Unintended Consequences (18 page)

“Right there,” Joe said, pointing. “Your office line and your line one.”

“Any idea how long?” Stone asked.

“It’s not the latest stuff,” Joe replied. “It could have been there for a couple of years.”

Stone sighed. It seemed to him that anyone could bug his phones or his house whenever they felt like it. “Joe, I hope when you’re done here it won’t be as easy to bust into my system.”

“Fear not,” Joe said. “Only I could do it.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Stone said.

“Another thing, though,” Joe said, holding up the bugs. “This equipment broadcasts a signal from your house that’s not good for more than a block or two. Whoever was listening in was probably doing so within sight of your house.”

“Where was the equipment made?” Stone asked.

“Well, it doesn’t have ‘Made in USA’ stamped on it, or anywhere else, but it could as easily be European, Japanese, Chinese, or homegrown.”

“I’ll feel better when you’re done and the windows are in,” Stone said. “My guest and I are getting out of here Friday, and we’ll be gone until Monday morning, so we’ll be out of your way.”

“I’ll be all done when you get back,” Joe said. “I’ll brief you and your secretary on the system on Monday.”

“Good,” Stone said, then went back to his office. His cell phone buzzed, and he checked it. A text from Helga:
We are departing on time
,
ETA Teterboro 6 PM local. Marcel
’
s lawyers will give me a lift into NYC. I have your address. Expect me in time for dinner and hungry.

He texted back:
Received
,
understood and looking forward.

•   •   •

I
n the late afternoon Marcel returned from his meeting.

“I think we’ll dine at home this evening,” Stone said to him. “Helga will be in around seven.”

“I’ll have a nap, then,” Marcel said. “Wake me in time for drinks.”

Stone went back to work.

•   •   •

I
t was nearly seven-thirty when Philip answered the door. Stone was right there and Helga rushed into his arms. A heavily laden driver was right behind her, and Stone asked Philip to put everything on the elevator and take it to the master suite.

“I expect you’d like a bath,” Stone said, “but you don’t look as though you need one.”

“I had a shower on the airplane,” Helga said, “and it was very comfortable, so I’m well rested. I’m also starved and dying for a drink.”

Stone took her to his study and rang Marcel to join them.

“You have a very handsome house,” Helga said. “I’m impressed.”

“I hope you’ll be very comfortable here,” Stone replied.

Marcel walked into the study and embraced Helga. “I was worried about you,” he said.

“Well, now we are both out of Europe and entirely safe.”

Stone sat them down, poured a martini for Helga and a Knob Creek for himself and Marcel. “Welcome to New York,” he said, and they raised their glasses.

“This is my first trip to New York,” Helga said, “and I’m so excited.”

“I will be sure to show you the city,” Stone said, “but I have to tell you that none of us may be as safe here as you had hoped. Majorov is already in the city.”

Helga seemed unfazed. “Then I will be armed and glad to see him,” she said.

Marcel burst out laughing. “Then I will be very well protected!”

“Helga,” Stone said, “I’m afraid that you can’t go packing in New York City. There are very strict laws against that. You must have a permit, and they are nearly impossible to obtain.”

Helga dug into her handbag. “Oh, do you mean this?” she said, handing him a New York City carry permit.

“How the hell did you get this?” Stone demanded. “Is it a forgery? Because if it is . . .”

“Calm yourself, Stone,” Helga said. “It’s from Lance. The helicopter pilot handed it to me when he arrived at my house this morning. And my passport has a diplomatic visa stamped inside.”

“Then Marcel is very well protected indeed,” Stone said.

Philip came into the room. “Dinner is served in the kitchen,” he announced, and they followed him downstairs.

38

S
tone was at his desk just before noon when Joan buzzed. “Dino on one.”

“Good morning, Dino.”

“If you say so.”

“You sound a little pissed off,” Stone observed.

“Our plans for the weekend have been canceled. Viv has to work.”

“The pains of employment in the private sector,” Stone said.

“It’s not all bad, she’s been assigned to Marcel’s security detail, so count on having both of us in Connecticut.”

“Good news!” Stone said.

“If you say so.”

“Don’t worry, Dino, it’s a strongly built house with thick walls. Nobody will be able to hear your pitiful cries.”

“What time?”

“We’re leaving at one. Don’t be late. And, Dino?”

“Yeah?”

“Pack—we can use the extra security.”

“Will do.” Dino hung up.

Stone buzzed Joan and asked her to warn the housekeeper that she would have a full house for the weekend and to lay in Dino’s scotch.

•   •   •

A
t a quarter to one, Stone, Dino, and Viv stood in front of his garage door. While Viv turned her back to them and surveyed the street, Stone pressed his remote control, and sunlight flooded the garage.

“Good God!” Dino said. “What is that thing?”

Stone pressed a button on his key, and both gull-wing doors opened silently, exposing the interior of the car. He and Dino walked into the garage.

“How many cows died to make this happen?” Dino asked, fingering the leather.

“A herd,” Stone replied. Stone started the car and backed up, double-parking in the best New York fashion. He got out and handed the Bentley keys to Viv. “Dino tells me you finished at the top of your tactical driving course,” he said.

Viv accepted the keys with a grin. “Did he also tell you that I finished at the top of my extreme driving class at Lime Rock?”

“He didn’t mention that, and I’m sorry you did,” Stone replied. “Just remember that the slightest ding on that car costs a fortune to repair—twenty-three coats of paint.”

“I’ll keep that in mind until I forget it,” she said, and went to back the car out of the garage.

Philip loaded their luggage into both vehicles; Viv and her two colleagues got into the Bentley, and after introducing Helga to the Bacchettis, Stone, Dino, Marcel, and Helga got into the Blaise.

“Astonishingly comfortable for four people,” Helga said.

“I insisted on that,” Marcel said. “I prefer riding in the backseat.”

Stone pressed the button lowering the gull wings, started the car, and drove to the West Side Highway. Traffic was light, and soon they were on the beautiful Sawmill River Parkway, built in the 1930s, winding north under a series of handsome stone bridges. They blew past the other traffic.

“You know,” Dino said, “Rolls-Royce used to say that at sixty miles an hour, the loudest noise was the ticking of the clock. Why do I hear wind noise?”

“We’re doing a hundred and ten,” Stone replied.

“Holy shit,” Dino muttered. “I guess you’re counting on me to use my badge when we get arrested.”

“Absolutely,” Stone said. After an hour and thirty minutes, Stone turned into his driveway in Washington, Connecticut. As they got out of the car, he reflected that he had never before made the trip in less than an hour and three-quarters.

Viv drove the Bentley in behind them and she and her crew got out. “That was one wild ride,” she said. “Why do I feel like we just robbed a bank?”

“Sorry, it was the first time I’ve driven the Blaise, and I just had to throw it around a little.”

“Has my hair turned white?” Dino asked.

“Not yet,” Viv replied, “but you’re working on it. Stone, we had a van behind us for a while, but by the time we left the Sawmill, he was so far back that he couldn’t possibly know where we went.”

“Describe the van,” Stone said.

“Black on black with very dark windows. I don’t think it was delivering anything.”

“Let’s put both cars in the garage, in case anybody drives by,” he said, and they did.

Stone’s housekeeper, Nellie, opened the front door and beamed at them. “We’re all ready for you, Mr. Barrington,” she said. “My daughter, Martha, is helping out.”

Stone handed out room assignments, and everyone went inside to get settled in.

•   •   •

T
hat evening, they dined at the Mayflower Inn, widely heralded as the best country hotel in the United States, and as they left the inn after dinner to get into their cars, Viv tugged at Stone’s sleeve and nodded toward the other end of the parking lot. A black-on-black van sat there. Stone couldn’t tell if anyone was inside.

“You leave first,” Viv said. “We’ll block anyone from following you.”

Stone did as he was instructed, and five minutes after the Blaise was in his garage, Viv and her colleagues pulled into the driveway and got out.

“Any problems?” Stone asked.

Viv shook her head. “We checked out the van. It was empty, but locked, so I expect the passengers are either staying at the inn, dining there, or both. I didn’t see anyone suspicious in the dining room or bar, and believe me, I checked. They must be ordering room service.”

“Did you run the plates?” Stone asked.

“No cell service around here. I’ll call on your landline.”

“Please do.”

They went into the little library, where Nellie had a nice fire going, and settled in with a brandy.

Viv walked in a couple of minutes later. “The plates on the van belong to a 1989 Buick,” she said. “I’ve called it in to the Connecticut State Police, so their sleep will be disturbed soon.”

“Have a brandy,” Stone said. “You’re officially off duty now.”

“You talked me into it,” she said, taking a seat.

“Stone,” Marcel said, “this is a lovely house. You choose your residences well.”

“Thank you, Marcel.”

Five minutes later, Nellie came into the room. “Mrs. Bacchetti, telephone for you.”

Viv left the room and came back a couple of minutes later.

“That was the state police. The van was gone when they arrived, but they’ve issued a bulletin on it.”

“There’s no reason to believe they know where I live, so we can relax.”

They returned to their glowing fire and their brandies, which made them glow, too.

•   •   •

A
s Stone was going up to bed, Viv’s two colleagues came into the house.

“We’ve had a look around the neighborhood,” one of them said. “No sign of the black van.”

“Good,” Stone replied.

“One of us will be downstairs all night,” the man said. “We’ll do shifts.”

Everybody else went to bed.

39

I
n the wee hours of the morning Stone felt fingernails running across his bare buttocks. He turned over to give Helga a better field of play. After a brief moment of fondling, she rolled onto her back and pulled him on top of her. Stone was groping for a point of entry when Helga said, “Oh, look, isn’t that pretty?”

“What?” Stone asked, baffled.

“Out the window.”

Stone momentarily abandoned his quest and turned his body so that he could see the window without straining his neck. “Good God!” he shouted. “Wake everybody and tell them to get their things out of the house.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The house is on fire!” Stone said, leaping out of bed and into his trousers. He found his shirt and a jacket, got into his loafers, and ran down the stairs, shouting, “Everybody up! Get out of the house!”

He ran into the kitchen and began looking in cupboards. Dino came padding in, his shoes in his hand. “What’s going on? What are you looking for?”

“The fire extinguisher,” Stone said, slamming a cabinet shut.

Dino opened the pantry door and held up a good-sized red bottle. “This fire extinguisher?”

Stone grabbed it from him and ran to the front door. He could see flickers from the side lights. He flung the door open and was driven back by flames.

“Use the goddamned thing!” Dino shouted.

Stone tore off the seal, pointed the extinguisher at the flames, and pulled the trigger. It worked faster than he had thought. He ran out the door, dousing flames as he went, then ran around to the back of the house. A column of flames was making its way up the rear wall, licking at his bedroom window. Stone pointed the extinguisher at the base of the flames and put them out, then worked his way up the wall of the house. He stopped spraying. “I think that’s it,” he said to Dino. “I wonder why my fire alarm hasn’t gone off.”

But Dino wasn’t there. Stone ran back to the front and found everybody standing on the front walk, looking confused.

“It’s all right,” he said to them. “Let’s go back inside.”

Dino trotted up. As the garage door opened, Viv backed out the Bentley. “Where are you going, baby?”

“For a ride,” she said.

Dino piled into the backseat, and Stone called out to Helga to get everyone inside, then hopped into the front passenger seat.

Viv backed up. “Which way would you go if you had just set a house on fire?” she asked.

“That way,” Stone said, pointing. “The other way is a dead end.”

She drove the block to the main road. “And now?”

“Turn right. Left is into the center of the village.”

She did so and started south out of the village green.

“Now it’s either straight ahead or turn right,” Stone said. “They would have done one or the other. Right is toward New York.”

Viv made the right and floored the Bentley, and it rocketed up a hill and around the curve.

“Our best bet,” she said, “if we’ve taken the correct turn, is to drive like hell.” And she did. “They’ll think they got away clean, and they won’t be going all that fast.” She kept accelerating, hitting the apexes of the sharp turns and sometimes using the opposing lane, if she could see ahead. A big moon came from behind a cloud, and Viv switched off the headlights.