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Cypher: Were you subpoenaed for tomorrow’s hearing?

After sending the message, he typed up another to Cutthroat.

Cypher: What can you tell me about Judge Mercer? Goldman has a hearing with him tomorrow and I want to know what we should expect.

When he was done, he set his phone aside and turned to researching Judge Robert Mercer. He wanted to know as much as he could about the man before they walked into the courthouse tomorrow.

“Cuts off before you can go inside,” the deputy standing outside the courtroom door said with one hand up to stop them.

“They let us into the courthouse in them,” Wrath said with a frown.

“Judge’s courtroom. Judge’s rules. You can keep them on, but you have to stay out here. To get inside, they come off.” He jerked one thumb over his shoulder toward the room beyond.

Wrath took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking again.

“Can we carry them or should we leave someone out here with them?”

“You can carry them, as long as you’re not wearing them or displaying them.”

Cypher dropped a hand on Wrath’s shoulder.

“Cutthroat warned us this might happen. It’s why I brought Chase along.” Cypher shrugged out of his cut and handed it to the prospect. Wrath and Roadkill followed his lead. “Good now?” he asked the deputy.

The deputy nodded and jerked his head toward the courtroom. Cypher led the way as they went into the courtroom. He wanted to be sure they were seen, so he went to the front row and took a seat right behind the prosecutor’s table.

Not that he’d spent enough time in a courtroom to know where that was, but the defense attorney was seated at the other table reading a file as he waited for his client to be brought in. Wrath and Roadkill came in and sat.

“How long till this thing gets started?” Wrath asked.

“Shouldn’t be too long, but we got here early on purpose. Cutthroat said that Mercer locks the door when he starts and if you’re not here by then, you’re SOL.”

The door at the back of the room opened and a tall man in a three-piece suit walked in. He walked like he owned the place. If he was at all nervous, it didn’t show. His eyes scanned the room, as if he was assessing the situation. He paused when his gaze hit the Warriors in the front row, and he winked.

If you hadn’t been looking for it, you likely would have missed it or thought it was a tic. But Cypher knew it for what it was. That was because he knew the man, though not as well as the men beside him. A practicing attorney spent a lot more time working than just the office hours and he didn’t have as much time to spend around the clubhouse or the rest of the brothers.

The man in the suit went through the swinging doors on the barrier that kept the people in the gallery out of the main floor of the courtroom and set his briefcase on the prosecutor’s table.

“I see you couldn’t wear your cuts in,” Cutthroat said, his voice low. “I wasn’t sure. I’ve never tried to wear mine in, and something like that is decided by the judge. I don’t plan on calling Lacey, and you didn’t need to be here.” He opened the briefcase and pulled out a folder, legal pad, and his phone.

“Hex felt we do. We want everyone to know we’ve taken in an interest in this case.”

“And my being here isn’t enough?” Cutthroat lifted one brow.

Wrath shook his head.

“You don’t only handle cases the Warriors have an interest in. You alone doesn’t make the point, at least not as strongly as Hex wants it made.”

“Can’t fault his reasoning. Even if I’m not thrilled with it.” He closed the briefcase and set it on the floor beside the table. “Judge will be here in a few minutes. Mercer is a hard ass about respect and control in his courtroom. Stay silent. No whispering or he will have you thrown out.”

“Did you ask for this case or was it assigned to you?” Roadkill asked.

“I asked. I never get assigned what they consider minor cases. That’s one of the privileges of being a special prosecutor. While I don’t always get to pick and choose, and I get cases that no one else wants to touch, it’s not because they’re minor or boring. They give me the hard, or sensational cases, and while this has the potential to be sensational, I did ask for it.” He sat and arranged everything to suit him on the tabletop.

“Recently or when it first came in?” Wrath asked.

Cutthroat turned his head and stared at him for several seconds.

“When it came in.”