Shattered Trust Read Online Free PDF

me later, then. If I had known I was interrupting your groove, I woulda—”
    â€œâ€™Jira knows,” Steve said flatly, and turned his back to Najira and Jamal.
    James stopped laughing and static filled the receiver.
    â€œCapice?” Steve asked, vindicated by James’s stunned silence.
    â€œRoger that,” James said, his voice somber. “When?”
    â€œOh, just freakin’ now, dude,” Steve said, glaring at Jamal over his shoulder. “We were just talking about it, and since homeboy is all about heading down to the marina, your timing couldn’t have been any better.”
    â€œLaura and I will be right over.”
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    They sat at the open air restaurant, leaning in, keeping their voices low and speaking in hushed tones, waiting for lunch. Najira took the news with stoic disbelief, like someone in the family had died, as Laura laid out the facts as best she knew them. Even the shapely young waitress couldn’t pull Jamal’s attention away from the huddle. James slowly nursed a beer, watching each person’s facial expressions. Najira picked at her napkin, her eyes glued to Laura’s gaze. Steve casually munched on bread sticks and then chased the dough in his mouth down with an angry swig of beer.
    â€œSo much for being bored stupid,” Jamal murmured. “You think they’ll really come for us or are we trip-pin’?”
    â€œI don’t know, brother,” James said evenly, wincing as he swallowed away another sip of beer. “That’s the part I don’t like, not being sure.”
    â€œWhat if we’re getting ourselves all worked up for nothing?” Steve offered. “It’s been more than a year, most everybody involved in the first round of cases either died or went to jail for a long time.”
    â€œTrue,” Laura said, her voice a quiet, calm murmur. “I’m not worried about the people who went down in round one. All of that led to me, anyway. But the Haines fiasco got the rest of you involved. It won’t be long before all of those people who are behind bars, and anyone—like the senator, who got a plea bargain in the second incident—will begin connecting the dots. That’s what I’m concerned about.”
    â€œWe need to figure out how they’ll try to come for us, and which one of them is bold enough and still has resources enough to try to drop us,” James muttered.
    â€œYou know they operate in networks,” Steve said, letting his breath out hard. “So, my suggestion is you think in plurals, man. Which ones , plural. OK.”
    James nodded. “Kinda hard to get a bead on things so far from home. No real contacts here. I don’t like it. Feels like we’re sitting ducks.”
    â€œThen maybe we need to go home and bring the noise to them before they bring it to us, and for real squash the bullshit before it even jumps off?” Jamal hailed the waitress for another beer. “To me, that seems like a plan.”
    â€œMuch as I hate to leave paradise,” Steve said quietly, halting his words as a beer was set down in front of Jamal.
    â€œBut a possible hit?” Najira whispered once the waitress had moved away, leaning in farther to keep her statement confidential. “Isn’t that extreme, especially since that’s how they all wound up—?”
    â€œNajira,” Laura whispered between her teeth. “Those Machiavellian bastards already went there, remember? Now, they are really dangerous, because what do they have to lose? Think about it. If we had something they still wanted or needed, that would be one thing. Cheap insurance. But now that they are fairly certain how badly they got screwed out of millions, their reputations and careers destroyed, their families totally disrupted, and—”
    â€œI know,” Najira said, slumping back in her chair and briefly closing her eyes. “All they have left is