“But why?”

“To get your attention, Kyle. To convince you to come here and have this little meeting with me. Otherwise, you might have run away. Plus, we wanted to impress you with our resources.”

“We?”

“Yes, my firm. You see, Kyle, I work for a contractor, a private one, and we’ve been hired to do a job. We need you, and this is how we recruit people.”

Kyle blew out a chestful of nervous laughter. His cheeks were getting warm, the blood was beginning to circulate. There was a rising thrill at the relief of not being prosecuted, of having been rescued from the firing squad. But the anger was beginning to boil.

“You recruit by blackmail?” he asked.

“If necessary. We have the video. We know where the girl is. She does indeed have a lawyer.”

“Does she know about the video?”

“No, but if she saw it, your life could get very complicated.”

“I’m not sure I follow you.”

“Come on, Kyle. Rape has a twelve-year statute of limitations in Pennsylvania. You have seven years to go. If Elaine and her lawyer knew about the video, they would threaten criminal prosecution to force a civil settlement. It would be, as you say, nothing but a shakedown, but it would work. Your life will go much smoother if you play along with us and we keep the video buried.”

“So you’re recruiting me?”

“Yes.”

“To do what?”

“To be a lawyer.”

With a crushing weight suddenly lifted from his shoulders, and with his breathing somewhat normal again, Kyle glanced at his watch. It was after midnight. He looked at Wright, or whatever the hell his name really was, and he wanted to smile and even hug the man because he wasn’t a cop from Pittsburgh and he didn’t deliver an indictment. There would be no arrest, no prosecution, no humiliation, and for this Kyle was euphoric. But at the same time he wanted to bolt across the table and punch Wright’s face with as much violence as he could generate, then knock him to the floor and kick him until he didn’t move.

He vetoed both ideas. Wright was fit and probably trained and could take care of himself. And he certainly wasn’t the type anyone would want to hug. Kyle leaned back in his chair, placed his right ankle on his left knee, and relaxed for the first time in hours.

“So what’s your real name?” he asked.

Wright was preparing a new legal pad for a fresh round of note taking.

He entered the date in the top left corner. “We’re not going to waste time with frivolous questions, Kyle.”

“Oh, why not? You can’t even tell me your name?”

“Let’s stick with Bennie Wright for now. It doesn’t really matter, because you’ll never know the real name.”

“I like this. Real cloak-and-dagger shit. You guys are good. Really had me going there for about four hours. Had a knot in my colon as big as a pumpkin. Already thinking about finding a nice bridge to wing it from. I hate your guts and don’t ever forget it.”

“When you shut up, we can get down to business.”

“Can I walk out right now?”

“Sure.”

“And no one will grab me? No more fake badges and phony FBI agents?”

“None. Go. You’re a free man.”

“Oh, thank you.”

A minute passed without a word. Wright’s fierce little eyes never left Kyle’s face, while Kyle, hard as he tried, could not return the stare. His foot twitched and his eyes darted and he drummed his fingers on the table. His mind raced through a hundred scenarios, but he never once thought of leaving the room.

“Let’s talk about your future, Kyle,” Wright finally said.

“Sure. Now that I won’t be arrested, the future has certainly improved.”

“This job you’re planning to take. Piedmont Legal Aid. Why do you want to waste a couple of years saving the world?”

“Don’t really see it that way. There are a lot of migrant workers in Virginia, many of whom are illegal, and they’re subjected to all sorts of abuse. They live in cardboard boxes, eat rice twice a day, work for two bucks an hour, often don’t get paid for backbreaking work, and so on. I figure they could use some help.”

“But why?”

“It’s public-interest law, okay? Obviously you don’t get it. It’s lawyers giving their time to help others. They still teach this in law school. Some of us believe in it.”

Wright was not impressed. “Let’s talk about Scully & Pershing.”

“What about them? I’m sure you’ve done your research.”

“They offered you a job?”

“Correct.”

“Beginning when?”

“September 2 of this year. I take the bar in July, and would start working in September.”

“As an associate?”

“No, as a full-fledged partner. Or how about a secretary, or a copy clerk? Come on, Bennie, you know the routine.”

“Don’t get angry, Kyle. We have a long way to go.”

“I see. And we should cooperate now, and be pals, because we’re striving for a common purpose. Just you and me, right, Bennie? A couple of old friends. Where the hell is this going?”

“It’s going to Scully & Pershing.”

“What if I don’t want to work there?”

“You have little choice.”

Kyle leaned on his elbows and rubbed his eyes. The folding table was narrow, their faces were two feet apart.

“Have you said no to Scully & Pershing?” Wright asked.

“I’m assuming you already know the answer to that question. I’m assuming you’ve been listening to my phone conversations for some time.”

“Not all of them.”

“You’re a thug.”

“Thugs break legs, Kyle. We’re much too smart for that.”

“No, I have not said no to Scully & Pershing. I’ve informed them that I’m giving serious thought to public-interest law for a couple of years, and we’ve even discussed a deferment. They’ve given me extra time, but I need to make a decision.”

“So they still want you?”

“Yes.”

“At a starting salary of $200,000?”

“Something like that. You know the numbers.”

“One of the largest and most prestigious law firms in the world.”

“The largest, at least that’s what they tell everybody.”

“Big firm, important clients, wealthy partners with contacts everywhere. Come on, Kyle, it’s an offer most law students would kill for. Why not take it?”

Kyle jumped to his feet and paced to the door and back. He glared down at Wright and said, “Let me make sure I follow you. You want me to take the job at Scully & Pershing, for reasons that I’m sure will be against my best interests, and if I say no, then you’ll blackmail me with the video and the rape allegations. Right? Is this where we’re headed, Bennie?”

“More or less. ‘Blackmail’ is such an ugly word.”

“Wouldn’t want to offend anyone, Bennie. I’m sure you’re very sensitive. But it’s blackmail, or extortion, or whatever you’d like to call it. It’s a crime, Bennie. And you’re a thug.”

“Shut up and stop calling me a thug!”

“I could go to the cops tomorrow and bust your ass. Impersonating an officer, attempted blackmail.”

“It won’t happen.”

“I can make it happen.”

Wright slowly stood and for one horrible second made a motion as if he were about to throw a nasty punch. Then he casually pointed a finger at Kyle and in a firm and steady voice said, “You’re a kid with a snoot full of law. You want to run to the cops, go ahead. Work up your little textbook theories about who’s right and who’s wrong, and you know what will happen, Kyle? I’ll tell you what will happen. You’ll never see me again. The boys across the hall, the FBI agents, are already gone. No trace whatsoever. Vanished, forever. Before long, I’ll have a visit with the attorney for Elaine Keenan, show her the video, look once again at the net worth of Baxter Tate, provide her with the current addresses and phone numbers and e-mails for you, Alan Strock, and Joey Bernardo, prod her to have a chat with the prosecutor in Pittsburgh, and before you know it things are out of your control. Maybe charges will be filed, maybe not. But, trust me, I will destroy you.”