Hot Pursuit

10

Stone, Dino, and Viv got to Manassas well ahead of time; they stowed their luggage, and Stone did a thorough pre-flight inspection, then he got a weather forecast — severe clear and light winds — and filed a flight plan.

At noon, the gate to the ramp slid open and three black SUVs cruised through and came to a stop at the left wingtip of N123TF. Will Lee hopped out of the front seat of the first one, and an agent retrieved a single duffel from the trunk. Stone shook hands with Will, stowed his duffel in the front luggage compartment, and walked Will around the airplane, pointing out features. Finally everyone boarded, including a young woman in a business suit and a shoulder holster who represented the Secret Service, and Stone helped Will into the right cockpit seat.

“It’s snug,” Stone said, “but you’ll get used to it.”

“Do I have a choice?” Will asked, struggling to get his left leg to follow his right leg into the footwell.

“Only the passenger cabin, and that’s no fun.” Stone climbed into the pilot seat and helped Will figure out the four-point seat belt, then secured his own. He started the engines, radioed for a clearance to Teterboro, and was surprised to be given a routing of direct to destination and an immediate climb to his cruising altitude.

“I made a call,” Will said.

“I’ve never flown direct from Manassas to Teterboro,” Stone said.

“It was the least I could do.”

Stone asked for a taxi clearance, and to his further surprise, was immediately cleared for takeoff. That had never happened before, either.

As they taxied onto the runway, Stone said, “Watch the screen in front of you. You’ll see the speeds come up and the flight director bars that show us we’re climbing at the right rate.” He pushed the throttles forward and began calling his own speeds, then rotated. “You just keep the bars together,” he said to Will, then he switched on the autopilot and let it do the work. They got a spectacular view of Washington as they flew over.

“I talked them out of a fighter escort,” Will said.

“Thanks so much. I don’t know what they would think of that at Teterboro — I’d never live it down.”

“My reasoning was that we’d attract less attention without it, and thus be more secure. We don’t have to use an Air Force call sign, either, and you will have noticed that the ‘football’ no longer travels with me.”

Stone had seen enough movies to know that the “football” was the briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes, carried by a military officer, who followed the president everywhere. Stone thought Will seemed as delighted as a child on his first flight, and he was enchanted with the glass cockpit.

“Do you know this is the first time in nine years I’ve flown in any airplane smaller than Air Force One?”

“Welcome back to general aviation. Maybe you can start flying your own airplane again soon.”

“Not going to happen,” Will said. “Maybe after Kate’s time is up I can get something like this, if I’m not too old to fly.”

Stone showed Will how to set up the instrument approach to runway six at Teterboro, and they were cleared directly to the initial approach fix. He pointed to the little red airplane representing them that appeared on the screen, overlaid on the approach plate.

“Now that is fantastic!” Will said.

They touched down smoothly and taxied to Jet Aviation, where they were given the plum parking spot, next to the lounge. It wouldn’t have mattered, though, because there was another three-car convoy waiting for them, and Stone’s Bentley was right behind it. Five minutes later Will shook Stone’s hand and thanked him again for the flight, then they were on their way back to the city. At the appropriate moment, Fred peeled away from the convoy for Turtle Bay, while the first gentleman continued uptown to the Carlyle. Fred left Stone at the house, then continued uptown to deliver Viv to her Strategic Services office, while Dino got into his waiting police SUV and headed downtown to One Police Plaza and his office. Stone went into his office via the street door.

“Welcome back,” Joan said as he looked in on her. “How was it?”

“I’ve just had the best transportation experience of my life,” Stone said. “I wish Will Lee could fly with me all the time.” He gave her a blow-by-blow, then went into his office. There was a note from his younger law partner, Herbie Fisher, inviting him to lunch at the Four Seasons. Stone looked at his messages, found nothing very important, grabbed his coat, and left the office, telling Joan to call Herbie and tell him he was on his way.

The Four Seasons Grill had begun to empty, as it was nearly two o’clock, but Herbie was there, nibbling on a crust of bread. “I ordered you the Dover sole,” he said as they shook hands.

“How’ve you been, Herb?” Stone asked. “I watched as much of your murder trial as I could. You did a great job.”

“Yeah,” Herbie replied, “and I feel a little guilty about that.”

“You think you got a guilty client off?”

Herbie shrugged. He was not about to admit to that. “Let’s just say that if she’d had any other attorney, she’d be upstate in the women’s correctional facility.”

“That’s modest of you.”

“It’s the truth.”

“What do you think of Greta Frank?”

“Greta Frank Lewin,” Herbie corrected. “She is a piece of work: cold, calculating, always composed. She insisted on testifying, and the DA couldn’t lay a glove on her. She had the jury with her the whole way. She’d make a great trial attorney.”

“Her sister, Pat, flew back from Wichita with me. She’s a very experienced pilot, and my insurance company wanted someone like her aboard the first time I flew the airplane. We’ve become, ah, friendly.”

“Does she look anything like Greta?”

“Something like her, only younger and more beautiful.”

“And a pilot, too? You should marry her.”

“My experience with marriage has been less than satisfactory,” Stone said.

Herbie laughed. Lunch came and they caught up as they ate.

“Did I mention that I’m single again?” Herbie asked when they were on coffee.

“I thought that was permanent,” Stone said.

“She took a hike. It’s probably just as well — what with our two schedules, we hardly saw each other.”

“It happens,” Stone said.

“Yeah, I guess it does. Her absence sort of opens things up, though. I’ve had a couple of dates.”

“Take my advice and stay single for a while, then find somebody who doesn’t have a schedule as busy as yours, and you’ll have more fun.”

“We’ll see how it goes,” Herbie said.

“It always goes,” Stone replied.