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Back Stealth Save as PDF
Chapters (71)
  1. Cover
  2. BOOKS BY STUART WOODS
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  66. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  67. Excerpt from TREASON
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  70. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  71. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Well, Meg,” Lance interrupted, “off with you both, and don’t skip anything. I expect the brigadier would love to see our technical services shop—the Brits always love that.” He leaned over and whispered, “In your travels, be sure and introduce the brigadier to Mr. Wu at Camp Peary.” He shooed them out the door and shut it behind them, then heaved a great sigh of satisfaction.

Lance dug out his cell phone and looked up a number. “Hello, Stone?”

“Yes, Lance,” Stone replied.

“Where are you?”

“In England,” Stone said.

“Oh, that’s right, that’s why I’m calling. I’m headed to London this evening, and I wondered if I could drop down to the Beaulieu River and see your magnificent house there this weekend. Can you put me up?”

“Of course, Lance. Call me from London and give me your arrival time, and I’ll have you met at the station.”

“Not to worry, I’ll be driving, or, rather, driven. Look for me in time for drinks on Friday. Shall I bring a dinner suit?”

“I suppose so. Shall I invite Felicity?”

“Please do. I’ll have some amusing stories to tell you both about a mutual friend who’s visiting us as we speak.”

24

On Friday, a Strategic Services Gulfstream 4 picked up Dino and Viv for the trip back across the Atlantic. “This is a bit of a demotion from the G-600, isn’t it?” Stone needled Viv.

“I’m told it will go the distance, and that’s all we require,” she replied, kissing him goodbye. “I feel better leaving you in the clutches of Rose, since we made an honest woman of her.”

“Come now, she was always an honest woman. We just had to find it out.” He gave Dino a hug, slapped him on the back, and followed him aboard the aircraft. “Nicer than I thought,” he said, looking around the cabin, “and you have only a couple of companions to share it with.” There were two other Strategic Services executives aboard.

“I’ll live,” Dino said. Then Stone deplaned and drove away with Rose in his golf cart, as the G-4 taxied to the end of the runway for takeoff.

“Viv must be pretty high up in her company,” Rose said, “to be picked up at a private airstrip for a transatlantic flight.”

“She is the number-two person, after Mike Freeman, who is chairman and CEO. It doesn’t hurt that Dino is the New York City police commissioner, and as such, he’s the sort of person worth doing favors for.”

“Did you build the airstrip?”

“No, the Royal Air Force was kind enough to do that during World War II. They used it to test new bombers and fighters, and to launch aircraft flying to France to parachute members of the Special Operations Executive into that country, to execute skullduggery against the Nazis.”

“Did the Germans ever bomb it?”