Vendetta Read Online Free PDF

seats, each equipped with a satellite television and phone. Each seat contained a laptop computer and a global positioning sensor. At any given point during the trip they could view what part of the world the aircraft was flying over. A stocked kitchen and bar provided enough food and drink to sustain twelve passengers and a crew for at least several days. And of course there were bowls and bowls of the famous Rutledge candies everywhere.
    The Gulfstream was safe. Standing here on the ground in the bright sunshine, Nikki realized she no longer felt safe.
    China!
She shivered. She took one last, longing look at the Gulfstream, wondering if she and the others would ever set foot in it again. She shivered again as she gave herself a mental warning not to think about negatives.
    “I do believe this may be our ride,” Charles said, pointing to a gleaming black Lincoln Navigator coming across the tarmac. The driver leaped out of the SUV with the agility of a cat. He had to be at least seventy years of age, possibly older. A mini man, Nikki thought. He was as brown and wrinkled as a raisin. He offered up a toothless smile and then saluted smartly.
    Charles rattled off something in fluent Chinese. The old man bowed and climbed behind the wheel as the women scrambled into the back seat, Charles into the passenger seat beside the small man who said his name was Jialing.
    “So named after the river. Mr. Li calls me Jay and you may also call me Jay.”
    Charles and Jay kept up a conversation as they traveled down a rutted road. “What are they saying?” Nikki hissed to Yoko.
    “They are talking about how important Mr. Li is in this country. Jay is saying Mr. Li has important, influential friends. He is now saying Mr Li is a generous man and helps the needy. Jay has been in service to him for thirty years. They are now talking about the fabulous gardens at Mr. Li’s home. Mr. Li likes to garden and has beautiful roses. The rooms at his home are full of flowers all the time. How do you call it, chitterchatting. Nothing of importance,” Yoko whispered.
    “I suppose that’s a good thing,” Alexis said quietly.
    Thirty minutes later Jay announced they were on Mr. Li’s land. “The main house is just down the road,” he said.
    The women were grateful to finally climb out of the Navigator. The roads here were worse than the roads in the States after a hard winter.
    They saw a two-story redbrick house with jutting wings at each side of the building. A British house. Did that mean only tea would be served? Nikki wondered. She needed coffee and she needed it badly.
    “If you want my opinion,” Alexis said, “this house looks as though it was accidentally built in the wrong place. You know, like Dorothy’s house when it landed in Oz. Oops, Dorothy landed in Oz, not the house. You know what I mean — look how out of place it is with the gardens.”
    “The Chinese do not believe in alignment or symmetrical relationship to anything in the garden simply because they know this is foreign to mother nature. They like to copy nature as much as possible with small hills and slopes with different trees. To us it looks haphazard but I’d bet Alexis’s red bag that a lot of work and thought went into these gardens. I love it. Just look at all the little waterfalls, the small bridges and those gorgeous shrubs. Before I leave here I want to know the name of every one of those trees and bushes. Someday when I get my own house, I’m going to have a garden like this. Much work,” Yoko said, shaking her head. “Much maintenance.”
    Alexis sighed. “Don’t rain on my parade, Yoko. As you can see, I don’t have an umbrella.”
    Yoko tittered behind her hand. “So funny. No umbrella. So funny.”
    Suddenly the bright, yellow door of the house opened and a tall, stoop-shouldered man stepped forward. “As I live and breathe, it is you, Sir…” He debated a second before he said, “Charles. On my shores at last. It is good to see you, old