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Chapter 36 Midnight Flames
Leo grabbed his coat and rushed out of the community center.
He flagged down a taxi and rushed to the construction site in the south district as quickly as possible.
From afar, he saw the towering flames that turned the Pittsburgh night sky blood red.
The sirens of fire trucks pierced the silence of the night.
When Leo arrived at the scene, the largest warehouse on the construction site, where building materials were stored, had already been engulfed in flames.
Flames leaped from the warehouse windows and roof, licking the night sky.
Dozens of firefighters are working hard to put out the fire.
Fortunately, the fire occurred at midnight, and there were no other workers on the construction site except for a security guard on duty, so there were no casualties.
However, the batch of environmentally friendly building materials worth over $100,000 stored in the warehouse appears to have been completely destroyed by fire.
Leo looked at the raging fire and felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet.
It was still dark.
While the fire department was still conducting a preliminary investigation into the cause of the fire, Mayor Martin Cartwright, with unusual speed, personally convened an emergency press conference.
The press conference was held in the press conference hall of the city hall at 6:00 a.m.
Cartwright, dressed in a dark suit, stood before the podium with a somber expression.
"Citizens, my heart is heavy," he said to the camera in a somber tone. "Just a few hours ago, a serious fire broke out at a construction site in the southern part of our city."
"First of all, I want to thank our brave firefighters. It is their selflessness that prevented a greater disaster from happening."
"But at the same time, we must seriously ask ourselves, why did this fire happen?"
He abruptly changed the subject, directing his criticism directly at Leo.
"From what I understand so far, this project is being handled by our city's Urban Renewal Committee. The head of the committee, Mr. Wallace, in order to speed up the project and save costs, has hired a large number of unemployed workers who lack professional safety training, which has brought serious hidden dangers to the construction safety of the entire project."
"I cannot tolerate any project that, under the banner of 'serving the people,' ultimately becomes a time bomb threatening the lives and property of the people!"
His words directly characterized the fire, whose cause was unknown, as a serious accident caused by Rio's mismanagement.
Then, he unleashed the deadly combination punches he had prepared long ago.
"I hereby announce that, effective immediately, the city government will establish a special safety investigation team, personally led by myself, to conduct a comprehensive safety review of the cause of this fire and all ongoing projects of the Urban Renewal Committee."
"During this period, I will formally issue an emergency order from the mayor, requiring all construction sites of the 'Pittsburgh Revitalization One' project under the supervision of Mr. Leo Wallace to cease work indefinitely, effective immediately!"
Work has been suspended indefinitely.
These five words, like a sharp sword, precisely pierced Leo's vitals.
This combination of punches was both fast and ruthless.
First, they created trouble, then used public power to escalate an ordinary accident into a huge fuss, and finally, in the name of "public safety," they strangled the legitimacy of all of Rio's projects.
After the press conference, Pittsburgh's mainstream media, especially the Pittsburgh Chronicle, began to frantically stir up the story.
The newspaper's front page headline read in a sensational style.
Midnight fire serves as a stark warning: safety concerns raised about urban revitalization projects.
In the article, the reporter interviewed several so-called "building safety experts".
Those experts, facing the camera, made alarmist analyses of the enormous risks of "directly involving unemployed workers in infrastructure construction."
They implied that this warehouse fire was just the beginning, and that if all projects were not immediately halted, even more horrific worker casualties could occur in the future.
Overnight, public opinion in Pittsburgh shifted from praise and support to skepticism and panic.
In the mayor's office.
Cartwright angrily called Douglas Morganfield.
"Douglas, did you see this? This is the mess your favorite lad has made!" Cartwright roared into the phone. "I need all your media outlets to immediately follow up and report on this. Completely smear this Wallace! Make him a fraudster who treats workers' lives like a joke!"
Morganfield on the other end of the phone just chuckled slowly and casually.
"Martin, don't get so worked up," he said. "News reporting needs to be objective and fair, and it needs to balance the voices of all parties. We can't just listen to your side of the story, right?"
"I suggest we patiently wait for the fire department to provide the most professional investigation results. Before the results are available, any speculation is irresponsible."
Cartwright was trembling with rage.
He knew that Morganfield's so-called neutrality was actually a form of support for Leo Wallace.
Without the full cooperation of Morganfield's media group, he would not have been able to gain an absolute advantage over Rio in the media landscape.
This old fox is really betting on both sides.
Leo stood in front of the warehouse, which had been burned to ruins, the air still filled with the pungent smell of burning.
Dozens of workers who had just found new jobs and were full of hope for the future surrounded him, their faces filled with anxiety and unease.
"Leo, what do we do now? Do we really have to stop production?"
"Can we continue working? We're counting on this salary to pay our rent next month."
The media's cameras and microphones were also aimed at him.
"Mr. Wallace, what is your response to the mayor's accusations?"
Do you believe this fire was truly an accident?
Leo found himself in an unprecedented predicament.
He felt as if he were trapped in an invisible net, and no matter how hard he struggled, he could not escape.
He felt sorry for himself, thinking he was unlucky and why such an accident had happened at this critical juncture.
Roosevelt's voice echoed in his mind.
"There aren't that many coincidences, Leo. Even if this fire really was an accident, at this point in time, it must have a definite enemy."
"Otherwise, you and all your supporters will be burned alive in this fire."
You only have one opponent now.
"That's Martin Cartwright."
Leo looked at the charred ruins before him, at the anxious faces of the workers, and at the incessant flashes of the reporters' cameras.
He knew he could no longer afford to be on the defensive.
He needs to take the initiative and attack.
He dialed Sarah's number.
"Sarah, immediately inform all the media that we will be holding a press conference here in half an hour."
Half an hour later, Leo stood in front of the ruins.
His face held a calmness that surprised all the reporters.
"First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal and sincerest gratitude to our Mayor, Mr. Martin Cartwright."
Leo's first words stunned everyone present.
"Thank you, Mayor, for your concern and attention to the safety of our 'Pittsburgh Revitalization One' project."
"The emergency stop-work order he issued this morning has served as a wake-up call for us, making us realize that in the great cause of community revitalization, safety in production is always the top priority."
These words left the reporters, who were expecting a good show, somewhat confused.
"In response to the mayor's call, I hereby formally announce," Leo's voice rose, "that from today onward, we will transform this shutdown period into our 'Pittsburgh Revitalization Plan's' 'Safety Education Week'."
"During this period, on behalf of the Urban Renewal Committee, I will formally invite all officials and experts from the City Fire Department, the City Labor Department, and the City Building Permit Office to come to our construction site at any time to provide safety training to our workers and to provide the most rigorous guidance and inspection to all our construction processes and safety measures."
"At the same time," he glanced at the media reporters present, "we also welcome our friends in the media to follow, film, and broadcast live the entire 'Safety Education Week' event. Let all the citizens of Pittsburgh see for themselves how our city government is doing its utmost to help us improve the safety level of our construction sites."
Leo's words left everyone present speechless.
No one expected that he would respond to the mayor's work stoppage order in this way.
He unexpectedly thanked the mayor for his concern and put all the bureaucrats sent by the mayor who were ready to cause trouble under the media spotlight.
"A brilliant response," Roosevelt commented in Leo's mind. "Cartwright wants to use his bureaucrats to drag us down, so we'll use the media to tie all those bureaucrats and himself to this chariot."
"Now, the pressure is on them. They either send people to conduct a thorough inspection and training for us, which will only prove to the entire city that our construction site does not have the safety hazards they claim."
"Either they'll just go through the motions, or they won't come at all. That way, they'll completely expose their hypocrisy in front of the whole city."
Leo turned the tables and launched his counterattack, firing the first shot.
But this is not enough.
This event can only temporarily stabilize public opinion, but it cannot solve the most fundamental problem—the truth about that fire.
Leo knew very well that he couldn't possibly determine whether the fire was an accident or arson on his own.
The Pittsburgh Police Department and Fire Department are both under the control of Mayor Cartwright.
He could fully anticipate that the official investigation would ultimately conclude that the accident was caused by either "aging circuitry" or "workers smoking in violation of regulations."
He needs to bring in a third-party force that is not under Cartwright's control.
"The mayor can control the city police department, but he can't control the state," Roosevelt's voice rang out. "Remember, son, in the American political system, the federal, state, and municipal levels of power are mutually restraining. When you are treated unfairly at the municipal level, you must learn to seek help from the higher-level state power."