Strategic Moves

FIFTEEN

Lance sniffed his brandy and took another sip. “Freeman is not his real name,” he said, “or, at least, not the name he was given at birth. He was then called Stanley Whitestone.”

Stone sipped his brandy and waited.

“Mike was a well-brought-up young Englishman when he was recruited for MI6, which is, as you know, the Brits’ foreign intelligence service. He excelled there and many said he was headed for the top. Then he fell in love with a much younger woman. She was twenty-two or so, a student at Cambridge, and Mike was in his mid-thirties and married. Her father, who was an important member of Parliament, was not amused. He came down rather hard on the girl, who had, by this time, found herself pregnant. Mike stepped up; he left his wife and became engaged to the girl, but she decided to have an abortion. Afraid of calling attention to herself because of her father’s position, she did not go to a hospital. Instead, she called on her best friend at Cambridge, a medical student, to perform the procedure. The boy was gay and the son of another important MP.

“The young man got through the procedure at his boyfriend’s country cottage and left her there overnight alone. When he returned the following morning she had contracted an infection and was very ill. He got her to a hospital, but she died later the same day. Mike Freeman knew nothing of any of this at the time.

“The boy was arrested, charged with performing an illegal abortion, and did a plea bargain for six months in prison. His medical career was ruined. While in prison he was raped and murdered by another prisoner, leaving two angry and powerful fathers to mourn the two young people.

“Time passed, the two MPs rose in the political world, and when their party won the next election, the girl’s father joined the cabinet as foreign secretary and the boy’s father as home secretary. Thus empowered, they set out to avenge their unlucky children and destroy Stanley Whitestone.

“By this time, under pressure created by the two fathers, Whitestone, fearing for his life, had left MI6, changed his name to Michael Freeman, and vanished. Eventually, he acquired an altered face, a Canadian passport, and a slight Montreal accent. Then he met Jim Hackett, went to work for him, and rose to number two in Strategic Services. With me so far?”

Stone shrugged noncommittally.

“Then your friend Felicity Devonshire, head of MI6, at the behest of the two fathers, employed you to find Mr. Whitestone. Felicity did not know the backstory, and the fathers had fabricated charges of treason, or worse, against Whitestone. The rest you know, am I right? In fact, you were with Jim Hackett when the sniper got him. I am prepared to believe that you knew nothing of that.”

“I won’t confirm or deny any of your story,” Stone said.

“You are so stubborn, Stone,” Lance said, laughing and shaking his head. “But I respect your loyalty and your rectitude, which is why I am now formulating a new approach to Mike Freeman and Strategic Services.”

“I’m sure he’ll be interested in hearing what you have to say,” Stone said, “as will I.”

“Properly noncommittal,” Lance said. “I’m going to make Mike an offer he can’t refuse, as the Godfather used to say.”

“I hope the content of your offer will be different from those of the Godfather,” Stone said.

“Don’t you worry, Stone; it will all be legal, proper, and aboveboard. Well, perhaps not entirely aboveboard, given the business we have chosen. Aboveboard is not really what we do, is it?”

“Finally, something we can agree on,” Stone said.

There was a sharp rap on the door of the study.

“Come in!” Lance commanded.

The door opened and a large man in hunting clothes filled the doorway. “The gentleman has said he is ready to speak to you now, sir.”

“Tell him I’ll be right with him,” Lance said, and the man closed the door.

“Did someone make him an offer he can’t refuse?” Stone asked.

“Well, yes,” Lance replied.

“I suppose that involved what you people like to call ‘enhanced interrogation’?”

“His interrogation was certainly enhanced,” Lance said, “but not in the way you might imagine. The offer he couldn’t refuse involved a new life for himself and his family, certain protections, and a considerable sum of money. He will be a very happy ex-spy.”

“More likely a double agent,” Stone said.

“That, while covered by your security clearance, is on a need-to-know basis, and you most definitely do not need to know.”

Lance rose. “Will you invite me to dinner tonight on your island?”

Stone stood, too. “I’m very sorry, but I have a previous engagement with someone a lot more beautiful than you, Lance.”

“Rain check, then?”

“Next time you’re in New York, I’ll take you to Elaine’s.”

“Done.”

The two men walked toward the door together. “The chopper awaits you,” Lance said.

“And when will you make your new offer to Mike Freeman?”

“I have already done so,” Lance said.

“And what did you offer him that he can’t refuse?”

“I’m sure he’ll tell you in due course,” Lance replied. “He may even tell you about the mission we’ve engaged him for. That’s up to him.”

“I’m not going to like it, am I?” Stone asked.

“You may, or you may not,” Lance replied. “Your opinion is of little consequence. Have a nice flight.” They were in the entrance hall now. Lance turned and bounded up the stairs, two at a time.

Stone found his coat, hat, and gloves and walked outside. The rotors of the helicopter were already turning.

“Right this way, Mr. Barrington,” a man standing next to the machine shouted.

Stone climbed aboard, found a headset to protect his hearing, and buckled his seat belt.

The copter rose vertically, banked to the north, and climbed to a hundred feet or so, high enough to pass over the mast of any unsuspecting yacht that might be out for a cold-weather sail.

Stone watched Islesboro come into view, then the airstrip, and he wondered what sort of an offer Mike Freeman could not refuse.