When they entered the outer office, the secretary greeted them. “May I help you?”
“You remember me, Chad Armstrong.”
“Oh, yes, sir. I’m sorry, but Mr. Phillips isn’t in. He’ll be in court all day.”
Armstrong scowled. Wrenn had a diabolical smile on his face, and Foote went over to the lawyer’s door and pounded on it. “Phillips! Open up.”
The secretary scolded him. “I told you, he’s not in his office. You can come back tomorrow.”
Armstrong leaned across the desk, toward the frightened secretary. “Get that bastard on the phone, and tell him to get over here right away.”
Joanne, the secretary, wasn’t sure what to do. She was beginning to believe she wasn’t dealing with just any old client. Just then, Phillips opened his door. “May I help you?” He just stood there in a starched white dress shirt, red tie and an expensive looking vest. On his left wrist was a Rolex watch. His silver hair was perfectly groomed. His head was slightly tilted in a haughty manner. Wrenn and Foote rushed in.
“You can’t just barge into my office.”
Armstrong stayed outside to keep an eye on the secretary. “Looks like your boss snuck back in without you knowing about it.”
The secretary didn’t say anything. Joanne was used to a lot of angry customers coming in and refusing to leave; even barging into Nate’s office. It happened. She knew her boss was crooked, but he paid her well. What she wasn’t used to, however, was the sound of her boss squealing several times. It frightened her.
“Let’s go in and find out what’s going on,” Armstrong said. Joanne started to protest, but Chad was insistent. They walked in and Joanne was stunned at seeing the desk moved out of the way and his boss up against the wall, staring at a dagger at his throat.
“I think he got the message, Jack,” Chad said to Wrenn. Wrenn let Phillips go and put the knife away. “Are you ready to do some business, Nate, old boy?” Chad said.
“There is no more business with you guys. I showed you the way to freedom, led you right up to the fence. Now I don’t know anything about who tipped off those two guys, but they didn’t stop you anyway. All you had to do is climb over the fence. No barbed wire to stop you. The fence was an easy climb. If you didn’t take it, then it was by your own choice. Don’t blame me. I kept my end of the bargain.”
“I take it you don’t have any maps for us,” Chad said.
“Our business is over. If you don’t leave, I’ll call the police. I understand that frightens you, doesn’t it?”
“Well, I don’t suppose frighten is the word for it. Now, talking about police is no way to conduct some unfinished business. You have a hundred grand from us, and as far as I can tell, you haven’t earned any of it.” Phillips was still defiant.
“Sit over there, Nate.” Armstrong indicated a chair over against the wall and away from his desk. He motioned to Joanne to join him.
“I’m fine right here,” he said.
“Terry, help him find his seat.” Addressing Nate, “I didn’t ask you to take a seat, I told you to sit there. Now, tell me, Nate, how did you spend our money?”
“I have people to pay off: police, community leaders, citizen patrols, etc. Then there’s my own expense. I get paid five hundred an hour.”
“How do you explain those two yokels who met us at the end of the woods?”
“Somebody must have paid them more.”
“So you take no responsibility?”
“What does it matter? You overpowered them.”
“It doesn’t explain what happened. Nevertheless, those guys provided some useful information for us.”
“Care to tell us about it, Nate?” Wrenn said.
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Terry, search his files for anything we need. Jack, keep an eye on Nate. Keep after him to tell the truth. Me and Joanne here are going to go out to the outer office and have a talk.”
Joanne was crying. They walked back to the outer office, closing the door behind them. “Please don’t kill me. I have a husband and a six year old son at home.”
Just then a customer entered the office. Armstrong turned toward him. “Office is closed. Get out!” The man hurried out.
“Can you lock that door?” Chad suggested putting a sign on the door. She did so.
“Good. Now we can have some privacy.”
“Please, don’t hurt me.”
“Is your boss even a real lawyer?”
“Yes,” she sobbed.
“Tell me about his clients.”
“Mostly people like you. They’re looking to escape the country. There desperate. Nate preys on them.”
“That so? How many clients does he have?”
“I don’t know—a lot.”
“Dozens?”
“Yes.”
“A hundred?”
“More.”
“Two hundred?”
“He might, but I don’t think there’s that many.”
“Shall we say one fifty.”
“About that.”
“Do any of them make it to the other side?”
“No.”
“None?”
She just shook her head. “That fence is not really a border fence. Nate and about a dozen other men just put it up.”
“Well, well, well,” Armstrong said, wearing a sly grin. “Not even a real border fence. How far is the real border?”
“About five miles.”
Armstrong was surprised. “Then how do people die of exposure? One of those yokels who tried to get the drop on us said a few people escape, but it was about twenty-five miles to civilization, if you knew enough to go the right way. Now you tell me it’s only five miles away.”
“He probably believed it. They think that fence is the real border. Only a couple dozen people or so know the truth.”
“What about the people who were supposed to have died from lack of food and water?”
Joanne hesitated. “They were shot.”
“Who double-crossed us at that pretend border fence?”
She hesitated again. “It was Nate.”
“So Nate took a hundred grand from us to cross a fence that had nothing to do with the border, then he betrays us, and what… shared the bounty with the civilian patrol?”
“Yes, though he pockets most of the money.”
“Thank you, Joanne. Let’s go inside and see what my partners found.”
“Chad,” said Foote, “you should see the shit old Nate’s got here. Everything we need. Maps, citizen patrols, where everyone lives, who’s involved; even where the watch patrols are, and when the shifts change.”
Chad turned to Wrenn. “So, what has Nate to say for himself?”
“I can speak for myself.”
“Then speak.”
“It isn’t just me. You kill me and it won’t change anything. I’m easily replaced, and wherever you go you’ll run into civilian patrols.”
“You’re their leader?”
“One of them. People with money and resources organize other civilian patrols up and down the border.”
“You mean the real border or just that fence?”
Nate just glanced over to Joanne.
“I told him. He said he’d kill me if I didn’t.”
Nate was very unhappy about that. Chad delivered a right hook to the schnoz. Phillips’ nose began bleeding and he just sat there holding it. Armstrong told Foote to grab the documents he found.
“That’s theft,” Phillips said.
Armstrong just spun around toward the lawyer. “That’s real sick, coming from you. After all, when it comes to theft, you’re a real pro. Now, if either of you are thinking of going to the police, I’ll send one of my men here to burn your office to the ground, with both of you in it.”