THE IMPERIAL ENGINEER Read Online Free Page A

beer. "Join me?"
    "I've had enough," Tony said.
    Frank nodded, and Newell ordered for the two of them. Tony and Frank played the
hand with Newell looking on. Tony found his presence distracting. Glumly he laid down
his cards, knowing he'd played poorly. "Fifteen-two, fifteen-four, fifteen six, and a pair for
eight." Frank pegged fourteen points. Tony was skunked.
    As they gathered up the cards, Newell said, "Frank tells me you work for
Eagleton. My boss calls him a sharper, always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes."
There was a note of challenge in his voice.
    "I've found him honest and straightforward. So far the schemes I've seen seem to
pay off, so maybe your boss is wrong."
    Newell didn't quite sneer.
    If I didn't know better, I'd say he was trying to pick a fight. Tony pushed
his chair back and rose. "I've got a big day tomorrow, so it's time for me to turn in. Good
night, Frank, Mr. Newell."
    He had the strangest feeling Newell had deliberately set out to make himself
disliked.

Chapter Two
The Committee of Arrangements of the Fourth of July celebration...have concluded to
hold the literary exercises at Dorsey's Grove...Mr. Dorsey has agreed to have a seating
capacity of at least 1,000, to enlarge the music stand, and to have the grounds in apple pie
order...The distance to the grove is hardly more than half a mile...
Wood River Times
    ~~~
    "The vision of our founding fathers was of a nation free from tyranny, free from
oppression," Lulu said. "A woman who cannot vote is a slave, subject to the whims of her
master. She has no rights, save what her father or her brother or her husband grants her.
She has no say in her fate, no choice of residence, no opportun--"
    A tomato hit her on the cheek. A very ripe, somewhat spoiled tomato.
    She gripped the edge of the lectern and forced herself to remain outwardly calm.
This was not the first time she'd been a target of assorted missiles thrown by less
sympathetic members of her audience, but the experience was one she'd never grow used
to. After a couple of deep breaths, she pulled a lacy handkerchief from her sleeve and
wiped away the dripping juice with a shaking hand.
    "No opportunity to determine how the city, the state, the nation she lives in will
care for its citizens, will educate its children, and will conduct itself when--"
    She saw the next fruit launched, and nimbly stepped aside to let it sail past.
"...when dealing with the rest of the world.
    "I ask you, fellow Americans, will you allow this inequity to--"
    "That is quite enough of this nonsense. Sheriff, I demand that you stop this...this
person from spreading her seditious doctrine."
    Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw a large woman dressed in black
ascending the steps as she brandished a furled parasol.
    "Now then, Mrs. Axminster, I don't reckon you want to make a fuss," the sheriff
said, blocking her advance. His interference earned him a swat on the shoulder as the
woman tried to force her way past.
    The sheriff clearly didn't want to lay hands on the woman, who must be someone
of consequence. Lulu was wondering if she'd have to run for her life, when a lithe young
man in a linen suit leapt to the edge of the platform.
    His outstretched hand warded off the parasol as it whistled past the sheriff's head.
Grabbing Lulu's hand, he said, "We're getting out of here. Now!"
    "This is none of your affair," she said, keeping her voice low. "Let me go!" She
jerked her hand free.
    Turning to face the audience, she said, "Thomas Paine, one of our Founding
Fathers, said, 'The only ground upon which exclusion from the right of voting is consistent
with justice would be to inflict it as a punishment for a certain time upon those who should
propose to take away that right from others. The right of voting for representatives is the
primary right by which other rights are protected.'" Her voice, shaking at first, strengthened
as she spoke.
    "'To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists