Truth and Justice - Fern Michaels Page 0,90

the plan, and Bella’s world would be right side up again.

Each of the women snapped off a crisp salute to Lady Justice before they took their seat at the table. Myra called the meeting to order. “Girls, this is going to be one of our shortest meetings on record. So, let’s get to it so we can all go out for some surf and turf and a barrel of margaritas. I guarantee all of us a safe ride home.”

“Hear! Hear!” the girls shouted.

* * *

“It’s all packed in the van. It’s almost six, girls. We should be on our way. Avery said he would jam Sara’s phone at six, so we can break and enter at will. Does anyone have any questions?” Alexis asked.

There were no questions.

Ten minutes later, Maggie had the van on the road and they were on their way to the house where Sara with a million aliases lived.

When they arrived at the house in Kalorama, Maggie backed the van up to the garage doors and hopped out as Kathryn, with her steel-toed boots, kicked in the front door.

“I was going to pick the lock, Kathryn,” Nikki grumbled.

“Takes too long. Look, it’s open! Let’s go, girls! The prize is standing right there in the kitchen. Let’s make this quick.”

And quick it was. Yoko did her whirligig dance, and before Sara could blink or demand to know what was going on, Nikki and Alexis had her tied and were dragging her to the garage, where Kathryn decided to pick her up and throw her over her shoulder. She marched to the van and dumped Sara in the back.

“I closed up everything. We were never here,” Isabelle said.

“What time is it?” Alexis asked.

Annie looked down at the Mickey Mouse watch that was her prize possession, and urged, “Drive faster, Maggie, we only have seventeen minutes. Don’t worry about speeding.”

In the back of the van, Sara started to scream. “Who are you? This is kidnapping! That little snot sent you to kill me, didn’t she? She’s sick and deranged. She put you up to this. I know she did. Let me go, I’ll pay you whatever you want, ten times whatever she paid you.”

The Sisters laughed. “Impossible,” Isabelle said. “We already took all your money. We found all your stuff under the kitchen table. You sure did use a lot of duct tape.”

Sara started to curse at the top of her lungs. She didn’t stop until Nikki whacked her across the face with the back of her hand.

Sara started to cry. “Who are you crazy people? I just got out of the clinic. I’m sick. How can you treat me like this?”

“Oh, it’s easy,” Kathryn said.

“We’re here with nine minutes to spare,” Maggie said, careening into the parking area near the beach. “Timing is everything, girls, move it!”

And they did. It was a precision drill. First, they assembled the oversize dog crate. Maggie and Kathryn carried it to the beach. Nikki and Alexis half carried and half dragged Sara through the sand to the dog crate. Yoko cut her bonds as Annie and Isabelle shoved Sara into the crate and locked it.

“High tide is in six minutes!” Myra shouted.

“Our work here is done!” Annie said, as she followed the girls back to the van. Off in the distance, if anyone was looking, Avery Snowden and his operatives were laughing like a bunch of lunatics.

“Anchors away, mates!”

Epilogue

Twenty months later

Bella looked to the horizon and smiled. A perfect day as far as she could tell. And, it was the first day of summer, June 21. How pristine everything is, she thought. How green. Did they measure with a ruler to make sure all the crosses lined up so perfectly? She should know the answer to that question, but she didn’t. But then how could she know? She had never been here before. Well, she was here now, and the answer really didn’t matter. Not now.

Bella dropped to her knees and laid the single yellow sunflower at the base of the cross that said that Major Andrew Adam Nolan rested here unto eternity. Because she didn’t know if flowers were permitted on the pristine grounds, she’d only brought one sunflower.

“It’s me, Andy. Bella. I’m sorry I haven’t been out here to . . . to visit. I just couldn’t make myself come here, knowing I couldn’t handle it. I stayed away on purpose. Forgive me, please.

“I came today for several reasons. I’ve had a rough time, Andy. I met a group of wonderful