Under the Radar

by Fern Michaels

  Her voice shaky, Allison looked up at Myra. “Geoffrey said good-bye to me a long time ago. I just want to go home now to my children. Thank you for…for talking to me.”

  “Look at me, Allison. What you say may well be true, that Geoffrey said good-bye a long time ago. Obviously you didn’t respond back then. You need to say your good-bye now. Later, you’ll regret it if you don’t.”

  There were no more tears, but Allison’s eyes were weary and red-rimmed. “I should never have allowed them to bring me here, but at the time it seemed I had no choice. Well, I have a choice now, and I’m choosing not to go in there to say good-bye. That time has passed for me. The person in there,” she said, waving her arm toward the house down the path, “is someone I used to know. And, yes, I’m bitter, but I have every right to be bitter. I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name. If you told me, I’ve forgotten it. Thank you again.”

  “It’s Myra, Allison. Are you sure in your heart this is the way you want it to end?”

  Allison straightened her shoulders, buttoned her lightweight coat, settled her shoulder bag more firmly on her shoulder, and turned away, calling over her shoulder, “I’m sure. I don’t want anything to do with this place or these people. I’ll walk or catch a ride.”

  Myra was about to run after her when she felt Charles’s hand on her arm. “Let her go, Myra. They will see that she gets home to her children.”

  “But…”

  Charles’s voice turned to steel. “I said, let her go.”

  Myra whirled around, her own tone matching Charles’s but with even more of an edge. “You are not talking to one of your people, Charles, and you do not ever, as in ever, tell me what to do, when to do it, or how to do it. That’s another way of saying ‘kiss my ass.’” Without another word she ran after Allison Barnstable.

  When she caught up to Allison, she was stunned to hear her say, “We won’t get far. They’ll come after us and take us back. You do know that, right?”

  Myra did know that so she merely nodded. Within minutes two golf carts appeared out of nowhere and both she and Allison were bodily picked up and put into them. Allison’s expression clearly said I told you so.

  Angry beyond words, Myra lashed out one more time at Charles, who was sitting in the second golf cart. “He wasn’t who you wanted him to be, Charles. I want to go home, and I want to go home now. And by home I don’t mean a hotel room on this side of the pond. If you don’t arrange it right now, this very minute, I will make a phone call to MY people, who will be here to take you and your people on. Actually, I already notified them, and they’re waiting for me to call back, and if I don’t call back, it’s—how do you and your people say it?—it’s a go?” she lied with a straight face.

  “Myra, you don’t understand. This is not America. They do things differently over here. There are things I am not at liberty to tell you, and I’m sorry about that, but that’s just the way it is.” He might as well have said, “Now be a good girl and go sit down until I tell you to get up.”

  Myra huffed and puffed. “I’m sorry about that, too, Charles. I want to go home now. Allison wants to go home to her children. What part of that don’t you understand? As far as I’m concerned, you can stay here for the rest of your life. But this young lady needs to tend to her children, and I want to get back to mine.”

  “And that will happen but not right this moment. There are things that need to be taken care of first. You’ll be on your way by nightfall.”

  Allison dug her fingers into Myra’s arm.

  “And Allison?”

  “Mrs. Barnstable will be taken to her home shortly, but before that happens, there are people who need to talk to her.”

  “What you mean is, people need to try and brainwash her. Say it, Charles. Say it out loud.”

  “Myra…”

  Angry beyond words, Myra lashed out again. “Your knight in shining armor was all rusty, Sir Malcolm. It’s too late to shine that armor up, but you’re going to do the next best thing, aren’t you? We both know how that works. As Kathryn would say, ‘You backed the wrong horse.’”

  Charles’s expression was cold and forbidding. “That was a low blow, Myra.”

  “Ha! You ain’t seen nothing yet, Sir Malcolm,” Myra said, using another of Kathryn’s favorite expressions.

  Myra drew her line in the sand. “From here on in, Sir Malcolm, refer to me as ‘Mrs. Rutledge.’ Now go back to your people and tell them I’m not the pushover you thought I was. Remember that call I made. Even you, Sir Malcolm, don’t want to go up against my Sisters. They’ll chew you up and spit you out before you can count to three.”

  Myra reached for Allison’s arm, who was staring at her like she’d just sprouted a second head. “Who are you, really?” she whispered. “That man is afraid of you, isn’t he?”

  “I certainly hope so. We’ll talk about that another time. For now we have some time to pass. You were going to show me some pictures of your children. Let’s talk about them for now.

  “Lord, I wish I had some coffee,” Myra muttered over and over as she led Allison back into the dreary, dark building.

  “Then let’s make some. There’s coffee in the kitchen. I think I could use some myself,” Allison said. “By the way, who is Kathryn?”

  “I didn’t see any coffee. Show me where it is. Kathryn is…a friend back in the States.”

  “Is she like you, outspoken and with a good heart?”

  “Kathryn is one of a kind. Yes, she’s outspoken, and she has a wonderful, big heart. She has a dog named Murphy, who is her shadow. She had a terrible experience in her life, then her husband died. It took her many years to come back to the land of the living. She’s a wonderful…friend. Do you have friends?”

  “Not really,” Allison said as she watched Myra spoon coffee into a coffeemaker that had been hidden in one of the cupboards. “When Geoff and I were first married we had friends, other pilots and their wives. Life was so exciting back then. But they were moved frequently, then the children came, and a new set of friends came along, other mothers with their husbands, but they were too dull for Geoff. Then, they, too, faded away. I was always too tired to pursue friendships, and when there would be time for me to entertain, Geoff would be gone. I’m chatty with a few of my neighbors, but that’s about it.”

  As the women waited for the coffee to drip into the pot, Myra asked the question that had been bothering her the most. “What will you do now?”

  “I’m not sure. What I do know is I can’t go back to my mum’s house. My father isn’t well, and he takes a lot of care, not that Mum minds. The children bother my father, they make too much noise, they run up and down the steps, and that annoys him. I have some savings, and I’m sure Geoff had some insurance. As far as I know, the Royal Air Force takes care of its own. At least I hope that’s still the way it is. I’ll think about all of that after I get through the funeral.”

  “Do you have a passport, Allison?”

  “Yes, of course, and so do the children. Geoff said it was mandatory. Actually, two years ago, after a particularly randy episode of Geoff’s that almost became public, he promised us a trip to the States, but it never came off. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason. I was just curious.”

  Myra poured coffee into delicate bone china cups and held one out to Allison. They carried their coffee over to the corner of the kitchen, where a high bar table sat.

  “Tell me about Geoff’s father. Tell me everything so I can understand why my husband changed once he found out about him. I need to know. For my own sanity.”

  So, Myra told her. Everything.

  Chapter 16

  Jack looked over at Harry, and said, “Let’s go over the plan one more time.”

  The look Harry shot Jack was so deadly, Jack actually cringed. “Listen, you dipshit, we don’t have a plan. We never had a plan. We talked about a plan, but we never developed one. So, what the hell plan are you talking about?”

  Jack was in a
we. Harry never said more than five words at one time, and not even that many if he could condense them to two. That had to mean his buddy was pissed. To the teeth. He debated if he should try to cajole good old Harry, then thought better of the idea.

  Jack opted to back off. “What I meant to say was, we need to make a plan. If we can’t come up with a plan, then we need to at least discuss our entrance into the compound. Even Delta Force has a plan before they invade and take charge of things.”

  Harry sniffed. “You mean we aren’t going to go in like a herd of stampeding bulls? Gee whiz, Jack, you’re losing your edge.”

  Jack sniffed in return. “You talk too damn much, Harry.”

  Ted took a moment to look up from texting, and said, “You guys need to get a referee, and, no, I do not want the job. Neither does Espinosa.” Tongue in cheek, he said, “Maybe you should talk to the girls since this is their deal, and stop worrying about a plan.”

  Espinosa weighed in. “Yeah. You really should talk to the girls, Jack.”

  “Fine! Fine!” Jack sniped. “We’ll talk to the girls. In the meantime, Ted, check out what’s in the box those make-believe National Guard types left us. Maybe they threw in some grenades or something equally devilish for us to play with.”

  “And if I find some, what should I do with them?” Ted asked curiously.

  “Pull the damn pin and sit on it. What’s with you, Ted? You just tell me what’s inside, okay, and treat the box like it’s dynamite with a lit fuse.”

  “Everyone is so testy this evening,” Espinosa said as he snapped a picture of Jack’s retreating back and sent it on to Maggie.

  “What’s our problem?” Nikki asked.

  Jack wanted to tell the love of his life there was no problem. He wanted to tell her he would single-handedly take on the whole HOE compound while she and the other Sisters watched him work a miracle. That’s what a fool Jack Emery would have said, but that night he was feeling like the emperor of all fools, so he simply said, “We need a plan.”

  Nikki’s lips tightened into a grim line. “I thought you had a plan.”

  “Yeah, I thought he had a plan, too, but he doesn’t,” Harry said, looking everywhere but at Jack.

  “We can’t go anywhere without a plan,” Ted said, unhappiness ringing in his voice.

  “I keep saying the same thing, but no one listens,” Espinosa said.

  Jack reared up and exploded. “Okay! Enough with the damn plan poop already! We don’t have a plan because Charles is not here. That means we all have to pool our ideas and come up with something that will work. Everyone is going in different directions. It’s chaos. Do you hear me, total chaos! Now, before we drive out of this place, I want to hear a damn plan, and I want to know it will work. Otherwise, we sit this one out! Now, who wants to go first?” he demanded.

  “It’s night vision gear and camo outfits,” Ted said.

  Jack snapped. “What is?”

  “You told me to look in the box, so I looked in the box. No grenades, no rocket launchers. It’s all night vision gear. I’m not a member of Delta Force, but I do watch movies, and that’s what it looks like to me. And the suits. You know, those…speckled brown-and-white things like the guys in the Humvee were wearing. Harry, you’re going to have to give up those thong sandals you wear because if you want to be coordinated, the desert boots go with the speckled suits. Same color, actually. Maggie always says you have to coordinate if you want to make a fashion statement.”

  Harry turned around and flicked his thumb and forefinger at Ted’s nose. Ted slid to the ground. Espinosa took a step backward as he peered down at his colleague. He snapped a picture and sent it on to Maggie.

  “Harry, you have to stop acting independently and stay with the program. That wasn’t nice. Now, where were we?” Jack asked as he looked down at Ted, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

  “Is the ‘program’ the same as the plan that you don’t have?” Harry growled.

  “We were discussing the fact that we do not have a plan,” Alexis said as she winked at Espinosa, who immediately got all flustered and forgot to take her picture. “But I see a glimmer of something here. We have uniforms and boots, so that will make us look official. Caps are in there, too, I’m sure. We can all look like a squad, and if we show up in those police cruisers and the two SUVs, we should at least look official. I think that’s a good jumping-off place, do you all agree?” she asked, deliberately looking at her Sisters as opposed to the guys. She winked again at Espinosa, who got even more flustered. But not so flustered that he forgot to snap her picture in full wink.

  Maggie immediately texted him.

  “She’s flirting with you, you fool. What happened to Ted? Is he sick?”

  Espinosa ignored the question about Ted and texted,

  “How do you know that?”

  “I know because I’m a woman. You snooze you lose, Espinosa. Tell Ted I’m going to kick his ass for sleeping on the job—and dock his pay.”

  Emboldened with Maggie’s assessment, Espinosa moved a little closer to the circle of women and made a kissing motion in Alexis’s direction. She grinned and winked again. Espinosa felt faint and almost joined Ted, but he got his wits about him just as the previously inert man struggled to his knees. The night was still young.

  “Good thinking, Alexis,” Jack said. “Yep, there are some of those soft-billed caps in here,” he said, poking around inside the box. Soldiers kind of stuff them in their pockets. “Dress-up time, ladies and gents!”

  Ted Robinson was on his feet. He massaged his nose and looked over at Harry. “I forgive you, you son of a bitch, because you know not what you do. Even though you know I don’t have a spleen, you knocked me out, not knowing if I would succumb or not, but that’s okay because your ass will fry in hell someday for what you just did to me. But, I’m not the type to hold a grudge, so, like I said, I forgive you.”

  Harry said, “Huh?” just as Ted’s hand snaked out.

  Ted gave Harry’s nose a playful tweak, then stepped back. “I guess I touched you, huh? The untouchable Harry Wong was touched by a reporter he just decked, the same reporter who has no spleen. Not that my nose has anything to do with my spleen. I’m just saying.”

  “That’s enough!” the Mighty Mouse ninety-pound stick of dynamite known as Yoko roared.

  Harry didn’t exactly cower at his beloved’s words, but he moved a little closer to Jack.

  “Suit up!” Annie bellowed.

  They all scrambled to find suits that would fit. The boots were another problem. In the end Yoko and Harry had to keep their sandals on since the remaining boots were several sizes too large and would have fallen off their feet.

  “Now what?” Isabelle asked as she twirled and whirled for everyone’s benefit.

  “You realize, of course, that we are going to look like aliens when we put on those night vision goggles,” Kathryn said.

  “Don’t you get it?” Annie asked. “That’s part of the plan we’re coming up with. We’re going to scare those people to death. That is the PLAN, isn’t it, Jack?” Her tone sounded so fretful, Jack wanted to cry.

  “I’m thinking that’ll work,” Jack said. Harry made a hateful sound that stopped Jack in his tracks. “We just have to develop it a little more. The plan, that is.”

  Nikki looked adoringly at Jack. Then she shook her head from side to side, as much as to say, “How stupid is that?”

  It was Jack’s turn to cower next to Harry, who tried to push him away. “Get away from me. You’re too stupid for me to admit I know you, you can’t even wear men’s boots.”

  “What do National Guard troops do?” Ted asked.

  “They stand around waiting to get a call to do something, and they get paid while they wait,” Espinosa said. “The women are allowed to wear tons of makeup, false eyelashes, and lipstick, and the guys are allowed to be fat with beards, and they can wear earrings. They go away for two weeks every year for some kind of training. Pretend training, becaus
e they’re all out of shape. I saw that in a movie one time. No one takes them seriously. In the movie, which was a comedy, by the way, no one took them seriously. Would you want those wannabe pretend soldiers trying to put out a fire or pulling you out of a raging river? Jesus, think about it. What if while some female pretend soldier is pulling you out of a raging river her eyelashes fall off? Poof, you’re gone while she tries to find her eyelashes. What do you think she’s going to try and save? Not your sorry ass, that’s for sure.”

  “When you put it like that, the short answer is no,” Ted said. He held up his hand to make a point. “Those people at the HOE compound don’t know about the beards, the earrings, and the eyelashes, so they’ll just think we’re like, you know, the marines, or the cavalry, and they’re going to get arrested. Right?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Alexis drawled as she tilted her head to better see Espinosa, who she thought looked quite cute in his camo gear. She wiggled her eyebrows and winked.

  Espinosa got flustered all over again as he jammed his hands into his pockets to steady them. He looked down at his BlackBerry. “Maggie says for the Sisters to line up, caps off. She wants a sweeping bow. For the before and after pictures. She wants you to look menacing. That’s it! Perfect!” A nanosecond later, the pictures were on their way to Maggie.

  “I think we should leave now that everyone has aired their grievances,” Annie said smartly as she opened the passenger door of Sheriff Finn’s cruiser. “Look at it this way, girls, this is first-class compared to that hearse we took our last ride in when we were in Las Vegas.”

  Espinosa took the gentleman’s approach and waited for the women to pile into the cars. One mighty shove from Ted, and he almost landed in Alexis’s lap. Ted slammed the door so quickly, Espinosa had to scramble and, finally, since he was bigger, maneuvered so that Alexis was forced to sit on his lap. He grew light-headed at her scent, which made him think of warm sunshine and wildflowers. He inhaled so deeply he coughed, his face turning purple.