Vanishing Act. Fern Michaels

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СКАЧАТЬ worry, dear, when it gets down to your knees it will be time enough to talk about your derriere.”

      The Sisters giggled as Annie flipped her friend the bird and continued her march to the kitchen.

      “Slap-down delicious! I wonder what she’ll whip up,” Isabelle said.

      “Weenies on the grill. Wanna bet? And, she’ll talk the whole time about how slap-down delicious they are,” Yoko said, laughing. “We had weenies twice last week. I hate it when Annie cooks. A very nice shrimp stir-fry with jasmine rice would be nice.”

      “With a light, fluffy lemon pie or maybe a pineapple cake for dessert,” Kathryn said.

      “I’d settle for a corned beef on rye with a ton of mustard,” Nikki said.

      “Well, none of that is going to happen unless we get up, go to the kitchen, and toss those weenies I know she’s going to make down the garbage disposal,” Alexis said.

      “We could go in and help,” Myra said hesitantly.

      “We could, couldn’t we,” Nikki said, making no move to get up.

      No one else moved either.

      No one said a word.

      Because it was suddenly so silent, the Sisters were able to hear the gears of the cable car as it descended the mountain. Suddenly realizing that the cable car was going down, the Sisters looked at one another.

      They moved then as one, racing to the main building, where the gun cabinet was located. Within seconds, Nikki had it opened and was handing each Sister her weapon. In bathing suits and bare feet, they ran out of the building, across the compound, and stopped only when Annie shouted for them to wait as she flew down the steps, gun in hand and a string of hot dogs dangling around her neck.

      “Jack’s in court,” Nikki said. “I just talked to him at lunchtime.”

      “Harry’s at Quantico,” Yoko said.

      “Bert is at the White House having lunch with the president,” Kathryn said.

      Alexis and Isabelle looked at one another and shrugged before Alexis finally said, “Joe Espinosa is on assignment in Baltimore.”

      “Lizzie?” Annie asked.

      “She’s in Las Vegas. She checked in early this morning,” Myra said.

      “Nellie and Elias went to Virginia to see Elias’s new grandchild,” Isabelle said.

      “Then some stranger is on his or her way up the mountain,” Annie, the best shot of them all, said. “Wait a minute, what about Maggie?”

      “She and Ted went to Nantucket for a long weekend,” Nikki volunteered.

      “Then it has to be someone who knows us, knows about the cable car, and knows about the switch at the bottom of the mountain,” Myra said. “Maybe we should stop the car halfway up until we decide who it is.”

      “But if someone knows about the car and managed to get it to the bottom, they know about the safety switch inside,” Kathryn said. “We should cut the power! As you can see, the dogs aren’t real happy. Otherwise, they’d have gobbled those weenies, and Annie would be flat on the ground.”

      The Sisters looked down at the two dogs belonging to Kathryn and Alexis, then to Annie and her necklace of hot dogs. As the two dogs pranced on and off the platform that housed the cable car when it was inactive, they snarled and pawed the ground.

      “C’mon, c’mon, someone make a decision here,” Kathryn hissed. “The car is coming up. Now, goddamn it!”

      “Wait two minutes and cut the power,” Myra said calmly.

      Kathryn raced to the platform, her index finger on the master switch. “Tell me when, Myra.”

      Myra looked down at the oversize watch on her wrist with the glow-in-the-dark numbers. One hundred and seventeen seconds later, she said, “Now!”

      The dogs went silent, running to their mistresses and panting as though to say, What now?

      The Sisters looked at one another.

      “I suppose we can hold out longer than the person in the cable car. We need to make a decision here,” Nikki said.

      Annie waved her gun. “Unless there are seven people in that cable car, I’d say we outnumber our visitors.”

      “Feds? CIA?” Alexis demanded.

      Myra shook her head. “Bert would have let us know if anyone at the Bureau was looking at us. I was thinking more like Secret Service, but even that’s a bit of a stretch. It is entirely possible some hunter, some stranger, stumbled over the hidden switch and is just exploring for a look-see.”

      Annie made an unladylike sound. “If you believe that, Myra, I am going to strangle you with this string of hot dogs.”

      “At least then we wouldn’t have to eat them,” Myra quipped.

      For the first time, the two dogs seemed to get the scent of the wieners wrapped around Annie’s neck. As she broke off the weenies and handed them out, she was suddenly their new best friend.

      “How long are we going to stand here in the boiling sun?” Yoko asked as she swiped at her forehead with the inside of her arm. “I say we let the car come all the way up but stop it before it hits the pad. Let the passenger swing over the side of the mountain. We’ll still be in control.”

      Myra thought about that for a moment before she looked at Annie and nodded. Kathryn flicked the switch that turned the power back on. They all held their breath as the cable car started upward, the gears protesting at the status change.

      Myra looked down at the dogs quivering at her knees. Their ears were flat against their heads, the fur on the nape of their necks standing straight up and bristling, their tails between their legs. A trifecta that could only mean trouble.

      Up high, a fluffy cloud bank sailed past, momentarily blotting out the orange ball of the sun. Someone sighed.

      Annie looked at her fellow Sisters and liked what she was seeing. Then she looked at their hands. Steady as rocks. She took a moment to wonder how loud the sound would be this high on the mountain if all seven guns went off at the same time. Pretty damn loud, she decided.

      Myra licked her lips. “Turn off the power now, Kathryn.”

      Kathryn turned the switch. The sound of the cable car’s grinding gears screeched so loud that the dogs howled. The Sisters rushed to the platform and peered over the side. But all they could see was the top of the cable car and the grille on the side. The identity of the occupant was still in doubt.

      “How about if we announce ourselves?” Annie whispered. The others looked at her, their eyes questioning. “You know, a shot over the bow, so to speak. In this case, I think I can shave it pretty close to the grille. If you like, I can shoot off the lock. Of course, if I do that, the person inside could fall out. Not that we care, but we should take a vote!”

      Knowing СКАЧАТЬ