Headwind (2001)

by John J. Nance

  “Of course. I just wanted you to know that you fought an excellent battle today.”

  “Thank you, Sir William,” Jay said hesitantly, wondering what would follow.

  Campbell remained quiet as he leaned on the railing, scanning the dark water below.

  Jay broke the silence. “May I ask you a question?”

  “By all means.”

  “Why did you do it?”

  Stuart Campbell glanced at him again with an even expression. “Not object to your motion for adjournment, you mean?”

  “Exactly. We had nothing but verbal representations about a phone call to Washington. You could have easily overridden it.”

  “Yes, but I had no choice,” Stuart said.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I already knew Peru’s record on prisoner abuse. You’d found the key, and one way or another you would prevail against extradition when you obtained proof of the U.N.’s actions. Why prolong the agony?”

  “I see, I guess.”

  Stuart Campbell looked at him again. “That ploy of yours was brilliant, you know.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Doing the alternative audio track to demonstrate that the tape could have been staged. Impeccable logic.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So, where are you going professionally, former District Judge Jay Reinhart? As you see, I know your history.”

  Jay shook his head. “I don’t know, really. Probably back to Wyoming.” He began to smile skeptically and turned to look at Campbell. “Why? Are you offering me a job or something?”

  “Good heavens, no!” Campbell laughed, falling silent just as rapidly. “But, on the other hand, you never know. If you start practicing over here, I might just have to hire you to keep from having to meet you on the battlefield.”

  Jay snorted. “Yeah, as if I’m a threat to Sir William Stuart Campbell.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, Mr. Reinhart. Were I your senior partner, I would be heaping praise and reward on your shoulders this minute for your handling of this matter.”

  Jay pushed away from the railing and turned toward the senior lawyer.

  “Well, you know something, Sir William? This may all be a game to you, but to me the law is a very serious thing, especially when someone’s life hangs in the balance. It matters a lot to me. So I’m very thankful I’m not your partner. Now, what’s the real reason you asked me to meet you here?”

  Stuart Campbell smiled and reached in his inside coat pocket to pull out a small audiocassette tape.

  “What’s that?” Jay asked.

  “The openly taped record of a phone call between myself and President Miraflores several weeks ago. I thought you might like to have it.”

  “What’s . . . on it?” Jay asked.

  “President Miraflores’s angry voice as he quakes with anticipation of John Harris’s handcuffed arrival in Lima and makes plans for trying, convicting, sentencing . . . and burning John Harris alive. You see, one of Miraflores’s brothers was a drug dealer, and the brother’s death in that raid was the main source of his fury against John Harris. The stated intentions on this tape would have instantly prevented extradition, if needed.”

  “You held that tape back!”

  “Of course I did. I assumed it was protected under attorney-client privilege.”

  “Okay, but then . . . then it’s still privileged . . .”

  Stuart smiled and shook his head, his eyebrows flaring in mock surprise. “Apparently I was wrong. I checked my phone log and discovered this conversation predated my taking the case. So you’re welcome to use it anyway you see fit. Mr. Miraflores is no longer my client.”

  Jay took the offered tape and balanced it in his hand. “Why now, Sir William?”

  Stuart Campbell chuckled and stood away from the railing, ready to depart. “Because, Mr. Reinhart, the law and justice matter a lot to me, too. They always have.”

  Jay watched in mild shock as the big lawyer turned and walked away.

  So, Sir William Stuart Campbell had controlled it all from the beginning, Jay thought. Even Campbell’s defeat before Mr. Justice O’Connell had been consonant with his plan to drag an ex-President to the brink and yank him to safety just in time. He’d been John Harris’s prosecutor and savior rolled into one, and, as always, master of the game.

  Jay quietly slipped the audiocassette into his pocket and turned back toward the river to lean on the railing, his mind furiously working on the question Campbell had asked him.

  So where am I going professionally? Where should I go? He thought about Sherry and the trip they’d be taking together the next day if her schedule worked out.

  Something else Sir William had said flashed across his mind, a comment about legal battlefields with Jay on the front lines.

  Maybe I should think about resuming an international practice, Jay thought. It was a possibility he’d have to explore, and Ireland might just be a pretty good place to start.