F Paul Wilson - Sims 02 Read Online Free Page A

them into dropping
you.”
                 Patrick decided he’d sit now. It
sounded so paranoid, but only for a second or two, and then it made terrible
sense.
                 “How do you know? How can you know?”
                 “Not important,” Ms. Cadman said.
“What matters is whether they’re succeeding.”
                 “What do you mean?”
                 She cocked her hip and released an
exasperated sigh. “They want you to drop the sims . Are
you going to stand up to SimGen, or cave in?”
                 Cave in…hell of a way to put it. At
least he knew where Ms. Romy Cadman’s sympathies lay. So no way was he going to
tell her he’d decided to do just that: cave in. His eyes drifted to those long
legs. They looked strong.
                 “May I inquire as to your interest in
this?”
                 “I want to see the sims get a fair shake.”
                 He glanced at her card again. Consultant …to whom?
                 “Are you with one of those animal
rights groups?”
                 “My interest is personal. So what’s
your decision, Mr. Patrick Sullivan, attorney at law?”
                 The subtle little twist she put on
those last three words gave Patrick the impression that somehow she’d already
guessed the answer.
                 “I haven’t come to one yet.”
                 She stared at him a moment, her
expression dubious. Then she put her briefcase on the table and released the
catches.
                 “Very well. If you’re sitting on the fence, perhaps this will tip you toward the sims.”
                 She gave the briefcase a one-eighty
swivel, lifted the top, and Patrick found himself nose to nose with more cash
than he’d ever seen in one spot in his life—he’d handled bigger checks, sure,
but this was cash .
                 Hoping his eyes weren’t bugging, he lifted a packet and fanned it.
                 “All twenties, Mr.
Sullivan.”
                 “How—?” The
words seemed to catch in his throat. “How many?”
                 “Exactly twelve
hundred and fifty. To spare you from doing the math, that’s a quarter of
a million dollars. When I have your assurance that you will continue the fight,
I will deposit all of it into the sim legal defense fund.”
                 Patrick eyed the money. This would
take him a long way into that case; and with other contributions he could stir
up during the proceedings, probably all the way through, with maybe a good
chunk left over at the end.
                 Tempting…Jesus, it was tempting. The
added prospect of spending time with this woman because of it made the offer
even more tempting. Pamela had been gone for weeks and…
                 No. Staying with the sims meant being booted from the firm…going solo. He didn’t
care for that idea. Payes & Hecht could be a cutthroat place at times, but
even on the worst days he found a certain level of comfort in having a firm
behind him. Like a security blanket—one trimmed with barbed wire, perhaps, but
still…
                 And where would he be after the sim
case, whatever the outcome? Who’d be his future clients? Sims? Hardly.
                 Uh-uh. Tempting as all that cash
might be, he wasn’t going to commit professional seppuku for it. But he
couldn’t say that to this beautiful woman.
                 Painfully he pulled his gaze away
from the money and looked at her.
                 “I’ll take that into consideration,
Ms. Cadman.”
                 “Good.” She snapped the cover closed
on all that beautiful green. “When do you expect to finalize your decision?”
                 “Before the end of
the day.”