Snatched

Another familiar metonymy (trope). This is a very long story. If you prefer to avoid long tales or simply don't have time right now, please skip this. For those with adequate time and patience to continue, I placed chapter markers in bold for your convenience. Please forgive my preference for not breaking my stories into sequential posts. As usual, things are not always as they appear.

Chapter 1

This is the story of the love of my life, my one, true soulmate, the woman whose love shines in every corner of my soul. The path that brought us together was an exceptionally agonizing one for us both. There was nothing magical about it. Having endured the fiery trials of hell on earth, our union would stand the test of time. What follows is the description of our journey to come together.

As a youth, I was always closer to my grandmother, Louise Albright, on my father's side than any other extended family member. My grandfather, Gavin, passed away from a heart attack when I was an infant. I was told that Grandpa Gavin was a very successful attorney who tried his best to interest my Dad in following in his footsteps. My Dad, Henry, eschewed the law and the arduous hours required to maintain it as a profession. Dad loved working with his hands and discovered, in his high school shop class that he had a knack for cabinet making. He worked as an apprentice for several years before striking out on his own and raising his family. I have an older sister, Paula, who married her high school sweetheart and was making a family with him.

Grandma, Louise, made it known that it was my grandpa's dying wish that one of his grandchildren would earn a law degree producing another attorney within the family. As an inducement, he had set aside funds to pay for my tuition and all incidental college expenses at Wake Forest University, basically a free ride. Of course, my sister had previously been made an identical offer but she politely declined. Like Dad, she had no interest in the law. I was neutral about becoming an attorney and figured it was worth serious consideration since I would have no college debt after receiving my Juris Doctor (JD) degree, which highly interested me. In the United States, lawyers must earn a JD degree—the most common law degree—before they can practice law. It's also a graduate degree, which means that law students must first earn a bachelor's degree. Earning a bachelor's degree typically takes four years when attending full-time. Add three years to earn the Juris Doctor, one can typically finish law school after seven total years of college.

Jack Calisher was my college roommate for five of our seven years. We shared similar interests in music, hobbies, views on the law, and even girls. We always had each other's backs and a no-nonsense approach to studies. We were there primarily to learn and earn our degrees. As time passed, the boring and tedious study required to stay afloat in my studies was electrified by mock trials. I loved the challenge. I was motivated to help others and inclined to become a defense attorney. My gift for gab translated into ferreting out facts and massaging the truth from those bent on concealing it. Although I did not graduate valedictorian, I managed to graduate in the top ten percent of my class. I was worried about passing the bar but my scholastic preparations steered me to successfully passing that milestone hurdle on my first attempt, ten months after graduation. My grandmother beamed at each of my milestone achievements along the way, constantly reminding me how proud she was of me. She vaguely referenced that she could help me land a job when I was ready to put my degree to work. I took that to mean that she still had friends in the business from when Grandpa was still alive.

Jack's parents and mine threw a combined college graduation party for us since we had been best friends/roommates for so long and both had visited each other's homes on several occasions over the years. It was at the party that in walked a vision of beauty. Jack and I both looked at each other and had identical thoughts, sex on a stick. She had the largest breasts I'd ever seen in person. As we both simultaneously moved to make introductions, we realized that this issue needed to be resolved in a gentlemanly manner. We invoked our usual decision-maker, rock-paper-scissors. After losing, Jack insisted on the best two out of three. He was genuinely pissed that I bested him the second and third times as well, but reluctantly conceded defeat and ungraciously wished me luck.

Jack and I'd had our experiences with the ladies during our stretch in college but neither of us allowed serious relationships to develop. Our primary focus was on our education. Cindy Wilkinson's personality matched her appearance. She was gracious, classy, quick-witted, and fun. Did I mention that she had enormous breasts? It turns out that our neighbor's son, Thad, brought her, his cousin, so he wouldn't be coming alone. But as soon as he saw an old girlfriend at the party (another neighbor), Cindy was on her own. She was happy for him and seemed pleased to make my acquaintance. I put on my best charming presentation and kept her company the rest of the evening. It was nearly impossible to look her in the eye because her eye magnets drew eyes lower. I told Thad I'd be glad to see that she arrived home safely. He just gave her a wink. That proved to be the beginning of the end, the beginning for us as a couple, and the end of my future bachelorhood.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack was furious with himself. He'd failed to pass the bar exam by a mere five points when we had taken it together. I helped him with in-depth study for six months to refresh his memory. I worked with him four times per week on average. He was my best friend and that's what friends do for each other. When he was allowed to retake it, the second time was the charm. He thanked me profusely for helping him achieve his credentials.

My grandmother suggested that I could do much worse than apply for an associate position with A, B & C Law, LLP. I asked her if her connections in the business would allow Jack to apply at the same time since we were like brothers. She said she would try to get us both meetings. We were both interviewed separately and offered positions the next day. We were on top of the world. We were both associate lawyers in the firm, but, as expected, we worked under different attorneys and had little time during the day to hang out with each other.

Cindy and I went out most weekends to see a movie, have dinner, or even dance at times. She was eventually told the story of how I won the first crack at her by the luck of the draw. She laughed herself silly over that, never revealing why it was so funny to her. On one of our first outings the three of us had together, Cindy sat next to me at a table while Jack sat across from Cindy. As Jack was regaling us with an anecdote about me from our college days, Cindy amusingly cleared her throat, interrupting him.

"Eyes up here, Jack. Come on big guy, you can do it, I KNOW you can," she giggled. Jack's face turned bright red realizing that his staring at her chest was conspicuously obvious.

"My apologies, Cindy. I was distracted by your amazing attributes," he confessed.

"If you would expand your field of view, perhaps you might see that there is more to this girl than just two 'attributes'. Micah sure knows better," she chuckled.

I laughed at how easily she had put my best friend in his place. Lacking a clever comeback, Jack simply admitted defeat and we continued our frivolity tongue in cheek the rest of the evening. Cindy graciously danced with Jack whenever I took a break to rest my legs. After we left, I commended her for her quick thinking at Jack's Neanderthal behavior.

"Quick thinking? This isn't my first rodeo, honey. I've dealt with hundreds of 'Jacks' over the years. Ninety-nine percent of all men do just as he did tonight. Strangely, you're in the one percent who look at all of me, not just my tits. That's one of the things I love about you."

"I know Jack probably better than anyone on earth, including his parents. He's harmless, I assure you," I attested.

"I know that silly. Otherwise I'd have never flirted with him the way I did tonight," she assured.

Jack was still on the prowl for Miss Right. That arrived in the form of Donna Herndon six weeks later at a public swimming pool. She filled out her bikini very nicely, but her bust was nowhere near Cindy's double-L cup breasts, as I said, sex on a stick. She complained about back pain often and seriously considered having breast reduction surgery. She wore what I amusingly called industrial-grade steel-belted bras. One of her breasts was slightly larger than the other. She also had very large red nipples/areoles. Besides her outstanding, amazing breasts which always mesmerized me, Cindy also had exceptionally long flowing brown hair, all the way down to her ass. She skillfully employed it to de-accent her breasts. I told her how much I loved her lovely locks and never wanted to see them cut.

Jack blew us off right after he began pursuing Donna. After their third date, we began double dating. Donna was definitely a keeper. She could have been a runway model with her perfectly balanced looks. She was a natural redhead which Jack confessed he'd personally verified. Donna and Jack were a perfect fit, both in personalities and temperaments. Cindy nor I ever witnessed a cross word between them.

The girls hit it off as well. Jack and I later discovered that there were no secrets between them, none whatsoever. We were not thrilled at their level of information exchange but nothing was ever thrown in our faces, so we let them talk. After all, Jack and I had roomed together in college for five years, so there was little that we didn't already know about one another. For whatever reason, the girls wanted to take up ballroom dancing. The only dancing Jack or I had ever done was the old hold-and-sway slow-dance maneuver. The next thing I knew, we were roped into two evenings per week for formal dance lessons. It turned out to be a confidence booster. Once we learned the basics, we were able to go out on the floor without embarrassing ourselves too badly. By the time the lessons were over, I wouldn't say we were pros. I'd say we were proficient. The new skills opened up new opportunities for the four of us out on the dance floor and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

A, B & C Law, LLP accepted pro-bono public defender work from time to time to exercise the new recruits, so our firm was attached to the public defender system. When things were quiet with one of the firm's partners, Lou Benelli, my mentor, advisor, and supervisor tossed me to the wolves on a case that, in his opinion, couldn't be won, but explained that the accused still deserved proper representation. He said it would be a good experience for me to learn how to lose graciously.

It was a case, upon initial examination that I didn't want to touch. I wanted to help the innocent receive justice. This was an apparent case of a drug deal gone wrong. Even though I believed my client to be guilty, it fell to me to defend him to the best of my ability. Perhaps Benelli wanted to see what I was made of. I decided that my client was going to receive my very best effort, regardless of how I personally felt about his chances.

Santiago Rodriguez was a nineteen-year-old bi-lingual Latino. At least I didn't require a translator. He'd been swept up in a raid of a drug bust that had been tipped to the police. The interesting aspect of this case to me was the absence of evidence. He'd been charged with carrying a handgun weapon whose serial number had been removed. Yet he was not charged with brandishing the weapon, nor was he part of any cash-for-drugs transaction, at least anything that could be proven. He was guilty by association according to the D.A. I did quite a bit of digging through the mounds of evidence obtained by the prosecutors. I watched every frame of video footage from every police cam. All that could be proven was that he was there, which, in and of itself was not a crime. I interviewed all the witnesses and others who were arrested at the same time.

I laid out an outline for his defense that IMHO, was substantial. He was my one and only client. I couldn't let the other defendants' cases influence mine. I finally convinced the D.A. to prosecute Santiago separately from the others, pointing out that his mere presence was not evidence of a crime. It took me a full five minutes to persuade the D.A. to charge him separately. That's all the time I was allocated. We entered a plea of not guilty, of course, at his arraignment. To be so young, I found it interesting that he never received a single visitor and was refused bail by the strict message-sending judge. I assumed that Santiago lived on the streets and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I worked diligently on his case for hours on end. One of the partners, Lou Benelli was disappointed that I was utilizing so much time to prepare for Santiago's defense, but he was impressed at my clear logical presentation plan. I gave the effort my all. I cited the legal precedent that struck down charging someone for carrying a gun with no serial number. Upon cross-examination, I defeated all of the prosecution's witnesses who claimed to believe in his involvement. However, I reminded the jury that belief does not constitute evidence, even circumstantial evidence, as flimsy as it was. After four days of trial, Santiago Rodriguez was found not guilty by the jury and I'd won my first defense trial case. I was elated almost as much as Santiago.

Two days after the trial was over, I was walking across the street to a diner for some lunch. A limousine pulled up in front of me, and a Latino man quickly stepped out asking me to join his boss for a talk. I didn't see any guns and was not threatened in any way, so I elected to accept the invitation. A well-dressed Hispanic man in a very expensive-looking suit spoke to me.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Albright. I appreciate you allowing me the privilege of a few minutes of your day. Do you like steak, Mr. Albright?"

Dumbfounded, I replied, "Micah, please call me Micah, and yes, I do enjoy a good steak."

He snapped his fingers, calling to the driver, "Beef Palace, and step on it. We don't want to waste any of this good man's time." The driver made a quick left turn and sped off in the direction instructed.

"Please forgive my manners, Micah, I am Miguel Lazcano. Are you familiar with my name?"

I thought for a moment, and said, "I've heard of a Heriberto Lazcano, a Mexican drug lord, but he was killed a while back."

"Ahhh, yes. I'm afraid my brother's reputation is quite well known. Unlike him, I prefer to stay out of the limelight."

Fear suddenly struck. My expression was immediately detected by my host, and he chuckled at my reaction.

"Please relax, Micah. It is my intention to honor you today. You are a good man and I always honor those who have helped me or my family."

"Honor me? For what? This is our first time meeting. Should I know you?"

"Not me, Micah. But you do know my son, Santiago Rodriguez. He had been caught up in a bit of unfortunate circumstances, and you, my friend, rose to the occasion and went beyond the call of duty to help someone completely foreign to you and defended him superbly. For that, you have my undying gratitude."

"Your son?"

"Yes. I never married his mother, so he kept his mother's last name. Unfortunately, due to occupational hazards, I have distanced myself from him and his mother for their protection. If word got out that Santiago is my son, well, I have enemies who would try to use that knowledge against me. Yet, he is my flesh and blood. I would die for him though I hope it never comes to that. I couldn't be connected to his defense attorney as the connection would expose our relationship. Therefore I kept close tabs on your defense of my son. I wanted to personally thank you for your extensive efforts on his behalf."

We arrived at the steak house and placed our orders. The Beef Palace is a very expensive, almost exclusive restaurant with a sterling reputation for both quality and extravagance. I was hoping that since I was here at his invitation, Miguel would be springing for the meal.

Chapter-2

"Miguel, I simply provided your son my best efforts, and would have done the same for anyone, regardless of who their family might be."

"And that is exactly the reason I feel obligated to thank you in person, Micah. You are an honorable attorney and there are very few attorneys I can honestly say that about."

The food was quickly delivered. The steak nearly melted in my mouth. The flavor was exquisite and I told Miguel how much I was enjoying his hospitality.

"This? This is nothing, Micah. We all must eat anyway, right? No. My thanks will be in a much more tangible way. I want to offer payment for your services to my son. Had I hired a big-shot attorney, it might have cost me thirty to fifty grand for his defense. You worked pro bono, and I wish to make amends for that. Garcia here has a briefcase in the car containing one hundred grand in unmarked one-hundred-dollar bills. I want you to take it with my appreciation for what you did for my son."

I knew the Lazcano name was associated with drugs out of Mexico. I didn't want blood money, drug money, or anything tainted that could come back against me in any way. Another thought that occurred to me was that since he was way overpaying me, he might have some future expectations of my owing him for uncompensated services. I hoped to dissuade him from giving me the cash. It would also be challenging to explain it to my bank.

"Miguel, I want you to know that I appreciate the very generous gesture you are offering me, truly I do, but I can't accept it, please understand. I joined the ranks of attorneys not to make a boatload of money, but to help anyone who seeks justice, receive it. If I accept your magnificent offer, I will be undermining the very principles that I based and established my career upon. Does that make sense?"

Miguel looked at me astonished that I was unwilling to accept his money. I hoped he didn't take it the wrong way and exact some kind of revenge.

He paused for an interminable fifteen seconds before speaking, "It is not often that someone surprises me, Micah. I thought your species was extinct. Who turns down money these days? But I respect your ethics and your decision. However, I simply cannot let you off the hook that easily. I pay my debts, anyone who knows of me can tell you that, and I owe you a serious debt, Micah. Here's what I'll do."

Miguel took out a business card with his name and public contact information on it, turned it over, wrote down a different phone number, and handed it back to me.

"This is my personal call-in service. I'd give you my private number, but it changes from time to time as you can imagine. This call-in service never changes. Dial this number anytime, twenty-four-seven, leave your name and number with them, and I give you my word to get back to you quickly. This is my chit, and you can call it in, anytime. Micah, I don't care what it is that you may need down the road, if your request is within my power to grant, you can consider it done. There's no price I can put on my son, and there's nothing you may not ask of me, anytime, NOTHING. Understood?" He winked as he spoke the last word.

"Thank you, Miguel. I can tell that you are a man of your word. I'll keep this handy and promise to call you if I feel that you can help me in any way." He smiled, shook my hand, and we both enjoyed one of the best meals I'd had to date. I was quickly returned to my office feeling appreciated but a bit nervous about by whom. I didn't dare mention my encounter with Miguel Lazcano to anyone, especially Cindy because it would immediately be told to Donna, then Jack, and who knows how many others at the firm would urge me to use my information against Miguel to turn him over to the authorities. I'd prefer to remain on his good side, so I said nothing. I later put the card he gave me in my safe deposit box at the bank. After helping free nineteen-year-old Santiago Rodriguez, I solidified my desire to be a pro-bono defense attorney.