Читать книгу 1 Law 4 All - Vegas - Billy Angel - Страница 27

Chapter 22 Discovery

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About noon the next day, Mac received a text message from Carol. It read, 'one Senator and two Representatives were signed out to Vegas that weekend'.

Mac immediately texted back, 'WHO'.

Carol responding text read, Senator Larry Sneed, Reps George Timmathy, and Jeannine Yemen.

His text back simply read, 'thxs'.

Ben arrived with Chinese takeout from King Lings. "A little Chinese brainstorming fuel!" he said setting the bag filled with four, quart cartons on the conference table.

They started eating and Mac started talking. "The name Larry Sneed keeps popping up. I thought we could go through Sneed's legislative history while we eat."

"Remember, I use the seek and peck typing method." Ben said with a mouth full of chow mein noodles.

"No problem. All you'll have to do is read and scroll. You read about Sneed. Here's Sneed's legislative record," he said turning the Dell laptop so the screen faced Ben. "You scan through it. Start with this year and work your way back. I'll do a Lexis-Nexis search on Sneed's friend, Li Wing."

"Good plan," Ben said chop-sticking a juicy piece of sweet and sour pork into his mouth. He began tapping on the keyboard's down arrow and scanning the monitor's information.

An hour later, Mac asked, "Anything?"

Ben raised his head. "Sneed's into land stuff. His record is full of land-use legislation. He recently attached a land-use amendment to the Obamacare Bill."

"You mean the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act?"

"Yea. You know from the bill's name that it won't protect anyone or make healthcare affordable," Ben mused.

"What does the amendment say?"

"It calls for 50,000 acres in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge to be reclassified and transferred into the Public Land System."

Mac remembered reading in law school about the Public Land System being an outgrowth of the Northwest Territory. He beamed. "Sneed's clever. He basically put government land up for sale. He's probably going to buy it. Or maybe he already did!"

Mac picked up his phone and called Carol. The voice on the other end said, "You need me, don't you?"

"Carol, you are indispensible."

"And desirable," She added.

"We'll leave that determination to Carl. We need you to research what happened to the 50,000 acres of Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. It was put into the Public Land System by none other than Senator Larry Sneed a little over three years ago. What happened to the land? Did anyone buy it or is it just sitting there?"

"Piece of cake. Anna and I are going shopping for shoes later. After that we'll be able to access those files through her office computer. You remember her boss, Representative Timothy Red Wolf. He's at home in South Dakota this week. I guess the oil fracking mania is traveling South. He's helping the governor educate land owners what fracking means to them."

"Great," Mac said. "Call us tomorrow about noon your time."

They both ended the call. Mac said to Ben. "Carol's on it!"

Senator Sneed's daughter, Jennifer Ariosto, sat in her DC office listening to her phone messages. The message from the escrow company caught her interest. She returned their call.

She connected with the escrow officer and was smiling at the news. She immediately pick up the phone to call her father. Then she sat back and wondered. Her recollections of daddy haunted her even today. She took a deep breath, repressed the memory and placed the call.

"Jennifer, how are you?" The Senator answered.

"Escrow called. The Refuse has been deeded. The final papers for our sale to Quon-Rong will be ready to sign tomorrow."

"That's good news. Locci's persuasive methods worked."

"Dad, I wanted to make a deal with an Indian tribe for the land. But your idea to use reclassified government land will make us a hundred times more money. Now, Wing and his people will relax and stop pressuring you."

"I'd better call Wing. He'll need to take a red-eye out from San Francisco to sign the papers. Set up the escrow signing for as late in the day tomorrow as possible."

"Will do. Bye." Jennifer ended this call. She dialed escrow's number and made the arrangements.

Sneed called Wing. He explained the escrow process to him. Wing acknowledged he was eager to sign the paperwork. Sneed ended the conversation with, "I'll send a government jet for you. See you tomorrow." And he did.

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