The Cartel Lawyer by Dave Daren (popular books to read .TXT) 📗

unless they knew exactly what they were looking for. But at the same time the corruption was so brazen that I was really shocked, and I concluded that this was a man who believed himself to be untouchable.

A plan started to take shape, but it would take longer than a few days to carry it out, and I needed to get Camilo out of the Everson Juvenile Center before something happened to him. That required an appeal, and I had more than enough to file the paperwork. It was all superficial still, but I’d won a release with less.

I fleshed out the document I’d begun hours before, careful to avoid any outright accusations, but including enough statistics to make a CPA happy. When I was satisfied, I went to the statewide filing system and uploaded my appeal.

As soon as it was done, I stood and brought my empty coffee mug into the kitchen to rinse it out. My head spun with all of the information I had picked up, and I felt like there was so much of it that I couldn’t make sense of it. But nothing helped me think more than a run, so I grabbed my keys, wallet, cell phone, and headphones before I stuffed my feet into my old running sneakers.

The streets were almost empty of traffic when I jogged out of my building. It was nearly two a.m., so I would have most of the city to myself, a fact that I relished. I did a couple of quick stretches, and I realized there was a man across the street. He leaned against the building directly opposite of mine as he smoked a cigarette, a fact I could see only by the glow of the cigarette tip and the plume of smoke that surrounded his face. At first, he seemed to be looking at the stars, but as I pulled out my phone to set my music, I felt his eyes move toward me.

I nodded once as I started down the street, but I could feel his eyes boring holes into my head. I tried to ignore the jab of terror that pulsed through me, and when I reached the corner, I did a quick check over my shoulder. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that the man hadn’t followed me, and I darted around the corner before he could change his mind.

But I’d barely made the halfway point on the next block when I realized that there was a car slowly following me down the block. It followed me along my usual route, always just behind me, no matter what I did. I decided to cut my run short, and I started to sprint for home. The SUV picked up its pace then, and as it drove past, the passenger’s side window rolled down. I glanced toward the car even though my brain was screaming at me to duck and cover, and I looked directly into the face of the SUV driver from the other night. My heart jumped into my throat as we made eye contact, but at least he didn’t pull out a gun.

He gave me a nod, and then the cartel goon motioned for the driver of the car to move on. He left me alone in the abandoned street with a cold sweat that dripped down my spine. It had been a clear warning.

Either I fixed this and had Camilo released, or they would fix me.

Chapter 9

I took an extra long, super hot shower in the morning to relax my tense muscles. I’d run longer than I usually did while I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of Judge Williams’ corruption and the clear threat that my employer’s goon had sent. It had taken three loops of my usual two and a half mile trail for me to feel more in control, and I was soaked through with sweat when I finally came back to my apartment. I’d washed up, but when I woke up I was sore from the run so I used that as an excuse to stay underneath the stream of water longer.

There was nothing for me to eat for breakfast, and I’d used the last of my creamer in my coffee the night before. I stood in a towel while I stared at my coffee pot for a solid minute and debated whether I could make it through an entire cup of plain black coffee.

I sighed because I knew I’d never make it, and I needed a strong dose of caffeine to push me through the long day of research and meeting with clients. I threw on a pair of dark blue jeans and a white button-up before I wandered into the bathroom to brush my teeth and style my hair. I used the mango curl smoothie my mother had given me since it made my wavy hair shine as it bounced around my eyes, and I loved the way it smelled.

When I was finished in the bathroom, I stuffed my laptop into my briefcase along with all of my notes and then snagged a black suit jacket off the back of my couch. Once I had my keys, cell phone, and wallet, I was ready to face the day.

I didn’t have an office to go to so I planned to use the coffee shop down the street, which came with the added bonus of delicious apple caramel turnovers and dark, strong coffee that they imported from Cuba. It was the perfect place to work, even with the music and wayward conversations.

The Florida air was already thick with humidity and the salty smell of the ocean when I emerged from my apartment building, and my glasses fogged immediately. I waved to the guy across the street as I pulled off my spectacles and cleaned them so I could see.

He was younger than the