Page 162 of Maddy's Justice

“Cal? Cal who?” Carvelli asked.

“I’ll explain it on the flight back,” Maddy said.

Paxton, who had been off by herself for a couple of minutes, came back holding her phone at Maddy.

“Someone wants to say hello.”

“Hi,” she quietly said.

“Are you okay?” Marc anxiously asked.

“I’m fine. Before you start yelling at me, it was all Tony’s fault. Be mad at him. He made me do it.”

“There’s something I have to show you,” Maddy told Agent Diggs when he got back after opening the canopy. “Bring him along,” Maddy said pointing at Zane.

Using flashlights brought by their rescuers, Maddy and the twins led them through the woods. While they did this, two helicopters flew overhead to land in the compound. In the dark they had some trouble finding the place again until one of the girls spotted the backhoe.

“What is it?” Diggs asked,

“Tell him, Cal,” Maddy said.

“I have no idea…” he started to say then was cut off with Maddy’s rifle butt to the midsection, again.

“You really should stop doing that,” Carvelli said. “The FBI is here.”

“Stop doing what?” Diggs asked while watching Cal try to breathe.

“It’s a cemetery,” Abia said. “It is where we were all going to be buried.”

FIFTY-THREE

“Lori, slow down,” Connie said into her phone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why wouldn’t you get your money?”

“Turn on your TV. It’s all over the news. Your client is a bunch of crooks. The FBI and several other agencies raided the place this morning,” Lori Quin answered.

“I’ll call you back,” Connie said then abruptly cut off the call.

She hurried out to the common area and turned the TV on to a local station. Connie watched for a minute then yelled for Marc to join her.

“What?” he asked.

“The Feds are at Stafford, Hughes. They’re hauling the entire firm out and loading it in that big truck,” Connie said.

The picture on the TV was the front of the Wells Fargo Center. While Connie and Marc watched––and by now the rest of the office as well––the truck was being loaded. On the sidewalk there appeared to be dozens of people milling about. Marc and Connie recognized several of them as firm employees.

“Wow,” Marc quietly said. “For the federal government, that’s moving fast.”

“What?” Connie asked while the others crowded in a little closer.

Of course, by now, the office personnel knew about last night’s rescue. What they saw on TV must be tied to that.

“There was an FBI agent with them last night,” Marc started to explain. “I know Tony called one of his guys, the one watching Melanie and Troy, Franklin Washington. Tony also called Owen Jefferson and got him out of bed and sent him to where Melanie and Troy were. The FBI agent must have called some of their people, too. Somehow they got search warrants and subpoenas to go after the law firm.”

“They’re going to freeze everything, aren’t they?” Connie asked. “Money, bank accounts, Trust accounts, everything.”

“Yep,” Marc said.

“We’re going to get a call,” Connie said.

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