Page 32 of Secrets

“Yes. We are,” said Kari, taking a step toward the woman. Kari was tall, a little over five-feet-eight, and Beatrix was a petite, fragile-looking woman. “You come near my client, you attempt to make contact with him or Millicent, I will make sure that you pay a price not even your sick imagination can think up.”

There was an eerie, deathly quiet in the hotel lobby. Beatrix said nothing, just glaring up at the face of Kari.

“Ma’am, what do you want us to do?” asked one of her men.

“I want you to shut up and let me think.” She slowly backed up, realizing how woefully she’d underestimated this backwoods lawyer. Who would have ever dreamed that a law firm from Louisiana could outsmart her?

“We’re leaving,” she finally said. “But you’ll be seeing us very, very soon. So will my son and daughter. You can count on it.” She felt a cold steel blade at her throat and gasped.

“And you can count on us being there to stop you,” said Trak.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Well, she shit her pants,” smirked Nathan at his father.

“We have to get Jay out of prison,” said Kari.

“Babe, that’s not going to happen. He’s being charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder, assault, deadly weapons, shall I go on?”

“I know what he’s charged with, but if we don’t get him out of there, she’s going to kill him. Without him as her leverage, she won’t have anything to hold over Millicent. If we can make him disappear, make it look like a jail break, she has nothing.”

“Kari, as much as I admire and respect you, we cannot allow a killer of his magnitude out of jail,” said Trak.

“I’m telling you, if we don’t get him out of there, he’ll be dead by morning. She’ll make sure of it.”

The men all stared at one another, then back at Kari and Katrina.

“Babe, what do you think?” asked Nathan.

“I agree with Kari. You heard him. I think he was protecting his sister in a seriously fucked up, strange way. But he was protecting her. Yes, he’s dangerous, but he’s a dead man if we don’t get him out. Fowler will find a way to kill him, or Beatrix will hire someone to do it on the inside.”

“Shit,” muttered Miller. “Let me call Gaspar and the others.”

Kari looked around at the more than a dozen men now surrounding them, crowding the hotel lobby.

“Why are you guys here?” she smiled.

“Aren’t you happy to see us, belle-soeur?” Kari grinned at him, loving it when he spoke French to her.

“Yes, brother-in-law, I’m happy to see you. Very happy to see you. But how did you know to be here?”

“We heard the beginnings of your conversations with Jay in prison. Once it started, we knew something big was going to happen,” said Alec. “Ghost and Ian gathered us and told us to get here quick. Here we are.”

“And the hotel staff?” asked Katrina.

“Oh, they were happy for a bit of a break with some incentive compensation,” smiled Tailor.

“Are you staying?” asked Katrina.

“Depends on what Miller tells us,” said Trak.

“Excuse me, sir,” said the desk agent. “Can we be off our break now? We’re nervous that the manager might come in and see us away from our stations.”

“Oh, yeah,” laughed Alec. “You’re okay now. We got rid of the riff-raff. How about some food? Is the kitchen open?”

“Yes, sir!” she said excitedly. “We have an excellent kitchen. I’ll have them push some tables together for you.”

“Alec, we don’t know if we’re staying,” said Kari.

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