Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

won’t stop them from thinking it.”
    â€œYour logic is unassailable,” Stone said, shoving the mail aside and sipping his drink.
    A waiter appeared with a menu.
    â€œGreen bean salad, hold the peppers, spaghetti carbonara, half a bottle of the Chianti Classico,” Stone said.
    â€œYou look hungry,” Elaine said. “You’re late, too; where you been?”
    â€œSpokane, Washington; Dino will explain it to you.”
    â€œHe’s turning his airplane into a jet,” Dino said.
    â€œSort of,” Stone replied. “A jet with a propeller. It’s called a turboprop.”
    â€œWhy are you doing this to your airplane?”
    â€œFaster, quieter, more reliable, climbs faster.”
    â€œOh.”
    Elaine had never evinced the slightest interest in his airplane, Stone remembered. He waited for the next, inevitable question.
    â€œOnly one engine?” Elaine asked.
    â€œOne’s all you need.”
    â€œWhat if it stops?”
    â€œExtremely unlikely, but I’d find a place to land it.”
    Elaine nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
    â€œWhere is Genevieve?” Stone asked Dino.
    â€œLate shift; she’ll show soon. She might bring Eliza.”
    â€œGood idea.” Eliza Larkin was an ER doctor Stone had been seeing occasionally since he had been run down by a car and she had treated him.
    The two women, on cue, breezed into the place, exchanged kisses with everybody and sat down.
    â€œBring ’em a menu,” Elaine said to a waiter.
    â€œNo, thanks, I had dinner in the cafeteria earlier,” Eliza said.
    â€œMe too,” Genevieve said.
    Elaine looked at them incredulously. “You ate food from a hospital cafeteria instead of here?”
    â€œI would have fainted if I hadn’t,” Eliza said. “Maybe I’ll have dessert.”
    â€œDessert is good,” Elaine said, pointing at a tray of samples and motioning for a waiter to bring it over.
    â€œCheesecake,” Eliza said.
    â€œMake it two,” Genevieve echoed.
    The two women excused themselves and went to the ladies’ room.
    Stone turned his attention to the mail again, and a large white envelope caught his attention. He turned it over to read the return address. The White House, Washington, D.C., it read.
    Stone opened the envelope.
    â€œYou look funny,” Dino said.
    â€œI’ve been invited to dinner at the White House,” Stone said, gulping. “Holly Barker and me.”
    â€œOn the same invitation?” Elaine asked, taking it from him.
    â€œWhy you and Holly?” Dino asked.
    â€œYeah, Eliza is gonna want to know the answer to that question, too,” Elaine said.
    Stone took the invitation and stuffed it into his pocket. “Let’s not discuss it with her,” he said, “especially since I don’t know the answer to that question.”
    His cellphone vibrated on his belt, and he flipped it open. “Hello?”
    â€œIt’s Holly.” Holly Barker was his friend and sometime lover, a retired army officer and chief of police in a Florida town, now doing something or other for the CIA.
    â€œSpeak of the devil.”
    â€œHow was Spokane?”
    â€œFine. How did you know I was in Spokane?”
    â€œI have a computer program that tracks the flight of any airplane. You went yesterday; I figured you came back today. You’re doing the engine conversion?”
    â€œHow the hell did you know that?”
    â€œI know lots of stuff. You got the invitation?”
    â€œJust now.”
    â€œYou getting your mail at Elaine’s these days?”
    â€œI picked it up on the way here.”
    â€œI have further instructions for you about the dinner.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œIt’s going to take five days, maybe a week of your time.”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œListen to me carefully, and don’t argue. Dinner, you will have noticed, is tomorrow night; it’s black tie.”
    â€œI got that from the invitation.”
    â€œPack a bag with warm-weather clothing and bring your passport.”
    â€œHolly…”
    â€œShut up. I told you not to ask questions.”
    â€œI’ll have to see what’s on my calendar for the next week.”
    â€œNothing; I checked with Joan this afternoon.”
    Joan Robertson was his secretary. “A conspiracy,” he said.
    â€œYou don’t know the half of it, kiddo,” she replied, then hung