In Too Deep(165)

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"Mr. Smiley, the Mayor is in a meeting right now," the flummoxed secretary said to me as I came in wearing what was perhaps the most obnoxious looking suit ever. A black suit jacket with red contrast stitching paired with a silk wine colored cravat and white shirt was bad enough, but the custom tailored red and black plaid suit pants put it over the top. I'd copied it from an Australian food critic and television personality, although I think I looked a lot better in it than he did.

"But of course, lovely girl!" I said in my boisterous and overly loud Marcus Smiley voice. "But what you forget is that the person the mayor is meeting with is my lovely fiancee and assistant."

"Well, her and and five other business leaders," the secretary countered, her eyes pointedly flickering towards the clock on the wall which declared I was thirty minutes late for the meeting. "His Honor...."

"Wouldn't dare think of having an assembly of local financial movers and shakers without the largest private investor over the past twelve months in the city, would he?" I replied, giving the secretary a disarming grin that I love to call my Han Solo and a bit of a basketball double fake to get around her.

Before she could say anything else I threw open the double doors to the conference room, causing two of the security guards near the podium to reach for their guns before they realized who I was.

"My friends, so sorry for the tardiness," I said, while the secretary fluttered behind me ineffectually. The Mayor, I had to give him credit, played it pretty cool, waving the guards and his secretary off. Sophie, who I had texted ten minutes before and was aware of my arrival, hid a small smile behind a polite hand while I made my way around the large round table and sat down. "My my, what a table. I think I'll sit here between Queen Guinevere and Sir Galahad, if you all don't mind."

"Thank you for joining us, Mr. Smiley," the Mayor replied. "And I have to love the subtlety of your suit for today. Are you going to a bagpipe concert after this?"

"You know how it is, Mr. Mayor. Being understated is my strong suit," I said, breaking the tension and letting things continue. "But please, continue. What did I miss?"

"The Mayor was discussing the recent news reports about increased tension on the streets and how it might affect community relations," Bill Franklin, the president of the largest bank in the city said. He was part of the old guard, and while I knew he personally was clean, I also knew that his bank served as one of the various filtering mediums for both the Confederation and Owen Lynch. Hell, I even had an account there under one of my alternate identities. "He's also concerned about recent economic shifts that might affect employment in the city. With an election coming up soon, he'd rather not have a poor economy being a distraction from the important social issues he wants to focus on."

"I see," I said, looking around at the other people seated at the table. They represented the apathetic monied interests that frustrated me, but couldn't fight against yet. I needed leverage, and my war with the Confederation and Owen Lynch was the tool I needed. "Well, please go on."

The Mayor continued, and I listened with half an ear as he droned on, while I scribbled a note on the legal pad that Sophie had out. Anything of importance?

Not really. BTW, how was your nap?

Useful. Will tell you about it later.

OK.

I listened as the rest of the meeting went on, the other so-called financial and business leaders blathering on, using big words to basically say they didn't want to do anything other than cover their own asses. Finally, when I couldn't stand it any longer, I spoke up. "Mr. Mayor, no offense, but this meeting seems like a giant waste of time."

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Smiley?" Francine Berkowitz, who represented one of the city's unions sputtered. I had cut her off in the middle of a long winded speech where basically she was saying the unions were going to play ball with the status quo, which I knew meant with either Owen Lynch or the Confederation, depending on which union she was talking about. "How dare you..."

"No Ms. Berkowitz, how dare you," I interjected, cutting her off for a second time. "Let's speak honestly for a moment. This city is on a razor's edge because the criminal elements that have controlled the streets for so long are at each other's throats. Just before coming here, I saw on the local news that a bomb just went off at an airport warehouse, killing one man at his desk. Instead of terrorism, the first idea out of the news reporter's mouth is that it was another strike on whoever is trying to control crime in this city, I didn't have a chance to listen to the theory before coming over here. The fact is that crime controls this town, and all of you have either ignored it, condoned it, or are actively working with it. As a result, while you may have lined your own pockets, the life blood of this city has been slowly choked off for far too long."

I turned to the Mayor, looking him in the eye. "Nobody here has the, excuse the term, the stones to do a damn thing about it. So here's what's going to happen. Me and Sophie here, we're leaving. But before we leave, we're making sure that in the next election, this city gets a Mayor that will actually stand up and try to make things better. I don't give a damn about the party, or what their stance is on Common Core education standards, or whether they like their pizza crust thick or thin. What I care about is if they are willing to do what is needed to break the stranglehold that the criminals in this city have on it."