Collateral Damage (18 page)

Nikki listened as the agent bellowed for Erin to take the call. Myra was off the phone before Erin Powell came on the line. She whispered instructions to Nikki, who nodded.

A moment later Nikki heard her old friend identify herself. Erin followed up with, “How did you get this number, and how did you know I was here? I don’t know anyone named Carol Maloney. What do you want?”

“Hello, Erin. Is that any way to talk to a member of the press? This is Nikki Quinn. To answer your question I watched you all morning. I was right under your nose, to be exact. If you’re trying to trace this call, don’t bother. I’m willing to meet you one-on-one. I have people watching you. Not only do I know exactly where you are right this moment, I can actually see you. If you want to confide in your fellow agents, my proposed deal is off. So, do you want the meet or not?”

“Why should I meet with you? For God’s sake, Nikki, you’re a felon. I have orders to find you and bring you in. The FBI does not make deals. You know that.”

“I am a felon, and so are the others. I don’t deny it. Don’t give me that bullshit that you fibs don’t make deals. You do it all the time as long as it benefits you. Listen to me, I want to help you. You’re being set up by Director Cummings. He thinks you’re the mole. That’s why he gave you Navarro, and you fell right into his trap by making him your number one. You were always smart, Erin. I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out. You’re going to be twisting in the wind unless you chop them off at the knees. There goes your career. Meet me somewhere, alone, and I’ll turn over the information I have so you can save your skin and at the same time turn the tables on them. This is just between us, Erin. If you try anything funny, I won’t like it, and the vigilantes will have to retaliate. Are we clear on that?”

“How do I know…?”

Anticipating the question, Nikki jumped in with, “You don’t. You’ll just have to trust an old friend and know she’d never do anything to harm you. It’s your call, Erin.”

Erin’s voice was hesitant when she said, “Where and when do you want to meet?”

“Right now, within the hour. The British Embassy. I’ll be waiting. One wrong move on your part, and it will be the last one you ever make. Do you understand what I just said?”

“Yes, I do. How accurate is your intel?”

Nikki knew by the whispered voice that she had her. Her fist shot in the air, a signal to the others that Erin would play ball.

“We haven’t survived this long by sharing information. Suffice it to say we’re never wrong. One hour.” Nikki slapped the encrypted cell phone shut and looked around at the small group. “She went for it. I told you all along she’s a smart cookie. She’s already seeing the handwriting on the wall.

“Myra, call Charles and have him call the British Embassy and make sure they invite her in when she gets there. Harry and his people will be right behind her. They’ll do the snatch and grab, and it’s over and done with.”

“Then what?” Harry asked.

“Then we have Judge Easter call the director, since the two of them have a history, and tell him his mole was Erin Powell. Not to worry, we’ll make sure Erin has a good life someplace quite distant from here. I suspect Charles will find her a very good job at Interpol or maybe even MI6, and give her a new identity.

“Kathryn, call Bert and tell him to catch the next plane home from Chicago. He can always say Erin called him back. We’re going to need Bert.”

Annie clapped her hands. “I love it. We’re smokin’ now.”

“Harry, move it,” Nikki said. “We’ll have Charles call you once you’re at the embassy. Okay now, ladies, let’s get down to business. We need the guy who set this all up. I’m thinking it’s the president’s chief of staff.”

“So how are we going to get to him?” Myra asked.

“We aren’t. You’re going to call Justice Pearl Barnes and have her arrange a meeting. He won’t dare turn down someone like her. We swoop in and make him regret this little charade. I think it might be a good idea to include Director Cummings, too, if we can prove he’s implicated—along with Baron Russell.”

“Girls, we are on fire!” Annie chortled.

T
he Sisters huddled after Harry’s departure. They worked in sync, Myra and Annie working the phones as they cheerfully blackmailed the seamier side of Wall Street. Annie was especially adept at finding incriminating information in the dossiers they’d confiscated from Mitchell Riley, before he’d been sent to the federal pen to live out his life. She ended each phone call with the same words, “I absolutely will not take no for an answer. Wire the money to this account. I’m so happy for you that now you will have a ten-thousand-dollar stake in the election of the next president.” For those who wanted to balk, she offered to fax them a list of their extracurricular deeds. Two hours into their gig, Myra had it down pat and was even more vicious than Annie. Neither took any prisoners.

With Charles’s help, the Sovereign Bank of Virginia was now the recipient of a fund designated as the proceeds for seating at Martine Connor’s upcoming soirée at the Waldorf-Astoria. The date of the soirée was to be announced by Pam Lock in the campaign’s next press release.

Isabelle spent the major part of the morning conferring with Maggie Spritzer, dictating articles and editorials the Sisters wanted to run in the paper. At the same time Alexis was glued to the phone with Lizzie Fox, tying off all the legal loose ends.

Nikki sat at the computer as she talked to Charles hour after hour, working out the final details on wrapping up a mission that had smelled like a dead fish from the beginning.

Kathryn spent her time talking to Bert by phone until he had to board his flight home. From time to time the others would look at her and smile. They’d never seen Kathryn so happy.

Cold-as-ice, hard-nosed, kick-ass, take-names-later Kathryn Lucas was in love.

Yoko tapped away at her computer, backing up everything Nikki sent her way. When Nikki finished a call to Charles, she’d hop on the phone with Alexis’s help to order materials for the Red Bag.

It was totally dark outside, almost eight o’clock, when all the women stopped what they were doing, as if some ultrasonic signal only they could hear had gone off.

The signal, as it turned out, was the roar of Harry’s Ducati, and Jack and Bert arriving in separate cars. The women ran to the door and turned on the outside light. Their sighs of relief could be heard all the way to the vacant house down the road.

Kathryn’s eyes devoured the tall, strapping federal agent. Always a gentleman, Bert just dropped his arm around her shoulders. Not caring about appearances, Harry picked up Yoko and headed outside in the darkness. Jack simply reached for Nikki, drew her close, and kissed her till her teeth rattled. The Sisters clapped when the couple came up for air.

A devilish grin on his face, Jack bowed low and Nikki did a full curtsy. The Sisters clapped a second time. Then they applauded a third time when Bert held up a huge shopping bag.

“Chinese and Italian!”

“Oh, you dear, sweet man,” Annie gushed. Then she whispered in Kathryn’s ear. “See, dear, one cannot live on love. One must have sustenance. How wonderful that Bert recognized that little fact.”

Kathryn gave her a playful swat on her rear end as Annie danced away with the aromatic bag.

An hour later all of the food and the beer was gone. Alexis bagged up the trash and carried it out to a garbage can at the side of the house. She made sure to clamp the lid on tightly so that raccoons couldn’t get into it. As she walked back to the cabin, she thought about her life as it was before and what it had become. She missed Grady and she felt sad that there was no one in her life to hold hands with, no one to tell her she looked pretty once in a while. When she reached the steps leading to the front porch, she sat down and hugged her knees.

If she was back in the real world, what would she be doing right now? Probably just getting home from work and heating up a can of soup because she was too tired to do anything else. A warm bath, then bed, so she could get up at four thirty, walk Grady, and still be at the office by six thirty so the powers that be could see what a dedicated worker she was.

She couldn’t help but wonder what she would do if she was suddenly given a pardon and was able to go back to her own life.
What would I do?
Tears gathered in her eyes when she had to admit to herself that she truly didn’t know. Could she handle being thrust into the mainstream of life after all she’d been through? Did she even want to go back to that old life?

Maybe she could open a small office and be a one-woman financial planner. She grimaced at the thought. She got up from the steps and winced. Her knees felt stiff and sore. Maybe she was getting the arth-a-ritis, as her old grandmother used to say. She laughed, then sobered instantly. Arthritis would be the least of her problems at this stage in her life.

She looked up at the star-spangled sky and the half moon that lit up the straggly front yard.
What day is it?
She couldn’t remember. Earlier Myra had said something about Thanksgiving fast approaching.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Alexis walked between the cars and Harry’s motorcycle out to the end of the road. She looked right and left, wondering, if she walked either way where the dirt road would take her. For one split second she was tempted to turn right and start walking, but she didn’t. She looked back at the yellow light spilling out of the cabin’s windows and knew she’d committed to the people inside. She couldn’t walk away any more than she could stop breathing. This was her life. She turned around and walked back up the driveway and onto the little front porch. She opened the door and was greeted with a warm hug from Yoko, who was about to go out into the night to look for her.

“I thought something might have happened to you,” Yoko whispered. “We were all worried.”

Alexis felt warm all over. This, then, was her family. “Silly. It’s a beautiful evening. I sat down on the steps to look up at the stars. It’s been a while since I wished on one. I saw the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.” Realizing Yoko had no clue what she was talking about, she said, “I wished us all good luck and good fortune.
After
I wished for good health and happiness. Is something happening?”

“Not yet, but any minute now. Justice Barnes and Judge Easter are on the phones with Annie and Myra.”

“What about Erin Powell?”

Yoko laughed, a delightful sound in the quiet evening. “She’s on her way to Merry Old England as we speak. She’s probably at thirty thousand feet in Annie’s private plane. According to Charles, Ms. Powell didn’t kick up a fuss or anything. She just accepted the situation and gave in gracefully. She did leave a message for Nikki, which said in essence she wished Nikki had trusted her a little more and known she would have found a way to fix things.”

Alexis looked dumbfounded. “Do you all believe it?”

“Nikki said no, not in a million years. No, none of us believed it, especially Myra.”

“I’m relieved. That’s another thorn out of our sides, at least for now.”

Yoko led Alexis to the wide circle on the floor, and they promptly sat. Alexis licked her lips, wondering if the others knew what she was feeling. She rather thought they did and understood by the way they all smiled at her. When you loved and cared about someone, it showed. It was showing now.

“So, what wonderful things happened while I was taking out the trash and looking at the stars?” Alexis asked.

Annie laughed and waved a yellow sheet of paper over her head. “Myra and I could turn into first-class blackmailers at this point. However, we lowered our estimate of the ten million for the soirée to seven. Charles seems to think he can get Elton John to perform, and possibly Paul McCartney. I also think Pam said she might be able to get Hootie and the Blowfish if we donate to some education fund they endorse. Maggie Spritzer is going to allude to all that in tomorrow’s paper. It’s going to be a sellout event. I feel it in my bones. People will be begging to be allowed to attend. I engaged the services of a very fine printing firm for specially engraved invitations, and they will follow through with Pam Lock. I think we’re good to go.”

The women cheered.

“And while you’ve been busy doing all that, what have the guys done?” Alexis asked, a devilish glint in her eye as she pointed to Bert, Harry, and Jack.

Bert went first since it looked to him like Alexis directed her question to him. “I have to head back and dismantle the task force. I received a call from Director Cummings on the way here. I’m back to being his number one, but he didn’t tell me why. He said he will meet me at six in the morning. We’re to have coffee together. He sounded, for want of a better word, stressed. He didn’t say I was to dismantle the task force, I’m just assuming that’s what he will want me to do. I don’t think he knows yet what all went down today. He told me he was going out to see Judge Easter for a late dinner. Which,” Bert said, looking down at his watch, “should be getting under way just about now.”

“But what about what went down at the Woodley house?” Jack asked.

“I tried calling Mangello, Akers, and Landos. They wouldn’t tell me a damn thing. I guess someone convinced them that I’m a mole. At least that’s the impression I walked away with. If they know about Erin’s being spirited away, they sure as hell are keeping it a secret. I think I played it cool when I told all three of them that Erin recalled me from Chicago but wouldn’t tell me why. They said they didn’t know anything about it. I couldn’t very well ask what went down on Benton Street because I’m not supposed to know. In the morning, when the dark stuff hits the fan, I should have more news to report.”

Bert stood up. “Much as I’d like to stay here this evening, I have to get back. I’ll call the moment I know something.”

“I’ll walk you out, Bert,” Kathryn said.

Nikki looked over at Myra. “Please tell me Justice Barnes is on board.”

“Oh, she’s not only on board, she’s driving the train,” Myra laughed. “She can’t wait to get her hands on the COS over at the White House. She told me what she thought of him in no uncertain terms. She called him a…Well, what she said was, he was…a dickweed. I don’t think I ever heard that term before, but I’m sure it’s not complimentary.” Myra’s face turned a rosy hue as she fingered the pearls around her neck.

“Pearl also said the president is an idiot and relies way too much on Daniel Winters. She said Winters was a bigger idiot…among other nonflattering names…than the president. She said Winters stays at the White House until eleven at night to make sure he doesn’t miss anything, so she’s calling him this evening. She also told me she has the president’s residence phone number. It still has to go through the switchboard, but not too many people have that number, so she seemed confident the operator would put her through if Winters doesn’t cooperate.”

“Has anyone talked to Lizzie since this afternoon?” Nikki asked. The women shook their heads. “Okay, I’ll call her. She needs to be brought up-to-date. We can’t afford to leave her out of the loop at this point. Jack, how did it go with Maggie and Judge Easter at lunch?”

“Very well. Maggie’s on it. Maggie, in my opinion, finally found her true calling. She’ll do everything you want her to do, maybe more. The paper will be so pro–Martine Connor that as long as she gets the nomination, she’s a shoo-in come next November. As for Judge Easter, she was a little schizo, but that’s who she is. She had
two
double bourbons. She loosened up after that. Not to worry, she’ll have Elias Cummings on his knees before she’s finished this evening. Trust me on that. Look, it’s time for me to go. I should have left when Bert left but…I’m still here. I have to be in court to plead a motion at nine. I’ll be in the office after that if any of you need me. I’ll make some calls on my way back into town and call if I find out anything. Mark Lane might have some news,” he said, referring to his old friend from the FBI who was now in private practice but freelanced for the fibbies.

Nikki uncurled herself and stood up. “I’ll walk you out.”

Harry looked down at Yoko. “I have to leave, too. I have an ambulance I need to make disappear before the night is over.”

“Well, ladies, it seems we’re all alone,” Annie said. “I think we did exceptionally well today. And the best is yet to come. Too bad we don’t have something to celebrate with.”

“We didn’t drink the wine Bert brought. We just drank the beer,” Alexis said. “The wine was for the Italian food, and the beer was for the Chinese.”

“Who knew?” Annie quipped. “Do the honors, dear, and don’t skimp. Fill those glasses to the brim. As for the others,” she said, pointing to the door, “you snooze, you lose.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Alexis said smartly as she headed to the little kitchen to do the honors.