• Пожаловаться

Stuart Woods: Hothouse Orchid

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Stuart Woods: Hothouse Orchid» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию). В некоторых случаях присутствует краткое содержание. категория: Триллер / на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале. Библиотека «Либ Кат» — LibCat.ru создана для любителей полистать хорошую книжку и предлагает широкий выбор жанров:

любовные романы фантастика и фэнтези приключения детективы и триллеры эротика документальные научные юмористические анекдоты о бизнесе проза детские сказки о религиии новинки православные старинные про компьютеры программирование на английском домоводство поэзия

Выбрав категорию по душе Вы сможете найти действительно стоящие книги и насладиться погружением в мир воображения, прочувствовать переживания героев или узнать для себя что-то новое, совершить внутреннее открытие. Подробная информация для ознакомления по текущему запросу представлена ниже:

Stuart Woods Hothouse Orchid

Hothouse Orchid: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Hothouse Orchid»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

A brand-new page-turning Holly Barker novel from the perennially entertaining New York Times-bestselling author Stuart Woods. After Special Agent Holly Barker lets international terrorist Teddy Fay slip through her fingers for a second time, the CIA thinks she might want a long vacation, at least until Teddy is captured and the bad publicity has blown over. So Holly returns to her hometown of Orchid Beach, Florida, where she had been police chief for many years. But a very unpleasant surprise awaits her. Many years earlier, Holly and another female army officer had brought charges against their commanding officer for sexual harassment, attempted rape, and rape. Holly had managed to fight him off, but the other woman, a young lieutenant, had not. The officer in question was acquitted of all charges, and has also left the army – for a job as Orchid Beach 's new police chief. Will Holly return to the CIA? Or will she challenge her old nemesis for control of the Orchid Beach Police Department?

Stuart Woods: другие книги автора


Кто написал Hothouse Orchid? Узнайте фамилию, как зовут автора книги и список всех его произведений по сериям.

Hothouse Orchid — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Hothouse Orchid», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Шрифт:

Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

“Long time,” she said.

“Too long.”

They were shown to a table and given menus.

“What brings you back to Orchid Beach?” Hurd asked.

“Something really weird,” Holly replied. “A vacation.”

Hurd laughed. “You haven’t changed; you always worked too hard.”

“Well, there’s always too much work and never enough time to do it,” she said.

“Are you enjoying your work?”

“I really am.”

“I guess you have a bigger ocean to cast your net.”

“Bigger than you can imagine. I wish I could tell you about it.”

Hurd held up a hand. “I didn’t mean to fish; I know you folks never talk about anything.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

They ordered iced tea and lunch, and soon Holly was enjoying tiny bay scallops in a lot of butter. “So, how’s police work these days?”

“Much the same, but we do more drug work now.”

“Yeah, I still get the local paper, and I read about that.”

“Most of the officers you knew are still with us; a few new ones.”

“I’ll stop by and say hello.”

“I’m retiring,” Hurd said without preamble. “Today’s my last day.”

Holly was shocked. “I thought you’d never do that,” she said.

“I’ve been offered a job with the state police as head of a new investigative unit. The money and the pension are better, and I don’t have to move to Tallahassee. I can work out of the department’s offices here in Vero.”

“Well, congratulations, Hurd. Who’s replacing you? Anybody I know?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Hurd said. “I expect you recall the circumstances under which you left the army.”

“Of course.” Holly and another female officer had brought charges against their commanding officer for sexual harassment, attempted rape and rape. Holly had managed to fight him off, but the other woman, a young lieutenant, had not. When the man was acquitted by a board of his fellow officers, Holly realized that she had no place to go in the army, so she retired. The chief at Orchid Beach, Chet Marley, an old army buddy of Ham’s, had offered her the job as his deputy. When he had been killed, Holly had replaced him. “Why do you bring that up?” she asked.

Hurd unbuttoned his shirt pocket and took out a sheet of paper. “I Googled you,” he said. He unfolded it and handed it to her. It was a newspaper account of the trial and her testimony. “I wish I had done it sooner.”

Holly scanned it. “It’s accurate,” she said.

“The city council has hired Colonel James Bruno as the new chief,” Hurd said.

Holly felt as though someone had struck her. Bruno had been her commanding officer.

Hurd saw the shock on her face. “It was a fait accompli before I found out who Bruno was; there was nothing I could do.”

Holly recovered her voice. “How did this happen?”

“Ironically, the council’s experience with you had been such a good one that they decided to look for another MP officer. Bruno looked good on paper, so they interviewed him. Apparently, your name didn’t come up at the time.”

“Does the council know now who he is?”

“I wrote a memo to the chairman, so that it would be on the record.”

“Is it still Charlie Peterson?”

Hurd shook his head. “Charlie died last month: heart attack, at his desk. I’m surprised you didn’t see it in the paper.”

“I guess I’m behind a few issues,” she said. “Who is his replacement?”

Hurd sighed. “Irma Taggert.”

During and after Holly’s first meeting with the Orchid Beach city council and during Holly’s entire tenure as chief, Irma Taggert had been a constant thorn in her side. “That horrible pain in the ass?”

“One and the same,” Hurd said. “She had seniority on the council, and the town’s bylaws made her chairman until the next election, which isn’t until this fall.”

“Hurd, Irma would have voted to hire James Bruno, even if she had known who he was-maybe because he was who he was.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Hurd said.

“Let me tell you what’s going to happen,” Holly said. “Jim Bruno will use spit and polish mixed with charm to get the people on the force to like him. The man does have charm, I’ll give him that. Then, when he feels secure, he’ll start in on the female officers, and he’ll find a way to get rid of anybody who doesn’t come across. This is going to be bad.”

“I wish there was something I could do,” Hurd said.

“You can take the women aside and let them know who they’re dealing with. They need to be warned.”

“That I can do,” Hurd said.

“Does he know I’m in town?”

“No. I don’t think anyone but me knows, except Ham and Ginny, of course.”

“When does Bruno start the job?”

“He’s already in the office.”

“Does he know I was chief before you?”

“I don’t know, but he certainly will soon. Your name is bound to come up in the normal course of things. Maybe I’ll tell him myself, just to see the look on his face.”

“I’d be interested to know how he takes the news,” Holly said. “Oh, and don’t mention it to Ham; he might go down to the station and shoot Bruno.”

“It’ll be in tomorrow’s paper,” Hurd said.

“I’m having dinner with them tonight; I’ll break it to him and then sit on him if I have to. Ham was at the trial, you know.”

“I didn’t know.”

“He retired a couple of weeks after I did, and I think it was so he wouldn’t have to serve on the same base with Bruno. Or maybe even in the same army.”

“I wouldn’t want Ham mad at me,” Hurd said.

“You’re right about that,” Holly said.

4

Holly dressed for dinner in starched designer jeans, a blue chambray work shirt and skinny lizard cowgirl boots. Ham had always liked it when she dressed like a boy. She checked herself in the mirror. Since she had lost the weight and colored her hair a lovely auburn she had liked her looks a lot better. She was a good five-ten in the boots, and Ham liked that, too. She wanted him happy tonight.


Holly and Daisy arrived at Ham and Ginny’s only ten minutes late, and she could smell the meat roasting on the back-porch grill. Ginny greeted her with a hug at the front door and let Daisy put her paws on her shoulders and give her a big kiss. Ginny poured them both a Knob Creek on the rocks and another for Ham, then they went out on the back porch to watch his beef-burning skills on display, searing the biggest, thickest porterhouse steak Holly had ever seen.

“Did you shoot that yourself?” Holly asked.

“I roped it down at the prime butcher’s shop,” Ham replied. “You wouldn’t believe what it cost.”

“Yes, I would.”

“I charged it to your credit card,” Ham said. Holly had given him a very special kind of credit card, one that tapped into a secret bank account she kept in the Cayman Islands.

“Figures.”

“So, what’s happening in your life, baby girl?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news,” she said, sighing.

“I always like the bad news first.”

Holly took a deep breath. “Hurd Wallace is retiring as chief, and the new chief is Colonel James Bruno.”

Ham dropped the tongs he had been holding and bumped his head on the hot grill when he picked them up. “How the fuck did that pig happen here?” he demanded.

“Try and relax, Ham; it’s not a conspiracy.” She told him what Hurd had told her at lunch. “Promise me you’re not going to go down there and shoot him.”

Читать дальше

Шрифт:

Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Hothouse Orchid»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Hothouse Orchid» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё не прочитанные произведения.


Stuart Woods: Blood Orchid
Blood Orchid
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Strefa Zamknięta
Strefa Zamknięta
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Iron Orchid
Iron Orchid
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Orchid Blues
Orchid Blues
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Shoot Him If He Runs
Shoot Him If He Runs
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Reckless Abandon
Reckless Abandon
Stuart Woods
Отзывы о книге «Hothouse Orchid»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Hothouse Orchid» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.