“That’s a gross exaggeration,” Stone said.
“I know that’s what you’d like to think, but it just ain’t so.”
“What’s your point?” Stone asked.
“I think you’d better do more than pack a pistol, if you want to live through this little episode in your life.”
“Are you offering me police protection?”
Dino shook his head. “Nah, you’re too rich for that. You can hire your own.”
3
Dino insisted on giving Stone a ride home in his armored SUV. “So,” Dino said on the way, “let’s talk about steps you need to take to stay alive.”
“Oh, all right.”
“The first step is for you to assume that you’re the guy the lunatic is really after, and that all the others are camouflage.”
“Okay, it can’t hurt to assume that.”
“Second thing is, you don’t go out of the house unless it’s absolutely necessary. And when you do, you get driven in your armored Bentley by Fred, who will also be packing.” Fred was Stone’s factotum and a dead shot.
“Fred always packs,” Stone said.
“That’s good,” Dino said.
“What else should I do?”
“Well, if you get scared, leave the country; go to your house in England and keep your head down there. You’re unique on the hit list in that you have an airplane capable of transatlantic flight and homes in two foreign countries.”
“I can’t argue with your reasoning,” Stone said, as the car pulled up in front of the house, “but not yet.”
Dino produced his weapon and rolled down his window. “All right, the coast appears to be clear; run for it, and I’ll cover you.”
Stone got out his own weapon, opened the car door, and ran for it. It took him longer than he would have liked to get out his key and open the door. He closed it behind him and took a couple of deep breaths before he went upstairs to bed.
He had just crawled into the sack when his phone rang. “Hello?”
“I hear you’re in trouble again,” a woman’s voice said. It was Viv, Dino’s wife, who was the COO of Strategic Services, the world’s second-largest security company.
“Well, Dino thinks so, anyway. Where are you?”
“Hong Kong,” she said. “I think. When I wake up in the morning I have to figure out where I am. Also, what day it is. Right now, because I’ve crossed the international date line, it’s either tomorrow or yesterday, I can never remember which.”
“I can understand your confusion.”
“Dino says you need some protection, and I agree. I spoke to Mike Freeman—got hold of him just before he left on a round-the-globe tour of our international offices, and he’ll have two people over there tomorrow morning.”
“Have you seen the hit list?”
“Yeah, Dino e-mailed it to me.”
“Any ideas about any of the names?”
“Well, if you’re the target, it’s got to be either a woman, her ex-husband, or her current boyfriend. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I’d like to argue with that, but I can’t think of an argument.”
“Well, apparently, you’ve accepted the fact that you’re in jeopardy, and that’s half the battle.”
“I’d like to win the other half, too,” Stone said.
“Then run scared; that’s half of the other half of the battle. Remember the adman who thought he was just crossing the street when he took a round in the head.”
“Yeah, he never knew what hit him or why,” Stone said.
“I don’t want that to happen to you, sweetie. If you got taken out we’d have to start paying for airplane flights and foreign vacations.”
“Well, we don’t want that to happen, do we?”
“Sleep tight, and watch your ass,” Viv said, then hung up.
Stone reflected, as he hung up, that it was hard doing both those things at the same time.
* * *
—
The following morning, Stone was awakened a little earlier than he was accustomed to when the doorbell rang. He picked up his bedside phone and pushed the button. “Yes?”
“This is Frank Bender of Strategic Services,” a gruff male voice said. “My partner and I are at your front door.”
Why was the man telling him this? “Do you want to come inside?”
“Not at the moment. We’ll stake out the two front doors for right now. After your people come to work, then we’ll cover it from inside.”
“Sounds good to me,” Stone said. He hung up and put his head on the pillow. He was nearly asleep again when the doorbell fired again. “Yes?”
“It’s Frank again. I forgot to ask: Are you armed?”
“To the teeth. Hold your questions for another hour, will you?”
“Sure.”
Stone tried to go to sleep again, but he had been awake for too long, and his mind was at work. He called downstairs for breakfast and turned on the TV. An all-news-all-the-time channel was on, and his list was displayed on one side of the screen. “Here are the people the NYPD thinks may be in danger,” the anchorwoman said. “If your name is on the list, and you live or work in Manhattan, you should have heard from the police by now. If you haven’t, call them, for your own safety.”
“Dino is just going to love this,” Stone muttered to himself. His phone rang. “Hello?”
“Mr. Barrington, this is Henry Parker at Page Six; are you aware that your name is on a death list?”
“I watch TV, too,” Stone replied. “Please don’t call me again.” He hung up. Immediately, the phone rang again.
“This is Henry Parker.”
“Mr. Parker, do you remember calling me less than a minute ago?”
“Sure I do.”
“Then you must remember what I said to you.”
“You mean about not calling you again?”
“That’s it, and yet you called me again.”
“I just have a few questions,” he said.
“Okay, I’m turning the phone off now.” Stone hung up and flipped the switch that turned off all the phones on the fifth floor. Ten seconds later, his cell phone rang. Stone picked it up. “If you call me again, I’m going to come down there and shoot you,” Stone said.