And Koontz did, or at least he told it as he thought it was. He warned that a strike would lead to a voter reaction at the polls which could set the unions organizational efforts back thirty years. He spoke of increased workloads because of layoffs by attrition and by firings. He counseled the members that collective bargaining was their best bet, and if the bargaining process broke down, they should demand compulsory arbitration instead of a strike. Just what your question insinuated. I did everything I could to remain inconspicuous. Let me put it this way, Eagle said, in court, Id rather be the defense attorney than the assistant DA prosecuting. He wasnt the father. As we were leaving the restaurant, we agreed on a meeting point, a pharmacy in a strip mall near the constituency office. Id been in there once and knew that there was an alley behind it. Yes? He looked at the other two men, carbon copies of Hancock, only white. Who is the secretary of the company? Mason asked. And where is the dog now? Id calmed down sufficiently to do to Abby what shed done to me: take her by the arm. Wed been in the room forty minutes and the important reporters were starting to make their way to the nearest bars. There was no point in staying here. They had been pretty good sacks at one time, the money sacks that a bank uses for currency. Theyd been sewn up and then ripped open along the sides. That is, theyd been cut open. And there was a box of old junk. There was scrap iron on the bottom. He jogged back to his place, cooling down and stretching along the way. He showered, shaved, dressed, and left his room. Valentine was on the couch dead asleep, having failed to make it up to his room the previous night. Apparently tapping keys on a laptop could be exhausting. He had heard Tapshaw softly snoring and probably dreaming of new deals and happy couples from the Hummingbird empire shed created. Valentine sat down next to him and opened his laptop.They own shitload of stuff. I mean shitload. You want to go back to town? Hell, no, I dont. And neither do a couple of the other officers I talked to tonight. One of them said that Showalters out at the casino pouring them down. Okay, the Candidate said, whos back of it?.