Bo took a deep breath before picking up his cell phone and making the call he needed to make. After talking to his brother and then to Frankie the day before, he had weighed all his options and decided that, while not necessarily the best, he had chosen the only course of action he could take. He stepped outside to make the call that would get the ball rolling. He took another deep breath as he dialed the number.
"Judge Pless." The distinguished voice matched the man on the other end of the line.
"Hello, Your Honor. This is Commissioner Brady."
"Commissioner, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
"I'm calling in that favor you owe me, Your Honor."
Judge Reginald Pless let out a deep sigh. "Mr. Brady, I think since we are "exchanging favors", we can call each other by our first names."
"Sir, please. This is very important and this will be the only thing I ever ask of you."
"I'm listening." The judge's interest was piqued by the tone of Bo Brady's voice. It was a pleading, almost desperate tone. It was the same tone that the police commissioner had no doubt heard in his own voice when his sixteen year old son, Michael was arrested for drunk driving the year before. Bo Brady had done him the favor of sweeping it all under the rug and making the charges go away, letting the Judge and his wife deal with their son.
"This is not something I can explain over the phone sir."
"Then what do you suggest, Mr. Brady?"
"Please call me Bo, sir. And could you come to me? It's a really sensitive situation and privacy is extremely important."
"And where is it I am to meet you, exactly." There was a knock at the judge's chamber door.
"That should be my brother, Roman, at your door sir. He's volunteered to bring you to where I am and then to take you back when we have finished our business."
"You're having me abducted!" The judge was outraged.
"No, sir," Bo said quickly. "It's just a very private place that only he and I know about and sending you directions could be far too complicated and could take far too long. It is entirely up to you if you come or not. But I am begging you to please come."
The judge contemplated what Bo was telling him. "Fine, I'll come to you."
"Thank you, sir. Thank you very much."
"Save your thanks, Mr. Brady. I still have to hear what you want from me." The judge hung up the phone as the knock at his door sounded again. "Come In!" He barked.
An hour and a half later Roman's light green 1994 Ford Taurus pulled into view. Bo grinned and shook his head at his older brother's refusal to get rid of that old clunker and get something more up to date. Bo walked over to the car as Roman and Judge Pless got out of the car.
"Thank you for coming, Your Honor." Bo said as he reached out his right hand to shake the judge's. The judge looked at him for a moment before giving his hand a grudging shake.
"Why am I here, Mr. Brady? What is it you want me to do?"
"Well, Your Honor, the reason I asked you to come here is one, for privacy. No one knows about this place. And two, because I thought showing instead of just telling you might help."
"Showing me what?"
"I'm not showing you a what, I'm showing you a who. Please come with me." Bo walked slowly over to the front door of the cabin, followed by Roman and the Judge. Bo opened the door and walked inside. "Please come in."
The judge walked in and looked around the small, rustic cabin. To his right, one wall was taken up by a large stone fireplace that was blazing merrily, keeping the room warm. To his left was a small kitchenette with a scrubbed wooden table, big enough for four at the most. And against the center of the back wall was a single double bed. In that bed was a woman. She seemed to be sleeping but then the judge saw the IV pole, with bags of fluids hanging from it over the her right. The woman didn't move as they entered.
"No change?" Roman said quietly looking at Carly. This was the first time he had seen her since the ISA operative had brought her onto John's plane.
Bo just shook his head silently, looking down at the floor and letting out a heavy sigh. It was getting harder and harder to hold onto any hope that she would wake up.
"Tell me what this is all about." Judge Pless said in a somber tone as he looked at the woman in the bed. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Carly Manning. She is my ex-fiance and she needs your help." Bo answered.
"Bo, I'm going to wait outside." Roman could see how difficult this was for Bo and he also knew his brother would want to discuss this privately with the judge. Bo nodded in thanks and Roman stepped outside into the cool early September air.
"And how can I help her?" The judge said once the door had shut. He had not yet taken his eyes off of Carly.
"She's been unconscious for at least two weeks now." Bo said moving closer to the bed, but not answering the judge's question.
"What happened to her and why is she out here in the middle of nowhere and not in a hospital."
"Her husband," was the only reply from Bo, his voice dropping to a very low, menacing tone.
The judge looked at Bo in surprise at the tone of voice, his gaze finally leaving Carly. "Her husband?"
"You asked what happened to her and why she is here and not in a hospital."
"Yes…"
"Both answers are the same. Her husband."
"I don't understand."
"16 years ago, she and I were engaged. She left me, when her ex-boyfriend told her he was taking their son and moving to Europe. He told her she could either stay here and marry me, or she could come go with them and be a mother. You see after she had her son, she got sick, and when we tried to start a family the doctor told her she couldn't have any more kids. So she chose to be a mother. She left me and married her son's father. Not because she loved him but because she wanted to be part of her son's life." Bo was standing next to the bed now, looking down at Carly.
"I should have gone after her. I should have fought for her. Things would have been so different." He looked up and saw the judge watching him and waiting for the reason he had been brought to this cabin in the woods.
"You asked what happened to her." The judge nodded. "Well about three weeks ago I got a letter from Carly. It's the first time I've heard from her in 16 years. I could tell you what was in the letter but, I think it's better if you read it for yourself."
Bo walked over to a carved wooden trunk that was sitting in the back corner of the wall with the fire place. He opened it slowly and reached in, removing the letter the messenger had handed him that day three weeks before. The letter that had changed his life forever. Taking a deep breath, Bo closed the trunk and walked over to the judge holding out the letter.
The judge reached out and took the letter, then walked over and sat at the small wooden table as he unfolded the heavy linen paper and began to read.
A couple of minutes later the judge looked up at Bo in complete shock. He stood up and walked to the end of the bed and looked at Carly. "Have you confirmed everything she said in this letter?" Pless asked as he stared at the motionless woman.
"Yes. My brother-in-law has confirmed it using his contacts at the ISA. Everything in that letter is true." Bo said with a tinge of rage in his voice.
"What is it you want me to do to help her?"
"Since she isn't able to do it herself, I'm asking that you grant her a divorce."
"On what grounds? And how do you know she would want a divorce?"
"I know because she spent the last 16 years trying to figure out how to smuggle a letter to me asking for my help. You asked earlier what happened to her. Her husband beat her into unconsciousness. According to the Doctor who treated her when we went and got her, she was lucky to be alive. She had a massive concussion, every rib was broken, and she's malnourished. I think those are grounds enough to get her a divorce. You asked why she isn't in a hospital. She's not safe in a hospital."
The judge listened to Bo. He could hear the conviction in the other man's voice. He looked back at the woman in the bed. She was a beautiful woman, and other than the IV pole and the fact that she hadn't moved since he had entered the room you couldn't tell that she had been through hell. Bo continued to explain why he needed to grant this woman a divorce and why it had to be done in a way that her husband wouldn't find out until after it was over. The judge could hear more than conviction in the commissioner's voice. He heard passion, worry, and most of all he heard a man who was in love.
"If I push this divorce through," The judge said looking up at Bo. "Then we are even. No more calling in of favors and we never speak of either of our situations again, right?"
"Right. Completely even and everything is forgotten."
The judge looked at Carly once more then sighed and turned reaching his hand out to Bo. "You have a deal Mr. Brady."
Bo shook the judge's hand with an audible sigh of relief. "Please don't tell anyone she's here. It would likely be fatal for her if anyone finds out she's here."
"You have my word."
Bo watched as the judge walked out of the cabin into the early evening air. A couple of minutes later he heard Roman's car pulling away. He walked over and sat down next to Carly, taking her hand in his.
"I found a way, Princess. You're going to be divorced from that S.O.B. Then you and I are going to have the happy life we had stolen from us. I promise you that, Princess." Bo brought Carly's hand to his lips and kissed it gently, silently praying to any god that would listen that she would wake soon.
