Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

with Holly?”
    â€œNo, she’s in a kennel. I don’t know which one.”
    â€œI’ll find her. See you tomorrow.”
    Stone hung up feeling a little better. Help was on the way.

44
    S TONE STOOD AT THE Islesboro airstrip and scanned the skies. Seth Hotchkiss stood beside him.
    â€œThere,” Seth said, pointing.
    Stone followed Seth’s finger to a black dot low in the sky. “You have an eagle eye, Seth.”
    â€œSo did my daddy. Runs in the family. Which lot is in this airplane?” Seth had brought his pickup truck to help.
    Stone squinted. “This is the Bonanza, I think. Holly’s father, Ham, and his girlfriend, Ginny, who’s the pilot, will be in that. I’d like you to take them back to the house and get them settled in a guest room, while I wait for the other bunch. I’ll put Lance and Dino in the guesthouse.”
    â€œAyup,” Seth replied.
    The Bonanza was straight in for runway one now, and he saw the landing gear come down and heard Ginny reducing power. She cleared the trees and dropped the airplane on the numbers, braking hard. Stone stood on the tarmac, his hands raised, to show her where to park.
    Ham was out of the airplane immediately, even though Ginny had to let the engine idle for five minutes to allow the turbocharger to cool before shutting down.
    â€œHow are you, Ham?” Stone asked, shaking his hand.
    â€œNot good. Any news?”
    Stone shook his head. “Let’s hope no news is good news. Shall we get your gear into the truck?”
    The two men opened the rear doors and transferred Ham’s and Ginny’s luggage to the pickup, then Ginny shut down the engine, stepped out onto the wing and locked the door behind her. She jumped down and gave Stone a hug.
    â€œI’m going to send you back to the house with Seth Hotchkiss, here,” Stone said, introducing them. “I have to wait for Lance Cabot and Dino Bacchetti; they’ll be here any minute. Seth and his wife, Mabel, will get you settled. We should be there in time for lunch. I’ve asked the state policeman in charge, Sergeant Young, to come over early in the afternoon.”
    Ham nodded and ushered Ginny into the pickup. They had been gone perhaps ten minutes when Stone heard, before he saw, another airplane. Five minutes later a Pilatus PC12, a big, Swiss, single-engine turboprop, had taxied to parking and cut its engine. Daisy was the first out, running to Stone and making a fuss over him. Lance and Dino followed, while the pilot put their luggage into the station wagon. Stone got it started and headed for the house.
    â€œAny developments?” Lance asked.
    â€œNone at all. Dead silence. At least nobody has found a body, as in the other cases.”
    Dino spoke up. “I don’t see how anybody could take Holly.”
    â€œIt’s not that hard,” Lance said. “Even a well-trained, aware person can be lulled into thinking he’s safe long enough to be captured or killed.”
    â€œThanks for bringing Daisy,” Stone said.
    â€œIt was harder getting her out of that kennel than getting an agent out of a foreign jail. Dino’s badge did the trick, finally. I had to sign a form, releasing them from all liability.”
    â€œYou said you had some other means of searching for Holly,” Stone said to Lance.
    Lance glanced at his watch. “I do, but it will be another couple of hours before the materials will be in my hands.”
    Â 
    AT THE HOUSE, Lance went directly to Dick’s secret office and got on the computer. Stone watched as he loaded a stack of acetate sheets into the printer.
    â€œNow we wait,” Lance said. “Is lunch ready?”
    They sat down around the kitchen table, while Mabel served the food and Stone took everybody through every step of the past two days.
    â€œAny questions?” Stone asked, finally.
    Ham spoke up. “Is it true that after forty-eight hours the chances of getting a missing person back are about nil?”
    â€œNo, it’s not true,” Stone said. “Not in this situation, at least.”
    â€œWhy not this situation?”
    â€œFirst, because it’s Holly, and she is much more capable of dealing with these circumstances than your average abductee. If she has even the slightest opportunity, she’ll kill her abductor and get out of wherever she is. It’s unlikely that he has any notion of how much danger he’s