Felicity burst out laughing. “And how did he respond to that?”

“He invited me to leave.”

“I expect so.”

“He attributed nearly all his answers to my questions to a confidential source.”

“Did he give any hint as to who that might be?”

“He did not. I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job of getting it out of him, but I was so flabbergasted that my mind wasn’t working properly.”

His cell phone rang, and he glanced at it. “Excuse me for a moment, it’s Dino. Hello?”

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I thought you’d like to know that we rousted Gene Ryan a few minutes ago. We found him at home.”

“Did he have a motorcycle and a shoulder wound?”

“We didn’t have enough for a search warrant to look for the bike, and short of slapping him on the back, we couldn’t search him for a wound, either. He was sitting in his living room, having a beer and watching the news, like a normal person. He denied everything, of course.”

“What do you need for a search warrant?”

“Pretty much an eyewitness. That could be Fred, of course, but he didn’t see enough to be of much help. You want dinner tonight?”

“I’d love to, but I’m plying a dinner guest with liquor as we speak.” He smirked at Felicity.

“That would be Dame Felicity Devonshire of MI6, would it not?”

“I will neither confirm nor deny that.”

“You can hide nothing from me. See you later.” Dino hung up.

“And how is Dino?” Felicity asked.

“Just fine. He guessed you were here.”

“I guessed he would.”

“How is Ian coming along?”

“He was discharged early this afternoon and is resting in his new flat in the embassy residence.”

“A pity I couldn’t worm the name of your mole out of Abdul-Aziz, then he could go home.”

“I needed some new blood in New York, anyway.”

He cocked his head and looked at her. “You seem awfully relaxed about the mole.”

“Relax is all I can do, until we’ve worked through our investigation.”

“And how long is that going to take?”

“As long as it takes.”

“And Ian has to live with that for the duration?”

“He’ll be pretty much under wraps in New York. It’s not like he’s going to be making public appearances.”

Stone looked at his watch. “The Four Seasons?”

She smiled. “You know how I love that place.”

Chapter 33

Stone was briefly awakened the following morning by Felicity getting out of bed, and he had a vague memory of hearing her in the shower, but when he finally was awakened by the buzzer from the dumbwaiter, announcing breakfast, she was gone, and there was a note on the bed.

Sorry, I hope I didn’t wake you, but I got a call and have a fire to put out. I’ll call you as soon as I can.