Stone Barrington 27 - Doing Hard Time

length on the SUV, then he yanked the wheel to the left, forcing the other vehicle into oncoming traffic, where it collided with a delivery truck and stopped. Vlad then got around two cars and was only one behind the other SUV.
    •   •   •
    The agent produced a cell phone and used it as a walkie-talkie: “Sierra Sierra One, this is Sierra Sierra Three! Black car behind you. Take evasive action immediately! Repeat, take evasive action immediately!”
    •   •   •
    Stone got the blanket off his hand and stomped at the flames, finally extinguishing them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an LAPD foot patrolman coming toward them from across the street. He threw the smoldering blanket out his window and ran the glass down, to hide the bullet marks.
    “I’ve got this,” the agent said. “Just sit there quietly.”
    Stone stuck the gun back into its holster and sat there, trying to look benign, as the agent began explaining to the officer how the other car had forced him into traffic.
    •   •   •
    Vlad was ready to make his move when the vehicle beside him turned left. He swung into the left lane and gunned his car past the one car separating him from Peter Barrington. Then, to his astonishment, the brown SUV made a sudden right turn down a side street, leaving him stuck in the left lane. Traffic came to a halt as a light turned red half a block away. He had lost his opportunity, and what was worse, Stone Barrington had made him. How could the man know him? he wondered; they had never met.
    Then he felt something running down the side of his face. He looked into the rearview mirror and found a little nick in the bridge of his nose. The son of a bitch had grazed him!

Teddy opened the hangar door with his remote control and drove inside and parked next to Betsy’s Mercedes. Tim Peters was doing something to an engine of the Mustang jet and gave him a wave.
    “Anything wrong?” Teddy asked.
    “Just topping off the oil,” Tim replied. “This bird had a long flight out here.”
    “Peter will be here fairly soon,” Teddy said. “Will you close the hangar door after he arrives?”
    “Sure.”
    Teddy went upstairs and found Betsy putting away new towels. “Peter’s going to be downstairs in a few minutes, and he wants to hire someone to work for him. You’ve got a job interview as soon as he gets here.”
    Teddy went down to his new office and made sure Peter’s logbook was up to date. He heard the hangar door close and car doors slam, and a moment later Peter came into the room.
    “Have a seat, and we’ll go over what we’re going to do this afternoon,” Teddy said.
    “We just had a brush with the Viper,” Peter said. “At least, I think it was the Viper.”
    “What happened?”
    Peter told him.
    “Sounds like your agent is a good driver.”
    “He sure is, and he told me the Strategic Services cars have bulletproof glass in them. I was happy to hear that!”
    Vlad had been lying in wait for Peter outside the Centurion main gate, Teddy thought.
He must have gotten a look at me, too, though he wouldn’t know who I am
.
He might remember the Speedster, though
.
    Betsy rapped on the door, and Teddy left them alone. As he walked out of his office, someone rang the bell for the entry door built into the larger, bifold door. Tim opened the big door and another brown SUV drove in, and Stone got out.
    “Peter had a run-in with Vlad,” Teddy said to Stone.
    “I know, I was there. I got off a couple of rounds at his head, and I think I hit him, but he outmaneuvered us and got away. We hit a delivery van and had to spend a few minutes with a cop, but it ended well, except for a dented fender.”
    “Vlad is getting closer,” Teddy said. “He was lying in wait for Peter outside the studio. We can’t make it easy for him anymore.”
    The Strategic Services agent walked up. “You need to get a different car for tomorrow,” Teddy told him, pointing at the two SUVs. “No more identical SUVs—Vlad is on to that.”
    “Right,” the man said. He produced a cell phone and called his headquarters.
    “It troubles me,” Stone said, “that
I’m
the one who got to take the shot. Where were you?”
    “I’m Peter’s body man at the studio. During transport, he’s in the hands of Strategic Services, as are you,” Teddy said. “Everybody did his job, except you—you didn’t have a job. You took matters into your own hands, and you missed. What was the range?”
    Stone