THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE

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The Blessing and the Curse A continuation of “Robber Baron.”

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A legal-action-adventure story.

Written by Allan Jon Kretzmar, JD

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SAN FRANCISCO WHARF SUNDAY AFTERNOON 3:33 pm Jake was pleased to have the time off over the weekend, and contemplate the new consulting assignment that he had been given. He was able to reach Zara Jane at home.

“Hi honey, I have decided to take this assignment. Looks like they want me to clean up the mess in the Bank’s Loss Mitigation Department, and it looks like I will need to be here a few days at least to get everything under wraps.”

“Do they expect you to be up there for a while?”

“No, not really,” Jake munched on some kettle corn, “I think just about a week is what I will need to go through the files and see that I am up against.”

“I was thinking, I can join you up there. I have to bring the bike up there to Joe to do the exhaust conversion work that is overdue, so it will give us a chance to spend some time together as well.”

“You gonna drive the bike all the way up here?”

“No, I was going to haul it up there in a rental, then if you like we can take a few days to drive the bike back down the coast again.”

“I am not sure when this could wrap up, looks like they may go to trial on this one pretty soon. They are supposed to have a Trustee sale on the

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property on Wednesday, and I also want to depose the plaintiffs as well on this case, see if they are legit and all that.”

“Okay, well let me know, Joe gave me an appointment for anytime this week. You remember that he has to replace the muffler and do the conversion thingy. Anyway, I don’t trust anyone except him. Maybe I will surprise you one day next week at the office.”

“Hey, hun, you can surprise me anytime that you want to! I will be pulling in some crazy hours I am sure of that.”

Jake hung up the call, and walked over the thick wooden beams of the wharf. He looked out over the ocean, and gave a silent prayer to his Guardian Angels that had brought an Angel like Zara Jane into his life. Jake spent a leisurely afternoon at the aquarium, marveling at the magnificent creatures in their underwater abode. He was ready for his new assignment.

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TRUST BANK HEADQUARTERS LATE MONDAY MORNING

Baron was in a foul mood, and he beeped Jake to come into his office.

When Jake walked in, he realized that the friendliness associated with his hire had worn off, and what had emerged was a character that was bossy, illtempered, and a tyrant.

“About fucking time that you got here!” Baron growled at Jake when he walked into his office.

“Wow, so much for the ‘Good Morning,’ and how about a cup of coffee to start your day?”

“I have no time for pleasantries.”

“Apparently not,” Jake slouched in the chair in front on Baron. He wore jeans, a white shirt and blue-striped tie, and he was relaxed and comfortable.

“We have a professional dress code here. This is a bank.”

“I am aware this is a bank. I have seen my workspace. I am buried so far down in the basement that you will need a search party and a team of Saint Bernard’s to find me. I am so far down in the bowels of the earth that I don’t even have consistent cell phone reception.”

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“He filed.”

“He filed what? And who?”

“That fucker Wiley. He filed a Lis Pendens against the property.”

“You mean the Hamiltons?”

“Yes, get with the program, the Hamiltons.”

“What makes you so mad at all of this. Looks like you are taking this very personaly.”

“I have to, it’s my job, I am professional. If Wiley wins, then we can have a legal precedent that will allow every bullshit claim to be litigated.”

“Okay, what do you want me to do?”

“Jake, I was not expecting that as an answer from you. You should know what to do. You have a reputation, you have law experience. You say you are a Chef, so we put you in the kitchen. That is where you are supposed to be and you are supposed to know what to do. I don’t expect you now to ask me where the pots and pans are!” Baron fidgeted in his seat, and his wheezy voice was lifted to a new screech.

“Baron, look . . .”

“No, you look! You cost us a lot of money to get you here. I stuck out me neck for you to get hired in the first place. Now it looks like you don’t have a goddamed clue as to what to do next. Well, let me tell you what to do

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next, get the goddamed Lis Pendens withdrawn, or is that too much for you to contemplate?”

Jake took a moment to stare at Baron. He stated at the antiquated monitor. A myriad thoughts crossed his mind, not the least of which was one where he envisioned hanging Baron off the edge of the window-washing scaffolding until he extracted a screaming apology from him. This was his first day on site at the new assignment, and Baron was surely going to test every single bone of his patience to straining point. I just have to make sure that it is not breaking point, Jake reminded himself.

“We know that Wiley has to lift the Lis Pendens?”

“I fucking know that, you know that, so make it happen!” Baron peered over his spectacles. “What are you waiting for?”

Jake peeled himself slowly off the chair, and wondered whether the fates had a uniquely bitter sense of humor to have placed him in his current situation, with Baron as his current boss. Since there had been a news wire that Jake had joined the firm, he thought it would be inopportune to leave after just a few hours on the job, or at least until the five-days required to make sure that the funds that he had deposited were at least good. One thing for sure, Baron was testing him. It was jealousy, Jake concluded, he always

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seem to attract those that, given half a chance, wanted to make Jake humbled in some manner or fashion, for whatever reason.

“I will call Wiley. I am sure that he will be slow in acting . . .”

“It is you that is slow in acting,” Baron wheezed as he tapped his wristwatch, “time is ticking.”

Jake thought, time is also ticking before when I will take great personal delight in strangling this man. But that day would have to wait. He rode the elevator down into the cavernous, musty bunker, where all the bank file records were kept.

At the end of a dimly lit row of filled file cabinets, sat his new desk.

Piled on the desk were a stack of documents, from the Hamilton case, and others. Jake could not use his cell phone, so he dialed the operator and asked to have a call placed to John Wiley.

Jake was able to speak to his secretary, and found out that Wiley must have been the only lawyer in San Francisco, maybe in the United States, that dis not possess a cell phone.

“How can I reach him then?” he asked his secretary exasperated.

“I will give him the message. He was at the County Recorder’s Office. I am sure that he will be heading into the office shortly.”

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“Yes,” Jake waved the document in front of him, “I got the Lis Pendens that he filed.”

“The Trustee’s sale for Wednesday will have to be discontinued.”

“I know. I know. I need to speak to John . . .”

“Does Mr. Wiley know you?”

“No, he does not, except by reputation, I guess.” Jake looked around the musty chamber, and wondered. If I was supposed to “clean up the schmutz” in the Department, there is no-one here even. God, I think I am the only living thing down here. Just then a mouse slithered across the hall. Okay God, second living thing . . .

Jake left his number with Wiley’s secretary, and then the realization hit.

He had only been hired to lend his reputation to the Bank in its public relations efforts, and he had been assigned the worst job under the worst manager imaginable. I must have done something to Baron in a past life he mused, I must have killed him, and I came back here so that he could extract his revenge for that act. But believe me, I think he will meet the same end from me in this life. . .

The red light on his phone started to flash, and he hit the speaker phone button.

“Loss Mitigation Department . ..” Jake said with sarcasm.

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“Did you reach him?” Baron’s voice crackled.

“Whom?” Jake pretended.

“Goddamed Wiley! Did you speak with him?”

“He does not have a cell phone.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“Wiley.”

“Who told you?”

“His secretary.”

“Where the fuck is he?”

“At the County Recorders . . .”

Baron exploded into a bunch of epithets that would have caused a sailor to blush and hold his ears. Jake signed and waited for Baron to complete his diatribe.

“We have to lift the sale . . . for now.”

“Those are scammers, Jake, and now he has snookered you. You are fucked. You played into his hands. We hired you to be the chef, I think you can’t even find the spatula in the kitchen down there.”

Jake counted quietly to ten, to allow his anger to dissipate.

“There is no fucking spatula down here. In fact there is no fucking kitchen either.”

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“What did you say?”

“Spatula. This kitchen is empty. No cooks. No waiters. There is no staff down here. What kind of department is this? You call it the Loss Mitigation Department? There is not a soul down here.”

“We hire interns.”

“What? What did you say?”

“Interns, what you have not heard of the term ‘interns’ before?”

“Interns? That’s your Loss Mitigation Department? When do they come in?”

“I don’t know, I don’t have their schedule.”

“Who does?”

“Mary. She’s out sick.”

“What do you pay them?”

“Whom? The interns?”

“Yes, the interns. What do you pay them?”

“What do you care?”

“I care. I care deeply.”

“Why?” “Because you made me in charge of them! That’s why I care.”

“We buy them lunch!”

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“How many?”

“One meal a day.”

“That was not my question. How many interns are there?”

“Heck, I don’t know.”

“So you are telling me that you hired interns to run the Loss Mitigation Department, to work on all the files down here. There must be literally thousands of files down here.”

“So?” Jake sank down into his threadbare office chair, and ran his hands wearily through his hair.

“Listen, I have to go, I think Wiley is calling me back.”

“Let me know what that fucker says.” Baron’s line went dead.

The overhead strobe light flickered, then went out, bathing the room is semi-darkness. If there is a God, and Jake firmly believed that there was one, he was sure that God was chuckling at him right now. I know God, he thought, there is a reason for me being there, and as soon as I can find out what that reason is, I will leave, okay . . .

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DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON A motorcycle pulled up the Trust Bank building with a smooth glide, and the leather-jacketed rider smoothly alighted, removing her helmet in one smooth motion. A cascade of long black hair emerged, and she shook her head, as she placed the helmet on the handlebars. She was dressed in a white shirt, blue jeans, and scuffed leather boots. Zara Jane walked into the entrance of the bank building, and asked the security desk officer where Jake Morrison could be found. After she asked for the Loss Mitigation Department, the same blank stare greeted her. Finally, the guard patched her through to Robert Baron, and he got on the phone.

“Yes, who is this?’

“This is Zara Jane. I was trying to find Jake. Jake Morrison.”

“Yes, yes,” Baron’s voice crackled over the intercom, “have the guard take you the basement. He should be working there. Better be.”

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The guard look bemused, and seemed unhappy to leave his post, but he shuffled over to the elevator, and when the doors opened noiselessly, placed his card key into the slot. “There,” he said satisfied, “it will take you to the basement.”

Zara Jane rode the elevator down, until the doors opened into the dank file storage area. She was surprised at the place that Jake had now found himself in, down in the depths of what seemed like a work-hell.

“Jake?” she called out to him.

“Honey, is that you?” Jake peered from behind his desk stacked with papers, buried behind a wall of file folders.

Zara Jane walked over to his desk, and smiled, “Wow, when I thought you would be working in the Executive Offices in San Francisco, I had no idea that you would be working in the lap of luxury! Plush office there Jake, way to go!”

“Very funny, honey. I was placed here by Baron. There is no staff here either. Can you imagine, all the so-called work was done here by interns?” He spat out the word again for effect, “Interns!”

“Can I buy you a cup of coffee and a dime for your thoughts, although I have a pretty good idea what you’re gonna say!”

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The phone rang. Jake picked it up, and recognized the familiar voice of Baron. “Yes, she is here, she found me. We are stepping out for coffee.”

“What about the work deadlines?”

“For Gods sake, Baron, I am keeping on track with things. I gotta go.”

He hung up the phone, then looked at Zara Jane, “I swear he is working on that very last nerve of mine. I am ready to quit!”

She gave him a reassuring kiss on the lips. “I did not drive a million miles to hear you complain.”

Jake smiled, and hugged her. “Sorry, honey, but this assignment is hellacious. Nothing what I thought it would be when I took it on.”

“I know. Lets go, Get some sunshine.”

They stepped out into the San Francisco afternoon, and there was a slight chill in the wind. Zara Jane put on her aviator sunglasses, and took Jake’s arm. He squinted into the sun. “Wow, I have been in the bowels of the earth so long that I forgot what the sun even looks like. It is black when I go to work, and black when I leave. I am outta here!”

They found a place to order a chilled coffee, and walked arm in arm along the wood-beamed wharf. They came up to a bench, and sat down.

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“I would not quit Jake. You are there for a reason. When you find out what that reason is why you were brought there, then you can quit. You will then have accomplished something very powerful and very useful.”

“What do you think that might be, my love? It could be murder. I swear that guy Baron is almost goading me to rip his head off – I swear I have never worked for a guy like that that thinks he can whip people that work for him, like we are oxen!”

She took a swig of the chilled brew, then brought her sunglasses a little ways down her nose, her yellow-brown eyes flashing as she talked.

“The Universe works in mysterious ways, Jake. It is all quantum physics, Jake. The energy that goes out into the ether, the energy that comes back, changed through that experience. There is something underhanded Jake in the bank, that was one of the reasons that I wanted to come up now to tell you. I just feel it. You have to find out what is going on. Baron seems revolting, but he is a distraction. Don’t you agree?”

“I agree. I think the louder he yells, the more he wants me not to see something that is going on. I feel it is shady. Under my nose, behind my back, he is up to something, if you know what I mean?”

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“I do too. I will take the bike over to Joe the mechanic this afternoon.

Then we can have dinner together. I can feel your tension, just take it easy, honey. It will all be revealed.”

“I don’t understand why he is so focused on this one case. The Hamiltons. He is so sure there is some subterfuge there, I dunno why. All I can say is that there are no staff there, and I have been basically cast into the dungeon. This is scary stuff, I gave him permission to place in the legal journals information about my working there, and now look, it was a complete ruse, and I can’t even leave!”

“Didn’t you know this when they hired you? Didn’t you see where you’d be working?”

“That’s just it. He gave me a big check and I just assumed I would be working out of some nice spacious office. I mean there are a million offices in the building, it never occurred to me that I would be holed up in a musty basement!”

“Can’t you take the files upstairs?”

“I could, maybe he will find me the broom closet! But I would have to travel up and down the elevator all day long, to get this paper or that one. I don’t know, I feel such a fool for taking this assignment.”

“Relax, babe, it can’t be that bad.”

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“Trust me, honey, it is worse than you can imagine. I mean he is calling me literally twenty-times an hour. I think he is making up for something that I did to him in a past life.”

“Like what?”

“I think I killed him then! Or married his sister. I guess he never forgave me for that. He is the most vile individual that I have ever had the displeasure of working for. I mean I knew the guy enough to nod at him in the elevator, but now this?”

They got up and walked back to the Bank building, Jake looked at his watch. “I will see you later honey, you good?”

“Yep, could not be better since seeing you.”

“You are so sweet.”

“Well, you bring that out in me. See you later, love.”

Jake took a last swig of his coffee, throwing the empty cup in the trash can, and hurried into the building. When he found his way to his desk again, the red beeping light indicated messages. Jake was sure who they were from.

He was right. He called Baron’s extension.

“Look, Baron, I need an office, I need to spread the files out. I can’t work out of the basement all night long.”

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Baron was quick to chide him, “I called you about twenty minutes ago.

I know your girlfriend is hot but you have work to do. What do you think, this is another day on the beach? Crack open the Coronas?”

“What do you mean, ‘you know she is hot?’”

“I saw her on the camera at the sign-in. You have to keep your mind focused on the job, Jake, there is a lot at play and at stake here.”

Jake gritted his teeth, and looked up at the ceiling. God, he thought, it you are trying to test me, you are doing a wonderful job.

Jake let Baron rant, then replaced the receiver. The phone rang again, and Jake angrily breathed into the phone, “What the hell do you want now?”

“That’s no way to speak to opposing counsel. I thought you were there to put a new positive spin on things at the Bank, Jake.”

“Who is this?”

“Wiley, John Wiley. You called me. I know that the sale date has been postponed. I see that you put in to take my client’s depo. We can set it for Friday, if you like. After his dialysis treatment?”

“Yeah, whatever you say, John. That works for my client the Bank.”

“It will have to be at their house, you know, he can’t travel.”

“C’mon, John, this will cost us double to get a court reporter to travel to their house. Are you sure your client cannot travel?”

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“Trust me, Jake. He can’t. I am trying to be as accommodating as I can, and as soon as her gets tired, we stop. That’s it, I will not have you take some a long drawn-out depo. One shot, that’s it, not dragging over days, either. The guy can barely breathe, so my rules!”

“Whatever you say, John, whatever you say. What time?”

“Eleven.”

“Done deal.” Jake entered the information in his phone’s electronic calendar. His phone rang.

“Yes Baron.”

“How did you know it was me?”

“I don’t know, a little bird told me. What do you want?”

“I heard that Wiley put a call into you.”

“Don’t you have other things to work on?”

“Nope, you’re it! Have to make sure our investment in you pays off.”

“Investment?”

“C’mon, Jake, you did not come in free, you came in expensive.”

“You offered it, remember?”

“I’m not complaining. The depo is set for eleven, Friday.”

“Good. Watch out for those tricksters. Drill the guy about whey they kept fucking up on the paperwork that they sent in. And we have to draft the

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Answer to their First Amended complaint. That stopped the sale. It is all bogus.”

“When do you want to do that?” Jake signed.

“Come up to my office after eight tonight.”

“After eight o’ clock? Zara Jane is in town and I promised here we would have dinner together tonight . . .”

“Too bad, man, call her up and tell you will need to find another time for her companionship.” The line went dead.

Jake looked at his watch, it was three-thirty in the afternoon. This was becoming a forbidding assignment, and Jake gritted his teeth in displeasure. If there was a reason that he was there, it was not going to fun to find out, and Baron was making his life there about as uncomfortable as he possibly could -the dingy work site, the incessant calls.

The security guard shuffled in. “They found you an office,” he announced, “Baron told me you may need some help with the files.”

“Yeah, thanks man,” Jake looked at the guard, “is it spacious?”

“What?”

“The office where I am going to?”

“Lester.”

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“Hi Lester, I am Jake. You did not answer my question. Is the office big?”

“Well, I don’t think either word, ‘big’ or ‘spacious,’ really works in this case.”

Jake pulled a batch of files that he could carry, then handed off more files to Lester, and they travelled up the elevator to the rooftop. They walked down a long hallway, arriving at a small alcove with a single wooden desk and a rickety chair. Jake dropped the files on the desk, and they shuffled off onto the floor. He did not bother to pick them up.

“Drop the files on the chair, Lester, I see what you mean about the ‘office.’”

Jake realized that when you pulled the chair back, there was barely enough room to clamber into the seat behind the desk. It was like getting into an expensive Italian sports car. Once again it seemed that Baron had spared no vindictive edge in dealing with him, and Jake was beginning to draw a long vendetta’s list of grievances at his treatment. It was painfully obvious that there was no end to the insults that Baron would fling at him, and that was becoming painfully clear. He opened the window, which could only open a crack, disturbing a couple of pigeons basking in the afternoon sun. It had dawned on Jake belatedly that he had been tricked, blinded by the check into

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thinking that he might have actually been brought in for his superlative written work product and reputation for integrity, and that he would be given charge of “cleaning out the department” of its bad apples. Since there were only interns working in the department, and he had not seen one, the enticement of a paid lunch might have not been enough to guarantee their return. It looked like there were no apples left in the basket. Jake wondered about how long Baron must have been planning the ambush for his arrival. All the details had been calculatingly and carefully thought out.

Lester shuffled back to his duties, and Jake struggled to pull the chair back far enough so that with his long legs he could gain access to a perch behind this desk.

“Honey, change of plan.” He called Zara Jane from his rooftop perch with the pigeons. At least here there was better cell phone reception.

“I know, babe, I know. I was expecting this.”

“Baron scheduled a meeting with me at eight-o-clock tonight. I have no idea when I will get out now.”

“Honey, are you on your cell?”

“Yes, why?”

“The phones are bugged.”

“How do you . . . oh, I forgot whom I am dealing with, my little Angel.”

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“Yes, anything you say on the phones will be recorded and listened to, and emails will be opened on their server.”

“I don’t have a computer here. Just the old one downstairs. I wanted to quit. You said stay, so I will submit to this torture with the utmost docility.”

“Better, for now. Be humble. It does not help to fight your circumstances. Just be watchful, and I will watch for you when you get back. I will go out with Matty and Jan tonight. We will miss you at the dinner table.”

Jake thought about his angelic messenger, and decided that once again, her logic trumped his. She had the power of clairvoyant thought that could uncover hidden truths, and she was always at the zenith of her powers.

Without wasting an instant of time she had the capacity to, with lightening-bolt accuracy, examine at a situation, and seize on its revealed, and hidden aspects.

She never said she had psychic abilities, but Zara Jane possessed an out-ofthis-world ability to be guided to perceptions that oftentimes Jake would never in his wildest dreams have imagined could be true, only they would later be proved as such. He liked to think he brought logical thought to the fore, but she brought an undercurrent of wisdom and subtle understanding that made Jake realize he needed to tame his unabashed brashness over the pitiful circumstances of his soon-to-be short-term assignment. Jake thought it best to not complain to Zara Jane either about what was likely to be the purely

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transitory nature of his present day work discomforts with Baron and the Bank.

She had the intellectual capacity to in a mere fragment of a second marshal and exhaust an understanding of the matter at hand, evaluating every possibility, including those bethought hidden and clouded from view.

Inevitably, the light of her intuition gave her uncomfortably good odds that the subterfuge at work would be penetrated, and revealed, and she was masterful in her ability to as a tutor and guide smooth the way for Jake. He in turn had a growing compunction to remove himself from the mundane complement that luck did not bring him into situations, without the reason that his very presence could in turn also provide the tools that could, by random chance, provide a means of righting the wrong in the situation at hand. Jake did not believe that he was arrogant in believing this, instead coming down on the side of the perception that it would be arrogant of him not to believe that he had been brought into this often into this situation. The fact that he did not know why he was brought in, was merely of secondary importance. He believed firmly now that in some strange way fate had singled him out to help deliver a message, of some kind of other. Fortune always seemed to smile upon him in the unlikeliest of circumstances, and when he least expected it.

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It was not until after ten-thirty before Jake could make his way back into the hotel suite. Zara Jane was asleep, and he did his best not to wake her. I should have had my head examined, Jake thought, as his head floated down onto the pillow, and sleep came quickly and thankfully. He was mentally and physically exhausted.

THE HAMILTON’S HOUSE FRIDAY MORNING THE DEPOSITION 11H30 am

John Wiley paced furiously on the large oriental rug in the living room.

“Where is she?” he exploded.

“I don’t know,” Jake admitted truthfully, “ the court reporter was given the address.”

“It’s eleven-thirty!”

“I know. I can call her service again if it makes you happy?”

“Well,” Wiley growled at him, “you just shaved off another half-anhour of deposition time by your antics.”

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“My antics? What did I slash a hole in her car tires? Did I disconnect her alarm clock? Did I give her the wrong address?”

Nathan was still in the other room completing the dialysis with the nurse.

“Okay. We wait.”

“I am sorry I doubted you.” Jake said, catching Wiley off guard. Wiley looked closely at Jake, who realized that his sparing opponent had the greenest eyes that he had ever seen. They had a languid look to them, like a lizard basking in the sun, but Jake realized there was a very fast-working mind behind them.

“About what?”

“Your client’s condition. My client, well, the Bank, they seem to have this thing about ‘scammers’ on loans. This is from what I can see now the very opposite of what is going on here.”

Wiley kept his gaze on Jake, not saying anything. Prudence would have dictated that Jake not reveal such things to Wiley, but Jake’s enthusiasm for his current assignment had waned significantly in the few days since he was assigned to the case. Integrity was a very powerful and cogent driving force in Jake’s professional persona, and he did not like being lied to. He was having an uncomfortable hard time under Baron’s wilting obsession and hard-boiled

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obstinacy in figuring out the inordinate number of ways that he could make Jake’s working life a misery.

“How’d they get ya into this?” Wiley finally asked.

“Money,” Jake said matter-of-factly.

“Enough to come after my clients?”

“Well, John,” Jake said stiffly, “I was told I would be hired to be the chef, and direct the waitresses, and waiters, as it were. Then I come to find out that there are no staff, and the kitchen is about as stone cold dead and empty as you can get.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really! Trust me.”

“Humph,” Wiley laughed sarcastically, “Trust you? Or trust Trust Bank? Which is it to be?” he said sarcastically.

“Look, I can’t make you trust me. We are adversaries in this. But sometimes one finds the nastiest things when one looks to find the truth of a situation, and I hate to be part of any infliction of misery on a path that I never really had chosen.”

Wiley studied Jake for a while. “You are a different man than I imagined,” he said at length.

“How so? What did you imagine?”

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“A company man. Rooted and driven. Only caring about dollars, the bottom line. The Bank made a million promises, Jake, then turned on their word, trampling a lot of innocent people like the Hamiltons into the dust . . .”

It was then that the doorbell rang, and Jake sprang to let the court reporter in, thankful for the distraction. The lady apologized profusely for her tardiness. “They did not give me the right directions, then my cell phone went out . . .”

Finally, she set up her equipment laboriously. Jake sat across from a wheezing Nathan, who was stressed beyond belief. Large sweat beads formed on his brow, and sweat poured from the pores under his armpits. The deposition got underway after the usual cautionary advisements.

Jake then asked questions specific to the Bank’s Loan Modification Department’s actions in promising a reduction, and also what if any contact Nathan had had with the Litigation Department that were in charge of calling in the loan.

Jake could see that Nathan was struggling, and Freda had been excused from the room. She would have her deposition taken at a future time.

“I don’t remember,” and “I cannot say” seemed to be the two most frequently reported statements that Nathan repeated, almost blindly, and Jake felt genuine sympathy.

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“I am not asking you to guess. Just tell me to the best of your recollection what happened. I know that this is a very stressful undertaking, and I really do not mean to make it any more unpleasant than I am sure it already is.”

Wiley looked at Jake from across the room with studied intensity. He was not taking anything to chance. Yet Jake also did not like the position that he had been placed in, and watching Nathan struggle with what seemed like futile rebellion against destiny. His illness that robbed him of his dignity, and the Bank’s actions in the potential loss of his home, were crushing weights under which he now squirmed uncomfortably.

“I do not,” Jake said softly and deliberately, “ want for you to do anything more than tell me what happened. In your own words. As fully, and as accurately as possible.”

Wiley interjected, “He has already tried to do this on a number of occasions, Counsel. Your questions have been asked, and answered!”

Nathan feebly raised his hand, then let it drop limply by his side, clearly exhausted by his ordeal.

“That’s enough,” Wiley announced, “he has had all of the abuse that he can muster. This deposition is over! Over, I tell you!” He bent over Nathan, Are you okay?”

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Wiley looked at Jake with his emerald-green eyes flashing with intensity, but Jake made no attempt to escape their penetration.

“I thank you for the time that you have afforded me. Thank you again.

Counsel, we can have a copy of the transcript available to you, so that your client can read it, and make any changes that he may choose to.” It was standard operating procedure, but Wiley sensed that Jake’s heart was not in it.

He followed Jake out into the hallway.

“Can we speak off the record?”

“I can if you can.”

“What’s up with you? I don’t understand you?”

“I am an open book, really.”

“Meaning?”

“I got suspicions that there was some dirty business here, or that at least was what I now suspect on my side of the fence.”

“Really? So, you’re afraid to get involved?”

“On the contrary, I am already involved.”

“And?” “It’s not that simple. In a way I hoped it was not true.”

“That what, they were living the high life? Doing the right thing? You have a fucked up sense of justice.”

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The point scored home, and Jake braced. “Look, I can’t expect you to understand.” His flinching gave clear sign that he could no longer revert to pretense.

“I can try.”

“John, I have suspicions about things I cannot yet prove.”

“I need help. And you can give it. I want to save their home.”

Jake nodded. “For a few days now I have been scared to admit that what I saw was just plain wrong, the assimilation of greed into this ‘dualtracking’ that seemed to sweep logic under the rug. They promise a modification out of one side of their mouth, then move to foreclose out the other. John, look I agree. I think that your client’s were wronged, but I can’t prove it yet in anything I have seen.”

“But you saw the paperwork they submitted.”

“Yes, and the files are a genuine mess as the Bank claimed they were.

Places where there should have been a signature there was none, and then a signature where there was not supposed to be one, like on blank pages that were notarized. But if we are right, then, well, it may be a different matter.”

Jake slipped in the “we” with studied effortlessness, and Wiley caught on. Instantly, as Jake hoped he would.

“Then, counsel? ‘We’ what?”

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“We may be able to come to some kind of settlement that will help your client’s in their current predicament.” Jake was careful not to include his client in that sweeping statement. “It may be the start of a new life for them, such that still may be allowed by the grace of God and time.”

Wiley extended his hand, which Jake shook. When Jake left, Wiley walked up to Nathan, who sat wheezing in the chair with his eyes closed.

Nathan opened one eye as Wiley approached.

“I think Jake is just the guy we needed to be up against us on this one. I think he has been sent directly from heaven.”

“Really?” Nathan struggled to sit up.

“Yes, I do. It’s just a feeling, but its growing. I don’t think he is cut of the same cloth as the Bank’s hit-men. I don’t think he will abide by anything dishonest going on.”

“But why?”

“Because he doesn’t need the money they are paying him, I guess, and also that to him his reputation ultimately means more.”

“That’s it?”

“I don’t know, I will be talking to him again I am sure. When we know a little more what is going on in his mind, we will have a lot more answers about what the Bank is likely to do. But so far I have the feeling he came in

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looking for one thing, and came away finding something completely different.”

“Like what” Nathan spluttered.

“Like being the hero for the Bank means that if he goes after us for their motives, they will have traded in his integrity for a lack of theirs.”

Nathan stared back at Wiley blankly.

“So what do we next?”

“Dunno. We’ll see him in court!”

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To be continued . . .

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Allan Jon Kretzmar Š2011. All rights reserved.

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons living or dead, is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

First printing.

Follow further adventures at www.unexpectedANGEL.com.

Check out the other Mini-books in the series on Kindle, Nook, and Google eBooks.

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Forbidden/unex pected Angel The Series: Luck, Love . . . and a Twist of Fate!

Other book titles 1. unexpected Angel The novella. A modern-urban love story with a supernatural twist. Angels show up in our lives when we least expect them. Jake Morrison is a bright, young and ambitious attorney hell-bent on achieving his vision of success.

But his vision is about to become a nightmare. Zara Jane is a real-live Angel, sent from Heaven above to guide Jake through these pivotal changes in Jake’s life. She ends up working at Jake’s firm and dating him, so that she can watch over him. They fall in love. But Jake rejects the message and her love and his life spirals out of control. As an Angel Zara Jane imparts wisdom and insight for his life and world, and expresses her insight on the road that lies ahead, not only for Jake, but also for humankind as a whole. When Jake takes her words to heart his life goes through a metamorphosis, and he finds himself living his life in a manner that he could not have dreamed of before.

KINDLE: unexpected ANGEL. Luck, love . . . and a Twist of Fate!

(Forbidden/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EET3M8 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/unexpected-ANGEL/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013028821

2. CUPID’S ARROWS A mini-romance mythological fable, where Zara Jane, Angel, creates a love connection between Mahmoud and Genevieve-Marie at the Palace of Versailles. This is part of her job as an Angel, and one of the more satisfying of her tasks. She takes special care and attention in the pursuit of these activities, and explains in a hilarious interchange with the Love Cherubs the

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state of affairs connected with helping humans find True Love. This caper involves a tinge of Cupid’s Love Potion #5, 2 cherubs, one Angel, and 2 Cupid’s arrows. KINDLE: Cupid's Arrows (Forbiddem/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDIC1W NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Cupids-Arrows/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013095267

3. WILD HORSE TALE$ A mini-paranormal-action adventure set in Santa Barbara, California. Zara Jane, Angel, and Jake Morrison, erstwhile-lawyer, form Paradise Paranormal Investigations, Inc. This is the first case for their fledgling company, and they are called in to solve the mystery of racehorses that are dying, almost daily.

What they uncover are some unexpected twists and turns. KINDLE: WILD HORSE TALE$ (Forbidden/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDICY4 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/WILD-HORSE-TALE/AllanJon-Kretzmar/e/2940013109575

4. WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD A mini-paranormal-action adventure, that takes Zara Jane, Angel, and Jake Morrison, erstwhile-lawyer, on their second caper under their company, Paradise Paranormal Investigations, Inc., on a worldwide dash to stop the Holy Grail and the Golden Calf falling into the wrong hands, in this case, Gustavo, who is not your ordinary villain. He is a fallen Angel himself, with superpowers too. The CIA and the US government call in the two sleuths to provide investigative help. KINDLE: Where Angels Fear To Tread (Forbidden/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EGQYJG NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/WHERE-ANGELS-FEAR-TOTREAD/Allan-Jon-Kretzmar/e/2940013122901

5. set the world on fire! (CONTINUATION OF “WHERE ANGEL’S FEAR TO TREAD!”) A mini-paranormal-action adventure, that takes Zara Jane, Angel, and Jake Morrison, erstwhile-lawyer, continue on their second caper under their company, Paradise Paranormal Investigations, Inc., on a worldwide dash to

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stop Gustavo in his tracks. Subject matter includes the Holy Grail, the Golden Calf, and the Knights Templar. KINDLE: Set The World On Fire!

(Forbidden/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDKPE4

6. ying-yang love A mini-romance. Vickie Ying lives in New York, Christian Yang lives in Hong Kong. They are worlds apart, yes each night respectively in their dreams they connect on a deep soul level that is turning their lives upside down. Their dreams are becoming an obsession, and when they dream they begin to see the other with increasing clarity. The chemistry and tension builds as they wonder if they will ever meet in person. Enter an Angel (Zara Jane) who tries to guide them both, but her message is not immediately recognized or followed.

Ying-Yang Love (Forbidden/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDMEBG NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ying-Yang-Love/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013122598

7. ONLY LOVE MATTERS: INTERCEPTION A sweet mini-romance. Katherine Potter lives in London, for years entombed waiting for her husband to return after his military mission failed.

She is invited by her nephew Drew to Hawaii. Enter an Angel that intercedes on behalf of Frederick, her husband to save her life, and allow her the chance to find love again. KINDLE: Only Love Matters (Forbidden/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDNF28 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/ONLY-LOVEMATTERS/Allan-Jon-Kretzmar/e/2940013122734

8. what yA gonna do when the angel comes?

A mini-travel-adventure-romance. Jake Morrison, erstwhile lawyer, is convinced by his friend Dr. Robert Powell to try regression analysis to isolate when and where he and Zara Jane, Angel, really met to better explain their

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attraction. As the regression continues, Jake discovers that the answers come not only from this lifetime, but to ones that took place well hidden in the past. Jake unlocks the doors to open up new vistas of adventure, and understanding. KINDLE: WHAT YA GONNA DO WHEN THE ANGEL COMES? (Forbidden/unexpected ANGEL) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EOTKOE NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/WHAT-YA-GONNA-DOWHEN-THE-ANGELS-COMES/Allan-Jon-Kretzmar/e/2940013122864

9. WHEN ANGELS COME HOME TO ROOST (Continuation of “What ya gonna do when the angel comes?”

A mini-travel-adventure-romance. A continuation of the regression analysis that Jake is undergoing with his friend, Dr. Robert Powell. Jake finds himself married in this past life to Zara Jane, when a violent storm blows their spice ship off course. Will they survive, and what secrets will be revealed?

Stranded on an as-yet-uncharted island they meet Hoppy, a genie, who promises them a way out, with a surprising twist.

10.

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE (Continuation of “WHEN ANGELS COME HOME TO ROOST”) A mini-travel-adventure-romance. A continuation of the regression analysis that Jake is undergoing with his friend, Dr. Robert Powell. Jake finds himself married in this past life to Zara Jane, still stranded on an as-yet-uncharted island with Hoppy, the genie who has promised them a way off the island.

But is this really what Jake wants? Find out the surprising twist as Jake’s mind plays the devil’s advocate.

KINDLE: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HB9URG NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/DEVILS-ADVOCATE/AllanJon-Kretzmar/e/2940013134041

11. ROBBER BARON

(PART ONE)

Jake is encouraged by his friend Baron to take up the practice of law again and head up the Loss Mitigation Department at the mighty Trust Bank, headquartered in San Francisco. Jake feels that his name and reputation are about to be misused to further some dark motive that he as yet is unaware of, and he has his misgivings.

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John Wiley is an attorney representing sympathetic clients as the battle-lines start to get drawn in this modern-day “David and Goliath” zero-sum contest. Jake trusts that whatever the motive behind Baron’s offer, it will somehow be revealed in time to him before damage can be done. Jake realizes this is all a puzzle -- this interplay between light and dark forces -- and that he would need almost a clairvoyant’s skill to separate them in time.

KINDLE: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IDOYQK NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/ROBBER-BARON/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013032323 12. FORBIDDEN ANGEL: THE POETRY COLLECTION Modern-urban poems.

BLOG: http://ForbiddenAngelGirlz.blogspot.com KINDLE: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HILH16 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/FORBIDDEN-ANGEL/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940012990969

LovEntwined The Series: Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers Other book titles 13.

THE KINGMAKER An undocumented historical mini-romance fable set in 15th Century Great Britain. The throne of King Henry is about to be passed on to one of his three sons, but war with France looms. Enter Princess Isabella, an armor-clad messenger, who meets Prince Richard, and guides him in the greatest adventure of his life. THE KINGMAKER (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDNGAO 14.

GOING IN FOR THE KILL (CONTINUATION OF “THE KINGMAKER” PART ONE)

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A 15th Century mini-action-romance adventure fable, where Leopold, the French naval commander, seeks revenge and kidnaps Princess Isabella. Now King, Richard faces dark days as he struggles with the loss of his Queen, and decides to extract revenge of his own with unanticipated consequences.

KINDLE: GOING IN FOR THE KILL! Part Deux of THE KINGMAKER (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDNICK NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/GOING-IN-THE-THE-KILLPart-Deux-of-THE-KINGMAKER/Allan-Jon-Kretzmar/e/2940013109568

15.

THE WORLD’S YOUR OYSTER A mini-romance set in Italy. Francesca is a filmmaker and the daughter of a famed director who decides to enter her short film at the Venice Biennial.

Enter an Angel who encourages Justin to enter his paintings in the Biennial Art Festival. The bait has been set, and they are destined to meet. KINDLE: THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER! (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDNL3Q NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Worlds-Your-Oyster/AllanJon-Kretzmar/e/2940013094802

16.

MOMMY’S GONE! A bitter mini-romance. Brad and Mara have been married for fifteen years and have two children, Jamie and Mark. A poignant tale that explores keeping love alive in a marriage that goes through dramatic changes. Mara serves in the Navy, and completes a tour of duty in Iraq. Then Afghanistan follows. . . A story as current as our headlines.

KINDLE: MOMMY'S GONE! (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDNM76 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/MOMMYS-GONE/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013109537

17.

FOLLOW THE FIRE! (alternative ending to mommy’s gone!)

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A bitter-sweet mini-romance. Brad and Mara have been married for fifteen years and have two children, Jamie and Mark. A poignant tale that explores keeping love alive in a marriage that goes through dramatic changes. Mara serves in the Navy, and completes a tour of duty in Iraq. Then Afghanistan follows. . . A story as current as our headlines. This story is the alternative ending to “Mommy’s Gone!) KINDLE: Follow The Fire! (Alternative ending to "Mommy's Gone!) (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDNM62 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/FOLLOW-THE-FIREAlternate-ending-to-Mommys-Gone/Allan-Jon-Kretzmar/e/2940013109544

18.

(LOVE) ON THE WINGS OF ANGELS A mini-romance. Mary and Pete are destined to find each other, but their ability to meet gets stalled. Enter an eagle that brings about their chance meeting, that in that instant changes both of their lives from that point forward forever. Luck, love, and a twist of fate. KINDLE: (LOVE) ON THE WINGS OF EAGLES! (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDNOGA NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/BookAllan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013094963

19.

WHEN LIGHTENING STRIKES TWICE! A mini-romance set in Mumbai, India. Ramish is a lawyer who is travelling on a train and is struck by lightening. In that instant the most beautiful woman in the world, his world, gets revealed to him. Ghita Raj is a Bollywood film star, wondering if she will ever find true love. She seeks answers from her astrologer and palmist, Mister Choksy, who tells her that a chance meeting with a man may be soon. Very soon. KINDLE: WHEN LIGHTENING STRIKES TWICE! (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EE61Q4 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/WHEN-LIGHTENINGSTRIKES-TWICE/Allan-Jon-Kretzmar/e/2940013109476

20.

COWgirl KATE A mini-romance. Kate is a student in Texas who receives an unexplained and untraceable email and text message on her cellphone to make sure she goes to her grandmother’s funeral. She is told that she needs to make sure she

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attends, for there is a fated meeting that has to take place there. Kate is given control of the family cattle ranch after her grandmother’s passage, but the email and text message concern affairs of the heart. KINDLE: COWGIRL KATE! (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EE621S NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/COWGILR-KATE/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013109438

21.

HOLY LAND: BLOOD BROTHERS A mini-romance set in the Holy Land. A metaphorical bridge is being built between Rami, an Israeli soldier, and Ghita, a beautiful young Palestinian girl. They begin to steal moments together, knowing that on both sides such encounters are forbidden. The story moves with dynamic intensity to its conclusion as Rami and Ghita struggle to find freedom to live and love. As topical as today’s headlines. KINDLE: HOLY LAND: BLOOD BROTHERS! (ENTWINED lovENTWINED) | http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EDQGB0 NOOK: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Holy-Land/Allan-JonKretzmar/e/2940013109513

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002416855721 Zara Jane on Facebook

https://twitter.com/#!/ZaraJaneAngel Zara Jane Angel on Twitter

BLOG: http://ForbiddenAngelGirlz.blogspot.com

Modern-urban poetry and Blog

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WEBSITE: www.ForbiddenAngel.net Angels, books, prints and apparel

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