Page 32

As soon as his meeting with the Warriors concluded, Alexander “General”

Boucher drove into Darling for his second meeting of the day.

Upon entering Books-N-Brews and finding no one at the counter, he headed straight to the bookshop side of the store.

He had no time for coffee or conversation with the riff-raff who frequented a dump like this.

He rolled his eyes at the scuffed, wooden, straight-back chairs sitting in the far back corner, wondering what snot-nosed toddler or delinquent high school trash had occupied the chair before.

If he’d realized he needed to bring disinfecting wipes to the shop, he could have done so.

This was supposedly a decent place, according to the talk around town.

He should have known better than to trust the opinions of the cretins living in this disgusting town.

The fact he had to smile at these people and tolerate their Neanderthal, deviant proclivities galled him to the core.

It was repulsive.

Unfortunately, a vote was a vote.

As the largest city in his district, he couldn’t afford to alienate the people of Darling.

Especially not now.

It galled him to have been reduced to clandestine meetings in the back of the children’s book section of a coffee shop.

But it met the requirements of being quiet, unexpected, and out of the view of people and cameras.

This particular meeting was to have started thirty minutes earlier.

The lawyer everyone insisted he hire was late.

So, the General sat there like a naughty child waiting in the corner to be called out of time-out.

His stomach churned with the indignity of his position.

Obviously, this lawyer didn’t realize who he was dealing with.

He’d make sure to impress upon the man that wasting his valuable time was a mistake in judgment. He’d ended men for less.

So here he sat, waiting for his new, supposed shark of a lawyer to sweep in and save him from spending the rest of his life in the very prison he’d sent so many people to in his career.

To have been thwarted while rightfully defending his legacy and protecting his destiny was a frustrating blip on his path to the governor’s mansion and eventually a national office.

President Boucher had a nice ring to it.

The very fact that there was still a case against him to discuss galled the General.

He’d been keeping track.

He knew the people responsible for this farce of a witch hunt.

He’d make them all pay, starting with Reid Nolan and the men of Sabre Security.

This was all their fault.

He shouldn’t need a fucking lawyer, but apparently, he did.

After glancing at his watch, he decided it was time to leave.

He had better things to do than wait for someone who worked for him to deign to make an appearance.

The General stood as a tall, polished man in a suit that probably cost more than most people made in half a year, sauntered into the room.

Disdain twisted his face into a sneer as the General extended his hand.

The lawyer had the audacity to pause before taking his hand in a firm grip.

At least the man had a decent handshake.

You could learn a lot about a man by his handshake, and the man oozed confidence.

The General did all he could to infuse the same confidence in his own grip, but the lawyer’s expression let him know he’d failed.

The General spoke first, to set the tone for not just this meeting, but the relationship he would have with his lawyer.

If he decided to keep him.

“It’s about damn time you got here.

I don’t appreciate being kept waiting.”

The smile that tilted the man’s lips conveyed more boredom than humor.

It certainly didn’t indicate remorse.

“Yes, I imagine not.

Shall we get straight to the point then?”

The General narrowed his eyes.

Had he been too subtle? “Well, I… yes, my time is valuable, even if yours is not.”

Now the man was amused.

“Yes, I can see why you would think that.

I would have been here sooner, but I stopped by the courthouse to file a few motions that should have been submitted at the start of this fiasco.

I also took the liberty of dismissing your, and I use the term loosely, legal team.

If those idiots are who you’ve relied on for legal counsel, I’m amazed you’ve stayed out of prison this long.”

The General, perhaps for the first time in his life, had no words.

“You had no right to do that.

How dare you make decisions about my representation without consulting me!”

The lawyer smiled.

“Your representation, up until now, has been… well, lackluster and poorly handled at best up to this point.

I can’t say who was leading your team, but frankly, he should be shot.

No, disbarred for incompetence and then shot.

He is a fool.”

Outrage overwhelmed the General.

“I was leading my team.

How dare you—”

“I’m aware.

If nothing else, you have done a stellar job of proving Abraham Lincoln’s anecdote about a man representing himself having a fool for a client to be true.

Congratulations.

If you wish to continue in this vein, let me know now.

I’ll be on a plane and headed home within the hour.”

A strange emotion, one he’d never experienced before, gripped the General by the balls and twisted.

Was this what second-guessing and self-doubt felt like? He wanted to rail at the arrogant prick sitting across from him.

The only thing holding him back was the fear the man might be right.

He had thought the whole thing would blow over based on his police statement, the witnesses he’d provided, and his reputation as a soon-to-be third-term district attorney.

That had not happened.

For the first time, the General contemplated the possibility he might actually go to prison.

The idea, which had once seemed ludicrous, was unsettling.

Gazing at the man across from him, he tried to keep all his misgivings from showing.

“Let’s say I agree to this.

What do you propose as a better strategy?”

This time, when the man smiled, an icy tendril of fear tickled up the General's spine.

He understood why his team had referred to him as a shark.

His eyes were cold, and his expression was that of a man who enjoyed destroying people.

He might not have been a bad choice after all.

Leaning forward, his new lawyer said, “I’m glad you’re finally asking the right questions.

Let’s discuss that.”

The General reclined in his chair and listened.

He liked what he heard.

This lawyer possessed experience, and he appreciated the man’s plans to erect barriers and grease the palms of the right judges.

Yes, this man would do well.

If the General played his cards right, this man could take down all his enemies and take the heat from those few who disagree with his acquittal.

Decision made, he mentally entrusted all the strategizing to the shark.

Now all the General had to worry about was not getting attacked himself when the waters around him turned bloody.