“I think we need to get down to Florida immediately,” Annie broke in. “Fergus, Charles, get your ‘travel bags.’ ”
The “travel bags” were a collection of very high-tech electronics capable of capturing information from the mainframe in the War Room. No big screens, or wallboards, but the ability to download almost anything they would need was neatly packed into several attaché cases. Airport security wouldn’t be a problem. They would take Annie’s Gulfstream jet.
“This may require several of us. Who’s in?” Annie asked.
Shouts of “Count me in!” “Ditto!” and “When do we leave?” came through.
“We should leave tonight and get a fresh start in the morning. Can everyone be ready in say, three hours?”
“Yes!” and “Absolutely!” was the response.
“I’ll call for the plane to be ready and have the Biltmore set aside some rooms for us. Maybe I can get them to clear part of a floor for us.” Annie was confident she could convince the management to accommodate her. She would pay for any inconvenience should guests make a stink.
Charles spoke up. “First thing we need to do is have Gabby deactivate the ring until we get there.” He looked at Annie.
“Tell her to put it in the freezer compartment of the minibar. We’ll get rid of it entirely once we can physically inspect it. This should hold them off until we get there.”
Myra went through the list: “Annie, Fergus, Charles, me, Kathryn, Nikki, Yoko, Maggie, Alexis.”
Isabelle chimed in. “I’ll meet you down there. I was scheduled to fly home but will go directly to Miami instead. I should be able to get there by midnight.”
“Excellent!” Annie beamed. “I think we’ve got ourselves a mission in progress.”
Hoots and hollers filled the room and came through the phone.
Chapter Thirty-one
South Florida
Annie’s plane, carrying the sisters, Fergus, and Charles, took off and landed on schedule. Everyone had something to eat during the flight. Some of them napped. By the time the wheels touched down, the sisters were revitalized and raring to go. A small van met them at the private airport and took them to the hotel, where the bellman was waiting with several carts for their luggage. The hotel manager greeted them.
“So lovely to see you again, Annie. It’s been a while.” The older gentleman took her hand.
“Yes, Lester, it’s been much too long. I need to get some golfing in soon!” Annie gave him a hug. She had known Lester from the years when he managed the Waldorf Astoria. After it was acquired by the Chinese, he felt it was time to move to warmer climes.
“Fortunately, we only had to move a few guests, and all of them got upgrades.” Lester bowed.
“You’ve always been a miracle worker, my friend.”
Greetings proceeded, with Annie introducing the group to Lester, with lots of handshaking and smiles.
“I asked room service to bring a platter of sandwiches and salads to your suite. Your Maggie Spritzer is a staff favorite.” Lester beamed.
“That’s our girl,” Myra interjected.
Lester gave everyone their key cards and led them to the bank of elevators. “If you need anything, please call my private line.”
“Thank you, Lester. We’ll try not to bother you.” Annie waved as the elevator doors closed.
When they arrived on the tenth floor, their luggage was coming off the service elevator. Fergus thought one of the men looked a bit dodgy but decided that finding out what properties the ring possessed and dismantling it came first.
There were two large suites at the end of the hall. Each had two bedrooms. The adjoining rooms had interior doors that allowed them to get from one room to the other without going into the hallway.
“Let’s regroup in a half hour,” Myra directed everyone.
A buffet of sandwiches, wine, water, salad, and cookies was arranged on one of the credenzas. “Don’t tell Maggie,” Charles joked.
“Tell me what?” Maggie was standing in one of the inner doorways.
“Just joking, kiddo.” Charles smiled and gave her a hug.
Myra was next, then Annie, and Fergus.
“I suppose you want to see this, correct?” Maggie held out the ring.
“We do indeed. There was a rather unsavory character in the service elevator. He obviously found the floor from the ring,” Charles commented.
Fergus had already started opening the cases of electronic equipment and begun to set their workstation up on the large mahogany desk. “Give it here,” he directed Maggie.
Fergus scanned the ring. “Well, at least it’s sterling silver.” He put a probe against the inside of the ring. Several small lights came up on a laptop screen. “Just as we suspected. GPS.” He handed it back to Maggie. “No audio or visual recording devices.”
Myra chimed in, “I suggest you wrap it in a laundry bag and put it down the chute. That should keep the trackers busy, especially after the truck picks it up in the morning.”
“Perfect. Money laundering and laundering jewelry.” Annie hooted. “They’ll be on a wild-goose chase for a few hours.”
Charles wanted to take every precaution. “They know she was on this floor. I’m going to set a few alarms outside.”
“Brilliant!” Fergus expressed his approval. “We’ll tell everyone to avoid the hallway and only move from inside. At least until the laundry truck is gone.”
“I’ll let them know,” Myra said, and made her way to the other rooms through the connecting doors.
Fergus and Charles scrutinized the ring for any other properties, waiting for Isabelle to arrive to see if she could hack into the GPS system and try to track the other missing women.
Between the sisters’ elaborate high-tech equipment, and Isabelle’s expanded techniques she had learned from her husband, Abner Tookus, it was quite possible they could do a reverse trace to the source and clone the system. Myra checked her watch; her other hand was on her pearls. “Isabelle should be getting here in a couple of hours. Meanwhile, what else do we know?”
Nikki was standing next to Myra. “Jack said that Noah is to be arraigned on Monday. As of now, he has no lawyer.”
Myra swiveled her head. “What? No lawyer? What about Ruffing’s fleet of attorneys?”
“It seems that Ruffing hasn’t returned any of Noah’s calls, so he’s going to sit in jail for the duration. Besides, with the amount of heroin they recovered, I doubt he’d get bail.”
“Do we know what the value of that haul was?” Fergus asked over his shoulder.
“They estimate about half a million dollars.” Nikki looked down at her notes.
“And what about the brother, Liam?” Myra asked.
“He has been out of the country but is scheduled to return tomorrow. I have no idea whether he has access to any criminal attorneys, so Noah may have to settle on a court-appointed lawyer.” Nikki continued, “Liam seems to be an unwitting participant. He lives very modestly and by all accounts is very sincere about The Haven and his work.”