America 1982-Chapter 659 - 3: Cue Retirement Ceremony_2

Dorothy watched as the other party left, "Goodbye, Victim Number Two."

...

Accompanied by his fitness coach and bodyguard, Tommy continued his decades-long routine of morning runs. Bodyguard John handed him the phone, "Sir, Justice Farrell is on the line."

"Odelia?" Tommy stopped in his tracks and asked as he took the phone.

"Out for a morning run?"

"It’s over. I just went to the community management center to complain. I suggested they should introduce a new community regulation forbidding ugly* old women who have failed in body management from scaring people during morning runs," Tommy said, holding the phone and scanning his surroundings as he spoke to Odelia.

On the other end of the line, Odelia replied helplessly, "What happened now? You bought half of Beverly Hills community, there should be no one left to bother you."

"It’s the residents of the other half of Beverly Hills that I haven’t bought yet. Here’s the thing, I accidentally stepped on an old woman during my run. But when I stopped and turned around to apologize, I couldn’t determine whether I had actually stepped on her foot or her...you know what! Do you have any idea how terrifying that is? It’s enough to ruin my entire day!" Tommy argued fiercely.

"Not everyone can be like you, having the time to insist on running and swimming every day to stay in shape."

Looking around with a smug smile on his face, Tommy boasted, "Otherwise, how would I attract my beautiful ex-wife to remarry me? With a belly and a stick that won’t stand up like those losers? How was the result of last night’s meeting?"

Odelia chuckled on the phone, "It’s the result you were hoping for."

"So, let’s talk about our wedding. My father, father-in-law, and mother-in-law are all still healthy and able to attend. Just a simple family wedding, returning to the family," Tommy changed the subject with a smile after hearing Odelia’s words.

Odelia spoke with a mocking tone, "Really? Have you thought it through? I think you should call Tony. He would be willing to discuss with you. If you want to return to the Hawk Family, you need to understand and follow the rules."

"You’re sounding more and more like an Italian woman. Alright, I’ll call him."

Tommy hung up the phone and took another one from his bodyguard, dialing a number: "From the feedback from Odelia, I believe it was your subordinate, Navy Rear Admiral Neil Alito, playing tricks. Come on, he’s already managing nearly three hundred military superstores worldwide for The Department of Defense with yearly sales of five billion. Isn’t that enough for him, that he has to meddle in my small business?"

"Head of The Department of Defense’s Military Supermarket Management, Neil Alito?" Tony replied in a deep and steady voice on the other end, "The military supermarket is the biggest unpaid benefit for soldiers. Tommy, with a sales revenue of five billion, there’s hardly any profit. The goods are resold to soldiers at-cost after procurement. I can understand why he wants to meddle with the order business because the supermarket business isn’t profitable."

"That’s not a problem for you to worry about, my dear brother, Admiral Leon," Tommy motioned for his bodyguard, who lit a cigarette for him. He took a puff and continued,

"What you need to consider is whether you’ll talk to him about respectfully withdrawing from my business, or I’ll arrange for a ’traffic accident.’ The difference is, if you talk to him, he can continue being the boss of his military Walmart. If I find him, his supermarket business will be mine, and then I’ll bring all sorts of cheap recreational drugs to all the soldiers of America. And they’ll appreciate it, because it’s the silly* US taxpayers who can’t complain that are footing the bill!"

"He’s a fellow alumnus of SSD, very reliable, my junior, and his military career started on my ship, Tommy. It’s not that serious, and I think..." Tony began to interject after hearing his brother’s words.

"Brother, I understand your position. You have to think about your brothers and subordinates; after all, they risk their lives for you, and you want to give them benefits, but those benefits can’t come at the expense of the Hawk Family’s fundamental interests! You can let them dabble in finance, healthcare biotech, AI intelligence, and even rocketry—those are all very profitable, and I’m willing to help," Tommy interrupted Tony:

"It took me forty years to shape the Hawk Family’s industries into what they are today. Forty years to make KeyBank the largest internet bank, to push WinStar’s market value over a trillion US dollars, making it America’s sixth-largest defense contractor and the top defense IT service provider. Forty years to earn the right for the Hawk Family to partake in the feast of America’s eight hundred billion defense military budget, sitting at the same table with Boeing, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin to split the cash."

"It took me forty years to be able to, like them, market a five-dollar USB flash drive with a special ’Defense Security’ label and then sell it to The Department of Defense for nine hundred and eighty-five dollars, making a profit of nine hundred and eighty dollars, kicking back five hundred to you and other beneficiaries, and effortlessly pocketing four hundred and eighty dollars in profit, to sell inflatable dolls as mental health information-gathering robots to American soldiers at prices higher than keeping a Hollywood starlet, allowing them to relieve stress with plastic products, and everyone’s happy, especially since it’s the American taxpayers who don’t have the right to complain who are paying. You have to understand that selling software, computers, phones, is not as low-key or as legally profitable as selling junk to The Department of Defense! I can sell an AmigaOS system to the average person for $49.90, and it needs regular updates, but to The Pentagon, I can erase the decimal point from the price and add three zeros; and if there’s a problem, the repairs can make another fortune."