Page 59 of Take the Bait

She stared at him thoughtfully. Danger, huh?

Was he going to jail for his own safety? To hide from someone on the outside who was out to harm him?

It made sense. Particularly given what she knew about Alex’s father having been a traitor to the Russian government. A jail was one of the few places the Russians would have to work to get at a guy like Alex.

She said under her breath, “If it’s the Russian government you’re hoping to avoid, they can still reach inside a prison. It would take a little doing on their part, but it’s not impossible.”

He smiled faintly. “You’re smarter than you look, you know.”

“I would say thank you if I wasn’t insulted.”

“You looked pretty smart already. And it’s not the Russian government.”

She opened her mouth to ask who he was planning to hide from, but he interrupted her gently. “Go get me my dozen years and parole in four, and you’ll finally be rid of me. I’m sorry I’ve been such a rotten client.”

“You haven’t been rotten. Just…confusing.”

He smiled sadly at her. “Trust me. It’s best this way. Now, go.”

She shook her head and retreated to the judge’s chambers.

Numb, she relayed Alex’s offer to Cam and the judge.

“This is damned irregular,” the judge declared.

Cam turned to her. “To be clear. He’ll plead guilty to all charges if I agree to ask for the maximum penalty under the law for his crimes?”

“Correct.”

The judge planted both palms on his desk and pushed to his feet. “All right. Go get your client to formally accept the deal. Should take only a few minutes to read in Koronov’s plea and hand down my sentence. And then I’ll thank you to remove that disrespectful young man from my court.”

She and Cam started to rise, and the judge said warningly, “I’m going to assume the accuser’s accusation of an inappropriate relationship between you two was a lie. I don’t have time for a mistrial and I’d hate to see what the good doctor would do to less competent attorneys than you two. There will be no improprieties between officers of the court who appear in my courtroom, correct?”

“That’s correct, Your Honor,” Cam replied deadpan.

“Correct, Your Honor,” she chimed in.

Thank God. The judge hadn’t asked them outright if Alex was right.

Rasmussen shook his head as he jotted down the anticipated sentence in Alex’s file. “Both of you. Out.”

Cam took her elbow and hustled her out of the judge’s chamber. Not that he had to urge her to go any faster. She was as eager as Cam to get away from any more potential questions about any personal relationship between the two of them.

“You okay?” Cam breathed as they emerged into the courtroom.

“Yes. You?”

“I’m good. I think we dodged the bullet.”

“Thank God,” she whispered.

“Amen,” Cam muttered back.

“We have a deal, then?” Cam raised his voice to ask as they approached Koronov.

“Gimme a sec.” She formally relayed the offer to Alex, who smiled broadly when he heard it. Shaking her head, she turned to Cam. “We have a deal.”

The judge emerged from his office, and they went through the formalities of entering Alex’s plea and having Alex sign paperwork to indicate the plea deal had been struck. And just like that, it was over. Alex was remanded to the bailiff for processing, and she walked out of the courthouse.

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