CHAPTER 6 – STRATEGY

Cain looked over the sixteen small stacks on his desk.

“So, this is it,” Cain thought, “this is the world I need to conquer.”

A smile broke across his face.  But the smile quickly faded.

“Don’t get full of yourself,” Cain’s mind self-corrected.  “This won’t be easy.  People can be unpredictable.  Manipulating a couple on the car lot will seem simple, compared to creating command over 1.2 million.”

As he was pondering over the magnitude of influence he wanted to gain over the population of Franklin County, he heard a light rap on his office door.  Before he could respond, Amber pushed the door open.

Though Amber was dressed a bit provocatively, it was the steam rising from the cup of coffee she was holding that got his attention.  Instinctively, he took a deep breath as the aroma of fresh coffee filled the room.  Then, suddenly, he tilted his head, squinted his eyes and moved his gaze from the coffee to the face of his assistant.

“You didn’t make the coffee, did you?  It smells really good, but you know that…”

“Don’t worry boss,” Amber cut him off.  “Your directives on how you want me to spend my time doing productive things, did not fall on deaf ears.  I know that making coffee is a menial task that you want left to others.”

From the credenza on the side of the room, Amber reached for a circular Democratic emblem embossed in clay.  She put it towards the edge of Cain’s desk and carefully positioned the full coffee cup on top of it.

“I want to believe you,” Cain said with a tone of suspicion, “but you seem to be overly connected to this particular cup of coffee.”

He placed his hands, palms downward, on the open area of the desk immediately in front of him.  Leaning forward, he wanted to display a determination that he needed to have proof before he would believe her.

“I am going to be very unhappy if she made this coffee.  It is important that I have full confidence that she won’t waste my time doing mindless tasks.  I need her complete allegiance and obedience,” he thought as he studied her for reaction.

Her lips curled upward on her right side.  Her eyes displayed a sassy look.  Both hands were pressed against a hip and her legs slightly spread apart.  She was assuming a defiant stance.

“Normally, I wouldn’t waste your time with such unimportant details but since you seemed determined, I will overload you with information that you will not care about.”

Her voice was confident and assured in tone.

“I like this,” Cain mused.  “She thinks she is being defiant, but it is really a response to my own demands.  I am in control.”

“I emailed the staff last week and offered an incentive to the person who could make the best coffee.  Within a day, I knew who made the best coffee and tasked them with making the coffee each day, starting today.”

“Why would someone want to make good coffee every day?  Oh, wait, you said you incented them.  What kind of incentive did you give?”

“This is going to be the real test?  Did she just give them something that sounded good, or did she set up the opportunity to manipulate this person long after the novelty of making the best coffee wore off?” Cain wondered.

“I chose the person based on what mattered to them.  If you tell someone that they make great coffee, then they will.  You get them to believe it, then they won’t want to let you down.

“So, I found a single mother among our staff.  In exchange for making great coffee for you, I allow her to leave an hour early on Fridays and fifteen minutes early the rest of the week.  This gives her more time with her son.

“I told her we would review this each month.  If the coffee continues to be great, we will continue allowing her to leave early.”

“Smart girl.  She kept ongoing control with her incentive,” Cain thought as he nodded.

“So, take a drink.  After all, your opinion is the only one that counts,” Amber reached for the coffee to hand it to Cain.

Accepting the cup from her, Cain blew gently onto the hot coffee.  His nostrils were, again, filled with the wonderful aroma of the freshly brewed beverage.  After a short pause to enjoy the smell, he took a shallow sip.

Smiling broadly, Cain said, “This is really good. You have done well, Amber!”

She put out her hands, palms upward.  Then leaned forward, squinting her eyes.

“I would hope that you wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Cain began to feel at that moment that Amber was taking control.  While he admired her assertive nature, he never wanted her to be aggressive over him.  So, he diverted attention to his priority.

“Here is the land we need to conquer,” Cain pointed at the sixteen stacks on his desk.  “These are the sixteen cities of Franklin County.  We are going to gain political control over the leadership of each one of these.”

“All sixteen?”

Cain frowned.  Amber’s response seemed ridiculous to him.

“Controlling only some of them is not an option,” Cain stated firmly.

From her position in front of the desk, Amber looked over the sixteen piles.  Each pile had the name of the city on the top sheet, nothing more.

“What would your guess be, if I asked you how many we already control?”  Cain queried.

Amber looked up and smiled.

“Eleven, my guess would be Eleven,” she confidently stated.

“So, you have done some homework,” Cain replied.

Amber put her fists to her hips, taking a triumphant stance, as she nodded her head.

Cain put his hands, palms down, onto the desk and leaned in towards her.

“But you are wrong.”

Cain could not conceal the grin that creeped across his face.

Flustered, Amber put her hands outward, palms upward, as she shook her head.

“No, eleven is correct.  I am certain of it.  You asked me to keep informed, so I reviewed each city before I left on Friday.  I reviewed the mayor, city council leader, even the city manager, for each city and identified their party standing.  Eleven of these cities has a committed Democratic party member in a place of leadership.”

Folding his arms, Cain had a rye smug look.

“She must learn to not underestimate me,” Cain thought.

“Wait!  What did you do?” Amber looked squarely into Cain’s eyes.  “I checked this at the end of the day.  There was no time to…”

Her voice trailed off as Cain began to puff out his chest.

“You did something this weekend!”

“Yes, I did,” Cain spoke each word slowly and individually.  He was celebrating the triumph he felt over his weekend results.

“Saturday, I had lunch with Brian McGregor, the Whitehall mayor.  The governor’s aide, Dennis Johansen, came with me to offer an appearance by the governor at the Whitehall-Yearling High School homecoming game.  McGregor could use the positive PR since that news story came out accusing him of taking bribes from contractors.”

“He did seem to be riding out that storm pretty well,” Amber interjected.

“Yes, but he is a bright man with aspirations,” Cain replied as he curled his lip upward and to his right.  “Few people know that he has eyes on the governor’s seat next term, but we have the inside on that.”

Amber put her forefinger to the right side of her mouth.  She meticulously scanned the stacks representing the cities of Franklin County.

“That would leave us with only four more to go,” she reasoned.  “I think we can get to each of them as early as this week!”

She moved to the end of the desk where she would be able to better see the names.  It was clear to Cain that she was sorting the stacks in her mind.

“She must be identifying the remaining three, but she thinks there are four more.  Let me test her,” thought Cain.

“Given what you know about the leadership of the remaining four cities, which one do you think would be the easiest one to go after next?”

Amber now moved her forefinger over the end of her chin and began to tap.  Her eyes and her head moved side to side as she sized up the four.

She moved her right hand from her chin and began to hold it over the desk.  With very slight movements she indicated which city she was contemplating.  After about sixty seconds, she placed her hand on top of the stack labeled ‘Grandview Heights’.

“Here,” she looked up at Cain.  “This is where I would go next.”

“Why?”

Cain wanted to test her perceptive skills.  He knew why he would pick that city next, but wanted to see if her reasoning aligned with his own.

“Robby Beakmen, the city mayor, is struggling.  His comments on the Bank Block angered some of the city’s leading businessmen.  He suggested at the last city council meeting that the people of the city would be better served if they traveled into Columbus for their purchases.”

“No,” Cain jumped in, “he is not a good politician.  He has a history of saying the wrong things at the wrong times.  It has gotten so bad, that, even he understands that he needs some influential support.  At least, I convinced him that he did.”

“What do you mean you ‘convinced’ him?  When did you speak with him?”

Amber had tilted her head.  Cain could see she was mentally scanning his calendar to see if this character ever had an appointment.

“Yesterday,” Cain paused as Amber leaned into him. “I took him to dinner at Lindsey’s.  It surprised me that it was his first time there, but, I probably should have known.  He is not sophisticated.”

Excitedly, Amber asked, “So, what happened?  How did you handle him?”

“I merely told him that the party was very interested in being strong throughout the county and that Grandview Heights was a city that concerned us.  To solve our concerns, I told him that we were looking at several possible candidates to be mayor.

“Predictably, he panicked.  For over ten minutes he went on about how he could be an asset for the party.  Letting him ramble allowed him to think out loud a situation that would allow him to keep his seat.”

“What did he suggest?”

That wry smile that came from the recollection of manipulative triumph, crossed Cain’s face.  His eyes narrowed and he nodded his head.

“He suggested that it would be in the best interest of the party to have him continue as mayor.  That way it would not be necessary to trust someone who’s allegiance was not yet established.  When I asked him how I would know that he would give his allegiance to the party he offered to do anything that was asked of him.”

Cocking her head to the right and squinting her eyes, Amber softly wondered, “What could he possibly do that would benefit the party?”

Cain laughed.  In fact, he cackled loudly.  Amber was startled and now more curious than ever.

“I had him pay for the meal,” Cain roared.  “I had ordered tartare as an appetizer, New Zealand lamb, with grilled asparagus on the side.  We also went through two bottles of champagne.  Since I invited him, it was clear that he expected me to pay as he ordered even more food than I did, including filet mignon.

“You should have seen the look on his face when I told him to pay for the meal.  His eyes got crazy with panic.  He excused himself, saying he was going to the bathroom, but I saw him hunting down the restaurant manager.  I’m sure he made some lame excuse about forgetting his wallet, or something like that.”

“I guess I should feel at least a little sorry for him, but I don’t.  He agreed to jump at my command, then I told him how high!”

“I see,” Amber quietly responded.

“Don’t you see the advantage I have over him?  He could have refused and I would have respected him for showing some backbone.  Instead, he just gave in to me.  We have him locked down for as long as we find him useful,” Cain’s eyes were wide with pride.

“I had a man once do to me, what you did to Beakmen.  However, I did not tolerate it and just left the restaurant.  I refused to take any of his calls and never spoke to the man, again.”

Immediately, Cain’s disposition went from jovial to deadpan.  He put his hands down on the top of the desk and leaned in very close to Amber so that their faces were only inches apart.

“That’s exactly why you are my aide and the reason he will never be.  Don’t ever forget that.”

There was an awkward silence that followed.  Cain noted that, though she wasn’t verbally responding, Amber was certainly communicating with him.  She did not move back, but held her ground only inches from him.  Slowly, she nodded her head affirmatively.

Though it did not strike him at first, Cain realized that she was now awaiting his next question or instruction.  He broke the stare he had shared with her when he looked down at the stacks on the desk.

“Here,” Cain pointed after standing upright.  “This is our next point of focus, Hilliard.  What can you tell me about them?”

Amber mirrored Cain and stood upright.  She blinked several times and then proceeded.

“Hilliard is facing a mayoral race in six weeks.  I don’t know that anyone has filed the paperwork to run.  Charlie Hughes is the president of the city council, but, he runs the city.  The outgoing mayor was his cousin, who did anything Hughes told him to.”

“Then, get Hughes in here,” Cain pointedly replied.  “I want to see him today.  This mayoral position must be under our control.”

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