"You're an a.s.shole, Bert. I don't see that happening," Jack said, but there was no conviction in his voice.

"I hate lemonade," Harry said. "I'm going to make some tea. Anyone want some?"

"I don't think Myra keeps that s.h.i.tty green stuff you drink, Harry," Jack said.

Harry rummaged in his pocket and brought out a little string bag that he carried with him for situations such as this. A moment later they heard the screen door bang shut. Ten minutes later, Harry was back with a cup of steaming hot tea. "Did you talk about me while I was gone?"

"You aren't worth talking about, Harry, so get over yourself," Ted said.

"What should we talk about?" Espinosa said as he propped his feet up on the terrace railing.

"Lizzie Fox is flying in today. I think that means something. As in the girls are actually considering the offer from those intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. When someone offers unlimited compensation, as in name your own price with no quibbling, then offers blanket immunity on top of that, then yes, I think they have just about made up their minds to go back into business," Jack said. "By the way, did I tell you my old boss offered me my job back when I called him to say I was back in town? I told him I had to think about it."

"I talked to Elias c.u.mmings early this morning, and he told me that the guy who replaced me as director of the FBI is not loved and adored and said it was another mistake Martine Connor made. Elias said this new guy is just like Elias's predecessor, Mitch Riley, the guy the girls took down way back when. Elias said this new twit, that's what he called him, a twit, has his own agenda, and it's called, 'Hey, look at me, I'm the director of the FBI.' His people do not like him."

"And that means what?" Jack asked.

"Probably nothing," Bert said morosely. "I'm not used to sitting around doing nothing. I need a job. Women do not like men who sit around on their a.s.ses doing nothing while they, those women, are going full bore. You guys have any suggestions?" When there was no response, Bert said, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Maybe I'll look into setting up in private practice. You want to partner up, Jack?"

Jack eyed a fat squirrel perched on the far railing of the terrace. Since Charles hadn't seen fit to leave a plate of biscuits or cookies, there were no crumbs to scatter for the squirrel. Jack thought that was a sad state of affairs. He looked over at Bert and said, "If it comes to that, I'll consider it. I have to warn you, I'd make a p.i.s.s-poor defense attorney. I like the prosecutor's office.

"You know, I've been thinking. If the girls don't want to include us, why don't we all pack up and go west to my cabin? We could do some fishing, hang out, lie to each other, and cook hot dogs over a campfire. Our bonding has been torn asunder. We need to get back our old camaraderie. What do you say?"

"'Torn asunder'? What the f.u.c.k does that mean? I hate you, Jack," Harry said.

"What the h.e.l.l are they doing down there?" Ted demanded. When his question was met with silence, Ted slouched lower in his chair and closed his eyes.

In point of fact, what was going on down there was an argument that was about to rise to an incendiary level thanks to Kathryn and her take-no-prisoners att.i.tude. Charles was doing his best to hold his temper in check, but it was a losing battle as his chicks, as he referred to the Sisters, lambasted him up one side and down the other.

"You can't possibly be serious, ladies!" Even to his own ears, his words came across as weak and ineffectual. One look at Myra's face told him all he needed to know. His chicks were deadly serious, and Myra was just as much so.

Charles tried another tack. "Give me one good reason, just one, that would make you throw away your lives when you were given a second chance. It can't be the money; there's enough here to last us all through several lifetimes. We all know not to fight for principle, because fighting for principle is a losing battle, and you never win. I don't care how many contracts those guys offer you or who signs them, when the devil wants his due, he wants it on his terms, and no contract is going to stand in the way even if Lizzie Fox is the one who draws up the contracts.

"Having said that, if the best of the best couldn't nail down the chatter, the cell, the organization, what makes you think you can do what he couldn't do? Name me one thing, one reason, just one." Charles's voice rose to a level just short of shrillness, a sound the Sisters had never heard from him.

A smug smile tugged at the corners of Isabelle's mouth. "Well, Charles," she drawled, "you seem to be the only person in this room who thinks and believes that Henry, call me Hank, Jellicoe is the best of the best. The man is addicted to himself. He really believes he can walk on water. He wants monuments built to his ego. That ain't gonna happen, Charles. We decided we want to eliminate him. We voted, and the vote was unanimous."

Charles looked around the table and had a hard time believing these were the same women who had chatted him up over the lunch that he'd prepared for them. Who were these hateful, angry women? "You can't possibly be serious. Hank Jellicoe is the most patriotic man in the world. He would donate his entire wealth, his life, if necessary, for the country he loves, and you're talking about taking him out! I cannot be a party to this. I simply cannot."

The Sisters looked at one another. Nikki picked up where Isabelle left off. "Hank Jellicoe is not the person you think he is. Oh, he might be an old friend, a drinking buddy, someone to shoot the breeze with every so often, but if he was all the things he professes to be, then he would have gotten whatever he claimed to be going after. He lost the respect of the men on the plane. When he stepped off the reservation, so to speak, he had a reason. At that time he also had the respect and the approval of the other intelligence and law-enforcement chiefs. As far back as then, he had to have known and was afraid of us as a group. That's why he separated us. The burning question is why?"

"I think you are flattering yourselves if you believe that," Charles said coolly.

"Is that what you think, Charles?" Kathryn shot back. "Well, aren't you going to be surprised when we take matters into our own hands and prove to you that Jellicoe isn't who he claims to be!"

"And just who do you think he is?" Charles demanded.

"An egomaniac who went off the rails," Annie said. "Don't forget for one minute that he, your patriotic friend, Hank Jellicoe, decided Myra and I were no threat to him. Yet he managed to screw up Myra's life so that she was virtually a prisoner here at the farm. And you along with her. I think he was more than a little concerned with you, Charles. I also think, and this is just a guess on my part, but I think Fish is just a little too close to Jellicoe, and he thought Fish was keeping me in line until I bolted. Which doesn't say much for Fish. I never did like his allegiance to Jellicoe, because I thought it was obsessive to the point he'd compromised himself."

"That's exactly what I thought about Stu, Annie," Isabelle said, excitement ringing in her voice. "By the time I managed to escape that h.e.l.lhole in Paraguay, Stu and I weren't even speaking to one another. I seriously doubt we'll ever speak to one another again."

"Charles, ask yourself why your old friend wanted to separate us. What was he afraid we'd do? We didn't know about that supposed chatter he and the others were talking about. We were just going to go back to our normal lives until he stepped in and ruined them. Meaning our lives. What was he afraid of, Charles?" Alexis asked for the second time.

"You're blowing this all out of proportion," Charles said.

"No, Charles, we are not blowing this out of proportion. Perhaps you have forgotten about how miserable we were for the past eighteen months, but I haven't. If you want to bury your head in the sand, do so, but you will be there all by yourself. We are more than capable of making a decision as to what to do and then acting on it. If you'd like a show of hands to reinforce what I just said, say so now," Myra demanded with a bite in her voice that was strong enough to tear through bone.

Charles looked around at the grim faces staring at him. "Is that why you didn't want the boys down here for this meeting?"

"Well, yes, Charles, that is one of the reasons. Men are far too emotional in matters such as this," Yoko said quietly, so quietly that Charles had to strain to hear the words. "We need cool heads and a hundred percent agreement among ourselves. Ourselves, Charles, no one else."

Charles leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Is that your way of saying if I don't agree to what all of you want, I'm to walk away? I want to make sure I understand what exactly is going on here."

"Bingo!" Kathryn snarled.

"Even if we manage to sway you to our way of thinking, I doubt we could trust you, Charles," Nikki said. "I never thought I would live to see the day when I would say something like that to you of all people." She looked pointedly at Myra to gauge her reaction to what she'd just said.

Myra didn't miss a beat. "Nikki is right. We won't be able to trust you."

Charles threw his hands in the air. "Why are you all being so b.l.o.o.d.y foolish? I understand your being angry for losing eighteen months of your lives. But to set out to ruin a man and his life's work because you all got your knickers in a knot is so far beneath the lot of you, I cannot fathom it."

"Well, fathom this, Charles. We have to start somewhere, and since it all started with Hank Jellicoe, that's our jumping-off point. We can't possibly help the men who want to engage our services with Jellicoe running around like some deranged maniac. We have to rein him in and take care of the problem. Once we do that, we can concentrate on the matter at hand and sign on to become...free agents," Kathryn said.

"And you're going to do this...how? No one was able to find Hank, not even me or our people. What makes you think you can find him?" Charles asked irritably, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Do ya think that maybe because we're women we can do it, dear?" Myra asked sweetly.

Charles bristled at his wife's tone. He knew he was dead in the water. "All right! All right! I can see there is nothing I can say to make any of you change your mind. I want to a.s.sure you that you can trust me. I swear on my Queen that I will not betray you. I swear on my Queen that I will do everything in my power to help and not hinder you in whatever you decide to do. I will be with you every step of the way."

"Is that the same Queen who gave you the boot and told you not to set foot on British soil ever again?" Kathryn shrilled.

"One and the same, dear girl. My allegiance to my Queen is forever, even with the boot. It is the same as it is to you and the others. I give you my word and my undying support."

It was Myra and Annie who looked skeptical at Charles's words.

"So, if you take me at my word and believe in me, let's put our heads together and make a plan."

There was no mad scramble among the women to do what Charles suggested. Instead, they slid their chairs back from the table and moved to the far end of the war room, where they hissed at each other like a pitful of vipers. In the end, it was Yoko who said, "We have the power, if it isn't working out with Charles, and he proves untrustworthy, to do what we have to do. I do believe we can trust him, but that is my opinion. Everyone deserves a chance. Don't you agree?"

"You have a point," Isabelle said. "Eight sets of eyes, if we count Maggie, on a person twenty-four seven might just tend to keep that person on our side. I also believe if Charles had to make a choice between Hank Jellicoe and us, he'd choose us. Having said that, are we in agreement that we're going to sign up for the job to be done, or do we have more to discuss?"

"You can count on Myra and me," Annie said.

The others grinned and counted themselves in, too.

"Then let's set the wheels in motion so when Lizzie gets here, she doesn't have to deal with any indecision on our part. So it's a go then?" Nikki asked.

"It's a go, dear," Myra said, her thumb shooting in the air.

"Way to go, Myra!" Annie said, clapping Myra on the back. "From this moment on, you are our team leader as always. Charles is second-in-command. We'll deal with the boys later."

Until then, Maggie had remained voiceless. "I have an idea," she said.

Chapter 16.

"And that idea would be...?" Nikki asked.

Maggie's eyes sparkled. "I know you probably haven't kept up with the Post while you were away, but Myra and Annie have. A few months back, actually after the holidays, I started two new columns in the Lifestyle section of the paper, and they have proved to be wildly successful. One is called Sight and Sound, and it was the first. The other one is a local advice column called Ask Amy. We have a blog now, and we're on Facebook. There are times when we can't handle all the entries. Our personal Web site has crashed so many times, I've lost count. I've had to hire extra people to keep up to date."

"Who is Amy?" Alexis asked.

Maggie grinned. "That would be me. We created a person named Amy Abrams. Mostly Amy deals with female political questions. We do get male queries, but usually they're on the stupid side. The bottom line is it's just another gossip forum, but the stuff that comes through from time to time will make your hair stand on end. We could send in some ringers, you know, questions to which we want to feed just the right responses. Sight and Sound is where readers write or call in and tell us what they've heard and seen. You have to sift through the garbage and pull out what looks legit and work it. Then there is the blog, which we feed daily."

"And what do you see us feeding all these beasts with teeth, dear?" Annie asked. Not waiting for a response she asked, "Is this going to be something like the Drudge Report?"

"It's going to be whatever we want it to be since it is already in place. No one can say we at the Post just came up with the idea and are gunning for someone in particular. See, that's the beauty of the whole thing. We could start with Hank Jellicoe, and it won't look staged, because Sight and Sound has been around a while. We can start asking questions about his life from the moment he was nothing more than, as Charles says, a twinkle in his mother's eye, and go forward to the present. We can make the person asking the questions obsessive. There will always be someone out there who knows something and can't wait to spit it out."

Maggie motioned for the others to move in closer. "When I first got this idea, I had an office put in the bas.e.m.e.nt. I had a friend of mine set it all up. We have everything in that room, and it is soundproof. You have to be eye-scanned to gain entry. My...ah...friend got me the people I need. You know, they bounce things off satellites and bury things so deep no one can trace or track the originating point." She looked at Annie, and continued, "It cost a lot to set up, Annie, but I think now is when we're going to get our money's worth out of it. Hey, we're good to go." Annie waved her hand to dismiss Maggie's concern over the cost.

"We could start off Ask Amy by asking if there was some kind of world summit aboard a private Gulfstream at thirty thousand feet. That would certainly shake up a lot of people. What do you all think?"

"Maggie, I think this is fabulous beyond words," Myra whispered. The others crowded closer and congratulated her on a job well done. Maggie beamed with pleasure, as Annie and the others headed back toward the table, where Charles sat, waiting to get down to business.

The chatter ceased; gazes were expectant as the Sisters stared at Charles to see if they could discern any changes in his att.i.tude toward them. There were none. It was business as usual, Charles's style. "Ladies, I do have a question, and I want honest answers. I understand your feelings, your motivation where Hank Jellicoe is concerned. You want to...get him first before you either sign on or not with the intelligence and law-enforcement head honchos. Convince me that this is the way to go rather than starting work on the real job. And if you won't do the work, then the point is moot. Tell me why you want to go after Hank Jellicoe first."

The women looked at one another. Kathryn took the floor. "We told you, Charles; it started with Jellicoe, so that has to be our starting point. We need to find out why he failed. I, for one, want to know if maybe this was something he made up. Those men on the plane told us our very own CIA and DHS claim they didn't pick up on any chatter concerning the president or her administration. If Jellicoe is as important in the world as he says he is, why are the CIA and DHS denying what he said, and why did he lone wolf it?"

"I'm not really clear in my own mind if Jellicoe convinced the other nations' intelligence and law-enforcement services' leaders about what his people heard by way of an uptick in chatter concerning the administration or whether those services' own people heard the same thing. I think they danced around that a little bit," Nikki said, her brow furrowed in thought.

"Who's to say Jellicoe didn't stir all this up for personal reasons, whatever they might be. Personally, the man would have to be nuts to do something like that, but from all I am hearing about him and what I read about him, it is possible. Maybe he crossed the line and is demented," Isabelle said.

"Hank Jellicoe may be many things, but demented he is not. The man never does anything without a reason. Do not start sniping at me, ladies. What I just said is what I know and for you to know. The more knowledge you have at hand, the better you can deal with the problem. In a global organization such as Jellicoe's, there are safeguards in place and people who would know if he stepped off the rails. Those safeguards would be acted upon at the first sign of trouble," Charles said.

"Point taken, dear," Myra said soothingly. Charles flushed a bright pink, to the Sisters' delight.

"The b.a.s.t.a.r.d is clever," Alexis said.

"Why? We do not know the why of anything where he is concerned. And right now, we do not know where he is. He has been in hiding...gone...for over eighteen months, and no one could find him," Yoko said. "I repeat, why?"

"What you mean is that people Hank Jellicoe didn't want to find him couldn't find him. You can rest a.s.sured his people knew where he was every minute of the day," Charles said. "Remember, the man didn't get where he is today by giving away his secrets."

Kathryn pounced. "So you admit the man has secrets!"

"Everyone has secrets, Kathryn." Charles sighed. "I suspect Hank Jellicoe has more than most."

"And yet after eighteen long months of whatever he was doing, he failed. Nothing happened, Charles! He failed in the eyes of the other world intelligence and law-enforcement leaders. Since you are such a staunch supporter of Hank Jellicoe, tell us how that happened, Charles?" Annie said.

"I wish I could, but I can't, Annie. Since you're all so gung ho, I'm sure you will ferret it out one way or the other. I would like to remind you that in the covert world, setting up a kill, as we call it, or a mission, sometimes takes years before it is acted on."

"Martine Connor does not have years unless she runs for a second term. We need an inside source at the CIA," Maggie said. "How about we have the Post do an expose of the CIA. We wouldn't necessarily have to do it; just the hint that it was forthcoming might stir things up. Those people get away with murder, and I've heard they answer to no one, not even the president. Well, they do, but they thumb their nose at the administration and go about their business. No one wants a major worldwide newspaper sniffing into their secrets and how they conduct business. We did it with the FBI, you may remember, and they were crawling out of the woodwork to show the world how warm and fuzzy they were."

Annie's voice was gleeful. "That's a wonderful idea. Do any of you think Elias c.u.mmings might know someone high enough up on the food chain at the CIA? I know, I know, the FBI and the CIA hate each other, but Elias is retired now, and possibly someone he knew at the CIA is retired now, too. Maybe, just maybe, they could get together and sort of have a talk. You know, two old cronies talking about their glory days, that kind of thing. They do that all the time in spy novels."

"We can run it up the flagpole," Nikki said. "If anyone salutes, we act on it. Myra, make a note to call Nellie and run this by her so she can run it by Elias. And, let's not forget Bert. He might know a few higher-ups who would be willing to talk. It's worth a shot."

Maggie started to text Ted, outlining a course of action.

Charles Martin looked around the table. It was all getting away from him, and he was powerless to help his old friend. He slumped in his chair and waited for the next volley of give-and-take.

Outside on the terrace, the lemonade pitcher was empty, as was Harry's teacup. Espinosa got up and lowered the retractable awning. "It sure is taking the girls a long time to do whatever it is they're doing," he said sourly.

"Why don't you just say it like it is: They're plotting to take down Hank Jellicoe, and I can't say I blame them. The guy is a real son of a b.i.t.c.h. I hope they fry his a.s.s in h.e.l.l," Bert said.

"We need to get real here, guys. We went into it with our eyes wide open. Good old Hank played to our greed, so we can't fault him for that. The guy's smart. But the b.a.s.t.a.r.d could have gotten the same results from us if he'd just leveled with us from the beginning. The one thing that guy didn't count on was the bond the girls have among themselves. He totally discounted that, and now he's going to pay, and I don't feel one bit sorry for him," Jack said.

"That was all personal. We need to look at the whole picture here and get to the bottom of why Jellicoe did what he did. I'm just not buying that chatter business and a threat to the president, yada yada yada," Bert said.

"So what is it?" Ted asked.

"Let's try dissecting it and see what we come up with. First, he offers us jobs for outrageous sums of money. We agree. The girls are pardoned just hours before he makes the offer. We quit our jobs, take him up on his offer, the girls agree to go where he stations us. We all agreed on this so far?" Four heads bobbed up and down. "We go to a stupid boot camp, then we split up. Our jobs are just window dressing. There was no meat to them. We reviewed reports, did a payroll, monitored the complaint box with no complaints. We had the best of everything, and the money just kept rolling in. The perks were outstanding. But...we were cut off from each other. There was no way for us to communicate. The girls figured it out before we did, and that doesn't say much for us," Jack observed.

"We had access to world news via the Internet, and nothing was going down anywhere in the world that involved Global Securities or us. Correct me if I'm wrong and I missed something." The others simply shrugged.

"Our relationships soured. Jack is right, the girls figured it out before we did. Harry was the first to revolt. Then Ted and Espinosa. You, Jack, because of the luck of the draw, found out and set the wheels in motion to leave and you clued me in and here we are. We were almost hijacked. And let me tell you something else. Those figures you saw on that first private plane were the same guys who were on the one we took. If Murphy hadn't balked, we would have gotten on that plane. We backed away, and they had to scurry to make arrangements for the second plane. We thought our side was doing all the arranging, but I bet my life savings our side played into their side, and it worked out perfectly for them. Who the h.e.l.l is going to say no to people like them? They make their offer, the girls say they'll think about it, and we get off the plane. We get off, they don't. Which brings us to where we are right now, sitting here on this terrace with an empty lemonade pitcher. It was the girls all along. That's who they wanted to separate. Not us dumb clucks-them, the girls," Bert said as he paced up and down the terrace, smacking one fist into the other in frustration.

"Why? What did Jellicoe think the girls could or would do? It's not like they were best buds with the president. They didn't have in-and-out access to the White House," Ted said.

"No, they didn't, but Lizzie did and probably still does. Jellicoe knows about the bond the girls have with Lizzie. This is all about female bonding, something none of us sitting here can or will ever understand. See, Jellicoe is just like us; he didn't understand it, either. His downfall," Jack said.

"You said when you saw Jellicoe on the plane it looked like he'd disguised himself. You said maybe plastic surgery or some latex on his face. Nikki said he admitted to staining his skin with walnut juice and that he had dreadlocks," Espinosa said.

"Yeah, so?" Jack said.

"So why did he have to go to those lengths to disguise himself? Where was he, and was he alone? Why didn't he send his people, who are trained in all this c.r.a.p, to do whatever he did. The guy is no youngster. He's got to be in his midsixties, maybe older. I thought someone said he was the same age or around the same age as Charles," Espinosa said, refusing to give up without an answer. "My point is, men that age do not go around infiltrating nefarious cells or organizations like a rookie would. I read espionage novels, and those guys are always retired out around forty because of the stress and their cover getting blown. It's a young guy's game, not for some old geezer like Jellicoe."

Bert rubbed at the bristles on his chin. "You know something, Espinosa, sometimes you make a lot of sense, and this is one of those times. What you didn't mention is that Jellicoe would have to have invented what we call in the business a background to fit the ident.i.ty he's a.s.suming, and you're right, we send our best agents out to pasture after forty. Mainly because they're burned out. They get desk jobs, try to salvage their family life, which went on without him or her, as the case may be. The agents tend to end up drinking too much and leave the Bureau and work as security guards or for someone like Jellicoe because it's in their blood. Which now brings us back to the question Espinosa asked: Why?"

"Well, according to the girls, it has to do with an attempt on the president's life, which would cripple her administration. Do not forget that Jellicoe handed over a rather large sparkler to the president the night she gave out the pardons. Maggie said that has been off-limits to the press and not one word has ever been mentioned about the president's romantic life after that night. We don't even know if she still has the ring. With Lizzie coming in later today, I am sure her first a.s.signment will be a trip to the White House to find out what she can," Jack said.

"What's bothering me the most is why the CIA and DHS would deny to the others that they had picked up on the chatter, unless they are telling the truth and the others are lying. That's more and more what I'm beginning to think," Ted said. "I want to work on that angle."