Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

President Francis Kennedy contemplates his fate, having defeated his enemies and strengthened his position, now it is time to make the final decision and take the final step. He has lost his wife and daughter, his personal life and all meaning in his life, and now the only thing he has is his life intertwined with the American people, how far will he have to go to live up to this ideal he has dedicated his life to? He had announced that he would run for president in November and had organized a full campaign, he ordered Christie. Kohli put legal pressure on all big business, and especially on the news media, not to interfere in the campaign process.Vice-President Helen Dubury focused on women's votes; Arthur Weeks exerted influence in East Coast liberal circles; Eugene.Daisy took aim at famous business leaders in the United States to raise funds.But Francis Kennedy knew that these were superficial things, and that in the end everything depended on how well he won the hearts and minds of voters.

The most critical point is: this time the public must create a Congress that firmly supports the President of the United States. What he wants is a Congress that only obeys him. Therefore, Francis Kennedy must understand the public opinion, and at present, the American people are still in the panic caused by the atomic bomb explosion. At Adblad's suggestion, they went to New York to take part in a commemorative parade that marched down Fifth Avenue to the huge fire pit created by the atomic bomb explosion, in order to show the nation that there was no longer any danger of nuclear radiation. , nor another hidden atomic bomb.Kennedy played his part brilliantly, addressing the memorial service and announcing the breaking of a park there to commemorate all those who lost their lives as a national expression of heart.Part of his speech pointed to the dangers of unfettered individual liberty in this age of high technology and bureaucracy. His credo was that individual liberty must be subordinated to a long-term social contract, in order to improve the interests of the general public. The quality and standard of life, individuals must make sacrifices in some aspects.He said the words lightly, but they got a lot of attention from the news media.

The crowd cheered Kennedy's speech with deafening cheers.Adblad. Gerry suppressed the disgust in his heart. This is really ironic. How could the bones of tens of thousands of people build one person's good luck? In those small towns and rural areas, after the panic dissipated, some people gloated that the city of New York really deserved what it deserved, but it was a pity that the scope of the explosion was not larger, killing the indulgent rich, sinister Jews, and black criminals.But in any case, it seems that there is a God in the sky who presided over justice, and he chose a very suitable place to carry out a large-scale punishment.However, this incident really made people in the whole country shudder - think about it, their fate, their lives, their world and their wealth are also mortgaged by those human companions with deformed minds?

Kennedy felt the emotion. Every Friday night, Francis Kennedy gave a televised speech to the public, reporting on the government and the work of the government, and these were actually slightly embellished campaign words.He now has no worries about the lack of broadcast time. He really has a way of moving people.Heart statement."We are not declaring war on other countries, but on the misery and hardship that each of us face in our daily lives," he said. He repeated the same old tune and brought up the question he asked in the last election: "How can any war that costs tens of billions of dollars bring prosperity except death? If all the money is spent How much will it play in improving human life?"

He joked that with the price of a nuclear submarine, the government can support a thousand poor families, and with the price of a batch of stealth bombers, it can support millions of families. "We just thought these things were lost during the drill," he said. "It's happened before, only to lose a few valuable young lives. We just thought it was another accident during the drill, A few less planes or a few submarines." Critics pointed out that his attitude would hurt the national defense of the United States, and he replied that the military spending of the Department of Defense is secret, and no one will know that it has secretly reduced spending.

He has declared that in his second term he will crack down on crime even harder, and he will fight to make it possible for all Americans to buy new homes, pay for health care and get higher education.He said that all the funds needed for these public welfare programs will be paid by the wealthy and large chaebol groups in the United States, which is just a drop in the bucket for them. He declared that he was not advocating socialism, he just wanted to protect Americans from the expropriation and oppression of plutocrats and rich people.He turned these words upside down, upside down, and said and said.

For Congress and the Socrates Club, the President of the United States is declaring all-out war on them. The Socrates Club decided to meet in California to discuss how to defeat Kennedy in the November election. Lawrence Celadin was very concerned, knowing that the Attorney General was preparing serious charges against Bert Odick for his conduct, especially at Shahaben; He has also received more and more investigations. Greenville is always a big slippery man. Celadin is not worried about him, and he will not be involved in trouble.Celadin knew in his heart that his own news empire was also very vulnerable. They had gotten away with it all these years and became careless;

His publishing company, and some of the magazines, would probably be all right, no one could jeopardize the publications, that's too strong a protection in the Constitution, unless of course a bastard like Corley might raise the postage. But Seradin was really worried about his television kingdom, which, among other things, had the airwaves controlled by the government and handed them alms, the only license the TV station held.This is where Celadin often puzzled, the government allowed private companies to make a fortune off the airwaves without properly taxing them.The idea that Kennedy might create a powerful federal communications administration that he would directly control gave Seradin a shudder, and it could spell the end of existing television and cable companies.

Lewis Moche had always been a patriot, and he harbored a more or less unfaithful admiration for Kennedy.Although in New York, people still regard him, the vicious real estate tycoon, as the most abominable person, but he volunteered to rebuild the area destroyed by the atomic bomb in New York City, planning to build a green forest in the damaged block, and To build the marble plaque in it would cost him, of course, but he promised that he would make no profit, and that he would finish the work in six months.Thank God, the explosion caused only minimal radiation. Everyone knows that Moche does things a lot better than any government department, and of course he can figure that he still makes a ton of money out of his infrastructure subsidiary and some advisory planning boards, and that sort of thing The resulting reputation is immeasurable.

Moche is one of the wealthiest men in America.His father was the kind of foreman you see in big cities. He made real estate money by cutting corners, cutting wages, and evicting tenants to build more expensive apartments.However, these are not very effective, the true meaning of Moche learned from his father is bribery.Later, after Moche got a university degree in management and law, he became even more powerful. He bribed city councilors, district chiefs, and even mayors. Moche worked hard to revise New York City's rent control laws, and it was he who brokered several large real estate transactions and built many skyscrapers along Central Park. These steel and concrete behemoths are like the huge ceiling of Central Park. They are all Wall Street stockbrokers, famous university professors, famous writers, chic artists, managers of big hotels, and so on.

Community activists accuse Moche of knocking down so many otherwise good buildings in the process of rebuilding New York that he certainly deserves to be horrified by the horrors of the Bronx, Harlem, Coney Island, and Northwest. He is responsible for the slums in the Times Square area; and, while preventing people from settling in the Times Square area, he secretly bought a large number of buildings and even entire blocks in this area.Moche shot back at this point, saying that these whiners are always so insatiable and push their feet. Another of Moche's strategies was to agitate for the passage of municipal ordinances requiring homeowners to rent out excess space to anyone, regardless of race, color, or creed. Moche gave a speech in support of the passage of these Acts, because then he could drive many small homeowners out of the market, and with them small homeowners who had only attics or basements to rent found themselves attracting only drunkards, rapists, schizophrenia, down and out Artists, drug addicts, sexual harassers, etc., finally these small homeowners grow impatient and have to sell their properties and move to the suburbs. But this is all Moche’s past entrepreneurial history. He has already become a figure now. In his eyes, 1.8 million yuan is nothing more than pocket money. Lewis Moche is now one of the few family properties in the United States A real "tens of billions" rich man with more than billions of dollars, he owns a car transportation group, a chain of luxury hotels, and an airline', and he also owns one of the largest gambling playgrounds in the Atlantic Ocean. Nika owns many apartment complexes.It was the Santa Monica property that gave him the biggest headache. Lewis Moche joined the Socrates Club because he believed that these extremely powerful people could help him with his Santa Monica real estate problems.Golf is really the best sport for conspiracies, you can play while joking, trilateral negotiation, a deal is reached, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, even if it comes from a fiery congressional investigative committee or head shaking Nor can journalists accuse golfers of criminal intent. It turned out that the Socrates Club was even better than Moche had imagined. He became friends with about a hundred people who controlled the lifeline of the American economy and politics, and he also joined an organization called the "Money Guild" within the Socrates Club. , the group has the funds to buy an entire state legislature in one deal.Of course, you can't buy their souls, you're not talking about abstract issues, like devil and God, justice and evil, virtue and sin, etc., no, you're talking politics, talking about what is feasible, in fact 100% Ninety-eight members of Congress you can buy them or re-elect them, but of course there are always 2% of the members who have to listen to the voters, and sometimes some members may oppose you to seek re-election. Lewis Moche had an unattainable dream, no, not to be President of the United States, he knew he would never get rid of the brand of real estate owner, he painted the face of New York City in a mess, from the perspective of architecture For the murder of the city, there were millions of people in the slums in New York, Chicago, and Santa Monica who would have stabbed him if they met him in the street.No, his dream is to become the first trillionaire in the modern civilized world, and a self-made slum trillionaire with callused hands. Moche lived so that one day he could casually say to Bert Odick, "I have a thousand votes." That was a hundred million dollars, and he was often irritated by his slickness, and Bert Odick said of his loss in Dank: "Jesus, I lost five hundred votes there!" Moche vowed that one day he would say to Odick, "Grandma, I made a thousand dollars in real estate." Odick would hiss and say, "What, a hundred billion dollars!" Shi Moche said slowly, "Oh, no, it's one trillion dollars. In New York, our 'one vote' means one billion dollars." Only in this way can the mouth of the old Texas dog be sealed forever. In order to make this dream a reality, Lewis Moche invented the concept of "space investment", which means that he buys the empty space above the existing buildings in big cities, builds buildings on top of them, and buys the sky. It's not like buying land for a small price, just like in his grandfather's time, he spent a few dollars to buy a swamp, and used modern technology to drain the swamp, and it became a land that could make a lot of money.The only problem is that he's going to have to keep citizens and their legislators from stopping him from building skyscrapers like this, and that's going to take time and a lot of investment, but he's pretty confident it will be. Yes, big cities like Chicago, New York, Dallas, and Miami will become more and more like giant steel and concrete prisons, but if you don't like it, you don't have to live there, it's just For the elite who love movies, theatre, pleasure and museums.These elites certainly have little need for tacky things like jewelry fashion stores. And it is also certain that when Lewis Moche finally succeeds, all the slums in New York will cease to exist.To put it simply, those petty criminals and blue-collar workers can no longer afford the rent. They can only take the subway or bus to the city, and then roll to the suburban residence at night, buy or Those who rent the apartment buildings of Moche Real Estate Company can safely go to theaters, dance halls, and luxury restaurants without worrying about going out into the dark streets. Going around, or going for a walk in the park, is relatively much safer than it is now.Living in such a paradise, what is the only thing they need to pay? money! After receiving the notice of the meeting of the Socrates Club in California, Lewis Moche began to cross the United States first, went to several big cities to negotiate with the bosses of the local big real estate companies, and obtained guarantees from them that they would provide funds. Used to defeat Kennedy. When he arrived in Los Angeles a few days later, he decided to stop by Santa Monica before a meeting. The reason why Santa Monica is one of the most beautiful towns in the United States is mainly because the local residents voted to keep the rent stable and control the scale of infrastructure, successfully resisting the interests of real estate developers and their desire to build skyscrapers here. attempt.On Ocean Street, a nice apartment overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the rent is only one-sixth of the average monthly income of ordinary citizens, which is really cheap. This place has driven Moche crazy for twenty years. Moche saw what the Santa Monicas were doing as an atrocity, a violation of the American spirit of free enterprise.He bought a number of apartment buildings here, charming Spanish-style dwellings, two stories high and exasperatingly low, with front yards and gardens, a waste of precious land.Under normal circumstances, the rent of these small western-style buildings can be ten times higher than the current level, but according to local laws, Moche cannot increase the rent of this paradise.Alas, the skies over Santa Monica are worth a billion dollars, and the views of the Pacific Ocean are worth much more, and Moche sometimes feels dizzy at the thought that skyscrapers should be erected straight across the Atlantic. However, although he invited three city councilors to Mike's restaurant to explain his grand plan, he didn't dare to bribe directly. He just lobbied that if some laws were changed, everyone could become a millionaire , but they were indifferent, and he couldn't help feeling frustrated.But this is not the worst. When Moche got into his luxury car, there was a sudden loud noise, glass shards fell in the car, and a hole was pierced in the windshield at the rear of the car, leaving a piece of Broken glass with cobwebs. When the police arrived, they told him it was an automatic rifle bullet, and asked him if he had any enemies.Moche assured them with all sincerity.He didn't. The Socrates Club's special colloquium "Dictatorship Politicians in a Democracy" officially opened the next day. There was Bert Odick, who was now being prosecuted; George Greenville, who was as old as a grain of corn in his great Midwestern granary; and Lewis. Moche, he was still in shock from the shooting incident that nearly cost him his life yesterday, with a pretty face and pale face; There is Martin. "Take it and use it."Chitford, who couldn't hide his growing figure in a designer tracksuit from Italy; and Laurence Celadin. Bert Odick picked up the real topic first, "Can someone explain to me that Kennedy wasn't a communist?" He said, "He wants to communalize society's healthcare and housing. He's suing me with anti-terrorism laws, but I'm not an Italian Mafia." His little joke didn't make anyone laugh, so he went on: " No matter what we want to do, we have to face a core issue, he is a huge threat to the vital interests of all of us here, and we must take thorough action." George Greenville said slowly, "He can sue you, but he can't sentence you—there's still order in our country. Well, I know you've been wronged a lot, but if you spread something dangerous Just get out, I'm not here to listen to speeches that incite treason and secession." Odick jumped up, "I love my country more than anyone in the room," he said, "and that's what stings me, the charge against me of treason, me?! My ancestors When I got here, the fucking Kennedys were eating sweet potatoes in Ireland, they were just bootlegging booze in Boston when I was making a lot of money. Those gangsters robbed planes and shot them, it wasn't me Orders given. Yes, I gave the Shah bin Sultan an idea, but I did it for the benefit of the United States." Celadin said calmly: "We know that Kennedy is difficult to deal with, and this is not to discuss a solution. This is not only related to our interests, but also our duty." Yitford said: "Kennedy said to the people of the country Those words are all bullshit, where does the huge amount of capital come from to support his social plans? He is advocating a disguised communism system. If our news media can explain this clearly and make a fuss about it, who will believe his stuff? Who wouldn't want to be a millionaire under our free market economic system?A lot of people are already worried about tax overburden, not to mention Kennedy's policies. " "Then why do all the polls show Francis Kennedy winning the November election?" Seradin asked impatiently, unable to figure it out, as he had done so many times before. How can the tycoons be so dull, it seems that they are not at all aware of Kennedy's magical personal twist, and his great appeal to ordinary people, but because they don't want to admit that charm. After a moment of silence, Martin Chitford said: "I have seen some bills being prepared to control the stock market and the banks. If Kennedy gets these things, he can find faults endlessly, and only If he gets his men in the legislature, the prison will be full of millionaires." "I'll be right there waiting for you," Odick said with a grin. "Then you should take my word for it. I'll send a bouquet of flowers to each of your cells." Mo couldn't wait to say: "You big man, I will definitely give you a luxurious single room so that you can operate your computer and track your supertanker." Odick had never liked Lewis Moche, the guy who stacked human beings from the ground up to the moon and charged millions for apartments no bigger than a spittoon.Odick said: "I'm sure my cell is much bigger than the room in your insanely expensive apartment. If I actually go in, don't be so fucking sure you can get oil to heat skyscrapers. And, I'm sure I'd have a better time in jail than in your big casino in Atlantic City." As the oldest of these men and the most experienced in dealing with the administration, Greenville felt it was his responsibility to keep the conversation under control: "I think, through our friends and surrogates, we should Plenty of money. Martin, I think you should volunteer to be campaign steward." Martin Chitford said: "First we have to figure out what money we're talking about and how we're going to get it together." "How about $100 million each?" Greenville said. Odick said, "I've lost $50 billion, and you want me to make another one?" Moche said viciously: "Oh, what is a vote? Burt, why is the oil industry wilting before us again? Can't you rich Texas guys come up with a hundred million? " "Television time costs a lot of money," Seradin said. "If we want to do a full-on TV campaign, it's going to be five full months between now and November. It's going to cost a lot of money." "Then your TV network will be able to make a lot of money!" Moche said aggressively. He has always been quite proud of his reputation as a tough and fierce negotiator. "You TV people never Money goes out of one pocket, and it’s conjured back into another pocket. I think that’s something we should take into account when we’re raising money.” Chitford said, "Listen, we're talking about a small sum here, don't be so stingy." He made the others pissed; Notoriously spending huge sums of money on women, money was as ethereal to him as a mysterious electric wave between the sexes.Money is nothing.Sometimes he would give a Mercedes limousine to any random girlfriend when he felt happy.Driving a Mercedes was a thrilling pastime he had learned from the wealthy Texas men.If he kept a mistress for more than a year, he'd give her an apartment to keep her until she died.One of the mistresses had an estate in Italy and an apartment in Rome; he also bought a casino in England for one of his illegitimate sons.None of this was a problem for him, it was just a matter of rushing to sign a few pieces of paper.That's not bad. Wherever he goes now, there is a place to stay. The same way that the girl named Albanese now owns her famous hotel and apartment.And many other women.Money, to Martin. "Take it and use it."For Zhitford, it's nothing at all. Odick still said angrily: "My part has gone to Dank." Chitford said, "Bert, aren't you in front of a congressional committee asking for oil loss compensation?" "You kid has no choice," Moche told Odick. "If Kennedy gets elected and puts his people in his Congress, you kid really gets in." George Greenville began to wonder again whether he should formally disassociate himself from these people, if nothing else, he was too old for these adventure games.The oil industry often blatantly blackmails the government to make black money, but his grain and oil empire is relatively less risky than other people's respective fields. His grain trading has always been kept low-key, and the common people generally don't know about it. There are only about five or six companies. Private corporations control the entire world's food.Greenville feared that someone as hot-tempered and combative as Bert Odick might get them all into really serious trouble.However, he could not bear the joy of life at the Socrates Club, week-long workshops, seminars full of interesting discussions on various world events, and playing chess and bridge, which he liked.But he had lost the drive to fight for the good of his own comrades. Moche said, "Come on, Bert, what's a 'ticket' to the oil industry? You guys have sucked the public's tits dry on how much you guys have subsidized oil production for the last hundred years. " Martin Chitford laughed. "Come on, stop that bullshit," he said. "We're ants on a string now, and if Kennedy wins, it's nobody's business. It's about the money." , that's over, let's get down to business now, let's figure out how to beat JFK in this election. How about he didn't act in time to stop the atomic bombing? And after his wife died What's the matter with him never getting another woman? Is he secretly fucking in the White House, like his Uncle Jack? There are so many things to make a fuss about, and what about his personal assistant?We have a lot to do. " This distracted them, and Odick thought for a moment and said, "He doesn't have any women, I've checked that, maybe he's gay." "So what?" said Seradin, who was sensitive to the topic of some of his network's rising stars being gay, and Odick's words hit him sorely. But Lewis Moche took up the subject of Odick. "Come on," he said to Seradin, "the public doesn't care which of your stupid comedians are gay, but if the President of the United States..." "We'll figure it out in time," Seradin said. "But we can't afford to wait," said Itford, "and besides, the president isn't gay, he's a bit frigid right now. I think our best strategy is to hit him by hitting his assistants. "Yitford was thoughtful. He thought for a while, and said: "Commander Christy Corley, I have sent some people to investigate him. You know that he is a mysterious figure and very rich. I have taken a look at his The bank account is much richer than most people imagine. But he doesn't spend much money, doesn't look for women, and doesn't take drugs, which can be seen from his financial transactions.He's a great lawyer, but he doesn't really take the law seriously, but he does a lot of things well, and he's known to be loyal to Kennedy, and it's amazing what he's done with the President, but He was too defensive, but it was not good for Kennedy's campaign, because Corley would not let him have too much publicity.After all, I plan to focus on this Corley. " Odick said, "Corley has been in the CIA, he's been a big covert ops boss, and I've heard some amazing things about him." "Hey, maybe these things will be our weapons," said Itford. "It's just gossip," said Odick, "and you'll never see the CIA files, at least not when that kid Tabby was in office." Greenville said casually, "I overheard Others say that Daisy, the chief of the presidential office, is a little dirty in his personal life, he and his wife always quarrel, and often go to see a girl in secret." No, fuck it, Chitford thought, I've got to get this bunch of people off of it.Geroline.Albanese had already told him what Christie Curley had threatened. "No big deal," he said. "Even if we get Daisy out of office, what do we get? The public doesn't turn against the president because of a top aide who got a girl, unless it's rape or sexual harassment." "Then we'll give that girl millions of dollars and make her yell she's been raped," Odick said. "It's a good idea, but she's moaning about being raped for the last three years and spending a lot of money. It's not going to work," Chitford said. It was George Greenville who made the most valuable contribution: "I think we should focus on the atomic bombing in New York and ask Representative Kintz and Senator Lambertino to organize a Senate and House hearing investigation. Committee, ask all the government officials, even if they don't get any real evidence in the end, they will come up with a lot of related things, enough to make the news media lively for a while, maybe there will be some windfalls." He Turning to Celadin, "This is the area where you can make a big difference, and we have our best hopes for it. Well, I suggest we act now. "Then he said to Chitford: 'Get your campaign finance team together.I guarantee you will get my 100 million dollars, it is a wise investment. " This ends the meeting.Only Bert Audick was still thinking about how to take some drastic measures. Not long after the meeting, Lawrence Celadin was summoned by President Francis Kennedy.As he stepped into the Oval Office, he was increasingly anxious to see Attorney General Christy Corley there.President Kennedy made no gestures. He was no longer the easy-going president, and Seradin felt that he was aggressive and seeking revenge. "I don't want to use harsh words, Mr. Serradine, but I just want to tell you frankly that my Attorney General, Mr. Corley, after discussions with me, has decided to charge you and your television network with attempted subversion," Kennedy said. Net, he told me that this is an extremely serious punishment, especially when you and other news giants jointly conspired against me, and you supported Congress’s impeachment of me.” "The function of our news organization is to report political developments as they are," Seradin said. Corley said dryly, "Stop that fart, Lawrence, you guys put on a pair of pants to put pressure on us." Kennedy said: "This is all in the past. We will look at the future. Your news company will suffer for several years and decades. I will never allow you to form a monopoly group to control the ownership of various media and TV stations in this country. It is limited to TV stations, no publishing houses, no magazines, no newspapers, no movies, this power is too great, your hands are too long, it must be limited. I want you Send your folks a message that during the impeachment process, you illegally prevented the President of the United States from making a televised speech, and it will never happen again." When Seradin told the president he didn't trust Congress to let him carry out his plans, Kennedy grinned at him and said, "This Congress won't, but we have an election in November, and I'm going to run, and I'm going to support me in the future." People with opinions are sent to Congress." Lawrence Celadin went back to meet with his network's other shareholders to report the bad news. “We have two paths,” he said, “one is to start supporting him now and report positively on his actions and his policies; the other is to maintain our independence and freedom and oppose him when we feel the need.” After a pause, he continued: "This may be a matter of our survival, not just loss of income, not just stricter regulations, but if Kennedy goes far enough, he may even revoke us. business license." This is simply too much. It is unthinkable to revoke the license of the TV network. It is like the early settlers who watched their land being taken back by the government. , has always belonged to people like Celadin, to whom it is a natural right.Therefore, the shareholders made a resolution that they would not buy Kennedy, they would remain independent and free, and they recognized that Kennedy was indeed an extremely dangerous threat to democratic capitalism and that he must be removed from office.Celadin informed several key members of the Socrates Club of this decision. Celadin pondered for days how he could launch a campaign against President Kennedy on his network without making it too explicit, anyway, the American public believed in fair play, who they didn't like In a rude stroke, the American public believes in a proper legal order despite having the highest crime rate in the world. He moves carefully.As a first step, he would bring in Castella Chatra, the host of the most-watched TV show in the country.Of course, he couldn't be too explicit. The show hosts were too spoiled and couldn't stand public interference. But if they don't know how to work with business executives, they won't achieve great results and great reputations, and Castella Charter knows this well. Seradin had raised her lovingly for twenty years, when he caught her while she was hosting the morning show, and later transferred her to the evening prime-time show.Charter's interview style has always been stubborn and brazen. She once grabbed the then Secretary of State by the collar and burst into tears, crying that if he didn't give her twenty minutes of interview time, she would lose her job.就是这样对那些名人连哄带骗、软施硬磨把他们拉进她的黄金时间的采访节目，然后毫不留情地扒开他们的私生活一面，问些恶毒的问题。塞拉丁想，卡斯特拉·查特也许是他在广播电视行业里所知道的最野蛮的人。 塞拉丁邀请她到他的公寓进餐，他喜欢和野蛮的人呆在一起。 第二天晚起，卡斯特拉来的时候，塞拉丁正在剪辑他的录相带，他把她领进他的工作间，里边装有最先进的电视录相设备、以及监测仪、剪辑机械片，全由微电脑控制。 卡斯特拉拉过一张凳子坐下说：“哎，狗屎，劳伦斯你叫我来就是看你怎么把再剪辑一遍？”他从屋角的小酒吧台上给她端上一杯饮料，作为对她的回答。 塞拉丁有个嗜好，他收集了上百部他认为是有史以来最好的电影的录相，他喜欢拿出一盘电影录相带，把它剪短。使之更加生辉。即使是他最中意的电影也会有一些他认为多余或不够精彩的镜头或对话，他就用机器把它剪辑掉。现在他的客厅里用书箱装着一百部最佳影片的录相，或多或少的都短了，但是更加完美，有些影片不令人满意的结尾也给指掉了。 男仆给他们准备好了晚餐，塞拉丁和卡斯特拉·查特一边吃，一边谈起她往后的节目。 这样的话题总能提起卡斯特拉的好心情，她告诉塞拉丁她准备去采访几个阿拉伯国家的首脑，然后把他们和以色列总理带进同一节目；这之后要弄一个三位欧洲国家的首相与她聊天的节目；最后，她非常希望去日本采访天皇。塞拉丁耐心地听着，卡斯特拉·查特总有些宏大的梦想，但每隔不久，总能搞成一次突然袭击。 终于他打断她的话，调侃说：“干嘛不把肯尼迪总统弄进你的节目里去呢？” 卡斯特拉·查特一下子失去了兴致，“我们对他那样之后，他根本不给我们一点儿时间。” “这事是弄得不怎么好。”塞拉丁说，“但如果你拉不到肯尼迪，为什么不找找他的对手呢？为什么不找金茨众议员和兰姆勒蒂诺参议员听听他们那一方的故事呢？” 卡斯特拉·查特笑笑，“你这个老滑头！”她说，“但他们输了，他们是失败者，肯尼迪会在下次大选中把他们活活宰了，干嘛要把输家拜到我的节目里？他妈的，谁想看这些丧家之犬？” 塞拉丁说：“金茨告诉我他们获取了关于原子弹爆炸的重要情报，说是政府可能放意拖延了他们的脚步，没有及时动用核搜寻大队，抢在原子弹爆炸之前把它找出来。他们会在你的节目中详细告诉你的，他们会抛出震惊世界的头号新闻。” 卡斯特拉·查特目瞪口呆，然后她哈哈一笑，“上帝，”她说，“这太可怕了。不过在听你说之后，我有一个问题，一个我紧接着就会问二位国会领袖的问题：“凭良心说，你们是否真的认为美国总统对纽约原子弹爆炸的逾万名死难者犯有罪行？“'”好问题！ “塞拉丁说。 六月份，勃特·奥迪克乘他的私人飞机飞抵沙哈本，和苏丹商讨重建但克的问题。苏丹殷勤地招待了他，献上美酒佳肴，伴有轻歌曼舞。苏丹在此际还召开了一个国际金融家会议，吸收重建新但克所需的资金，奥迪克忙碌了一个星期，从这个大亨这儿掏一亿的“票儿”，从那个大亨那儿再掏一张“票儿”，但大量的资金还得从他自己的公司和苏丹那儿出。 在他滞留的最后一晚，他和苏丹一起在王宫里用餐，吃了一会儿，苏丹叫仆人和卫士们都退了下去。 他笑着对奥迪克说：“我想咱们现在该把正事办了。”他顿了一下，“我要的东西你带来了吗？” 勃特·奥迪克说：“我想首先让你明白，我不是在于叛卖我的国家的事儿，我只是要干掉肯尼迪那个杂种，要不然我就会给关进监狱；而且他现在正在追查咱们过去十年里所做的买卖，所以我很大程度上也是为了你的利益。” “我明白。”苏丹温和地说，“而且以后发生的事儿也绝对不会查到我们这儿；你能肯定你那边查不到任何踪迹吗？” 勃特·奥迪克说：“那当然。”然后他打开身边的小皮箱，苏丹拿过来取出一包照片和路线图。 苏丹看看这些东西，都是些白宫内部的照片，和标明整个建筑不同部位的岗哨。“这些都是新的吗？”苏丹问。 “不，”奥迪克说，“在肯尼迪三年前执政后，联邦调查局的头子克里斯蒂·科利——他还掌管着秘密务局——做了很多改动，他在白宫里又专门加了一层总统生活区，我知道那第四层就象个铁匣子，没人知道上边的布防，什么也没有公开过，他们当然也根本不能让公众知道，除了总统最亲近的朋友和助手，谁也不知道那里的秘密。” “这些就可以了。”苏丹说。 奥迪克耸耸肩，“我可以出钱，我们必须快速行动，最好是赶在肯尼迪重新当选之前。” “那百名先锋总是能把钱派上用场。”苏丹说，“我会看着把它交给他们，但你必须明白，这些人是根据他们自己的信条来行动的，他们不是雇佣的刺客，所以我得让他们相信，这钱是我，一个受害的小国家的首脑给的，而不是美国人的。”他笑了笑，继续说： “在但克遭受破坏后，我觉得我们真是受害不浅。” 奥迪克说：“这正是我想提起的另一件事情，我的公司在但克被炸毁后损失了五百亿美元，我认为我们应当重新安排一下对你的石油拥有的份额。上次你太不讲理了。” 苏丹哈哈一笑，但却友好地说：“奥迪克先生，在过去五十多年里，美国和英国的公司抢劫了阿拉伯人土地上的大量石油，你们只塞给那些无知的游牧民族的酋长们几个小钱，而自己却大发了横财。这确实足够羞耻的。现在，我们想努力把石油价格提高到它应值的水平，你的同胞就不满了，不想一想你们的机器设备和工程技术是怎么漫天要价的，我们能说些什么？如果你敢提出这么个大胆的要求，我倒觉得这一回该你们出个合适的价钱，甚至该轮到你们受点剥削了。我说这话请别生气，但我确实想着是不是该增加点儿我们的份额呢？” 他们心照不宣，都看出对方身上有一股和自己相似的劲儿，象同胞兄弟身上相同的遗传因子，在钱的问题上，他们都会不屈不挠地讨价还价。他们最终还是彼此和好地笑了。 “我打赌美国的消费者们会为他们把肯尼迪选上总统而付出代价的。”奥迪克说，“我顶不愿意为他们做这桩好事。” “但你还是要做，”苏丹说，“不管怎么说，你是个生意人，木是政客。” “我眼看就是个笼中之鸟了，'澳迪克一笑，”除非我运气好，老天爷让肯尼迪那小子消失掉，你别误解我的意思，我可以为我的国家献出一切，但我绝木会让那些流氓政客把我当傻瓜使。 " 苏丹笑着表示赞同：“我对我的议会也是这样。”他拍拍手掌把仆人召了进来，然后对奥迪克说：“好了，不谈这些肮脏的权力与政治的交易，只要我们拥有生活，就让我们好好享受一下。来，吃，吃，吃。” 他们继续饱餐精美的食物，奥迪克不象某些神经质的美国人，他喜欢阿拉伯味的食品，那羊头、羊脑对他就象母亲的乳汁一样感到亲切。 奥迪克一边吃，一边对苏丹说：“如果你有正当的理由需要钱，我会在我那一头通过秘密渠道转过来，谁也不会查着。对我来说，对肯尼迪采取些行动是非常主要的。” “我完全理解。”苏丹说，“好了，现在不再谈生意，我得尽地主之宜。” 这段时间，安妮一直藏匿在西西里她的家里，当她接到“百名先锋”的通知让她参加一个会议时，她觉得有点儿奇怪。 她在巴勒摩会见了两个成员，这是两个年轻人，还是在罗马读大学的时候，她就认识了他们。这两个小伙子之中，大一点儿的那个有三十岁左右，安妮一直非常喜欢他，他个子很高，背有些驼，戴一副金丝边眼镜，是一个优秀的学者，致力于做一个研究伊特拉斯卡语的杰出教授。在私下朋友之间，他非常温和友好，但出于对资本主义社会里残酷的社会秩序的憎恶，他脑子里渐渐滋生了在政治上使用暴力的信条。他的名字叫吉奥卡罗。 另外那名“百名先锋”的成员，她记得从前是大学左翼团伙中的一个蛊惑人心的活跃分子，有一张大嘴巴，是一个出色的演说家，最喜欢煽动民众滋事生非，而他自己基本上是说得多干得少。 但在他被意大利警方反恐怖主义机构逮住并遭受了严刑拷打后，他的性格就完全变了，换句话说，安妮想，他们消除掉了他身上的那股热症，让他在医院里趴了一个月，那之后，瑟罗，这是他的名字，变成说得少了、做得更多，再往后，他就成了一名“暴力基督”，“百名先锋”之一。 吉奥卡罗和瑟罗二人现在都不敢公开活动，以躲避警方反恐怖机构的追捕。他们小心翼翼地安排了这次会议。安妮被召到巴勒摩后，按照指示先逛了几圈，留心做了观察，然后才去接头。第二天在一家妇女用品商店碰到了一个叫利维娅的女人，把她带到了一个小饭馆去开会，饭馆关了门，停止对外营业，只有店主和唯—一个侍者，很明显他们都是组织里的人。接着吉奥卡罗和瑟罗从厨房里钻了出来，吉奥卡罗身着厨师服，眼里闪烁着狡黠喜悦的光芒，手里端着一大盆意大利通心面条，上边放着切好的就鱼，鱼汁把面条浇成了一片酱红色；瑟罗跟在他后面，端着一个木盘子，里边放着烤得焦黄的带芝麻粒的面包和一瓶酒。 四个人，安妮、利维哑、吉奥卡罗和瑟罗，一起坐下来吃午饭，吉奥卡罗把通心粉给每人盛了一份，那个传者给他们端来了沙拉。 一碟鲜红色的火腿，以及干奶酪。 “为了美好的明天而战斗，我们不能饿肚子。”吉奥卡罗说，他欢言笑语，看起来完全是轻松愉快的模样。 “也不能渴死。”瑟罗一边接着说，一边往出例酒，但他显得有点紧张。 两个女人都自己动手，她们的革命信条之一，就是要打破传统妇女形象的条框束缚。 但她们还是跳不出这个框框——她们来这儿是接受男人的命令的。 他们一边吃，一边由吉奥卡罗主持开了会。 “你们俩都非常聪明，'她说，“看起来你们没有因为复活节的行动受到通辑，因此我们决定可以向你们派一项新任务，你俩都极其符合条件，你们有经验，更重要的是你们有坚强的意志，这样就召集了你们。但我必须提醒你们，这一次要比复活节行动更危险。 " 利维娅问道：“我们是不是得先自告奋勇，然后方能听到细节。” 瑟罗简短地作了回答：“是的。” 安妮不耐烦地说：“你们总是来这一套，问'你们是否自愿？'难道我们来这儿就是为了吃这讨厌的通心面吗？我们来了我们就是自愿，快别卖关子了。” 吉奥卡罗点点头，他发现她很有意思，他说：“好的，好的。” 吉奥卡罗把握着时机，他边吃边放做沉思地说：“这通心面不坏呀。”他们都开怀而笑，就在快要笑完的当儿，他悠悠地开了口：“这次行动，是针对美国总统的，必须干掉他。肯尼迪先生，把他们国家的原子弹爆炸事件，扣到了我们头上，他的政府正计划组织特别行动队伍，在全球范围内打击我们。我刚开完一个会，我们来自世界各地的朋友决定，联合实施这一次行动。” 利维娅说：“在美国？那对我们简直不可能，我们从哪儿弄钱？ 哪儿来的交通线？怎么找到安全的住所和吸收人员？最重要的是，必要的情报。我们在美国没有根基。 " 瑟罗说：“钱没问题，有人会给我们。人员会逐渐渗透进去，并且限制知道详情。” 吉奥卡罗说：“利维娅，你先行一步，我们在美国有秘密支持者，是些非常有势力的人，他们会帮你找到安全的住所和设置好交通线，你会在一些银行找到可以利用的钱。你呢，安妮，作为行动的负责人晚些时候去。所以说你这一角色相当关键。” 安妮感到一阵激动，她终于成了一次行动的领导人，她终于可以和罗密欧。雅布里平等了。 利维娅的声音打断了她的思索，“我们有多大的把握？” 瑟罗安慰她说：“非常把握，利维娅。即使他们发现了我们，他们也会把你放开，这样他们可以一网打尽，到安妮开始行动的时候，你已回到意大利了。” 吉奥卡罗对安妮说：“是这样，安妮，你得冒更大的危险。” “我明白这一点。”安妮说。 “我也是。”利维娅说，“我的意思是，我们成功的把握有多大？” “非常少。”吉奥卡罗说，“但即使我们失败了，我们也有收获，我们表明了我们的清白。” 下午余下的时间里他们研究了行动计划，核对了使用的密码，以及讨论了发展秘密行动网络的事儿。 " 天黄昏的时候他们才结束，安妮问了一个整个下午一直想问又没问的问题：“那么，告诉我，事情最坏的结局是不是可能会成为一次自杀行动？” 瑟罗低下了头。吉奥卡罗柔和的眼睛看一会儿安妮，点点头说：“可能是，但这取决于你，我们不作决定。罗密欧和雅布里都还活着，我们希望能把他们救出来，同样，如果你被逮住了，也是这样。我发誓。”