Free Powerful Men 2: Four More Alphas Who Seize Control by Carla Kane

first place.
    After that, Clara moved into San Antonio to throw herself into her work. She’d set up a practice in the city when she first arrived anyway and it wasn’t like there wasn’t an awful lot for her to do. And now here she was, on the sixth day of the Texxon hearing, the most publicized – and complicated – case of her entire career.
    Texxon was a billion-dollar oil company, a group that made most of its revenue by cutting corners and screwing up the lives of anybody who had the misfortune to get in their way. The CEO and founder of the group was Ace Cooper, a man whose own vicious personality was the inspiration for Texxon’s cut-throat business model. Years ago, Cooper’s company had illegally dumped gallons of hazardous waste around a small community in the desert by the name of Prudence and the negative fallout was still being shown in the health problems of the local population. The fact that it was only now going to court was a testament to Ace Cooper’s personal sway in the state.
    So yeah, Clara was really going up against the big boys here. Ace Cooper and his son Bobby, the company’s vice president, had a whole team of well-trained lawyers, while she was entering into the case alone. And she was doing it all for free too – nobody in the town of Prudence had much cash between them anyway and whatever they could manage to rustle together they needed for medical costs on account of all the pollution. No, Clara was doing this one on principal. And hell, it wasn’t like she got nothing out of it – the fact that her name was in the national papers every morning this week meant that she’d certainly reap the rewards sooner or later, even if she didn’t win.
    As she sat in her car and tried to keep herself cool (the deleterious effects of the sweat and clamminess on her appearance were one of the worst things about practicing law in this part of the world), she saw the huge figure of Moses McKennedy striding towards the courtroom steps. Even though she didn’t see eye to eye with the Judge she couldn’t help but smile as she watched him approach his kingdom. He really was something out of this world, the guy seemed to think he still lived in the wild west and she honestly would not be one bit surprised if he occasionally strapped a pair of pistols on his belt and rode out to claim any defendants who hadn’t turned up to his courtroom that day.
    The man was at least six foot seven tall, with long, slightly kinky grey hair the color of iron that went down past his shoulders. He was all muscle and sinew, so much so that he looked like he must have grown up on the mountains, raised by bears probably. That wouldn’t have surprised her much either.
    He wore the long black robes of his office but perched atop his head he had on a cowboy hat too. The old west – that was where the guy thought he was.
    Judge Moses McKennedy was a conservative type whose natural inclination was to side with the likes of Ace and Bobby Cooper, so that set Clara back even further. But nonetheless, she could tell that he was at least an honest man. The guy had strong principles and if the evidence was there then he would rule in whatever way it pointed. Making sure the truth came to light was Clara’s job.
    Judge McKennedy continued into the courtroom, turning heads all around him as he passed, like he probably did wherever he went, whether to the grocery store or the county jail. As Clara started gathering up her documents she spotted Ace and Bobby Cooper striding towards the steps with their team of sleazebag attorneys.
    ‘Shit,’ Clara muttered as she watched them, ‘does everybody in this damn state have to where a cowboy hat?’
    Ace and his son both wore Stetsons over their suits. Ace’s was white to match the rest of his southern garb and Bobby’s was tan above a pinstripe blue business suit.
    Maybe that’s why I can’t get any respect around here, Clara considered, maybe because I’m not wearing a