Treason by Newt Gingrich, Pete Earley Read Free Book Online Page B

somewhere inside her mind. That’s why she referred to her TBI and PTSD as Noodles. It made perfect sense to her.
    A psychiatrist named Wren—
no, that was the name of a bird she’d seen one morning
.
Bess? Maybe
—anyway, she gave her pills. They helped the mansion stay gone. Wren gave her a lot of pills. Endless pills. Yellow, red, blue, orange, and white ones. Endless physical therapy. Miriam told her that Brooke Grant was now her legal guardian. She was a Marine colonel.
No, she was a major now.
Brooke had killed bad men. They worked for that bad man with a bird’s name. The Falcon. Yes, he was the bad man who had killed her father. Major Brooke had known her father in Africa. Her father had once saved Brooke’s life. That’s why she’d promised him to take care of Jennifer. They lived in a farmhouse. Brooke was Jennifer’s best friend now. Not Noodles.
    Jennifer rolled in her bed and glanced toward the window in her second-story bedroom. It was a real window, not an imaginary one. Something moved outside it.
Was it a shadow?
There was enough moonlight to see an image. A man. A man watching her.
How could a man be outside her window? Men didn’t have wings, did they? The Falcon. Did he have wings? Maybe she was dreaming.
    The psychiatrist had taught Jennifer a trick to help her tell the difference between what was real and what were dreams. Turn on a light. That’s what the psychiatrist had said to do. If a light came on, she was awake. If it didn’t, she was dreaming. Jennifer didn’t know why it worked, but it always had.
    She pulled the chain. The bulb came on, causing her to blink. Jennifer looked at the window. A man was watching her and he was very real.
    She screamed.
    Brooke Grant grabbed her military-issue Beretta M-9A1 pistol from her nightstand when she heard Jennifer screaming. She scrambled across the hardwood floor in her bare feet into Jennifer’s bedroom.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œThe window!” Jennifer said. “A man’s face. He was real.”
    Brooke switched off Jennifer’s bedside light and made her way to the window. It had an alarm, a reinforced frame, and thick bullet-resistant glass. Just the same, Brooke positioned herself along the wall and then turned to peek out the window. Brooke didn’t see anyone.
    The motion detection lights that edged the Victorian farmhouse had not come on. She lowered her pistol and moved to Jennifer’s bed. “C’mon, peanut, just like we practiced,” she said. Brooke was not about to take any chances. An intruder might have found a way to circumvent the motion detector lights.
    Crossing the room, Brooke opened what appeared to be a closet door. But behind it was a reinforced steel door that led to a safe room. Jennifer scampered inside ahead of Brooke and settled onto a bunk bed near a wall of monitors. After sealing the door, Brooke picked up a phone that was a direct line to a private security company located about ten miles from the farmhouse.
    â€œPossible intruder,” she explained. “Monitors are clear. I’ll turn on exterior lights and wait for your arrival.”
    A few seconds later, Brooke sat next to Jennifer on the bunk bed.
    â€œI did what the doctor said,” Jennifer explained. “I turned on the light.”
    â€œThat was what you were supposed to do,” Brooke replied. “Would you like to go back to sleep?”
    Jennifer shook her head, indicating no.
    â€œHow about a snack? There’s milk and candy bars in the fridge.”
    â€œWill you eat one with me? I like the $100 Grand bars the best.”
    â€œI know, because they make you feel rich,” Brooke said, smiling. “I’ll just be happy having a good old Payday!”
    Jennifer laughed.
    Brooke removed two cartons of milk and two candy bars from a refrigerator. Returning to the bed, she handed Jennifer a milk and a $100 Grand candy bar but put