“Gretchen . . .”
“Don’t you ‘Gretchen’ me, you worthless piece of crud. And I sure as hell don’t want to hear the story again about how that monster pulled you out of the gutter when you were just a wee lass of thirteen and saved your life back in Russia. I’d rather hear about Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or Rumpelstiltskin, if you are going to tell fairy tales. Why won’t you admit you’re nothing but his slave, his whore? Surely you know about all those women who come here in the middle of the night to service him. He’s a pig. He’s the ugliest man in the world on the outside, and even uglier on the inside. All the money in the world can’t change that. He’s still a pig.”
Gretchen laughed then, an unholy sound that reverberated around the garden, when she saw her mother look around fearfully to see if anyone had heard her outburst.
In the blink of an eye, Gretchen pressed the controls on her wheelchair and swung it around till she was facing her mother. As always, she was stunned at her mother’s beauty, at her fashion sense, at how impeccably made up she always was. And she smelled like the very garden she was sitting in.
“Tell you what, Mommie Dearest. Go to that pig and ask him if you and I can go on a mother-daughter trip. Pick a place. Or let the pig pick a place. What do you think the son of a bitch will say?”
“Gretchen . . .”
“Go back to the house, Mother. Isn’t it time for you to change your clothes? You do that three times a day because that’s one of his rules. Just like he tells you what to eat and when to eat it. All those designer clothes, all those jewels wasted on the servants and him. Oh, and his goon squad. I’ve seen them ogling you. He gets a perverse sense of pleasure out of that. Then again, maybe you like it. Someone appreciating your fashion sense, your beauty.”
Felicia got up from the spindly little outdoor chair she had been sitting on. She looked down at the wrinkles in her linen dress. That would never do. Gretchen was right; she needed to change her clothes before Angus saw the wrinkles.
There were tears in her eyes when she bent over to peck her daughter on the cheek. She whispered in her ear. “If there were a way to get us both off this island, I would snatch it. It’s all I think about, dream about. I’m not giving up, and I don’t want you to give up, either. I think I might have a plan. When you feel like it, go online and read about the person who is coming to the island any day now. Let your imagination run wild.”
Gretchen soaked up the words like a sponge. It was a game the two of them played, each playing her part to the hilt, with the exception of the whispered words at the end of each meeting.
Gretchen continued in her playacting role. She pressed the controls on the wheelchair and spun around so fast, she almost knocked her mother over. She laughed. “Sorry, Mummy. I don’t need to hear you tell me how much you love me, and I sure as hell don’t need you to tell me to honor and respect that pig who sired me. Go on. Run back and change your clothes and report in to that sperm-donor pig. Now that you’ve managed to ruin what looked to be a promising day, I think I’ll go play on the computer to while away my hours until it’s time for my leg therapy.”
Felicia Spyder dabbed at her eyes with a lace-edged hankie that probably cost more than the cook’s weekly salary. She ran as fast as her Louboutins could carry her back to the mansion where she lived. She immediately corrected the thought. Where she existed.
She hadn’t lied to her daughter. She did have a plan. It wasn’t exactly a plan, but something close to a plan. If she could just make it work, all her prayers for herself and her daughter would be answered.
A man literally stepped out of the bushes, startling Felicia. “Are you all right, ma’am? Is something wrong?”
Felicia looked up at the man whom she thought of as the warden of Spyder Island. She supposed he was an attractive man and would appeal to certain women, with his hard-muscled body, his high and tight snow-white hair, and his bronzed skin. He carried a gun in a shoulder holster and made no effort to hide it. She knew for a fact he also wore a gun strapped to his ankle. All the guards carried guns and rifles. He gave her the creeps the way he watched her. He was her husband’s number one man. If she so much as burped, the man would inform her husband. She didn’t know whom she hated more, the man standing next to her or her husband. She knew she had to keep playing the game, because this man had eyes that saw everything.
“I’m fine. Thank you, Mr. Jellicoe. No matter how many times I see my daughter in that wheelchair, it still upsets me. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Hank Jellicoe stepped aside, his demeanor respectful. His eyes told a different story. “I understand that, ma’am.”
Almost immediately, the watch on his wrist buzzed. He was being summoned by the man himself. Jellicoe clenched his teeth as he walked down the path that would take him to the annex at the rear of the vast property, where Angus Spyder had a suite of offices. He hated Angus Spyder, but he was indebted to him, and if nothing else, he did have his own code of ethics and was loyal. To a point. And Spyder paid him so well, he was a millionaire a hundred times over.
Trouble was brewing. He could sense it, smell it. The big question now was, was Angus Spyder picking up on his apprehension?
Hank Jellicoe took a deep breath, held it, then let it out with a loud swoosh of sound. He knocked on the stout mahogany door, which even a rocket launcher couldn’t penetrate, and waited. He’d learned early on never to take liberties where his employer was concerned. You knocked. If there was no answer, you walked away. Under no circumstances did you ever open a door unless you were invited to open it.
As always when he was in the man’s presence, he felt intimidated. The only man in the entire universe who could actually intimidate him, and the man knew it and played on it. One of the wealthiest men in the world and also the ugliest. He was a short man and was shaped like a barrel. God had not been kind when he fashioned his face. It was flat like a shovel. His hair was thick like a bush, kinky yet greasy at the same time. His colorless eyes were deeply set over a forehead that looked like a shelf. His nose was red-veined and bulbous, and his lips were large and blubbery. His teeth were pointy like a dog’s. One ear was oversize; the other undersized. A scary-looking individual, to Jellicoe’s way of thinking. No way could he comprehend the fact that Felicia had married him, then produced beautiful Gretchen. Both were trophies to Angus Spyder, and he loved nothing more than to show them off.
Spyder favored colorful island wear, Bermuda shorts and flowered button-down shirts. Jellicoe knew for a fact that the man had a closetful of one-of-a-kind Armani and Hugo Boss suits, which he hauled out for special occasions.
“What do you have for me, Hank?”
“Nothing, sir. They were the way they always are. Your wife trying to be nice and your daughter rejecting her pleasantries. All they did was snap and snarl at one another. They acted the same way yesterday and the day before yesterday. Nothing has changed in their relationship.”
Spyder nodded, his beady little eyes taking the measure of the man standing in front of him. Whatever he saw satisfied him. He moved on. “Did you read the papers online this morning?”
“I did, sir, and I guess it wasn’t a rumor, after all. Countess de Silva will be arriving any day now. With her entourage.”
“Were you able to place the listening devices in her home?”
“Of course. In every room and the garages, too. Also the pool house. Nothing has been overlooked.”
“All right then,” Spyder said, waving his short, stubby arm, which meant Jellicoe was dismissed. “Oh, one more thing, Mr. Jellicoe. My patience is wearing thin in regards to my grandchildren. You promised results. To date, there have been none. People simply do not disappear into thin air, especially people like the Domingos, dragging along two children. When can I expect some results?”
“Mr. Spyder, we have our best people on it. The family has gone to ground. It is that simple. What that means is they had to have had help from somewhere. The only thing that comes
to mind is that a government agency has them under protection. How that happened, if it happened, I can’t explain. We are working night and day on it. Sooner or later, we’ll catch a break. We always do. Mistakes happen even with the best-laid plans.”
“That isn’t good enough, Mr. Jellicoe. I want those children. They belong to me. They carry my bloodline. Do I make myself clear?”
“As crystal, Mr. Spyder.” The head of security turned on his heel with an offhand wave of his own and left the office. Outside, out of view of the man himself, Jellicoe’s shoulders sagged. Christ, how he hated the man behind the door. If there was a way to gut the man from his throat to his groin, he’d do it in a heartbeat.
As always, when he left the man’s presence, he had these thoughts, and the memories came rushing back. When he’d gotten away from the vigilantes, he’d headed straight here, believing that Angus Spyder would keep him safe. And he had. But he’d had to give up something for the promise of safety. The something that earned Spyder billions of dollars. And he’d just handed it over like it was nothing. But Spyder had hired him to keep the island secure, and he had upheld his end of the bargain. And because of that crazy-ass inbred loyalty, he’d accepted the man’s offer. The way he looked at it at the time, his life was worth more to him than what he had been forced to give up. Loyalty to an insane man. How crazy was that? “Pretty damn crazy,” he muttered to himself as he squared his shoulders and marched off.
Jellicoe made his rounds, spoke with several of his top people. Satisfied that all was well, he headed home to make himself some lunch. He needed to think and think hard. Trouble was brewing. He’d honed his gut instincts till they were razor-sharp, and his gut was screaming loudly to tread softly but carry a big stick.
Inside the mansion where he lived, Jellicoe headed straight to what he called his monitoring room. He checked to see what Gretchen was doing. As always, playing on the computer. The mother was changing her earrings and spraying herself with perfume. A daily ritual that her husband demanded. All these years of doing the same thing over and over again had made her movements robotic. He wished he knew the real story behind the married couple. And there was a story. Sooner or later . . .
Jellicoe headed for the kitchen, where he made himself a ham sandwich on rye bread, which he washed down with two ice-cold bottles of beer. One of his rules, a rule that he broke every single day, was no drinking on duty. Well, for Christ’s sake, he was on duty twenty-four hours a day, so the rule simply did not apply to him.
The laptop computer on the kitchen table beckoned to him. None of Spyder’s lapdogs could even come close to figuring out how this particular computer worked, nor would they ever figure it out. On the surface it looked just like any other laptop. But there were layers upon layers of firewalls, installed by some of the most brilliant minds in the world. It held his life, the key to his life, the key to his future. Right out in plain sight on his kitchen table, which was cluttered with reports, food wrappers, crumbs, and an ashtray full of cigarette butts. He let loose with a bitter laugh. His future. What a laugh that was. Unless . . .
Jellicoe’s cell phone buzzed. He clicked it on, listened, then frowned. What the hell difference did it make if Gretchen Spyder was reading about Countess Anna de Silva’s visit to the island or not? Obviously, his overexuberant operative thought it was worth mentioning. Because all snitches were rewarded with bonuses at the end of the month. Rule number one with Angus Spyder. “What is she looking at now?” he asked with a bite to his tone.
“She’s checking a sale at Nordstrom on shoes that are called Crocs.”
“And you think this is noteworthy, Minnelli?”
“The man himself said he wants everything. No matter how silly or inane. You backed it up, boss. She’s moved on now to some waitress who was given a hundred-dollar tip by some patron who liked the way she served his table.”
“Say good night, Gracie,” Jellicoe said, clicking off his cell phone. Why couldn’t that ugly bastard just lie down and die? Only the good die young. Now where had he heard that old tried-and-true saying? He rather thought there was a song by that title. He slammed his fist down on the table with such force, the ashtray, filled to the brim, dumped its contents out over the table. Another mess to clean up.
Jellicoe reached for his baseball cap, which said SPYDER ISLAND SECURITY on the brim, and mashed it down over his head. He reached for his specially tinted sunglasses, fixed them in place, and left his spartan house. A ten-thousand-square-foot house that had one bed, one footlocker, one easy chair, one seventy-two-inch television, plus a kitchen table with four chairs. Plus all the monitoring equipment that was a requirement of the job. But that was just the first floor. He hated the place, called it a rat hole in his mind. Hated it almost as much as he hated Angus Spyder.
Outside, in the hot, humid air, Jellicoe let his thoughts go once again to the imminent arrival of Countess Anna de Silva. Then he threw his head back and laughed until he was breathless when he remembered how Angus Spyder had hit the ceiling the morning he’d read in the Post that de Silva had more money than he did. He’d screamed at the top of his lungs for his lackeys to explain how that was possible. Shivering and quaking, almost in tears, the team of grown men hired to account for his fortune had suffered through the tirade with the only answer they could give, which was that it was true and that numbers didn’t lie. Thirteen minutes later, the nine-man forensic team was being ferried off the island. The following day, a new set of number crunchers arrived. Angus Spyder had not been the same ever since.
He now knew without a shadow of a doubt that the only way to get to Angus Spyder was money. Now, if he could make a plan that worked, he’d be home free, and Spyder’s ugly, evil body would be at the deep end of the ocean. And the Domingo family would remain safe and sound.
Hank Jellicoe now had a new mission in his life.
Chapter 11
Greg Albright, aka Stephen Wolansky, looked around Myra’s kitchen at the gaggle of people staring at him. Who were these people? Was he supposed to say something? What? He squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and plunged right in. “I think you people just kidnapped me. I know what that lady . . . What’s her name? Oh, yeah, Isabelle something or other . . . I know what she said to me back in England, but I’m not buying into that crap. Kidnapping is kidnapping, and we’re on American soil now. Look at me!” he barked. “I’m not even Greg Albright anymore. I’m some dude named Stephen Wolansky, and I have a badge that says I’m an FBI agent. Okay, folks, you’re all under arrest, and I’m outta here!” he said dramatically as he crouched into a shooter’s stance, pretending he had a gun.
When no one moved or said anything. Albright sat down hard on one of the kitchen chairs. But he wasn’t finished quite yet. He reared back up and barked a second time. “Oh, yeah, now another thing you’re telling me is I’m going on yet another vacation, to some goddamn island I never even heard of, where the very rich and famous frolic, and where I might, that’s as in might, get to see the woman I love. But that’s only if her crazy-ass father doesn’t find me first and kill me if I don’t sign my kids over to him, kids I didn’t even know I had until a few days ago. How am I doing so far, folks?”
“That’s pretty accurate up to a point,” Annie said. “Knowledge is a powerful thing, Mr. Wolansky. But knowledge that you do not need can also get you into a peck of trouble. It can even get you killed. How’m I doing so far?”
“Why do I feel like I just fell through the rabbit hole?”
“In a manner of speaking, you just did, dear,” Myra said. “I know we came at you out of the blue, but someday we’re all hoping you will thank us for saving . . .”
“Your sorry ass,” said Kathryn, always the most outspoken of the group, finishing what Myra was in the middle of saying.
“You’re the only ones who are saying my sorry ass needs to be saved. I want to see some proof. Another thing, I could go to jail for impersonating an FBI agent. Did any of you think of that? Oh,
I get it. It’s my sorry ass, so it isn’t your problem.”
Nikki stood up, then leaned over the table to stare at Albright. “I would think you would be a little more grateful to us. You have no idea what could have happened to you without our intervention. You want proof? Okay, here’s your proof.” She nodded to Myra to produce the proof Albright had requested.
Myra walked over to the little kitchen cubby where she kept her laptop computer, and reached up to the shelf above to remove a cardboard box loaded with all the information they’d gathered to date on Gretchen Spyder, the Domingos, the twins, the lawsuit, and Angus Spyder himself. She plopped it down in front of Albright. “Take your time. The rest of us will be in the dining room, having lunch. Feel free to join us when and if you feel like it.”
“He’s a wild card,” Ted said, after they were all seated around the dining room table.
Always a defender of the underdog, Dennis reached for a ham on rye. “Try putting yourself in his place, Ted. First off the bat, he didn’t even know he was a father, much less a father of a set of twins who were given up for adoption without his even knowing about it. So he’s in love with a woman who did him dirty. He’s still loyal to that love, so how can you blame him for that? In the end, I believe that Gretchen Spyder was trying to protect him and the twins from her evil father. I do believe she would have found a way somehow to join him at some point. Unfortunately, fate intervened, just the way it did with Marie and Sally when they left me their Welmed fortune. If nothing else, I am a believer in faith. You should try it sometime.
“Not only that, the guy is just a regular guy. He’s not into all this spook stuff. I bet the closest he’s ever been to a cop is for maybe a speeding ticket, and I even doubt that. He strikes me as the kind of guy who obeys the rules and got caught up in something beyond his control. So, let’s all ease up on him, okay?”
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