Stealth

18

Stone had nothing further to keep him in London for the remainder of the day, so he got his things and asked for his car. On the drive down to Windward Hall he reviewed his evening and morning and decided he knew not much more than he had the day before, save a new name. Everything else he knew was the same.

Back at Windward Hall he gave the car and luggage to Stan, then went to the library. Dino was asleep on the Chesterfield sofa, a light blanket over his feet. Stone found his book on the mantel — a new biography of Winston Churchill by Andrew Roberts — and sat down to read, pleased to see that he had passed page five hundred in a book of more than one thousand pages. He was immediately sucked back into the existence of the greatest Englishman as he became prime minister during World War II.

He had read another twenty-five pages when Dino stirred, then sat up, rubbing his eyes, seeming surprised to find Stone there. “How did you sneak in here without waking me up?”

“I didn’t sneak in, but I did try not to wake you, and I didn’t.”

“Then why am I awake?”

“You are awake of your own volition, since I’ve been sitting here for an hour. Is Viv still in London?”

“Yes. How long were you in the bugged suite?”

“Yesterday afternoon and evening. We ordered dinner from room service. Rose left before nine this morning.”

“Now, let me get this straight,” Dino said. “You agreed to have yourself filmed while fucking Rose?”

“Dino...”

“You can’t tell me that you spent hours with Rose in a room with a bed without fucking her and vice versa.”

“I’m not telling you that.”

“So, MI-6 now has what most people would call a ‘compromising sex video’ of you and Rose together?”

“They do not.”

“What did you do? Pull the covers over your head?”

Stone retrieved the thumb drive from his jacket pocket and tossed it to Dino. “This is the only copy. Felicity gave it to me.”

“And you believed her?”

“Believed what? It’s all right there in your hand.”

“You believed there are no copies?”

“If there were, I don’t believe Felicity would have bothered to lie about it.” Stone stood up. “Excuse me a minute.” He went into the attached powder room and used the facilities. When he came out, Dino was gazing at his iPhone and laughing. “This is hot stuff, Stone!”

“Dino, you can’t watch a thumb drive file on an iPhone.”

“You can watch this one,” he said. “It has a compatible fire-whatchacallit-plug.”

Stone walked over to where Dino sat and looked over his shoulder, then he snatched the phone away from him, unplugged the thumb drive, and gave him back the phone. “You’re disgusting!”

“Some folks would say that what I just watched was disgusting, but not I. I thought it was great!”

Stone put the thumb drive into his pocket, sat down, and picked up his book. It wasn’t all that easy, because the book must have weighed ten pounds.

“I especially liked the part where your head disappears between her legs,” Dino said.

“Dino!”

“I’ll bet all the spooks at MI-6 are watching it right now,” Dino said, “passing it around the shop.”

Dino’s phone rang, and he picked it up. “Bacchetti. Hey, sweets, how’s it going up there?” A pause. “Okay, what train will you be on? Good, I’ll have Stan meet you at the station. Oh, and when you get here, have I got a surprise for you!” He hung up. “Viv has finished her business and is taking a train back down here. She’ll get in at six-fifteen, so will you ask Stan to meet her?”

“Sure,” Stone said, picking up the phone and paging Stan. He gave him his instructions, then hung up. Then his phone rang.

“Hello?” It was Felicity. “Hello, Felicity. He listened for a moment. “Viv is going to be on the same train, so find her, and the two of you can have a chat on the way down. Why don’t you come to dinner and stay the night? See you then.” He hung up. “Felicity is coming down on Viv’s train, so she’ll be here for dinner.”

“And the night,” Dino corrected him.

“Well, yes.”

“Here’s a thought: you can watch your video together. I expect that will get Felicity going.”

“Felicity does not require that sort of stimulus,” Stone said.

Felicity and Viv came downstairs together, after having freshened up, and entered the library.

Stone and Dino, freshly changed into suits, stood to welcome them.

“How nice to see you again — and so soon,” Felicity said, kissing Stone on the ear and letting her tongue flick about.

“Stone and Felicity had lunch in London,” Dino explained to his wife.

“You could have driven down with me,” Stone said.

“I didn’t know until I got back to the shop that I would be free,” she said.

Stone poured everyone a drink, and they sat down around the fire.

“Oh,” Viv said, “I have news.”

“Tell us,” Stone replied.

“I had a couple of my people look into the background of your friend Rose, and they came up with an address in Ennismore Mews, Knightsbridge. She lives in a little house there, formerly owned by one Lady Margot Balfour.”

“Rose actually told me about that,” Stone said, “but without the Lady Balfour part.”

“It seems,” Felicity said, “that Ms. McGill is, in fact, Lady Margot Balfour.”

“No, no,” Viv said. “The good lady was supposed to have married the 4th Viscount Oakham last spring...”

“But she didn’t,” Felicity interjected.

“Well, no, she could hardly do that,” Viv said, “since her car was T-boned by a gasoline delivery truck when she was on the way to her rehearsal dinner. She and her maid of honor were killed instantly.”