Washington D.C., the Willard InterContinental Hotel.
The air in the suite was heavy.
The first Progressive caucus meeting on Capitol Hill had ended in a complete breakdown.
Their political bottom lines were poles apart. Under such circumstances, any further discussion was pointless.
The lawmakers, who styled themselves as environmental champions, rejected the nuclear power plant proposal. They saw Leo as a traitor corrupted by capital.
Leo Wallace stood before the wide floor-to-ceiling window, gazing down at the City of Power shrouded in night. The streams of traffic on the streets below merged into a glaring ribbon of red and white light.
He wasn't angry. He was long past the stage of flying into a rage over political disagreements.
He knew exactly what these people were like, and he knew that mere debate could never change an established political position.
A paper he had read in college came to mind.
Robert Aumann's 1976 paper, "Agreeing to Disagree."
