America 1982-Chapter 594 - 129: Your True Purpose_3
"You know that with me, you can say anything you want to say," Tommy said as he picked up a pale ale from the table, handed one to Charles, and then opened another bottle for himself before taking a swig.
Charles, drinking his beer, said, "Alright, specifically, Mr. Jim Pierce from McCall Publishing Company hopes you’d agree to discuss the newspaper business with McCall Company and those newspapers under Ted’s name. If you agree, that investigative report will soon play its intended role. If you refuse, it will just be a gossip; the investigation will be indefinitely postponed, and without stirring up any trouble, Murdoch will likely keep those newspapers, at the very least he can provide a large political donation every year."
"McCall Company?" Tommy muttered the name to himself.
"An old newspaper and magazine publishing company, and with the information I’ve provided, they’ve made some timely adjustments to ensure a very inspirational history, uh... also, the boss’s last name is Pierce, Jim Pierce."
"Barbara Pierce’s Pierce? Not bad, showing the nation on TV how the First Lady wears fake pearl necklaces to signify frugality and then secretly coming to eat rot with me? Those gossip papers weren’t wrong; the Pierce family perfectly inherits all the flaws of the Brits. Franklin Pierce was the worst President in American history," Tommy said, complaining a bit after hearing Charles’s comment but not showing any signs of surprise:
"So, since when have you been waiting to jump out at this moment?"
The Pierce family, the family of Bush’s wife Barbara, had also produced a President; he really hadn’t paid attention to the fact that this First Lady’s family owned an old newspaper company, particularly since the Bush family’s previous methods of making money were predominantly through oil, energy, industries, or banking.
"When you were on TV saying Murdoch was a KGB agent, her brother Jim Pierce, as a publishing magnate, realized you wouldn’t be insulting an Australian for no reason. Then... it was very easy for Barbara lady’s assistant to find me, and I mentioned what I knew and probably got the message to her even faster than Ms. Rice’s phone call, because I felt even if I didn’t mention it, she could have her husband, who used to be the CIA director, figure it out," Charles said, shrugging at Tommy.
Tommy didn’t speak but sipped his beer and stared into the distance.
Seeing that Tommy didn’t respond, Charles continued:
"I know what you’re trying to do, Tommy. You want to create a vast media network and use public opinion as a bargaining chip to negotiate with politicians, making it easier for Gore to quickly help you push through those computer industry-related bills you hope to pass before the internet truly takes over. You plan to weave a web to lock out any newcomers, but you always have to offer something to others. Like I said, vultures always flock together, so treat McCall Company like your old partner in Actor, Jason and that girl, what’s her name?"
"Holly," Tommy said softly.
Charles nodded, "Right, treat McCall Company like Holly. You give up a piece of the pie, and it can save you a lot of trouble."
"Buddy, no problem," Tommy said after finishing his pale ale, then turned to look at Charles, who looked worried, and smiled, "We’re brothers; no problem. Like you said, I can’t really eat all by myself; I can even give up more, but I need something else in return."
This stance surprised Charles, who had been worried that Tommy would suspect he was merely acting as a lobbyist for someone else, taking away the benefits Tommy had worked hard for.
Now, hearing Tommy’s words, Charles smiled broadly, raising his bottle of beer, "Honestly, when you were silent just now, I was seriously worried you would put on a stern face and say to me, ’Hey, Charles, you’ve done a lot for your boss, why don’t you do something for your brother, only knowing how to take advantage of him, you damn well don’t consider me a brother.’"
Tommy walked over and sat next to Charles, then put an arm around his shoulder and spoke softly, "If I were McCall Company, I wouldn’t come over for a chat. I would just release a piece of information I got from you, telling everyone that I’ve signed a contract with John Kruger, paying enough each year to let him continue to hold Fox Television Network in the Kruger family’s name. The consequence would be the three major networks turning on me immediately, causing me trouble, coupled with the current KeyBank turmoil, enough to keep me too busy to cope."
"I understand; you’ve done a lot of persuasion work for me behind the scenes, preventing them from releasing the information directly and putting me at a disadvantage. Thank you, Boss, Tommy Hawk is not an idiot who doesn’t understand human emotions and relationships," Tommy said with a smile, extending his hand to Charles. Two fingers were curved inwards; it was the secret handshake gesture of SSD.
Charles grasped his hand in the same manner, laughed, and said, "It’s not as selfless as you say. By convincing you to give up some benefits, I can also gain something."
"Like what?" Tommy asked.
"Like convincing you, then Barbara would be willing to let Liz start an internship with the United States Agency for International Development in Washington. That way she can stay with me in Washington; if I can’t convince you, I guarantee she’ll have Mr. Cheney get Liz a job in a financial firm in New York, and it’s hard to say whether my fiancée will be swayed by the rich young men of Wall Street," Charles explained.
Tommy chuckled, "It sounds like your reward is a bit stingy. Well then, I can’t possibly expect too much generosity from the other side. What I’m hoping for is a legislative amendment related to telecommunications to be soon passed in congress. I’m not greedy, just one will do."
"Which one? I can jot it down, then go back and study it, look for a chance to help you understand why it’s been stalled," Charles replied, somewhat surprised that Tommy only asked for one legislative amendment. Tommy wasn’t someone who would back down from making big demands just because the other party was stingy.
Tommy looked at Charles, "Defining information services as providing the capability to generate, acquire, store, transfer, process, retrieve, utilize, or offer information and not subject to discriminatory regulation by the FCC."
Charles, even if not tech-savvy, had spent four years at Stanford University and had many friends in the industry. He took a while to process Tommy’s words and finally realized, "This is your real goal; you’re willing to trade these profits just for this one line."
"I need a temporary period of unregulated wild growth," Tommy said, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Charles. "Any amount of money can burn."
