Game Over. Fern Michaels

intently to the conversation around her, one eye on the door so she could alert the others when Charles was about to appear.

      “I’m not sure what we’re supposed to be feeling here,” Kathryn said. “Should we be happy for Lizzie, or is this something that’s going to work against us and her? Especially her.”

      Nikki, the only lawyer in the group, sat up straight. Her voice was tight with emotion. “It’s every lawyer’s dream to be nominated to the Supreme Court. We all live and breathe for that to happen. But having said that, Lizzie isn’t every lawyer. Plus, she just got married. She’d be on one coast, and Cosmo would be back in Nevada.”

      “Well, he did buy that big new house for Lizzie, so that has to mean he’s contemplating living here,” Alexis said.

      “They’ll crucify Lizzie in the vetting process. I can see it now. She represented the vigilantes. She married Nevada’s most famous lawyer, who just happens to represent the gambling industry. It will be a three-ring circus,” Isabelle said.

      “The big question is, will Lizzie even want to go to the Supreme Court?” Yoko asked as she chewed on her thumbnail. “We all know she turned down a federal judgeship, saying she preferred to work in the trenches, so to speak. I don’t want to see those people chew her up.”

      “None of us want to see that happen,” Myra said.

      “Then we need to prevent it, don’t we?” Annie said grimly. “But first we need to find out Lizzie’s reaction to this news.”

      “I can tell you exactly how Lizzie is going to play it,” Nikki said. “First, she’s going to be stunned speechless. Then, at warp speed, she’s going to see everything that could and will go wrong. Her first worry will be us, then Cosmo. Then she’ll make that little snorting noise she makes sometimes and say, ‘No big deal.’ But it is a big deal. It will all seem like a dream for about ten minutes. Then she’s going to get angry. With us and with Cosmo, because we found out before she did, and Cosmo acted like the man he is and didn’t go to her right away.”

      The Sisters looked at Nikki in awe.

      Annie cleared her throat just as Charles appeared in the doorway. They all looked at the heavy load of files and folders he was carrying. He offered up a greeting and went straight to the bank of computers lining the far wall.

      “Enough already, Charles. It’s late. We’re all tired. Please, join us and tell us what is going on,” Myra called over her shoulder.

      And then the Sisters all started to babble at once.

      Charles clapped his hands over his ears, a signal for quiet. “I understand your concern, your worry. Now, let’s sit down and try to come to some sort of resolution where Lizzie is concerned. To begin with, I want to tell you I have a seed of an idea, but it will require my leaving the mountain for a day or so. Now, one at a time, tell me your thoughts and your concerns and where and how you think this is going to play out.”

      “That’s an absolute no-brainer, Charles. First and foremost, we don’t want to see anything happen to Lizzie. We don’t want her splashed nine ways to Sunday, and we don’t want to be the ones responsible for her not being confirmed,” Annie snapped.

      “With all your resources, surely you can find a way to do something, dear,” Myra said.

      “I suppose in the back of all our minds, we’re wondering how this will affect the pardon Martine Connor promised. We all know the only reason Lizzie took on the job of chief White House counsel was because of us. Pro bono, no less,” Kathryn said. “For us,” she added emphatically.

      Myra leaned forward. “I would like us all to take a vote right now. As of this moment, our pardon, which is really iffy to begin with, goes on the back burner, never to be brought up again until we have Lizzie on whatever road she wants to walk down. I want to see a show of hands.” Myra smiled when she saw eight hands shoot upward, Charles’s included. “Then it’s settled. Lizzie is our priority. The moment we find out which way she wants to go on this…honor…we go to work.”

      “It’s one o’clock in the morning, girls. I say we hit the sheets and convene first thing in the morning,” Nikki said.

      “Then I’ll say good night and good-bye,” Charles said as he gathered up what looked like a fifty-pound briefcase. “I will call every few hours. Call me if you make any carved-in-stone decisions. And, no, I am not telling any of you where I’m going, not even you, Myra.” He kissed his wife and blew kisses to the others as he marched across the room and out the door.

      “Charles, it’s one o’clock in the morning!” Myra said weakly.

      “Best time to travel, old girl,” Charles called.

      The Sisters grumbled among themselves as they gathered up their jackets and boots for the trek across the compound to their living quarters. Some of the comments were: “Charles never leaves the mountain, like in never.” “It has to have something to do with Lizzie. He’ll turn himself inside out for her.” “He never moved from the computer all day. It was like he knew what was going to go down before it did, and he was preparing for this.”

      And then came the big question posed by Annie. “How long before the secret gets out and Lizzie’s name is worldwide?” When there was no response, Annie huffed and puffed her way across the compound, Murphy nipping at the tops of her boots.

      Inside their quarters, Kathryn ripped at her outer clothes, tossing them in a pile by the front door. Murphy immediately claimed her down jacket as his bed for the night. “Who was the fool who said we should get some sleep? With all this going on, I’ll probably never sleep again. Well?”

      “I think it was me,” Myra said.

      “No, it was me,” Nikki said. “Look, we don’t have to go to sleep. It was just a suggestion. We can sit here all night and hash it out to death, but we don’t have enough information to do that. Until we hear from Lizzie herself or Maggie, there’s nothing we can do. We don’t have information, we don’t have a plan, and Charles is obviously up to something he thinks will help, so we can’t undermine whatever that may be. Ergo, the best thing to do is try to go to sleep.”

      “Why don’t we try calling Maggie?” Isabelle asked.

      “That’s not a good move,” Alexis said. “She might still be at Lizzie’s house or maybe even staying the night. Girl talk of the most serious kind. We can’t rock that boat right now. That’s my opinion.”

      “Maggie will call when she has something to report,” Yoko said. “I don’t know if I should be happy or sad for Lizzie. She just got married, and she’s so happy. Now her world is going to turn upside down.”

      “Lizzie can handle anything,” Isabelle said.

      “No, Isabelle, Lizzie can’t handle everything. Did you forget that time Jack brought her to the mountain from the cemetery? She’d given up. The press is going to go back to the day she was born. They’ll bring in that whole Mafia thing,” Nikki said.

      “But…”

      “Nikki’s right,” Annie said. “This is just a wild guess on my part, but wherever Charles is going, I think it has something to do with Lizzie’s background. I want all of you to think about something. Then we’re going to bed, whether we like it or not. Right now, at this moment in time, we ourselves are outrageously famous. We can spread the word that we want Lizzie nominated. If we’re to believe our own press, politicians shudder and run for cover when our names are mentioned. Just the fact that we’re on it, so to speak, will speak volumes, and don’t forget Maggie and the Post. Now, if Lizzie decides to pass on the nomination, and the press and the Washington insiders go after her, we go after them. One at a time.”

      Myra got up and started to wring her hands. “Annie, dear, when we broke into Baron Bell’s offices, what was the name of that senator you said had a thick file in that old safe?”

      Annie’s eyes sparked. “Ah yes, Senator Lantzy.