An Unequal Defense (David Adams)

by Chad Zunker

  “I’m David. This is Kate.”

  Mia looked back and forth between them.

  “Can we come in?” Kate asked.

  Mia nodded again, pulled the door open, and allowed them to enter. She quickly shut the door behind them and secured the two locks. Mia wore blue jeans, black tennis shoes, and a burnt-orange UT sweatshirt. She looked nervous as hell, her every movement a bit shaky. David did a quick scan of the one-bedroom apartment. It was decorated to the nines with nice furniture and what looked like expensive artwork on every wall.

  “Are you here alone?” David asked her.

  “Yes. This is my boyfriend’s sister’s apartment. She’s an art dealer who is in Europe this month. Scott got the key and has been letting me hide out here.”

  Kate stepped closer to Mia. “Are you physically harmed in any way?”

  “Other than being a complete mental case, I’m fine.” She looked over at David. “How did you know to come looking for me?”

  “Why don’t we sit for a moment, so we can talk?”

  Mia moved to a big chair in the living room, while David and Kate sat next to each other on a leather sofa. Kate took a moment to tell Mia about the texted photo of her brother that she had seen on Barksdale’s phone and the trail it had led her down with Murphy, his death in the alley, and then Kate’s reaching out to David for help. David followed that up by telling Mia about visiting her mother, going to her apartment, and finding out through one of her classmates about her drummer boyfriend.

  Mia’s eyes became wet. “Not talking to my mom has been the hardest thing this past week. I keep getting her texts and voice mails. But I can’t respond to her, because I’m trying to protect her. All of this is my fault. I could’ve stopped this from ever happening. But I didn’t—and now my brother is dead.”

  “What happened?” David said.

  Mia sighed. “Eddie had been having a hard time lately. His girlfriend left him with their two kids and took off back to Mexico a few months ago. So he moved in with our mother recently to get some help. My mother has also been struggling because my father passed away suddenly last year. He was their only real source of income, so she’s way behind on the mortgage. We’ve been trying to figure out what to do as a family so that she doesn’t lose the house.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Kate said to Mia.

  “Yeah, it’s been stressful, especially on Eddie. He felt like he was supposed to take care of the whole family now that Dad was gone. Well, Eddie was hanging out at my apartment two weeks ago when he mentioned he was working on a project in Mayor Nelson’s own backyard—his crew was building some kind of gazebo next to the pool. He thought it was kind of cool being at the mayor’s house and seeing him come and go. But I told him what he was doing was actually illegal. He wasn’t allowed to do personal work for a city official while being paid by the city. I had just read about a case up in New York where a mayor got busted for doing the same thing. He pled guilty to conspiracy charges and is now spending five years in prison. Well, this gave Eddie the dumb idea that maybe we could use the situation somehow to help Mom save her house. At first, I told Eddie he was crazy. But then I also felt so desperate. My mother was so grief-stricken over my dad. I feared if she were to lose the house, too—where they’d lived for over thirty years—it just might crush her whole spirit.”

  “So you went along with it?” David asked.

  Mia nodded. “I was so stupid. I should’ve stopped him.”

  “What did Eddie do?”

  “The next day, he took some pictures on his phone of them working at the mayor’s house. Then he left a typed note I had written on the mayor’s back door that said we had information that could be damaging to the mayor and wanted to speak with him. Eddie had purchased a burner phone to take the photos and use with all of this, and he left the phone number. Within hours, Eddie got a phone call, but it wasn’t the mayor. It was some other guy demanding to know what this was all about. Telling my brother it was illegal to threaten the mayor like this, and he could go to jail.”

  “Did he identify himself?” Kate asked.

  Mia shook her head. “No, but Eddie didn’t back down. He texted the photos to the guy and said he wanted twenty-five thousand dollars in cash. Eddie wanted to ask for a lot more money, but I told him that we needed to play it more conservative. If we went too high, it would probably just cause us bigger problems. But if we asked for something more moderate, we just might get paid off to go away.”

  “What happened next?” David asked.

  “The guy said he’d call Eddie back. We waited two days and didn’t hear anything, although Eddie and his crew immediately got removed from the gazebo job. I figured they weren’t taking us seriously, and it was all pretty much over. Which was fine with me. I was already regretting the whole thing. But then Eddie got the call. The guy said he had our money, and they made plans to do an exchange that night. Eddie chose a place he knew well. I demanded to go with him, even though my brother was pissed about it. I told him we were in this together. I waited in the car while Eddie met a guy across the parking lot. The guy handed him an envelope, and everything seemed to be going smooth. I thought we were just going to drive out of there with the money we needed to save my mom’s house. But then this guy suddenly pulls a gun out and . . .” Her voice began to crack. “He shot my brother right in the head. Eddie just fell straight backward and never moved.”

  Kate got up from the sofa, sat right next to Mia in the chair, and wrapped her arm around her. Mia eased into her like she desperately needed the comforting.

  “Did the guy see you?” David asked Mia.

  “I couldn’t be sure. We were parked across the lot. But he glanced over toward the car, so I immediately jumped out and just took off running.”

  David pulled his phone out. He knelt in front of Mia and showed her the photos of Jake Manaford. “Is this the guy?”

  Mia’s eyes flashed open. “Yes! That’s the guy!”

  David felt a new shot of adrenaline. Mia had directly connected Manaford.

  “His name is Jake Manaford,” Kate explained. “He’s the mayor’s stepson.”

  Mia shook her head. “I never thought something like this would happen.”

  Kate consoled her. “We’re dealing with some really sinister people here.”

  “What did you do next?” David asked.

  “That night, I hid out at my boyfriend’s garage apartment. He was on the road with his band. And I watched the news unfold about my brother’s death—only the story quickly got twisted into some kind of supposed drug deal gone bad. They were saying they found drugs in my brother’s car, which I knew was a complete lie. That made me afraid to call the police and tell them the truth. I drove to my mom’s house first thing the next morning, just so we could cry about Eddie together. But I never told her anything about what really happened. I tried to go back to class, but I just walked around paranoid as hell the next two days. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t focus. Then this guy from the DA’s office comes looking for me in between classes.”

  “Luke Murphy?” David said.

  Mia nodded. “He said he was investigating the circumstances behind my brother’s death. At first, I wasn’t sure I could trust him. But then he suggested that he didn’t believe my brother had been killed over a drug deal. I was so desperate, I told him what really happened and gave him the photos Eddie had used. He promised to help and said he would get back to me the next day. But then he was shot dead that night. When I came back to my apartment the next morning after staying at my boyfriend’s again, I found it completely destroyed. Someone had been inside. So I took off and have been hiding out ever since, praying this whole thing will somehow just go away. I even cut off all my hair and dyed it in hopes that I couldn’t be recognized. I just want this to all be over.”

  “Me, too, Mia,” Kate said. “With your help, it will be.”

  “I’ll do whatever I have to do to end this.”

  “Then
you need to come with us right now,” David said.

  “I’m ready.”

  FIFTY-FIVE

  David was on the phone with Dana, coordinating how to meet, with Kate and Mia right on his heels, when he turned the corner of the apartment building hallway toward the stairwell and heard a loud thump. Then he felt something whiz right past his left ear and explode against the wall behind him. He jerked back, unsure what had just happened. Mia gasped. Kate grabbed David by the arm from behind. Then he heard a second loud thump followed by another wall explosion only inches away from them. For a split second, David felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. Was someone shooting at them? Searching frantically, David spotted Manaford coming up the metal stairs toward them at full speed with his gun in his right hand. David cursed. Manaford must’ve somehow followed them from Kate’s apartment building and simply waited to take them out. David couldn’t allow that to happen. Not when he’d promised the two women with him that he’d keep them safe. Not when they were so close to solving this whole conspiracy and finally bringing justice to the situation.

  Spinning around, David yelled, “Go! Run!” and pushed Kate and Mia back in the opposite direction. David heard another gunshot, and a bullet hit the corner of the hallway wall just as he slipped out of reach on the other side.

  “Is there another stairway?” David yelled ahead to Mia.

  “Yes! Follow me!”

  They sprinted down the hallway past Apartment 414 again and darted around the next corner. A woman opened the door of an apartment just ahead of them and looked out with a scrunched-up face. David yelled for her to go back inside and call the police. She quickly slammed the door shut. Without slowing down, David glanced behind him. Manaford spun around the same hallway corner and was still coming on hard. David turned back and moved to the center of the hallway in an effort to shield Kate and Mia from any potential gunfire. His whole body tightened, as if he could somehow weather the impact of a bullet. They turned down another hallway. Ahead of him, Mia located the second set of metal stairs, and they quickly descended.

  David could hear Manaford’s boots pounding on the metal stairs above them. David knew he had to protect Kate and Mia from this guy. Manaford was shooting at them out in the open. They couldn’t just keep running. He just needed to find the right moment. They reached the second level. The thump of a gunshot rang out from above them and ricocheted off the metal stairs at their feet. Mia screamed, but David yelled for them to keep moving.

  When they reached the street level, David spotted a metal door leading to the underground parking garage. Racing past Kate and Mia, he shoved open the door and held it for them both to get through as swiftly as possible.

  He then grabbed Kate’s arm, pulled her back, handed her his truck keys. “I’ll meet you at the truck. If I’m not there in five minutes, go without me.”

  “David!” Kate exclaimed.

  “Just go!”

  She followed his instructions and hurried with Mia into the bowels of the parking garage. David could hear Manaford approaching on the other side of the door. He scooted back into the corner behind the garage door and did a countdown in his mind. Three, two, one. The garage door burst open, and Manaford appeared. The man paused for a moment, gun in hand, searching for them. David took that moment to sprint toward him from behind. With all the force he could muster in a few steps, David drove his right shoulder into the guy’s midsection, like a linebacker sacking a quarterback, and tackled the big guy. Manaford dropped forward, his face hitting flat against the hard floor of the garage. The gun flipped out of his hand and skidded into the shadows of the garage.

  David quickly pushed himself up. With Manaford momentarily dazed, David kicked him several times as hard as he could in the ribs. Manaford let out painful grunts and balled himself up on the floor, gasping for breath. David then kicked the man square in the face, snapping the guy’s head way back. Manaford lay perfectly still on the concrete.

  Standing there, David felt his chest rise and fall rapidly. He could now hear multiple sirens right outside the apartment building, followed by car doors opening and slamming, and then lots of yelling. The police had arrived. David took another glance at Manaford. The guy wasn’t moving. He looked down for the count. When David heard what sounded like police coming into the hallway just beyond the parking garage door, he spun around and sprinted out of the garage. He would let them take over from here. He wasn’t interested in trying to explain the situation to beat cops. He had to get back to Kate and Mia.

  It was time to help them get their lives back. It was time to exonerate his client. It was time to bring the real men behind Murphy’s death to justice.

  It was finally time to end this.

  FIFTY-SIX

  They huddled inside the main conference room at the local news station. David wanted this story broadcast as wide and loud as possible—to cast the brightest spotlight—so that no one in power could run and hide in the shadows. David had a bag of ice pressed against one cheek, which had begun to swell from his violent collision with Manaford. He stood at the window of the conference room and watched the city street two floors below. Kate and Mia sat in two leather chairs around the conference table, where the young TV reporter, Theodore Billings, had his notepad out and was grilling them with questions. He could tell the kid was in heaven right now and was probably already dreaming of journalism awards. A woman named Wendy Dobson, the station’s news director, along with Emily Harris, the assistant news director, were both in the room. So was a man in a suit named Eric Juliard, the station’s lead attorney. They all carefully monitored the conversation between Billings and Kate and Mia. There were a lot of wide eyes and shaking of heads as both Kate and Mia unveiled what would likely be the biggest news story the local station had ever produced.

  David was leaning in closer to the window when a black Suburban pulled up in front of the TV station. Dana got out of the front passenger seat. Four men all wearing cowboy hats and boots, white dress shirts with ties, and khaki pants also climbed out of the vehicle. Together, the group marched toward the entrance of the building.

  David stepped away from the window, walked out of the conference room, and met Dana and the four Texas Rangers in the hallway outside the newsroom.

  Dana introduced Lieutenant Mike Harbers and the other three guys. Harbers was a tall clean-cut man in his thirties with a square jaw. He looked like he should probably be on the official poster for the Rangers. David quickly shook hands.

  “Glad to see you guys,” David said.

  “You okay?” Mike asked him, eyeballing his swollen cheek.

  “I’ll live. You pick up Jake Manaford?”

  David had immediately called Dana to give her the news about Manaford.

  “Police have him in custody,” Mike confirmed. “We’ll grab him shortly. From everything Dana has shared with us, we’re about to have a big mess to clean up.”

  “Yeah, I think we’re going to need more than just the four of you.”

  Harbers smiled. “Don’t worry, David. I have about twenty of my buddies waiting for my instructions. Let’s get started.”

  “Follow me.”

  David led them inside the conference room, where he introduced them to all the other parties. David could tell by the relieved looks on Kate’s and Mia’s faces they were glad to see law enforcement figures they felt like they could finally trust. Wendy said they were only a few minutes away from beginning to shoot video. Billings was going over the details again with both Mia and Kate, making sure he got all his facts straight. Kate met David’s eyes from across the room. He pitched his head to the side, as if asking if she was good. She pressed her lips together and nodded.

  Dana sidled up next to him. “Are you really okay?”

  “I am now that you’re here with your pals.”

  “Believe me, they are the right ones for this investigation. It’s going to be chaos. I just hope I still have a job after all of this blows up.”

&
nbsp; “You can always come work for me.”

  She smiled. “I just may have to take you up on that one day. You know, you really scared the hell out of me back there at the apartment building.”

  David pitched his head slightly. “How?”

  “We were on the phone together, remember?” she explained. “You must’ve put your phone in your pocket without hanging up when you took off running. I was unable to make out much of what was going on, but I could tell you were in big trouble. I’ve never felt more relieved than when you finally called me back. I’ve already lost Murphy. I can’t lose you, too, David.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” David leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Anyone over at the DA’s office know what’s going on over here at the station right now?”

  “Nope. They’re all going to find out the same time as the rest of Austin.”

  David smiled. “Can you take care of things here, Dana?”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need to go see my client.”

  FIFTY-SEVEN

  David entered Rebel’s quiet hospital room and found his client doing much better than he had been earlier that day, when he’d given everyone a good scare. Rebel seemed calm and collected, and all the color was back in his face.

  David walked up to his bedside. “How’re you doing, buddy?”

  Rebel held up a hand, as if to stop him. “I don’t want to see no more pictures, Lawyer. Doc says my heart can’t take the excitement right now. I need a couple more days for my body to get stronger, so they can put that damn heart gadget in me.”

  David smiled. “Don’t worry. I don’t have pictures. But I do have good news.”

  Rebel looked up at him. “Well, don’t just stand there. Start spittin’.”

  “By tomorrow morning, I’m expecting all charges to be dropped against you. When you finally leave this hospital, you’ll be walking out a free man again.”

  Rebel’s eyes narrowed. “You messing with me, Lawyer? I already told you my heart can’t take it.”