by Stuart Woods
“How nice of you,” Jamie said, “but I have my own credit cards.” She handed his back.
“Please yourself,” Stone said. “Call, if you have any problems at all. Ed is around, and I can be there in five minutes.”
Jamie kissed him and went ashore.
* * *
• • •
Ed Rawls had attended The Farm, as the Agency’s training school was known, more than forty years ago, but he still retained the tradecraft he had learned there. On every block of Main Street, he looked at every face and figure. Before he went into a shop, he stood at the window and checked out the customers—and the reflection in the window of those behind him. He was doing just that at an appealing art gallery when, reflected in the store window, he saw a large SUV stop on the street behind him and two familiar figures get out. He continued to watch them as they began moving downhill, toward the harbor.
* * *
• • •
Stone was reading when his phone rang. “Hello?”
“It’s Ed. The people I saw in Dark Harbor yesterday are in town, and the bad news is, they were in a car with two other people, so there are at least four to worry about. I’d get your guests below before they turn up there.”
“I’ll do that. Ed, Jamie is in the village. I’ll call her and tell her not to come back to the yacht until we’re clear.”
“Good, I’ll mosey on down there and keep an eye out.”
He hung up.
Stone rang up Jamie.
“Yes?”
“Where are you?”
“In the changing room of the cutest little shop,” she said.
“That’s a good place to be. Stay in the shop until I call you back.” He hung up before she could ask questions, then herded Bob and Sherry below.
Captain Todd came into the saloon. “Where’s everybody?” he asked.
“Jamie and Ed are in town. The others are below, where I’m going, too.”
“Anything wrong?”
“There are some wrong people in town, and they may turn up here.”
“What do they look like?”
“A man and a woman, both hefty in build. The man may have a bandage on his forehead. If they try to come aboard, stop them. If they ask questions, lie to them.”
“Gotcha,” Todd replied. Stone took his book and went below. He stood at one of the ports in his cabin and peered past the curtains at the dock. Sure enough, here came Hurd and Heather.
* * *
• • •
Captain Todd winched up the gangplank and then stood outside the deckhouse, sipping his second cup of coffee of the day and watching the dock. He spotted the two people as they came down the dock. They stopped, looking admiringly at the yacht.
“Good morning,” the man said.
“Good morning,” Todd replied.
“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is.”
“Is the owner aboard?”
“No, he and his party are not due until tomorrow afternoon.”
“If it’s not too much of an imposition, could we have your permission to come aboard and have a look around? I’m a fan of boats of this period.”
“I’m sorry, but the crew is in the middle of preparing the yacht for guests, and the owners have a policy of not allowing visitors aboard, unless they are present to receive them.”
“Well, thanks anyway,” the man said, then he made a show of walking the length of the yacht, taking in everything.
* * *
• • •
Stone saw him from below and stepped back from the curtains. After a couple of minutes of looking, Hurd and Heather turned and walked slowly up the dock toward the village, stopping to look at other yachts along the way. Finally, they were out of sight.
Stone called Jamie and Rawls and told them to return slowly to the yacht, then he went to get a report from Todd.
“I told them the owners weren’t due until tomorrow afternoon,” Todd said.
“Perfect,” Stone said. He got his cell phone out and called Faith, his chief pilot, who was back in New York.
“Having fun?” she asked.
“Not enough fun,” Stone replied. “I’d like you to fly the airplane to Nantucket, land after dark, refuel, find a room for the night, and be ready for wheels up at six AM tomorrow.”
“Certainly. Destination?”
“Key West. I’ll put you and your copilot up while we’re there.”
“Wonderful. I can use some sun.”
“And I want our tail number off the FlightAware program. I don’t want anyone tracking us.”
Stone looked around. Jamie and Rawls were approaching the yacht from different directions. He went to lower the gangplank.
19
They gathered for lunch at one. Captain Todd came and stood by the table. “We’ll be moving early tomorrow,” Stone told the group, “to Key West for a few days.” There was a murmur of approval.
“Why are we moving?” Sherry asked.
“Because Hurd and Heather and at least two others are in town. I’d appreciate it if you’d all stay aboard with the curtains and blinds drawn for the rest of the day. Todd, can you leave the marina tonight, anchor offshore near the airport, and take us ashore in the tender?”
Todd shook his head. “We’re going to have twenty-five-, thirty-knot winds from the south by morning. We’d best take you in a van. I’ll rent one.”
“All right. I’d like to leave the yacht at five AM; wheels up will be at six. You can all sleep some more on the flight.”
That night, as Stone and Jamie were preparing for bed, Stone’s phone rang. “Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Faith. We landed in Nantucket fifteen minutes ago, and there were some people hanging around the terminal, as if they were expecting us.”
“Describe them.”
“Three men, all large and tough-looking, and one large woman.”
“Did one of the men have a bandage on his forehead?”
“Yes. They left the terminal as we were coming in, but there didn’t appear to be any reason for them to be there, except to see us and our airplane.”
“Thank you, Faith. We’ll see you tomorrow morning about five-thirty.”
“Okay.” She hung up.
Stone stretched out on the bed. Jamie was already asleep. He thought about it for a while, and it occurred to him that they were not being followed; they were being preceded. He was too sleepy at the moment to try to figure out how that worked.
* * *
• • •
The following morning they met at five, and Stone addressed the group. “Last night I got a call from my chief pilot telling me that when they landed, they were met by three men and a woman. One of the men wore a bandage on his forehead, and they left as soon as my pilots entered the terminal.”
Rawls practically choked on his coffee. “How the hell would they know your airplane was coming? For that matter, how would they even know we’re on the island?”
“Because somebody in our group is telling them,” Stone said.
Everyone looked at one another.
“I’ve known everybody here for some time,” Stone said. “Except for one person.” He turned to face Sherry. “You’re new to this circle,” he said to her.
Sherry looked panicked. “I haven’t spoken to anyone about my whereabouts.”
“What about your cell phone?” Stone asked. “Have you been using that?”
“Only the throwaway that Bob gave me,” she said.
“Just a minute, Stone,” Bob said. He got up and walked over to where Sherry sat. “Gentlemen, please avert your eyes.” They did so. “Sherry, please stand up and put your hands on top of your head.”
“It’s not me,” Sherry said vehemently, but she did
as Bob asked.
Bob began with her feet. He took off her shoes, inspected them carefully, then set them down. He reached around her, unfastened her jeans, and inspected them, inside and out. Then he pulled her panties down to her knees and inspected them. That done, he pulled her clothing up and refastened her jeans, then he went over her upper body from navel to armpits, feeling her bra and inside it. Finally, he took off the light leather jacket she was wearing and inspected her shirt, then the jacket. “Sherry,” Bob said, “you’re the spy.”
“I am not!” she shouted.
“Gentlemen, you may look again.” Bob held up her jacket, turned up the collar, and removed a small, flat disk, about the size of a dime. “You just didn’t know you were the spy,” he said. He sat back down, took a tool from his pocket, and opened the disk. “This is not mass-produced stuff. It’s handmade to a clever design. Do you want me to destroy it, Stone?”
“Not yet,” Stone replied.
“But Sherry hasn’t been to the airport,” Rawls said. “How’d they know to go there?”
“Probably just making the rounds of likely places,” Bob said. “They got lucky at the airport. But, Sherry, when did they attach it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Wait a minute. Shortly after I arrived at the house I found a button loose, and Heather offered to sew it on for me.”
“There you go,” Bob said.
“Then why didn’t they find you at the boatyard when you were looking for Breeze?” Stone asked.
“Because I saw Hurd drive up with a policeman. I called nine-one-one and told them where to find the van I’d stolen. Shortly after, the cop got a radio call, listened for a moment, then he and Hurd got back into his car.”
“That was a smart move,” Stone said.
“Smarter than I knew,” she said. “By the time they checked out the van and returned, Breeze had sailed.”
“What sort of range would that thing have?” Stone asked Bob.
“Hard to say. Maybe a mile or two. But it could be better than I know. I’d need to disassemble it, put it back together, and test it, and I don’t have what I need for that here.”
“Then take it outside and leave it on the deck when we leave. They’ll think we’re still here. Once we’re at the airport and take off, they won’t be able to track us on FlightAware. And if I know Faith, she’ll have filed for someplace like Teterboro, and after we’re out of sight she’ll ask the ATC for a destination change and head for Key West.”
“Do these people know about your Key West house?” Bob asked.
“I don’t see how they could. It’s not like it’s been featured in Architectural Digest.”
“Then after we take off we’ll have shaken them,” Bob said.
“I hope you’re right,” Stone said. “I’m getting tired of them. Ed, maybe I should have taken your original advice on how to handle them.”
“Yeah,” Rawls replied. “And now there are more of them, we don’t know how many.”
“At least four,” Stone said. “If I start seeing them in Key West, I’m going to take more than evasive action.”
“I’ll be glad to help with that,” Rawls said.
Captain Todd came into the saloon. “Your van is here.”
They got their luggage together, put it on a cart, and went to the van. Rawls looked behind them all the way to the airport.
Once there, Stone got out and looked around. “They must think we’re still aboard the yacht,” he said.
“More likely, they’re just not up yet,” Rawls replied, looking at his watch.
They took off at six o’clock sharp.
20
Stone flew left seat. He took off and flew the clearance he had been given for Teterboro, while Faith worked the radios. “Boston Center,” she said, “this is N123TF, climbing through 210 for flight level 450. Request a destination change.” She waited for the response, then: “Request jet routes along the coast to final destination Echo Yankee Whiskey. She stood by while the controller worked it out, then gave her the clearance. “Okay,” she said to Stone. She entered the new route into the flight computer and pressed DIRECT to the first waypoint, then pressed the autopilot button. The autopilot was flying the airplane now.
Stone gave up the left seat, Faith moved over to replace him, and her copilot took the right seat.
Stone went back to speak with his group, but they were all fully reclined under blankets and dead to the world. He found a blanket and a pillow and, satisfied that his pursuers had no idea where they were going, fell asleep himself.
* * *
• • •
He was awakened by a reduction in power and the beginning of a descent. His watch said a little after nine; he turned on the small screen next to his seat and selected the moving map: eighteen minutes to destination. “Okay, everybody, we’re landing in fifteen minutes.”
The dead bodies began to move and sit up, blinking. Window shades went up and sunlight streamed in. “My housekeeper and property manager will meet us with an SUV and a convertible. Luggage goes into the SUV until it’s full, then into the convertible’s trunk. It’s a ten-minute drive to the house.”
The airplane set down gently and taxied to the ramp outside Stone’s hangar, where the two vehicles waited. He told Faith to hangar the airplane, then rent a car and drive to the house he leased for visiting staff. She had been there before.
* * *
• • •
Once at the house, they garaged the vehicles, unloaded the luggage, and then Stone gave them a tour. “The house is pretty much built out to the property lines and the street, except for the driveway, so you can swim and sunbathe without being seen by unwanted eyes. There are two courtyards: one large, with a pool, spa, and outdoor seating and dining. And there’s a smaller one with just seating. Lunch will be served at one, indoors, where it’s cool, and we’ll meet out here at six for drinks—and dinner—when it’s cooler. Whether we dine indoors or out is up to the weather.” He assigned them to rooms, with Rawls on the ground floor in the middle of the house, then he showed Jamie to the master suite, which occupied a small house of its own.
“I’m going to go outside and read for a while,” Jamie said.
“It’s going to get hot, so if you start to feel uncomfortable use my study.” He hung up his clothes, then went to his study and called Joan.
“I’ve left you a couple of messages,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t had time to look at them.”
“Dino called again. He’s worried that he hasn’t heard from you. And somebody who smelled like a process server came to the door. I told him you were out of the state.”
“Any idea what that was about?”
“Yeah, somebody is suing you—or Jamie. He asked for her, too.”
“That sounds like the Thomases,” Stone said.
“I told him there was no use coming back for a couple of weeks.”
“Good.”
“Do I get to know where you are?”
“We’re at the Key West house.”
“You and Jamie?”
“And three other people. Faith is staying in the staff house.”
“I envy you all.”
“Don’t, it’s hot in Key West.”
“Okay, I’m here.” They both hung up.
Jamie was standing in the doorway, holding the New York Times and a book. “Knock, knock,” she said. “It’s hot out there.”
“Take a seat.”
“I just talked to my office,” she said. “My assistant says the Thomases are suing both the paper and me, personally.”
“For what?”
“Telling the truth, I guess, but they’re calling it defamation.”
“They tried to serve us both at my house. You’ll need an attorney. I’ll take care of that.”
“No, we’re both defendants, and you know what they say about a lawyer who represents himself.”
“He’s an idiot?”
“Something like that. I’ve got the perfect guy, at Woodman & Weld, to defend both of us. His name is Herbert Fisher.”
“Is he the scary one I’ve heard about?”
“Yes, but only in court. You’ll like him.”
“When am I going to meet him?”
“When we get back, but I don’t know when that will be, yet. I’ll brief Herbie and tell him to accept service. He’ll want to speak to you, too.”
“Can I afford him?”
“I’ll make Jeremy Green pay him for you.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve been sued,” she said. “I’ve already got all my notes together at the office; he can read those.”
“Good. I can pretty much guarantee you that Herbie is going to publicize this suit to the max, and that should include a front-page piece in the Times about it.”
“I’ll talk to Scott and Jeremy and ask them, but my guess is, they’re already working on it.”
“Pick up any phone,” he said.
She chose the one on the coffee table, while Stone switched on his computer and read his e-mail.
Ed Rawls came to the door and picked up a military-looking rifle that was leaning against the wall. “What’s this for?”
“It’s an air gun, for shooting iguanas,” Stone said. “They infest the island. Raul, the property manager, has already killed eighty-odd.”
“I can use some target practice,” Rawls said.
“Try not to bombard the neighbors’ roofs or shoot out their windows,” Stone said. “Other than that, you’re in charge of the iguana squad. Sack ’em up two at a time, the bigger the better, and put them in the garbage cans on the street.”
Rawls picked up a box of pellets and wandered toward the main courtyard.