novelnext Chapter 64 Frontal Attack
Chapter 64 Frontal Attack
Half an hour later, Montoya got back into his car.
He took out his phone and dialed Sanders' private number.
The phone was answered after only one ring.
That stubborn old man had clearly been waiting for this call.
"Daniel, it's me."
"We've reached an agreement."
"Data access to Pittsburgh will be fully restored by 9:00 AM tomorrow. The chairman of the local council will apologize to Wallace and acknowledge that it was a mistake."
A soft hum came from the other end of the phone.
"Very well, so what do we have to give in return?"
"Next Tuesday, the vote on the supplementary provisions of the Regional Economic Recovery Bill," Montoya said bluntly. "I want to see thirty green votes in favor. No abstentions, no absenteeism, no excuses."
"Deal," Sanders replied crisply.
Montoya continued, "And one last thing, Daniel, about Pittsburgh."
"Starting tomorrow, Washington will no longer interfere in the elections there. The National Committee will no longer provide Cartwright with any additional special funding, nor will there be any further administrative interference against Wallace."
"In return, you and your party can no longer use Pittsburgh as your political stage, and you can no longer use national resources to saturate and bombard that district."
"We want to give Pittsburgh back to the people of Pittsburgh."
"Let those two candidates win based on their own abilities."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
Sanders is clearly weighing the pros and cons of this condition.
Although he felt a little dissatisfied that he couldn't completely purge the bureaucrats who were pulling the strings behind the scenes, he also knew that this was the best outcome he could achieve at the moment.
He preserved Leo's space to live and removed the shackles binding him.
It also demonstrated the power of the progressives to the whole of Washington—that if anyone dared to touch my people, I could shut down the entire Congress.
Establishing this kind of deterrent is more valuable than simply winning or losing.
As for a fair match between Leo and Cartwright...
Sanders remembered the young man's eyes at the Philadelphia dinner party, and his promise on the phone about "holding an umbrella."
He had confidence in that young man.
"Okay," Sanders said. "We accept this agreement."
"Very good." Montoya breathed a sigh of relief. "That's all then. Goodnight, Daniel."
Goodnight, Codd.
The phone hangs up.
A political crisis that was about to ignite a civil war among the Democratic Party's top brass and could even jeopardize the entire midterm election was thus averted in the time it takes for a few bigwigs to have a phone call and a glass of whiskey.
In this smoke-filled room, there is no justice, no evil, only naked calculation and balance.
This is how Washington does things.
……
In the prefab office, Karen Miller sat in front of her computer, refreshing the red login screen from time to time.
Although she knew in her heart that without Washington's approval, this situation would not change until this time next year.
The phone rang abruptly; it was the landline on the desk used for official business.
Leo answered the phone.
"This is the Pittsburgh Urban Renewal Commission."
A slightly aged voice came from the other end of the phone, but it was clearly tinged with embarrassment and reluctance.
"I am Robert Hammond, Chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee."
Leo raised an eyebrow and gestured for everyone else in the office to be quiet.
"Good morning, Mr. Hammond. How may I help you?"
"Mr. Wallace," Hammond said, "I'm calling to inform you of something regarding your campaign's inability to log into the VAN system. We... we've conducted a thorough internal investigation."
"What's the conclusion?" Leo asked calmly.
"This is an extremely unfortunate technical glitch," Hammond said. "Our backend security algorithm made some misjudgments, causing your account to be incorrectly flagged as high-risk. You know, the cybersecurity environment is very complex these days, and systems can sometimes be overly sensitive."
"We have manually unlocked the database. From now on, you can access it normally."
There was a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by the words that the important person least wanted to say.
"On behalf of the committee, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
"Thank you for your troubleshooting, Chairman Hammond," Leo said. "Technical glitches are inevitable; as long as it's fixed, that's all that matters. Have a nice day."
He hung up the phone.
Everyone in the office was staring at him.
Leo turned to Karen and pointed to the computer screen.
"Try again."
Karen took a deep breath, her fingers trembling slightly as she typed the Enter key.
The screen flickered.
The despairing red warning box disappeared, replaced by the familiar blue loading bar.
A few seconds later, a densely packed map of data and a list of voters filled the entire screen.
"They're in!" Sarah couldn't help but cheer. "They really are in!"
Although Frank didn't know much about computers, he knew what this meant. He slammed his fist on the table with a loud "bang."
Just then, Leo's personal cell phone vibrated.
It was an unfamiliar number.
Leo walked to the window and answered the phone.
"This is Sanders. Is the matter resolved?"
"It's resolved, Senator." Leo looked out the window. "The VAN system has been restored, and Chairman Hammond just apologized in person."
"Very good." Sanders' voice sounded tired. "I've offended quite a few people on Capitol Hill because of your account. That old fox Montoya almost fought me to the death."
"Thank you, Senator."
"Don't thank me yet, I just cleaned up the mess in the boxing ring for you," Sanders said. "Washington has already spoken to me; the Democratic National Committee has promised to remain strictly neutral in the upcoming primaries. That means they won't give that idiot Cartwright any additional funding, data, or administrative assistance."
"They've withdrawn, Leo."
Sanders paused, his tone becoming unusually serious.
"Now, only you and him are left in the cage."
"Although I shielded you from the saber-riddle from above, whether you can win this hand-to-hand combat depends on yourself. Cartwright may be a bureaucrat with little ability, but he has been in that position for eight years, and his local connections are much deeper than yours."
"Tell me, can you take him down?"
Leo tightened his grip on his phone.
"Senator, now that there's no biased referee, no one can stop me," Leo replied. "I'll make him lose fair and square."
"Alright, I'll be waiting to see you make a fool of yourself."
The phone hangs up.
At the same time, Pittsburgh City Hall.
Martin Cartwright held the phone in his hand, his face as pale as a sheet of paper.
On the other end of the phone was a senior staff member from the House Democratic leader's office.
"Mr. Mayor, I think I have made myself very clear on this phone call."
The staff member's voice was cold and distant, completely lacking the warmth of the past.
"Washington is very disappointed with the recent chaos in Pittsburgh, especially the data blockade farce, which has caused great distress to the party leadership."
"But... what they're implying is that..." Cartwright tried to explain.
“No hints, Mr. Mayor, there have never been any hints.” The other person interrupted him rudely. “It’s all a misunderstanding. The party leadership’s attitude is very clear: the Pittsburgh primary must be a clean and fair competition.”
"Effective today, the National Committee will cease all special funding for your campaign, and you are no longer permitted to use any informal administrative means to interfere with your opponent. If you cause any more trouble, give the Republicans something to hold accountable, or further anger that senator..."
The other party didn't finish speaking, but the meaning couldn't be clearer.
"Take care of yourself, Mr. Mayor."
The receiver went dead.
Cartwright slowly put down the phone and slumped into his chair.
He felt like a mollusk whose spine had been removed.
Morganfield declared neutrality, and Washington announced its withdrawal.
He went from being a powerful, well-connected mayor with unlimited resources to a lonely figure abandoned by everyone.
All his upper-level connections were cut off.
Now, he has to face the young man he once completely disregarded.
"Damn it!"
Cartwright abruptly swept the documents off the table.
……
Inside the campaign headquarters, a subtle shift occurred in the atmosphere.
Ethan Hawke looked at Leo, who had just finished a phone call and was walking back, with a look of awe in his eyes.
As an elite who had spent many years in Washington, he knew better than anyone how much political power it would take to get the Democratic National Committee to reverse its decision and for a party whip of Montoya's caliber to bow down and coordinate.
And this young man, who had barely even been to Washington, D.C., actually did it.
Even if he's leveraging existing connections, that still counts as skill.
Karen Miller is the same.
She looked at Leo as if he were an alien.
"What's wrong with you guys?" Leo noticed their strange looks.
"It's nothing," Ethan shook his head and gave a wry smile. "I was just thinking that maybe I should reassess your political standing. You just caused a minor earthquake in Washington, do you even realize that?"
Leo didn't show any smugness; instead, he let out a long sigh and sat back down in his chair.
"I know," he said. "I also know that if this kind of earthquake isn't controlled properly, I'll be the first one to die."
He felt relieved, but also a lingering fear.
This victory, seemingly a result of his strategic planning, was actually a dance on a knife's edge.
He exploited the conflict between Sanders and the establishment, the pressure of the midterm elections, and every available leverage.
But in essence, he is still just a pawn in this grand game.
"Alright, time for sentimentality is over."
Leo instructed, "Karen, project the VAN system data to the left. Ethan, project the Shadow Data System interface to the right."
The projector is turned on.
On the left screen are countless blue dots, which are traditional Democratic voters recorded in the VAN system: union members, senior citizens, and African American and Latino families who have lived in the city for a long time.
They are the foundation of Pittsburgh's political landscape over the past few decades.
On the right screen are countless flashing red sparks, representing emerging forces unearthed from the Shadow Data System: college students, young renters, gig economy workers, and radical environmentalists.
They are a group that was ignored by mainstream politics in the past, but has a huge voice in the Internet age.
A miracle occurred when the two maps overlapped.
The blank areas that were originally on the single map were instantly filled.
Blue and red intertwined, covering every block, every apartment building, and even every university dormitory in Pittsburgh.
This is a complete vision that no Pittsburgh politician, not even Cartwright, has ever had.
Leo looked at the map, his eyes gleaming.
He turned around and looked at his team members.
Frank was itching to get out there and knock on the door right now.
Sarah's fingers flew across the keyboard as she prepared new promotional copy.
Karen and Ethan were quickly comparing data to find the best mobilization path.
This is a well-equipped, highly motivated army with full map vision.
"Gentlemen," Leo's voice was steady and powerful, "the war in Washington is over. The bigwigs have reached their peace agreement, and they have withdrawn all their intervention."
"Now, only Cartwright and I are left in this cage."
"No excuses, no backing, no underhanded dealings."
"This is our own war."
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Leo, their eyes burning with the same flame.
At that very moment, Roosevelt's voice echoed in Leo's mind.
"You see, Leo, this is a higher level of the game of power."
"You used your loyalty, your pledge of allegiance, to gain Sanders' protection and this brief period of fairness."
"But you must remember."
Roosevelt's voice turned cold.
"Such protection is never permanent. Peace agreements reached by bigwigs in smoke-filled rooms can be easily torn up at any time due to a new distribution of benefits or the arrival of the next crisis."
"In the world of politics, nothing is a permanent support."
"You have only one true and inalienable guarantee of security."
"That means winning this election cleanly and decisively in Pittsburgh, on your home turf!"
"You must win beautifully, win decisively, win until they all have nothing to say, win until they dare not treat you as a pawn they can discard at will!"
Leo nodded heavily in his mind.
He understands.
All external interference has been eliminated, and all excuses have been removed.
Now is the time for him to prove himself to the world.
"Frank, I want your team to knock on the door of these 10,000 dots within two weeks."
"Sarah, I want those red sparks to ignite a raging fire on the internet."
"Karen, Ethan, I want you to turn this data into bullets, and every single one must hit Cartwright's weak spot with pinpoint accuracy."
Leo looked at the map and gave the final order for the all-out attack.
"attack."