be so quick to thank me."
Taylor’s voice turned chilling.
"This is only the first step."
"You need to remember your promise."
"I want to see ruins."
"I want to see the Democratic Party bleed in Pennsylvania."
"If you can’t do it, if you get soft at the last minute, or if you try to reconcile with them..."
"Leo, we Republicans can be very crude when it’s time to collect."
Taylor stood, personally opened the soundproofed door for Leo, and gestured for him to exit.
"I look forward to your performance, Mr. Mayor."
Leo didn’t speak, just nodded and walked out of the room.
It wasn’t until he pushed open the main doors of the club and the Washington wind blew into his collar that the feeling of suffocation eased slightly.
A black Chevrolet Suburban was parked at the entrance to the alley.
Leo pulled open the car door, got in, then took out his phone and called Monroe.
The phone rang twice.
"Leo?"
Monroe’s voice came through.
"It’s me, Aston," Leo replied.
"Attend the Senate session next week."
Monroe’s breathing hitched on the other end of the line.
"What... do you mean?"
"Get your congratulatory speech ready, Vice Governor."
Leo said, enunciating each word.
"A new speaker is about to take office."
"Go congratulate him. This is our first step to controlling Pennsylvania."
Monroe’s ragged breathing came through the phone.
"Who’s going to be the new Speaker?"
"William Saint Cloud."
"Huh?" Monroe was stunned. "That incompetent trust-fund kid?"
"Believe it or not, Aston. Next week, tell your Democratic senators to stay put in their chairs. When someone rises to a question of privilege, just vote yes with the rest of them."
Without another word, Leo hung up the phone.