Jury Town (16 page)

She clenched her jaw, waiting in terror for him to rip the drapes back and expose her hiding place—prepared to fight if she had to.

Would she have any chance?

The ring of a cell phone and now Sofia could hear Mitch’s footsteps—hurrying away. He’d forgotten to mute the ring, and it must have startled him, worried him that she might call the police if she’d heard that ring from upstairs.

A moment later, the front door opened and closed loudly, and Sofia rushed from her hiding place to a front window. The lights of a car were already speeding away.

Finally she exhaled. It felt as if she’d been holding her breath forever. Thank God Daniel and his sister, Maria, had already left this afternoon for New York with her mother.

Her eyes narrowed. She needed to visit Judge Eldridge—at a time when she was certain Mitch was nowhere around. She didn’t trust him at all.

CHAPTER 20

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

As Racine turned after closing the corridor door, he nearly ran into a young woman coming out of Victoria Lewis’ office on the twenty-seventh floor of the skyscraper just across the street from the courthouse. The woman had long, dark hair; honey-hued skin; green, almond-shaped eyes; and gorgeous, delicate features.

“I’m sorry,” he said politely as they both stepped back from their near collision. So he’d finally met a woman more beautiful than Tess.

“I’m fine. No problem.”

He found her Spanish accent exotic—along with everything else. She had an intense, almost blinding natural charisma. But there was sadness about her, too, a dark halo he noticed as he looked again, harder. And fear.

“I’m David Racine.”

She hesitated—as if unsure of whether or not to introduce herself, as if she were carrying some crucial national secret, and she figured he might be a foreign agent.

“I’m Sofia,” she finally answered.

“Are you part of this,” he asked, “of Project Archer?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Oh, well I—”

“It was nice meeting you, David,” she interrupted, moving past him.

Racine glanced over his shoulder at the closing corridor door as the pleasing scent of her tropical-scented bodywash drifted to his nostrils. He hadn’t coaxed a single smile from Sofia.

He turned back toward the young man sitting behind the desk of the reception area. A trace of pity seemed to be rippling through the kid’s bright-eyed expression. “I’m here to see Victoria—”

“Hello, David.”

Victoria Lewis stood in her office doorway. “Hello, there,” Racine said. “It’s nice seeing you again.”

“Come on.” Victoria waved for him to follow as she stepped back into her office. She closed the office door behind him, then headed for her desk. “I trust you haven’t mentioned to anyone that you and I are still talking about your potential participation. If you have, tell me now. Remember, if I find out later, after you go in, you forfeit everything. Maybe even your freedom.”

“Not a word.”

“Good.”

“Quite the security crew outside your office,” Racine said. “I was frisked twice. They weren’t here last time.”

“Apparently there are people who very much want to see Jury Town fail.” She pointed at a row of captain’s chairs in front of her desk as she sat behind it. “Please.”

“Nice painting.” He pointed at the watercolor hanging on the wall behind her. “It’s the Corps of Discovery, I assume.”

“Meriwether Lewis has always been a tremendous inspiration.”

“As well he should be. I’ve been through Montana and Idaho. I’ve seen the mountains those men dragged their boats up to go from river to river. It’s incredibly impressive.”

“As is your résumé, Mr. Racine.”

She wasn’t wasting time. Well, given his financial situation, he was all for efficiency.

“Tell me about Excel. Online gaming, but what does that really mean?”

“We manage fantasy leagues in all different sports. We offer season-long, month-long, and even as little as day-long sessions for our clients to play.”

“And bet on?”

“Define bet.”

She rolled her eyes. “There are other companies doing that. It’s nothing new, correct?”

“Our sizzle,” Racine answered, “is that, in addition to regular in-season fantasy leagues, we also run simulation leagues. So people can play baseball in the winter and football in the summer, basketball and hockey in the off-seasons as well. We don’t need actual games to be played on the field, court, or ice to give fans the ability to field a team in a certain sport. We simulate the games and the seasons and catalogue all the simulated stats. We do the traditional stuff as well, but the simulation option has been the key differentiator for us. We need incredibly powerful software to do all that. We can’t have anyone getting behind our firewalls to manipulate the simulations, either. We have every minute of every simulated game audited by one of the big-four accounting firms. But we must be intensely careful about any intrusions to the random generation of plays and results.”

“Fascinating.”

“We think so. Apparently, lots of fans do, too.”

“How’s the company doing these days? Financially speaking, I mean.”

“We’re fine, just fine.”

Bart Stevens wouldn’t agree with that, far from it. Excel was dripping dry of cash, and Bart was going crazy. He hadn’t been able to pay himself this month, and the bank was about to foreclose on his house. He’d been warned that he had three days before the sheriff would show up to evict him and his family.

It wouldn’t be long after that before the sheriff showed up at Racine’s house to take the same action.

The only potential saving grace: the man from China was in Washington, DC, on business as of last night, and his people had made an appointment for him to meet with them at Excel headquarters tonight in Richmond. His people claimed that if the meeting went well, he would invest the entire five million they were seeking—immediately.

Racine was praying . . . again.

“I remember you guys doing very well,” Victoria spoke up, “and then there was a competitor on the west coast who was doing the same thing you were. And then there was a software problem.”

“We’re fine,” Racine repeated.

“If that’s true, why are you here?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why deal with the aggravation you’ve had to go through to get to this point in the process if Excel Games is doing so well?”

“The road here hasn’t been that bad.”

“Really, David?” she asked, mystified. “If that’s true, you’re the most patient man I’ve ever met. To get to this meeting with me, you’ve been through four ninety-minute interviews, you’ve completed three rounds of psychological tests, and you’ve had your entire life since kindergarten dissected by two background-check companies. If Excel Games is doing so well, why bother with all that?”

“Well, I—”

“Is this a dive for cover? For a man with a first and second mortgage, huge car payments, forty-seven grand to pay off on his new kitchen, and a nasty divorce settlement looming on the horizon, this would be a nice alternative if his company’s going into the toilet.”

Racine smiled stiffly. “I’m getting a front-row seat on why you got so many programs established as governor.”

“Answer the question.”

“Okay, I’m hedging my bets.”

“That’s better. I need you to be candid with me going forward, David. I must know I can trust you completely.”

It was time to go on offense. He hated backpedaling. “I haven’t decided to do this yet.”

“And I haven’t offered you the opportunity.”

Victoria Lewis was a formidable woman. “So what’s this really about?” he asked. “Of course, I know the general idea. The whole state does since you made that announcement at the Supreme Court Building. Heck, the whole
country
knows.” He paused. “And you’re exactly right. It’s been an
incredible
grind getting through all the interviews, tests, and background checks. I want details. I deserve them.”

“All right, so let’s get to the gorilla in the corner first. Let’s get to the detail I know you’re
most
interested in.”

Racine held his breath.

“You’ll make two million dollars a year for two years as a juror.”

His mouth fell slowly open. “Two million?” he gasped.

“That’s right. Four million in total.”

“Of course, I’ll be sequestered from the outside world for those two years.”

“That’s correct. You won’t even be able to contact Claire, not even send her letters or receive hers. If you do, even if you just try, it will be a felony punishable by five years in prison.”

He hadn’t missed her passing reference to Claire. She even knew the name of his daughter. “What if a family member becomes terminally ill or has a bad accident?”

“There will be exceptions in the case of immediate family members. The same will apply to the jury members themselves, of course. If you become seriously ill or hurt, you will be excused.”

“What about the money in that case?”

“If a juror is forced to leave because of illness or injury, the money will be prorated based on how many days of the two years were served. But if you voluntarily leave the program without a viable excuse, you’ll get nothing, even if you only have a few days left in your commitment. And you’ll go to prison if we prove you were talking to people on the outside.”

“So I’ll be an inmate at Archer Prison for two years.”

“I don’t know of many inmates who are handed four million dollars the day they’re released from prison. And please refer to it as Jury Town. No more Archer Prison.”

“Are you running the program now that it’s operational? Are you staying with this?”

“I am.” She leaned forward over the desk. “And I’m going to need strong personalities inside the walls. Strong personalities like yours. I want you to be part of this project, David. I see you as one of our most important cogs, definitely a foreman type. You’re a CEO. You know how to motivate and lead.” She grinned. “And you’re tall, dark, and handsome. All the predictive data suggests you’ll be perfect. As does my instinct.”

He laughed self-consciously. “I’ll give you the tall and dark.”

“Fine, but don’t give me false modesty. You’re a charismatic, good-looking man, and that helps me. Whatever helps me, I’m all for. I believe this program could completely revamp the judicial system for the better, but it’s going to take a Herculean effort from a lot of people to achieve what I’m seeking to achieve. People like you.” She hesitated. “And there’s one more thing specific to you.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“I’m going to need someone inside the facility who can keep me informed.”

Racine looked at her like she was crazy. “You want me to be a snitch?”

“Not a snitch, an informant.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Informant sounds better.”

He eased back into his chair as she leaned even farther over her desk. “Why would I do that?”

“Because I sense that you’ll have something you’ll need from me.” She held up her hand before he could respond. “And I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll solve your liquidity problem.”

He gazed at her, his heart beginning to beat harder.

“I still have three open spots,” Victoria said quietly. “It’s an incredible opportunity, David. A lot to consider, but I need your answer quickly.”

Two years without seeing Claire, Racine thought to himself ruefully as he stared back at Victoria. Two uninterrupted years for that prick tennis pro to become the father figure. Was four million dollars worth that risk?

“How
exactly
are you going to solve my money problems?”

She couldn’t lose this one—Victoria’s father was whispering that to her from the grave. David Racine was one of the stars who could make Project Archer a tremendous success. One of those rare individuals everyone wanted to be around, who could lead simply on the strength of his natural charisma—
and
had the analytical mind to process data, to see problems and opportunities that others didn’t.

Victoria desperately needed an informant who would be completely loyal—Racine fit that bill perfectly. Once he committed, he committed. The psychological tests had shown that. Out of all the candidates they’d interviewed, he was the one.

In fact, she even liked that he had money problems. Without those challenges, she wouldn’t stand a chance of him sacrificing two years with his daughter. He loved Claire far too much, according to their intelligence.

“This evening,” Victoria answered, “I’m sending you a contract that will bind you very tightly to Project Archer. Show it to your attorney, but no one else. You have two days to think through your commitment, and then you’re signing on the bottom line . . . or not. If you sign you’ll receive five hundred thousand dollars immediately, as well as my undying appreciation.”

“Five hundred—”

“Yes.”

Racine had tried hard to mask his shock and awe at this new sound bite. But, as cool a customer as he was, she’d seen the emotion break his expression. For a few moments, he’d looked like a man who was about to be served a thick T-bone—after not eating for a week. “It’s a down payment on the four million, and it will be in your account a few hours after I get the executed contract.” Her eyes narrowed. “But if you turn on me after signing that contract, it’ll cost you a million dollars to get back out of it. And I’ll make certain the state of Virginia files against you in court if you don’t come up with the money immediately.”

“You’re quite the negotiator, Ms. Lewis.”

“This is for keeps, Mr. Racine.”

“So I see, Ms. Lewis.”

She stood and walked to the door, where they shook hands. Racine stepped into the hallway. He glanced at the four security people guarding the door, then turned back toward Victoria. “There was a young woman coming out of your office when I got here,” he said. “Her name was Sofia. Is she going to Jury Town?”

Victoria wasn’t surprised that Racine had been immediately attracted to Sofia Acosta. Sofia was as beautiful a woman as Victoria had ever seen. And if politics had taught her anything, it had taught her to exploit situations that presented themselves out of nowhere.