Blind Justice by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2011-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Jakob Binder had started the whole thing off. He was into Maxim Koretski for a fortune. Binder had a chronic gambling obsession. He was the kind of man who would bet on the fall of a leaf dropping from a tree. The unfortunate thing was that he lost more than he won. A couple of times he had made good, but his weakness was his inability to take his winnings and quit while he was ahead. He had to go for the next jackpot, and without fail he would gamble his winnings away.

Binder’s other weaknesses were drink and a pretty face—a lethal combination when coupled with his gambling. One of Koretski’s girls, a delightful, elfin-faced young beauty named Katrina, had hooked him early. She’d flattered him, seduced him and encouraged his vices. When Binder got in too deep, she introduced him to Koretski, who made sympathetic noises, promised he would help, and opened a credit line for the man. Binder was allowed to make a few wins, but over a two-month period his losses mounted until he owed Koretski enough money to have bought a midsize condo.

That was when the trap snapped shut.

Binder was so much in debt, his markers in Koretski’s possession, that his life belonged to the Russian. His situation was finally brought into the open the day Katrina took him for a meeting with Koretski at his office on the top floor of the Russian’s business HQ overlooking the Seattle waters.

“What does Maxim want?”

Katrina, standing beside him in the elevator, smiled. “He has a little surprise for you,” she purred. Her soft voice, with its hint of an accent, matched her looks. “You must wait and see.”

Binder couldn’t see her face at that moment. If he had, he might have been shocked at the cold, unfeeling look in her eyes. She walked out of the elevator ahead of him, directly into Koretski’s sprawling office. A wide, panoramic window looked out across the city and the bay. The office was expensively furnished, with a reception area to one side.

Koretski lounged in a large, soft leather executive chair, a welcoming smile on his face. There were four other men in the room, watching Binder.

One of them seemed vaguely familiar. Binder stared at him for a few moments, then realized he was looking at Senator Tyrone Kendal. The sight of the senator made Binder uneasy. He knew of the man’s reputation. Kendal was an uncompromisingly hard man who worked tirelessly for his constituents, but harder for his own aggrandizement. So what was he doing in the company of someone like Koretski?

Binder had a feeling he was about to find out, and wouldn’t like the answer.

“Please sit down, Jakob,” Koretski said. After Binder took one of the comfortable matching seats in front of Koretski’s massive desk, the Russian leaned forward, face solemn. “I have a proposition for you, Jakob, and I want you to consider before you make any answer.

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