The wind along the riverbank grew stronger, making the pages flutter loudly.
Leo lowered his head, looking at the revised draft of the Medicine Benefits Transparency and Fairness Bill in his hands.
A jarring red line was slashed across it, striking out the clause for the "state regulatory committee."
This was a letter of surrender.
And a bulletin of victory.
If Leo just nodded, if he just took that outstretched, aged hand, the Mutual Aid Alliance would gain undeniable legitimacy.
He would become the first Mayor to break the health insurance monopoly at the state level.
This wasn't just a victory; it was justice.
Campbell was a good man.
For the past few years, in places unseen, the Governor had indeed used his broad back to shield Leo from the covert attacks of the Treasury Department and the Auditing Bureau.
He believed in an old-fashioned sense of duty, trying to maintain a final shred of decency in this crumbling age.
Leo looked at Campbell.
