by T. J. Quinn
Danielle responded immediately, “You’re right. If the authorities are not aware, it would be foolish to draw their attention. They are too unpredictable. Whoever presses this issue will certainly end up in jail.”
Jon explained. “Danielle and I have been working on an airtight legal defense for nesting. We need someone brave enough to risk everything to litigate this to its eventual end. We are almost certain to win, but it will get messy in the interim.”
Jem crossed his arms over his chest. “Might I suggest that you simply approach the next person who is arrested and offer to take their case?”
Danielle nodded, “That’s the only viable course of action. It has the advantage of us not placing anyone intentionally in harm’s way. We would be stepping in to offer assistance to someone who is already in trouble.”
Jon spoke up. “I agree with Jem. That would be a much better option.”
His wife interjected quietly. “Have you seen the news stream this evening? State law enforcement decided to make multiple high-profile raids on males suspected of nesting. They have arrested twelve so far and expect more arrests in the coming days.”
Danielle looked at Jem. “Are you interested in a piece of the action on this case?”
“You better believe it, beautiful.”
”None of that until the case is over. We need all our focus to be on building and winning this case.”
“I have a friend who ended up with a large PR firm. I think we can rely on him to work discretely on this issue and come up with some viable plans.”
“That would be fantastic.”
“I will work through the night to get the paperwork ready to file an injunction against anyone touching the nests.”
Jon looked up from scanning the news feed. “I suspect it that piece will turn out to be the easy part. There is already some controversy about who will be held responsible for damage and death of the fetus if anything goes wrong during the move.”
“File your injunction in the twenty-ninth district court. Judge Sanders has a reputation for being sensitive to alien rights issues.” Danielle said.
“I will do as you say.”
“Jon and I will meet with the partners first thing in the morning and ask for their support. This case will put our firm directly in the spotlight on the issue of alien rights, which was exactly where they want to be. I’d be surprised if we got any pushback from them at all.”
Chapter 4
Males Talk
~ Andrew ~
Music Mix
Walking through a small Kalian shop, Andrew gathered up supplies for his nest. Most Kalian males were very particular about the nutrients supplied to their unborn infants. Only the freshest and purest organic vitamins and minerals would do. He was so intent on managing his small daughters and making smart choices, he failed to pay proper attention to his surroundings.
When he began unloading his supplies onto the counter, he looked up to find a human male behind the counter, rather than the Kalian that owned the shop. Glancing around he discovered, all the employees were human. Tightening his jaw, he slid his fingerprint across the scanning plate and took his merchandise from the man.
Walking out of the shop, he knew what was going to happen later in the evening. Kalian males talked, particularly the ones who were breeding. Law enforcement was stepping up their arrests for Kalian males who did not follow the human breeding laws. The humans positioning themselves inside the store to observe Kalian males shopping for nesting supplies was reminiscent of some type of old fashioned sting operation. Andrew had read about such things in the Earth history database. He never expected something quite that overt and radical, just to catch males caring for their young.
Upon arriving home, he packed bags for his girls and took them to his neighbor’s house.
Trav was astonished by his report. “I cannot believe humans would go to such lengths to force us to breed in their peculiar fashion.”
“I am grateful that you have agreed to care for my young. I never expected to draw the notice of law-enforcement.”
“I wish the humans would leave us alone and stop forcing us to bend to their will.”
“As do I, my friend. If you don’t mind, I will head home and contact my attorney now. I do not know how long it will take law enforcement to procure one of their electronic warrants and I wish to be prepared.”
“By all means, go and take care of your business. If you need anything at from me, please let me know.”
“Can you spread the word about law-enforcement being in the shops? I do not wish my brethren to be snared in their trap.”
“I certainly will. May the gods be with you, my friend.”
Rushing to his place, Andrew contacted his personal attorney. Though the man did not specialize in criminal law, he put him in contact with a firm that did. They agreed to meet him later in the evening if necessary at the regional detention center, which is where he would be taken. Grabbing a shower, he changed into some clean clothing. Walking around his house, he put his affairs in order, locked his handgun and personal papers in his wall safe and went to his nest. He adjusted it to automatically release nutrients for a few days and prayed his new attorney would be able to get him out to tend his unborn child soon.
Standing face to face with his unborn child, he leaned his forehead against the glass and said a prayer to the gods, to keep her safe. Pressing his hand against the glass, he willed all his feelings of love and devotion through the pristine liquid to the infant inside. “Know you are my heart, little one.”
Even as he spoke, he heard his door chime and knew the officers were prompting it to give them entry. Standing his ground, he’d already determined to force them to breach his home. He waited with his little one, intent on doing whatever he must to protect her.
A female voice rang out from the doorway. “Sir, I need you to step back away from the nest.”
Turning, Andrew could barely keep the disgusted expression from his face. The Kalian woman stared back at him. “You are with law-enforcement?”
“I’m a neutral observer with the governor’s office.”
“Since when do Kalian females assist aliens in destroying the nest of an unborn child?”
“I’m here to make sure no one touches your nest.”
Glancing around at the officers now drawing weapons, he hissed. “I think you lie, jarazena.” Her eyes flew open when he called her by the word that meant deceiving female death bringer in their native tongue.
“Enough! I know this is difficult for you, but you think of your child. Do nothing to put you unborn in danger.”
“I have no need to. You are doing a good enough job of that already.”
Andrew felt several points of contact along his body, deliver jolts of electricity to his body. Falling to his knees, he immediately stood again. Jerking his chin up in a defiant fashion, he watched the woman’s expression turn angry. A quick flick of her wrist and another wave of electrifying pinpoints of pain shot through his body. It took four to finally render him unconscious. Being brought low by one of his own was an unimaginable insult.
Waking in a large transport vehicle, he found that he had been part of a large group of Kalian males rounded up at the same time. They were sat in two long rows along each side of the van, chained to bar behind them. Andrew realized his fingers were prickling from lack of blood flow. Trying to get his head together, he had no idea how long, he’d been out. Within moments the vehicle came to a rambling stop.
As they were unloaded a human male in a nice suit walked up to him. “I am from Jacob, Norsom, and Scott. You will say nothing until I am present.”
Since Andrew was paying him a large sum of money to know what he was talking about, he did as the man asked.” His hands and retina were scanned into a central data base. He was read a list of formal charges and then sat with his attorney to give a formal statement.
When it was all said and done, he was remanded to custody until his trial date. And
rew ran back through everything to make sure he’d done everything possible to ensure a positive outcome. Sitting in jail worrying began slowly eating away at him.
Chapter 5
Jumping Into The Mix
~ Danielle ~
Music Mix
Their morning meeting went off without a hitch and Jem had even come through with the getting the injunction approved. They arrived at county lock up around 1 pm, able to bargain from a position of strength.
Smiling at Jon, Danielle asked playfully. “Are you ready for your very first case to be the biggest one of the century?”
“Are you trying to make me anxious? If that is your intention, you are doing a wonderful job.”
“Sorry, I’m enjoying the adrenaline rush. I do that sometimes.”
“That is a typical reaction for a person with no skin in the game.”
“I’ll try to tone it down, you big spoilsport.”
That at least got a laugh from him. They were shown into a holding room with no windows and no cameras. Danielle had been careful to ensure total privacy. Jon had made arrangements for them to have a half hour with each person. Danielle gave them all the same speech about how her firm wanted to change the law and their services would be free, and the only requirement was total cooperation with the process.
Four of the Hunduri were wealthy and had no intention of turning over their legal counsel to a group of attorney’s working on multiple cases. That left a little more time to spend with the ones who wanted it.
Most of the males were extremely upset when they brought them in. With each Danielle introduced herself and Jon. She stood across the room as Jon explained the services her firm was offering to each in Hunduri. Danielle could understand most of what they were saying, but she could just never seem to make the words come out of her mouth.
In each case, they were careful to clarify. “The bottom line is you are not human so why should you and your mate have to procreate like humans? We have already filed an injunction with the courts to prohibit them from touching your nest, and we have a strong team of attorneys who have been researching this issue for months. This is an equal rights issue. Taking your case is good for you because we are extremely good at what we do and our dedication to this issue is unmatched by any other firm. It’s good for my firm because we want to be at the epicenter of the alien rights issue. We want to go down in human history as the people who took the bull by the horns and wrestled this issue to the ground. You can be part of the fight or not, your choice. We give you our personal promise that if you give us a chance, my team and I will use every single device at our disposal to win your case.” All eight males accepted their services. Danielle was extremely pleased with their day's work.
As they were coming out of the interview room one of the four, who chose other firms, was being brought in. Danielle actually bumped into him as she was walking out the door. He reached out and grabbed her to keep her from falling with her heavy briefcase.
“Jesus, thanks for the save.” Glancing up, she looked into his face. He was strangely familiar, to the point that it was a little jarring. Murmuring a short apology, she headed for the door and put the whole situation out of her mind.
The next day she and Jon made another round of visits their new clients to update them on their case and gather a little more information. Rather than seeing each individually, they split the cases between the two of them and visited them in their holding cells. It was a quicker and easier solution, and they figured to be out in a couple of hours.
Their clients had been housed in separate cells from the other prisoners, because of the sensitive nature of the case. That was her first clue that the justice system didn’t see them as real criminals.
Their goal was to sit with them two at a time and get a feel for what was going on with their families and if they had supports in place to enable them to manage their nests in the male’s absence. When she went in to speak to one of their clients his cellie was the Kalian she almost ran over the day before.
Upon entering the cell, she introduced herself and made nice. “I’m really sorry about yesterday. I was running on automatic pilot and didn’t see you coming.”
“My name is Andrew. And bumping into you was the highlight of my entire day.”
“You don’t look much like an Andrew.”
Smiling down at her, he explained. “My human step-mother dressed me in little human boy clothing and gave me a human name. I continue in the way she taught me, in honor of her memory.”
“That’s really sweet. It was nice talking to you.”
“You as well, Miss. Danielle. Be careful walking in your very high heels.”
Grinning, she quipped. “I’m normally the one dishing out advice in this setting.”
Andrews’s eyes were warm, as he looked down at her. “I’ll bet you give very good advice.”
Reaching out to hand him her card, she smiled. “I’m one of the best attorneys in the business because I actually care about alien rights. If you feel you aren’t getting the best representation, give me a call.” Turning on her heel, she couldn’t get over how familiar the man was. Something about his face and his voice felt like an intimate whisper straight from her past.
She quickly sat with her client and got right down to business. The man was a little distraught. She could tell he was stressed because he was running his hand through his hair and stammering over his words. “Everyone tells me my case cannot be won because I broke the law and right or wrong the law is the law?”
Danielle took his hands into hers and reassured him that was not remotely true. “I believe your case can be won and I have every intention of winning it. Please know that no matter how long the fight or how much time I have to spend I will not rest until you are back with your family again. Trust me when I say your case can be won. The state I grew up had laws in place to protect Kalian who nested their young and before long so will this state. I plan to make that happen or die trying.” She watched his anxiety click down a notch.
“Okay, if you say so. I just don’t want anything to happen to my little one. She’s all I’ve got.”
“Do you have someone managing your nest? It’s no good if I win your case if the child does not survive.”
“Thanks be to the gods, I do. My bond mate will see to our unborn child, as long as they don’t remove the nest.”
“We have a court order in place barring them from touching your nest. Have no worries about that. I need to go. Is there anything else you need before I leave.”
“No, just get me out of here if you can.”
“I will. Sit tight and stay out of trouble on the inside. I’ll be back in a day or two.”
As she was leaving his cell mate walked over to her and said, “I have no one to manage my nest and my attorney never even asked me about that.” Danielle said, “Sounds like you didn’t make a very good choice in attorneys.”
Flicking her business card the man was still clutching in his hand, she stated flatly. “If you would like to reconsider your choices call me. I will come immediately to talk to you. You have a right to a second opinion to help you ensure your legal needs are getting met.”
She couldn’t help staring at him.
“You are looking at me like you know me. I can assure you that we have never met. Trust me I would remember.” She smiled up at his handsome face. “Call me anytime.”
Danielle and Jon strolled out of the cell block and were getting into the car when her cell phone sounded off. It was Andrew asking to see her.
She shot Jon an apologetic look. “He sounds worried. I hate to leave without seeing what he wants.”
“I would not leave one of my Kalian brothers in the lurch.”
“We’ll try to make it fast.”
They signed back in, asked for a private meeting room, and made arrangements to see him.
Andrew slid into the chair in front of her and leaned onto the table. He was very large for a Kalian. He was about fi
fty percent larger than she was, naturally with golden skin, gray eyes and short coarse dark hair. She would say he easily qualified for the term attractive. Maybe in regular clothing instead of an orange jumpsuit, he would even be considered hot. There was something about him, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. The odd feeling of familiarity just kept getting stronger.
He still looked a little apprehensive as he explained. “I would like a second opinion on my case and maybe to reconsider your very generous offer of legal counsel.”
Taking out a legal pad, she poised to begin taking notes as he talked. “Just start at the beginning and tell us everything.”
Wiping his hands down the front of his jumpsuit, he spoke. “I do not have a mate. I mated with a human female, and she became pregnant. She agreed to nest the child as opposed to ‘getting rid of it,' her words not mine. That was the only reason I risked a nest. The child has been nested for about two months and will be ready to birth in about four or five months. The child’s mother ended up in an automobile accident and did not survive. I was told something about her traveling with a driver who was intoxicated. I have no friends or family to care for my nest, much less my two other children who are currently staying with a neighbor. I suspect that the neighbor will try to hang in there for a couple of weeks and then turn my children over to the state. He cannot take care of children.”
His voice was smooth and the cadence was unique. She could almost predict how he was going to pronounce certain words. Shaking the growing obsession away, she asked primly. “Is there anyone you trust with your children that we could call?”
The male looked pensive for a brief moment finally responded. “No, no one I can think of. I was raised by my grandfather and he died about six years ago. His wife died the year before. It has always just been me and my girls.”
Danielle leaned over the table and stared at his face for a long moment before asking suspiciously. “Are you sure we have never met? You seem so familiar.”