Free Eyes Only by Fern Michaels

their heads in shame as they again muttered in unison, “Hank Jellicoe”!
    â€œWait just a damn minute here. We didn’t fail. We caught the guy, and Avery Snowden let him get away. There’s no blame attached to us on this. Lay it all on Snowden’s doorstep, where it belongs. We delivered, and in spades,” Yoko shrilled.
    â€œTrue. It still doesn’t change anything. The bastard got away. Now does it make sense to all of you? That’s why I didn’t invite Myra and Annie. I wanted us to work through it so we could go back to them with it all laid out. Look, I’m not saying I’m right, but nothing else makes sense. Jellicoe had all the right sources. Even when he cut and ran, he still had safe houses all over the world, and he had a small following that was intensely loyal to him. He had to know sooner or later that someone would rat him out for money, and that’s when he went to ground, or island, if you prefer.
    â€œIf his company did do the security for Spyder Island, why wouldn’t he go there and have that same security, along with the richest man in the world, to protect him? He takes his loyal guys, the ones he trusts implicitly, knowing Spyder Island is his only safe haven. Turnabout is fair play. Win-win for Spyder and Jellicoe.”
    â€œThis has to mean we get another crack at that bastard,” Kathryn said, menace ringing in her voice.
    Nikki pushed a cherry tomato around on her plate with her index finger. “Maybe yes, maybe no. Myra and Annie tipped their hand, in my opinion. It’s out there now that she’s going to be going to Spyder Island. Of course, Spyder and his people don’t know the why of it. They can’t know we know about the twins and the adoptive family. But having said that, it has been all over the news. Jellicoe is one smart man. He’ll be on it like fleas on a dog. He’s vain and cocky enough to think we won’t figure out he’s part of anything. The other plus is that Annie has owned that property for over twenty years. That’s all a part of the record. I wanted to delve into anything that pertained to Jellicoe, but my eyes were closing.”
    â€œI think that if we alert Abner, Myra, and Annie when we get out to the farm to look into all things Jellicoe, we might find some answers. Instead of concentrating on Angus Spyder, we need to concentrate on Jellicoe. The first time around, he underestimated us, and we caught him fair and square. He won’t let that happen a second time. We delivered, and Snowden dropped the ball,” Kathryn snarled before she bit into her sandwich. “Man, I hate that man. To this day, I still have nightmares about him.”
    â€œOne small army versus us. Is that what you’re saying?” Yoko asked.
    â€œThat’s what I’m saying,” Nikki said. “We might have taken a sabbatical, so to speak, but now we’re back! I think we’re up to it, don’t you, girls?”
    â€œOh yeah,” Kathryn drawled as she reached for her second sandwich. “Good tuna, Nikki.” Kathryn bit into the second sandwich before she fixed her steely gaze on Yoko and said, “If you were a betting woman, who would you put your money on?”
    Yoko giggled. “Such a silly question, Kathryn. On us, of course.”
    Kathryn pretended to wipe sweat off her brow. “Whew. You had me worried there for a minute. The part I like best is that this time, we won’t let that bastard get away. You haven’t said anything, Alexis. Do you have doubts?”
    Alexis grinned. “Not even one. I’m just thinking about what we can do to that guy once we get our hands on him. I can’t tell you how much sleep I lost over that failed mission. Like Kathryn, I still have bad dreams about him from time to time. I just hope he knows or finds out we’re coming for him and his boss.”
    Nikki clenched her hand into a tight fist and