by Stuart Woods
“I believe I’ve seen reports to that effect,” Stone said.
“As a result, we’re stretched a little thin these days, and we’ve had to neglect some other matters, particularly those which require attention on our own soil.”
Stone snorted. “And I thought you folks were proscribed from dealing with home matters.”
“Formerly, yes. Since nine/eleven, things have changed a bit.”
“I’ll bet,” Stone said.
“Stone,” Holly said, “could you just shut up so we can hear what Lance has to say?”
“Thank you, Holly,” Lance said. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”
Stone smoldered in silence.
“As I was saying,” Lance continued, “we’re stretched a little thin these days, and, as a result, I have been authorized to add a few . . . consultants, shall we say, to our roster.”
“Consultants?” Holly said. “What do you mean?”
“People who are sometimes in a position to render services to us, but who are not permanent employees.”
Stone couldn’t stand it anymore. “You mean people to whom you don’t have to pay pensions or offer medical plans?”
“You misunderstand,” Lance said. “I’m referring to people who have built lives outside our service, and who have independently acquired information or contacts that might be of use to us in the future. Let me give you a couple of examples. Stone, you were recently involved, quite inadvertently, of course, in a British intelligence operation dealing with an assassin who was causing problems in Europe and New York.” He paused.
“If you say so,” Stone said, surprised that Lance knew about this.
“We would have liked to know about this during the fact, instead of afterward,” Lance said. He didn’t wait for Stone to respond. “Holly, you were recently involved in a major federal investigation in Florida, and, as I understand it, you had a great deal to do with its successful conclusion. We would have been very pleased to know about that at a much earlier date. Is this making any sense at all to the two of you?”
“Sure,” Stone said, “you want us to become CIA snitches.”
“No, no,” Lance said placatingly. “We would like for you both, from time to time, to perhaps participate more actively in certain situations that might arise. Of course, we’re always receptive to pertinent information.”
“What sort of situations?” Holly asked.
“For instance, Stone has been of help to us in dealing with the Herbie Fisher problem, and, although that problem has not yet been entirely solved, that certainly isn’t Stone’s fault. Holly, you might similarly be of help in some other situation, on your own home turf. One never knows when.”
“I see, I think,” Holly said. “We’d just be on call, sort of.”
“Yes, sort of. And we’d never wish to interfere with your own duties in your main work.”
“And this is work for which we’d be paid?” Holly asked.
“Of course, and generously. Ask Stone.”
Stone spoke up. “There isn’t enough money in the CIA’s coffers to make it worthwhile dealing with Herbie Fisher and his problems.”
“Still, you didn’t come off all that badly, did you?” Lance asked. “What did you spend—a couple of hours?”
“Well, yes, it didn’t occupy a great deal of time,” Stone admitted, “and I was well paid.”
“You see?” Lance said, spreading his hands. “We’re starting to be of one mind.”
“And,” Holly said, “if we were consulting, so to speak, and we had some little problem, then the CIA might be helpful to us.”
“What sort of problem did you have in mind?” Lance asked, sounding slightly suspicious.
“Oh, nothing at present,” Holly said, “but you can never tell what might come up in the future, can you?”
“I suppose there might occur, at some point, circumstances in which we might be informally helpful,” Lance said, “but of course, I can’t make you any promises about that, it being so vague.”
“Of course not,” Stone said. “Tell me, is there a contract for this sort of service?”
“I suppose there could be,” Lance said, “if it were deemed necessary.”
They had pulled up in front of Stone’s house. “Tell you what, why don’t you send the contracts to me, and I’ll take a look at them,” Stone said.
“You’d be representing Holly, then?”
“Yes,” Holly said, “he would be.”
“All right, I’ll see what I can put together.”
“Good night, Lance,” Stone said, opening the door, “and thanks for the lift.”
“Same here,” Holly said.
Stone closed the car door and they walked up the front steps.
“Did you think that was really, really weird?” Holly asked as they entered the house.
“I think that anything to do with Lance is really, really weird,” Stone replied. They got on the elevator and headed upstairs. When Stone got off, Holly followed him to his bedroom.
She took him by the lapels and kissed him.
Stone kissed her back. “That was very nice,” he said.
“Just what do I have to do to get you into bed?” Holly asked, kissing him again.
“Well, I. . .” He was stopped by a tongue in his mouth.
“I mean, I’ve been parading around here half naked—no, entirely naked, and that usually gets results, but you actually fell asleep.”
“I’m sorry, I . . .”
She pushed off his jacket and began untying his tie. “A girl could feel hurt by such treatment, you know.” She was working on his buttons.
“Doesn’t Daisy have to go out?” Stone asked weakly.
“Daisy is half bladder; don’t worry about it.” She was working on her own buttons now. “You think I could have a little help here?”
“Anything at all I can do,” Stone said, feeling for her buttons, zippers, and snaps. “I certainly don’t want you to feel neglected.”
“I feel neglected,” she said. “Make it better.”
Stone did what he could.
16
STONE FELT A gentle kiss near his ear. He turned toward Holly and, for his trouble, received a much bigger, wetter kiss, full on the mouth. It was accompanied by more tongue than he was accustomed to.
He opened his eyes to find Daisy’s head between his and Holly’s. This was made possible because he and Holly were lying crossways on his bed. He gave Daisy a scratch behind the ears and pushed her head gently away.
Holly turned toward him and opened her eyes. “Wow,” she said.
“Wow, indeed.”
“Why don’t we have any covers?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Stone replied. “Why are we sideways in the bed?”
“I think we boxed the compass,” she replied.
Daisy made a tiny grunting noise.
“Uh-oh,” Holly said, “I think I forgot something last night.” She sat up. “I’m coming, Daisy.” She looked down at Stone’s naked body. “Although there are things I’d rather do.” She hopped out of bed.
When Stone woke up again she was sitting on the edge of the bed in his terry robe, toweling her hair dry.
“Good morning,” she said.
“I must have dozed off.”
“Why? You couldn’t possibly be tired; it’s after nine. We must have gotten, oh, two or three hours of sleep.”
Stone rolled over on his stomach and put his head in her lap. “Scratch my back,” he said. “That’s all I have energy for.”
She began scratching his back. “You have sheet marks on your back. That’s what comes from sleeping on wrinkled sheets.”
“It’s the price you have to pay,” Stone muttered, burrowing his head farther into her lap.
“Now that’s a nice place for your head,” she said.
He pulled the robe back and burrowed into her, feeling with his tongue.
“Nicer still.” She lay back on the be
d and turned toward him, giving him more access, then she took him in her mouth. They both were becoming excited now. Two minutes later, they shared an orgasm.
“I didn’t know I had that left in me,” Stone said.
“I’m glad you did. Want to do it again?”
“You want me to die right here and now?”
“Poor baby. You take a nap.”
Stone woke from his nap to find a tray next to his head bearing a sandwich and a glass of iced tea.
“See what you get when you’re nice?” Holly asked.
Stone struggled into a sitting position and found the remote control for the bed, raising it to support his back. “What about you?” he said.
“I had lunch in the kitchen, so as not to disturb you. Daisy and I have already been for another, longer walk, too.”
“Such energy!” he said, biting into the sandwich.
“Such a long time since I watched a naked man eat a sandwich,” she replied, smiling at him.
“So what’s your plan for the day?”
“I don’t suppose it would do any good to keep watch at the La Boheme again,” she said. “I must have scared Trini out of Little Italy by now. You think Lance knows more than he’s telling about Trini?”
“I think Lance always knows more than he’s telling. He surprised me last night, with this consultant thing.”
“I think I might do it,” she said, arranging herself next to him. “This is a very nice bed. Does it vibrate?”
“Yep.”
“I’m getting tired of my job,” she said.
“Which job? Me?”
“No, my chief’s job in Orchid Beach.”
“I thought you loved it.”
“I did for a long time, but it’s becoming more and more routine. I mean, I’ve improved the department, trained people better and all that, but it’s not as though I have to do it for a living.”
“That’s right, you’re retired army; you have a pension.”
“Yes, and Jackson left me very nicely fixed, too.”
“That was very nice of Jackson. Why don’t you travel, see some of the world?”
“I’m an army brat,” she said. “I’ve seen the world twice.”
“What do you want to do, then?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m enjoying myself in New York, but I’m not sure I’d want to live here.”
“New York is a better place to live than to visit,” Stone said.
“If you say so.”
“You’ve hardly started to see it. We haven’t eaten anywhere except Elaine’s.”
“Do you ever eat anywhere but Elaine’s?”
“On occasion,” Stone said dryly. “Why don’t I take you somewhere else tonight?”
“I’m yours.”
After lunch Stone showered and went down to his office.
“Good afternoon,” Joan said pointedly.
“Don’t start. I’m still tired.”
“I won’t ask why.”
“I just didn’t get much sleep, that’s all.”
“I won’t ask why.”
“Anything happening?”
She handed him a large brown envelope. “This was hand-delivered half an hour ago.”
Stone took the envelope to his desk and opened it. Inside were two contracts, for Holly and himself. Lance hadn’t wasted much time. The employer was listed as the Woodsmoke Corporation; its address was in the Seagram building. He read Holly’s first.
It was surprisingly brief and straightforward. It guaranteed her a thousand dollars a day, or any part of a day, and deluxe travel, should she need to.
His was much the same, but he crossed out the daily fee and inserted the words “his usual hourly or daily rate.” That should keep Lance from calling on him too often.
He called Holly, and she came downstairs. “Lance has been busy,” he said, handing her the contract. “This seems all right to me. If you want to sign it, I’ll messenger it back to Lance.”
She read it and signed it. “By the way,” she said, “could you please stop being jealous of Lance?”
Stone looked shocked. “Me, jealous? Of Lance?”
“There were a couple of times last night when I thought you were going to slug him.”
Stone blushed a little. “I’m sorry if I seemed that way. I’ll work on it.”
“I should think that, after last night, you wouldn’t have anything to feel jealous about.”
Stone got up and closed the door.
“What, on the desk?” Holly asked. “There’s a bed upstairs, as I recall.”
“I just don’t want Joan to overhear this. She’s giving me a hard enough time already.”
“Oh, I was looking forward to doing it on the desk.”
“I’m already a shell of my former self,” Stone said, sitting down.
“Yeah, sure,” she said. “You’ve got a lot more mileage left in you.”
“If I have a month to rest.”
She got up and opened the door. “You’ve got until after dinner,” she said, then she went back upstairs.
Stone hoped he could recover in time. He gave the signed contracts to Joan and told her to copy and return them to Lance.
17
STONE TOOK HOLLY to the Four Seasons, because it was the most elegant New York restaurant he could think of, and because it was within walking distance.
Holly had spent the afternoon shopping and had come home with bags from Armani and Ralph Lauren, the result of which was a black Armani dress that made Stone forget he had had too much sex the night before. They settled into a good table in the Pool Room.
“What would you like to drink?” Stone asked.
“A vodka gimlet, three-to-one, straight up, shaken so cold the bartender’s fingers stick to the shaker.”
“Two,” Stone said to the waiter.
“Would you like a particular kind of vodka?” the waiter asked.
“Anything will do,” she replied. When the waiter had gone she said, “Vodka is nothing but grain alcohol that has been cut in half with water. I don’t know what the big deal is about brands. It’s not as if it’s eighteen-year-old Scotch.”
“I agree,” Stone said. “Do you always give such explicit directions when you order a drink?”
“Just with vodka gimlets,” she replied. “Bartenders never measure, and they always put too much vodka in them.”
“You’re a control freak, aren’t you?”
“Just with vodka gimlets.”
“The dress is. . . You make that dress look gorgeous.”
“Well put, and just in time. I thought you were going to tell me the dress makes me look gorgeous.”
“Certainly not,” said Stone, who had been about to do just that. “You don’t look like a cop at all this evening.”
“Even higher praise! You know, there just isn’t any way to look feminine in a police uniform, unless you’re wearing shorts.”
“You wear shorts?”
“We’re in Florida, remember? Actually, I don’t, but I encourage some of my female officers to.”
“Which female officers?”
“The ones who look good in shorts. It encourages tourism.”
Their drinks arrived, and they sipped them appreciatively.
“Now that’s a vodka gimlet,” Holly said. “You can tell if it’s right by the color. It should have a pretty, green tinge.”
“And it does.”
“Stone, I need your advice about something.”
“Shoot.”
“This is legal advice and must remain confidential.”
“Shoot.”
“I have five million seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars I don’t know what to do with.”
“Buy a jet airplane.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You want me to introduce you to my broker?”
“No.”
“What do you want to do with the money?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea.
”
“You could give it to your favorite charity.”
“That would involve a paper trail.”
“Uh-oh,” he said.
“What’s the matter?”
“This is illegal, isn’t it?”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you about.”
“Okay, where’d you get the money?”
“Well, last year I was investigating this thing where the proceeds of various crimes were being put into a vault back home. I was watching some of these guys unloading a van filled with suitcases and boxes. And, wanting to know what was in them, I snatched one of them, a large briefcase, which turned out to be filled with five million seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars.”
“And where is the money now?”
“In a tree.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I climbed a tree and wedged the briefcase into the branches.”
“This is in Florida?”
“Yes.”
“They have hurricanes in Florida. What if there’s a hurricane?”
“Then there will be hundred-dollar bills all over Indian River County, and my problem will be solved.”
“All right, let’s go to basics: This is illegal; you’ve committed a crime.”
“I figured.”
“Why did you do this?”
“Well, I took the briefcase to find out if they were transporting cash, so I could hardly hand it back to them. I hid it, and I didn’t even think about it until a couple of weeks after we had arrested the whole bunch.”
“Why didn’t you give it back then?”
“Give it back to whom? The criminals? They were all in jail.”
“Did you tell anybody about this?”
“Yes. I told Grant Harrison, my FBI friend. Well, former friend. This was before he became such a bureaucratic ass.”
“And he didn’t arrest you?”
“I told you, we were, ah, friendly at the time.”
“How friendly?”
“Very friendly.”
“And he didn’t do anything about this?”
“About the money? No.”
“Well, that makes him an accessory.”
“Funny, that’s what I told him the last time he mentioned it to me.”
“What did he say?”
“He didn’t say anything. In fact, he stopped talking altogether for quite a while.”
