Stone Barrington 27 - Doing Hard Time

said.
    •   •   •
    Back in New York, Stone called Mike Freeman, CEO of Strategic Services, the second-largest security company in the United States, and a partner in The Arrington. “You feel like a trip to L.A. to see how the hotel is doing?” Stone asked.
    “You just want to check up on Peter,” Mike said.
    “It could be like spring break,” Stone said.
    “You forget I’m British. What’s spring break?”
    “It’s a week or two of vacation, when college kids go somewhere and get drunk.”
    “You make it sound like such fun,” Mike said. “When do you want to go?”
    “We can go anytime we like,” Stone said. “You have a big, fast airplane.”
    “That’s true,” Mike said. “It does kind of sound like fun, and we can check up on our movie studio and see how it’s doing. How about tomorrow morning?”
    “Perfect,” Stone said. “That’ll give me a chance to clean up my desk before we go. And we’ll get there right after Peter.”
    “You sure you don’t want to take your airplane?” Mike asked.
    “It’s a lot slower than your airplane,” Stone pointed out. “And we’d need to stop at least twice for fuel. We could overnight in Santa Fe and check up on how Ed Eagle is doing.”
    “Let’s take my airplane,” Mike said. “Two days of traveling is too long.”
    “Especially when you’ve got a Gulfstream Five,” Stone said.
    “All right, pick me up at nine tomorrow morning.”
    “Where, home or office?”
    “It’s the same place. Call me when you’re five minutes away.”
    “Done.” Stone hung up and buzzed Joan. “Mike and I are going to L.A. tomorrow morning.”
    “To work or play?”
    “Some of both. We have to find a way to make the trip tax-deductible.”
    “You’re just going to check on Peter and Ben and Hattie, aren’t you?”
    “What, you think I’m an overprotective father?”
    “Of course.”
    “Let’s clean up any work I have left, so I won’t have to worry about it.”
    “You never worry about work. Hang on, call coming in.” She put him on hold, then came back. “Dino on two for you.”
    Stone pressed the button. “Hey.”
    “I was just thinking,” Dino said, “I’ve got some vacation time coming. Why don’t we go out to L.A. and have some fun?”
    “What about Viv?”
    “She’s running a protection detail for some business guy who’s headed to Miami for a few days.”
    “That’s convenient. Actually, I was about to call you. Mike and I just talked about going to L.A. You want to go to check up on Ben, don’t you?”
    “Well, as long as we’re out there, we can check up on the kids.”
    “Yeah, okay, as long as we’re going to be out there anyway, why not?”
    “When?”
    “Be here at eight-thirty tomorrow morning. We’ll pick up Mike on the way.”
    “We taking your airplane or his?”
    “His.”
    “Right, you’re on.” Dino hung up.

Hattie checked her rearview mirror for the thirtieth time in the past two hours, and the dot was still there. Abruptly, she turned off at the next exit.
    “Where are you going?” Peter asked, waking from his doze.
    “Route 66,” she replied.
    “Like the jazz tune?”
    “Right. We’ll pick it up somewhere around Amarillo.”
    “Then Gallup, New Mexico,” Peter said, remembering the lyric. “But wouldn’t we make better time on the interstate?”
    “No doubt, but the dot in the mirror has been there all morning, and I’m tired of looking at it. If it’s a semi it will stick to the interstate, and we’ll be rid of it.”
    “And if it isn’t?”
    “A car would probably still stick to the interstate, too,” she said, “but if it follows us I’m going to stop and buy a gun.”
    “Where would you buy a gun?”
    “How about at a gun store?”
    “Isn’t there a waiting period?”
    “Then we’ll look for a gun show, where the waiting period doesn’t apply, according to every news report I hear.”
    “Hattie, aren’t you being just a tiny bit paranoid?”
    “More than a tiny bit.”
    “Okay,” Peter said, and tried to go back to sleep.
    •   •   •
    In the late afternoon, Ben was driving and Hattie was asleep in the backseat. Peter awoke from a doze. “Where are we?”
    “Almost to Gallup,” Ben said. “I got off Route 66 a couple of miles back and turned south, to see if the dot follows us.”
    “The dot is still there?”
    “It turned up an hour ago, as if it had been waiting just over the horizon.”
    “I’m beginning to think that