Pearl handed the phone back to Nellie. “How’d I do?”
“Good. Now give me Elias Cummings’s number.” Pearl repeated it for Nellie’s benefit and pressed in the numbers and then handed the phone back to Pearl. She listened as Pearl identified herself.
“Yes, Elias, it appears to be a fine spring morning. I understand Grant came to you because he thought I was…uh…missing. I’m not missing. I left the house because I needed to do some serious thinking in regard to Grant’s and my relationship. I hardly see where my personal business is any business of the FBI. I do not appreciate Grant going to you to air my personal business. It’s not important how I found out. I found out. Period. I’m alive. I’m well. I’m with friends whose wise counsel I sought. In other words, Elias, stay out of my business. Regards to your family.”
Once again Pearl broke the connection and then handed the phone back to Nellie. “What now?”
“One more call, to your daughter. Smooth it over, be upbeat and natural. She’s your daughter, she’ll pick up on your anxiety if you let it show.”
Five minutes later, that call ended.
“Now, we have to get you to the Willard where the others will take care of you. I’m not sure but I think that’s what Charles is going to want you to do. Just give me a few minutes. I have to call him.”
Pearl moved away toward the refrigerator and reached for a bottle of Green Tea, which she then guzzled. She looked into the depths of the refrigerator but there wasn’t a scrap of food. She looked down at the expiration date on the bottle she was drinking from. She grimaced when she realized the Green Tea was two years past the expiration date. She shrugged and finished the bottle, capped it and set it back in the refrigerator, but not before she wiped off her fingerprints. She looked over at Nellie, who had completed her call. “What? You don’t look happy, Nellie.”
“I’m to get you to the Willard, just as I thought. Myra has a Jaguar here in the garage that she left behind. Who knows if it will start up. I ride over here every few weeks to check on things and start up the car. Charles was very explicit about keeping the golf cart charged and the Jaguar running. I’d turn on the Jaguar and then go for a ride. I think there’s enough gas to get you into town. You’ll have to park somewhere and take a taxi to the Willard. Jack Emery will be expecting you. Either he or one of his people will take you to Myra and the others. Can you handle that, Pearl?” Pearl’s head bobbed up and down. “Let’s go upstairs now and get you outfitted. All of Myra’s clothes are still here and you two are pretty much the same size. I think a hat, a suit, heels and some sunglasses will do it. All eyes are on the G-String Girls and the hotel itself. You’ll just be another rich guest staying at the Willard.”
“What if someone is watching us from the woods?”
“That’s been taken care of, Pearl. At the risk of repeating myself, this is not a Mickey Mouse operation. So get cracking and dude yourself up. I’ll start up the Jaguar and bring it around. Hurry, Pearl.”
Thirty minutes later, Chief Justice Pearl Barnes walked into the kitchen dressed like she was going to church, in a dove-gray Chanel suit with matching hat that shrieked money. Nellie nodded approvingly as she led Pearl out to the waiting Jaguar. “There’s a lot of horsepower under that hood so be careful. You don’t need a ticket at this juncture. And just to be on the safe side, check your rearview and side mirrors to see if anyone appears to be following you.”
The two women embraced. “Thanks, Nellie. You have my word, I will not give up your secret. They can pull out my toenails and I won’t give you all up.”
“And we won’t give you up, either, my friend. One last thing, Pearl. Are you certain Tyler had a meeting with Grant?”
“As sure as I’m standing here. I’ve made some bad choices, Nellie. If my mama was alive she’d say my chickens are coming home to roost.”
Nellie forced a laugh she didn’t feel. “Everyone knows a hen is smarter than a rooster. A hen isn’t dumb enough to get up early and crow. She sleeps in.”
Pearl offered up a weary smile. “And on that thought, I will leave you. Take care, Nellie. One more time, thanks.”
“We’re friends, Pearl. Enough said.”
Chapter 17
Jack Emery paced the lobby of the Willard as he waited for Justice Barnes to make an appearance. His mind was ricocheting in every direction, his stomach in knots at the daring of the vigilantes and the possible outcome. Still, it wasn’t up to him to do anything but follow orders. He’d signed on for the long haul and it was too late now to have second thoughts. He let his mind go to Harry Wong and Ted Robinson. Immediately his stomach turned sour. Robinson, razor-edge reporter that he was, had smelled a rat somewhere along the way. Just one more thing on his worry list.
He saw Pearl then and his first thought was she looked like Myra as she crossed the lobby. She also looked like a guest who knew exactly where she was going; a woman with a purpose. Jack met her at the elevator. She nodded slightly, the wide brim of the floppy hat she was wearing shading her face. Six other guests piled into the elevator, all of them mumbling about the inconvenience they were being put through because of the visiting celebrities.
The elevator door opened on the G-String Girls’ floor. Immediately six men, shoulder holsters visible, formed a cordon. Jack held up his badge before he stepped out, nudging Justice Barnes to indicate she should follow him.
Jack’s sigh was so loud, the security guards looked at him with suspicion. “It’s okay, this lady is expected. Just do your job, okay?”
The guards nodded and moved off. Jack slid the key card into the lock and opened the door. “Anybody home?” he called out.
The women rushed forward to check out their new guest.
Jack moved off, Nikki at his side. They walked toward the bedroom where he kissed her soundly before they returned to the sitting room in time to see Pearl send her hat sailing across the room.
Things kicked into high gear as Alexis hauled out her Red Bag and started to work on a new look for Kathryn as Pearl shed her outfit. The moment Jack realized Pearl was in the middle of a striptease, he drew Nikki back to the bedroom. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Myra on the phone while Annie raced to the door. She opened it a crack and reached for a brown envelope one of the guards handed her.
Clutched in each other’s arms, Jack could hear Annie babbling. The only words he heard that made sense were, “major problem.” He and Nikki ran to the sitting room. “What?” he bellowed. He turned away so he wouldn’t have to see Justice Barnes in her undies.
Startled, Annie swung around, an airline ticket in her hand. “It’s Kathryn’s plane ticket to Oregon. Charles just told Myra that there is a major problem in Germany.”
“I don’t want to hear about major problems in or out of Germany,” Jack bellowed again. Unable to control himself he bellowed a third time, “What?”
The color drained from Myra’s face as she fingered the pearls at her neck. She held out the phone in her hand. Somehow she managed to gasp, “Call Charles.”
Kathryn bolted out of her chair. “I knew it! I knew it! I told you all something would go wrong. Will you call him already before my pores get more clogged up than they are already from all this damn latex? Damn, why am I always right?”
“If you shut up, I’ll call him. I can’t hear myself think around here.” He was rewarded with instant silence. He punched in the numbers. The moment Charles said hello, Jack went into his wild spiel, ending with, “And this damn well better be good or I’m outta here and so is Harry. Well, Charles!”
“Calm down, Jack. It’s not the end of the world, although Myra seems to think it is. Actually it’s a little glitch.”
“How little?” Jack demanded. He watched the women staring at him and knew they were more than capable of attacking him at any moment if they didn’t like whatever it was he was about to say, even Nikki.
“I had a call from the real G-String Girls’ promotion manager. It appears there’s a small pro
blem with their departure and of course their arrival in the States.”
Jack clenched his teeth. “How small is small, Charles, and what the hell is the problem? I’m losing patience here in case you haven’t already figured it out.”
“Drugs,” came the response. “We’re doing our best to keep a lid on it, Jack. It’s not the girls themselves but several of their handlers who are involved. For all intents and purposes the girls left for the airport yesterday in disguise. They’re troopers, to say the least. To protect our girls they haven’t given up a thing. There is going to be a delay, but I can’t tell you how much of a delay. Our girls might have to…uh…they might have to perform onstage. Right now there is nothing I can do until I get more information. You need to comfort the women. Understandably they are shy about giving a performance. Myra threatened to kill me. I believe her, so work some magic.”
Jack’s jaw dropped. For the first time in his life he was at a total loss for words. His stomach started to crunch up at the panicked looks on the women’s faces. “Son of a bitch! Well, what does that do to Kathryn’s departure for Oregon? What about Conlon and Hughes? Give me a little direction here, Charles.”
“I’m working on it, Jack. I’ll ring you back when I have more details.”
Jack snapped the phone shut and then kicked out at the desk chair, sending it flying across the room. The women were on him then like a swarm of locusts as they screamed and yelled for information.
“Stop!” Myra shrilled. “Girls! Give Jack some air so he can tell us what’s going on.”
Myra’s words were magic. The women dropped to the floor and as one, hugged their knees as Jack tried to come to terms with what he had to say. “Okay, okay, I’m just the messenger, so let’s get that straight right now. Charles said the real G-String Girls have been delayed. Seems a few of their handlers had a problem with drugs at the airport. Everyone is in disguise so that’s in our favor. Everyone is still safe, as is our secret. It’s the time frame for their arrival here in the States that’s a problem. You will probably have to perform in their place. Now you know as much as I know.”
The silence was so deafening, Jack wanted to run for his life. At the very least he expected hysterics or the beating of his life. Instead the women stared at him like he’d sprouted a second head.
The eerie silence continued. The urge to run to the door was so strong, Jack dug his feet into the carpet. “Somebody needs to say something and that somebody needs to say it right now.”
“It’s not possible,” Isabelle said.
“We really can’t play guitars,” Yoko said.
“The audience will know we’re frauds within minutes,” Kathryn said, an evil glint in her eye. “We’ll be arrested, and all this,” she said, waving her arms about, “is worth nothing. We risked our lives coming here.”
“I think it’s doable,” Annie said. “We can use the G-String Girls’ DVDs backstage. We can close the backstage off to everyone except our people. We can lip-sync. We can do it. Girls, we can do it!”
“I think you must be on drugs, Annie,” Myra said. “We cannot do it. Read my lips, we cannot get up there and perform and fool the whole world.”
Pearl chirped up for the first time as she looked from one to the other. “Oh, my dears, you can do it. You fooled me when I saw you on the news, and we’ve been friends all our lives. If you could fool me you can fool strangers. Have a little faith in yourselves. You’re just experiencing stage fright. Once you get out there and your adoring public is cheering you on, you’ll get over it. Mind over matter,” she said matter-of-factly.
Jack gaped at Nikki, his heart thudding in his chest when she said, “Pearl is right, we can do it. It’s a mindset. We didn’t think we could get off the plane and play a part but we did. We did it again when we got here to the Willard. We pulled it off.”
Jack weighed in. “Yeah, well, how do you explain Ted Robinson?”
“Easily. He’s obsessed with the vigilantes. He sees vigilantes everywhere he looks,” Nikki said. “As long as he’s out of the picture I say we can pull it off. By the way, where is he?”
“Harry’s got him locked up at his dojo,” Jack said. “He’s not going anywhere. At least for the time being.”
“What about my people that are stranded?” Pearl asked.
Jack shrugged. “This is just a wild guess on my part but I’m thinking the second string is going to have to take over. Lizzie can go to Oregon. She can drive the bus with your people to my cabin in Montana that I supposedly own. I think that was the game plan for Kathryn, unless that’s changed, too.”
“I don’t mean to sound selfish here, but what about Grant and Tyler and the people they’re working for? What time is your scheduled departure?” Pearl asked, addressing Myra.
“I’m not sure. We were delayed getting here. Charles said he was allowing us some extra time but I’m not sure that option is still available to us. By my best calculations we have less than thirty-six hours to pull all of this off. By all of this, I mean the concert and getting Grant and Tyler to do what we want them to do. Don’t pay attention to me,” Myra dithered, “I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I want to see Harry,” Yoko said firmly.
“Well, he’s kind of busy right now, Yoko. I’ll call him in a minute.”
Jack was right, Harry Wong was so busy he didn’t know if he was coming or going.
“How the hell did I get here?” Ted Robinson asked, looking around at Harry’s dojo and the faces watching him.
“You walk in your sleep. Or if you don’t like that answer, how about hocus-pocus, you got here by osmosis?”
“Smart-ass! I asked you a question. You damn well better answer it, too.”
Harry looked around at his hired help. “Or…?”
“What the fuck did you do to me, Wong?”
Harry flexed his fingers and then waved them about. “You looked like you were getting ready to cause a disturbance. There was enough going on at the Willard without you acting out so I pressed on your neck and you went to sleep. End of story.”
“My ass that’s the end of the story. You damn well kidnapped me. Did Emery put you up to this?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, the reporter continued. “Damn straight he did and I’ll have your ass for this and don’t think I won’t.”
Harry shrugged just as his cell phone rang. He walked out of Robinson’s earshot and spoke quietly before he dropped into a listening mode. His only comment was, “Now why doesn’t all of this surprise me? Okay, okay, I’m on my way. Ted? He’s fine, shooting off his mouth as usual. He’s trying to figure out how he got here. He isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.” He continued to listen to Jack as he issued orders. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll put him to sleep. My guys will watch over him. You sound like an old lady, Jack. My people are not wusses. Stop worrying.”
Ted, who had been dumped unceremoniously onto one of the workout mats, did his best to scoot backward, only to come up against one of Harry’s people. “Easy, sport,” the man said.
“I’m not feeling any love here,” Ted grumbled. “I know what you’re up to, Wong. I knew it the minute I saw you and Emery on the security detail at the Willard. Yeah, Maggie, too. The vigilantes are back and don’t try to con me. They’re here for a reason and what better reason than Pearl Barnes. Yeah, yeah, I got it now. Those G-String Girls were just a diversion to get them back here. You son of a bitch! I’m going to ruin you when I get out of here. I’m going to plaster that ugly face of yours and Emery’s, too, all over the front page of the Post.”
Harry took a step forward and then took another step and looked down at Ted. “That doesn’t quite compute. I’m standing here, you’re sitting there ready to go night-night again and you’re going to what…?”
“You heard me. If I figured it out so will someone else. Go ahead, stomp on my neck, put me to sleep. Unless you’re a murderer, you have to let me go sometime. That’s when I stomp on your neck, you son of a bit
ch. And you can tell good old Jack for me that when I’m outta here I’m gonna shove his balls up his ass. So, go ahead and do whatever the hell you have to do. I hope your ass rots in jail because they’re gonna catch you. You can take that to the bank, too.”
Harry didn’t like what he was hearing. He didn’t have a single doubt in his mind that he could kill Ted with one pinch to his nose or throat and get rid of him once and for all. Ted was right that he wasn’t a murderer, though. He tilted his head to indicate his partner should put Harry to sleep. “Don’t take your eyes off him, not even to take a whiz. We clear on that?” His partner nodded.
A moment later Harry was out of the dojo. He fired up his Ducati motorcycle and rode off at the speed of light.
Chapter 18
Charles Martin felt his left eye twitch. Then his right eye started to twitch. A sure sign that he wasn’t his usual unflappable self. Maybe it was his new surroundings on this mountain, a mountain almost like the one he’d left fifteen hours earlier. He walked outside, Murphy and Grady at his side. They, too, seemed twitchy in their new surroundings. And they were probably picking up the scent from Havapopulas’s wolf dog, Alpha. Everyone wanted to be top dog. Charles allowed a small grin to tug at the corners of his mouth at the thought.
He needed to think and he needed to do it quickly. His girls were in a sticky wicket, and as everyone knew, sticky wickets could screw things up royally. Think, Charles, think! He’d always been good about thinking on his feet. Maybe a short stroll around this impressive compound would give him some fresh insight. He shifted his mind into a neutral zone as he walked, the dogs at his side.
A hundred million easy, he thought, to set up this compound. Maybe twice that much. Everything was man-made—all the buildings, the Olympic-size swimming pool, the tennis courts, the stables, the helicopter pad. The Black Hawk helicopter sitting on the pad like a giant black bird didn’t surprise him in the least. He knew how much they cost. Maybe this whole operation was closer to a billion dollars. His own operation back in Spain simply couldn’t compare to what he was seeing. He was impressed. He remembered when Lizzie had first told him about it. What was it she’d said? Oh, yes, “Sir Malcolm, it is right up your covert alley. I’ll make all the arrangements.” And she had. The proof was the fact that he was standing here on Big Pine Mountain.
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