XIV

Miles drove his car away from the hospital. "We need to go somewhere safe." Miles studied the vehicles around him. He drove halfway under the speed limit. Many honked their horns and flipped him off, but none stayed behind him.

"Take me to the courthouse." Haruna checked her phone. A dozen phone calls and texts from Detective Lee. Most of them were about the Russians looking for her.

"You sure? The Russians aren't going to stop looking for you."

"The Vasiliev family won't come to get me there. Besides, I have a motion for the Vanco case in..." Haruna glimpsed at her watch, "five minutes. If I'm not there, the judge will throw it out, but I can try to buy more time if I'm there."

"OK." Miles spanned the wheel around and slammed the accelerator down. The two flew toward the center of Hazard City.

When they arrived, Haruna jumped out and ran up the limestone staircase to the entrance. She jumped passed security and ran towards her assigned room. "Three minutes late."

She straightened her clothes and took a deep breath. She grabbed the handles of the door and walked in. Rough men and women filled one side of the courtroom, many Vanco's soldiers. On the other side, news reporters sat with concealed cameras in their bags and with notepads on their laps. In front, some of Vanco's victims sat with their hands clasped.

Everyone turned towards the entrances when the doors banged closed. "Miss Wu, you are late," Judge Larkin said.

"I'm sorry, I was detained."

"Make sure it doesn't happen again. Where is your second chair?"

Haruna stood next to her table. She expected Naomi Piazza to sit in the chair next to hers, but it stood empty. Haruna bottom lip trembled. Naomi married a few years ago and had a son less than a year old. She closed her mouth and stepped behind her table. She attempted to push the emotions out of her face, but she worried.

A small smug smile crept across the face of a well-dressed attorney sitting on the other side of the courtroom. Next to him, the infamous Henrietta Vanco sat. Her long legs are crossed in front of her. She played with her nails, uninterested in the world around her. A slight smirk appeared on her face when Haruna sat.

"Your honor." The defense attorney stood. He twisted one of his gold cufflinks. "We have delayed enough today. Let us proceed without Miss..." The defense attorney gestured towards the empty chair next to Haruna. "Who was your second chair again?"

"Mrs. Piazza," Haruna said. "I will have the police look into her absence, your honor. For now, I am ready to proceed."

"Fine. Now, Mr. Martin, you wish to preclude a witness from testifying."

"Yes, your honor. I sent several requests to Ms. Wu about this witness, asking for an interview. Ms. Wu denied all those requests. We contend this witness doesn't exist. These charges were brought because of Ms. Wu's vendetta against Mrs. Vanco."

"Your honor, that is not true. Yesterday my witness was shot by an unknown assailant."

"How convenient," Mr. Martin said. "And how do we know Ms. Wu didn't pick a name out of the obituaries?"

"We corroborated her statements. She used to work for Mrs. Vanco. We, the people, contest Mrs. Vanco orchestrated a hit on one Liza Marie so she could escape these charges."

"Do you have any evidence to back that up?" Judge Larkin asked.

Haruna's heart beat a mile a minute. She tried to think of anything she could say to keep Henrietta in jail. "No, but a Russian hit squad tried to kill me today."

"And how does that help your case?" Mr. Martin asked.

"It shows your client's guilt," Haruna said.

"Did the Russians have any connection to Mrs. Vanco?" Judge Larkin asked.

"Not a proven one. To my knowledge, no one was arrested at the scene."

"Ms. Wu, you are not giving me anything. You have no evidence to connect any of these events to Mrs. Vanco. A defense attorney never questioned your witness. Now you say she is dead and can't link her death to the defendant. I'm not allowing her testimony into evidence, and I'm dismissing the charges." The judge lifted his gavel.

"Please, Judge, give me a little more time."

"You've had time. If you ever bring charges against Mrs. Vanco without substantial evidence, I will ensure your license is pulled. Mrs. Vanco, you are free to go." The judge banged his gavel.

Haruna fell into her chair. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and attempted to think of something. She thought about appealing but couldn't think of any grounds. A loud bang woke her up. Larkin and the audience left. Only two of Vanco's gang members remained. Both stood and walked out of the gallery towards the defense table.

Madam Vanco stood and stretched her hourglass figure. She turned toward Haruna. "When are you going to give up?" She laughed. "You're never going to beat me." A smug smile appeared on her face as she walked around the courtroom.

"Where is Naomi?" Haruna stepped out from behind her table. The men's eyes followed the petite girl as she stood only a few feet from Vanco.

Madam Vanco shrugged her shoulders and turned her back to Haruna. "You think you or her required a personal touch? I let my attorney handle it."

"You kidnapped an ADA. You're going to jail for life."

"I don't think so." Madam Vanco snapped her fingers. Her guys stepped toward Haruna and grabbed her by her hair. They dragged her onto the table.

Haruna pressed against the two men. Each man pushed one of her shoulders to the table. Haruna couldn't move the top part of her body but continued to kick her legs. "Let me go!"

Madam Vanco hovered over Haruna. "You know I get a discount for my legal services. All I need to do is offer my defense team a couple of girls a year. Free of charge, of course, but this time things changed. The extra work he needed required something specific. You. He wanted you inside the court."

Haruna screamed and pushed with renewed force. Vanco's men slammed her back down. Their free arms pulled her legs apart. Tears dripped into the wood of the table below her. Roy pushed her skirt up and positioned herself between the woman's legs. Haruna stared at Vanco, "You will never get away with this."

Vanco sat down near Haruna's head. She smiled and leaned down. "You will never learn. I got every recording device turned off. I got the courtroom's schedule blocked off for hours. I have men outside stopping anyone from coming down the hall." Haruna's eyes grew. Vanco grabbed the ADA's underwear and pulled it until the fabric pulled apart.

Mr. Roy Martin stepped over. He unbuckled his pants.

"Stop," Vanco said. "Do you give up, Haruna? I'll call off Roy and let you be on your way. Just promise me, you will never bring another case against me."

Tears rained down Haruna's face. She glared at Vanco and spat into her face.

Vanco rose from the table and wiped the spit away. She stared down at the ADA with fire in her eyes. "How dare you!" she screamed. Roy moved to take his pants farther off. Her venomous stare turned to the attorney. "Did I say you could continue? No, I didn't. Take her. I want to break her and make her my little fuck slave." She wrapped her hand around the back of Haruna's hair. "Every cock in Hazard City will know what it's like to be inside your cunt." She threw Haruna's head back down.

The door to the courtroom opened. An older man in his sixties stepped in. He dressed in a worn gray suit; his black hair buzzed short. He smirked and shook his head.

Vanco strolled over. "How did you get in here?" she grabbed her purse.

"I was waiting outside the door. You didn't lock it?"

"And who are you?" Vanco continued to dig through her purse.

"Oh, that doesn't matter." The man reached into his jacket pocket. "I guess the recorders are off. Otherwise, you wouldn't be assaulting an ADA."

"Yeah." Vanco drew a small plastic knife from her purse.

"Nice knife." The older man took out a silver case filled with cigars and a lighter. He lit the cigar and took a deep breath. "We can't smoke anywhere around the courthouse."

"Fascinating," Martin said. "What do you want, you old goat?"

The older man ignored Martin. "So, thanks for this. I wanted one for hours." He put the cigar case back in his jacket and reached toward the other side.

"I have been here all day hoping to hear from a friend. She had a hit put out on her. I've been worried sick." He pulled his arm out and flashed a silver badge. "You wouldn't know where Haruna Wu is? Would you?"

The men let go of Haruna, and she rose from the table. The older man's smirk faded. He showed Vanco his ID.

"Detective James Lee," Vanco said. "I've heard of you. You're the one this little slut goes to when she wants to investigate something. I bet she pays you the same way I would."

Lee smiled; the old detective put his badge away and pulled out a Glock. He pointed it at Vanco's head.

Vanco smiled. Her men took a few steps toward Lee, but she waved her hand at them, and they stopped. She put the knife in her purse.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you pulled the trigger. You can't always protect her. One day you won't be fast enough to stop me."

"You'll be signing your death certificate that day."

Vanco walked past Lee and out the door; her men soon followed. Lee went to Haruna.

"Did you have a plan if I didn't show up?" he asked.

Haruna pulled her skirt down and wiped the tears from her face. She shook her head. The two passed the security desk on their way out.

"Detective Lee. We warned you several times about smoking around the courthouse."

Lee turned toward the man. He took the cigar out of his mouth. "Gosh darn it, Sergeant, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you to keep me in line." He put the cigar back in his mouth and walked out of the courthouse.