Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

Francis.President Kennedy thought about his fate. He defeated the enemy and consolidated 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 of 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 for which he died? He has announced that he will participate in the November presidential election and has 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.Duboli focused on pulling women's votes; Arthur.Weeks exerts influence in the circles of East Coast liberals; 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 hearts of the people, but at present, the American people are still in panic caused by the atomic bomb explosion. At Adblad's suggestion, they went to New York to participate in a commemorative parade that marched across Fifth Avenue to the huge fire pit created by the atomic bomb explosion. They used this move to show the country that there was no longer any danger of nuclear radiation. Nor was there another hidden atomic bomb.Kennedy played his part brilliantly, addressing the memorial service and announcing the breaking of ground for a park in memory of all those who died in the nation's hearts.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 downplayed the words, but they drew a lot of attention from the news media.

The crowd cheered Kennedy's speech with deafening cheers.Adblad.Gray 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, isn't their fate, their life, their world and their wealth also mortgaged by those human companions with deformed minds?

Kennedy felt the emotion. Every Friday night, Francis.Kennedy made a televised speech to the public, reporting on the government and government affairs, and these were actually slightly modified campaign words.He now has no worries about the lack of broadcast time. He really has a set of touching words.He said: We are not going to declare war on other countries, but on the misery and hardship in the daily life of each of us. He repeated the same old tune, and brought up the question he asked in the last election: How can any war, costing tens of billions of dollars, bring prosperity besides death?If all this money were used to improve human life, how effective would it be?

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 assumed that these things were lost during the exercise, he said, and this has happened before, only to lose a few valuable young lives.We only thought that there was another accident during the exercise, and a few planes or a few submarines were missing.Critics pointed out that his attitude would hurt the national defense of the United States. He replied that the military spending of the Department of Defense is classified 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 worried. He knew that the Attorney General was dealing with Bert.Odick's behavior, especially some of his behavior at Shahaben, prepares him for serious prosecution; and Martin.Zhitford's financial business has also been subject to more and more investigations. Greenville is old and slippery. Celadin is not worried about him, and he will not be involved in trouble.Seradin knew that his own news empire was also vulnerable, that they had gotten away with it all these years and had become indifferent; Publications, which have too strong a protection in the Constitution, unless of course a bastard like Corley might raise the postage.

But Celadin was really worried about his TV kingdom, among other things, the airwaves were controlled by the government, and the only licenses held by the TV stations that were handed over to them.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 agency under his own direct control gave Seradin a shudder, and it could spell the end of existing television and cable companies. Lewis.Moche has always been a patriot, and there is more or less hidden admiration for Kennedy that is not loyal to 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 monument in it would cost him, of course, but he promised that he would make no profit, and that he would finish the project in six months.Thank God, the explosion caused only minimal radiation.

Everyone knows that Moche does a much better job than any government department, and of course he can figure that he still makes a lot of money out of his infrastructure subsidiary and some advisory planning boards, and this kind of The reputation that the thing brings is immeasurable. Moche is one of the wealthiest men in America.His father was one of those big-city foremen who made money in real estate by cutting corners, cutting wages, and evicting tenants to build more expensive apartments.However, these are not very effective, Moche learned the true meaning of bribery at the knees of his father.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. 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 blamed for the ghastly mass of mass destruction in the Bronx, Harlem, Coney Island, and northwest of downtown. The slums are responsible; and, while preventing people from settling in the Times Square area, he secretly bought up tracts of buildings, and even entire blocks, in the 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 can drive many small homeowners out of the market, and with them small homeowners who only have attics or basements to rent find themselves attracting only drunks, rapists, schizophrenia, Down-and-out artists, drug-addicted sexual harassers, etc., and finally these small homeowners grow impatient and sell their properties and move to the suburbs. But this is all Moche's past entrepreneurial history. He has already become a figure now, and millions of dollars are nothing more than a few cents in his eyes. Lewis.Moche is now one of the few real billionaires in the United States with a family fortune of more than billions of dollars. He owns a car transportation group, a chain of luxury hotels, and an airline company. He also owns the largest gambling playground in Atlantic City. , who owns a number of apartment complexes in Santa Monica, California.It was the Santa Monica property that gave him the biggest headache. Lewis.Moche joined the Socrates Club because he believed these extremely powerful people could help him with his Santa Monica estate.Golf is really the best sport for intrigue. You can play, joke and negotiate, and an agreement will be reached, and absolutely nothing will be found, not even by a menacing congressional investigative committee or a head-shaking reporter. Golfers cannot be charged with criminal intent. It turned out that the Socrates Club was even better than Moche had imagined. He established friendship with about a hundred people who manipulated the American economy and political lifeline, and joined an organization called the Money Guild within the Socrates Club. Organizations have 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 about politics, talking about what works, actually 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 has an unattainable dream, no, not to be the President of the United States. He knows that the brand of a real estate owner on his head will never be erased. He has smeared the face of New York City. Urban murder, millions of slum dwellers in New York, Chicago, Santa Monica would love to stab 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 be careless with Bert.Odick said that I have a thousand votes, which is the catchphrase of Texas oil tycoons, and a vote in Texas means 100 million dollars, and he often felt very annoyed by his chicness , Bert.Odick had this to say about his loss at Dank: God, I lost five hundred votes there!Moche vowed that one day he would say this to Odick: Grandma, I made a thousand dollars in real estate.Odick must have hissed and shouted: What, a hundred billion dollars!Then Moche would say calmly: Oh, no, it's a trillion dollars, and in New York we mean a billion dollars by a vote.Only in this way can the mouth of the old dog of Texas 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 space above the existing buildings in big cities and builds buildings on top of them. Buying the sky is no different than buying land, and only needs a small price, just like in 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 super-giant steel and concrete prisons, but if you don’t like it, you don’t have to live there, it’s just for hobby For the elite of film, theatre, pleasure and museums.These elites certainly have little need for tacky things like jewelry fashion stores. And it is certain that when Lewis.When 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 walking into dark streets. , Or go for a walk in the park, relatively speaking, it is 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 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 with an infuriatingly low second storey, 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 the local law, Mo Qie cannot raise 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 sometimes Moche fantasizes about erecting skyscrapers on the Atlantic Ocean, and the idea makes him dizzy . 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 rear windshield, leaving a piece of Broken glass like a spider's web. 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 on Authoritarian Politicians in a Democratic Society officially opened the next day. Attendees included Bert.Odick, he's being prosecuted now; there's George.Greenville, he's as old as a grain of corn in his great Midwestern granary; there's Lewis.Moche, he was still in shock from the shooting incident that nearly cost him his life yesterday, he had a pretty face and a pale face; there was Martin.Use it.Chitford, even though he wore a set of famous Italian sportswear, he couldn't hide his fat body; in addition, there was Lawrence.Celadin. Bert.Odick brings up the real topic first, who can explain to me that Kennedy was not a communist?He said he wanted to make society's healthcare and housing communal.He sued me under the Terrorism Act, but I'm not an Italian Mafia.His little joke didn't make anyone laugh, so he went on: whatever we try to do, there is a core problem, he is a huge threat to the vital interests of all of us here, and we must take thorough action. George.Greenville said calmly: He can sue you, but he cannot sentence you. There is still a legitimate order in our country.Well, I know you have been wronged a lot, but if you spread dangerous remarks, I will go out. I am not here to listen to speeches that incite treason and secession. Odick jumped up, I love my country more than anyone else in the room, he said, that's what stings me, the accusation of treason against me, me? !When my ancestors came here, the fucking Kennedys were eating sweet potatoes in Ireland, and they were just bootlegging in Boston when I was making a lot of money.The gangsters robbed the plane and opened fire, but it was not my order.Yes, I have an idea for the Shah bin Sultan, but I am for the interests of the United States. Celadin said calmly: We know that Kennedy is difficult to deal with, so this is not the way to discuss a solution.This is both in our interest and our duty.Zhitford said: What Kennedy said to the country is all bullshit. Where did he come from with a lot of capital to support his social programs?He is advocating a communist system in disguise.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?There are already many people who are worried about tax overburden, not to mention Kennedy's policies. Then why do all the polls show Francis.How do you explain that Kennedy would win the November election?Celadin asked impatiently. Like so many times before, he couldn't understand how these tycoons could be so dull. It seemed that they didn't realize Kennedy's magical charisma and his great appeal to ordinary people. , but because they don't want to admit that charm. There was a moment of silence, Martin."I've seen some bills being prepared to control the stock market and the banks," said Zhitford. Get his people in, and the prison will be full of millionaires. I'll be right there waiting for you, Odick said with a grin, and you'll have to believe me then, and I'll send a bouquet of flowers to each of your cells. Mo can't wait to say: You are a big man, I will definitely give you a luxurious single room, so that you can operate your computer and track your super tanker. Odick never liked Lewis.Moche, this kid stacks up big living people from the ground up to the moon, and charges millions of dollars for an apartment with a room not as big as a spittoon. He really doesn't like this kind of person.Odick said: "I'm sure my cell is much bigger than the room in your insanely expensive apartment.I'm going to actually go in, don't be so fucking sure you'll still get oil to heat skyscrapers.Also, 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 government, Greenville felt it was his duty to keep the conversation under control: I think we should invest in Kennedy's opponents, through our friends and surrogates. A lot of money.Martin, I think you should volunteer to be campaign steward. Martin."First we have to figure out what money we're talking about and how we're going to get it together," said Zhitford. Greenville said: How about 100 million yuan per person? Odick said: I have already lost 50 billion dollars, you want me to make another vote? Moche said viciously: "Oh, what is one vote?"Burt, why is the oil industry wilting before us again?Can't you rich Texas guys come up with a hundred million dollars? Celadin said: TV time costs a lot of money. If we want to do a full TV promotion, it will take a total of five full months from now to November, and it will cost a lot of money. Then your TV network can make a lot of money!Moche said forcefully that he had always been quite proud of his reputation as a tough negotiator, and you TV people take your money out of one pocket and return it like a magic trick to another pocket inside.I think that's something we should take into consideration when we're fundraising. Chitford said: Listen, what we're talking about here is a small sum, don't be so stingy.His words made the others angry; everyone knew that Chitford was a big spender, and he was famous for spending a lot of money on women. To him, money was like a relationship between sexes. Like the mysterious electric waves that are transmitted, they are illusory.Money is nothing.Sometimes when he is happy, he will give a Mercedes-Benz luxury car to any random girlfriend.Driving a Mercedes was an exciting 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.Use it.For Zhitford, it's nothing at all. Odick still said angrily: My part has gone into Dank. Chitford said: Bot, aren't you in front of a congressional committee asking for oil loss subsidies? You kid has no choice, Moche told Odick: If Kennedy gets elected and gets his people into his Congress, you kid really gotta get in. George.Greenville began to wonder again whether he should formally disassociate himself from these people, among other things, he was too old for these adventure games.The oil industry often blatantly blackmails the government to make black money, but his grain 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 is very worried, like Bert.Someone as hot-tempered and aggressive as Odick could get them all into really big 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.Zhitford laughed, come on, stop talking nonsense, he said, we are now grasshoppers hanging on a rope, if Kennedy wins, no one can get away with it.Let's talk about the money, let's talk about some serious things first, let's figure out how to beat Kennedy in this election.How about, say, that he didn't act in time to prevent the atomic bomb from going off?And what's the matter that he never found another woman after his wife died?Was he secretly fucking women 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?Seradin said some of his network's rising stars are gay, a topic he's sensitive to, and Odick's words hit a nerve. But unexpectedly Lewis.Moche took up Odick's conversation, come on, he said to Celadin: The public doesn't care which of your stupid comedians are gay, but if the President of the United States Will figure it out in due time.Celadin said. But we can't wait, said Chitford, and besides, the president isn't gay, he's frigid right now.I think our best strategy is to hit him by hitting his assistants.Chitford thought about it.He thought for a while, and said: Attorney General Christie.Corley, I have sent some people to investigate him, you know he is a mysterious person, very rich, I have a look at his bank account, richer than most people think.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 was in the CIA, he was a big boss of covert operations, and I heard some amazing things about him. Hey, maybe these things will be our weapons.Chitford said. Just the grapevine, Odick said, and you'd never see the CIA files, at least not while that kid was around.Greenville said casually: I heard someone say by chance that the chief of staff of the president, that Daisy, is a bit dirty in his personal life. He and his wife always quarrel, and he often goes to see a girl secretly. No, fuck it, Chitford thought, I've got to get this bunch of people off of it.Jaloline.Albanese has put Christie.Corley's threatening words told him. No big deal.He said, even if Daisy was removed from the stage, what would we gain?The public doesn't turn against the president for a top aide getting a girl, unless it's rape or molestation. Odick said: Then we'll give that girl millions of dollars and make her yell she's been raped. Chitford said: "That's a good idea, but she has to moan about being raped for the last three years and spending a lot of money."It doesn't work. Or George.Greenville has made the most valuable contribution: I think we should pay close attention to the matter of the New York atomic bombing, and ask Congressman Kintz and Senator Lambertino to organize a Senate and House of Representatives Hearing and Investigative Committee to subpoena All government officials, even if they can't get any real evidence in the end, they will come up with a lot of related things, enough to keep the news media busy for a while, maybe there will be some windfalls.He turned to Theladin and said: 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: Organize your campaign finance team.I guarantee you will get my 100 million dollars, it is a wise investment. This ends the meeting.Only Bert.Odick is still considering how to take some drastic measures. Not long after the meeting, LawrenceCeladin was received by Francis.Summoned by President Kennedy.As he stepped into the Oval Office, he saw Attorney General Christie.Kohli was there too, and his anxiety grew.President Kennedy did not make any polite remarks. He was no longer the easy-going president, and Seradin felt that he was aggressive and seeking revenge. Kennedy said, "Mr. Saladin, I don't want to use harsh words, but I just want to tell you frankly that my Attorney General, Mr. Corley, has discussed with me and decided to charge you and your network with attempted subversion. He told me that this is an extremely serious punishment, especially when you and other news giants conspired against me, and you supported my impeachment by Congress. Seradin said: The function of our news organization is to report the development of the political situation truthfully. Corley said dryly, "Stop that fart, Lawrence, you guys put on a pair of pants to put pressure on us." "It's all over," Kennedy said.Let's wait and see, your news company will suffer for several years or decades, and I will never allow you to form a monopoly group to manipulate various media in this country. The ownership of TV stations is limited to TV stations, and you can no longer own publishing. You can no longer own magazines, newspapers, or movies. This kind of power is too great, and your hands are stretched too far. It must be restricted.I want you to send a message to your folks that during the impeachment process, you illegally prevented the President of the United States from making televised speeches, which will never happen again. When Seradin told the president that 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 a general election in November, and I'm going to run, and I'm going to support my point of view in the future." 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.He paused, then continued: This may be a matter of our very existence, not just loss of income, not just stricter regulations, but if Kennedy goes far enough, he might 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. It had always belonged to people like Celadin, to whom it was a right that was granted.So the shareholders made a resolution that they would not buy into Kennedy, that they would remain independent and free, and that they believed 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. Seradin 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, and 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.The first step, he wants to take Castella.Here comes Chatterra, 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 cooperate with business executives, they will not achieve great success and great reputation, Castella.Charter knew 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. It's the way she coaxes and bullies celebrities into her prime-time interviews, then relentlessly strips them of their personal lives and asks nasty questions.Seradin thought, Castella.Charter was perhaps the wildest man he had ever known in broadcast television. Seradin invited her to dinner at his apartment, and he liked the company of wild people. The next night, when Castella arrived, Celadin was editing his videotapes, and he led her into his studio, which was equipped with state-of-the-art television recording equipment, monitors, and editing machinery. , all controlled by microcomputer. 卡斯特拉拉過一張凳子坐下說：哎，狗屎，勞倫斯你叫我來就是看你怎麼把《飄》再剪輯一遍？他從屋角的小酒吧檯上給她端上一杯飲料，作為對她的回答。 塞拉丁有個嗜好，他收集了上百部他認為是有史以來最好的電影的錄影，他喜歡拿出一盤電影錄影帶，把它剪短。使之更加生動。即使是他最中意的電影也會有一些他認為多餘或不夠精采的鏡頭或對話，他就用機器把它剪輯掉。現在他的客廳裡用書箱裝著一百部最佳影片的錄影，或多或少的都短了，但是更加完美，有些影片不令人滿意的結尾也給剪掉了。 男僕給他們準備好了晚餐，塞拉丁和卡斯特拉．查特一邊吃，一邊談起她往後的節目。 這樣的話題總能提起卡斯特拉的好心情，她告訴塞拉丁她準備去採訪幾個阿拉伯國家的首腦，然後把他們和以色列總理帶進同一節目；這之後要弄一個三位歐洲國家的首相與她聊天的節目；最後，她非常希望去日本採訪天皇。塞拉丁耐心地聽著，卡斯特拉．查特總有些宏大的夢想，但每隔不久，總能搞成一次突然襲擊。 終於他打斷她的話，調侃說：幹嘛不把甘迺迪總統弄進你的節目裡去呢？ 卡斯特拉．查特一下子失去了興致，我們對他那樣之後，他根本不給我們一點兒時間。 這事是弄得不怎麼好。塞拉丁說，但如果你拉不到甘迺迪，為什麼不找找他的對手呢？為什麼不找金茨眾議員和蘭姆勒蒂諾參議員聽聽他們那一方的故事呢？ 卡斯特拉．查特笑笑，你這個老滑頭！她說，但他們輸了，他們是失敗者，甘迺迪會在下次大選中把他們活活宰了，幹嘛要把輸家拉到我的節目裡？狗屎，誰想看這些喪家之犬？ 塞拉丁說：金茨告訴我他們獲取了關於原子彈爆炸的重要情報，說是政府可能故意拖延了他們的腳步，沒有及時動用核搜尋大隊，搶在原子彈爆炸之前把它找出來。他們會在你的節目中詳細告訴你的，他們會拋出震驚世界的頭號新聞。 卡斯特拉．查特目瞪口呆，然後她哈哈一笑，上帝，她說，這太可怕了。不過在聽你說之後，我有一個問題，一個我緊接著就會問二位國會領袖的問題：憑良心說，你們是否真的認為美國總統對紐約原子彈爆炸的逾萬名死難者犯有罪行？ good question!塞拉丁說。 六月份，勃特．奧迪克乘他的私人飛機飛抵沙哈本，和蘇丹商討重建但克的問題。蘇丹殷勤地招待了他，獻上美酒佳肴，伴有輕歌曼舞。蘇丹在此際還召開了一個國際金融家會議，吸收重建新但克所需的資金，奧迪克忙碌了一個星期，從這個大亨這兒掏一億的票兒，從那個大亨那兒再掏一張票兒，但大量的資金還得從他自己的公司和蘇丹那兒出。 在他滯留的最後一晚，他和蘇丹一起在王宮裡用餐，吃了一會兒，蘇丹叫僕人和衛士們都退了下去。他笑著對奧迪克說：我想咱們現在該把正事辦了。他頓了一下，我要的東西你帶來了嗎？ Bert.奧迪克說：我想首先讓你明白，我不是在幹叛賣我的國家的事兒，我只是要幹掉甘迺迪那個雜種，要不然我就會給關進監獄；而且他現在正在追查咱們過去十年裡所做的買賣，所以我很大程度上也是為了你的利益。 I see.蘇丹溫和地說，而且以後發生的事兒也絕對不會查到我們這兒；你能肯定你那邊查不到任何蹤跡嗎？ Bert.奧迪克說：那當然。然後他打開身邊的小皮箱，蘇丹拿過來取出一包照片和路線圖。 蘇丹看看這些東西，都是些白宮內部的照片，和標明整個建築不同部位的崗哨。這些都是新的嗎？蘇丹問。 不，奧迪克說，在甘迺迪三年前執政後，聯邦調查局的頭子克里斯蒂．科利他還掌管著祕密勤務局做了很多改動，他在白宮裡又專門加了一層總統生活區，我知道那第四層就像個鐵匣子，沒人知道上邊的布防，什麼也沒有公開過，他們當然也根本不能讓公眾知道，除了總統最親近的朋友和助手，誰也不知道那裡的祕密。 這些就可以了。蘇丹說。 奧迪克聳聳肩，我可以出錢，我們必須快速行動，最好是趕在甘迺迪重新當選之前。 那百名先鋒總是能把錢派上用場。蘇丹說，我會看著把它交給他們，但你必須明白，這些人是根據他們自己的信條來行動的，他們不是雇傭的刺客，所以我得讓他們相信，這錢是我，一個受害的小國家的首腦給的，而不是美國人的。他笑了笑，繼續說：在但克遭受破壞後，我覺得我們真是受害不淺。 奧迪克說：這正是我想提起的另一件事情，我的公司在但克被炸毀後損失了五百億美元，我認為我們應當重新安排一下對你的石油擁有的份額。上次你太不講理了。 蘇丹哈哈一笑，但卻友好地說：奧迪克先生，在過去五十多年裡，美國和英國的公司搶劫了阿拉伯人土地上的大量石油，你們只塞給那些無知的遊牧民族的酋長們幾個小錢，而自己卻大發了橫財。這確實足夠羞恥的。現在，我們想努力把石油價格提高到它應有的水準，你的同胞就不滿了，不想一想你們的機器設備和工程技術是怎麼漫天要價的，我們能說些什麼？如果你敢提出這麼個大膽的要求，我倒覺得這一回該你們出個合適的價錢，甚至該輪到你們受點剝削了。我說這話請別生氣，但我確實想著是不是該增加點兒我們的份額呢？ 他們心照不宣，都看出對方身上有一股和自己相似的勁兒，像同胞兄弟身上相同的遺傳因子，在錢的問題上，他們都會不屈不撓地討價還價。他們最終還是彼此和好地笑了。 我打賭美國的消費者們會為他們把甘迺迪選上總統而付出代價的。奧迪克說，我非常不願意為他們做這樁好事。 但你還是要做，蘇丹說，不管怎麼說，你是個生意人，不是政客。 我眼看就是個籠中之鳥了，奧迪克一笑，除非我運氣好，老天爺讓甘迺迪那小子消失掉，你別誤解我的意思，我可以為我的國家獻出一切，但我絕不會讓那些流氓政客把我當傻瓜看。 蘇丹笑著表示贊同：我對我的議會也是這樣。他拍拍手掌把僕人召了進來，然後對奧迪克說：好了，不談這些骯髒的權力與政治的交易，只要我們擁有生活，就讓我們好好享受一下。來，吃，吃，吃。 他們繼續飽餐精美的食物，奧迪克不像某些神經質的美國人，他喜歡阿拉伯味的食品，那羊頭、羊腦對他就像母親的乳汁一樣感到親切。 奧迪克一邊吃，一邊對蘇丹說：如果你有正當的理由需要錢，我會在我那一頭通過祕密管道轉過來，誰也不會查著。對我來說，對甘迺迪採取些行動是非常必要的。 I totally understand.蘇丹說，好了，現在不再談生意，我得盡地主之誼。 這段時間，安妮一直藏匿在西西里她的家裡，當她接到百名先鋒的通知讓她參加一個會議時，她覺得有點兒奇怪。 她在巴勒摩（註：位於義大利西西里島西北部，是西西里島的首府。）會見了兩個成員，這是兩個年輕人，還是在羅馬讀大學的時候，她就認識了他們。這兩個小夥子之中，大一點兒的那個有三十歲左右，安妮一直非常喜歡他，他個子很高，背有些駝，戴一副金絲邊眼鏡，是一個優秀的學者，致力於做一個研究伊特拉斯卡語的傑出教授。在私下朋友之間，他非常溫和友好，但出於對資本主義社會裡殘酷的社會秩序的憎惡，他腦子裡漸漸滋生了在政治上使用暴力的信條。他的名字叫吉奧卡羅。 另外那名百名先鋒的成員，她記得從前是大學左翼幫派中的一個蠱惑人心的活躍分子，有一張大嘴巴，是一個出色的演說家，最喜歡煽動民眾滋事生非，而他自己基本上是說得多做得少。 但在他被義大利警方反恐怖主義機構逮住並遭受了嚴刑拷打後，他的性格就完全變了，換句話說，安妮想，他們消除掉了他身上的那股熱症，讓他在醫院裡趴了一個月，那之後，瑟羅，這是他的名字，變成說得少了、做得更多，再往後，他就成了一名暴力基督，百名先鋒之一。 吉奧卡羅和瑟羅二人現在都不敢公開活動，以躲避警方反恐怖機構的追捕。他們小心翼翼地安排了這次會議。安妮被召到巴勒摩後，按照指示先逛了幾圈，留心做了觀察，然後才去接頭。第二天在一家婦女用品商店碰到了一個叫利維婭的女人，把她帶到了一個小飯館去開會，飯館關了門，停止對外營業，只有店主和唯一一個侍者，很明顯他們都是組織裡的人。接著吉奧卡羅和瑟羅從廚房裡鑽了出來，吉奧卡羅身著廚師服，眼裡閃爍著狡黠喜悅的光芒，手裡端著一大盆義大利通心麵條，上邊放著切好的鮪魚，魚汁把麵條澆成了一片醬紅色；瑟羅跟在他後面，端著一個木盤子，裡邊放著烤得焦黃的帶芝麻粒的麵包和一瓶酒。 四個人，安妮、利維婭、吉奧卡羅和瑟羅，一起坐下來吃午飯，吉奧卡羅把通心粉給每人盛了一份，那個侍者給他們端來了沙拉、一碟鮮紅色的火腿，以及乾奶酪。 為了美好的明天而戰鬥，我們不能餓肚子。吉奧卡羅說，他歡言笑語，看起來完全是輕鬆愉快的模樣。 也不能渴死。瑟羅一邊接著說，一邊往外例酒，但他顯得有點緊張。 兩個女人都自己動手，她們的革命信條之一，就是要打破傳統婦女形象的條框束縛。 但她們還是跳不出這個框框她們來這兒是接受男人的命令的。 他們一邊吃，一邊由吉奧卡羅主持開了會。你們倆都非常聰明，他說，看起來你們沒有因為復活節的行動受到通緝，因此我們決定可以向你們派一項新任務，你倆都極其符合條件，你們有經驗，更重要的是你們有堅強的意志，這樣就召集了你們。但我必須提醒你們，這一次要比復活節行動更危險。 利維婭問道：我們是不是得先自告奮勇，然後方能聽到細節。 瑟羅簡短地作了回答：是的。 安妮不耐煩地說：你們總是來這一套，問你們是否自願？難道我們來這兒就是為了吃這討厭的通心麵嗎？我們來了，就表示我們自願，快別賣關子了。 吉奧卡羅點點頭，他發現她很有意思，他說：好的，好的。 吉奧卡羅把握著時機，他邊吃邊沉思地說：這通心麵不壞呀。他們都開懷而笑，就在快要笑完的當兒，他悠悠地開了口：這次行動，是針對美國總統的，必須幹掉他。甘迺迪先生，把他們國家的原子彈爆炸事件，扣到了我們頭上，他的政府正計劃組織特別行動隊伍，在全球範圍內打擊我們。我剛開完一個會，我們來自世界各地的朋友決定，聯合實施這一次行動。 利維婭說：在美國？那對我們簡直不可能，我們從哪兒弄錢？哪兒來的交通線？怎麼找到安全的住所和吸收人員？最重要的是，必要的情報。我們在美國沒有根基。 瑟羅說：錢沒問題，有人會給我們。人員會逐漸滲透進去，並且限制知道詳情。 吉奧卡羅說：利維婭，你先行一步，我們在美國有祕密支持者，是些非常有勢力的人，他們會幫你找到安全的住所和設置好交通線，你會在一些銀行找到可以利用的錢。你呢，安妮，作為行動的負責人晚些時候去。所以說你這一角色相當關鍵。 安妮感到一陣激動，她終於成了一次行動的領導人，她終於可以和羅密歐、雅布里平等了。 利維婭的聲音打斷了她的思索，我們有多大的把握？ 瑟羅安慰她說：非常有把握，利維婭。即使他們發現了我們，他們也會把你放開，這樣他們可以一網打盡，到安妮開始行動的時候，你已回到義大利了。 吉奧卡羅對安妮說：是這樣，安妮，你得冒更大的危險。 I understand this.Anne said. Me too.利維婭說，我的意思是，我們成功的把握有多大？ very few.吉奧卡羅說，但即使我們失敗了，我們也有收獲，我們表明了我們的清白。 下午餘下的時間裡他們研究了行動計劃，核對了使用的密碼，以及討論了發展祕密行動網路的事兒。直到黃昏的時候他們才結束，安妮問了一個整個下午一直想問又沒問的問題：那麼，告訴我，事情最壞的結局是不是可能會成為一次自殺行動？ 瑟羅低下了頭。吉奧卡羅柔和的眼睛看一會兒安妮，點點頭說：可能是，但這取決於你，我們不作決定。羅密歐和雅布里都還活著，我們希望能把他們救出來，同樣，如果你被逮住了，也是這樣。I swear.