Excuse The Obscene

There are very few things in this world that can send my temper from zero to sixty in under a minute. One of those few things is being lied to, especially by people I trust. And that’s why Val found my temper flaring only a minute after she walked into my office.

“Where’s Toni?” I asked, glancing behind her on the off chance that she was walking in behind Val.

“I thought she was here with” Val trailed off as she looked around the room and then up at me with a look of confusion on her face.

“She said she’d be with you.” My words came out low and harsh as I felt my anger start to rise. Lies have that affect on me, regardless of how trivial they might be. Besides, what reason could Toni have to sneak around behind my back?

“Well, maybe she’s just…” Val trailed off again as she tried to come up with a decent excuse to defend her best friend.

“Maybe she wants to surprise you!” Val threw her hands in the air and forced a smile.

I glanced down at my watch and back at Val.

“It’s already 7:30, what kind of fucking surprise would keep her busy from 4 ‘til now?”

“Okay, well let’s not overreact, yeah?” Val shrugged her shoulder in a nonchalant manner.

Brian chose that moment to appear in the office, aviators on and fedora tipped low.

“Whatever this is,” Brian gestured from me to Val, “is going to have to wait. We’ve got business to take care of.”

I stood up and looked from Brian to Val and back again. Toni had lied about wherever it was that she was going but, despite my anger, that could be dealt with later. For now, I had to finish taking care of shit and I could use a good punching bag anyway.

“Get a hold of her and make sure she knows her sexy little ass is in trouble when she gets back.” I said to Val as I walked towards the door.

Before I could make it out the door, I felt a slight vibration against my thigh. Not slowing my walking, I pulled my phone from my pocket and answered it after seeing Johnny’s name on the screen.

“Is it done?” Skipping the formalities, I got straight to the point of business.

“We have a huge fucking problem.” Johnny’s voice came out rushed and rough. It took me a moment to place the tone in his voice, I hadn’t heard it in any of my guys’ voices in so long - fear. Fear and sheer fucking rage, a combination known to cause shit.

“What the fuck happened?” I stopped walking and motioned Brian back into the room, quickly putting Johnny on speaker.

Val’s ears perked up as she turned to look at the phone just as Brian walked back in with a confused look on his face.

“It’s Toni - ”

In the millisecond after he breathed her name, my heart stopped. There was nothing - no thoughts flashing through my head, no panic, no fear, no love, just nothing.

“She’s in jail.” Johnny finished his statement and my heart took off again, this time at a much faster pace. I could feel my grip tighten on the phone and my entire body tense up.

I couldn’t bring myself to react. I couldn’t see past the anger. In under a few seconds, Brian had grabbed the phone from me and was all but shouting at Johnny to explain the situation. I only half listened to the words spilling from Johnny’s mouth and through the phone. The other half of me was preparing to kill anyone and anything that stood in my way.

She’d lied to me. She’d gone off with Johnny. She was in jail. But I didn’t have enough spare emotion to be angry with Toni and Johnny. Those two could wait. For now, all my rage seemed to focus in on one thing. Some blue suit wearing fucker got his hands on Toni and by now they were all practically crawling over her in the fucking hellhole they call a precinct. The phrase “someone would pay” simply did not cut it. More than one person would pay. I would tear the entire fucking city to the ground brick by brick and raise enough hell that the devil himself would have to come and stop me. A line had been crossed when they so much as thought about fucking taking her in. I’d work my way over every single fucker involved in this stunt and leave a trail of dying, bleeding bodies behind me.

And then came the eerie calm. I’d make sure Toni was fine, there was only so much the cops could do to her. But everyone else - I knew I’d have no problem finding an outlet for all of this building rage. I could show a lot of fucking people a lot of things about pain.

I listened as Johnny let us know everything that had happened from the moment the drop off had pulled into the harbor and the moment where he got away and Toni got caught. The more I learned about the situation, the more pissed off I got - something that had seemed impossible. The cops were a given, they had all but signed their fucking death warrants. Then there was the fuckers who set Johnny, and consequently Toni, up. They’d fucked themselves over the minute they thought they could attempt to take anyone of my guys down. And then there was Johnny, who not only drove her out there with him on a high risk job but also made the fucking mistake of running while Toni took the fall. Still, he was family and thus fell at the very bottom of my ‘to kill’ list.

“Shit.” Brian muttered, snapping me from my thoughts. He ended the call with Johnny and tossed my phone back to me.

“Fuck.” Val said, standing still for a moment. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” She started saying rapidly, pacing back and forth and flinging her arms about.

Matt and Jimmy burst through the door then, and on some level I knew that Johnny had already called and let them know the shorthand version of the story.

“What happens now?” Matt asked, crossing his arms over his bulking chest in a stance that made most grown men piss there pants.

I paused for a second and looked around the room.

“Let’s go.” I growled out, already heading towards the door.

“No, fuck no.” Brian stepped in front of me and used enough force to push me back a little.

“Move. Brian.” The two simple words came out sounding rough and harsh.

“What the fuck is your plan man? Drive to Santa Barbara and what? Shut up a fucking precinct?” Brian held his ground refusing to let me pass. “You’re making this about Toni and you’re not using your fucking head. This is not how we handle a fucking situation. Keep your head, Zack.”

Had I still had some grip on my temper, I would have acknowledged that Brian was right. This wasn’t the first time one of my men had landed in jail. But this was Toni. This was different.

“Brian’s right.” Jimmy jumped in. “We need to do this shit by the books. If we break Toni out of there now then we’ve got cops on our tail and we’ve given them enough shit to put more than just one of us down for a good deal of time.”

“If we go to Santa Barbara now, you need to keep your head on your shoulders.” Brian was talking again, “If we don’t play this shit right then it could get a hell of a lot nastier. I’ll get Cherie on the line and she’ll have her ass on the way up there in under ten minutes.”

Cherie. Cherie Hacker. Cherie is a chain smoking, sailor mouthed, ballsy, bitchy lawyer. Her father had been one hell of a detective - working his entire life to put guys like me in jail. Apparently he’d worked way too fucking hard and had neglected his wife and only daughter. The precinct became his home and his cases became all the family he needed. After he’d all but turned his back on them for his work, Cherie’s mother turned to all kinds of prescription meds to keep in a state of passive nothingness. Prescription meds turned into harder drugs. She took each drug, waiting for her husband to turn around and stop her - hell, even arrest her. Cherie, on the other hand, took an entirely different path in a ‘fuck you’ gesture towards her father. She became one of the best and youngest lawyers on the west coast. And she used all that talent and brilliance to keep guys like me, the very guys her father tried to put away, in business and out of jail. If she had a conscience, Cherie killed it a long time ago. Some people could very easily argue that Cherie had lived a life tainted by neglect and that’s why she continued on in this rebellious stage of fighting on the wrong side of the law. Fuck those people. She’s been my lawyer, and gotten my men out of enough shit for me to know one thing: Hacker’s fucking golden, tainted or not.

But if Hacker’s methods didn’t work- well the fucking cops holding Toni would be in for a lot worse than a pissed off, smoking lawyer. Either way, I’d be driving out of Santa Barbara with Toni by my side tonight.

Cherie’s P.O.V.

If you’re getting ready to spend a night out, de-stressing, relaxing, and full on partying then the absolute last fucking thing you want is to get a call from a client. And not just any client - your biggest fucking client.

I had just slipped into my heels when my cell rang. I snatched it off the bed and answered it after glancing at the screen.

“Hacker.” I answered, while grabbing my makeup and attempting to apply it with one hand.

“We’ve got a situation. We need you in Santa Barbara.” Brian’s voice rang through my phone, skipping the greetings and getting straight to the point.

“What is it?” My voice came out fully composed but inside I was growling and groaning.

“Ran into trouble with a drop off and we’ve got someone locked up. Grab whatever shit you’re going to need and get to -”

I cut Brian off before he could ramble off the address.

“Is that all? This isn’t the first time one of Zacky’s men has landed his ass in jail. I can get a legal aide to drive up there and deal with it.”

“If I wanted a legal aide I would have fucking asked for one.”

“And if you want my help at all you’d fucking control your temper.” I shot back before Brian could keep talking. My night out had just been ruined and unless the orders were coming straight from Zacky himself than I wasn’t taking shit from anyone. Not even Brian, who could easily be considered as menacing.

“Now how serious is it that you need me to drive all the way up there?” I continued on, not giving Brian a chance to bite back.

“Not just you - we’re all heading up there. And, it’s not just one of Zacky’s guys. It’s Toni.”

Toni. The infamous Toni whom I’d never actually met but heard more than enough about from the guys. From what I could tell, Toni was some kind of an anomaly. Bartender turned lackey turned runaway assassin. I’ve worked with guys like Zacky and their chains for years and I’d never heard of anything quite like Toni. But the way she was talked about by the guys, I’m surprised that she’d even been given a chance at all to land herself in jail. Zacky kept a closer eye on her than he did on his money, and that’s saying something because Zacky was known for keeping track of his cash like a hawk watching it’s prey.

“Keep talking.” I said, putting the phone on speaker and dropping it onto my dresser. Reaching down, I sighed and yanked off my heels. There was no salvaging my night out now. I pulled off my dress and Brian began relaying a shorthand version of the story to me as quickly as possible.

Johnny. It had been Johnny that was at the fucking deal with Toni. And the hits kept on coming. I had no idea which fuckers had set him up but they had all kinds of targets hanging over there heads now. I wondered idly if it was another one of my clients but quickly dismissed the thoughts. The men I worked with all knew where they stood. They knew their territory and they knew the extent of their power. None of them would fuck with the food chain - they were all well enough and powerful enough to not even need to bother changing the way things were. None of them would openly (some might try a more underhanded method) fuck with Zacky.

That’s not to say men hadn’t tried before to fuck Zacky over- with the amount of men and business he had going, shit like this happened occasionally. But never with one of the five main gunners involved. Jimmy, Johnny, Matt, Brian and Zacky were never fucked with. If one of them came knocking at your door than you sat the fuck back and took whatever was dished out. There was no trying to screw one of those five over. This was a ballsy show of faith. A blatant message sent with the intent of catching Zacky’s attention.

“Cherie, you’d better be on your fucking way already.” Brian’s voice snapped me from my thoughts just as closed the button on my suit.

“I’m moving as fast as I can. And it’ll take me at least three hours to get there.”

“Make it two,” were Brian’s last words before the dial tone took over.

Two fucking hours. We can’t all be high crime assholes; some of us actually have to obey laws, like speed limits. I grabbed the rest of my shit and raced out to my car. Breaking more road rules than I’d ever care to acknowledge, I made it into Santa Barbara in just over two hours. I pulled out my phone and glanced again at the address Brian had texted me.

I finally slowed my car down a few blocks from the precinct that was holding Toni. I’d stopped here because I had immediately recognized Jimmy’s huge ass Hummer parked in front of what looked like a cheap motel. Matt stood in front of the car, aviators on and cigarette in hand. He watched me get out of my car before dropping his cigarette to the floor and motioning for me to follow him.

We waltzed by the poor teen at the front desk who looked utterly frightened and tense. Matt when he looked pissed off tended to have that effect on people. Matt walked me down a disgusting hallway before opening the door to a room and walking in.

If the gravity of the situation hadn’t already dawned on me, than it was definitely set in stone by this point for two reasons. One, all of the guys and Val were in this rather tackily decorated room - all of them having come all the way here for this one girl. And two, prior to this Zacky had probably never stepped within five feet of a cheap motel, or any hotel rated less than four stars for that matter.

The guys stood around in various stages of anger and distress. I did a double take before realizing that there was an unfamiliar face in the room. A twenty something year old man, with shaggy brown hair and a build similar to Brian’s leaned against one of the unsightly blue patterned walls.

“Who’s he?” I asked Matt, nodding towards the man.

“Drew.” The man responded. “A friend of Toni’s. And you’d be the hotshot lawyer that’s going to get her out?”

“Cheryl Hacker.” I responded smoothly, going by my full name to avoid the look of skepticism most people gave me when I introduced myself as Cherie. The almost stripper name was at odds with my job as a well respected lawyer.

“Cut the fucking formalities and tell me how exactly you’re going to get Toni out of jail.” Zacky spoke for the first time since I’d entered the room and part of me, the less composed part, wished that he hadn’t. I could have used a few more seconds to prepare myself before having the full extent of Zacky’s anger and impatience turned on me.

I mentally took a deep breath but maintained a cool exterior.

“I’m going to need to hear exactly what happened from whoever was there.” I turned to face Johnny who was seated on the most likely unsanitary bed, legs spread and elbows to his knees.

He looked up at me and I caught the slight tensing of his hands into fists as he began relaying the entire story to everyone in the room. Throughout the story, I continuously glance towards Zacky who had taken on a stiff air of intensity - seemingly in control but standing on the very brink of a catastrophic explosion.

Once Johnny was done, I nodded to no one in particular and got ready to leave the room and head down to the precinct.

“Cherie,” Zacky’s gruff voice stopped me with my hand on the door, “don’t make me regret wasting my time getting you out here. If you don’t get her out, I will.” Zacky turned to look at me and I had to pinch myself from hyperventilating from the look in his eyes. I’d seen Zacky in various stages of anger but never when it came to Toni. If this was the rage the guys had referred to, then I did not want to become acquainted with it.

I left the room and walked back down the dirty halls of the motel, getting into my car and speeding off to the precinct. Less than ten minutes later I parked in front of the precinct and climbed out of my car, straightening my suit before strutting confidently into the old building.

I walked to the front desk, dropping all kinds of ID while demanding to see my client. The young officer looked me over quickly before leading me to an empty room with three bland chairs and a simple grey table.

I sat down and a few minutes later a small framed woman with long black hair and tanned skin walked in and sat down in the chair beside me.

“I’d like a moment alone with my client.” I said, looking at the young officer who nodded and left the room.

“Cherie Hacker. Zacky sent me.” I held my hand out to her.

“Toni.” She replied quickly.

“I know. Now let’s get right to the point. Don’t say anything and I’ll try to get you out of here. If I spin a story you go with it, okay?”

“Anything to get out of this shithole.” She said looking around the room. “They been dragging me around and interrogating me for the last few hours.”

Before I could get the chance to respond the door opened again and two men in blue walked in this time, one of them being the young cop from earlier. A quick glance at their badges let me know that the younger one was Officer Garret and the other one was Officer Mills.

Mills took the last remaining seat while Garret stood against the wall facing Toni and I.

“On what accounts have you been holding my client?” I asked almost immediately.

“She was at the scene of a crime, attempted to resist arrest and we believe that she’s tied into a much bigger crime organization.” Mills stated, looking rather pleased with himself.

And they figured that out all by themselves. I truly disliked cops and that dislike ran deeper than just my dislike for my father.

“She hasn’t been offered bail or so much as a phone call so unless you intend to charge her with something, I’d like bail to be set.”

“There were six other men at the harbor. Two of which were dead by the time the ambulance arrived and one, her partner, that managed to escape. We’ve got three in captivity now that would be more than happy to incriminate your client here.” Mills tilted his head towards Toni. “But we’re willing to cut a deal.”

“Well if those three other men had any intention of incriminating my client they would have done so by now. The way I see it you have four people locked up but not a single one ready to give you enough to go on. But I’ll humor you, what’s this deal?” I asked curtly.

Mills turned away from me stared Toni in the eyes.

“Just give us your partner and we’ll let you walk free, no bail and no charges.”

Toni simply tilted her head and stared at Mills like he was some kind of contagious disease. I couldn’t help but inwardly laugh. If they wanted to trade Toni for Johnny then they clearly didn’t release how big of a catch they had stumbled upon. Whoever sold Johnny out hadn’t been expecting Toni to show up so the cops had no background on her whatsoever. They had a trained assassin, and Zacky’s most precious item locked up in their precinct and they had no idea how much she was worth. Any cop in Huntington would shit themselves for a chance to catch Toni and cut a deal with Zacky. And that was Zacky’s biggest weakness. If all else failed, Zacky would walk willingly into a cell for the rest of his life to spare Toni the few years she’d be given in the slammer. If the cops ever cuffed Zacky, there’d be no getting him out - ever. But tonight was my lucky night after all because these cops were amateurs when it came to dealing with organizations like Zacky’s.

“No dice.” I said before Mills could go on in his useless attempt to persuade Toni into handing Johnny over. “We’ll take the bail.” I said simply.

“We weren’t offering bail.” Mills turned away from Toni and glared at me. “There were two men dead at the crime scene. We could charge your client with double homicide.”

“In your wildest dreams.” I laughed inwardly at his textbook style bluff. “The report says the two men were shot and bled to death. My client wasn’t carrying a gun when you arrested her and something tells me if you checked the prints on any of the guns found at the scene, none of them would have her prints. If anything, she had just shown up for a nice, relaxing day at the harbor and when attacked she engaged in self defense. Those two dead men were either killed by your men or one of the other three guys you’re holding.”

“Or her partner who ran off.” Mills cut in.

“The mysterious, supposed partner that you don’t have in custody. Not to mention zero proof that the two even knew each other before the incident.”

“We still have resisting arrest. Not to mention destruction of police property.” Garret, who’d been quiet thus far, spoke up.

“Destruction of property?” I asked with one eyebrow raised. Johnny hadn’t mentioned anything about damaged property.

“Your client slammed a car into not one, but two cop cars causing a pile up that could have injured one of my men.” Garret explained.

I glanced at Toni who just smirked a little and gave a small shrug of the shoulder. I had to admit, I liked her style. If you’re going to get caught might as well go down destroying a thing or two.

“Here’s the deal. My client will pay for the damages done to the squad cars as well as pay a hefty bail in exchange for walking with nothing but an added report on her record. No court dates.”

“No.” Mills stated quickly. “Why would we listen to your demands, we’re the ones with your client in custody.”

“Right now you’ve got four people in custody for a crime where two men were killed, mind you they could have been shot to death by your cops. Now you can let my client walk and keep the other three - a win, I would say- or I could go in there and spring your other three prisoners free. This case has very little evidence of anything other than your cops cavorting with criminals for information. It wouldn’t hold up in court and you’d not only be out of four prisoners but you’d also be a laughing stock.” I said all of this smoothly while watching Mills think it over.

Mills turned around and gestured for the younger cop, Garret, to leave the room. Once the door shut again, Mills stood up and leaned over the table.

“Listen, we’ve got your client in our custody and we can keep her for as long as we want until she gives us the fucking information we need.”

“Correction, you can keep her for as long as the rules allow and trust me you do not want to do that. And your attempt to intimidate my client will get you nowhere.” I stated coolly despite Mills invasion of the privacy of our side of the table.

“You haven’t got shit with this case,” I continued, since the gloves were coming off and we were being crass, “You’ve got two dead criminals and not a lot of evidence. You’ve got dirty cops cutting deals with criminals outside of the precinct in a pathetic endeavor to catch bigger fish.”

“I might not have much but I do have four apprehended criminals. I could work those other three over until they agree to screw your client over, whether or not she actually killed the men at the harbor. Not to mention, I could keep your client in and out of court until something or someone finally gives and she’ll go down for so much more than this one fucking crime. This case might not be a winner but it’ll keep her in our possession long enough for us to uncover something else to nail her ass with.” Mills practically growled.

“That’s your risk to take but I wouldn’t recommend it. Cut your fucking loses already. Take the bail money. Take the money for the damaged property. Take your three criminals, give someone a medal and call it a day. You keep pushing this empty case and you’ll end up empty handed.”

Mills sat back in his seat and stared at me in silence for a few moments.

“I’ll think about it and let you know tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. As in, I would have to go back to Zacky empty handed. Tomorrow as in, Toni would have to spend the night in jail. Tomorrow as in, Zacky might not give it that fucking long.

“I might not be as generous tomorrow.” I said smoothly, covering up the inner panic. “Tomorrow, I might decide to lend my services to another one of the men you’re keeping and walk out of here with two instead of one.”

“Now that’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Mills said, smirking and standing up. “Our time here is done.”

“I’ll be back here tomorrow at 10:00 am. You have until then to ‘think about it’.” I said curtly.

Mills opened the door and another cop walked in to lead Toni back to her cell. I followed Mills out of the room before leaving the precinct and heading back to the motel.

I spent the entire ride trying to figure out the best way to convince Zacky that I had everything under control. The absolute last thing I needed was for him to tear a precinct to shreds. I walked past the same teenage boy at the front desk and back to the room Matt had led me to earlier.

Brian opened the door and before he could let me into the room, I leaned up and whispered in his ear.

“Restrain him.”

If anyone was going to get Zacky to not shoot the precinct up it would be Brian. He would see the greater benefits of waiting rather than taking action and he would probably be the only one capable of holding Zacky back.

Brian shot me a look before stepping aside and letting me into the room.

“What’s the bail?” Zacky turned his gaze on me the minute I stepped foot into the room, already standing and preparing to go down the precinct and pay whatever the bail would be.

“We…don’t know yet.” I spoke slowly and instinctively backed up a little under his stare. “I cut a deal and they’re going to take the night to think about it.” I tried in vain to make this sound a like a good thing.

Zacky stood and stared at me for a moment.

“Let’s go.” He said, grabbing a bag I hadn’t seen before and pulling a gun from it.

In a matter of seconds the guys had slipped into some sort of bloodthirsty routine. This, this is exactly what I did not fucking need. I had an 85% chance of getting Toni out scar free right now but if the guys went down there and shot the place up we would all be grandly fucked over. I didn’t doubt that the guys together could take the place down without a hitch but the destruction of an entire fucking precinct would turn more than a few heads and there wouldn’t be much I could do to spare them all. At best, two or three of them would find themselves doing serious time. Zacky was too blinded by rage to see past the present moment and it would get everyone fucked over.

“No. No. Brian, tell them no. No.” I spoke quickly, my head swiveling around as I watched Matt cracking his knuckles and tiny Val putting knives in her pockets.

“We can’t go down there yet.” Brian stood in front of Zacky and stared him right in the eye.

“You said give Hacker a chance to handle it and I did. It didn’t fucking work. They still have Toni and I’m going to pry her out of their dead fucking hands.” Zacky stepped closer to Brian until they were almost nose to nose.

Everyone in the room paused to watch them. I prided myself on being calm through anything but I’d never seen Zacky quite like this and it was sending my heart racing into overdrive. The guys, on the other hand, were apparently accustomed to this level of rage as none of them seemed quite as uncomfortable as me.

“In less than 10 hours we’ll have her back and if we don’t then you can go in guns blazing. Just hold off for one fucking night.”

“And let her spend the night in that shithole? Fuck you.”

“You’re not thinking, man. Would you do this for any other guy?”

“Toni isn’t any other fucking guy.” Zacky growled.

“Don’t do this. You know Hacker, let her handle this.”

Had the circumstances been different I would have preened over the show of faith. But the circumstances were what they were and the tension in the room was putting me on edge.

“Hacker, what happened?” Brian asked me without turning away from Zacky.

“They haven’t got shit they’re just ambitious. He’ll realize he’s better off taking my deal than pushing this.” I was surprised that my voice came out composed despite my inner panic.

“Would you bet anything that Toni will be free tomorrow, without killing everyone in the building first?” Brian asked, eyes still glued to Zacky.

‘Anything’ was a complicated word choice. 85% percent sure was more appropriate.

“Yes.” I responded, telling a bit of a white lie.

“Would you bet your life on it?” Brian asked, still not turning away from Zacky to look at me.

Had he looked at me he would have seen the split second of fear in my eyes. Thank you Brian for putting me in that awkward position. When a guy like Zacky or Brian said ’bet your life on it’, they weren’t using it as just an expression.

When I didn’t respond for a moment Brian finally looked over his shoulder to shoot me an expecting look.

“Yes.” I responded and in that moment I wasn’t lying anymore. I was now 100% sure that I would get Toni out of there tomorrow no matter how many deals and threats I had to throw at the cops because now more than just my career was riding on it. Now my life was riding on it too and I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that let me know I wouldn’t be sleeping easy tonight. But the looks in everyone’s eyes let me know I wouldn’t be the only one sleeping restlessly tonight.