As soon as Alex Drakos, with Kari behind him, walked into the mayor’s outer sanctum, his secretary stood up from behind her desk. “Mr. Drakos, sir,” she said. “Welcome to City Hall!”
“Is he in?” Alex asked without breaking his stride.
“Ah, yes, sir. But I’ll check and see if he’s available to see you at this moment.”
“No, you won’t,” Alex responded, and he and Kari, without knocking, walked straight into the mayor’s office.
Lonnie Wilder rose to his feet quickly when they walked in. He never dreamed Drakos himself would handle this! He figured he’d get an angry phone call or two from Drakos, and maybe a visit from his team of lawyers. But Drakos himself came? And he brought Kari Grant with him? The mayor realized how ill-prepared he was after making such a monumental decision.
“Mr. Drakos,” he said with a big smile on his face. “I’m surprised to see you here this morning.”
If he expected a glad-handed shake and a good ol’ boy smile from Alex, he was badly mistaken. Alex walked up to his desk and didn’t mince words. “What the fuck is going on, Lonnie?” he asked.
The mayor swallowed hard. Kari could see the sudden fear in his eyes. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said. “My people discovered some voting irregularities that we must correct before construction on your project can resume. We found thousands of ballots that had been voted in the negative, but that had been discarded somehow.”
“Discarded my ass!” Alex fired back. “That’s bullshit and you know it!” Then Alex left Kari’s side and made his way around the mayor’s desk.
The mayor watched his every move. “If you have an issue with my decision, you can take it up with the supervisor of elections, Alex,” he said nervously. “I’m only doing what I’m mandated to do. When irregularities are brought to my attention, I have no choice but to halt everything and investigate.”
But Alex was beyond listening to what he perceived as rehearsed bullshit. He needed answers. “Who talked you into it?” he asked.
The mayor smiled what Kari could only describe as a nervous smile. “Who talked me into what?”
“No,” Alex said, staring at the mayor. “I take that back. Who threatened you?” he asked instead.
The mayor stared at Alex. Would he protect him? “Who says anybody threatened me?”
“I say it,” Alex said. “Who?”
The mayor knew he was defeated. He knew he was between a rock and a hard place. And although Fleck and Brown were big deals around Apple Valley, they weren’t shit compared to Alex Drakos! But they weren’t legit businessmen like Drakos, either. They were dangerous thugs. “They think that casino you’re building will run them out of business,” he said.
“Run who out of business?” Kari asked.
The mayor looked at her as if she had some nerve asking him a question at all.
Alex already was annoyed with the way the mayor’s people positioned Kari at that groundbreaking ceremony when they put her and her friends all the way in the back of the crowd. He wasn’t letting him get away with another slight. “You heard her,” he said. “Answer her.”
The mayor swallowed hard again. “Cal Fleck and Josh Brown. They own Star Fleet.”
Alex frowned. “They own what?” he asked.
“Star Fleet,” said Kari. “It’s one of those cybercafes popular in Florida where people can go and gamble online. It’s very popular here in Apple Valley too.”
“They say if that casino gets built, they’ll be out of business that next day,” the mayor said. “They tried to get the votes to stop the referendum, but they failed to carry the day. When they realized the groundbreaking had arrived and that monster casino would soon be a reality, they panicked. And came to me.”
“When will you be announcing this voter irregularity bullshit to the public?” Alex asked.
“I’m issuing a directive at my press conference at noon,” the mayor said.
“Pull it,” said Alex.
“But I can’t,” said the mayor.
“Pull it,” Alex said again.
“But they’ll kill me if I don’t make that announcement!”
“And I won’t?” Alex looked at the mayor with a chill the mayor hadn’t seen in Alex before. “Pull it off of your agenda items for your press conference. Notify your people to stop pulling permits from my construction site. Notify your people to stop threatening my workers.”
“And what about Fleck and Brown?” the mayor asked.
“I’ll handle them,” said Alex. “You think I can’t?”
After receiving reassurances from the mayor that he would cancel his ill-advised move, and once out of City Hall completely, Alex called Jimmy Hines. He ordered him to get a man over to Star Fleet to clandestinely take some real-time video of the place, and then to upload it back to him. He also ordered Jimmy to send blueprints of the place to his car’s monitor. Alex’s company had a database filled with blueprints of every company in Apple Valley, for security reasons, and he was relying on that very expensive technology that morning.
But Kari wanted in too. She knew he worked alone, but she felt she could assist him somehow. Besides, after that scene yesterday, where she nearly lost her life, she had an outsized concern for his wellbeing too. “I’ll go with you when you go to see the owners of Star Fleet,” she said.
“Oh no you won’t,” Alex said with a smile, but very firmly as he opened his passenger car door for her. “I’m dropping you off at your office. You’ll stay there and work, under heavy security, while I go and see what these people are up to.”
“But I know how these local yahoos operate, Alex. Take me with you. I can help you.”
“And you will help me by going to your office. You’ll help me if I don’t have to worry about your ass in addition to my own. So, thank you for your offer, but no thanks. Now get in,” he ordered.
Kari wasn’t accustomed to being ordered around by anybody, but she knew Alex had that domineering streak deep within him. He suppressed it most days. But some days, when it mattered, it surfaced like a sledgehammer that knocked her back in her place.
She and Alex were partners, and made a powerful team, except when it involved people who would do them harm.
In those situations, Kari understood an unspoken truth: that Alex’s rule was absolute.
She got in the car.