Read Online Cross Roads by Fern Michaels - Free Book Online

speculating about Little Jack’s bright blue eyes. The room darkened momentarily as a pudgy woman with three rolls of belly fat, wearing a tank top and carrying two shopping bags, huffed and puffed her way to a table near the far end of the bar. The three women smiled as one.
    â€œTissue paper in the shopping bags. She’s just a watcher. She won’t interact at all, unlike those two at the bar.”
    â€œHow do you know this?” Myra asked in a jittery-sounding voice. “What in the world is in those drinks you’re guzzling?”
    â€œI’m a reporter. I have instincts. I’ve seen it all, Myra. It’s what I used to do and what I miss most in my life. I’ve seen this same stakeout scenario, in one form or another, at least a hundred times. We’re three for three. They don’t know if we’re going to split up or not. Whatever, they have us covered. Outside in the lobby, there are three more just like them. You can count on it. Here’s something else you can count on. None of them belong to any of the famous alphabet-soup groups here in the District and Virginia. All of them are on Global’s payroll. But to answer your question as to the contents of my drink, it’s a mixture of passion fruit, pear nectar, acai berry, mango, and orange juice. Guaranteed to give you strength, energy, and stamina. Not a drop of liquor.”
    â€œHow long are we going to sit here, Maggie?” Annie asked.
    â€œWe aren’t. We’re leaving as soon as I get the check. “This is the plan. I’m sure by now one of Global Securities’ agents hacked into the hotel’s computer, and they know exactly what rooms we’re in. So, why disappoint them? We’ll take the elevator, they’ll watch from the lobby to see what floor we get off on. You with me so far?” Both Myra and Annie nodded. “Okay, then we take the stairs to the other room I got for us, which is three floors down. Talk about silly stuff as we leave and while we wait for the elevator.”
    Maggie signed the check, added a generous tip. Together, the three women left the Blue Duck Tavern without so much as a glance at any of the other patrons. Maggie stopped just long enough to pick up an envelope from the concierge before rejoining the women at the elevator.
    â€œThis whole thing is starting to make me nervous,” Myra said.
    â€œMaybe you should go back to Charlie and the farm, Myra. Obviously, you aren’t cut out for this kind of work. I swear, I do think you’ve taken the shine right off your pearls with all that fingering you’ve been doing.”
    â€œYou need to stop worrying about my pearls, Ms. de Silva. Oh, and you aren’t nervous? All I said was, this is making me nervous. If you had a brain, you would be nervous, too, Annie. None of this is computing, and you damn well know it, and no, I do not want to go back to the farm and Charlie, and you better not ever call him that to his face. The only person he lets call him Charlie is Hank Jellicoe. Oh, God! No matter what we do or say, that man is involved in some way.”
    The elevator swished open. The three women stepped in, along with two lanky teenage girls, who got off on the seventh floor. The elevator continued upward and stopped on the seventeenth floor, where they got off. They walked down to the nearest EXIT sign, and walked down three flights to the fourteenth floor. Minutes later they were in a two-bedroom corner suite complete with sitting room, with a view that Annie proclaimed to be crappy. In response to which Myra told her to suck it up and be quiet.
    â€œThis is the governor’s suite, but I don’t know of which state. What all that means, I have no idea. The fridge is stocked with alcohol and soft drinks and snacks. State-of-the-art TV, Internet, and wireless. All the comforts of home for the governor and his posse or, if it is South Carolina or New York, his mistress or