Tempered Steele: Hard Edges by M.E. Logan

Author:M.E. Logan [Logan, M.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594935169
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2016-11-28T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this, Deborah?” Roger Henderson, Deborah’s lawyer, asked.

Deborah grimaced. “No I don’t. I hate like hell even the idea of it, but at the same time, I’d be a fool if I thought I was immortal or that nothing was going to happen to me. Isn’t that what you’ve been advising me for years? Worst-case scenario?”

“Yes, but—” He looked over the papers Deborah had dropped on his desk and flipped through them again. “This won’t go over well with your family, giving property away.”

“That’s why I have a good lawyer,” she said cryptically. She looked through the glass window to see Joanna sitting in the outer office. This was the excuse for the trip: check out Nature’s Bounty and see her lawyer. It was time for her to come to town. Hardly any false pretenses in case anyone was watching them.

She turned back to Roger, still sitting behind his desk, flipping through her proposal. “Property laws, so far, are still respected. At least around here. And assuming you’re strong enough to hold on to it.” She added the qualification.

“And you’re ready to fight for it.”

Deborah rapped on the desk. “As my granddad said, it’s not like they’re making any more land. Must be our Irish blood. Land’s the only thing worth fighting for.”

“It might be coming down to that.”

“Maybe it should,” Deborah replied. “People have to eat, and so far there’s not another way of producing it.”

Roger folded up the papers. “Okay, looks like you’ve included everything here. Anything else?”

Deborah dropped her voice. “The class-action suit?” Her whole agreement with Joanna hinged on the outcome of the suit to outlaw shanghaied contracts. If they were set aside, Joanna was technically free. If not, Deborah had promised to escort her to Canada. Temporary service contracts weren’t recognized there. She’d be a free woman.

Roger looked first at the window and then back to Deborah. He shook his head. “I don’t know. In theory, they should be set aside. But that puts a lot of people out, inconvenient. The state just might not want to deal with it.”

“So when has the state’s convenience affected the law?”

“Deborah, you’re expecting reason and logic in an unreasonable time.”

“In the law, yes. Because if we throw out the law, what have we got left?”

Roger got to his feet. “War, survival of the fittest. Anarchy.”

They walked out to the outer office.

“Good meeting you, Ms. Braaford,” Roger said, holding out his hand to Joanna again. “Glad I’ve got you identified. Kept me awake nights.”

“Sorry I disturbed your sleep,” Joanna managed to say.

“I’m sorry for your circumstances. I do hope the suit works out for you.”

Joanna nodded, seeming to be at a loss for words.

“Ready to go?”

Once they were out and down the street, Joanna spoke up. “He doesn’t know, does he, that I tried—”

“Shut up,” Deborah said in a conversational voice, without even turning to look at Joanna.

Joanna bit her lip and looked down, then glanced around to see if anyone had overheard.

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