himself. He continued talking to himself as his car ate up the miles. Before he knew it, he was a mile from the entrance to Pinewood. He parked his car on a wide shoulder of the road, got out and hiked the rest of the way to the security gates that led to the private compound. He was pulling out his night binoculars when he felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck move. He didn’t stop to think; he made a mad dive into the bushes, clamped his hand over his mouth and lay still. Maggie? Charles Martin’s private cops, the ones with the special gold shields? Jack? Maybe a wild animal and maybe none of the above. He lay quietly until he felt something crawl up his leg. A rat? He shook his leg and felt rather than saw something fly to the side. Yes, a rat. God, how he hated vermin.
Ted listened to the quiet spring night as he crept forward, the binoculars at his eyes. Aha! His twitching nose was right on target. All the ladies appeared to be in residence; even the big rig was there.
So, the ladies of Pinewood were getting ready to kick some ass. Yee haw!
Chapter 2
The ladies of Pinewood were having cocktails on the terrace, much to Myra’s delight. She truly enjoyed seeing “her girls” and watching them interact with one another. These days they were like an extended family. It wasn’t that way in the beginning, though. Back when she’d formed the Sisterhood the young women had been hostile, suspicious, afraid to open up to one another. She hoped she was at least a small part of their blossoming, as she liked to call it.
The girls were doing what Charles called kibitzing. Myra let her mind drift as she listened to them, to the birds singing in the trees, to Kathryn’s dog Murphy and Alexis’s dog Grady barking and chasing each other around the yard.
“I bought this racy-looking dress,” Yoko said. “I have nowhere to wear it.”
Frugal, ever practical Kathryn said, “Then why did you buy it? How much was it? What color?”
“In case. I’m not telling you how much it was because you’ll say I should have put the money in the bank for a rainy day. I never go anywhere on rainy days. The dress will get ruined in the rain because it’s silk. It’s sky blue.”
Kathryn grinned. “Forget it. We have a language problem here. You wouldn’t wear the dress on a rainy day because you wouldn’t have bought the dress. Instead of buying the dress you would have put the money in the bank.”
Yoko looked perplexed. “Then I would have no dress, in case.”
Alexis jumped into the fray. “Hold on here. Is there a man somewhere in regard to this dress?”
Yoko tried to look demure. “In a manner of speaking. I was shopping in the Asian market and met a … person there. This person was buying some of the same things I was buying. He looked at me with … with …”
“Lust?” Isabelle laughed.
“Perhaps.”
“Did you get a name, a phone number?”
Yoko turned pink. “No, but he wanted mine. I didn’t give it up.” She eyed Kathryn and said, “I’m not easy. But …” Her eyes grew round. “The clerk called me when I got home and told me the man asked for my address. She gave me his name. She said he was an important man. She gave it up because she said it was time for me to … you know …”
“Hop in the sack,” Isabelle said, finishing Yoko’s sentence for a second time. The women burst out laughing, even Myra and Yoko herself.
“So, who is he?” Nikki asked.
“He’s not … pretty.”
“You mean handsome. Men are handsome, women are pretty,” Kathryn said.
“Okay, hand-some. His name is Harry Wong. He teaches martial arts to police officers.”
Nikki was glad there was nothing in her hands because she would have dropped it. Harry Wong was Jack’s friend. Unless there were two Harry Wongs who taught martial arts to police officers.
Kathryn leaned forward. “And this clerk at the Asian market just gave you all this info … because …”
“I grilled her,” Yoko said smartly. “I could probably teach him a thing or two. He has a dojo downtown.”
“This is so exciting,” Myra said. “Let me guess. You are going to go to the dojo and pretend you want to take lessons. It will be a chance encounter, that kind of thing. I think that’s what I would do.”
Kathryn burst out laughing. “You little devil, Myra.” Myra accepted the statement as a compliment.
“Is that what you’re going to do?” Alexis demanded.
“Yes. I scheduled an appointment. It will be very difficult to play stupid. I do not know how to do that.”
“Dumb, not stupid. There’s a difference. Don’t worry, we’ll teach you. Well, this certainly has been an interesting discussion. When is your first lesson?” Kathryn asked.
“Tomorrow, but I plan to cancel it. I want him to get wet.”
The women went off into peals of laughter. “You mean sweat.”
“Yes, sweat. I will reschedule. I may never go. I will schedule and reschedule.”
Charles appeared in the doorway leading to the terrace. “What’s so funny?”
“You don’t want to know, dear. Are you ready for us?”
Charles backed up a step. He blinked. Many thoughts flew through his mind. They were so united. So in tune with one another. So together. He wondered how he would fare if they ever turned on him. He shuddered. He took a second to look across at his lady love. Somewhere along the way, Myra had definitely become a Sister. He had no other choice but to believe it was a good thing.
Charles led the procession to a solid wall of bookshelves. The women waited while he counted down the various carvings on the intricate molding that ran the length of the bookshelves. The moment his fingers touched the lowest carving, the wall moved slowly and silently to reveal a set of stairs and a large room with wall-to-wall computers that blinked and flashed, as well as a mind-boggling, eye-level closed-circuit television screen that showed the outside security gates. Each wall seemed to be made up of television screens, their sound muted. MSNBC was playing on the south wall, CNN on the north wall, FOX on the east wall. Overhead, fans whirred softly, the only sound in the room, and there were no windows to be seen.
This underground room was the Sisterhood’s command center. Charles was the one responsible for installing the cutting-edge, solar-powered electrical system. Stored power could last a full month, Charles was proud to announce.
All the women knew the story of the tunnels underneath Pinewood. Myra had told them at their first meeting that in the old days her ancestors helped the slaves reach safety via the tunnels. Now, a modern day ventilation system had been installed but Myra was the one responsible for hanging bells at each entrance. She was fond of saying, “Just in case.”
While Charles referred to this special place as the command center, the women called it the war room. They took their seats at a round table just as Charles pressed a button. The plasma TV screens momentarily
