“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.”
“Jet lag.”
“If you say so. You hungry?”
“Almost. You want to order dinner now, or wait for a while.”
“You don’t want to go out?”
“Not really.”
Stone heard an odd noise, and he turned to see an envelope being slid under the door.
“Looks like a message for you,” Dino said.
“That’s not one of the Connaught’s message envelopes,” Stone said, staring at it.
“Well, are you going to open it? The suspense is killing me.” Dino yawned.
Stone retrieved the envelope, which had nothing written on it. He opened it and took out a single sheet of paper. Written in block capitals was a message: AFTER TEN MINUTES TAKE THE WEST LIFT UP ONE FLOOR, TURN LEFT OUT OF THE LIFT, AND WALK TO THE END OF THE CORRIDOR. THE DOOR WILL BE AJAR. It was unsigned. He handed it to Dino, who read it and smiled.
“I love this kind of stuff,” he chuckled. “You have any idea who it’s from? A woman, I’ll bet.”
“I don’t think so,” Stone said. “I called a friend and asked to be introduced to somebody on this side of the water. I think this is it.”
“Whatever you say; I still think it’s a woman. It always is with you.”
After ten minutes, Stone did as he was told. He figured out which sides of the hotel the two elevators were on, then took the west one up a flight and walked down the corridor. A door at the end was ajar. He rapped lightly and walked in. “Hello?”
He was standing in a small vestibule with three doors. One of them opened and a woman smiled at him. “Mr. Barrington?” She was of medium height, wearing a gray business suit and lightweight horn-rimmed glasses, dark hair. Stone thought she’d be quite pretty without the glasses and with a little more makeup. “Yes,” he said.
She opened the door to reveal a large sitting room. “Please come in and have a seat; he’ll be with you shortly. May I get you something to drink?”
“Some fizzy water would be nice,” he replied.
She went to a cabinet at one side of the large room, opened it to reveal a full bar, and poured two glasses of San Pellegrino mineral water.
She returned to where Stone was sitting, handed him a glass, and sat down. “My name is Carpenter,” she said. Her accent was clipped, of indistinguishable class, at least to him.
“How do you do?”
“Very well, thank you.”
“For whom are we waiting?”
“For me, old chap,” a voice said from behind him. He turned to find a man in his mid-thirties entering the room, apparently from the bedroom. He was dressed in a severely cut pin-striped suit, and what Stone imagined was a club tie, though he didn’t know which club. It was dark blue or black, with a single sky-blue stripe.