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Back The Short Forever Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. AUTHOR’S NOTE

Stone recounted his conversation with Lance, without mentioning names.

“It sounds as if your acquaintance is going to sell something important to a foreign government or more informal organization, that our government, or at least Hedger, doesn’t want them to have. Are you actually going to put up this money?”

“I don’t know.”

“I warn you, if you do, you may involve yourself in this matter in an inextricable way.”

“I’d much rather contact some agency that could support me in this.”

Bernard was silent for a moment. “If you don’t trust Hedger, then I think you should go to the British.”

“Can you give me a name?”

“I’ll give someone yours,” Bernard said. “If you get a call from someone who says he’s a friend of Sam’s, see him.”

“Thank you, sir,” Stone said.

“Keep me posted,” Bernard replied. “I’m beginning to enjoy this.”

Stone hung up the phone, laughing.

44

STONE HAD EXPECTED TO GET A CALL from someone soon, but it didn’t come. He didn’t see any point in going out, just to be followed, so he stayed home, looking in on Dino to find him snoring away. Maybe he wasn’t immune to jet lag, after all. Stone found a movie on TV and settled in.

Early in the evening, Dino came into the suite, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I was watching cricket, and then I practically passed out.”

“Jet lag.”

“If you say so. You hungry?”

“Almost. You want to order dinner now, or wait for a while.”

“You don’t want to go out?”

“Not really.”

Stone heard an odd noise, and he turned to see an envelope being slid under the door.

“Looks like a message for you,” Dino said.

“That’s not one of the Connaught’s message envelopes,” Stone said, staring at it.

“Well, are you going to open it? The suspense is killing me.” Dino yawned.

Stone retrieved the envelope, which had nothing written on it. He opened it and took out a single sheet of paper. Written in block capitals was a message: AFTER TEN MINUTES TAKE THE WEST LIFT UP ONE FLOOR, TURN LEFT OUT OF THE LIFT, AND WALK TO THE END OF THE CORRIDOR. THE DOOR WILL BE AJAR. It was unsigned. He handed it to Dino, who read it and smiled.

“I love this kind of stuff,” he chuckled. “You have any idea who it’s from? A woman, I’ll bet.”

“I don’t think so,” Stone said. “I called a friend and asked to be introduced to somebody on this side of the water. I think this is it.”

“Whatever you say; I still think it’s a woman. It always is with you.”