Joan buzzed again. “Pablo for you.”

“Hello, Pablo,” Stone said.

“Stone, I have just learned from a reliable source that my passport and those of my family have been flagged by the State Department and thus may not be used to enter or leave the country.”

“That’s not good news, Pablo. I’m sorry.”

“You must get back to Mr. C. and tell him that these flags must be lifted at once, or I will be unable to speak with him and his people next week.”

“I’ll do the best I can, Pablo, but we have a signed agreement with him that does not include this problem. I’ll speak to him; perhaps he will be of help.”

“Thank you. I’ll wait to hear from you.”

Stone hung up and looked in his book for a cell number for Lance, then dialed it.

“Yes?”

“It’s Stone. Something disturbing has come up.”

“How sad. What do you want?”

“The American passports of Pablo and his family have been flagged, preventing them from entering or leaving the country.”

“Well, I suppose you’ll have to take that up with the IRS, Stone,” Lance said. “It’s their beef.”

“No, it’s not; it’s the State Department who has flagged the passports. Will you look into this, please? I know that the Agency has a close working relationship with State, and I don’t want to see Pablo struck mute by this easily solved problem.”

“Clearly, you have never dealt with the State Department, and I resent your suggestion that Pablo might violate our agreement.”

“That is not his intention, Lance, as I’m sure it was not your intention to have Pablo and his family inconvenienced in this manner. I hope we can sort this out to prevent any dissension among us.”

“Well, I’ll be happy to phone someone at Foggy Bottom, but I can’t make any promises.”

“I’m sure when your contact there learns of the great value of Pablo to national security, he will see the light.”

“May I have the numbers of the passports, please?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, Lance: we both know your contact will have those at the tap of a keyboard.”

“Perhaps,” Lance said. “We’ll see. I don’t know if he’ll still be in his office at this hour, but I’ll leave a message if he isn’t, and I’m sure he’ll get back to me in due course.”

“I would think that you would be able to reach him now, just as I was able to reach you, and he will be able to instruct the proper person to remove this obstacle before the weekend.”

“Where is Pablo at this moment, Stone?”

“I don’t know, Lance. He has visited me here, but most of our communication has been telephonic. He could be anywhere.”

“I hope he doesn’t have it in his mind to scamper; perhaps you should relay to him the difficulties such an action could visit upon him.”

“Lance, you’ve recently kidnapped the man from his home, snatched him off a highway in Spain and forced him to enter the U.S. illegally, without proper extradition, and then threatened him with torture. I don’t think there’s anything I can tell Pablo about your methods that he doesn’t already know.”