Lawyers and Spies

The Looming Tower

Amanda groaned in annoyance, tossing her body all over her bed; she couldn't sleep.
With her eyes still closed, she sighed, giving up trying to sleep for the past five minutes.
She popped open her eyes and turned on her side; reaching towards the lamp, she switched on the gold lights, partially illuminating her bedroom.
Suddenly, she felt the warm liquid dripping onto her forehead. Amanda
abruptly shot up to a sitting position, touching her face and feeling the thick and warm fluid drip down her nose.

She brought her fingers before her and sucked in her breath.
Blood!
Amanda jumped out of her bed.
She looked up to see her black cat's bloody, contorted remains hanging over her bed.

She let out a deafening scream, only to hear tears screeching down her street. She rushed to the window, but the driveway was empty except for her car.
"What the fuck!" She exclaimed, reaching towards the same bed for her phone.
Her breathing hitched while she shakily dialed Elijah's number.

"Hello?" Elijah greeted from the other end of the line.
His voice sounded hoarse, like her call had just woke him up.

"You need to get over here right now! Someone just broke into my house and murdered my cat.....they-they hanged it over my bed....an-and....it's...." she looked up at the remains of her cat. "....it's fucking dripping blood everywhere...on my bed....Elijah, please come right now."

Still looking up at the ceiling, Amanda backed towards the bathroom, rushing to the sink to wash the blood off her face.

"Still there?" Asked Elijah, confused, but she didn't answer.
"Amanda, are you ok?"

"No, I'm not. Can you just please get over here," Amanda sobbed, wiping her arm over her wet face.

"I'll be right there, Amanda," He assured her

She hit the red call button, glancing at the cat hanging from her ceiling. She shivered at the thought of how scared her cat would have been. Amanda headed to the bathroom sink to wash her face.
Someone was in my apartment, she thought. Was it Lola's killer? Or the same people who killed Patrick and framed Phillip? The unanswered questions surged through her brain, making fear itch at her spine as she waited for Elijah.

I want out....I-I can't do this, she thought with a whimper. Whatever Pandora's box she and Elijah were opening, she wanted it close.
Amanda's eyes flicker at the distorted cat. "Oh my god....Elijah, hurry up."


A loud knock resonated from her front door, causing her to stiffen. Amanda froze in front of her bathroom mirror. What if it's Elijah? A voice in her head chipped in.
Little by little, Amanda tiptoed to the front door. She picked up an umbrella by the wall of the door and lifted it in the air – ready to hit any intruder.
"Amanda? Are you in there?" Elijah's familiar voice called out.

Phew! She sighed, pressing a hand to her chest.

She opened the door revealing a concerned Elijah, "What happened?" He asked as he walked his 6'4 frame inside, holding his iPhone to his ear before shoving it into the black leather jacket he was wearing

"Come with me," Amanda said, leading Elijah into her room. On getting there, she pointed at the bleeding cat. "That is what is going on...."
She shook her head, wrapping her arms around her body in a protective cage.
"I woke up....an-and it was just there....ha-hanging over me," She grimaced, looking away from the cat. She has had enough of the image for a lifetime.

"I don't know what's going on. Someone's literally out to get me, Elijah."

"What in the world?!" Elijah's eyes grew wide.
"What time did you go to bed?" He rushed towards her kitchen window only to see a
black Sedan parked in the street outside Amanda's apartment. The car's headlights lit up briefly before cruising down the lonely block.
Amanda followed behind him, still keeping her arms around her body. "I don't know.... 10:30.... maybe...."

Elijah walked over to Amanda's bed and allowed the blood to drop on his index fingers. He rubbed his thumb over the bloodied finger and nodded his head. "
This cat has been dead for over thirty minutes."

Amanda stood there in the distance, trying to figure out what he was coming on to.
"And you said you never heard anything?" He asked.

Amanda shook her head.
"No, I didn't."

He walked back over to her, raising her chin towards the light with two fingers. "I knew it."
Amanda jerked back in confusion. "What? You know what?"

"You were drugged, Amanda." Elijah looked around frantically. "Your house is probably bugged...come on...get your stuff. We need to leave now."

Amanda nodded with wide eyes, racing to her closet to get whatever came in contact with her hand.

****


Phillip stood at the balcony, gazing over the golf course that lay beneath the mansion.
He took a swig of the scotch he held in his hand. Hissing at the bitterness that filled his nostrils, he hated the 24-year-old liquid. It wasn't clear to him why he was drinking it, but after the past few weeks, this was probably the first time he'd been relaxed. His mind was fuzzy. He couldn't shake the thoughts that he might be losing the law firm he had spent his whole life wanting to work for. Even worse, there was a possibility he might be spending the rest of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

Who could be behind all of this? He thought. The list of enemies his father had been countless to recall. Philip wasn't naive. He knew his father never built the most influential law firm in the Northern Hemisphere by being a saint; it just wasn't possible. Patrick was ruthless and stopped at no boundary to get the result he wanted, the line between right and wrong was useless to him, and he believed power and influence were imperative to his being.

Phillip did not want to be like him, but he still knew Patrick imbued some traits in him. No matter how much he hated it, Patrick raised him in his image, which was hard to break away from.

"Can I have one?" A familiar feminine voice called out behind him.
Philip turned his head to see Sage leaning on the doorframe. A sly, seductive smile crept on her rose-colored lips as she approached him.
"This is scotch, Sage...." Phillip smirked. He was slightly intoxicated. "I took it from my father's collection, 1997 bellevoyé," he added as he filled his glass with its contents.
"You look tired...you should probably come to bed."
Sage mused, reaching for Phillip's drink. He pulled his hand away and took another sip, a long one this
time. "I don't feel tired.....have a drink." He said in a sluggish tone with a wide grin.
She obliged and took the glass bottle from him, throwing her head back and gulping down the harsh liquid. Its strong bite had no effect on her.

"Not bad," she said, returning the bottle to him as she moved even closer to his body, taking his bitter tasting lips in her mouth. An animalistic groan escaped Phillip's mouth, and he picked up the petite woman into his arm, wrapping her legs around his waist.
Their lips collided together as Phillip placed Sage on the stone-crafted railings of the balcony.


His hands traveled up her skirt while he took a section of her neck into his hot mouth. A pleasurable gasp tumbled from sage when she felt him discarding her lace panties out from under her.

"You like that?" Phillip whispered, bringing her attention to his face. His fingers were now trailing in and out of her soaking slit.
Sage shook her head in obedience as she fought the deep breaths that were now escaping her mouth and nostrils. It wasn't long before she returned to devouring his lips roughly, and he continued to shower her thighs with pleasure.

His phone went off with a loud ring interrupting their actions.
"Don't answer that." Sage pleaded as she continued to kiss him, but it is his iPhone kept ringing with urgency.
Phillip reluctantly tore his lips away and
answered. "What?" He grunted angrily as he adjusted the large bulge in his
pants. "What! Is...is she ok?" Worry etched into Philip's voice.
Sage narrowed her eyes at Philip; she pursed her lips in anger as if she could predict what was about to come next.
"What's going on?" She asked him.

Phillip glanced at her blankly as he pulled away, taking the phone from his ear. "I have to get to the office."

"Why?" She asked in a petulant tone.
"Sage, not right now...please!" Phillip shook his head, holding out a hand to her. He hurried to the hat rack, pulling and shrugging on his jacket.

Sage scoffed, shaking her head as the tip of her tongue traced a line over her bottom lip. "What the fuck was that about, Phillip?"
She glared at him angrily.


"I just said I have to go to the off–

"– don't lie to me!" She interjected. "You're fucking her, aren't you?"
She added, in a venomous tone.

He glanced at her, shocked by her accusation. Not that she was entirely wrong, he very much wanted to.
"I saw you two at that party, so if you are sleeping with her...admit it and stop making me look crazy."
"Maybe you are crazy, Sage.....seeing things that are not real...that's crazy...trust me!" Phillip exclaimed before storming off and slamming the doors, leaving Sage alone. She watched as he as walked all away. Sage could feel the blood boil in her veins. She felt her eyes pooling up with liquid rage.

Her iPhone chirped in her pocket, drawing her attention to it. She pulled the phone from her pocket and hit the green call button.
"Да, я здес" (Yes, I'm here). She answered in native Russian.

"Скопировано, буду разбираться" (Copied I'll get the ball rolling). She ended the call and marched out of Philip's place with an ice-cold expression.

****


Amanda slowly paced back and forth in the conference room, gently rubbing her knuckles together. While Elijah was sitting around a large conference table, he was fixated on his laptop, attentively scanning over files he had uploaded earlier.

His face was illuminated with the light that emitted from the MacBook screen as the sound of occasional keyboard clicks filled the
room. "What did you find?" Amanda asked anxiously, still standing in the distance.

Elijah shook his head in disbelief, still staring at the computer. "I asked my contact at Interpol to look into Patrick and his ties to Russia, and he sent these files over." He paused, swallowing as he clicks on a mail on his screen. "This is a copy of Patrick's birth certificate along with his signed recruitment application to the KGB, dated 198*"

"What?!" Amanda's jaw dropped in disbelief as she stumbled over to Elijah.

A picture of an 18-year-old lad named Leonov Petrov was displayed on the screen. The young man had blonde hair and familiar piercing cold eyes that reminded her of Phillip; that's when she knew this was Patrick.
"It's all right there. He was stationed as a port of intel at the Russian embassy in Berlin in 87 before coming to the US on a student visa through Italy," Elijah stated.

"Does Phillip know anything about this?" She asked him.

He was about to respond when Rylee entered the room along with Raph.
"We came as soon as you called," Rylee announced before throwing her purse on the table, walking towards Amanda. "Are you alright?"
She asked Amanda, touching on her shoulder in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine now...you guys didn't have to come all the way down here, "Amanda assured them while glancing at Raph briefly.

"Of course, we had to. Someone broke into your apartment twice, Amanda." She grimaced.
"....and now they drugged you...." Rylee shook her head as a shiver worked through her body.

"That's what Elijah suspects. I didn't hear a thing when apparently someone came in my apartment and lynched a cat right on top of me," Amanda responded.

"Maybe we should get the police involved," Rylee suggested, looking at friends for support.
"That's not a good idea....and Elijah is fucking detective....remember?" Raph said. "That's enough cops if you ask me."

"Raph is right...with everything going on right now with Phillip's case, everyone associated with this firm needs to stay off the authorities' radar," Elijah chipped in.

Rylee scoffed, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. She couldn't come to terms with the idea of no police when a psycho was out there killing cats and drugging people. "What....so.....We just sit around and wait for some unknown person to murder her,"

"No, she stays here until we figure out who's behind all this," Elijah said.
"Meanwhile, I'll send someone to your apartment for the rest of your thing." He turned to Amanda.

"Is this really happening?" Amanda groaned, throwing her head backward. Raph gave her hand a squeeze and smiled at her. It was 7:30 am, and the whole night seemed traumatic due to earlier events. Amanda could only hope they get to the bottom of everything sooner before she developed PTSD.

"Nothing is gonna happen to you, Amanda," Raph assured her.


Phillip walked into the room in long strides, drawing everyone's attention to his brooding aura.
"Is everyone alright, Elijah?" He asked, glancing at Amanda briefly.
He noticed how tired she looked, and he frowned, knowing whatever happened was because of him. "Do you have any leads on who did this?" He asked again.

"I'm working on it," Elijah answered. He got up from his seat, gathered his stuff, and closed his laptop. "She needs to stay here until we figure this out.....and I have to go to the station." He gave Rylee and Raph a head signal to follow him out of the room.


Amanda watched nervously as they all walked out of the conference room, leaving her alone with Phillip while he stared in her direction which a concerned look.
"Are you ok?" He asked softly, moving towards her.
"I'm fine," She told him, trying to keep her relaxed composure. "Why do you care so much?" She asked him blankly.
The softness that appeared on his face was puzzling; if she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was truly concerned for her.

"Why shouldn't I? You could've been seriously hurt..." Philip trailed off as his eyes locked with her glistening orbs.
"Thank you, but I can take care of myself," She said sternly. She was challenging him, he thought, shunning his obvious interest in her safety. He knew her well enough to tell it was all just an act.

He walked closer to her, causing her to slowly retreat against the glass wall that enabled a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline.
She watched as he came closer, the morning sunlight gently creeping over his face and illuminating his devastatingly beautiful eyes.

Amanda held her breath as his face was now inches away from hers. He then cupped her face and kissed her lips passionately, causing a light moan to escape her.
Amanda could not help but surrender to his kiss, c
ausing her to pull him closer to her body, and at that moment, she forgot everything.
Phillip pressed her body tighter into the glass, deepening the kiss he's been longing for since that party.

Suddenly, Elliot barged into the room, c
ausing them to quickly pull away from each other. "Phillip, turn the TV on now!" He stated sternly as they both tried to compose themselves out of their previous position.
Phillip quickly reached for the remote on the table, switching on the flat screen mounted on the wall opposite them.

A breaking news headline was prompted on the screen, immediately catching their
attention. "Are you guys seeing this?!" Raph's yelled as he rushed back into the conference room with Rylee behind him.

A Middle-aged, professionally dressed brunette appeared on the screen. "News reaching us is that the board members of the embattled Wall Street giant Law firm Oz Corp have voted to remove its sitting CEO, Phillip Oz, who was recently charged with the murder of his father, Patrick Oz, founder of the elite law firm which served as the legal reservoir for some of the country's most powerful people.".

"Fuck!" Rylee screamed as her knees buckled, bringing her to the ground. "No....no..." Raph hurriedly wrapped his arms around her. Amanda watched the screen with wide eyes; she turned to Phillip's only to see his face red with anger. And his hands clenched into fists beside him. Elijah was looking at Philip too.

Amanda took a step toward Philip and halted as he continued to stare at the television. She glanced at the TV screen again, trying to control her ragged breath, thinking how clueless they were about what would come.