Choppy Water
- Автор: Вудс Стюарт
- Серия: Stone Barrington #54
- Год: 2020
- Язык: английский
- Год: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
- ISBN: 978-0-593-18829-3
- Жанр: Триллеры
Электронная книга - «Choppy Water». Краткое содержание книги:
“If it becomes relevant, I will.”
“Okay, I’ll trust your judgment on relevance.”
“Thank you. Do you know an agent named Elizabeth Potter?”
“Late twenties, a looker, smart?”
“That’s a start.”
“I met her once socially, and we had a little chat.”
“How little?”
“Superficial, I should have said. She asked my advice.”
“On what subject?”
“We had been talking about women in the Bureau, and she said, ‘Any advice?’ We were interrupted before I could give her any.”
“There’s a small group of white supremacists in Virginia, run by a man named Wade Sykes.”
“Him, I’ve heard of: retired colonel, sort of drummed out of the Army for promoting his views too obviously.”
“That’s the one.”
“How’s Elizabeth doing?” Mamie asked.
“Pretty good: she’s in, but our problem is communicating. There’s no cell service at their compound and they only turn on the Wi-Fi twice a day, apparently at random times, so if I e-mail her, posing as her father, I never know when she’ll get it.”
“Okay, how can I help?”
“We’ve learned — let me rephrase that — we’ve heard from a journalist who has somebody inside, too. Elizabeth thinks she knows who — a black cook, using the name of Elroy Hubbard, whose legend is retired Navy cook, last assignment at Naval Air Station Pensacola, as chef at the officers club. I need you to run that name through the mill and see if that legend has roots, or is he just making it up. If somebody’s running him, I want to know who, and I need at least one name.”
“Okay, anything else?”
“Since what I’ve told you is everything, you and I know everything else.”
“Why does Potter think he’s Parsons’s guy?”
“I didn’t say it was Parsons.”
“Oh, come on, Tom. You two were an item at Georgetown. I was there, too, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Not that we knew each other well. Your time was taken up with Parsons.”
“Okay, it’s Peg. I have to keep that very quiet, because my wife’s eyeballs bulge whenever her name is mentioned.”
“Why are you even in touch with her?”
“I needed to plant a story in her column for cover.”
“And she did that for you?”
“Yes.”
“And what did she get out of it?”
“Mamie...”
“She had a reputation at Georgetown.”
“Put her out of your mind,” Tom said firmly. “Got it?”
“Okay, I’ll use my imagination.”
“Don’t even do that.”
Mamie recapped her pen. “Anything else?”
He scribbled a number on a blank card. “This is a burner phone. Leave a message there on how to reach you or see you.”
She handed him a card. “No need. This is my burner.”
Tom tucked it into a pocket.
“You want me to text you information?”
“If it’s urgent. Otherwise, I’d rather talk face-to-face.”
“You think you can read me better that way, Tom?”
“Don’t be a smart-ass, Mamie.”
“But I’m so good at it!”
“Thanks for the sandwich.” He hadn’t touched it. He put it back in the bag and took it with him, then ate it at his desk.
41
As Stone’s G-500 pulled up to Jet Aviation at Teterboro, a three-car line of black SUVs rolled up to the wingtip. He turned to Holly. “Does the caravan mean you’re not coming back to my house?”
“How observant you are,” she said, pinching his cheek. “It’s better if I establish a routine at the Carlyle and my transition office. Don’t worry, I’ll soon long for your touch.”
“That can’t come soon enough for me.”
The stewardess opened the airstairs door and they parted at the bottom as Stone’s luggage was loaded into the Bentley and Fred stood by. Holly was followed to the SUVs by her luggage and a large stack of cardboard cartons, looking like an attorney going to a very complicated trial. Soon, they were both on their way to the city by different routes, Holly via the George Washington Bridge, Stone via the Lincoln Tunnel.
Stone picked up the phone and called Dino.
“Bacchetti.”
“It’s Stone. I’m back from D.C. Dinner tonight at my place? I don’t feel like a restaurant.”
“As a matter of policy, I never turn down a free meal. Promise me a really good bottle of wine, and I’ll stay the night.”
“In that case, I’ll promise you a bottle of mediocre wine. Six-thirty?”
“Done.” Dino hung up.
Dino arrived on time and accepted a glass of his favorite Scotch in Stone’s study. “So, why don’t you feel like going to a restaurant? You eat nine of ten dinners out.”
Stone sighed. “I don’t know. Holly needed to be at the Carlyle, and I guess I wanted a more attractive date than you, if I were going to a restaurant. I have my reputation to think of.”
“Which you so rarely do. Are you falling in love with Holly?”
“I think I fell in love with her at first sight, some years ago, but she has been only periodically available since that time, and I have to have a sex life to survive.”
“I’m well aware. And Holly is an irregular lover?”
“Well put.”
“Did you enjoy your stay at the White House?”
“No.”
“Was the nation inattentive to your needs?”
“I prefer being the master in my own home to being a guest in the homes of others, even if my hosts are at the presidential level. Anyway, Holly was working like a beaver on policy papers and intelligence briefings. Oh, and there was an attempt on her life.”
Dino’s eyebrows went up. “Was that news report really about her?”
“Yes, except she wasn’t wounded. The Secret Service and the FBI had a dummy built and set up in front of a window.”
“How did the dummy do?”
“She took two in the head,” Stone replied. “And that through a window I would have presumed to be bulletproof.”
“Technology fails again.”
“Well, yes. So, where most people would keep their heads down after such an experience, Holly prefers being a moving target, with somewhat more Secret Service protection.”
“As the comedian Brother Dave Gardner used to say, ‘Everybody to his own kick.’”
“I believe he did.”
“So where does that leave you? Unfucked?”
“Until Holly can’t stand it anymore and bails out of the Carlyle.”
“Well, you’ve always considered yourself a serial monogamist, Stone. Someone usually turns up when you’re in need.”
“I’m uncomfortable with that, as long as Holly and I are in the same city.”
“So now you’re geographically monogamous?”
“For lack of a better term.”
Dinner arrived and they sat down and were served by Fred.
“It bothers me,” Stone said.
“That you’re geographically monogamous?”
“Yes. It’s a new experience.”
“Well, you could always surprise Holly at the Carlyle.”
Stone shook his head. “She’d be in the middle of interviewing a candidate for secretary of defense, or some such. I’d need an appointment to see her.”
“Sort of takes the thrill out of it, huh?”
“How do you handle Viv being gone so much?”
“I save up my energy and my precious bodily fluids for her return.”
“Would she mind if you saw someone else while she’s away?”
“Only if she knew about it. The woman is armed, you know.”
“There is that.”
“Anyway, I’m content with things as they are. If she were home all the time I’d be exhausted every morning, and my weight loss would make my suits too big. I couldn’t afford the alterations.”