Circle of Deception by Carla Swafford Read Free Book Online Page A

Disappointment weighed down her shoulders; she’d desperately wanted some one-on-one girl talk with Olivia. She shifted to high alert when she realized what Marie’s presence meant. She never left The Circle headquarters without her husband on her heels. If The Circle had royalty, Marie would be the queen and her husband, Arthur Ryker, king.
    “Come on. I’ll fix you a margarita too.” Olivia led the way through a bank of French doors into a sizable family room. “We were about to stir up a batch. The men are downstairs talking shop.”
    “How’s it going, Marie?” Abby asked, nodding at Charlie at the same time.
    “Fine. Good job on saving Rex the other day.” To Abby, Marie looked like a miniature adult, and standing next to Charlie, who was a foot taller, she appeared even smaller. No matter the woman’s size, Olivia had told her she had guts. Being married to a man like Ryker, a woman would need to be strong-willed or he would run all over her.
    “Thanks. I wasn’t alone. Rex went into a dangerous situation and despite the odds came out with what we were looking for.” She turned to catch Olivia staring at her. “What?”
    The glint in her eye worried Abby. “I’ve got an idea. We’ll have margaritas in a little while. Everyone come with me. There’s something you have to see.” Olivia walked past her and unlocked a door. Hanging on one wall were around twenty rifles and shotguns and a couple of machine guns. On the opposite wall were shelves with cases of ammo. From her prior visits, Abby knew there were more closets like it throughout the house. All set up as small armories in case of an attack, the rooms also had steel walls behind the drywall and could serve as panic rooms.
    “Take these.” She yanked off lightweight jackets from hooks, tossing them to her, Charlie, and Marie. Then she pulled a huge bag from the top shelf with a grunt. “I think I need to exercise a little more.”
    Curious as to what Olivia had planned, Abby followed her with a shrug. Charlie raised her eyebrows and stepped in line, tagging along behind Marie. When they reached a large SUV in a garage holding about fifteen automobiles that ranged from an old ’66 silver Caddy to a new, just-off-the-line Jaguar XKR-S in Ultimate Black Metallic, Abby came to a standstill.
    “My goodness, girl. How do you decide on what to drive?”
    “Those are Collin’s babies. My baby is right here.” She patted the bag.
    Abby had a feeling something deadly was inside the olive-green duffel bag. The woman had an unnatural proclivity for weapons, sniper rifles in particular, and the bag was long enough to hold one.
    After a crazy quick ride out of the garage in a SUV and down the long drive, Olivia cut to the left and drove teeth-rattlingly fast over a field until all of the lights from surrounding houses disappeared. If Abby had a guilty conscience where Olivia was concerned, she’d be getting nervous at that moment.
    “What are you up to?” She held on to the dashboard as they came to a stop.
    “I bought myself a new rifle and haven’t tried it out yet. Collin thought maybe you would like to help me break it in.”
    Abby had been right. The bag’s contents were deadly, from-a-distance deadly, as in the sniper variety. “Well, I had hoped to share a drink with you.” She opened the door and nearly fell out onto the damp ground, her knees shaking from the jarring ride.
    The four women ambled over to a long table set up several hundred yards from a tall mound. They were at the Rykers’s private firing range. The upper beam of the headlights from the SUV lit up the area.
    Olivia unrolled what looked like a thin mattress and placed it on the ground.
    “I can’t stand for the creepy-crawly things to get on me.”
    As Abby handed each part of the rifle to Olivia to assemble, she recognized it. Similar to Olivia’s favorite rifle, the only difference was a missing microcomputer on top.
    “Where did you get this?”
    “A guy I know