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Chapters (63)
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  2. Books by Stuart Woods
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  63. AUTHOR’S NOTE

“I gave them to Guido—they’re his problem now.”

“Viv will be so relieved.”

59

There was no one available to drive them, so they were given a car with a GPS and Dino drove.

“So, what are your plans now?” he asked Stone.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to go over the hotel plans with Marcel, and see if there’s anything else to help him with. The day after, I’m going to fly the airplane to England. I have an invitation from Felicity Devonshire. She says she’s got something she wants to show me.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet she does.”

“Something besides that.”

“What?”

“I don’t know—she says it’s a secret.”

“And you’re willing to fly to England for that?”

“It’s got to be important, or she wouldn’t have insisted I come. Anyway, it’ll be nice to see her, especially since Hedy is never going to speak to me again.”

“And after that?”

“I’ll fly the airplane back to Teterboro, via Lisbon and the Azores. I should be back by the end of the week, at the most. Are you leaving tomorrow?”

“I spoke to Viv. She’s making our travel arrangements now.”

“You might be on the airplane with Hedy,” Stone pointed out. “Dante is putting her on the Alitalia flight at two PM.”

“That’s our flight, I think.”

“If you get the opportunity, tell Hedy what we’ve been doing for the past few days, will you?”

“I’ll let Viv handle that, I think.”

“Smart move.”

It was past midnight before they were back at Marcel’s place and in their beds.

—

The following morning Stone called Felicity, and he was put through immediately by her assistant.

“Hello, there.”

“Hi. I can be there tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

“Wonderful. Do you have a dinner jacket with you?”

“Yes, I played in a band last night. I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Good. We’ll go across the Solent and have dinner at the Royal Yacht Squadron. There’s someone I want you to meet who’ll be dining with us.”

“You’re not handing me off to another woman, are you?”

“Perish the thought. What time will you arrive?”

“Where should I land?”

“At Southampton. I’ll arrange hangar space and fuel for you.”

“Okay. Shall we say two PM?”

“I’ll meet you on the ramp at Signature Flight Support, and I’ll arrange your prior permission to land. What’s your tail number?”

“November One Two Three Tango Foxtrot.”

“See you then.” She hung up, before he could ask about the secret.

Stone went downstairs and found Marcel in his office. “I’m sorry about the past few days,” he said, “all those people in your apartment.”

“Not at all,” Marcel said. “I’m just glad everything turned out so well.”

“How are things proceeding with the hotel?”