Turbulence (Stone Barrington #46)(60)
“What do we do about refueling?” Peg asked.
“A fuel truck will come from Southampton Airport tomorrow and top us off.”
“How convenient.”
“Flying your own airplane is all about convenience,” Stone said.
* * *
—
THEY DINED AT NINE and stayed up late talking, since their body clocks were five hours behind. When they were in bed, after making love, Kelly asked, “Did you put Jenny and Peg in separate bedrooms?”
“Yes,” Stone replied, “but with an adjoining door. To quote Fats Waller: ‘One never knows, do one?’”
47
THE FOLLOWING MORNING Stone phoned the duke and was put through immediately. “I’m in England,” he said.
“I’m delighted to hear it,” Philip replied. “We’re on for Kensington House, then?”
“We are. Will we be staying the night?”
“Not unless we have more fun than I think we will. Bring your toothbrush, just in case. By the way, I’m having a few people for dinner at home tomorrow evening. Will you and, I presume, Kelly, join us?”
“You presume correctly, and we’d be delighted,” Stone replied.
Philip gave him the address. “Seven-fifteen for eight o’clock,” he said in the British fashion that meant dinner promptly at eight; if one wanted a drink come earlier, but not before 7:15. “Oh, and we’ll be black tie; people somehow expect it of us.”
“We’ll see you then,” Stone said, and hung up. “We’re invited to Kensington House next week,” he said to Kelly. “Possibly, but not certainly, overnight, and to dinner tomorrow evening at the duke’s London home. It’s black tie.”
“Will I have time to pop into Harvey Nick’s?”
“We’ll go after lunch,” he replied. He phoned Henry at the London house and told him their plans. “You can call the Bentley people and ask them to collect their car; we’ll be driving one up.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll look for you.”
* * *
—
STONE HAD just come downstairs when a package was handed to him by the butler. “This was hand-delivered a moment ago,” he said.
Stone took it into the library and opened it; inside were two boxes and a note: You will certainly need one of these and, possibly, the other, as well. It was signed, L.
The smaller of the two boxes contained the promised satphone: it was not much larger than an iPhone and came with a spare battery and a black alligator holster. The second box contained the smallest, flattest 9 mm pistol Stone had ever seen, with a tiny silencer, two loaded magazines and a featherweight shoulder holster.
* * *
—
THEY HAD LUNCH with Jenny and Peg, then said goodbye, got into the Flying Spur and headed for London.
“Let’s keep an eye out for company, shall we?” Kelly asked.
They had just gotten onto the motorway when Stone checked his rearview mirror. “Check out the green SUV behind us,” he said to Kelly.
Kelly looked over her shoulder. “Oh, that’s one of ours,” she said.”
“How can you tell?”
“The passenger sun visor is down and has a dog on it,” she replied.
“What kind of dog?”
“A Labrador Retriever, like Bob,” she replied. “It’s what you’d expect on a Range Rover in this country.”
* * *
—
STONE’S CELL PHONE RANG, and he answered.
“Hi, it’s Jenny,” she said. He wondered how she came to have the number of the phone Lance had given him. “Are there any guns in the house?”
“For what purpose?” Stone asked. “Skeet?”
“Negative. Big game, possibly.”
“A pair of prewar, matched Purdeys are in a locked cabinet near the door to the library. The key is in the right-hand top drawer of the desk. There are shells in the drawer of the cabinet, but they’re for bird shooting.”
“Understood.” She hung up.
Stone called her back.
“Yes?”
“What the hell is going on?”
“Suspicious characters outside the house.”
“They belong to your boss, Mike Freeman, please don’t shoot them.”
“Oh, sorry. Thanks for the warning.”
“Don’t mention it.” Stone hung up. “Christ, we’re going to have internecine warfare before this is over.”
“Who was that?”
“Jenny. She saw suspicious characters who weren’t.”
“I think everybody we come into contact with for the next few days is going to be a little jumpy,” Kelly said. “That includes me, so please cut me some slack if I do something weird, like dive behind the sofa.”
“If you dive behind the sofa, I’ll be right behind you,” Stone said.
“By the way,” she said, “Jenny and Peg don’t work for Mike Freeman, they work for Lance.”
Stone slapped his forehead in mock fury. “Of course,” he said. “How could I think otherwise? How come they’re not armed?”