Charged

“If you leave this firm, I will ruin you, Jackson. I will make sure no other law firm touches you and that you never get the opportunity to represent another client.”

This time I didn’t bother to stop the eye roll. I also decided Orsen and his precious firm had taken up enough of my time and my personal investment. I rose to my feet and leaned over so that my palms were flat on his desk. I narrowed my eyes at the man who I once thought gave me everything and told him flatly, “I don’t want to represent the kinds of people you think need a solid defense, Orsen. I’m no longer interested in setting free the kind of man that could start a house on fire knowing his own child was inside. I don’t want a reference or a referral from you. I want to get as far away as possible from the man you helped me become.” I saw fear flash in his gaze and felt a kick of satisfaction that some of my old roughness and intimidation was starting to rise back to the surface. “I’ll have my office cleaned out by the end of the day.”

I pushed off the desk and was headed for the door when I heard his quiet, “This is all that girl’s fault. You were on the fast track to success until you took her case and let her get to you.”

I looked at him over my shoulder and frowned when I pulled my ringing phone out of my pocket and saw Brite’s number on the screen. I figured he wanted to chew me out for making his daughter cry. I was willing to face his wrath so I could tell him I was working on a way to show Avett that she was the most important thing in my entire world. A way that she couldn’t misinterpret or ignore. Brite seemed like the kind of guy that appreciated actions over words so I was sure I could smooth things over with the right words.

I told Orsen matter-of-factly, “You’re right that she made me realize that I need more in my life than the next big case, and the next paycheck, but you’re wrong about the path I was on, old man. That path led to nothing more than high blood pressure and more useless shit that never impressed anyone anyway.”

I touched the face of the phone and expected to get an earful about how to treat women; what I got was Brite’s breathless voice that was made even rougher by panic.

“Quaid, Avett’s been abducted.”

I slipped out of Orsen’s office and pressed the phone more fully to my ear as my fingers reflexively tightened around it.

“What? What do you mean abducted?”

My feet of their own volition carried me away from Orsen’s office and down the hall towards the elevator. My blood started to rush between my ears so loudly that I could barely hear him when he told me in a rush, “These guys broke into the house and held me and Darcy captive while they called Avett. They think she knows something about the drugs that loser ex of hers took off with. I told her not to leave with them, but do you think she listened to me? She got into a black SUV and they took off with my little girl.”

“Did you call the police?” My heart was pounding and my palms were slick with fear-sweat.

“Of course we called the police, and we have the plate number on the Yukon, but these guys are armed and they mean business. We need to figure out where she would lead them to. I know she would want them as far away from Denver and us as possible. Do you have any idea where she would go?”

“Wait, if you were being held captive how do you know all this? How did you manage to call me?” My brain was going a million miles a minute but the need to have as much information as possible was ingrained in me and I couldn’t keep the questions from spilling out as I practically ran towards my truck.

“Avett was taken from the bar. Before she got in the car, she told Rome and Church I needed them at the house. Armed thugs have nothing on former special ops guys. We called the police as soon as the situation here was under control, but it’s been an hour so that’s one hell of a head start the bad guys have.”

Where would she take them? Where would she go so that she could buy time for everyone she cared about to get safe?

I put my hand on the door handle and swore long and loudly. “I know where she’s taking them.” It was the exact same place I would go if I wanted the rest of the world to be unable to find me. “I own a cabin out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. That’s where I took her when we dropped out of sight for the weekend. I’ll call the state patrol and tell them to haul ass there but the woods are thick and there aren’t any real landmarks, so the chances are I’ll find her before they do.”

“These guys are dangerous, Jackson. They were armed and had every intention of taking both Darcy and me out and setting the house on fire as soon as they heard from the guys that have Avett.”

I stiffened as I heard something behind me. In the reflection of the glass on the driver’s side window, I saw the man dressed head to toe in black moving up behind me. I let out a slow and steadying breath through my nose and told Brite, “I’m aware how dangerous the men are and how critical the situation is, Brite. I’ll text you a general location as soon as I’m on the road.”

I ducked and spun out of the way as the man behind me reached for me. I slid to the side and caught the arm he had raised to grab me by the wrist and used his surprise and my leverage to my advantage. I wrenched the wrist up behind his back and between his shoulder blades with enough force that I heard the distinct pop as bone slipped out of the socket. I slammed his face against the window on the side of my vehicle and leaned in close so that I was talking directly into the assailant’s ear.

“You better hope your buddies don’t touch a single hair on her head. If you hurt her in any way, jail will seem like a vacation compared to what I’m going to do to you and your friends.”