Eyes Only

by Fern Michaels

  “Uh . . . ma’am, I think you knocked him out cold. He’s not going to be able to answer you. At least not right now,” Jack said.

  “Oh. Well, at least I finally did something right. I just came here to tell you something. Better yet, let me show you where it is.” She babbled as she ran into the grotto-like bathroom and rummaged in the cabinet under the whirlpool tub. She groped and cursed, but finally she withdrew a large, old-fashioned hardbound ledger. “This is a record of all his business dealings. He liked the computer but wanted to be able to see things in black and white whenever he wanted to. He made all the entries himself. In some ways, it was a sensual thing for him. If it helps, fine. If not, at least you can compare what’s in the computer to what’s in the book. We’re ready to leave now.”

  “I imagine you are,” Myra said. “Ted, you and Joseph help Irina and her daughter. Dennis, you go, too.” She threw her hands in the air. “Good Lord, we never thought to ask. Do you know how to drive the speedboat?”

  “I do,” Dennis chirped. “I grew up on the Maryland shore.”

  “I can drive it,” Irina said. “Angus had one of the men teach me in case of an emergency.”

  A flurry of movement ensued as the group prepared to depart, and Angus Spyder started to come around.

  “Hurry,” Annie urged. “You need to get out to the yacht before the new crew arrives. We’ll be in touch.”

  Tears rolling down her cheeks, Irina turned and blew a kiss to them all.

  “Go!” Annie roared.

  The minute Irina was out of sight, Kathryn, her leg burning, advanced on Spyder. She bent down and hauled him to his feet. “The man asked you a question. Answer him.”

  Spyder’s big head wobbled on his neck. Kathryn shook him like a rag doll until he started to curse, telling her what she could do and how to do it. Kathryn’s eyes narrowed. She did not understand a word of what he was saying or calling her, but she had a pretty good idea he was not inviting her to a picnic or a dance. She slammed him back against the wall. He clamped his lips tight, a sure sign he wasn’t giving up a thing.

  “How about this, you little monster?” Abner said, waving the old-fashioned ledger in the air so Spyder could see it. “I’ll get it all with this to help me. It’s just going to take me longer. The longer it takes me, the longer you’re going to suffer at their hands.”

  Spyder sneered. “A bunch of women!” he spat. “What? They’re going to beat me to a pulp while batting their eyelashes? Ooh, I am so scared.”

  “Oh, shit. Wrong answer,” Jack mumbled under his breath.

  Jack inched closer to Harry in time to hear Yoko whisper, “You need to sit this one out, sweetie. I think we have it covered.” That was all Harry and Jack had to hear as she slithered toward the doorway.

  The room went still, as though all the air had been sucked out of it. In two short minutes, the air returned in a rush of sound and motion. Jack didn’t realize what a death grip he had on Harry’s shoulders until Harry yelped in pain. Both men watched as Angus Spyder flew through the air, only to be caught and tossed from one woman to the next as they peeled off his clothing in midair. Jack closed his eyes. When he opened them, he saw that Yoko had a hammerlock on the little man. The others crowded around, forming a barrier to his eyes.

  “What are they doing?” Harry hissed.

  “I can’t bear to look, but I heard your wife say they are going to flay the bottoms of his webbed feet, and then they’re going to fry him in the tanning bed,” Jack hissed.

  “Yeah, yeah, I heard that, too,” Sparrow said, his dark eyes as wide as saucers. “They won’t really do that, will they? I mean . . . that’s just a threat, right?” His voice was so shaky, Jack felt sorry for him.

  “Easy to tell this is your first rodeo, Sparrow. If my wife said it, you can take it to the bank. It’s probably going to get a little gory in here in another few minutes,” Harry said, his eyes on Alexis and what she was pulling out of her red bag.

  “This might be a good time for you to check the women, to see if they got off okay,” Jack said.

  Sparrow hastily withdrew. He felt like a wuss when Maggie Spritzer laughed right in his face. She shook her head at what she perceived as his squeamishness.

  Abner held up his hand. His eyes were on Alexis, who had two straight razors in her hand. “Last chance, Mr. Frogman!”

  A string of curses filled the air. “Crazy people. My men are going to slaughter you!” Spyder snarled.

  “Crazy?” Abner boomed. “Only a crazy person would write down the passwords in a ledger and hide it in a bathroom.” He continued watching Alexis to see what she would do with the straight razors. “I’m in,” he chortled as he tapped away on the keyboard. Blizzards of numbers whipped across the screens. “Lookie here, Mr. Spyder! Let him see, girls!”

  Nikki grabbed one of Spyder’s ears, Isabelle took the other, and they hoisted the little man up so he had a full view of what was flashing on all the monitors. A fresh wave of curses and spittle filled the air.

  “Move it all out, Abner. The Netherlands Antilles. But keep fifty million dollars and move it to Goldman Sachs. I gave you the routing numbers earlier. Move another fifty million dollars to Wells Fargo.”

  “What do you want me to do about that Spy Trap or crap business? The one that spies on everyone.”

  “Make it crash and burn,” Annie shot back.

  “There are billions of dollars sitting in that account. No code, no password. Why is that?” Abner asked.

  “The man asked you a question,” Yoko said quietly. “Hold him steady, girls. Who is doing the carving?”

  “Me.” Alexis giggled. “I’m doing the right foot, and Nikki,” she said, handing her the second straight razor, “is doing the left foot. On the count of three!”

  Spyder struggled in vain to free himself. Abner kept shouting for the code and password, while Yoko pinned the little man to the chair he was sitting on. Myra grabbed one webbed foot to hold it steady, while Annie grabbed the other.

  Maggie Spritzer leaned forward and stared at the man’s webbed feet. “I didn’t expect him to have toenails, for some reason.”

  “One!”

  “Two!”

  “Three!”

  The scream was so primal that Jack and Harry scooted out the door. Jack sucked deep breaths of air into his lungs. Harry did the same thing.

  “I don’t think they need us in there,” Jack said.

  “I think you’re right,” Harry agreed. “Let’s check to see if the women got off all right.”

  Both men loped along and down to the boathouse. Off in the distance, they could see the two speedboats returning to the island. The yacht was moving. Both men looked at the motorized wheelchair sitting in the boathouse. The wheelchair made it all real.

  “No sign of the seaplane,” Jack said.

  “Where’s Avery?” Harry asked.

  “Good question. Where is he? We should have heard the plane by now.” Jack looked over his shoulder just as Dennis maneuvered one of the speedboats into the boathouse. Ted, Espinosa, and Sparrow were right behind them. They secured both boats and hopped up to the deck.

  “That was a very rewarding experience,” Dennis said. “But in a way, it was sad, too. At least we know the women are safe, and Gretchen and Greg will live happily ever after. I heard Greg whisper to Gretchen that if the operation wasn’t a success, it wouldn’t matter to him. He told her it wasn’t her legs he fell in love with. Gretchen cried, and so did her mother.”

  Harry clapped Dennis on his back. “You did good, kid. I’m glad to see you have heart.”

  “So, what’s going on here?” Dennis asked.

  “Well, ah . . . we weren’t needed, so we came out here to see what was going on,” Harry replied.

  “In other words, you couldn’t take what they were doing, so you bailed out,” Ted said.

  Jack grimaced. “They were filleting his feet. He wouldn’t give up the password and code for that spy company. If he didn’t
give it up, they were going to toast him in the tanning bed. Abner crashed the site.”

  “Holy shit!” Espinosa said.

  “So now what do we do?” Dennis asked.

  The boys all looked at one another and shrugged.

  Jack Sparrow sat down on the deck and looked at his bare feet. “Tell me your boy really crashed the site, Jack. That goddamn company is a thorn in everyone’s side. Tell me I can go back and say, ‘It’s gone. No more spying on anyone.’ ”

  “You can tell them that, Sparrow, and it will be the truth. There are billions in that account. That’s billions with a b. And we’re going to return a good portion to his victims and give the rest away. And we will take a hefty chunk for the BOLO boys.”

  “Well, that’s going to make my life a lot easier. I imagine the White House will be relieved. I didn’t tell you this, because I was sworn to secrecy, but the bureau was tasked with taking the site out. As much as I hate to admit it, we didn’t have a clue how to do it, and you just handed it to me. Man, you guys . . . um . . . and the girls are something else.”

  “Someone should call the Domingos and tell them they’re free agents again and they can get on with their lives,” Dennis said.

  “It’s not that simple, Dennis. I’ll call Pearl Barnes in a bit, and she’ll put the wheels in motion. We can’t upset the railroad,” Sparrow said.

  “Okay. That’s good. Right. I understand. I just thought they should at least be told they’re in the clear so they can sleep easy tonight.”

  “They will, trust me,” Sparrow said.

  “Do you think maybe we should be . . . you know . . . be getting back, in case the girls need some help?” Ted said.

  The others hooted with laughter.

  “That’s a joke, right?” Jack said.

  “What? We’re just going to sit here until . . .”

  “I guess until they fry his ass in that tanning bed,” Jack said.

  The boys sat down on the deck in the boathouse, their feet dangling in the water.

  “Where the hell is Snowden? Where is the seaplane? Where is the rotating crew?” Harry asked.

  “I can’t see the yacht anymore,” Dennis said, shielding his eyes to peer out at the ocean.

  “That’s a good thing, kid,” Ted said.

  The BOLO boys stared out at the calm ocean, their thoughts and feelings reflected on all their faces.

  “So this is where you’ve been hiding,” Snowden said as he came around the side of the boathouse.

  The boys jumped to their feet, each of them shouting questions, the main one being, “What’s going on?”

  “Well, I and my crew are happy to report that the rotating crew arrived and was quite happy to take us up on our hospitality, and they are now sleeping off a king-size Russian vodka drunk. By my best calculations, we have about two hours to split this place and return to safety. Where is our . . . ? I want to say ‘patient, ’ but I think ‘victim’ would be more appropriate.”

  “I think he’s sizzling in that tanning bed back in his gym. Maybe it’s time to check on things. Strength in numbers, that kind of thing,” Jack mumbled under his breath.

  “Let’s do it,” Snowden said, striding off, the boys trailing behind.

  Once they were back in Spyder’s bunker, the boys lined up like soldiers, waiting to see what they should do.

  “What took you so long?” Kathryn snapped. “He’s ready to go.”

  “Did he give it up?” Jack asked.

  “He did,” Abner said cheerfully as he tapped away. “I’ve got all I need right now, but I want to finish up back in the States. Got it all on flash drives. We are good to go, ladies and gentlemen. I have to say, he put up a good fight. He didn’t cave till his skin started to bubble up. He’s all yours. My job here is done.”

  “And you did it so well, dear,” Isabelle said as she took his arm.

  “Clear out!” Snowden said. “I need to get my men here to clean up this mess. Do you have any special instructions?”

  Annie fixed a steely eye on Snowden. “Three times is the charm, Mr. Snowden.”

  Snowden bit down on his lip. “Point taken, Countess.”

  Annie poked Myra in the arm. “What do you say we hit Vegas for a bit? We can drop everyone off at Reagan National and take off again for Vegas. I’m feeling lucky all of a sudden. Race you back to the villa.”

  It didn’t quite happen like that. Outside, there was such a clamor of laughter, squeals, and shouting that Myra and Annie ran through the crowd in time to see Charles and Fergus pumping hands and being hugged. Both women watched as they started to shake from head to toe.

  Annie pinched Myra. “Are they real or figments of our imagination?”

  “They look pretty real to me, Annie. Charles looks thinner.”

  “So does Fergus,” Annie whispered. “What should we do?”

  “You’re asking me? You always have all the answers. What do you want to do?”

  “Good Lord, Myra, do not ask me that. What I want to do and what I should do are two different things.”

  “I hear you.”

  The group parted to allow Charles and Fergus to walk forward.

  “Myra.”

  “Charles.”

  “Annie.”

  “Fergus.”

  The two couples stared at one another.

  As one, Charles and Fergus spoke. “What took you so long to find us? We’ve been waiting forever for you to spring us.”

  Myra made an instant decision at the same time Annie did. “You weren’t exactly easy to find, Sir Charles. But we found you. That’s all that is important. Is it really you, Charles, or am I dreaming?”

  “You’re not dreaming, love.”

  “You didn’t ask me to go with you,” Annie whispered.

  “I thought you’d say no. Look at me, Annie. I have nothing to offer you but my person and my very small pension. I wanted to ask, but I was afraid.”

  “Are you offering now? Because if you are, I’ll take it.”

  “You will?”

  “Damn straight I will. How’d you like to join me and Myra and probably Charles now? We’re going to Vegas. You know what they say, Fergus. ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.’ ”

  “I’m your man, then.”

  Myra looked back over her shoulder and winked at Annie.

  Annie grinned as she settled her tiara a little more firmly on her head.

  The Sisters clapped loudly, while the boys whistled and hooted their approval.

  “Doncha love it, Harry, when things end so well?” Dennis asked.

  “I do, kid. I do.”

  Epilogue

  Seven months later . . .

  While the world watched Mother Nature help spring transition into summer with barely a drop in the temperature, then nudge what most meteorologists called a perfect summer into autumn, the residents of Pinewood and their guests barely noticed the change in seasons.

  It was the day before Thanksgiving, seven long months since the Sisters’ return from Spyder Island. The lights at the command center at Pinewood burned brightly 24/7 as the gang worked nonstop to right all of Angus Spyder’s wrongdoing.

  Thanksgiving was their target date to wrap things up, and as Annie de Silva said, they were right on target.

  To say the women were tired would be an understatement. The guys were just as tired but were refusing to admit to it. And then there were the squabbles, the small turf wars that ensued with Charles’s and Fergus’s return to the fold. In the end, though, it all came together, and they worked as the well-oiled team that they were.

  Charles, to his chagrin, relinquished his position on the dais in the war room to Abner Tookus. Myra appointed him chief cook and bottle washer, with Fergus as his top aide. With so many mouths to feed and the long hours of work, it was necessary to keep everyone nourished. Since the order came down from Myra, Charles thought it best if he pulled in his fighting horns and did her bidding. To say the menus were flawless would be an
understatement. One day, the meals would be exotic; and the next day, comforting; followed up by downright perfect. Charles and Fergus allowed themselves to bask in the compliments, while Dennis watched and took notes, sometimes feeling brave enough to offer a suggestion.

  On the first day after their return from Spyder Island, assignments were handed down. It was up to Ted, Maggie, Espinosa, and Dennis to let the world know about Angus Spyder, and they did with a once-a-month in-depth article, a series that had the four of them on the way to a Pulitzer. The Post’s readership tripled during the seven months the articles ran. The last article, which would run on the weekend after Thanksgiving, was being tweaked one last time.

  After much debate, Annie gave the final okay for a warlike banner on the front page of the Post that read, VIGILANTES END REIGN OF EVIL. The rest of the front page carried photos of Angus Spyder, thanks to Joseph Espinosa. It was Maggie’s suggestion, one that Ted had seconded, to wait till the last article to show the world the little, ugly man who had created such evil around the globe. She said it would be a fitting end to the whole ugly story.

  It was midafternoon on the day before Thanksgiving. A light, blustery wind was blowing outside, but it was cozy and warm indoors, where all the gang was gathered, packing up the files and stacking them neatly in the war room. What they would do with them later on was anyone’s guess. Myra thought they should be dropped off at either the FBI’s front door or on the CIA’s doorstep. A decision had yet to be made, but the most likely vote would be for the files to be transported to the Post warehouse, then sent to the FBI, to the attention of Jack Sparrow. He could then make the decision about what to share and what not to share with the CIA. Sparrow said he liked that idea best of all and knew the president would laud him forever if he made it happen.

  There were many good things that had happened during the seven months at Pinewood. Abner and Isabelle had made peace and were cohabiting once again, to everyone’s delight. Espinosa and Alexis had formally announced their engagement over the Fourth of July. The wedding, to be held at Pinewood, was scheduled for Valentine’s Day the following year.