At two o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon, the Pittsburgh City Council was holding its regular eting.
A massive crystal chandelier hung from the vaulted ceiling, illuminating the enormous horseshoe-shaped oak conference table below.
According to the Pittsburgh City Council’s charter, the Mayor was not obligated to attend routine bill review etings like this one.
He could have just waited for the results in his office, like Carter Wright would have.
But Leo had co anyway.
He had to face it all head-on.
He had to watch with his own eyes as the key to power passed from the hands of the citizens, through his own, and into the hands of an oligarch.
’He needed to rember this feeling, to rember the weight of this betrayal.’
Leo sat in the Mayor’s seat.
The symptoms of his fever had not yet completely subsided.
Two strong cold-dicine pills suppressed his shivering, but they couldn’t stop the chill seeping from the marrow of his bones.
He pulled his dark gray wool suit tighter around himself, his hands folded on the table, fingertips ice-cold.
Ethan sat on a bench behind him, a black briefcase resting on his lap.
Inside the bag was a docunt fresh from the printer.
It was a three-hundred-page administrative bill, filled with obscure technical jargon, complex legal citations, and mind-numbingly dull data tables.
Its full na: The Pittsburgh City Strategic Logistics Unified Managent and Regional Ecological Consolidation and Developnt Bill.
Known for short as the Strategic Logistics Unified Managent Bill.
This was the Trojan horse Leo had personally concocted to fulfill the promise he’d made at the summit club.
"The current agenda is..."
The clerk of the Pittsburgh City Council, a heavy-set woman in her sixties, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and read in a monotone voice.
"Regarding the proposal to review the Strategic Logistics Unified Managent Bill. Proposer: the Mayor’s Office."
Leo stood and gave a slight bow from his seat.
"Mr. Speaker, mbers of the council."
"This bill aims to integrate Pittsburgh’s currently fragnted logistics resources. By introducing unified, modern managent standards, it will enhance our city’s competitiveness within the Great Lakes Region supply chain. The bill also includes several supplentary clauses regarding the ecological protection of the Allegheny River Basin."
"The specific details and technical paraters have been distributed to each of you."
With that, Leo sat down.
He had packaged this bill—one that would determine the fate of Pittsburgh’s economic lifeblood for the next fifty years—as a thoroughly uninteresting administrative adjustnt.
’That was the point.’
’Only boredom could conceal the cri.’
’Only tedium could cause those greedy eyes to lose focus.’
In their seats, the nine council mbers were flipping through the thick stack of paper before them.
In truth, the detailed contents of the bill had been delivered to each of their desks days ago.
They had already conducted several rounds of informal discussions and horse-trading by then.
Although a few council mbers had raised questions about certain clauses, and so had even complained in private phone calls that the arrangent was too aggressive, the bill had still been pushed through step-by-step onto today’s agenda by various unseen forces.
This current perusal was rely a formality to complete the final procedure. Or perhaps, it was a way to calm their own nerves with a semblance of diligent review.
Gavin Stone sat in his place. He was Morganfield’s eyes and ears on the council.
His fingers flipped through the docunt, skipping straight past the first two hundred pages of nonsense about "environntal protection" and "administrative restructuring."
His eyes stopped on page 214.
Under Chapter 7, "Operational Franchising and Consolidated Managent," Section 12, Article 3, there was a paragraph of dense fine print.
"...To avoid the waste of public resources caused by disorderly competition, the municipal authorities are hereby specially authorized to implent a ’sole-operator franchise system’ for core logistics nodes. The franchise term is set at fifty years and is exclusive and irrevocable..."
And in the addendum on page 218, within the clauses on "General Developer Qualification Certification," the strict requirent of "must possess no less than 500 acres of existing railway transshipnt yards" was quietly buried amidst a pile of requirents concerning "environntal ratings" and "fire safety."
Stone closed the docunt.
He looked up at Leo.
He blinked slowly, a signal only the two of them understood.
’Deal confird.’
’The payload is correct.’
"Mr. Speaker."
Stone was the first to press the button to speak.
"I have studied this bill carefully."
"I believe this is a very tily and professional docunt. Pittsburgh’s logistics system has been chaotic for too long. We need this kind of consolidated managent approach. It is in line with the trend of modern urban governance and is also a demonstration of our responsibility to the taxpayers."
"I fully support it."
Stone was the voice of the business community; his stance represented the direction of capital.
Thomas Moretti, sitting in the central block of seats, was idly tapping his pen on the table.
He couldn’t even be bothered to flip through the docunt.
The night before, he had already received a "hint," along with a detailed appropriations plan for the renovation of a main thoroughfare in his district.
Five hundred million US Dollars in bonds were already on the way.
Since he’d already gotten his piece of the pie, he had no reason to obstruct a bill that, on the surface, was just about "administrative managent."
Besides, he could also see Morganfield’s shadow in this.
And in this city, simultaneously offending the new Mayor and the old oligarch was definitely not a wise choice.
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