Vendetta by Fern Michaels Read Free Book Online

architect’s folders. Don’t you have someone on her?”
    “Mark’s got it. I’ll check to be sure. Just sit tight till I get there.”
    “I couldn’t move if I wanted to, I’m frozen to this branch. You gotta rotate me out of here, Jack.”
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop whining, Garrity. We’re paying you time and a half to sit there and freeze your ass off. Stop being a
wuss.
”
    “What the hell good is time and a half if I freeze to death up here? I felt snow flurries earlier.”
    “Snow’s invigorating,” Jack said, as he clicked off his cellphone. He turned to his partner. “Mark, look alive here,” he said, snapping his fingers. “That was Garrity. He said everyone’s gone from the Rutledge estate. I’m going out there. Kathryn Lucas, the dog, and, from the description Garrity gave me, Myra, too, just left in the rig. I want to know where she’s going. Tap into the dispatcher that Lucas works for and get back to me. And keep the tail on the architect. If it looks like she’s heading back to the farm, create a diversion so she stays put. And see if you can find a replacement for Garrity. He’s getting cranky. If you have to, promise double time. I need someone out there until I do my search.”
    Mark took off his glasses and started to polish them. “This is not a good thing, Jack. That guy Martin probably has the place rigged with alarms. If you set them off, your ass is grass. We don’t have enough money for bail. All right, all right, I’m on it. Be sure you call me every hour on the hour. Just out of curiosity, how do you plan on getting in there?”
    Jack smacked at his forehead. “I thought you knew, in my other life I was an electrician. I’m going to short-circuit those gates and walk through or climb over.”
    Mark groaned and put his glasses back on. He looked like an intelligent owl as he bent down to start hitting the keyboard. He didn’t look up when the door slammed behind Jack.
    Jack’s heart thundered in his chest as he climbed behind the wheel of his car. He was tingling from head to toe. He could almost smell victory. Halfway to the Rutledge estate he slowed down as a thought hit him. What if it was all a set-up? To his knowledge, Pinewood was never left unattended. Why now? Why would a lady like Myra Rutledge suddenly decide to go for a ride in an eighteen-wheeler? Where did Nikki, the black girl, the Asian girl and Charles Martin go in the Gulfstream? Maybe he shouldn’t be so damn hasty. But there was no need to get his ass in a sling. Would he ever get a chance like this again? Probably not.
    Jack hit the speed dial on his cellphone. Mark growled a greeting. “It’s me, Mark. You get anything on the Gulfstream? They had to file a flight plan. What’s taking so long?”
    “Shut the hell up, Jack. What’s taking so long is I’m trying to access records that aren’t supposed to be accessed by the likes of me. From what I can gather, they went to China. That can’t be right, can it?”
    “You mean the country of China?”
Shit, how brilliant was that?
“Or are you talking about Chinatown in San Francisco or New York?”
    “Asia, Jack, Asia. Hong Kong to be precise. I’m working on it, OK? Where are you?”
    Hong Kong! What the hell? Son of a fucking bitch!
Jack felt so light-headed he pulled to the side of the country road and rolled down the window. “I’m five minutes from Pinewood,” he managed to gasp before he clicked off the cellphone. He took in great gulps of the frigid November air. When he had his wits about him, he leaned back and closed his eyes as his thoughts ran in all directions.
    China. Hong Kong. Home of John Chai, the diplomat’s son who had killed Myra Rutledge’s daughter, Barbara. Coincidence? Unlikely. Three of the women, plus Charles, had gone to China. Two of the women, plus Myra, stayed behind and were now on their way to wherever. Dr. Julia Webster was missing. Maybe she was in China, too. And where the hell was Senator Webster? And