Dino, who was seated facing the street, got up. “Excuse me for a minute.” He walked away from the table and out of the restaurant.

“What’s that about?” Stone asked Viv.

“Beats me.”

Dino returned. “Frank and Charlie have rejoined you.”

“Oh, shit.”

“They’re obviously watching your house. Don’t worry, I had them rousted. Two to one they’re carrying something illegal, so they’ll be out of your hair overnight, at least.”

“Thank you, Dino.”

“It’s all part of the service,” Dino replied.

Chapter 18

Stone was at his desk the next morning, making a list of dinner invitees, when Joan buzzed him. “Holly Barker on one.”

Stone punched the button. “Holly? How are you?”

“As well as can be expected,” she said.

“You sound as if the White House is wearing you down.”

“At times. Being national security adviser is even harder than I thought it would be.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Stone, I want to ask a very great favor of you. Actually, the president and I.”

“How could I possibly refuse?”

“Do you remember Major Ian Rattle?”

“The name is familiar.”

“Felicity Devonshire’s dinner party in London.”

“Ah, the MI6 guy who was with your assistant, Millicent . . .”

“Millie Martindale.”

“Got him.”

“He’s arriving in D.C. this afternoon, surreptitiously, and we have to hide him for a week or two.”

“Hide him from whom or what?”

“I’ll explain that when I see you.”

“You’re seeing me?”

“I’ll be in New York tomorrow to give a lecture at the Foreign Policy Association.”

“Will you be here overnight?”

“Yep. You free?”

“No, but I’m having a dinner party, and you’re invited. Major Rattle, too.”

“We’d love to,” she said. “He’s traveling with me. Why don’t we come early and I’ll explain what’s going on?”

“Do you need a bed for the night?”

“I have an apartment there, remember? If I don’t stay there once in a while the doormen will forget who I am and deny me entry to the building.”

“Okay. You can be my date, and I’ll ask an odd woman for Rattle.”

“If anyone knows an odd woman, it’s you.”

“See you at six, then?”

“Right.” They hung up.

Stone wrote down Holly and Rattle, then Dino and Viv, Bill Eggers and his wife, Herbie Fisher and whoever his girl might be, and Mike Freeman and date. He added Caroline Woodhouse as the odd woman, then he gave the list to Joan and asked her to have invitations hand-delivered.

“The two goons are out there again,” Joan said, nodding toward the street.

“Which two goons?”

“That ex-cop and his shadow.”

“Ryan and Al Parisi?”

“That’s the ones.”

“I don’t think we can do anything about them.”

“What happened to the dangerous-looking ones?”