Fast and Loose

12

Stone awoke alone in a large bed in a darkened room. “Oh, you’re awake,” Marisa said from across the room, raising a blind partway to admit a stream of bright sunlight. “Breakfast in half an hour.” She slipped off her robe, giving him a large, Swedish dose of the full-frontal view. “We have time to do it again.”

He raised his arms, and she came into them. Half an hour later he heard the doorbell.

“Breakfast,” she said, grabbing her robe, and headed for the front door. “Join me.”

Stone found a robe for himself draped over a chair, slipped into it, and went into the living/dining room. Another smorgasbord, this one with eggs, cheese, smoked salmon, and toasted muffins. They dug in.

“You are an excellent lover,” she said, “gentle, kind, but assertive and willing to experiment.”

“I don’t believe I’ve ever been rated that way before,” he said.

“You have been, you just weren’t told. And what about me?”

“Enthusiastic, affectionate, skillful, and welcoming,” he replied. “Highest marks. Oh, and I give the Swedish attitude toward sex equally high marks.”

She laughed. “When will I see you again?”

“Is this evening too soon? I’m having dinner with Dino and Viv. Will you join us?”

“Of course. I’ll be working a little late — may I meet you at the restaurant?”

“Eight o’clock at Patroon — 160 East Forty-sixth Street.”

“Agreed. How late will we be?”

“Bring a toothbrush,” he replied, “and a change of socks.”

Stone was back at his desk in time to receive a phone call from Ed Rawls.

“Good morning, Ed.”

“Good morning. You left too soon — the Maine weather is glorious. It’s getting to be autumn.”

Stone groaned. “And I’m stuck here, doing business.”

“It’s business I called about — yours, not mine. I’ve heard that Erik Macher is planning to increase his offer for the Carlsson Clinic.”

“You astonish me, Ed. How do you do it?”

“Intelligence is my chosen craft. I’ll give you a hint. There are Agency alumni at St. Clair other than Macher.”

“I should have guessed. Did you hear a number mentioned?”

“An increase of twenty-five percent,” Rawls said.

“That’s good to know. How about when?”

“As soon as his earlier offer expires.”

“So he’ll wait to see how many bites he gets.”

“It would make him look too eager to do it now. I should think he’s likely to pick up quite a few shares,” Ed said, “though maybe not enough for a majority.”

“So he’ll up the ante to corral some more.”

“Macher didn’t even know about the offer until after St. Clair’s death, but I’m told he’s very caught up in it now. He wants the clinic badly, I’m not sure why.”

“Well,” Stone said, “it’s probably his first deal since taking control.”

“He has several left over from St. Clair, but this is the biggest one. He badly wants to see the headline in the Wall Street Journal.”

“I’ll see what I can do about getting him a headline,” Stone said, “though perhaps not the one he’d like.”

“For Macher, that would amount to a public shaming. He cares desperately about achieving a business reputation for himself.”

“I don’t have a problem with that.”

“You need to think about this, Stone.”

“You’re against the deal?”

“No, no, I don’t give a shit either way, except for the fun of embarrassing Macher. You just have to understand that if you win, you’ll be making a dangerous enemy.”

“Well, I suppose you don’t win many friends resisting hostile takeovers.”

“Of course not, but this will be of a different order of magnitude, given Macher’s background and, above all, his nature. You had better be ready for a hostile reaction.”

“That’s good advice, Ed, thank you.”

“The least I can do,” Ed said. “See ya.” He hung up.

Stone hung up, too. It occurred to him that, given Ed’s information, it might be better to reconsider how to handle St. Clair’s offer. He called Paul Carlsson.

“Good morning, Stone,” the physician said. “Did you and Marisa enjoy your evening?”

“Very much indeed,” Stone replied.

“I’m so glad. I hope you will forgive her Swedish forthrightness. It has sometimes been a problem for her.”

“Ah, no problem. Paul, I’ve had some new information about the St. Clair offer.”

“Then I’m anxious to hear it. Federal Express picked up the stockholder documents twenty minutes ago. Several of my staff were up most of the night getting them ready to ship, in light of your concern for quick action.”

Stone’s shoulders sagged; too late for restraint. “Paul, my new information is that Erik Macher is personally, deeply invested in his offer for the clinic, and he will be very upset when he hears that he has lost it.”

“Do we care?” Paul asked.

“Not really, but I’ve been advised that we should be prepared for a very strong reaction, possibly a dangerous one.”

Carlsson was quiet for a moment. “I had not anticipated such a thing.”

“Neither had I, though perhaps I should have.”

“Do you have some notion of how we should proceed, given this new information?”

“I believe that for a time, we should hire security professionals to ensure the safety of you and your family.”

“Do you mean bodyguards?”

“Perhaps more subtle than that. I serve on the board of Strategic Services, a large part of whose business is personal protection, and they are very, very good at what they do.”

“What, exactly, will this mean?” Paul asked.

“They will want to install people at the clinic, perhaps under the guise of providing some other business service — computer evaluations, perhaps — something that will give them an excuse to be close to you, then they’ll blend in. Also, it would be best if you all travel in vehicles supplied and driven by them. They will endeavor to be as unobtrusive as possible.”

“All right, I’ll let the kids know. When will this start?”

“Before the day is out. I just have to make the phone call to put everything in place.”

“Then proceed, and thank you for your attention to this.”

“I will do so immediately,” Stone said. He hung up and called Mike Freeman.