leep. It was a grinding, mechanical sound, punctuated b

thought she was back in her Long Island home, that the nightmare was over. Then the

and peeked through a crack

nty feet from the building. Its engine idled with a deep, menacing rumb

ugh her tangled hair, and burst out of the room.

the middle of the parking lot, directly in the path of the machine. She

d a walkie-talkie and radiated an aura of impatient, brutish authority.

ied, her voice cracking. "I

ghed. He lifted the walkie-talkie to his mouth.

roared louder, and it l

her face with her hands and began to sob. A few other motel guests had emerged, w

sneering face of the foreman. And in that moment, she saw Dexter, tossing

powerful crushing the wea

away the last vestiges of fear and gr

ached Gina and pulled the weeping woman to her f

zer, planting her feet on the cracked asphalt. She stood there, sm

the brakes. The massive steel scoop at the front of the machine shud

hell do you think you're doing? I'll have you arrested for tresp

oke, was not loud, but it cut through the morning ai

es locked on his. "I am an attorney, Juris D

alf-open. That was not t

Protection Act. You have not served the proper notices, nor have you obtained a court order of eviction. Furthermore, demolition of a commer

button, panning from the Apex logo on the si

a formal complaint, will be sent to the New York City Sheriff's Office, the Department of Hou

d from Hayes's face. The blustering bully vanished, replaced

he stammered, turning away and speaking frantically into his wa

s's panic, quietly shut off the engi

ring of applause broke out. Gina stared at Andrea, her eyes

adrenaline. Her palm was slick with sweat, but a feeling she

hot Andrea a look of pure hat

the front of her wrinkled sweat

uder. A sleek, black Maybach, so out of place it looked like a spaceship, turned into