The Death Dealer's Manual by Horton Franklin

Author:Horton, Franklin [Horton, Franklin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B09TPQ38LR
Goodreads: 60642241
Published: 2022-04-15T07:00:00+00:00

22

The Wardenclyffe

Off the Coast of Virginia

In the conference room, Lightspeed worked from a tablet that he mirrored onto the wall-mounted monitor. He brought up the picture of a man, then leaned back in his chair and looked around the room. He was curious to see whether everyone understood who they were looking at.

"That man isn't on your Punch List," said Conor. "I'm a bloody hermit and even I recognize the guy."

The Punch List was displayed on one side of the monitor and just as Conor had mentioned, this new face was not among those on the list.

"That's correct," Lightspeed said. "Dominic Darja is not on the Punch List, but he’s just as much a risk to my plans as anyone on that list. In fact, he’s probably a greater threat because he has the resources to present a significant challenge to my efforts if he gets wind of what I’m up to."

"Excuse me, Mr. Lightspeed," Kate said. "I’m just a copilot and I don’t know a lot about politics, but I thought you and Dominic Darja were friends or something. I’ve seen pictures on the internet of you guys hanging out together. You seemed all chummy."

"We're not friends exactly. The community of tech billionaires is rather small. Most of us playing at a certain level know each other and have socialized together on occasion, though that's not exactly friendship. I'm sure that each of you in this room has had to work politely alongside someone you despise before. Am I right?"

There were nods and signs of agreement around the room.

"That's my relationship with Dominic Darja," Lightspeed continued. "There was a time when I thought the two of us could be friends. We shared a similar work ethic and enjoyed a lot of the same things, but we are different people on a very fundamental level. I'm a capitalist at heart. I'm a true believer that America is a place where anyone can come and succeed if they work hard enough. Dominic, on the other hand, has this guilt that America is a horrible, broken place that is destroying the world. The way he apologizes for his success by giving away much of his fortune borders on self-loathing.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Dean asked.

“On the surface,” Lightspeed admitted. “But all that charity comes with strings attached. The schools he builds in poor nations have to teach curricula he selects. The programs he funds have to further his ideologies. He treats the world like it’s some big experiment in anti-capitalism and it makes me sick. I want to teach people to be innovators and develop businesses. I want to help people build technologies that improve the world. I’m just sick of this idea that there is something innately wrong with working hard and being successful."

"So, you anticipate he'll work against you?" Conor asked.

"I suspect he has his own vision of the way he'd like America to look when the dust settles and it's a far cry from mine. Hell, he may already be laying the groundwork for doing something similar to what I plan on doing.

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