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Chapter 73 Sacrifice
Chapter 73 Sacrifice (Total 26200 words published)
As night deepened, the number of onlookers gradually decreased, but the atmosphere in the City Hall Square remained extremely tense.
Police Chief Dave Miller stood on the command platform of the riot control armored vehicle, gripping the walkie-talkie tightly in his hand.
His eyes were bloodshot, and the roar of Mayor Cartwright in his office still echoed in his ears.
"I want them to disappear from my sight before sunrise tomorrow morning."
This sentence is an order.
For a roughneck like Miller who climbed up the ranks by doing dirty and tiring work for his superiors, the mayor's meaning was clear: ignore the law, ignore the procedures, just focus on the result.
He glanced at his watch.
One o'clock in the morning.
Leo Wallace and his men were still sitting on the lawn.
They were even making coffee.
The buzzing of that damn generator sounded like some kind of provocation to Miller.
"Chief, are we really going to take action?" The deputy captain hesitated. "That's a public area, and—"
"Shut up." Miller rudely interrupted his subordinate. "The mayor has given orders to clear the area, now."
He picked up the megaphone, and his voice boomed across the square.
"Listen up, you people on the lawn! You are holding an illegal assembly, seriously disturbing public order! I order you to disperse immediately within five minutes! Otherwise, we will take coercive measures!"
Leo sat behind his desk and glanced up at the fully armed police force.
Black helmets, riot shields, batons, and even tear gas launchers.
Using this force against a group of unarmed campaign staff and volunteers is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
"Sarah, point the camera at them," Leo said calmly.
Sarah adjusted the camera angle.
The number of viewers in the live stream began to surge.
Five minutes passed quickly.
Leo didn't move.
Frank, along with several union members, stood hand in hand around the outermost edge of the desk, forming a human wall.
"Time's up."
Director Miller's lips twitched, and he waved his hand away.
"Action! Clear them out!"
Two rows of riot police, shields in hand, marched forward in unison.
Black leather boots clattered on the lawn.
The conflict erupted instantly.
The police shields slammed into the workers.
Frank was a tough guy. He withstood the initial onslaught and shouted, "We haven't broken the law! This is our right!"
"Screw your rights!"
At the captain's signal, a young policeman raised his baton and slammed it down hard on Frank's arm.
Frank grunted, but he didn't back down.
The scene began to descend into chaos.
More workers poured in from all directions, trying to protect Leo and the campaign headquarters.
They were shoving each other with the police.
"Use non-lethal force!" Miller shouted from the command post.
Several police officers raised their spray cans.
Orange-red pepper spray was sprayed onto the crowd.
Screams immediately erupted.
The workers in the front row covered their eyes and collapsed to the ground in agony.
Just then, a small, thin figure tried to break through the encirclement.
It was Margaret.
She was carrying two baskets filled with freshly baked meat patties, a late-night snack for Leo and the others.
When she saw the police beating people, she instinctively wanted to rush in and stop them.
"Stop fighting! Stop fighting! What are you kids doing!"
She tried to push aside a riot shield blocking her way.
The policeman with the shield was clearly in a killing frenzy, or perhaps he had received a death order to show no mercy.
He couldn't even see who was in front of him.
He was simply mechanically executing tactical maneuvers—shield bashes, shoving.
The heavy shield slammed into Margaret's chest.
The old lady didn't even have time to utter a cry of surprise.
She fell backward and crashed heavily to the ground.
The basket flew out, scattering the meat patties all over the ground, where they were immediately trampled into mud by the black police boots.
Margaret lay on the ground, curled up in agony, and stopped moving.
For a moment, the entire square fell into a deathly silence.
Even the police officers who were waving their batons stopped in their tracks.
They looked at the old man with a full head of white hair on the ground.
Immediately afterwards, a heart-wrenching roar shattered the silence.
"Bastards! You killed her!"
Frank has gone mad.
He ignored the batons and spray pointed at him and charged at the policeman who had pushed Margaret down like a wounded bull.
The situation was completely out of control.
This is a one-sided act of violence.
A few meters away, Sarah's camera recorded all of this.
The policeman's action of pushing the old man down.
The moment Margaret fell to the ground.
Crushed meat patties on the ground.
These images, transmitted via the internet, spread throughout Pittsburgh and throughout Pennsylvania.
Ten minutes later.
The mayor's office is on the third floor of the city hall.
Martin Cartwright stands in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
He doesn't need to watch TV.
He only needs to look down to see everything that's happening downstairs.
He saw the old man lying on the ground, the pepper spray everywhere, and the angry crowd gathering.
His face was ashen, and the cigar in his hand had been crushed to pieces.
"idiot----"
Cartwright squeezed out the two words through clenched teeth.
"Dave Miller, you complete idiot!"
He told Miller to solve the problem.
He implied that Miller should take a tough stance.
But he didn't let that idiot beat up a seventy-year-old woman in front of the whole city!
This is political suicide.
Cartwright looked down at the crowd below.
More and more people are flocking to the city hall.
These are not protesters from the Rio organization; these are spontaneous citizens.
Their faces were filled with unbelievable anger.
The police defenses are crumbling.
If this fire isn't extinguished, it will burn through the city hall's main gate and reach his office.
Cartwright turned and walked toward his desk.
His eyes changed at that moment.
The panic and anger from before vanished, replaced by a chilling coldness on his face.
He is the jackal of this jungle.
What does a jackal do when its leg is caught in a trap?
It will not hesitate to bite off that leg in order to survive.
Cartwright picked up the phone and dialed the internal line.
"Inform all media outlets that I will be giving a speech in front of City Hall in five minutes."
"Also, have the Ministry of Justice prepare a document."
"Notice of Termination of Employment"
After hanging up the phone, Cartwright straightened his suit.
He glanced at himself in the mirror.
His expression was serious, sorrowful, and full of a sense of justice.
Perfect acting skills.
Five minutes later.
The doors of the city hall slowly opened.
Martin Cartwright emerged, escorted by several bodyguards.
When the crowd in the square saw him, they erupted in a deafening chorus of boos.
"Murderer!"
"tyrant!"
"Get out of Pittsburgh!"
Some people even threw water bottles and stones.
The bodyguards nervously raised their briefcases to try and cover it, but Cartwright pushed them away.
Without flinching, he strode straight toward the riot police command post.
Chief of Staff Dave Miller was standing there, looking bewildered and apprehensive.
He saw the mayor.
He thought his savior had arrived.
He thought his boss was there to back him up, after all, it was his boss's order.
"Mayor, the situation is getting out of control, these thugs—"
Miller went up to him, trying to explain.
"Snapped!"
A resounding slap landed hard on Miller's face.
That slap was so hard that Miller's police hat flew off.
The entire room fell silent instantly.
Even Leo was stunned.
"Chief Miller!"
Cartwright roared, veins bulging on his neck, spitting as he sprayed saliva onto Miller's face.
"Who gave you that right?!"
"Who gave you the right to use such barbaric violence against our citizens?!"
"Look what you've done! Look at that old man lying on the ground!"
Cartwright's finger trembled as he pointed to Margaret not far away.
"That's our mother! That's the conscience of our city! And you, you actually let your men lay a hand on her?!"
Miller covered his face, completely stunned.
"Mayor—but—you said it—"
"Shut up!"
Cartwright didn't give him a chance to speak at all.
He turned around to face the angry citizens, Sarah's camera, and all the media cameras that had rushed over.
His expression instantly shifted from fury to extreme grief and indignation.
He bowed deeply.
Ninety degrees.
"Citizens, brothers and sisters of Pittsburgh."
"As mayor, I feel incredibly ashamed."
"I gave the police chief the power to maintain order, but I never expected him to abuse that power so much and trample on the most precious values of our city."
"This is a crime! This is a desecration of the spirit of Pittsburgh! This is absolutely intolerable!"
He straightened up, his eyes becoming as sharp as knives.
"On behalf of the City of Pittsburgh, I extend my sincerest apologies to all citizens injured in today's conflict! The city government will fully cover all medical expenses and all losses!"
"At the same time, I hereby formally announce!"
He glanced back at Miller, who was still in a daze.
"Effective immediately, Dave Miller is relieved of all duties!"
"Furthermore, I will personally sign an order requiring the state attorney general to intervene and conduct an independent criminal investigation into Dave Miller and all those responsible for directing operations at the scene!"
"If any violations or illegal activities are discovered, no matter who is involved, even if they were someone I once trusted, I will not tolerate it! I will make sure they spend the rest of their lives in jail!"
These words were powerful and resounding.
Director Miller's face turned deathly pale instantly.
He finally understood.
He was sold.
He became the sacrifice used to quell public anger.
"take away!"
Cartwright shouted orders at the two inspectors beside him.
Those were his own people.
Two inspectors immediately stepped forward, removed Miller's badge, confiscated his service weapon, and dragged him toward the police car.
Miller did not resist.
His eyes held the despair of betrayal.
He wanted to protest his innocence, but he knew it was no use.
If he dares to say anything out of line, his life in prison will be worse than death, and even his family will suffer.
That's Cartwright's method.
The mayor personally beat the bureau chief, the mayor personally fired the bureau chief, and the mayor even wanted to send the bureau chief to prison.
He completely distanced himself from the world.
He transformed himself into a defender of justice, a "good mayor" blinded by his subordinates.
Cartwright watched the crowd gradually quiet down and breathed a sigh of relief.
He won his bet.
He traded his trusted confidants for his own life.
He looked at Leo, who was standing behind a desk on the lawn not far away.
Their eyes met in mid-air.
Leo stood there, watching the performance.
He felt nauseous.
"Did he really succeed in doing this? Everyone knows he was the one who ordered it."
Roosevelt's voice was cold.
"That's the cruelty of politics, Leo."
"Everyone may know that he did it, but procedurally and legally, he has made a perfect disassociation."
"He gave the angry crowd an outlet."
"When the public sees someone being punished, their anger dissipates by more than half."
"Cartwright is a real ruthless character; he knows when to cut his losses and save himself."
"Although he suffered heavy losses in this round, he survived."
Leo looked at Miller being led into the police car, then glanced at Margaret being lifted into the ambulance.
His fists clenched tightly together.
"He survived," Leo thought to himself, "but the blood he shed today will only attract more sharks."
"And I won't let him get away with this so easily."
Leo walked out of the office area and toward Cartwright, who was still being interviewed by reporters.
The battle is not over.
This is just the beginning.