Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 279 Before the War
Before returning to Los Angeles to officially start the war against Fox, Tommy made a special trip to the KeyBank headquarters in the World Trade Center in New York to meet with Jim Manz. He said that he had not had a massage with Jim for a long time and he wanted to relax one last time before the end of the vacation.
Jim thought about it again and again, and felt that Tommy should not have lied this time, because his preparations should have been almost done, and there was no need for him to bother with any questions.
After not seeing each other for a long time, Jim still looked like a bad boy. Tommy was lying on the massage bed next to him, enjoying the essential oil massage from the masseuse, and scolded him, "You spent a lot of money to set up a massage room with sauna, bath and professional massage equipment in the headquarters in the name of business entertainment? Jim, you should know that the president only secretly uses his private phone to find a high-class girl to relax in the White House, and you are making a big fuss here... Oh~ Reduce the pressure a little, my waist is a little sore, thank you, girl, your technique is really fucking professional."
Jim, enjoying a massage from his older confidante Julia, closed his eyes and said, "A bunch of officials from African countries or representatives from some UN organizations are visiting our headquarters. The flight is too long and they want to relax their sore bodies. What should I do? Should I arrange for them to go to Brooklyn to find a girl who costs eighty dollars a time, and get some fresh syphilis from New York and take it home as a gift to their families?"
After saying that, he reached back and grabbed the wrist of Julia who was massaging his back, and said in a flattering manner: "Of course it's hypocritical to arrange a very formal relaxation massage, just like now, and at the same time it can make Julia's small business more money. And in view of my help in attracting business, I promise that Julia will give me a free meal."
"I can, but the employees who give massages to Mr. Hawke cannot be exempted from the bill, and remember to tip them generously." Julia smiled and pushed Jim's hand away, continuing her work.
When the massage was over, Tommy stretched his limbs comfortably in the towel, sat on the soft chair and lit a cigarette. After Jim paid a generous tip and received a farewell kiss from Julia on the cheek, he came over and sat next to Tommy and said, "If Murdoch makes American money and hurts American feelings, the current Republican government will not let him do whatever he wants?"
"That's what Charles said." Tommy took a can of beer, opened it, and took a sip. The cold beer went down his throat, making him exhale a refreshing breath of alcohol.
Jim picked up the phone next to him and gave a few instructions to the secretary outside, postponing his original appointment. After hanging up the phone, he continued, "Murdoch can't do that. Without the support of the Republican Reagan government, he would have been overthrown in the United States long ago and would not have been able to stand firm. How could he stand on the wrong side at this time and do stupid things that hurt American feelings? He has already sworn in and become an American citizen. This guy is really talented. He was first an Australian citizen, then a British citizen, and now an American citizen. He is where the money is."
"Just because he won't hurt American feelings in the future doesn't mean he hasn't hurt , just like he did to those politicians in Australia and the UK. We don't care whether Murdoch is a pure American in the future, but he definitely wasn't before. As you said, he is Australian and he is British," said Tommy.
Jim took the juice and took a big sip through the straw. Then he leaned his head back on the chair and gently stroked his bloated belly. "I've figured out why you decided to make trouble for Murdoch and drive him out of the United States."
"What else could it be? Of course, it's because Tommy Hawke loves America," Tommy said confidently.
"That's right, because the land of America cannot accommodate two people who love it so much, one of them can only be driven away." Jim laughed out loud when he heard Tommy's answer.
Tommy also laughed when he heard what Jim said.
Occasionally, when Jim was free, he would think about why Tommy was looking for trouble with Murdoch. For this reason, he also learned some information about Murdoch. The more he learned, the more interesting he found this question, because he felt that the answer was what he said, that there cannot be two Murdochs in the United States, or in other words, there cannot be two Tommys.
When he first saw Murdoch's relevant information, he even suspected that Tommy was Murdoch's illegitimate son, because the two people had more similarities than Tommy and his father Colin.
For example, the most basic thing is that both of them like to marry the same type of women. Murdoch's second wife and current wife, Anne Torv, has white skin, long golden hair, sea blue eyes, perfect facial features, and an innocent personality. She used to be a happy unknown little reporter. Most of the time, the news reports she wrote could not be published because they always contained the naive but ineffective comments unique to her as a young girl.
Until one day, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper suddenly discovered that she seemed to have suddenly become enlightened and understood how to be a real reporter. The manuscripts she submitted were sharp and capable, and her comments were to the point. She repeatedly won many Australian news awards for the newspaper. Just when everyone was puzzled, Murdoch, who had become the king of the Australian media empire at the age of 36 and had just divorced his ex-wife, appeared in front of everyone holding the hand of the 19-year-old female reporter.
Everyone in the newspaper office then realized that the two had been secretly dating for a while. During this period, every time Anne finished writing a report, she would give it to Murdoch for correction during a date. Murdoch would silently rack his brains, trying not to change his girlfriend's view on the news, and help her revise the text that was worthless in the eyes of the editor, and turn it into real news headlines. The most amazing thing about this was that the modifications could not affect the main body of the text. After Murdoch finished the revision, Anne felt that there was not much obvious change. As a result, Anne always believed that those awards were won because of her own abilities.
Look at Tommy in front of him, this bastard almost copied Murdoch's operation. His girlfriend Otilia, from an aesthetic point of view, has similar characteristics to Anne, an innocent girl with blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin, who believes that she can change the world through hard work. Otilia used to be an assistant in the inspector's office in a small city. After dating Tommy, she devoted herself to the great charity cause of KeyBank and won various humanitarian charity awards at home and abroad. She really felt that she had helped countless people and changed countless people, so when she attended those award ceremonies, it was as natural as Murdoch's wife Anne Torv.
In addition to their tastes in marrying wives, the two men also have very similar business methods. They like to emphasize public opinion and are used to standing on the side of the masses. Tommy's entrepreneurial battle in the computer industry, claiming that he was fighting against Lotus, was to bring free OSS software to the grassroots people and promote technological equality in the United States. This won him the support of countless poor Americans, who called him Tommy the Thief and Tommy the Righteous.
When Murdoch established himself in Britain during World War I, he claimed that his own News of the World, which specialized in reporting all kinds of vulgar scandals, was more elegant than British politicians. They slandered my newspapers because I exposed them to the sun. The newspapers they wanted were newspapers that ordinary people would not read. The newspapers I wanted were newspapers that everyone wanted to read, but only the parties involved were ashamed to read. There are many lower-class people in Britain who lead very miserable and difficult lives. Buying a newspaper, learning the privacy of those big shots, seeing them make fools of themselves, and letting them gloat in the dust are the only cheap pleasures in their lives.
Murdoch's operations have led to a sharp increase in newspaper sales, and by frequently exposing politicians' scandals in newspapers, he has earned the nickname "political cleaner" among the lower-class people in Britain.
After becoming rich and expanding their business, the two used exactly the same methods. When trying to acquire shares in a company, they would humbly declare that they would never seek controlling stakes, would not participate in daily management, and would only enjoy dividends. However, once they got the shares, they would turn hostile and ruthless.
The only difference may be that Murdoch likes gambling. Both his hobby and business are strongly influenced by gambling. But Tommy is used to thinking about all possible problems by himself before actually doing a job, making sure he can think of solutions to all situations before getting involved.
This was what Jim realized when Sophia was chatting with him before. At that time, Jim had already started to manage KeyBank's business . At a dinner party, Sophia talked to him about Tommy's Actor and Lotus lawsuit. Sophia said that long before Lotus sent the lawyer's letter, Tommy had locked himself in the library to study various American copyright-related laws, and through the influence of SSD in universities across the country, he established various campus organizations for women's equality and prepared more than 170 friends of the court to appear in court to file the lawsuit.
Every time Jim Manz thought about the memory that Sophia told him as a joke, he couldn't relax like Sophia did. He just felt a chill in his heart. That bastard Tommy had just turned 18 at the time. He had never met the two founders of Lotus and hadn't even received a letter from a lawyer, but he had already made a plan to dig a hole in the court to bury Lotus.
So Jason and even Benjamin all expressed their hope that Tommy would think carefully when he tried to do something to Fox in the beginning. Only Jim never thought of persuading Tommy from beginning to end. This guy who would never trust a person 100%, could perfect the plan to devour Lotus at the age of eighteen. Jim did not think that such a rational madman was not qualified to fight Murdoch, who unified Australia's newspapers, television stations and radio stations at the age of thirty-six to establish his media empire.
But according to Jim's own judgment and deduction, if Tommy, this crazy bastard, follows his steps, this guy might become the eyes, mouth and ears of most people in the United States, the most powerful country on earth, when he is 36 years old.
What they wanted to see, hear, and say needed Tommy's approval.
Tommy finished a cigarette, drank his beer, crushed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, stood up and walked towards the shower room. "Among the assets held by the shareholders behind Stephen, there are 17 banks that hold short-term loans from the Murdoch Group. I think the potential benefits of the storm I have stirred up are enough for them to refuse to help Murdoch convert it into a long-term loan. I will try my best not to let you and Benjamin use other hidden connections of KeyBank, but if the other party can really find my weakness accurately when they go to bed with me like Ottilia, and make me feel ecstasy..."
"I think Murdoch had better pray that he doesn't resist too violently in your bed and lead the investigation to me. After all, this is a deep water area. Not to mention swimming athletes, professional divers can also drown. What's more terrifying is that the angry deep-sea monsters will chase into the shallow sea and even go ashore to slaughter humans." Jim yawned and said lazily, "Goodbye, that's it. I won't take you to the airport."
Tommy turned on the shower and rinsed his body. At the same time, he leaned over and asked Jim, "Jim, have you seen Martin, my driver and bodyguard?"
"I remember that black man," Jim said perfunctorily.
Tommy wiped the water stains off his face, showed a bright and even flattering smile and said to Jim: "If your politician friends are black friends or rivals who are not very capable but always like to show off and want to seek official positions in major American cities, introduce them to Martin. Then he will do this kind of business in Los Angeles. I mean, he can help those black people lobby for some contract-based positions in Los Angeles, such as the fire department, the police department, etc."
"Can I say I don't want to listen, dear Big Bird Brother Tommy? You didn't come here just to enjoy a relaxing afternoon massage with me, and you're forcing me to pay again, right? You'd better say No to me!" Jim asked with his eyes wide open and a face full of annoyance.
Tommy smiled ashamedly, then said, "Yes."
"Isn't that your third level of the game? Can't you wait until you complete the second level and claim the game rewards before proceeding? Can't you have some mercy on those niggers? You have to know that every time you force me, there are a bunch of niggers who need to transfer their resources at a lower price." Jim cursed frustratedly.
Tommy smiled apologetically. He had no complaints about Jim scolding him. After all, he had to beg for food with an attitude. He could only reluctantly explain, "But I am also helping black people. I will give this money to Martin and let him help the black elites as city managers."
"The question is, will black Africans be happy that Los Angeles has a black fire chief?" Jim rubbed his face, feeling his head aching again.
"That's not my concern. They are all black, so why can't they be happy for their compatriots? We should be philanthropic and not care about the mistakes of the moment." Tommy wiped his wet hair:
"Because the loss is permanent for them, just like what Murdoch is about to lose."
