Читать книгу The Number 8 - Joel Arcanjo - Страница 9

Prologue

The barrister stood on the steps of the Old Bailey, London’s most famous court, ready to address the nation. He was nervous. He hadn’t spoken in front of this many people outside of a courtroom. In there, it was his domain. He was used to murder trials. He was confident, charismatic and incredibly calm. Out here, in front of the nation’s media, it was a different story.

His tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth and water didn’t help. A bead of sweat threatened to fall down his already shiny forehead, but he wiped it away without anyone noticing. He had been stood in front of the microphones for two minutes already, but he hadn’t spoken. The man next to him, a PR specialist, was tasked with introducing him. He listened to the man’s words. The barrister had an impressive list of accomplishments.

He was up. He took a step forward and took a deep breath.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press. I stand here proud. Proud to tell you that a judge and a jury of your peers have found my clients ‘not guilty’. ”

He paused for applause and he was right to, the applause was deafening. People cheered and whistled. It went on for about a minute before he raised his arm for silence.

“This verdict is not only important for my clients, but it’s important for our country. We will not stand for…” But that was all he got out because somewhere in the crowd somebody was ready to have their sixty seconds of fame.

“Judas! You should be ashamed of yourself for defending murderers every day of your life. You know they did it!”

The PR man intervened. “Security. Remove that individual!”

For a split second the lawyer felt the familiar pang of guilt. But, as he had done for years, he quickly nipped it in the bud. Guilty or not, a win was a win and this time he had won big. This was the platform his career would be built on. He was already successful by most people’s standards but this case would propel him to the next level and he was ready for it.

Pandemonium broke out. Cameras whirred. Security dragged the individual away kicking and screaming incomprehensible words. But there was one sentence he could make out and for the first time in all his years as a lawyer, he was scared.

“Bastard. You’ve taken everything from me. I won’t stop until I’ve taken everything from you!”