sbdcsierra Chapter 114 The Kingmaker
Chapter 114 The Kingmaker
Chapter 114 The Kingmaker (Bonus Chapter for 11000 Monthly Tickets)
Just as Leo closed the black diary, sealing away his last bit of weakness, there was a knock on the office door.
"Come in."
Leo stuffed the diary into the drawer and straightened his collar.
The door was pushed open.
Karen Miller walked in.
She wore a sharply tailored beige cashmere coat over a dark business suit and carried a well-made leather briefcase.
Her hair had just been treated, and her makeup was flawless.
She looked radiant and had a powerful presence.
She has changed.
Or rather, she returned to the way she was meant to be.
She was no longer the temporary consultant who rolled around in the mud with Leo and ate cold pizza in the prefab house.
Her current role is John Murphy's campaign director.
He is the commander who will soon be orchestrating a statewide election involving tens of millions of dollars that will determine the political landscape of Pennsylvania.
Good morning, Mayor.
Karen walked to her desk, but instead of sitting down, she looked around the office.
Her gaze swept over the bare walls, over the now-cold coffee beside Leo, and finally settled on Leo's slightly pale face, which was wrapped in a thick coat.
"Looks like you've settled into this new role," Karen said with a smile. "Even though the heating here is like a sauna, you still look like a dead person who just crawled out of an icebox."
"My cold isn't better yet." Leo gestured to the sofa opposite him. "Sit down, Karen. Or should I call you Director Miller now?"
Karen raised an eyebrow and sat down.
She placed her briefcase on her lap, her hands folded together.
"It seems your team is ready?" Leo asked, his voice hoarse.
Karen looked at Leo with a complicated expression.
"To be honest, Leo."
"I worked with John for ten years and watched him settle into that comfort zone in Washington."
"I always thought he would stay in that position until retirement. He was a good man, but he lacked the ruthlessness of a gambler and the ambition to be in the spotlight."
"He was used to playing a supporting role and taking orders from the party whip."
Karen paused for a moment, then leaned forward slightly.
"I never imagined that one day he would have the courage to challenge for a senator's seat, to challenge that political golden boy from Philadelphia."
"You instigated him."
Karen's tone was certain and left no room for doubt.
"Or to be more precise, you pushed him to the edge of a cliff."
"You used $500 million in bonds as bait and Pittsburgh votes as a whip, forcefully turning a docile old ox into a man-eating lion."
Karen looked at Leo as if he were a monster.
"You're not just the mayor of Pittsburgh, Leo, you're now half a kingmaker."
"If John really wins, you'll be the one who puts him on the throne."
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Leo picked up his cup and took a sip of hot water.
The warm fluid flowed down my throat, relieving the stinging pain in my lungs.
"Kingmaker?"
Leo shook his head.
"Don't flatter me, Karen."
"People always have to grow up, and Murphy should start trying too."
Upon hearing the word "grown up," Karen nearly spat out the mouthful of coffee she had just taken a sip of, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Leo, John is already sixty-two years old." Karen put down her glass, a mocking look in her eyes. "You expect an old man who's spent twenty years on Capitol Hill and whose hairline has receded to the top of his head to grow up? That sounds like a lame joke only you could tell."
"There's nothing I can do about it. He just had to end up with me."
Leo shrugged, but his eyes were clear.
"After all, I'm walking a tightrope every day in this position. How can he protect me if he doesn't climb higher and wield more power?"
Karen's smile faded, and she looked at Leo seriously before slowly nodding.
"I have no doubt about that," she said. "Even in Washington, I've heard plenty of rumors about your ability to cause trouble."
Leo spread his hands.
"So, I was protecting myself."
"If he doesn't become a senator, I'll have to face the arrows from Harrisburg and Washington alone. I need a bigger umbrella, and since I can't buy one on the market, I'll have to make one myself."
Leo looked at Karen and said casually, "Ambition is like a dormant virus; it exists within every politician."
"Murphy didn't have an attack before because the environment was too comfortable and his immune system was too strong."
"And I am the trigger that activated the virus."
"I coughed at him, and he fell ill, and very ill, with no cure but power."
Karen looked at Leo's calm face and sighed inwardly.
This young man is terrifying.
He spoke of using others so frankly and confidently that it made people feel honored to be used by him.
"Alright, enough chit-chat."
Karen opened her briefcase and took out a document.
"Now that you've pushed him to the edge of the cliff, we have to make sure he flies away, not falls to his death."
"This is our campaign timeline."
Karen handed the file to Leo.
"The lieutenant governor from Philadelphia, Murphy's party rival, that guy named Aston Monroe, has already started making moves."
"He organized three large rallies in Philadelphia, which even Hollywood stars attended; they were huge events."
"His poll numbers are rising."
"We must act immediately and not let him gain complete momentum."
Leo opened the file.
This is a detailed battle plan.
From the list of names for fundraising dinners to the roadmap for speaking tours, and even GG strategies targeting different voter groups, everything is included.
Karen truly deserves to be called a top professional.
"First stop," Karen said, pointing to the first line of the document, "Pittsburgh."
"John's base is here; this is his stronghold, and it is also the stronghold of votes that we must defend."
"We need a show that will shake up the whole state."
"We need a visual, a powerful visual representation of progress, jobs, and Pennsylvania's future."
"We want to tell voters across the state that John Murphy is not just a voter, he's a builder."
Karen looked at Leo.
"We have selected a location, a reserved site for the inland port expansion project."
Leo's eyes flickered.
It's still a wasteland, overgrown with weeds and piled high with abandoned shipping containers.
"There's nothing there," Leo said.
"That's what we need," Karen replied. "Desolation is the best canvas."
"I have already contacted Morganfield's public relations team in advance, and they will cooperate with us."
"We will bring in twenty giant crawler cranes. Although they can't work yet, the sight of them standing there is a symbol of industrial power."
"We will use hundreds of brand-new shipping containers to create a huge backdrop on the open ground."
"John will deliver his campaign speech standing in the shadow of those steel behemoths, in the cold winds of the Mononga Hilla."
Karen's voice was filled with excitement.
"He wanted to tell the workers in Pennsylvania that he had brought investment, five hundred million dollars in real money, and thousands of jobs that were about to be created."
"He wanted to point to that wasteland and tell everyone: This will be the starting point for Pennsylvania's revival. And he was the one who lit the fire."
Leo envisioned the scene in his mind.
It was indeed very impactful.
That's hardcore industrial aesthetics, the kind of aesthetic that rust belt voters love.
Compared to Aston Monroe, who sipped red wine and talked eloquently in a hotel banquet hall in Philadelphia, Murphy, standing under the crane, was clearly more like a person who could get things done.
"What about time?" Leo asked.
"Just fourteen days from now."
Karen provided a precise date.
Leo calculated the time.
His pupils contracted slightly.
"Fourteen days later————"
"That's right." Karen nodded. "That is, the tenth day after the end of the twenty-day statutory public notice period for your $500 million bond."
"Why do we have to wait another ten days?"
"Because of the process," Karen explained. "These extra ten days are for the bureaucrats in Harrisburg and Washington to complete the final administrative procedures."
"We need to make sure that the money is already in the City Hall's account the moment Murphy speaks, without any changes."
This is a carefully calculated gamble.
The public notice period is 20 days, plus a 10-day buffer period.
During the remaining four-day public comment period, any legal objections or administrative intervention could cause the bond issuance to fail.
If the bonds cannot be issued, then the $500 million will become a worthless check.
If Murphy were to stand on the construction site at this moment, pointing at thin air and announcing the start of construction, he would become the laughingstock of the entire state.
His campaign will declare society dead on its very first day.
"You're gambling," Leo said, looking at Karen. "What if the bonds get stuck? What if Harrisburg changes its mind?"
"That's your problem, Mr. Mayor."
Karen closed her briefcase.
"John has staked his political life on you."
"He believes you can handle all of this."
"This $500 million must be available in this account by midnight fourteen days from now."
"If the funds haven't arrived by the next morning..."
"Then John's speech will have to be rewritten, and he will most likely have to slink back to Washington to continue being a congressman."
Karen stood up.
"We have no way out, Leo."
"Murphy was already at a disadvantage, and time was extremely tight. If we didn't fire this shot, we would just be waiting to be slaughtered."
Leo leaned back in his chair.
He felt that familiar pressure.
That feeling of adrenaline surging before every high-stakes gamble.
Four days left.
During these four days, he had to make sure that nothing unexpected happened.
"I see."
Leo sat up straight.
Tell John to prepare his speech.
"I will make sure that when the sun rises that day, the land will smell of money."
"Okay." Karen nodded.
She turned and walked towards the door.
As she reached the door, she stopped and glanced back at Leo.
"Oh, right, there's one more thing."
"Aston Monroe recently said in the media that the young mayor of Pittsburgh is a rule-breaker who doesn't know the rules."
"He said that if he became a senator, he would teach you how to observe Pennsylvania political etiquette."
Leo smiled.
"I'm really looking forward to it."
"However, before teaching me manners, I suggested he first learn how to breathe in the mud."
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"Because the next battle won't be fought in the banquet hall."
"We'll drag him into the mud."
Karen smiled.
She pushed open the door and went out.
The office fell silent again.
Leo took out his phone and glanced at the calendar.
Four days to go.
The final hurdle.
If the previous battles were against people, then these last four days are a battle against probability, against luck, and against those unseen undercurrents.
"Mr. President," Leo thought to himself, "it seems we don't have time to rest."
"rest?"
Roosevelt's voice was filled with a fighting spirit.
"There's plenty of time to rest in the grave."
"Now, let's check the defenses."
"I still feel that in these last four days, there are still people who haven't given up."
"Someone even wants to throw a rat into this pot of meat that's about to be cooked."
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