Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

challengers.”
    â€œI wish it were more.”
    â€œWho doesn’t? But I’ll take twelve points.”
    â€œThat lead could vanish in the blink of an eye if it became known that…what’s-his-name is alive, having escaped two huge federal efforts to capture him, especially since the public has been repeatedly assured that he’s dead.”
    â€œIf that happens, I’ll deal with it,” Will said. “It will help that the ranking Republican senator on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence knows the truth.”
    â€œIt won’t help if he decides to leak the information to some right-wing talk show host.”
    â€œIf he does that, he’ll have to explain why he waited for so long after he found out to tell anybody. I don’t think he would enjoy that; he’s up for reelection too, you know.”
    â€œThank God for that.”
    â€œI know you don’t like to talk about this, Kate, but suppose Lance’s people find Teddy and capture him? What then?”
    â€œWe could build a special prison for him at Guantánamo Bay.”
    â€œHe’d break out of it inside a week. What instructions have you given Lance in the matter?”
    â€œI’ve given him no instructions whatever.”
    â€œAnd is he going to interpret the lack of instructions as a license to do whatever he feels like doing?”
    â€œI haven’t told him to do that, either.”
    â€œYou’re hoping Lance will just make it go away.”
    â€œI’m hoping all sorts of things: I’m hoping Teddy is in a block of ice in Antarctica; I’m hoping he was eaten by a shark the last time he went swimming; I’m hoping he’ll put a bullet in his brain, then fall into an active volcano.”
    â€œYes, Teddy is an inconvenient person.”
    â€œI’m also hoping he wishes to remain dormant, because if he took it into his head to start killing people again…Well, I don’t know how we would handle that.”
    â€œPerhaps leaving him alone wherever he is is the best move.”
    â€œWe’ll have that option, if Lance’s people find him on St. Marks. We could just keep him under surveillance and hope for the best.”
    â€œI like that option best,” Will said, “except the surveillance part; he’d twig immediately.”
    â€œYou never give me official orders when we’re drinking.”
    â€œJust think of it as a firm suggestion.”
    â€œI think that, tomorrow morning, when we’re both entirely sober, you might give me a written finding to that effect that I can log and store in my safe at Langley.”
    â€œBut then I would be on record as saying that a murderer, having been found, should remain free. God knows,” Will said, “I would hate to see him tried. I think I’d rather invade Iran or Korea.”
    â€œRemember, we don’t have an extradition treaty with St. Marks, yet.”
    â€œState has been working on that since their new prime minister took over.”
    â€œDo you think you could possibly slow them down?”
    â€œI think it would be impossible to slow them down, since they’re already going as slowly as possible, with no help from me.”
    â€œIf Teddy is in St. Marks, and we sign an extradition treaty, he could bolt for other, less arresting climes.”
    â€œAnd then we’d have to start all over again?”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œIt’s the perfect conundrum, isn’t it?”
    â€œIt is.”

15
    T homas arranged for Stone to rent a car for the remainder of their stay, and early in the evening they drove up Black Mountain for dinner at Irene Foster’s.
    â€œFunny,” Holly said as they climbed the steep road, “I didn’t notice before but there are underground power lines running alongside the road, and a pipeline, too. See the markers?” She pointed them out.
    â€œOdd for a small island to go to the expense of putting power and water underground in what seems to be a fairly sparsely populated area.”
    â€œThe houses may be sparse, but they’re expensive,” Holly said. “The rich usually are willing to pay for preferential treatment.”
    Irene’s gate was open, but after they drove through, it closed behind them. An SUV and a smaller car with a rental sticker were parked in the paved parking area, and as they got out of their car, Harry Pitts appeared on the front porch to