Home Free - Fern Michaels [99]
“How much money did you two skim off?” Annie asked, a dangerous glint in her eye.
Orzell licked at his lips. “A lot.”
Alexis advanced with the KA-BAR in one hand and the vinegar bottle in the other.
“Upward of a hundred million.”
“Dollars?” Myra squawked.
“Where is it?” Nikki demanded.
“Mine is offshore, what I didn’t gamble away. I honest to God don’t know where Span’s is. He went nuts when Jellicoe was arrested, and he got fired. In case you don’t know this, Span was found dead this morning. I heard the news at the Pentagon. He was shoveling snow and keeled over. He knew better than to shovel snow after his open-heart surgery a few years ago, but he went ahead and did it, anyway. I think he had a death wish. That means he’s off the hook, and I take the fall for all of it, right?”
Annie blinked. The blaze of glory looked like nothing but smoke just then. “Right,” she said through clenched teeth.
“How much did you filter?” Myra asked.
“Millions and millions,” was the response. “It’s all in the computer.”
“Give me your password,” Nikki demanded. “If you don’t, I have a program that will crack it. But if we do that, you’ll be in pain a lot longer.”
Alexis waved the wicked-looking knife in front of Orzell’s face.
“That won’t be necessary. My password is Yenom. It’s money spelled backward.”
“How much of the fund’s money is still in Jason Parker’s hands?” Myra asked.
“Tens of millions.”
“We want it. We want yours, too.” Kathryn whistled sharply, and Bert poked his head in the door. “Showtime. Wake him up and bring him and his personal laptop in here!”
“Okay, honey.”
Kathryn blushed, and then she shrugged.
“Who else knows about all this?” Yoko asked.
“How should I know?” When the knife was a millimeter away from his hairline, Orzell said, “The president. At least I think she knows. She wanted to make a substantial transfer, but I stalled her. She wasn’t even supposed to know about this special fund so she could plead plausible deniability. When I told Span, he said she was chasing ghosts and trying to scare me, and I should just hold tight.”
“We need to huddle,” Nikki whispered to the others.
Kathryn looked down at Orzell. “You so much as twitch, and we’ll peel the skin off your ass and . . . assorted other places.”
“Please don’t hurt me. I won’t move. I swear I won’t twitch or blink.”
Kathryn laughed, a truly evil sound.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Myra whispered. “We’ll know for sure when Nikki logs on to his and Parker’s computers.”
Bert and Harry took that moment to lead a groggy Jason Parker into the room. Jack dragged another chair from the dining room and set it next to where Owen Orzell was sitting.
Parker was a little braver than Orzell. “I know who you are, and you’re breaking the law because you were pardoned, and here you all are, up to the same old tricks. You kidnapped me. That’s against the law. I demand that you release me right now.”
“Shut up!” Alexis said.
“Don’t tell me to shut up. I’m on a first-name basis with the president of the United States.”
“A pity she doesn’t know that. Now, sit down and listen to what I am going to tell you. Either you give us the information we want, or we will simply peel the skin off your face and then pour vinegar all over it, after which we will roll that same face in a bucket of salt,” Alexis said.
Parker’s eyes rolled back in his head. Jack jerked him upright.
“Tell them what they want to know, Parker. They’re going to find out, anyway,” Orzell said.