7. Free Fall

  FREE FALL

  Also by Fern Michaels…

  Up Close and Personal

  Sweet Revenge

  Fool Me Once

  The Jury

  Vendetta

  Payback

  Picture Perfect

  Weekend Warriors

  About Face

  The Future Scrolls

  Kentucky Rich

  Kentucky Heat

  Kentucky Sunrise

  Plain Jane

  Charming Lily

  What You Wish For

  The Guest List

  Listen to Your Heart

  Celebration

  Yesterday

  Finders Keepers

  Annie’s Rainbow

  Sara’s Song

  Vegas Sunrise

  Vegas Heat

  Vegas Rich

  Whitefire

  Wish List

  Dear Emily

  FERN MICHAELS

  FREE FALL

  ZEBRA BOOKS

  KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

  FREE FALL

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Yoko Akia walked through the small apartment behind her florist shop. It was dark outside, the rain drumming on the roof and windows, louder than she would have thought possible. Crossing her arms over her chest, she quickened her pace. February was always so cold. She was nervous, full of anxiety as the day rushed to a close. Time to relax and meditate, time to pray.

  Everything was in place—her mat, her incense sticks, the pictures lined up on a red and gold shelf. All she had to do was take her place on the mat, shift her mind into the neutral zone and do what she’d been doing daily for years. Today, though, there was no sense of peace in the ritual. Maybe she should wait till later. A cup of hot green tea might calm her down. She reversed her steps and headed for the tiny kitchen where a pot of tea was always ready.

  Yoko carried the fragile cup over to the table and sat down, her thoughts going in all directions as she tried to concentrate on tomorrow’s trip to the Rutledge estate in McLean, Virginia. Finally, it was her turn. Her turn to get the revenge she’d hungered for all her life. The revenge that should have taken place a year ago but due to circumstances beyond the Sisterhood’s control, had been put on hold.

  What specifically was bothering her? Was it that her mission was the last one? Was it that the Sisterhood would be disbanded once her mission was complete? What would happen to all the members—Kathryn, Isabelle, Nikki, Alexis, Myra and, of course, Charles? And now they had a new sister, Anna de Silva. What would happen to Anna?

  Would life just go on as though their past missions had never happened? How in the world was that possible?

  Yoko sipped at the hot tea. Her eyes watered at the heat on her tongue. Outside, the hard rain splattered on the window. Normally she liked the sound of rain, found it somehow comforting, but today the rain sounded ominous. Was it an omen of some kind? The tea was supposed to calm her. Why wasn’t that happening? She slid off her chair and started to pace again as she struggled to find her inner core of calmness. It continued to elude her.

  A roll of thunder outside the small building startled her. She poured more tea and sat down at the table, then jumped back up almost immediately. It was Charles! Charles, Myra Rutledge’s partner, was bothering her. It had been Charles’s decision to put her mission on hold this past year because he had business abroad. He hadn’t seen fit to apprise the Sisterhood of that business. That’s what was bothering her. Charles and their new sister, Anna. There, she’d given a name to her uneasiness.

  The tea was cool now but she drank it anyway. Tomorrow all her questions would be answered when she made the trip to McLean. She smiled at the thought. She’d missed the sisters, as they were part of her life now. All of them risked their lives and their reputations to help each other. She adored them all, especially the brash, outspoken Kathryn, whom she loved to spar with. Isabelle who mothered her, Alexis and Nikki who teased her constantly about her boyfriend, Harry Wong. Myra and Charles were like a doting aunt and uncle. She wasn’t sure exactly what Anna de Silva’s role would be. Perhaps another doting aunt. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes when she thought of Julia, their fallen comrade. Tonight she would pray for Julia.

  Yoko washed and dried her cup before she replaced it in the cabinet over the sink. She was on her way to her prayer rug when her doorbell rang. She knew it wasn’t Harry because he was out of town. She never had visitors. She padded over to the door and opened it. “Alexis!”

  “Yep, it’s me! Can I stay here with you tonight? I even brought dinner,” she said, holding up a bag. “Sushi for you. The Weather Channel said the roads are going to flood tonight so I thought I’d come here and tomorrow we can go to McLean together. We can have a hen party.”

  Yoko frowned as she looked over Alexis’s shoulders into the dark night. “You brought chickens?”

  Alexis burst out laughing as she hugged her friend. “Hens, as in female. We’re females. Chicks.” At Yoko’s puzzled look she said, “You know, girls. You’re a girl. I’m a girl. Ergo, hen party. Never mind.”

  “Come, come,” Yoko said as she closed and locked the door. “I am grateful for the company. I was sitting here thinking about tomorrow. You knew that, didn’t you?”

  Alexis nodded. “When it was my turn, I was so wired up I thought I was going to explode. It’s been a long year, hasn’t it?”

  “Yes, it has. I was thinking about that, too. Charles didn’t really say much about that business he had to take care of. None of the others seem to know what that business was, or is. I guess he took care of it. It is strange that his business came up just as we accepted a new member to the Sisterhood,” Yoko said as she started to set the table and lay out napkins.

  “I think Charles’s business had something to do with Anna de Silva. Indirectly, I think it has something to do with us, too. It’s just a feeling I have. Have you given any thought to what’s going to happen when your mission is over?”

  Yoko looked at the pretty woman sitting across from her. Alexis’s dark skin and even darker eyes made her look mysterious. “Actually, I was thinking about that earlier. I have no idea what’s going to happen. Myra invested so much money in the technology Charles uses to keep us operational. Then there’s Anna de Silva’s billions. Maybe they will tell us what’s going on when we meet tomorrow. I do like Anna. Do you?”

  Alexis bit down on her lower lip. “I like her. She isn’t Julia, though. I’m not sure how I’m going to feel when she takes her place at the table in Julia’s chair.” Exuberance rang in her voice when she said, “I missed you, girl!”

  Yoko giggled. “I missed you, too. That stuff,” she said, pointing to the bag of cheeseburgers, “will kill you!”

  “And that seaweed and raw fish isn’t going to kill you? So, how are things going with Harry?”

  Yoko giggled again. “Very well. No, better than well. He loves me and wants to marry me. I said no. Are you seeing anyone?”

  Alexis ignored the question. “You sa
id no! Why?”

  Yoko burst out laughing. “Because he is afraid of me. I like the feeling that gives me. No one has ever been afraid of me. It is a…delicious feeling. Kathryn says I have to be in control. I am in control. That may change one of these days. In my culture it is not a good thing when a woman can best a man. Especially in martial arts.”

  Alexis leaned across the table. “Listen to me, little buckaroo. Here in America the name of the game is you allow the man to win. Key word here is allow. After you snag him, then you let him know who’s boss. Do ya get it?”

  Yoko grimaced. “That’s cheating.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Both women went off into peals of laughter.

  “I met this guy when I was filling my gas tank. He was at the pump next to me and we struck up a conversation. He said his sister has a MINI Cooper, too. I gave him my phone number. He was a hunk. He said he plays football for the Redskins. Did I say he was a hunk? He’s a tight end.” At Yoko’s amused expression, she said, “Don’t even go there.” Both women went off into peals of laughter again.

  Dinner over, the kitchen tidied up, they retired to Yoko’s small sitting room with cups of tea. “Do you want to talk about it, Yoko?” Alexis asked softly.

  “No. Tomorrow will be soon enough. It hurts my heart to talk about it. I am very worried about my vengeance. The man involved is very powerful, a public figure. I fear Charles may say it is not possible. If that happens, what will I do?”

  Alexis scoffed. “And you think taking on one of the biggest HMOs in the country wasn’t heavy-duty? Don’t forget the vice-presidential candidate and that guy who was the national security advisor. Then there was that little trip to China and the diplomat’s nephew…Or was it his son? Whatever, that was pretty high profile and yet we pulled it off. I can’t imagine who your public figure is but whoever he is, he’s no match for the Sisterhood. You can take that to the bank, kiddo.”

  Yoko blinked back tears. “Would you like to see a picture of my mother?”

  “Yes, I would, Yoko.”

  Yoko got up and ran to her prayer room to return with a small picture in an oval frame. She held it close to her heart for a moment before she handed it to Alexis.

  “She’s very beautiful. You look a bit like her. How old was she in this photograph?”

  “She was very young, only fifteen when she was brought to this country. I was born when she was seventeen. The man who fathered me threw me out with the trash. My mother died a painful death a month later. My aunts saved me and spirited me away to more aunts. Not blood relatives, you understand. Just young women who were in the same position my mother was in.”

  Alexis thought she understood. She slipped off her pile of cushions to gather Yoko into her arms. “Don’t you worry, Yoko, we’ll take care of that powerful man who threw you away. We’ll make him regret what he did. We’ll make sure the bastard rues the day he was born. And you can take that one to the bank, too.”

  Yoko cried as she’d never cried before. All Alexis could do was stroke her silky black hair and pat her shoulder. From time to time she mouthed soothing words until Yoko fell asleep in her arms. Alexis carried her to the mat she slept on in the small bedroom, stunned at how featherlight the little woman was. She gently lowered her to the mat and covered her with a light blanket. The last thing she did before she left her room was to place the picture of Yoko’s mother next to her.

  Chapter 1

  Myra Rutledge fussed with her gray hair with one hand while her other hand fiddled with the pearls she was never without, a sign that she was worried about something. She looked across the kitchen to where Charles was basting a turkey. “Do you think it’s an omen of some kind, dear?”

  Charles Martin looked up from the golden-brown bird and smiled at the love of his life. “Why would you say something like that, Myra?”

  Myra continued to finger the pearls at her neck. She walked over to the kitchen door to stare outside. She flipped the light switch to light up the courtyard. Rain was coming down in torrents. Maybe it was sleet, she couldn’t be sure. “I can give you a hundred and ten reasons why, my dear.”

  Charles closed the oven door. “One will suffice.”

  “The weather. The conditions are identical to those…the first time the girls came out here. Remember how Kathryn drove her eighteen-wheeler through the locked gates? The power went out and we had to use candles. The girls slid down the banister that night. I caught Kathryn when she whooped her way to the bottom. I think this is an omen of some kind. I really do, Charles.”

  Charles peeked into a pot bubbling on the stove. “That’s it, the weather?”

  Myra continued to peer outside. Her response was almost a whisper. “The weather and the fact that this is our last mission. We have so many decisions to make tonight. Are we going to simply walk off into the night? Are we going to continue with the Sisterhood? It’s come to an end so quickly. What will we do with ourselves if the girls want to…to, you know, stop?”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen, Myra. The Sisterhood has become a way of life for all of us. There are thousands of people out there who can use our help. Just because Yoko’s mission is our last doesn’t mean we’re going to close up shop. It just means our members have been vindicated, and that includes you, Myra. Now, is there something else bothering you?”

  Myra turned away from the window and walked over to the man she loved with all her heart, the man who made the Sisterhood hum like a well-oiled machine. She stepped into his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. “You can’t fool me for a minute, Charles. I know you too well. You spent almost all of last year going back and forth to Annie’s fortress in the mountains of Spain. We’ve spent fifty million dollars, maybe more, to outfit the old monastery Annie inherited from her husband. You had Nikki research the laws of sanctuary. You did do all this…just in case. Just in case we have to flee to a foreign land is why you’ve been doing it. You’ve called in old friends from your old days in MI 6. For all I know your best friend in England helped you out. We aren’t supposed to have secrets from one another. I feel you are keeping things from me. You justify it to yourself by saying it is for my own good so I won’t worry. I am a born worrier and I worry more when I don’t know all the details. This is a very good time to tell me what prompted you to do all this.”

  Charles chuckled as he led Myra over to one of the kitchen chairs. He sat down opposite her. “If you remember, we discussed all this in great detail a year ago, Myra. We included Annie and Judge Easter in those discussions as well. The day may well come when we have to retreat to…a more friendly climate. It’s simply wise to be prepared should that happen. The girls understand. We’ve been extremely lucky so far, my dear, but luck lasts only so long.

  “My people, whom we never see, have been advising me that the…uh…legal climate has been changing this past year. It’s something I’ve had to pay attention to. It’s all under control and I saw no need to worry you or the girls. Are you telling me, old girl, that you no longer trust me? Or are you trying to tell me you want to close up shop?”

  Myra clasped Charles’s hand in her own. “Absolutely not. I want to continue but, as Kathryn says, it’s been getting dicey of late.”

  Charles chuckled again. “Kathryn is correct. I just found out yesterday that Ted Robinson and Maggie Spritzer are back in town. They were seen having lunch with some agents from the FBI. My man told me that Robinson and Spritzer had a meeting at the DOJ.”

  Myra reared forward. “The Department of Justice! Oh, dear Lord! I thought when you sent them to New York they were out of our hair. They have no proof of anything. Do they, Charles?”

  “I’d stake my life on the fact that they don’t, but Robinson and Spritzer have excellent memories. They also met with a man from the CIA. I am not going to pretend it isn’t worrisome.”

  Myra bit down on her lip. “Charles…I think…I suspect…that Nikki has confided in District Attorney Emery. I can’t prove this but I
think he’s on our side, strange as that may seem. It’s just a suspicion. I couldn’t confront Nikki because I didn’t want to put her in a position where she had to lie to me. Our girl loves Jack Emery. Love is more powerful than loyalty in my opinion. Having said that, if I’m right, Jack is telling Nikki everything that is going on.”

  “I more or less suspected the same thing but didn’t want to say anything in case I was reading it all wrong. In addition to that, those two reporters are incredibly smart. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find out they’re setting Jack up. Emery’s no fool, he’s been around the block, and if our suspicions are right that he is on our side, someone has to warn him.”

  “What about your men with the gold shields? Can’t they do something?”

  Charles clucked his tongue. “They’re on it, Myra. We may have to have a talk with Nikki sooner rather than later.”

  Myra worked at her pearls, twisting and untwisting them. “That makes me feel a little better but I’m not sure about the talk with Nikki.”

  “The good thing is, we don’t have to make a decision on that right this minute. What we have to do right this minute is set the table and get things ready for the girls. They should be arriving anytime now, weather permitting.”