A King's Ransom Read Free Page A

was beginning to feel like an unwilling accomplice, but I did as I was told and removed the tape.
    Gilbert froze. His lawyer was speechless. He'd chosen the zero.
    Ooooooh, I'm so sorry, said Duncan. If only you had trusted your first instinct and gone with number three. He removed the tape himself this time, as if throwing salt in the wound. It was really there: five hundred thousand dollars.
    This is bullshit! Teesha shouted.
    Only because you lost.
    What are you hiding, Fitz? If you put a half million on the table, the case must be worth ten times that much.
    Right now it's worth zero.
    It's gambling. The agreement's illegal and unenforceable.
    Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But I'd truly hate to put your client through the ordeal of getting a court order to enforce a settlement agreement. So tell him there's five grand on the table, and we all walk away happy. The offer's good for twenty-four hours. After that, I move to enforce the deal.
    You're bluffing.
    Try me. Duncan tucked the signed document into his coat pocket. Nick will show you the way out. With that, he gathered his papers and walked out the door with a delighted client.
    It was an awkward moment, me left behind like the six-foot fly on the wall in the aftermath of one of Duncan's client-pleasing stunts. I stepped away from the table and waited near the door, praying that Gilbert was not a violent man. But he didn't appear to be angry. He was stunned and silent, rocked by the loss of a half-million-dollar settlement.
    Hope you're proud of yourself, said Teesha.
    I did a double take, realizing that she was talking to me.
    Tricking a dying man, playing on his desperation. You bastards are unbelievable.
    I couldn't disagree, but I couldn't disown my own supervising partner, either. I just wanted to let Mr. Jones know that this hadn't been my idea. Is he going to be okay?
    What do you think? she said sharply.
    My question was stupid, admittedly.
    Just leave, said Teesha. We know our way out.
    I left quietly, catching one last glimpse of Gilbert's stunned and pathetic expression. Had I not known what his case was really worth, Duncan's showboat tactics might not have disgusted me so. But I'd sat through the confidential strategy conferences. I'd heard the client privately admit responsibility for Mr. Jones's injuries. Med-Fam would have been getting off cheap even if it had coughed up the half million dollars hidden behind door number three. I'm not so pious as to refuse to represent anyone who shows up in my office wearing a black hat. But I had to draw the line at toying with a victim, destroying what little was left of his life, and then going back to Duncan's office to celebrate.
    Victories like this one made me wish I'd listened to my father and literally gone fishing the rest of my life. Dad would have liked that, but only if it had been my choice, only if I'd truly shared my old man's love of the sea, the salty air, the squish-squish of fish guts beneath rubber boots.
    I couldn't deal with Duncan right then. I started back toward my office, then heard my name called as I crossed the main lobby.
    Nick Rey, caller holding.
    It was a page from the operator, which concerned me. The firm's policy was to refer unanswered calls to the voice mail system. Pages were only for true emergencies. I took the call at the phone bay off the main lobby. It was my mother, which only heightened my worries. Never did she bother me at work. She sounded awful.
    What's wrong? I asked.
    It's - Her voice broke.
    I could tell she'd been crying. Mom, what is it?
    It's about your father.
    My heart leaped to my throat. Is he okay?
    We don't know. He's missing.
    What do you mean, missing?
    He may have been kidnapped.
    When?
    Last night.
    Where?
    On one of his boats, in Cartagena.
    Colombia? What was he doing there?
    No one seems to know anything for sure. It's all so confusing to me, the things I'm hearing.
    Who told you this?
    I went numb when he called. I'm sorry. Maybe you should call him