Near Miss

Chapter 69

In the ballroom, Bill Eggers and Herb Fisher smiled as Stone and Carly walked up to table number one.

“Stone,” Bill said, “we were starting to wonder if we would ever see you again.”

“What?” Stone said. “And deprive you of my charm? Never.” He shook Bill’s hand. “Congratulations on being honored tonight.”

“I think it was the only way they could get me to come to the dinner,” Bill said.

“You and me both.”

“Count me in on that,” Herb Fisher said.

Bill turned to Carly. “And here’s our rising star. Good evening, Carly.”

“Good evening.”

“Carly, don’t you have something to tell Herb?” Stone said.

Bill’s brow creased. “No one’s tried to poach you away from us already, have they?”

“Not officially.”

Her answer did not assuage Bill’s concern.

“Lance Cabot made an inquiry,” Stone said, “but I told him in no uncertain terms she was not available.”

“It’s my understanding he can be tenacious,” Bill said.

“He can be, but so can I. If he does talk to her, Carly and I have already agreed to have a very serious conversation about what a job with Lance would mean.” Stone smiled at Carly. “Isn’t that right?”

“Tell Lance no and talk to you,” she said.

“See,” Stone said to Bill, “nothing to worry about.”

Bill looked appeased.

“You haven’t said what you wanted to tell me yet,” Herb said.

“Oh, right,” Carly said. “I brought in another client. Cabrera Cosmetics.”

“One point five million in billing last year,” Stone said. “And they expect that to go up.”

“That’s fantastic,” Bill said. “At this rate, you’ll be a partner in a year.”

Carly looked at Stone. “See. That’s what I—”

Stone held a finger to his lips, stopping her, and tapped his temple to remind her that was one of those things to keep to herself.

“Right,” she said. “Sorry.”

“Congratulations, Carly,” Herb said. “You know, Stone, you seem to have already taken her under your wing. Maybe we should make it official, and make you her supervisor.”

“If I did that,” Stone said, “I’d miss out on watching your misery.”

They sat down, and a server approached.

“Some sauvignon blanc, sir?” the man asked Stone. “Or, if you prefer, my colleague has pinot noir.”

“Sauvignon blanc will be fine, thank you.”

The server poured, then asked the same of Carly.

“I think I’d like to try the pinot.”

As the last word left her mouth, the room plunged into darkness. Even the emergency lights that should have come on remained unlit. At that same instant, Carly heard the sound of something familiar, but didn’t immediately place it.

Someone grunted and she felt movement next to her. “Stone?” She put a hand where she thought he was, but his chair was empty. “Stone?”

There was no answer. What she did hear was a cacophony of confused voices and the sound of several feet moving across the room.

Here and there flashlights on phones started coming on. Carly pulled her mobile from her clutch and turned on its light. Stone was nowhere to be seen.

She looked around for the Strategic Services bodyguards but didn’t see them anywhere.

“My God!” a woman yelled from the side of the room. “Sir, sir, are you okay?”

Carly swiveled in her chair toward the voice. The woman was crouched over the silhouette of a man on the ground, lying in the exact spot one of the bodyguards had been standing.

Someone else ran up to the woman. “Is he all right?”

“He has a pulse but he’s unconscious.”

Carly quickly glanced to the other places she’d seen Strategic Services personnel and spotted more silhouettes on the ground.

That’s when the identity of the noise she’d heard clicked into place. It had been a spraying sound. The same sound she had heard right before she’d been kidnapped.

She reached under her dress and withdrew the Smith & Wesson Equalizer pistol from her thigh holster and ran.