The Short Forever(86)

“Why not?” she asked, alarmed.

“Are you kidding? It’s a quarter of a million dollars that I worked very hard for. You think I’m going to flush it down some cockamamy security operation I don’t really give a damn about?”

She looked miffed. “I quite understand; I’ll do something about getting hold of some funds tomorrow. Obviously, if we don’t transfer the money, Cabot isn’t going to go through with the buy.”

“He said that everything will have to be done at precise times from then on.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get the money. And we’ll put someone on his house, to keep track of him.”

“I wouldn’t do that; he might spot your people, no matter how good they are. He’s been trained for that, you know.”

“Yes, you’re probably right,” she said.

“Why did you want me to think Mason was in charge?”

She smiled. “The less you know, the better.”

“Carpenter and Mason,” Stone said. “I’ll bet you have a colleague named Plumber.”

She laughed. “Let’s just stick with those names for the moment, shall we?”

“What are you doing for dinner, Carpenter?”

She blushed. “Maybe when this is over,” she said. She stood up. “Now I have to go find that money.” She walked into the dining room, dialing her cellphone.





Chapter 50



CARPENTER AND MASON MADE MORE phone calls, then Mason made ready to leave. “I can be in the director’s office at Eastover by five,” he said.

“Wait until half-past. Give the building time to empty out after work,” Carpenter said. “Is everything in motion?”

“Our people are meeting at a country hotel a few miles from Eastover,” he said. “When we’ve identified our man, I’ll get them cracking.”

“Good. Call me if there are any problems.”

“Where will you be?” he asked.

“At the end of my cellphone,” she replied.

“All right; will you need transport?”

“If I do, I’ll use Barrington’s Jaguar.”

Mason nodded and left.

“He’s really quite good,” she said to Stone. “If a little short of imagination sometimes. I’m not sure that can be cured. Now, I have some phoning to do; may I use something besides the dining room?”

“Yes, Cutler’s study, right through there.” He pointed at the door.

“Maybe we should plan on dinner,” she said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Lance Cabot decided to rush things a bit.”

“All right.”

She disappeared into the study. Stone called Sarah at her studio.

“Hey, there,” she said brightly. “Are we on for dinner and, you know?”

“I’m afraid not; some business has come up, and I’m going to be tied up all evening. Maybe all night. How about tomorrow night?”

“Oh, all right,” she said, sounding disappointed. “I must have worn you out last night.”

“Not entirely.”

“Good; well, you have until tomorrow evening to rest. I’ll see you then.”

“Until then.” He hung up. With nothing else to do, he read the papers until Carpenter emerged from the study around six.

“Well, I’ve done all I can do until we hear from Mason,” she said. As if on cue, her cellphone rang. “Yes?” She listened intently. “Do you have enough people for that? Well, get more; then call Portsmouth, if necessary. Do you want me to call them? All right, get back to me.” She hung up. “A complication,” she said.

“What is it?”

“There are, believe it or not, two people who fit the description of Cabot’s contact at Eastover. One of them is a woman.”

“Lance always referred to his contact as ‘he.’ ”

“But ‘he’ could be a woman, so we have to surveil them both; there’s no way around it. Mason is getting more help.”

“What happens at Eastover?”

“Eastover is a code word for a government facility on an army base in Wiltshire, north of Stonehenge.”

“And what do they make there?”

“Very serious items,” she said. “Things that are shared only with your government, things that are vital to both our defenses.”

“Were they able to recognize the device from what Lance said about it?”

“As there are two people, there are two devices, made in separate departments; it could be either of them.”

“Is there nothing else you can tell me?”

“Suffice it to say that, if either of the devices fell into the hands of an unstable government or a terrorist organization, it might give them capabilities that neither my government nor yours would like them to have.”