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tantamount to firing her. The lawyers would have a field day.”
    A barely perceptible nod from Robert. “They would.”
    She had no intention of hiring a lawyer, but if the threat helped her position, let them tremble in their boots.
    â€œI can’t believe you actually threatened to do this to me,” she snapped. “If you had any sense at all, you’d be offering me a raise rather than tearing down your most productive operator. Excellence needs to be rewarded, not chastised.”
    â€œShe does have a point,” Robert said. “And we were considering that.”
    â€œWe were.”Ethil took her seat, folded one leg over the other, and looked into Darcy’s eyes.“How much?”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œHow much of a raise do you think you deserve?”
    Darcy felt her blood rush through her face with renewed anger. They were mocking her. Maybe an attorney wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.
    â€œYou guys don’t know how to quit, do you?” she snapped. “I’m worth twice what you pay me!”
    â€œDouble?” Robert said. “That’s a lot of money for an automated assembly machine operator.”
    â€œAnd that’s another thing. Titles don’t mean squat. Call me whatever you want, but don’t try to cover up an unlawful termination by throwing around titles. Let me do the job I do well and leave it at that.”
    The room went quiet. Both of them looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.
    â€œA new title,” Robert said.“Makes sense.”
    â€œShe’s earned it, after all.”
    â€œAssembly machines supervisor. Joseph mentioned the idea once.”
    Ethil frowned. “I think it could work.”
    â€œAnd we passed her by at the five-year mark. She’s due.”
    They fell silent.
    Darcy wasn’t sure what was happening or why, but it occurred to her that they weren’t mocking her as she’d assumed. They had actually seen some sense in her comments.
    â€œYou’re serious?”
    Ethil forced a grin. “Should we be?”
    â€œYes. Of course you should be.”
    The grin softened. “There you are, then.”
    â€œCongratulations,” Robert said. “We’ve just doubled your salary and given you a new title. Assembly machines supervisor.”

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    CHAPTER THREE
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    BILLY REDIGER knew a few things with particular clarity as he sat and focused on the papers spread across the defendant’s table.
    He’d just committed an unpardonable sin by walking away from a defense that undoubtedly would have improved his client’s fate.
    He’d done so because he’d also come into certain and disturbing information about his own fate, namely that he was about to lose both arms for failing to come through on his own, with or without this witness, whom Muness so conveniently dropped in his lap at the last moment.
    And he’d come into such disturbing information by . . .
    This was where everything became a bit trickier. Unnerving. Troubling on its own face, wholly apart from the prospect of amputation.
    He’d gained it by hearing, as clear as day, the thoughts of Musa bin Salman, who seemed to have no doubts as to the accuracy of said information.
    Furthermore, Billy had heard the judge’s thoughts. Such a bright mind being wasted.
    The prosecutor had risen and was subjecting the witness to a brutal cross-examination that all but associated the man with maggots worming though week-old garbage. But Billy wasn’t listening.
    He was busy avoiding his client’s glare. And plotting his next move, which would directly involve said client.
    Tony’s hot breath filled his ear.“You get your useless butt back up there and ask what you were told to ask. I go down for this and you’ll spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair. You hear me?”
    Billy looked in the man’s eyes and heard it all, again, this time with more detail