Fiction Friday: Crooked Part 1

The worst part of representing criminals is when they pay you with contraband.

OK, it’s cool I know two dozen guys who can get me whatever drugs I might fancy, but it gets annoying after they rake up those six figure bills. Worse, the one guy in Beantown I trust not to screw me in the aftermarket is taking a Caribbean vacation. The prick.

Still, you’ve got to play polite for The Money. Take this guy, James Falk. We’re waiting to meet with the other side’s attorney and he’s just sitting there twiddling his thumbs.

He’s real middleman’s middleman. So generic you’d think he was a corporate manager. If it wasn’t for the pawn shop he wears on his hands, anyway. He beat up some girl and she recorded it and, like a dumbass, he tried to scare her into giving him the evidence.

Thing is, this girl wasn’t stupid. She talked a guy from New England Security to keep an eye out on what she was doing. Falk got recorded *again* trying to attack her. Then he had a licensed investigator beat six shades of shit out of him “to protect his client.”

Whole thing on trideo and two simsense recordings. His boss’ boss asked me to keep him out of jail for a year or two and I took over his case myself. I’m a slippery bastard, but some people you don’t cross.

Let’s lay out our cards here. Jimmy is hella guilty. Jimmy is going to jail. Jimmy is only walking in the sunshine because I’ve played every card I can without making a run at NES. Sure, I’ve got enough clout with them to make much of this go away. But wasting those favors on Jimmy, boss’ boss or not, isn’t a winning game.

Thing is, I’m running out of moves. Ms Smarty-pants didn’t just hire New England Security to “investigate.” She got herself an attorney to take her case pro-bono.

Every yang has a yin. Mine is a dwarf named Nina Wallen. Overweight, in her mid-60s, and sharper than monowire, Nina is hell in a whatever room you put her in. Nina was one of the first dwarves born and ran away from her parents when her father killed her twin sister. Wallen isn’t one of those people who hit the easy life and lost her edge.

Nina has cut me off at every turn. No matter what trick I used to draw the proceedings out, she’s moved to block it. I’ve managed to hold the main trial off nine months, but the boss’ boss wants at least another six months of his boy walking. I can’t imagine why he’d want Jimmy Falk so accessible. Only thing I can think of is he wants an excuse to cut me loose.

If so, there’s going to be some serious trouble. Don’t get me wrong, chummer, I’m about as slippery as they come. But my arenas are all rooms: Board, court, and my personal favorite: Back. When bullets start flying I start getting the fuck out of dodge.

Which is to say I’m beginning to get fed up waiting for Nina to show up at this meeting. That- Ah. No. I won’t let her annoy me into a mistake. When I was a kid, I saw an old school Samurai flatvid. The stoic protagonist explained his discipline grew out of his mastery over his breath.

Slow breath in through the nose, down into the belly, and back out through the nose. Over and over. A steady wave of life-giving air pumping out toxins. In. Out. In. Out.

Jimmy interrupted my “zen when he dropped his pen on the table. Even with his eyes elsewhere I suppressed a flinch. It’s bad form. Before i could say anything the real wooden door of this conference room opened and the stout frame of Nina Wallen entered. She moved with precision, as if charging in slow motion.

That couldn’t be good. Habit reminded me to project casual indifference. Something else was wrong. Couldn’t place it, so I looked her over again. The usual understated-but-expensive shoes matching blouse and longish skirt. All a cherrywood to compliment her skin tone. Not a hair on her head out of place.

We made eye contact and it dawned on me what the problem was as I stood up to offer her my hand.

Nina Wallen was smiling.

I’d never seen the expression on her before. Her face was usually composed neutral. More for playing poker than being among people.

She matched my strength easy enough and I let a smirk play at the corners of my mouth. Nina is just bluffing. No one calls a settlement meeting from a position of strength.

Before the thought finished in my head I recognized it was wrong. That little squirrelly part of me urged the rest of me to take cover and run away from whoever was trying to take my nuts.

Heh.

“Good morning, Ms Wallen.”

“Mr Castiglione. Mr Falk.”

She pointedly did not offer a hand to Jimmy. She set down the synthleather padfolio she had brought in.

“I’m offering a one time 5-million dollar settlement. Good for 24 hours. If not, I’ll be forced to turn over the contents of this folder to the state.” She drew a business card and tossed it at me.

“Feel free to use the room as long as you need to deliberate. This copy is your’s. We have others.” And with that she walked away, her face returned to its usual inscrutability.

Falk reached for the padfolio, but I blocked his hand.

“Not here.”

I took out my briefcase, opened it, set the padfolio’s contents inside my briefcase, and left the folio on the table. Then I checked to make sure I didn’t bring anything else and walked towards the door. Wallen looked like she had just served a death notice. If she was right, there was no reason to let her enjoy the show.

“Wait. Aren’t we going to look a-”

“Come on. We’re burning daylight.” And with that I left. Jimmy Falk wouldn’t let me get too far ahead. On my way out I bid farewell to a few of Wallen’s colleagues and a secretary or two. First rule of getting anything done: Befriend secretaries. More skeletons have remained buried because a secretary was willing to help than any of us will ever know.

Falk caught be just before I hit the elevator. My next move was clear. Whatever “evidence” she was throwing on my client, she wouldn’t have pulled this stunt without reason. 5 mil? For Jimmy Falk? I focused on my commlink and had it send a message to a friend who knew Falk’s boss’ boss.

Might as well keep the old man in the loop. It was going to be a long day…

[Continued Next Week]