Cross Roads (14 page)

“You ever make a call like that to me again and you'll be with your ancestors wherever they are. Good to see you, Jack,” Harry said formally as he bowed, to the others' amusement. Jack bowed back, and the two hugged again, this time with a few manly slaps to the back and one more bone-crushing hug. The others smiled at this blatant show of affection between the two old friends.

“What's new, Harry?” Bert chirped.

Harry rolled his eyes, which was no easy feat. “There's got to be a hundred people around who were just waiting to see if the plane really was going to land. The odds weren't good until thirty minutes ago. What the hell is going on?”

“You know what, Harry, we're here safe and sound. I'd kind of like to wait till we get to the farm so I don't have to explain it all again. Thanks for being here.” Jack's eyes misted over again. He had never felt so loved, so cared about by anyone, not even by Nikki, than he did right this minute, with Harry's arm around his shoulder. This, he decided, was what having a brother was all about. Obviously, Harry was of the same mind-set because he gave Jack's shoulder a hard squeeze.

Yessireee, there was no place like home with friends who cared enough about you to go to the mat for you, no questions asked and no thanks expected.

Outside the terminal, the foursome looked around, huge smiles on their faces as people, strangers, high-fived them, smiled, some said “welcome home,” others offered a quick clap on the back. Charles's people. It was beyond comforting to know that his back, along with those of his companions, was being covered.

“Your ride!” Harry said, his arms waving every which way as a stretch limousine slid gracefully to the curb. “I'll see you at the farm, Jack.” He pecked the girls on their cheeks and shook Bert's hand before he ran in the direction of the parking lot, where he'd left his Ducati. There was no doubt in Jack's mind that Harry would arrive way ahead of the limo. Still, there was a possibility Harry would feel duty-bound to escort the limo out to the farm. Jack negated that thought the moment it surfaced in his brain. He grinned when he saw his best friend in the whole world do a hop, skip, and a fast two-step before he danced out of sight.

Squeals, laughter, and tears were the order of the day when Jack finally settled himself next to Nikki in the limousine. He reached for her hand, and she squeezed it.

“I know I said this a dozen times, but I don't care. I am sooo happy to be home. God, there is nothing in my life that has ever felt as good as this moment,” Nikki said.

“Hear! Hear!” Kathryn said as she uncorked a bottle of champagne that all limousines seemed to come equipped with. A ripe discussion ensued as Kathryn poured the bubbly.

“
What
should we toast?”

“Who
should we toast? Or, is that
whom
should we toast?”

“The world, Mom and Dad, apple pie, hot dogs, the Redskins?”

“Nikki held her glass aloft. “This toast has to mean something. Really mean something.”

Instead of deferring to her husband, Nikki looked over at Kathryn.

Kathryn raised her glass and said, “To Hank Jellicoe and our impossible dream that is now possible. Is that profound or what?”

Nikki smiled. “It is definitely profound, Kathryn.” Murphy took that moment to let loose with a sharp bark of approval before he lay back down and went to sleep.

“That's all I need by way of approval,” Kathryn said as she sipped from her glass of bubbly.

Jack and Bert looked nonplussed but had the good sense not to ask questions as Nikki continued to smile.

“W
hat do you mean, ladies only?” Jack demanded irritably. “I'm your husband, Nikki. Harry is Yoko's husband. We should be able to sit in on the conference. And what about Bert, Ted, and Espinosa? What are we, chopped liver? For years you all said we were members of this elite group. What's wrong with this picture?”

“Well,
dear,
that was back in the day when we were an elite little group before you guys screwed it up, and now you have to take responsibility for your actions. Furthermore, we are no longer the vigilantes. That ended with our pardons and your screwup. Need I say more?” Nikki asked.

“Hell, yes, you need to say more. What about us?” Jack demanded, waving his arm about to indicate the scowling faces of Bert, Harry, Ted, and Espinosa.

“We voted, and it was seven to one to exclude you from this meeting,” Kathryn said coldly.

Ted swallowed hard and voiced an opinion with a nudge from Bert. “Yeah, well, what about Maggie? She isn't a bona fide vigilante. She's the EIC of the paper. How come she gets to sit in?”

Maggie waved her hand, the left hand with her engagement ring. “Do not go there, Ted.”

Another nudge, this one harder by Jack, caused Ted to sputter, his face turning red. He started to wave his hands around like a maniac. “Yeah, yeah, but who do you call when you need something taken care of? Us, that's who. If we aren't good enough to sit in, then we aren't good enough to follow your orders! Right, guys?”

A lot of mumbling started to take place.

“Like I said, we voted, and for now you are excluded from this meeting. Now toddle off so we can get down to business,” Kathryn ordered.

It was a dismissal, pure and simple. Blustering and growling, the men slammed their way through the kitchen door to an elevated terrace, where cool drinks, compliments of Charles, waited for them.

Charles offered up a pitying look, shrugging before he turned on his heel to follow the women to the underground war room. His parting shot caused all four men to cringe. “They're right, you know. This is all your fault. Personally, I'm surprised that all of you haven't been dismembered and found floating in the Potomac.”

“Well, that damn well sucks,” Jack said.

Harry kicked out at one of the iron chairs resting under a huge umbrella. The heavy chair flew across the terrace. “Charles is right. It is your fault, Jack. Yours, too, Bert. You convinced the three of us to…how shall I put it…sign on for a dream of a lifetime. My ass, Jack. This has been a nightmare. And those women down below are going to make us pay and pay, then pay some more for those eighteen months. When they're done making us pay is when they're going to kill us. You listening to me, Jack?”

“Of course I'm listening. So is half the world. Let's be clear on something. Neither Bert nor I twisted your arm. We did not conk you on the head to follow us. We presented an opportunity that at the time seemed to be unequaled. Look, he conned us all. We went into it with our eyes wide open, so don't go blaming me and Bert for your own greed. I'm willing to take a fifth of the blame, but that's all. Kathryn was right, we're each responsible for our own actions. Let me be the first to say this out loud. I do not know how to make this right with the girls. As you know, they are not the most forgiving of women.”

“You had to say that, didn't you, Jack?” Harry said, kicking out at another chair.

Espinosa, who rarely voiced an opinion, voiced one now. “I say we lie low and fall back and regroup. Sooner or later, the girls will come around. They need us,” he finished up lamely.

Four sets of eyes zeroed in on Espinosa. “No, Espinosa, they don't need us. We convinced ourselves that we're needed, but we're all delusional. What the hell planet are you living on?” Jack demanded.

Espinosa stood firm, which was also unusual.

“Do you know something we don't know?” Ted asked craftily.

“No, but I know women. I have a lot of sisters. I know how their minds work. They will need us at some point. That's when we all have to decide if we want to join up again or go back to our less-than-exciting lives. I, for one, plan on joining up. You want to kill me, go for it.”

“Crap!” Bert said succinctly.

“So we just sit here and twiddle our thumbs?” Ted muttered.

“Unless you have a better idea,” Jack muttered in return.

“What do you think they're going to do?” Harry asked, his voice sounding anxious. “Damn, they're free now, they can do whatever they want, go wherever they want. If they revert to vigilante status, it's all over.”

“Not if they have blanket immunity,” Bert said. “Five bucks says that is exactly what they're going to do. Jesus, did you see Annie's face? She couldn't wait to go down to that war room to stir things up. Hell, all of them were so excited, I almost blacked out. We are toast, gentlemen.”

“You're an asshole, 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 shitty 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 Cummings 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 asses 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 piss-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 fuck does that mean? I hate you, Jack,” Harry said.

“What the hell 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 attitude. 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 hellhole 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.