The taxi pulled up to the courthouse, stopping right outside of the front steps. As Jack stepped out of the car, he took a moment to look around at the buildings around him. He knew downtown would be busy during the middle of the day, but he expected something more than the random chaos of the crowd's movements down the streets. Since Charlie__Pavanno had given him the description of this judge, Jack decided to head into the courthouse. 

"Can I help you sir?" The secretary asked him. Jack was disinterested in her conversation as once he stepped inside, he was scanning the room to look for anyone that matched the judge's description. 

"I'm looking for the judge, is he in today?" Jack asked. 

"He is, he will be out to lunch shortly, he's just finishing up meeting with a jury at the moment. You're welcome to take a seat and wait for him to return. He may not see you before lunch, mind you."

"I'll head back there and see. Thank you."

Jack walked to the back of the courthouse and as he made his way down the isolated hallway towards the judge's chambers, the man stepped out from one of the side room, putting him directly in front of Jack. A better opportunity couldn't have landed on his lap if he had tried. Jack walked faster to catch up to the man, and once he was within arms reach, he pulled the judge into another conference room without making a noise.

"What's the meaning of this?" The judge asked. Jack sat him down in a chair in the corner of the room, while he stood blocking the only entrance in or out of the room. 

"You have a friend of mine locked up. I don't want to hurt you, I don't even want this conversation to leave this room. Now listen to me carefully. This friend of mine, he's not been doing so hot. He's taken ill during his time in the Penn."

"What business of that is mine?"

"I'll tell you. You let this man out early. Call it good behavior, call it medical necessity, I don't care. You let him out early, I promise you, those kids of yours, they're gonna have a very merry Christmas."

"How much are we talking here? I'm not risking my career for some chump change to let out some two-bit criminal."

"Five grand. Now, you can take my offer, show me that my faith in your friendship is not unfounded, or we can do this the hard way. Now, I don't want to do this the hard way, and I know, sir, that you don't want that either."

"You've got yourself a deal, but not a word about this leaves this room correct?"

"You have my word. It'll be like I was never here."

"Leave out the back entrance. Make sure no one sees you. I'll start the paperwork right away."