Criminal Mischief

38

Stone was at his desk the next morning when Joan buzzed. “Special Agent Ness on one.”

Stone picked up. “Stone Barrington.”

“Good morning.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m sorry I vanished last night, but you were sound asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Thank you. I was grateful for the sleep. Anything else?”

“I would like to come and see you this morning and bring a friend.”

Stone couldn’t help laughing. “A threesome? At this time of day?”

“Of course not! And mind what you say on this line.”

“Are we being recorded?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“If you’re not sure, then you should choose your words more carefully.”

“It’s a male friend,” she said.

“There you go again.”

“Will you stop misinterpreting me?”

“If you will think and speak more clearly. Let’s start over: What do you want?”

“I want to bring a colleague to your office for a meeting.”

“There, that’s better. Who is your colleague?”

“A person whose presence will allow me to make decisions quickly.”

“All right. When would you like to come?”

“Now.”

“Right this minute?”

“We are sitting in a car outside your office.”

Stone laughed again. “Ring the bell under the brass plate at the door,” he said. He buzzed Joan. “Ms. Ness and a colleague are about to ring the front bell. Please show them into my office.” He hung up and walked over to the seating area and waited. A moment later, Joan showed in Brio Ness and a man Stone had met once before. He was a former assistant attorney general and the recently appointed director of the FBI, Nelson Gramm.

“Director,” Stone said, shaking the man’s hand. “Special Agent Ness.” He waved them to seats. “How may I help you?”

“First of all,” Gramm said, “I want to thank you for your assistance in Hawaii and on the return flight.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I would like to charter your airplane,” Gramm said.

“With all the government aircraft available? Why?”

“There are certain expenditures that I have the authority to authorize immediately. The use of government aircraft is not one of them. That would require an official request, which would then filter down to an actionable level, and it could take a week or more.”

“For what purpose do you wish to charter it?”

“To fly to the Sultanate of Saud and arrest Viktor Zanian.”

Stone looked at Brio, who could not hold his gaze.

“Where did you get the information that Zanian is in the Sultanate?”

“From you. It seems that you are getting better information than we, and faster. We also wish to employ you as a consultant.”

“And when do you want to fly to the Sultanate?”

“Now.”

“Let me tell you what is involved in arranging this flight,” Stone said.

“Please do.”

“First of all, the charter fee will be twenty thousand dollars an hour, which begins at wheels up and ends at touchdown. The airplane requires two flight crews and two flight attendants: that’s six people, and the charter fee does not include fuel, but I’ll throw in catering. You’ll need someone aboard with a valid credit card and a high credit limit for the fuel.”

Brio raised her hand, then put it back in her lap.

“How many people do you wish to transport?”

“Two: Special Agent Ness and you.”

“And the two of us are expected to penetrate whatever security Zanian and his host have?”

“I have authorized a team of eighteen agents, which will be assembled from four of our European stations and will board in Cairo.”

“So, we’re just supposed to serve an arrest warrant and take him away?”

“Pretty much.”

“Has anyone inquired of the sultan as to his feelings on the subject of Zanian?”

“That will be your job.”

“I’m just supposed to drop my law practice, fly across the Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Desert, and say, ‘Please, sir, may I arrest your houseguest and take him away?’ ”

“I spoke with your managing partner, Bill Eggers, less than an hour ago, and he said we could do with you as we will, at a thousand dollars an hour.”

“Sort of like being sold into bondage,” Stone said.

“Only with your agreement.”

“And why do you think I have enough sway with the sultan to pull this off? I’ve never met the man.”

“He asked for you. He apparently read something about you in some magazine and was impressed. He called Lance Cabot for a reference.”

Stone looked at Brio again. Now she was contemplating her lap.

“And Special Agent Ness has something she’d like to say to you,” Gramm said.

Stone looked at Brio again. “Oh?”

She managed to raise her gaze a few degrees. “I wish to apologize for any doubts I may have had about your credentials and your acquaintances,” she said.

“How very nice of you,” Stone said sweetly. “Now, Director Gramm, I have to reassemble my crew, who need some rest after our last adventure, and have the aircraft inspected before a long flight, so the earliest we will be able to depart will be noon tomorrow.”

“No earlier? We don’t know how long Zanian will be in the Sultanate.”

“Why would he want to leave?” Stone asked. “He just got there.”

“Done,” the director said, getting to his feet and offering his hand.

“I’ll get my luggage,” Brio said.

“Since we’re not leaving until tomorrow, just leave it with Joan, and we’ll take it with us to the airplane. Please be here at nine am tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she said, shooting him a dirty look. Then she followed her boss out of the office.

He called Faith and got the wheels turning.

“Have you ever flown into the Sultanate?” he asked.

“I’ve flown into Riad and Dubai, but never into the Sultanate of Saud. I don’t expect it will be any more difficult than the other two.”

Stone called Lance.

“I understand you’re traveling tomorrow,” Lance said.

“Anything you can do to pave the way would be appreciated by all.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Lance said, then hung up.