“Did I wake you?”
“Wake me? I’m already on the crossword.”
“You want to take me to a fancy restaurant on Saturday night?”
“I’d love to, but I’ve accepted an invitation to a dinner party at Fair Sutherlin’s house.”
“I’m jealous already.”
“Oh, come on.”
“The woman’s a shark, you know.”
“And she seems so nice.”
“That’s because she knows you’re in with the president and the first lady.”
“You mean she’s not this nice to everybody?”
“Everybody thinks so, until they suddenly feel blood running down their necks from an open artery.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Are you forgetting what city you’re in?”
“Is it really all that different from New York?”
“In New York, everybody thinks only of business. Here, they think about politics, and believe me, that’s a whole different ball game. Every person you meet is not just out for himself, he’s out for the guy he works for and the guy
“So you’re worried about me?”
“Listen, a simple, barefoot New York lawyer like yourself wouldn’t last a week in this town. Where Washington is concerned, you’re a rube, and a disposable one at that.”
“Suddenly I feel naked and alone,” Stone replied.
“That’s rather a nice thought,” she said.
“I hope to God we’re not on an Agency line.”
She laughed. “Give me credit for knowing when I can get away with talking dirty.”
“Listen, what if I take you to a fancy restaurant tonight instead of Saturday, and we can continue this conversation over a bird and a bottle.”
“Done,” she said.
“You pick the restaurant and book the table. The headwaiters here don’t know who I am.”
“If I’m doing my job properly, they don’t know who I am, either, but leave it to me.”
“You going to do something sneaky to get a good table?”
“I’m sneaky for a living,” she said.
“And good at it.”
“You said it, pal.”
“A drink here at, say, six-thirty?”
“I’m going to feel like martinis tonight,” she said.
“Then I will aid and abet.”
16
Teddy Fay turned the cessna toward Clinton Field, in the southeast quadrant of greater Washington.
“Tell me again why we’re landing at D.C.,” Lauren Cade said.
“Because it’s the last place Mr. Todd Bacon would think of looking for me. You can bet your sweet ass that right now he’s got a team canvassing every general aviation airport on the West Coast all the way to Canada.”
“I get that part,” Lauren said, “but there have to be, at the very least, dozens of people in D.C. that you used to work with at the Agency who would recognize you on sight.”
Teddy shook his head. “First of all, most of a generation of people I worked with have retired, and they don’t have the money to move into D.C. Those who are still active live out near McLean, as close to work as they can.”
“I guess that makes sense, but being here still makes me nervous.”
“Why? Nobody here knows you, do they? And remember, I wear disguises,” he said, pointing at the toupee that covered his pate.
“It’s true,” Lauren said, “that you do disguises better than anybody I ever saw. Sometimes even
“That’s because I have a pretty much featureless face. A nose here, a mustache there, and I’m somebody else. So relax, baby, we’re going to be just fine.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Besides,” Teddy said, “I have a little hideaway at this airport that I kept for years as a backup to Manassas. I have a hangar here that you’ll like.”
“A hangar? What’s to like?”
“O ye of little faith,” Teddy said, stopping before a hangar. He shut down the engine, walked to the small door set into the hangar door, worked a combination lock, and stepped inside. A moment later the hangar door opened squeakily. He walked back to the Cessna, got out the tow bar, and backed the airplane into the hangar.
“We have a car,” he said, pointing to an oldish Toyota parked in a corner. He closed the hangar door and switched on a light. “Grab a couple of bags,” he said, “and follow me.”
He grabbed some bags himself and led her up a flight of stairs, where he tapped a code into a keypad, opened a door, and switched on some lights.
Lauren looked inside. “It’s a living room,” she said.
“It’s an apartment,” he corrected. “There’s a bedroom, a kitchen, and an office, too.” He fiddled with the thermostat, and cool air began to flow. “We need to dust and vacuum and lay in some groceries,” he said, “but that can wait until tomorrow. Let’s shower and change, and I’ll buy you dinner.”
Stone answered the bell and let Holly into the suite, then gave her a kiss. “You look smashing,” he said, admiring the tight yellow dress. “I thought CIA people were purposely drab and were trained to fade into the background.”
“Once in a while I fox everybody by being noticeable,” she said.
“And noticeable you certainly are.” He went to the bar, opened the freezer, and removed a pitcher of martinis that he had premixed. He filled ed.o the a martini glass, dropped in three olives on a spear, and handed her the glass, then poured himself a Knob Creek on the rocks. “Here’s to knockout dresses on beautiful women,” he said, raising his glass.
Holly took a tentative sip, then a bigger one. “Wow,” she said.
“It’s colder than ice.”
“I noticed that.” She sucked an olive off the toothpick and chewed thoughtfully. “Wow again! What’s in these olives?”
“Anchovies,” Stone said. “I didn’t want to tell you before you tasted one. Lots of people blanch at the thought of anchovies.”
“A perfect combination,” she said. “It’s fairly cool tonight, let’s sit on your terrace.”
Stone opened the door and followed her outside. She leaned against the railing and looked toward the White House. “Much of what happens in the world starts there,” she said. “It never ceases to amaze me how well our government works.”
“Sometimes,” Stone said.
“A lot of the time, because the government is full of people like me who love the country and want it to do well.”
“Does the Agency work well?”
“Again, a lot of the time. We probably make more mistakes than a lot of government agencies, but then
