Dark Rivers of the Heart

crime, I might never get into a court with a suit of my own."
        "Right." Darius smiled humorlessly. "Now you see why I hope to God they don't drop the charges. Now you understand the rules."
        "Rules?" Harris said. "These aren't rules. This is madness."
        He needed to pace, work off a sudden dark energy that filled him.
        His anger and outrage were so great that his knees were weak when he tried to stand. Halfway to his feet, he was forced to sit again, as if suffering the effects of another stun grenade.
        "You okay?" Darius worried.
        "But these laws were only supposed to target major drug dealers, racketeers, Mafia."' "Sure. People who might liquidate property, flee the country before they went to trial. That was the original intent when the laws were passed.
        But now there are two hundred federal offenses, not just drug offenses, that allow property forfeiture without trial, and they were used fifty thousand times last year."
        "Fifty thousand!"
        "It's becoming a major source of funding for law enforcement.
        Once liquidated, eighty percent of seized assets goes to the police agencies in the case, twenty percent to the prosecutor."
        They sat in silence. The old-fashioned wall clock ticked softly.
        The sound brought to mind the image of a time bomb, and Harris felt as though he were, in fact, sitting on just such an explosive device.
        No less angry than he had been but more in control of his anger, he said at last, "They're going to sell my house, aren't they?"
        "Well, at least this is a federal seizure. If it was under the California forfeiture law, it'd be gone ten days after the hearing.
        Feds give us more time."
        "They'll sell it."
        "Listen, we'll do everything we can to overturn before then… ." Darius's voiced trailed away. He was no longer able to look his brother in the eyes. Finally he said, "And even after assets are liquidated, if you can overturn, then you can get compensation-though not for any costs you incurred related to the forfeiture."
        "But I can kiss my house good-bye. I might get money back but not my house. And I can't get back all the time this will take."
        "There's legislation in Congress to reform these laws."
        "Reform? Not toss them out completely?"
        "No. The government likes the laws too much. Even the proposed reforms don't go far enough and don't have wide support yet."
        "Evicted my family," Harris said, still gripped by disbelief.
        "Harris, I feel rotten. I'll do everything I can, I'll be a tiger on their ass, I swear, but I ought to be able to do more."
        Harris's hands were fisted again on the table. "None of this is your fault, little brother. You didn't write the laws. We'll… just cope. Somehow, we'll cope. The important thing now is to post bail, so I can get out of here."
        Darius put the heels of his coal-black hands to his eyes and pressed gently, as if trying to banish his weariness. Like Harris, he hadn't slept the previous night. "That's going to take until Monday.
        I'll go to my bank first thing Monday morning-"
        "No, no. You don't have to put up your money for bail. We've got it.
        . I turda."
        "She told me. But-"
        "Not open now, but it was earlier. God, I wanted out today."
        Lowering his hands from his face, Darius met his brother's eyes with reluctance. "Harris, they've impounded your bank accounts too."
        "They can't do that," he said angrily, but no longer with any conviction. "Can they?"
        "Savings, checking, all of it, whether it was a joint account with Jessie, in your name, or just in her name. They're calling it all illegal drug profits, even the Christmas-club account."
        Harris felt as if he'd been hit in the face. A strange numbness began to spread through him. "Darius, I can't… I can't let you put up all the bail. Not fifty thousand. We have some stocks-"
        "Your brokerage account's impounded too, pending forfeiture."
        Harris stared at the clock. The second hand twitched around the face.
        The time-bomb sound seemed louder, louder.
        Reaching across the conference-room table, putting his hands over Harris's fists, Darius said, "Big brother, I swear, we'll get through this together."
        "With everything impounded… we have nothing but the cash in my wallet and Jessica's