He reached the foot of the stairs. Another door. He reached for the doorknob. It was cool to the touch. And not locked.
He opened the door. The room inside was dimly lit. And humid. Probably not running air conditioning down here. And in Florida this time of year, that could get seriously stifling.
The main room split into rooms on two corridors, but he had a hunch those rooms did not contain women seeking shelter.
Her heard sounds. Music. Bump-and-grind music. Generic soft-rock tracks.
Two rooms down, one of the doors was cracked slightly open. He crept toward it.
Inside, he saw a naked woman. Girl. Dancing.
For a camera.
It was possible she was eighteen, but he didn’t think so, and he felt embarrassed even looking at her from behind. He wasn’t going to scrutinize for details. Someone else could make an age determination.
While he watched she pulled out a dildo and began rubbing it against herself. She leered into the camera, pressed her fingers to her lips, rocked her hips.
He looked closer at the equipment on the desk. Computers, servers, modems. This was a live sex show going out on the internet.
She bent over and spread her legs. He couldn’t stand it any longer. He cleared his throat and asked, “Are you Dinah?”
The woman jumped. She had heavy dark circles around her eyes and looked as if she hadn’t eaten in far too long. “Who the hell are you?”
“Dan Pike. I’m looking for my sister, Dinah.”
“Get the hell out of here before I call—”
“Where’s Dinah?” He realized, sadly, he probably wouldn’t recognize her. He needed directions. “You must know. Where’s Dinah?”
“She’s across the hall in—”
Someone shoved Dan hard from behind. He tumbled forward, crashing into the equipment table. The young woman screamed.
A huge, musclebound brute glared down at him. “You make a big mistake, mister.” He spoke with a Spanish, probably a South American, accent.
Dan scrambled to his feet and held up his hands. The woman raced out of the room. “I don’t want any trouble.”
“Then you should’ve stayed home.”
“There’s no reason for us to fight.”
The man grinned. “No worries. I don’t think fight will last long.” He reared back his ham-sized fist.
Dan pulled a taser out of his jacket and shoved it into the man’s gut.
The huge man froze, shook for a few moments, then tumbled to the floor. A moment later, he looked as if he might get up. Dan jammed the taser back into his side.
The man shuddered violently. He held the taser in place for several seconds, till the man appeared to have completely lost control of his body.
So far, Sweeney’s people had run him down, beat him so badly he ended up in the hospital, and shot at him. He wasn’t taking any more chances with these bastards.
He ran into the hallway and shouted. “Listen up. This is a raid. Dinah? I’m looking for you, Dinah!”
A major commotion arose. Doors flung open. Each room looked like the one he had already seen—television cameras, servers, and naked women.
“This is a raid. Leave now and you won’t be arrested. Dinah?”
One of the girls pointed toward a closed door on her way up the stairs.
Dan approached and flung the door open.
The second he saw her, he knew she was the one. Thin. Brown hair. Big eyes.
His mother’s eyes.
He tore off his jacket and tossed it to her. “Here, put this on.”
She looked completely confused. “I...have clothes.”
“Good. Put on some pants. You have ten seconds.” He didn’t know for sure, but it was possible that the man throbbing on the floor in the other room was not the only guard on the premises. Or that he might recover and this time be smart enough to stay away from the taser.
Thank God, she did as she was told.
“Who...are you?” she asked as she pulled on a fringe-heavy pair of jeans.
“My name is Daniel Pike.”
She turned her head.
“Yes, that’s right, Pike. You may have heard that before. Our mother’s name after her second marriage.” He paused. “I’m your brother. Half-brother. Same mom, different daddy.”
She stared at him. Her face was red and blemished and her arms suggested a drug habit, as did the fuzziness in her eyes and her slow responses. “No way.”
“Yes way.”
“I don’t have a brother. I don’t have any family.”
“I thought the same thing once. Turns out we were both wrong.”
“But—”
“Can you trust me? I know we don’t know each other, but I just want to help you.”
She hesitated.
“We have to get out of here before someone sends reinforcements.”
She looked down at the floor. “I...need this job.”
“This is not a job. This is a criminal enterprise. And an affront against humanity.”
“I still need the money. I got...expenses.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
“I don’t know. A year maybe?”
“A year?”
“Hard to remember. The junk. The men. They take what they want and tell me what to do and—and—”
She started to cry.
And all at once, he lost it. It all boiled up and Dan couldn’t keep it bottled up inside any longer. He grabbed the camera and smashed it against the wall, letting out something between a growl and a shout. Then he picked up the computer CPU and smashed it on the ground. Then he picked it up again and smashed it again. Then he stomped on it. Then jumped up and down on it. Then threw the server across the room.
Dinah cried. “I need that stuff!”
“You don’t,” Dan said breathlessly.
“I—I got nothing else. They pay me forty dollars a night.”
Probably not one percent of what her bosses made off this disgusting porn. “Good news. Your newfound brother has plenty of money, and if necessary, he’ll spend every damn penny of it making sure you get off that junk you’re hooked on. Your life is about to change.” He glanced at the door. “Assuming we get out of here alive. So come on. Please!”
He didn’t know if she believed him or she was just too weak to resist, but she followed him out the door, out of the darkness, into the light.
Chapter 34
Dan sat in one of the comfortable black chairs in Judge Fernandez’s chambers, amazed. At long last, Caldwell had dropped her Vulcan façade and displayed something resembling normal human emotion.
“Your honor, this is an outrage! Daniel Pike is a criminal!”
“Yes,” the judge said, his fingers drumming his desktop. “That’s what you’ve been saying all along.”
“And we’ve proved it was true. But now there’s absolutely no doubt. The man broke into a women’s shelter, after being told by the guard to leave the premises, and completely trashed a video center.”
“Can you prove that?”
“He’s not denying it!” She was practically shouting. And she had enough experience to know that was not the best way to persuade a judge of anything. She was losing her grip and her common sense at the same time. Drake kept leaning in, trying to quiet her, but it was not working, mostly because she never took a breath long enough to give him a chance to speak.
Fernandez turned his head toward Dan. “That true?”
“Yup. Did she mention that the so-called video center was live-casting sexually explicit porn over the internet, some of it involving minors, all of it involving women so drugged up they didn’t know what they were doing?”
Fernandez pressed his hand against his temples. “No. Seems like that should’ve been the lede.” He turned back to Caldwell. “True?”
Drake cut in. “The police are still investigating. But that floor was equipped for video and computer training. Trying to help battered women learn marketable skills so they c
an live independently.”
Maria made a snorting noise. “That’s a load of crap. The police have yet to find a woman who received any training down there. The women in the shelter didn’t even know it existed.”
“That doesn’t prove—”
“It does to me.”
“The jury has a right—”
“You’ve already polluted their minds—”
“Stop!” This time, it was the judge’s turn to shout. “I will not have this bickering in chambers. None of you are doing your clients a bit of good.”
A chorus of softly murmured apologies followed.
“Have I mentioned that I hate this case?” the judge continued. “Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe this will get me recused. Of course, that would be a blessing. I have hated this case since the day it started. And I still do.”
“But—”
Fernandez raised a finger. “We will take turns. We will use our indoor voices. We will present our cases without invective or insult. Do you understand?”
All four attorneys present nodded.
At Maria’s request, the judge had granted a three-day continuance. After he found Dinah, Dan immediately took her to St. Petersburg General where she was treated for malnutrition and heroin abuse. After a few hours, she started going into withdrawal, but the doctors were able to treat her with methadone. Of course she didn’t have health insurance, but Dan put down a sizable deposit and agreed to cover all costs, a package of treatment and pharmaceuticals that, given the current state of the health care system, was likely to be astronomical. But he did it without hesitation.
It was almost two days before she was able to speak coherently. But once she trusted Dan enough to tell her story, what she had to say was shocking. And keenly relevant to this case.
Judge Fernandez drew in his breath. “Ok, Caldwell, you called this party. What’s your beef?”
“I want to add a new witness and exhibits.”
“I thought you were done. I thought it was rebuttal witness time.”
“I was. But this is newly discovered evidence.”
“Again?” Maria said, arching an eyebrow.
“And it’s relevant?” the judge asked.
“The plaintiff is suing because my client called him a criminal. And three nights ago he broke and entered private property and smashed up the joint. I would have to say it’s relevant.”
“And I would normally be receptive to newly discovered evidence. But not after you’ve rested your case. If I started allowing people to do that, no case would ever end.”
“But this is unquestionably a crime!”
“Have the police pressed charges?”
No response.
“Funny that. Unquestionably a crime, Pike admits doing it, but no one presses charges. Makes me thinks there’s more to it than you’re letting on.”
“There is,” Dan said quietly.
The Judge raised his finger. “Not your turn yet.”
“Sorry.”
“Ok, defendant’s motion denied. Ms. Morales, I believe you had an issue you wanted to raise?”
“Yes. We would also like to call a rebuttal witness. It’s a direct response to the defendant’s case, and specifically to the defendant’s counterclaims.”
“You are entitled to do so.”
“The witness is not on their list,” Caldwell growled.
“I can still allow it, if the plaintiff heard something unexpected during your presentation and needs a new witness to respond. Is that the situation, Ms. Morales?”
It would simply matters if she just said yes, but Dan knew Maria would never lie. “Not really, your honor. But we didn’t know where this woman was until three days ago. And we couldn’t talk to her until yesterday. She was being exploited by an illegal pornography operation operating in the bowels of Sweeney’s women’s shelters. He built a façade of shelters supposedly helping women, when in reality he was exploiting them in the basest possible way.”
Drake leaned it. “That’s not—”
“All pornography degrades women, by definition. Your client is a disgusting—”
Judge Fernandez raised his finger again. “Counsel. No invective.”
She sucked it up. “I apologize. To your honor. Not to Sweeney.”
Drake jumped back in. “Your honor, Dr. Sweeney is one of the city’s most distinguished citizens.”
“So you keep saying. I’m beginning to wonder if he doth protest too much.”
“Plus, he’s a billionaire.”
“Was,” Maria added.
“Why would a man of his position and means be involved in some disgusting penny-ante porn operation?”
“Except it isn’t penny ante at all,” Dan said. Garrett had done the research and filled his head with the relevant info. “Sexually-explicit photos and videos are a huge moneymaker. Some teens sell their own pics on social media sites to pick up extra cash. But the net is also full of sites like Nudes4Sale and OnlyFans.com. Estimates indicate that perhaps a third of all women—girls really—performing on them are underage. Sometimes as young as fourteen. Apparently these sites can charge more money for underage girls. Most sell subscriptions at a huge price, and in exchange, they offer live-streamed shows like the ones coming out of the basements of the Sweeney shelters.”
“You sure know a lot about porn,” Drake said, smirking.
“I come to court prepared. You should try it sometime.” Dan plowed ahead before the judge had a chance to reprimand him. “The performers—the women—are often runaways or homeless or drug addicts or all of the above. They work for very little, making the operations even more profitable. It’s a billion-dollar business. Very little overhead and huge money to be made. Exactly the sort of thing a former billionaire with debt and cash-flow problems might try.” Pause. “If he was completely without conscience or morals.”
Drake cut in. “The truth is, your honor, this investigation is just beginning and we don’t know all the details. But Dr. Sweeney disavows any knowledge of what was taking place beneath these buildings—”
Maria made a snorting noise.
Drake threw back his shoulders. “I deeply resent that.”
“So Sweeney didn’t know all the buildings he built had a basement?”
“Those were designed for training purposes.”
“With a separate secret entrance only accessible from the rear of the building? That no one in the shelter even knew about?”
Drake turned to the judge. “Are we going to argue this in chambers?”
“No,” the judge said firmly, “we are not. And I have to warn you, Ms. Morales, that if you make any of these charges during your rebuttal case, you will be opening a dangerous door. I will have no choice but to allow the defendant to respond in kind.”
“Understood, your honor. We won’t go there.” Dan could feel the regret in her voice. She would love to go there.
The judge nodded. “I will allow you to call your rebuttal witness.”
Caldwell sat up. “Your honor, may I lodge my formal—”
“Wasn’t it just a few days ago that you wanted to add a witness who wasn’t on your list?”
“That was completely different—”
“Yeah, it always is. I let you call your witness and I will let them call theirs. You people wanted trial by ambush, fine. Live with it.” He rose. “Will there be anything else? Because I would really like to get this case over with.”
No one spoke.
“Ms. Morales, is your rebuttal witness ready to testify?”
“She’s very shaky, your honor. And nervous.”
“Witnesses always are.”
“She was just released from the hospital. She’s in a weakened state. But she is prepared to testify. In fact...she wants to testify.”
The judge nodded. “Let’s give her that opportunity, shall we?”
* * *
Dan and Maria left the judge’s chambers through the connecting door to the courtroom. As they passed by
the defendant’s table, Sweeney sprang up and shoved him in the chest with the flat of his hand.
“What the hell?” Dan recovered his footing. “Keep your hands off me, you acid-spitting toad.”
“Have you completely lost your mind?” Sweeney bellowed.
Out the corner of his eye, Dan saw the sheriff moving forward. He raised a hand to stop him. “I don’t know what you mean, but I’m pretty sure your lawyers don’t want us to be talking.”
“That’s right,” Drake said. He tried to wedge himself between them, but Sweeney shoved him back, and since he outweighed Drake by about two hundred pounds, Drake couldn’t get past him.
Sweeney turned back to Dan, growling. “You are going to get yourself killed.”
Dan tried to stay calm, even though his heart was racing. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s not a threat, you imbecile. It’s a warning. You have no idea what you’re messing with. You never have and you still don’t.”
“Please enlighten me?”
“Why? To guarantee your demise? Do you not see how you’ve been led by the nose?”
“No one led me to your disgusting underground—”
“Why do you think The Captain told you about your sister in the first place? Just to be nice?”
That stopped him cold.
“If you don’t stop being such a blithering idiot, you’re going to be a blithering corpse.”
Dan rediscovered his tongue. “That still sounds like a threat. Gonna hire another sniper to take potshots at me? Execute another witness?”
Caldwell grabbed Sweeney’s arm, trying unsuccessfully to move the unmovable object. “This conversation ends now.”
Sweeney completely ignored her. “Listen to me, you infant. Whether you choose to believe it or not, I had nothing to do with that shooting at the pier—but someone did, and they aren’t going away just because you file a puny civil suit. This business at the shelter is the last straw. You have interfered far too many times. It’s just dumb luck you’re still up and around. But this latest stunt will guarantee they’ll move heaven and earth to stop you.”
“You’re not scaring me.”
Sweeney stepped closer. “They will not stop until you are dead. You, and that little Mexican spitfire representing you, and queer partner, and your mysterious boss—” He drew in his breath. “And your sister. This will not end until everyone you know is dead.”
Judge and Jury Page 24