Point Blank (Sisterhood Book 26) by Fern Michaels Read Free Book Online

her coming through the kitchen door and disturbing Harry. I’ll bring her through the front,” Jack said.
    Charles stepped forward to where Jun Ling was cowering and held out his cell phone and asked for hers. She shook her head no. Charles nodded yes and held out his hand. Jun Ling started to cry and speak in Chinese. The children wailed at the top of their lungs. The dogs howled but did not move out of position. In the end, Charles had the three special phones in his hand.
    Fergus looked at Annie and shrugged. “If the phones were the last thing her husband gave her, then that’s why she’s unwilling to part with hers and the ones the children were clutching in their hands. I understand that. We need Harry to speak to her but not until he’s ready.”
    “This is not going to go well,” Kathryn muttered as she remembered the last dustup she had had with Pearl and her rules of secrecy.
    “No, dear, it isn’t,” Myra agreed as she finally gave up trying to appease the children. “They are frightened out of their wits. We need to keep that in mind.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m thinking that mother does understand some English and is playing stupid. Harry told us all back when Lily entered the monastery that she would be learning Chinese and those children from China would be learning English. So there is a good chance the boy Hop knows some English, as do his mother and sister. For all we know, the father might have told them to pretend they don’t understand. The way things are going now just does not work for me.”
    “You want to bring it to a test?” Isabelle asked. “If so, corner Pearl when she gets here and threaten to separate the children from the mother. That should give you your answer.”
    “That sounds . . . cruel,” Alexis said.
    “Do you have a better idea?” Kathryn snapped.
    Alexis was saved from replying by Jack and Pearl’s appearance in the family room. Once again, everyone started talking at once. The dogs remained in place, with Cooper growling low in his throat. But he didn’t advance or make any other move.
    Jack whistled sharply. The room went silent to give Pearl the floor. “One person, talk. Everyone else, keep quiet,” Pearl said as she eyed the three newcomers.
    Myra explained the situation right down to Kathryn’s opinion. Everyone in the room knew that Pearl and Kathryn were not bosom buddies and that Kathryn had brought Pearl to her knees twice when she refused to divulge information the sisters needed. To those keeping score it was Kathryn 2 and Pearl O. Pearl kept nodding to show she understood what was needed and expected.
    “I admit we came up with this scenario on the fly, Pearl, but we thought if we could spirit them across the field to our farmhouse, you could take it from there just in case anyone followed them out here. The agents said there were no tails, but those Chinese are a slippery group,” Nikki said. “If we can get them to our house, can you take it from there?”
    “I will need to make some calls first, but I think it’s doable.”
    “And we need to know where they are at all times,” Kathryn said. “That is not negotiable, Pearl.”
    Pearl sighed. She didn’t have the stamina to go up against Kathryn yet again, so she simply nodded.
    Harry took that moment to enter the kitchen. Jack looked at him sharply. Okaaay, this was the old Harry, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Jack brought him up to speed within minutes. Harry nodded. He nodded again when Jack told him Kathryn’s opinion and surprised Jack even more when Harry said that Jun Ling had a fair command of English. He did not, however, think she was faking an inability to understand but that, as upset as she was by what was going on, her English had pretty much deserted her.
    “What’s our plan?” Charles asked.
    “I think we should do it Nikki’s way. Turn all the floodlights off outside. We will take them across the field to Jack and Nikki’s by way of the pickup truck with a tarp spread