“Good morning, Stone. I spoke to Lance Cabot a few minutes ago, and he was hinting that Strategic Services should pay for the hard landing his Mercedes experienced. He and I had only a verbal agreement about the trip we made for them, except for the charter agreement, which is in writing.”

“Does the charter agreement say anything about responsibility for equipment belonging to the charter company?”

“No,” Mike replied.

“Good. The other thing to look at is the terms of your verbal agreement. Did anything in your conversation with Lance mention your being in charge of the extractee or any cargo aboard the aircraft?”

“No, there was no mention of it. He told me that two of his people would be aboard the aircraft and would take charge of Pablo.”

“Then it appears that you have no liability for Pablo’s actions. The cargo, including the Mercedes, was government property and was put aboard by government employees, so no liability there, unless you actually caused damage to it, which you did not. I think you’re in the clear, and that’s certainly the attitude you should adopt in dealing with Lance.”

“Good. I feel better already.”

“Nor should the gentleman in Rye who owns the pool have any claim against you.”

“Even better.”

“If Lance gives you a hard time, just refer him to me.”

“I’ll do that. Lance hinted that Pablo did not escape his clutches.”

“Pablo did escape his clutches, but he will be speaking to Lance and his colleagues soon.”

“Voluntarily?”

“Yes, and under mutually agreed-upon terms.”

“So we have an ultimately successful conclusion to our mission?”

“It would seem so, but let’s wait until everything is concluded before feeling relief. Your portion of the mission would seem to be complete, though, unless there’s something else you agreed to with Lance that hasn’t been done.”

“No, our mission was to pick up the cargo in Iraq, the extractee at a specified location, and deliver them to Stewart International.”

“Well, I’ll handle the final delivery of Pablo part, except for the car.”

“The stuff on TV has been hilarious,” Mike said. “I’ve had trouble keeping a straight face when talking to Lance.”

“Hang on to that straight face, Mike; Lance is not amused.”

“Will do.”

“By the way, I had a call from Stephanie Gunn Fisher, and she mentioned that you had withdrawn your funds from the Gunn company.”

“Yes, and it’s safe elsewhere. Did you take your money out?”

“I never put it in, fortunately.”

“I’m relieved to have ours out. What’s going to happen there?”

“Who knows? They seem to have come through their audit in good shape, though.”

“Talk to you later,” Mike said, and hung up.

Joan buzzed him. “Dino is holding on two.”

Stone pushed the button. “Hey, Dino.”

“It was fun last night watching you and Eggers go at it.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“Something you said struck me.”