Shoot First(Stone Barrington #45)(38)

“Tell me,” Stone said, “where would the Agency find such a recruit as Joe Cross?”

“From a source more common than you might think,” Lance replied. “A reform school warden with an eye for talent.”

He held out a hand and examined his manicure. “Which brings me to our other subject.”

“What subject is that?” Stone asked, in spite of himself.

“One Gino Bellini.”

“Oh, my God,” Stone said, “don’t tell me he’s one of yours, too.”

“He was. Gino had a yen for luxuries he couldn’t afford on what we could offer him, so he didn’t serve out his term with us. His gifts found a higher market value elsewhere.”

“I know a state police officer in Maine who would be very grateful for that knowledge,” Stone said.

Lance looked at him sharply. “Stone, this conversation, like all of our conversations, is to be held in the strictest confidence. Surely I needn’t explain that to you each time we meet.”

“So you expect me to sit back and allow Mr. Bellini to assassinate my friend and colleague?”

Lance’s handsome countenance betrayed a tiny trace of concern. “And who might your friend and colleague be?”

“You disappoint me, Lance. A crack has appeared in your image of universal knowledge.”

“I’m afraid I must require an answer to my question,” Lance said.

“I refer to Meg Harmon.”

“Ah, the estimable Ms. Harmon! Inventor and entrepreneur!”

“All of that and more,” Stone replied. “What, isn’t she an old girl of your school?”

“I fear not. We can’t take on everybody.”

“And you’re telling me that you weren’t aware that Gino Bellini wanted her dead and recruited Dirty Joe to do the dirty work?”

“If he did so, he was way, way out of bounds,” Lance said. “I shall have to speak to him about that.”

“And give him ten of the best with your trusty cane, Headmaster?”

“Perhaps I had better expand your knowledge of things just a bit,” Lance replied.





29




Stone took a sip of his bourbon. “I am always ready to have my knowledge expanded,” he said.

“Perhaps you—and Ms. Harmon—are unaware that Gino Bellini’s skills were sought by . . . well, let us say, a competitor?”

“Ms. Harmon’s competitors possess deep skills already. Why would they seek Mr. Bellini’s?”

“Perhaps they were late to the gala,” Lance replied.

“How late?”

“Quite late—so much so that they need a great leap forward and are willing to purchase it at a premium.”

“From what little I know of Mr. Bellini, he would be unlikely to decline such an offer,” Stone said.

“He did not, strictly speaking, decline. Let us say that we declined on his behalf.”

“I didn’t know that you allowed your organization to meddle in the affairs of American businesses,” Stone said.

“We do not,” Lance replied. “We have not.”

“Ah,” Stone said, “my knowledge expands. So this business is offshore.”

“Not a business,” Lance replied. “Shall we call it a nation-state?”

“Why are we being so delicate, Lance? Why not call it what it is?”

Lance sighed. “Very well, if you insist—China.”

“So China doesn’t have a self-driving-car project?”

“Not one that is sufficiently advanced to compete with Ms. Harmon’s. And an offer that would seem rich to Mr. Bellini would jingle in the pocket of such a buyer.”

“So they find it cheaper to buy the technology than to originate it?”

“They would, if we allowed it.”

“And how do you prevent such a transaction between a foreign government and a private individual?”

“Now you’re sounding like a lawyer, Stone.”

“I do not represent either the seller or the buyer.”

“I hope you can understand that it is not in the interests of the United States government to allow a technology of such inestimable value to fall into the hands of what might charitably be described as a ‘competitor.’”

“I believe I grasp that. Did our government outbid the competition?”

“Certainly not. My betters would not stoop to dealing with a thief in such an important matter, and a thief is what Mr. Bellini is. I am reliably informed that when he left the employ of Harmony Software, his pockets were filled with proprietary information—designs and specifications—of the product which Ms. Harmon has so recently submitted to the Department of Transportation for certification.”

“I knew that he was capable of subverting her software, but I was unaware that Mr. Bellini had walked out the door with the crown jewels.”

“How well you put it, Stone! The crown jewels, indeed!”

“I am appalled,” Stone said.

“As well you should be, as an upright and patriotic American!”

“Then why do I feel that I am about to be taken advantage of?” Stone asked.