Free Shattered Trust by Leslie Esdaile Banks Page A

Steve’s hand and chuckled. “I know, because otherwise I’d have to kill you.”
    James looked away and swallowed a smile, as his partner sat back very slowly and raked his hair. Laura was on her feet.
    â€œUhmmm, why don’t I show you to the shower, and I’ll make some broiled fish and something more substantial for you to eat—the fruit was just to take the edge off.”
    Akhan stood slowly with a wry smile. “Yes ... and then James can show me the fine points of how to use his gun.”
    No one said a word as Akhan and Laura left the room. They just simply stared after them, rendered mute.
    Â 
    Â 
    â€œYou all right, man?” James said, landing a heavy hand on Steve’s shoulders.
    Steve rubbed his palms down his face and blew out a long breath. “Oh ... shit ...”
    â€œYeah,” Jamal said, fixing a cup of tea to take into the next room. “Pop don’t play. But once you’re in, you’re in, unless you do something to fuck that up.” Jamal glanced at Najira. “He means what he says. He will shoot your ass, if you yank my sister around.”
    Najira grasped Steve’s hand and squeezed it hard, glaring at Jamal. “He’s not like that, and you know it.”
    â€œI feel you. I’m just saying.”
    â€œAll right, y’all,” James said, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. “Crisis number two for the day averted. Let the old man sip his tea in his room, eat, get some shut-eye, and then we’ve gotta make some decisions on how to move forward.”
    A vibration on James’s hip made him open his eyes, sit forward, and bring his cell phone to his ear. All eyes were on him as he took the call.
    â€œYeah, Cap. Good to hear from you. What’s up?”
    â€œGot a delivery of some really interesting equipment, with ID that hit a brick wall when we tried to do a database search on it.”
    â€œWhat kind of brick wall?” James said, cautiously.
    â€œA federal brick wall,” Cap replied, lowering his voice. “A you-do-not-want-to-fuck-with-this brick wall.”
    â€œThen you know that me and Laura ain’t in it, right?”
    A long silence filled the receiver.
    â€œMy hunch as a detective says you’re clean,” Cap finally replied.
    â€œYou got anybody local that can do a hack, on the DL?”
    â€œMaybe,” Cap said, not committing.
    â€œYou already did it, didn’t you?”
    Nervous laughter filled the receiver.
    â€œCall me curious,” Cap muttered. “This guy has an international rap sheet, and did a lot of ‘special projects’ for the feds. He’s Russian. Names too many and too hard to spell to give you on the phone. Suffice to say, this ain’t some local, regular vendetta shit. But with a senator dead and a trail leading to an old federal black ops pro, won’t be long before I have to give up the evidence and turn this over to higher authorities—you know what I’m saying. It’ll be outta my hands. You all just stay safe.”
    â€œI hear you,” James muttered back. “Thanks for the heads-up, Cap. I owe you.”
    Cap chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say.”
    By the time the call disconnected, Laura had returned to the kitchen. She was greeted by blank stares of pure disbelief.
    â€œWhat happened?’ she asked quietly.
    â€œGot a call,” James said, standing. “I’ll tell you about it while you fix Akhan’s fish.”

    They all sat around the dining room table, barely picking at the broiled sea bass and steamed vegetables that Laura had prepared in a zombie state. Akhan ate slowly, methodically, as though measuring each bite of food with the slow recount of each witness’s words, thinking.
    â€œJames and I need to resurface and draw the fire our way,” Laura finally said, taking a careful sip of her herbal, mango tea.
    â€œI