"He won't be an issue. You give the community centers a black eye, and we defeat him in the next election. Problem solved in just over eleven months, and you can have Filmore all to yourself afterwards."
“Well then. It seems we have a deal,” El Patron replied. "Okay. Tell your boss that we'll be willing to do what she asks. One thing, though."
"What's that?" the unknown woman asked.
"I want to meet her face to face on this. She can suggest the time and place, but I'm not sending my soldiers into battle without at least once looking my partner in the eye."
"That can be arranged. Good evening, El Patron."
The men behind us started to stir, and I pulled our materials out and put them away. "We've got a lot to talk about," I said as I put the microphone back into my pocket. "And you're not going to like a lot of it."
Chapter Seven
Tabby
When Patrick and Mark told me about the Union recruiting the Latin Kings to attack the community center, I was pissed. I was prepared to go right out and tear Francine Berkowitz's head off, but Mark calmed me down and talked me out of it.
"They're not going to just cause a plain accident," he said as we sat in the kitchen the next evening. Patrick was still at City Hall, and Sophie was getting her workout in. She was working hard to get back into shape after having a baby, knowing that despite Mark's assurances, her skills might be called on. Andrea was happily staring at her fingers, waving her tiny little arm in the air in her baby seat while the two of us talked on either side of her.
"What do you think they'll do?"
Mark pointed at the calendar hanging on the wall. "They know that the biggest time to make a splash will be as we approach opening. We're going to be opening the first Saturday in April. It coincides with the local schools' Spring Break, gives us a good run up for summer vacation, and gets us a whole training course in on some of the job prep programs before the summer company hiring surge. If they're looking at trying to create problems for Patrick, they'll be looking to cause issues when they can make hay with the press."
"So you think they'll wait until they are closer to April?" I asked, still seething.
Mark nodded. "Remember, as much as she hates you and MJT, you're not really an obstacle to her except as a symbol against the system that the Union runs. She's confident she can destroy that symbol easily enough. Her first attempt failed when Pressman pulled his lawsuit. She's just going onto her next plan, although she's moving faster than I thought. She must really be worried about Patrick's rise in city politics."
I laughed. "It's funny, really. I love him, but he's no politician."
"It's what makes him so powerful though," Mark replied. "He's not going to worry about being polite, he's there because he believes in what he's doing. He can capture the people's attention and imagination better than any stuffed suit politician. He's a demagogue, but in the good way."
I had never heard the word demagogue used in a good way before, and tilted my head. Andrea cooed and dropped the rattle mirror that was in her left hand, which clattered to the table. I scooped it up and held it back out for her, turning it so that she could look at herself in the shiny surface. She was soon entranced, and barely had the opportunity to make a frown before she was happy and smiling again. "You're a natural at that," Mark commented. "You'll make a great mother when it's your time."
"Thanks. It'll come when the time is right. But back to your point. Do you really think that Patrick can have a future in city politics? I mean, we're talking a man who doesn't even have a college degree."
"Neither do I," Mark pointed out to me. "Do you judge either him or me unintelligent? You've never treated me as your intellectual inferior, even though you have an MBA."
Dammit, when Mark was right, he was very much right. "Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it. Most of the time I feel like the village idiot when you and Sophie start talking about so many things. Only area I feel like I even hold my own is on business."