The Short Forever(75)

“You have a point.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make a couple of phone calls.”

“And the first one will be to Arrington, won’t it?”

“Oh, shut up and get out of here; I’d like some privacy.”

“I’ll go to my room and see if there’s a cricket game on TV.”

“Cricket match.”

“Whatever.” Dino went to his own room.

Stone picked up the phone and dialed the number of the Carlyle hotel in New York, which was lodged in his memory, and asked for Mrs. Calder. The phone rang several times, and then the voice mail kicked in.

“Arrington, it’s Stone. I want to apologize for the other evening; it was inexcusable leaving you like that, but I really didn’t have a choice. I tried to catch up with you at Heathrow, but you got through security before I could. I’d like to explain, if you’ll let me. I’d also like to see you again, but I won’t be back in New York for at least a few more days. Please call me at the Connaught.” He left the number and hung up, then he got out his address book and called Samuel Bernard at his home in Washington Square.

“Good morning, Stone,” the old man said, “or good afternoon, if you’re still in London.”

“I’m still in London, sir, and I wanted to ask for some more advice.”

“Go right ahead.”

“Bartholomew is Hedger, as you suspected, and he and I have parted company.”

“Why?”

“I’ve come to the attention of the local police on a related matter, and that put him off.”

“I can see how it might,” Bernard said.

“I had thought that Hedger was working outside his agency, for personal reasons, but today I was followed by a four-man team who seem to be either British or American, probably American.”

“It’s unlikely that he would have so many people at his disposal, if he were working on his own,” Bernard said.

“That’s what I figured. Now I have another problem: I’ve learned about something that I think should be brought to the attention of some authority, but I don’t trust Hedger. Is it possible that you could connect me with someone at your former employer’s that I could talk to without Hedger finding out?”

“I think that would be very dangerous, Stone; I don’t know what’s going on internally at the Company at this moment, so it’s difficult to ascertain how much official support Hedger has. Even if I found someone for you to speak to, there’s no guarantee that he wouldn’t go straight to Hedger. And he wouldn’t be in London, either. If anything happens in the London station, Hedger is going to know it, because if he’s not actually station head, he’ll be very close to whoever is. Why don’t you want to go directly to Hedger?”

“I just don’t trust him; he’s lied to me a lot.”

“That’s what agents do; it’s not surprising.”

“I don’t yet know enough about what’s going on to know whether I might be hurting someone who’s innocent of any wrongdoing.”

“Can you give me a general idea of what’s happening?”

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.





Chapter 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.”