Winning Texas Read Online Free PDF

departments, but a lot of the hate mail focused on how wrong it would be to arm the filthy Nazis. ” He shook his head.
    “ Isn ’ t that a fairly controversial idea? ” Annie asked. “ The Nation of Texas always bragged about creating its own militia, which made people nervous. Aren ’ t you suggesting the same thing? ”
    “ Not necessarily, ” he said. “ We see German Texas as a special enclave inside our state. We could help make it safer. We ’ re not suggesting that our territory be independent of state control. ”
    Wurzbach looked at his watch. Annie wondered if he wanted to short-circuit the interview.
    “ I didn ’ t realize how late it ’ s getting. I need to get to my other appointment, ” he said. “ Shall we go? ”
    “ Sure. One of my reporters heard something about your German Texas campaign, ” she said as they walked out. “ Maggie Mahaffey ’ s tied up with the legislature right now, but she plans to contact you for an interview. ”
    “ I ’ ll be more than happy to talk to her, ” he said. “ Why don ’ t you come up to Austin? I ’ ll bet Jake would enjoy seeing you. ”
    “ I ’ m not so sure about that, ” Annie said. “ But I enjoyed our lunch and want to keep in touch. One thing – please don ’ t underestimate the Nation of Texas. Those folks may have gone underground, but they ’ re still ruthless and could be deadly. ”
    “ I promise I ’ ll be careful, Annie, ” he said, grasping her hand. “ I ’ ll keep you posted. ”
    She walked the two blocks back to the office, oblivious to the heat that shimmered through airless caverns between the tall buildings. She usually enjoyed views of the skyline, but today she was distracted. She thought about the secessionist threats Wurzbach had described, but her mind kept coming back to Jake Satterfield ’ s breakup with his wife. For a heady few months four years ago, she ’ d been the fulcrum of a love triangle involving Jake Satterfield and secessionist candidate Tom Marr. Marr had dazzled her with his looks, intelligence and charm, but she couldn ’ t accept his secessionist views. She ’ d broken off their friendship and cemented her relationship with Jake Satterfield. She still wondered sometimes if she ’ d made the right choice.

CHAPTER 5
     
    Kyle Krause sat with his laptop open on a polished-wood, round table at his Texas Girls strip club a few miles west of downtown Houston. He ’ d located most of his establishments farther north or east, out in the boondocks where the laws were ignored and the neighborhoods more acquiescent to the presence of adult businesses.
    Krause stayed out late most nights visiting his clubs, so he ’ d slept in as usual. He ’ d eaten a light breakfast after exercising for two hours with his trainer at his condo. He ’ d put in a roomful of equipment when he bought the showy unit, including a stair stepper, treadmill and weights. He worried about pushing 40 and had stepped up his routine to shed weight.
    He needed to look good to feel confident. He was lucky to be tall, but he disliked his big-boned structure and squared-off frame. If he gained a few pounds, he looked too much like the meathead bouncers at his clubs. Of course he ’ d started out as a bouncer in his early twenties in Houston, but he ’ d be damned if he ever had to make his living that way again. Growing up poor in the Hill Country was bad enough. He guessed that ’ s why he could never fully embrace the University of Texas, with its deep-pocketed fraternity boys and pointless football rivalries. Dropping out and coming to Houston showed him a career path that was unorthodox but lucrative. He ’ d become a strip club manager in his twenties and bought his first club as he neared thirty. Houston still excited him. Like Las Vegas and a few other places in this country, it was a frontier for those who didn ’ t mind taking chances. He ’ d return to the Hill Country some day when he had enough money. At