Read Point Blank (Sisterhood Book 26) for Free Online

relieved that his wife was all in one piece and okay, he flopped back against the wall to catch his breath. “What’s the emergency?”
    “Calm down. Take a deep breath, Harry. Then we are going to go into the kitchen. Oh, Cooper, it’s good to see you. Welcome home!” Yoko said as she hugged the dog and tickled his ears. He allowed it, and when she was done, he beelined for the kitchen and started to howl.
    “What the hell. . . .”
    “Come along, dear. Mind your manners now,” Yoko said in a voice that Harry could only describe as fierce.
    Harry went through the kitchen doorway first, and his jaw dropped as he stared across the room at the tiny woman and two children huddled together. Teacups were on the table, along with rice cakes. Guests. No, not guests. Jun Yu’s family. His wife Jun Ling, daughter Gan, and son Hop. At the sight of Harry, Jun Ling burst into tears. The children huddled even closer.
    “Do something, Harry,” Yoko hissed. “And make Cooper stop barking. He’s scaring the children.”
    One look from Harry, one light touch to Cooper’s head, and the big dog grew silent. He sat back on his haunches, statue-still. Yoko sighed at the silence. Then Harry started talking in rapid-fire Chinese. His words shot out faster than a runaway train. Being Japanese, Yoko was only able to decipher every fifth word or so, and none of it made any sense to her. Though Jun Ling usually spoke pretty good English, as upset as she was, her English seemed to have deserted her, so Yoko continued to listen as Jun Ling, using her hands, spoke totally in Chinese just as fast as Harry had as she tried to say everything she needed to say.
    It was something bad. Yoko could tell by the way Harry’s head bowed and his shoulders sagged. It took a full ten minutes before the kitchen was once again silent. Yoko knew it was ten minutes because her eyes had been on the clock on the range the whole time.
    “Harry, tell me, what’s wrong?”
    Harry turned around, his eyes wet as he stared at his wife. “This,” he said, indicating Jun Ling and the children, “is what Jun Yu said he was sending me. What he wanted me to guard with my life because he told Jun Ling I was the only one he could trust. He managed to smuggle them to safety with just the clothes on their backs, Jun Ling’s backpack, and the three special cell phones he gave them. He said they were not to use them until they were safely out of China.”
    “But why? What happened? Does she know?”
    “No, she doesn’t know. She just said Jun Yu was in trouble. Big trouble. He told her the less she knew, the safer she would be. She says she’s not safe even here. She flew into New York, then from New York to here. Some of the same people on the plane from China followed her here. She thinks so, anyway. It’s possible the people she’s referring to had Washington, D.C., as their final destination, just as it was her final stop. As you can see, she is petrified, as are the children, and her English seems to have deserted her for the moment. Not surprising, given how upset she is.”
    “What are we going to do, Harry?”
    “We’re leaving right now. Get everything together, and we’ll head out to Pinewood. I’ll call Jack to alert him.”
    “Harry, there’s nothing to get together. What you see is what there is. They arrived like this. Does she think they, whoever they are, followed her here to the dojo?”
    Another rapid volley of Chinese. Harry shook his head as he punched out the number of Jack’s cell phone. “She doesn’t know. She said there were too many cars, and they all looked alike to her. The children are afraid of the dog.”
    Harry was surprised at how calm his voice suddenly became when he heard Jack say hello.
    “Jesus, Harry, I’ve been counting the minutes till you got home. I was just going to call you when you called me. I had my finger on the send button.”
    “Why? Why were you calling me?”
    “Because I have something to tell you,