Turbulence (Stone Barrington #46)(52)
“Also, we ran into Joe Box last night in Patroon, and he inquired about whether we were going to Key West. He may have been looking for a ride down here. I told him I had sold the house to a Californian.”
Lance laughed. “I think you did yourself some good.”
“How long will you be here, Lance?”
“A couple of days. I’ve got to see some people at the Naval Air Station.”
“Would you like to stay with us? We have room.”
“That’s very kind of you. Yes, thanks.”
Stone asked Anna to put Lance in the upstairs bedroom.
“What about your car and driver?”
“My people will stay with the Navy,” Lance said, “and I can summon them when I need them. I’ll have them check into whether Senator Box is in town.” He produced a phone, issued some instructions and asked that his luggage be brought inside.
* * *
—
THEY WERE AT DINNER at the outside table when Lance got a call. He listened for a moment, then hung up. “Senator Box arrived at his Key West house fifteen minutes ago. He flew in on a naval aircraft. I’m afraid that’s going to make you prisoners in this house until he either leaves or we can find another way to get rid of him.”
41
LANCE WAS ALREADY AT breakfast when Stone and Kelly joined him.
“Good morning,” Lance said.
“Any news on Joe Box?” Stone asked.
“He’s still at his house, but he’s inquired about a Navy flight to New York tomorrow, so we may be rid of him soon.”
“Just a thought,” Stone said, “but is anybody watching Box besides your people?”
Lance thought about that. “I’ll ask,” he said. He left the table, made a call, and returned.
Stone poured him another cup of coffee. “Well?”
“That was very astute of you, Stone,” Lance said. “He is being watched by a man and a woman driving a convertible and dressed in what a Russian might think is the Key West style.”
“And what do you think that means?” Kelly asked.
“It means either that our Russian friends don’t trust him,” Lance said, “or they’re protecting him. I’d like to know which.”
“So, is Joe Box a patsy or an agent?”
“That remains to be seen,” Lance replied. “In any case, he now has two tails, one of them ours.” He looked at his watch: “My car is outside. I have a meeting at the naval base.” He left them as Dino and Viv took their seats at the table.
“Is Lance leaving us?”
“Only for a meeting,” Stone replied. He brought them up to date on the presence of Joe Box and the Russians.
“They’re not looking for us are they?”
“I don’t think so,” Stone replied.
“Then would you mind if we took your car to the beach for a while? It’s too shady in your courtyard this time of day, and we want to catch some rays.”
“Sure, go ahead.” He gave Dino the key.
When they had gone, he and Kelly each stretched out on a chaise longue with something to read. “This is a bigger deal than Lance is letting on,” she said, “assuming that what he told us about Owaki’s trip to Moscow is true.”
“Do you think it might not be?” Stone asked.
“Lance can be tricky.”
“God knows that’s true,” Stone said.
“But I think he’s on the up-and-up about this.”
“Tell me why you think this is a big deal?”
“Because Owaki’s visit to the Kremlin means they have a network we didn’t know about, centered around Owaki. Petrov doesn’t have people in for tea or a weekend visit. If there’s something social he wants to do, he does it at his dacha in the country. I can promise you that what Lance is doing at the naval base is holding a teleconference with Langley and setting up a full countersurveillance operation on Joe Box, and on Owaki, too, if he’s in the country and they can find him.”
“Well,” Stone said, “since Box got the charges against Owaki dropped, he won’t get stopped at the border if he returns.”
“No, but our people will identify him and surveil him, unless he does something sneaky like come in through Canada and land at a small entry airport somewhere.”
“His airplanes all have French markings,” Stone said.
“That will make it easier for him to slip into the country unnoticed.”
“Do you have any thoughts on Petrov’s purpose in England?”
“That’s above my pay grade,” she said. “And if Lance has any ideas about it he’s not likely to tell you and me. He’s a little embarrassed, I think, that he didn’t come up with your conspiracy theory himself.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I want to go do a little computer flying,” Stone said.
“Okay, I’ll read.”
Stone went into his study and called Flight Safety—a training facility headquartered in Wichita, Kansas—and signed up for ground school for the Citation Latitude. He was given log-in information, and soon he was taking the same course at home that he might normally have taken in Wichita.