Home Free - Fern Michaels [65]
“That’s brilliant, Charles,” Myra said happily as she blew him an air kiss.
Charles beamed as he stepped back into line.
“But they’ll know who we are,” Alexis said fretfully.
“And who are we, dear? Today we are ordinary citizens who have been entrusted with these exquisite shields by the president of the United States. I see absolutely no reason why we can’t use an assumed identity or go with our own identities,” Myra said. “But first and foremost, we need a plan.”
“What’s wrong with making an appointment with these people and keeping the appointment? And then, when we gain entry to their offices, we flash the shields and get them to talk. We should have the reports on what Ted and Abner have been able to dig up for us. There’s bound to be information that will point us in the right direction and tell us who we should lean on. The only problem that I see is, do we go as a group or do we split up, and do each of us take one of those politicians?” Isabelle said.
The straight line scattered as the group milled about.
“What are you writing, Maggie?” Annie asked.
“Just that the CIA is the one who controls all that money no one is supposed to know about. It isn’t Adam Daniels who controls it, either. It’s someone with the initials JJ.”
“How do you know that, Maggie?” Yoko asked.
“I just know. My gut instinct. We have to find someone with the initials JJ in government, then put the squeeze on him. Adam Daniels is just there to field inquiries. He has no control at all. A shill, for want of a better word.”
“But you’re guessing,” Yoko persisted.
“Yes, but I’m never wrong when it comes to stuff like this. Maybe Abner can find out. Ted can only do so much, whereas Abner can tread where angels fear to tread.”
Maggie stirred, woke confused for a moment as to where she was. She blinked at the sparkling Christmas tree and knew she’d had a meaningful dream. JJ. “Okay, I get it,” she mumbled to herself as she set about locking up and turning off the tree lights before she made her way to the second floor and bed.
Chapter 18
It was just a few minutes shy of five o’clock when Maggie wrapped herself in her winter coat and trudged three doors down the street to Nikki Quinn’s house. Just as she reached the stoop, the outside light came on, and Jack Emery walked through the door. He didn’t appear surprised to see her heading to his house at such an early hour.
“Hi.”
“Hi, yourself. Is Nikki up and dressed?”
“She is. She’s still upstairs. Here, I’ll open the door for you. Court is in session today because the heat was off for the last two days, and the judges don’t want to lose too much time trying to play catch-up. Happens two or three times every winter. Coffee’s ready. You know where everything is. Everything okay?”
“Probably, but not sure. You doing okay with Harry’s training?”
Jack laughed. “We’re getting there. See ya.”
Maggie entered the house, stood at the foot of the stairs, and shouted up to Nikki. “I need to talk to you. I’ll be in the kitchen.”
Five minutes later, Nikki was in the kitchen, pouring coffee for herself. “Kind of early for a visit, not that you aren’t welcome. What’s up?”
“Something. Maybe nothing. I put my tree up last night. Well, that’s not true. My neighbor Drew down the street set it up for me, but I did decorate it. It’s beautiful. Is your tree up yet?”
“Jack set it up over the weekend, but we haven’t decorated it yet. Myra never used to put ours up till around the fifteenth of December. Now, if you don’t put it up after Thanksgiving, there are no trees to be had. Traditions change over the years. Still, we get to enjoy it longer, I guess. Why am I babbling like this, Maggie?”
Maggie shrugged and related her encounter with Gus Sullivan. “I overreacted. At least I think I did. I knew he was talking about you and the others, even though he said he wasn’t. I went into protective mode. But that isn’t why I’m here.
“I usually do my best thinking in the shower. I don’t know why