The Cartel Lawyer by Dave Daren (ebook reader below 3000 TXT) 📕

black eyes to me as a smirk tugged at one side of his mouth, and he reminded me of a snake that was coiled and ready to strike.

“Yes,” Osvaldo said as he drew my attention back to himself. “Fear. Listen, Jipato, you need to learn how this world works.”

“I’m an officer of the court,” I reminded him. “If you want to do anything illegal, I should not be present. I can leave if you’d like.”

“You’ll stay right where you are,” the scarred man said with a deep scowl that pinned me to my chair. “You work for me now, Jipato. And you’ll do as I ask.”

My heart raced in my chest as my mouth went dry. It was not so much a threat as it was a promise, and if that was how he planned to convince the judge to release his son, then I had no doubts at all that the magistrate would be easily swayed.

“Okay,” I muttered. “How exactly do you plan on instilling fear?”

“We let him know we’ve figured out how he really makes his money,” the cartel man said with a shrug as he leaned back in his chair and rested his hands over his middle.

“He sent the police after me when he realized I was looking into him,” I reminded the surly man. “What makes you think that he won’t try to do the same thing with you? He knew who you were when he sent Camilo to Everson.”

“True,” my employer responded with a nod. “He thinks he’s untouchable.”

“I will remind him he is not,” Alvaro finished as he pulled his switchblade from his pocket and began to flip it like he had in my apartment.

“We can’t go around beating up judges,” I huffed. “Even if it wasn’t illegal, it would be a direct path to you, and even I couldn’t keep you out of prison.”

“Alvaro does not ‘beat people up’,” Osvaldo said. “We will simply remind the judge that he is not outside of our reach. And, we’ll keep his little money making schemes out of the hands of the DA as long as he plays along.”

“He’ll owe you a favor,” I said as I realized my employer’s plan.

Blackmail was still deplorable, but it was a far better choice than murder. Though I wasn’t entirely convinced that the giant next to me wouldn’t rough the judge up before the deal was done.

“Exactly,” the scarred man said as he clapped his hands together and flashed a smile at me. “This world runs on favors. We keep his secrets, and he’ll owe us a favor when we need it.”

“Like getting Camilo out?” I suggested.

“For starters,” my employer nodded. “Of course, he’ll have to be smart enough to take the deal.”

“And if he doesn’t take it?” I asked.

“I’ll convince him,” Alvaro added with another flick of his switchblade.

I looked between the two men as I tried to wrap my head around what they were saying. I still wanted to go to the DA and give them the information I had gathered on the Everson Juvenile Detention Center, but it would lead directly back to the judge if they looked too closely at the finances, and then Osvaldo wouldn’t have the corrupt magistrate in his pocket.

If that happened, then Alvaro really would take me out into the Everglades and feed me to a python or an alligator, maybe while I was still alive. The second in command had broken into my apartment once already, and he could do it again while I slept. At least he would wake me up before he killed me, though that wasn’t very comforting.

“If necessary, you can send the appeal to get my boy out to another judge,” Osvaldo said as the silence in the room began to grow unbearable. “But Judge Travis Williams will need to stay on the bench.”

“Okay,” I said after I was sure my voice would stay steady. “I will check the status of the appeal when I get home. Though I think it would be easier if the judge changed his verdict rather than if we requested another judge and started the process all over again.”

“If you say so,” the scarred man said with a nod. “We’ll add that to our deal with him.”

“Perfect,” I mumbled.

I had started to rethink my choice of employer. Even though the money was enough to pay my mother’s medical bills, the personal cost was high. I had knowledge of their plan to blackmail a judge, and it went against everything that I had vowed to uphold as a lawyer to willingly break the law and against every set of morals my mother had instilled in me since I was a little boy.

Alvaro’s knife flicked open and shut in a steady rhythm as I had my internal debate, and I realized that the two men had gone silent as they watched and waited for me to pull myself together. My employer drummed his fingers on his desk as he processed the information I had given him and his plans moving forward. His dark-brown eyes were locked on me, and his face was twisted into a scowl as if he could read my mind and disapproved of my moral dilemma.

“Why don’t you make the call?” Osvaldo asked as he broke the growing quiet.

“The call?” I asked, and my heart lurched in my chest. “To the judge?”

“Who else?” the beefy man asked, and the scar on his right cheek seemed deeper in the shadows cast from the setting sun behind him. “I want to make sure that you don’t do anything foolish… like go to the DA and turn in all that evidence you’ve gathered.”

“Sure,” I said with a nod and a tentative smile, though my stomach turned sour at the idea of being a part of the crime.

“Listen, Jipato,” my employer said as