Countdown (9 page)

Jack clucked his tongue. “Sorry, Lionel, we already have everything you own, and, like I said, you aren’t going anywhere, so get used to it. I’m going to put you on speaker now so you can tell your clients, that would be Mr. and Mrs. Sandford, the spot you are currently in. Be happy. They’ll be joining you shortly.” Jack clicked on the speaker and held out the phone so Marks’s words could be heard by the whole room. Marks spouted a tirade the likes of which none of them had ever heard before.

“Wow!” Maggie said. “He certainly is colorful now, isn’t he?”

“Yep,” Ted said.

Tyler Sandford listened, then let loose with a volley of profanity the little group had never heard before either. Fiona Sandford fainted as Marks continued to scream and blame Sandford and herself for everything under the sun, ending with, “I hope they do bring your sorry ass here, and you’ll see what living with rats is like. Oh, God, one of them is chewing my shoe!”

Fiona opened her eyes just in time to hear Marks’s last statement. She started to wail and curse her husband. “Rats! Rats! Oh, my God! Do something. Tell them what they want to know. Look at them, Tyler, these people are evil.
Evil!
” she screeched at the top of her lungs.

“Who brought these evil people here, Fiona? You did! I had nothing to do with this; my hands are clean. You people will go to jail for this. I’ll personally see to it. And you’ll never see the light of day again.”

“Wait just one minute here,” Jack said. “Who was just Tasered? Who is tied up at the moment? Whose underling is living with rats with no heat, no water, no food, and blames you? And I’ll never see the light of day again! I think you have that backward, Mr. Sandford. I’m going to ask you one more time. Give us the passwords, or I’ll turn my colleague loose on you.”

“You’ll have to kill me then because I am not giving them to you. Go ahead, kill me,” Sandford said, his face going from red to white and back to red again.

“Nah, killing you is too good for you. Once you’re dead you’re dead. You need to suffer, and I mean suffer. Hit it, Maggie!”

Maggie dragged her duffel bag to the center of the room, but before she could find a clear space to park it, she had to kick away four straw reindeer. Fiona started to cry when a set of ears fell off one of the reindeer.

The boys formed a circle around Maggie and the Sandfords. All eyes were on her as she slowly unzipped the duffel and drew out a pair of hedge clippers. She held them up, gave a brief demonstration showing how sharp they were by cutting a branch of the tacky white Christmas tree. Fiona couldn’t take her eyes off the fallen branch. She started to wail again. Her husband told her to shut up yet again.

Jack looked at Maggie. “Maybe you should tell him what you’re going to do with the clippers.”

“Ya think?”

“Yeah. Ask him for the passwords, and if he doesn’t come through, then you are free to go to work.”

“Oooh, I like the way that sounds. Okay, listen up, Mr. Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and you, too, Mrs. Lieutenant Governor of this commonwealth. I’m going to be polite and ask one more time for the passwords, and if you don’t give them to me, then I am going to hack off your nose, Mr. Lieutenant Governor and then I am going to hack off Mrs. Lieutenant Governor’s lips. I will then chop them to pieces so they can never be reattached. I hope you are following me here.” She swung around, dug in her duffel, and came up with two pictures that she had enhanced on her computer. Both were ugly pictures of the Sandfords showing gaping holes in both their faces. Fiona Sandford screamed, then fainted again. Tyler Sandford stared at the picture but remained defiant, but not before his face turned as white as the snow outside. Maggie raised the clippers and clicked them open. The room went totally silent as she made clacking sounds with the shears as she advanced on Tyler Sandford, who tried to back away deep into the chair.

Fiona struggled to awareness and screamed. “I’ll give you the damn passwords if you promise to leave my lips alone. I don’t give a good rat’s ass what you do to his nose, but promise to leave my lips alone. I want your promise.”

“I promise,” Maggie said solemnly. “What is it?”

Abner Tookus flexed his fingers.

“She’s lying. I never gave her the passwords,” Sandford bellowed.

“That’s true, he never did give them to me, so I had to ferret it out on my own. This man is the cheapest bastard in the whole world. I knew the day would come when I’d need a hold of some kind over him. I guess this is it.”

“Don’t you dare, Fiona! I’m warning you,” Sandford said as he tried to lunge for his wife. Harry reached out and shoved him deep into the chair.

Abner flexed his fingers again.

They all waited to see what Fiona Sandford would do.

“It’s
reciprocity
. It’s his favorite word, for some reason.”

“Well, damn,” Abner said as he typed in the word. A blizzard of numbers raced across the screen. “Man, this is more money than I’ve ever seen in my whole life. We are going to have a great time doling this out. A really great time.”

“I want a big chunk to go to the Wounded Warriors,” Maggie said.

“I want millions to go to no-kill animal shelters,” Dennis said.

“I want to fix up the whole Southeast so people are proud to live there,” Jack said.

“Millions to disadvantaged children,” Harry said.

“Scholarships,” Abner said.

“I’ll think of something,” Espinosa said happily as he smacked his hands together.

Sandford cursed long and loud as he struggled to get out of the chair, only to be restrained by Harry again.

“And to think this guy seriously thought he was going to be governor of Virginia. Not,” Jack said. “Okay, let’s get them out to the van and hightail it out of here. I’m going to turn off all the lighting, batten down the house, then I’ll meet you outside. If that crud even blinks, hit him with the Taser.”

“Where are you taking us?” Fiona yelped.

“To a place you’re going to love. Your husband and you, too, own the property. It’s condemned but you, Marks, your husband, and the rats will enjoy your stay, which will last through Christmas Day, at which point the three of you will be relocated. Enough talking already. Get going, everyone.”

Harry hung back to help Jack. “That went well. Surprised me, though, that the wife knew the passwords. I have to say, Jack, nose or no nose, I don’t think the guy would have given them up. That’s just my opinion.”

Jack looked at Harry. “Tell me you aren’t serious. You really believe Sandford would have let Maggie cut off his nose.”

“Yeah, Jack, I believe that. The wife now, women are vain, and no way was she giving up those lips. No way in hell.”

“Whatever, we won in the end. I’m loving this.”

An hour and twenty minutes later, Ted pulled the van to the curb. Luther and his three colleagues rushed to help unload the cursing passengers.

“Welcome home, Mr. and Mrs. Sandford,” Luther said. For effect, he and his friends wore black ski masks with holes cut out for the eyes, nose, and mouth. They looked scary evil.

“How’s Marks doing?” Jack asked.

“Man, that dude is something else. He’s about ready to explode. That dude hasn’t shut up for even a minute. I think he’ll be glad for some company.”

Jack grinned.

Sandford stood on his own two feet, and Harry’s grip on his arm was steely hard. Ted and Espinosa each had one of Fiona Sandford’s arms. Both were cursing and struggling to no avail. Maggie reached over and slapped Fiona, the sound loud in the clear night.

“God, I cannot wait to get rid of these two,” Jack said as he led the way into Sandford’s building. “You see anything you like here, Mr. Sandford?” The man’s response brought heat to Jack’s cheeks. “Okay, there is just no talking to some people. Dump him, Harry, and lock the doors. We’re done with this scum.”

Harry needed no urging. He dumped Tyler Sandford inside the door and gave him a shove with his foot. He stepped aside as Espinosa gave Fiona a good push, causing her to land on top of her husband. The rats started to squeal, and Marks bellowed, albeit hoarsely, about being bitten twice. Luther yanked the door closed and fastened a brand-new padlock on the reinforced door.

As one, the group looked at one another and shouted loud enough to be heard through the door. “Merry Christmas!”

A round of robust handshaking took place. Luther and his friends were all smiles when they announced that they had the dudes and
dudess
covered. “Come back tomorrow and don’t forget my granny and the pastor are expecting you for the big party. Starts at six. Granny don’t like people when they’re late, so be on time.”

Dennis assured him they would all be on time. “You guys wrapped all the presents for everyone? No one got left out? Were there enough toys?”

“Yeah, yeah, and yeah. Way too much,” Luther said.

“We’re outta here, guys,” Ted said as he marched over to the van, which he’d left running. “All aboard that’s coming aboard!” A wild scramble ensued.

“Now what?” Abner asked as Ted pulled a U-turn. He gave the horn a soft tap and waved.

“Now we go home, go to bed, and when we wake up, it will be Christmas Eve. I have some shopping and wrapping to do. I want to talk to my wife, too. Then I have to go out and buy our Christmas Day dinner. What about you guys?” Jack asked.

“I’ll buy the stuff for dinner if you give me a list,” Dennis said.

“Turkey and all the trimmings,” Jack said.

Ted and Maggie looked at one another. “We’re going to try to get a bead on that drug company Nikki’s firm is going up against. Abner is going to help. Harry has to get home to help with Lily, as Yoko is exhausted. Like Luther said, we’ve got it covered.”

Back at the BOLO Building, the little group separated with hugs and claps on the back.

“It is soooo good to have my family back. Merry Christmas all,” Maggie cried happily as she hugged everyone one more time.

“Merry Christmas!” the guys shouted. Their happy cheers rang out in the crystal-clear night.

 

 

Victory is sweet,
but for the Sisterhood and their allies,
it’s also short-lived. Now that they’ve convinced some
coldblooded slum landlords to pay
very
dearly for their
crimes, they’re ready for another mission.
While Jack Emery prepares a Christmas feast
at his house, the gang gathers to provide
one of their own with a yuletide miracle.

 

 

Nikki, Jack’s significant other,
has been handling class-action lawsuits
filed by victims of Andover Pharmaceuticals.
A new leukemia drug was supposed to save children’s
lives. Instead, it destroyed them. Andover is fighting the
suit with all its wealth and influence, and Nikki is losing
hope. It’s time for Jack and his crew to give Andover
a taste of its own medicine—and show them
that messing with the Sisterhood’s other half
has all kinds of unpleasant side effects ...

 

 

Don’t miss the finale of Fern Michaels’s new
Men of the Sisterhood series

 

 

A Zebra eBook exclusive on sale in September 2014!

F
ERN
M
ICHAELS
is the
USA Today
and
New York Times
bestselling author of the Sisterhood and Godmothers series and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over seventy-five million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.

Visit her website at fernmichaels.com.

In this page-turning new novel in her beloved
Sisterhood series,
New York Times
bestselling author
Fern Michaels pits the indomitable Vigilantes against
a corrupt and ruthless billionaire . . .

 

All good things must come to an end.
Even the women of the Sisterhood—
the stalwart sorority that has helped to right
so many wrongs—have been content to let their
gold shields gather a little dust while they enjoy
friends, family, and the comforts of civilian life.
But the group’s leaders, Myra Rutledge
and her best friend, Annie de Silva, remain as vital
and feisty as ever. So when a string of anonymous
e-mails arrives at Pinewood suggesting shady
dealings at a local assisted-living facility,
the two immediately set out to investigate.

 

Emanuel Macklin, the financial wizard behind
the sprawling, high-end senior complex,
has amassed a private fortune that would make
Fort Knox look like spare change. But the hefty
returns Macklin promises his investors may be
garnered at others’ expense. In fact, Macklin’s
entire enterprise is one enormous Ponzi scheme
that’s about to collapse—taking the life savings
of thousands of innocents with it. Myra and Annie
know this is a mission tailor made for their brand
of justice, but they’ll need to enlist some new
and untested allies. And even as they set out to
foil one of their most cunning adversaries to date,
Myra faces a personal challenge that will rock the
Sisterhood to the core ...