A Safe House

44

Fred was looking sleepy, so Stone drove. He enjoyed the Saw Mill River Parkway, and he welcomed the opportunity. Twenty minutes out from the inn he called them and asked for Jenna.

“Hello?” She sounded more awake.

“It’s Stone. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. We’re moving you to another address, so please get your things packed and have a bellman take them downstairs, but please tell him not to put them in the lobby or on the front porch. They might be recognized.”

“Stone, are you sure this is really necessary?”

“I am. And be sure to unload your pistol and put it into a suitcase.”

“All right.”

Stone thought he heard her stamp her foot. “See you shortly,” he said and hung up before she could argue further.

He made the turnoff for the Mayflower on time and drove to the hilltop parking lot, where a bellman awaited. “Don’t park it,” Stone said to him. “She’s checking out. Have you brought down her luggage?”

“No, sir, we haven’t had a call.”

Stone went into the inn and found the manager at the front desk, who went upstairs with him. He knocked on the door of her suite, but there was no reply. He knocked again and shouted, “Jenna, it’s Stone.” Nothing.

Stone stepped aside and let the manager open the door. He found Jenna dressed but lying on the bed, asleep. He sat her up and patted her cheeks smartly. “Jenna, wake up!”

She opened her eyes and stared at him dully. “What?”

“Have you taken a sleeping pill?”

“Last night,” she said.

“You only arrived earlier today, and you were wide awake.” He gave up, and started putting things into her suitcase, tucking her sleeping pills into his pocket. When he turned around again, she was back asleep. He managed to get everything into her bags, and the manager called for a bellman.

Stone picked her up in his arms and was grateful for her slimness. He got her into the elevator and pressed the lobby button. The elevator moved very slowly.

Fred was helping the bellman pack the car, and he opened a rear door and helped get Jenna inside. Stone tipped the bellman lavishly and got behind the wheel. As he was about to start the car, his cell phone rang. “Yes?”

“It’s Mike. My people are on site.”

“Tell them I’m in the green Bentley and to follow me. I’m moving her to my old house, a few blocks away.” He started the car and got it turned around. As he did, a couple of men were pushing a large BMW motorcycle out of the woods and into the parking lot. Stone rolled down his window. “Take it down the hill and hide it in the woods there,” he said. “That ought to slow the guy down.”

He drove the short distance to his old house and used the key to open the front door, then he and Fred carried Jenna inside and installed her on the living room sofa. Stone put a blanket over her.

Stone sent Fred up with the bags he had packed himself, then found the Strategic Services detail leader. “How many men have you got?”

“Eight,” the man replied.

“Spread half of them around the house; put the others upstairs in the bedrooms over the garage and tell them to get some sleep.” He went back inside the house and made sure all the doors and windows were locked. “Fred,” he said, “take the bedroom on the top floor and make yourself comfortable.”

“I’m all right for the moment, sir.”

Stone heard a car pull into the driveway, and found Bill Eggers getting out of a large Mercedes. “Bill, what are you doing here?”

“I went to the inn, but they said you had checked out, so I came here.”

“You’re not supposed to be here, Bill. I’m just borrowing your house.”

“I thought you needed me,” Eggers said.

“Come inside, and I’ll give you some of your own whiskey.”

He sat Eggers in the living room and then found him a double Scotch and himself some bourbon. “Fred, pour yourself whatever you like.” Fred headed for the bar.

“Did I loan you the liquor, too?” Eggers asked, sipping his drink.

“Yes,” Stone replied. “Take it out of this year’s bonus.”

“You expect to drink more of it?”

“I do.”

“I’ll make a note of it, then. What do we do now?”

“We keep a man named Harley Quince from murdering Jenna. She’s the unconscious woman on the living room sofa.”

“Couldn’t you find her a bed?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t carry her that far.”

Eggers put down his drink, went to a cupboard, removed a double-barreled shotgun, loaded it, then sat down again and put the shotgun across the arms of the chair. “Ready on the firing line,” he said.

“Please don’t shoot anybody,” Stone pleaded. “There are eight of Mike Freeman’s people in or around the house and guesthouse, and you don’t know any of them.”

“Thanks for letting me know.”

As Eggers was finishing his drink, Stone gently removed the shotgun from the arms of his chair, unloaded it, and returned the weapon and its ammo to the cupboard.