Read Online Dead By Nightfall by Beverly Barton - Free Book Online

done whatever the family needed him to do for them, Ben would return to Griffin’s Rest.
    Griff had half his agents, including those employed around the world, on standby, all of them ready to begin a universal search for Nic. He was in hourly contact with Thorndike Mitchum, who headed their London bureau and oversaw the agency’s satellite agencies throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Mitchum had assigned a number of agents to locate and tail Harlan Benecroft, on the off chance he might in some way have a connection to the pseudo-York and therefore to Anthony Linden. They had no real proof that Linden had kidnapped Nic, but the consensus among Griff’s associates was that in all likelihood Linden had abducted her. And the odds were that Linden worked for the man who called himself Malcolm York.
    Brendan Richter, one of Powell’s top agents and a former Interpol officer, had contacted old friends with the world’s largest international police organization. Working under the assumption that Anthony Linden was alive, Linden was once again placed on Interpol’s Most Wanted list, as was Malcolm York’s old friend, Yves Bouchard. Unfortunately, Harlan Benecroft, York’s cousin, had managed to stay just under the ICPO’s radar. Benecroft was a worthless piece of trash, an old pervert who dabbled in various illegal activities, but managed to keep his involvement undetectable by law enforcement. Unlike the real York and his peers, Harlan Benecroft had not made most of his millions illegally. He had inherited the family fortune, presumed to be worth in the neighborhood of half a billion U.S. dollars.
    At Griff’s request, Sanders had put in calls to numerous contacts from Hong Kong to Johannesburg, with one objective in mind. Locate and contact Rafe Byrne. Their Amara comrade, whom they had not seen in sixteen years, had proven to be an invisible man. If not for hearing, through mutual associates, about the deaths of certain men over the years, men who had been frequent visitors on Amara, they would never have known if Rafe was dead or alive. Apparently, he was still very much alive. Less than a month ago, the slaughtered body of Ciro Mayorga had been discovered in an old horse barn in Argentina.
    If anyone could find the pseudo-York, it was Raphael Byrne.
    But first, they had to find Rafe.
    Lost in thought, at first Griffin didn’t hear Barbara Jean speaking to him. Only when she reached up from her wheelchair and touched his arm did he realize she was there.
    â€œI’m sorry. What did you say?” Griff asked.
    â€œYou haven’t eaten a bite since breakfast yesterday morning and then only toast and coffee,” Barbara Jean informed him, a maternal censure in her mild voice. “You’ll be no good to yourself or anyone else if you pass out from hunger.”
    He knew she meant well, that Barbara Jean looked out for everyone there at Griffin’s Rest like a mother hen. If he didn’t eat something soon, she just might try force-feeding him.
    â€œI promise I’ll eat.”
    â€œFine. I’ve brought in a tray of sandwiches and put on fresh pots of coffee.” She nodded to the two coffeemakers on a table in the back of the office suite, both now brewing a steady stream of hot, black coffee. “Take a break soon.” She glanced around the room and said, “All of you. No one touched the lunch that Mattie and I prepared.”
    â€œHow about we stop and eat in shifts?” Griff suggested.
    â€œFine. As long as y’all eat.” She looked pointedly at Sanders.
    He didn’t respond verbally, but did make eye contact when he nodded.
    Barbara Jean waited until Griff poured himself a cup of coffee and picked up a sandwich before she wheeled out of the office. After downing a sip of coffee and taking a bite out of a ham-and-cheese sandwich, Griff realized he actually was hungry. Derek, Maleah, and Sanders soon joined him at the