Free Point Blank (Sisterhood Book 26) by Fern Michaels Page A

“Where that leaves us right at this precise moment is where we are. It’s late. I suggest you all try to catch some sleep, and we’ll reconvene in the morning. Fergus and I will be working here throughout the night. By morning, we should have something significant to report. All of you, stop looking at me like I’m some kind of ogre. Fergus and I are just two people. We do have other people working with us, but they also need time to gather information and get it to us, at which point we’ll know better how things will work.” Charles’s voice took on an edge of steel when he said, “If any of you think you can do a better job, have at it. If not, skedaddle and let us do what we do best.”
    Skedaddle? Now that’s a word I haven’t heard in at least a hundred years, Jack thought. He risked a glance at Harry, who looked like he was ready to explode any second.
    Topside, which meant the kitchen, Jack took Harry aside, and said, “Let’s take all the dogs for a run. Across the field. You need it more than they do, Harry, so let’s do it. You need to lighten up, or this whole thing is going to come crashing down around all of us. You know in your gut that Charles is doing all he can. He loves Lily just the way we all do. We’re gonna make it work. You need to believe that. If you don’t, I’m going to kick that scrawny ass of yours all the way to the Canadian border. Now, what’s it going to be?”
    Harry was saved from responding when Cooper appeared out of nowhere and nudged his leg. Harry shrugged as he reached for his jacket and opened the door. Cooper raced off into the dark night.
    Harry whirled around. “You really believe all that, Jack?”
    “I do, Harry.”
    “Okay, then. What are we racing toward?”
    “Nothing. Just running till we can’t run anymore. You okay with that?”
    Harry thought about it for a minute. “Yeah.”

Chapter 6
     
    B ert Navarro stared at the monitor above his desk. The floor of the casino was a throbbing mass of human flesh making enough noise to rock the casino. Nine o’clock at night, and the place was juking and jiving as it did every weekend night. He sighed as he continued to watch for his right-hand man, Dixson Kelly, as he approached his private office.
    He felt good about leaving Dix in charge. They were old buddies from back in the day when Bert ran the FBI. Dix was his counterpart at the CIA. The spook business didn’t pay anywhere near what the casino paid him, and Dix liked Anna de Silva and the weird way she did business, so he had been an easy recruit. He liked and respected Bert, so it was a no-brainer when Bert asked him if he wanted the job as his right-hand man. He’d snapped it up, hopped into his RV and headed west, set up shop, and the rest was history.
    Bert watched Dix as he strode down the long hallway that was off-limits to everyone except key personnel. Dix would be the perfect person to head up a casino in Macau if that’s the way things ended up. He had no baggage, no wife, no children, a few brothers he saw once every other year or so. His downfall, if you could call it that, was that he liked the showgirls. Maybe a little too much, but that was the private side of his life, and as long as it didn’t interfere with the job he had to do, Bert was okay with it.
    Bert grinned as he watched his associate approach. He was everything Hollywood and the big screen depicted when featuring a CIA operative. Tall, six-four, weight around 210 depending if he ate pasta the day of the weigh-in. He was buff and ripped or whatever the saying was these days. The thing about Dix was his eyes, piercing blue, and they commanded truth. He could spot a cheat a mile away on a foggy day. It was said up and down the strip that Bert and Dix ran the tightest ship in all of Vegas, something both men were proud of.
    Right this moment, Bert’s dilemma was how much to tell Dix. Certainly nothing about the sisters or the guys. Best to keep it strictly to the business at