Truth and Justice - Fern Michaels Page 0,25
way too young to be a widow. Imagine finding out your husband has been dead for eight months, and you didn’t know it because no one told you. How cruel is that? How do you get over something like that? And then to find out your, um . . . your eggs have been stolen, which means that all ties to your dead husband are gone forever. However, we still do not know if Bella’s husband’s sperm deposits were taken. I don’t even want to go there right now, even in my thoughts. Was there anything else that bothered anyone?”
The girls looked at one another. “We all made notes. I think we picked Bella’s brain clean,” Isabelle said. “Now we just have to put it all together and decide what we are going to do. Are we going to work this evening or call it a day?”
The girls voted to work through the evening, and agreed to stay over and pick up in the morning in order to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible.
They all moved quickly, in lockstep, the way they always did when it came to cleanup. “Thirteen minutes!” Yoko chortled, as the dishwasher hummed to life. She did a little dance before she skipped ahead of the others to head down to the dungeons.
As always, they smartly saluted Lady Justice before they took their seats at the huge, round table.
“First things first. We need to call Avery Snowden to see if he is available to help us out. The boys might have commandeered him since they’re on a case of their own.”
“I’ll do it,” Alexis said, as she typed out a text to send to the old spy. The return text arrived in seconds. Alexis’s fist shot in the air. “He’s available and on his way. He said he’s in Seattle. He’ll be here by late tomorrow morning. His part of the mission with the boys is over, but they may have to stay another week or two to complete the mission.”
“Listen up, everyone!” Annie said. “You all understand, do you not, that we are taking on the United States Army, right?”
“Your point is, Annie—and get to it without a bunch of jabbering. But before you do that, what makes the United States Army any different than taking on the President of the United States, the Secret Service, the World Bank, and a host of other notables? Surely you are not insinuating we should be intimidated. That’s not what you’re saying, is it, Annie?” Myra’s tone of voice clearly said it had better not be what she was saying.
“Good Lord, no. I just meant there will be miles and miles of red tape to wade through. We’re talking the army here, Myra. You spell that a-r-m-y. Abner, our resident in-house hacker, is not available to us,” Annie said. “Did you hear me when I said miles and miles of red tape?”
Isabelle’s arm shot in the air. “What? I’m chopped liver! Did you forget that Abner has been teaching me the art of hacking for over a year now, and he actually said I’m almost as good as he is? I realize the operative word here is almost, but I am good. I think I can hack into the Pentagon without breaking a sweat because Abner showed me how to do it when he did it. You can apologize now, Countess de Silva,” Isabelle said with a bite to her voice.
“I’m sorry, dear, I sincerely apologize. I don’t know what I was thinking. I keep forgetting how talented you are. It won’t happen again,” Annie said contritely.
Isabelle grinned and hugged Annie. “I know. Sometimes, even I forget that I can do these devious things. Who knew!” she said, imitating an infamous commercial about cashing in one’s life insurance and throwing up her arms dramatically. “Don’t go pinning any medals on me yet. Hacking the United States military isn’t like hacking the local drugstore to see what drugs your neighbors take. Not that I would ever do that,” Isabelle added hastily.
“Now, having said that, I think I will wait for morning, when I’m fresh and clicking on all cylinders, to dive into that particular hornet’s nest. And I like to map out a strategy first, the way Abner taught me. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll do that while you all do whatever it is you plan on doing. If you need me, do what the song says and just call my name.”
The women settled down at