Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

rumors, but if they are true, Sir Winston is being careful not to display too much wealth.”
    â€œWhat about his new house on Black Mountain?”
    â€œThat’s his most visible purchase in the past couple of years, but it’s not an ostentatious place. He has always lived well, but he sold his old house for more than he paid for the place on Black Mountain. Of course, the government might have invested in certain improvements to the house, mostly in the line of security.”
    â€œThen what’s he doing with all his money?”
    â€œYou know about his new bank?”
    â€œThat came up in the conversation.”
    â€œThe bank, I’m sure, required considerable capital, and people in Sir Winston’s position have always found it useful to own real estate and to warehouse funds in other climes—South America or Switzerland, for instance—in case of the necessity of a quick change of residence. Sir Winston has also been known to visit Miami from time to time, in his newly acquired government airplane.”
    â€œHe got himself a jet?”
    â€œA more modest King Air turboprop, but I’m told it’s very nice and has a lot of range.”
    â€œSo he has an escape plan?”
    â€œIn his position, wouldn’t you?”
    Stone took in a sharp breath. “Yes, I would, and so would Teddy Fay. Tell me, Thomas, if you had to escape St. Marks in a hurry, how would you do it?”
    â€œWell, there are boats, of course, but if I were being pursued, air travel would be vastly preferable; perhaps a light airplane that could reach Antigua or Guadeloupe or St. Martins. St. Marks has no direct international flights, except to other islands, but international airline connections are available from those places.”
    â€œThere’s only the one airport here?”
    â€œYes, and a friend of mine now operates the local fixed-base operation and charter service. You’ll remember that Chester, who used to own it, died in a plane crash.”
    â€œI remember. What’s your friend’s name?”
    â€œDon Wells, and he would know who on the island owns small airplanes; there wouldn’t be many. Please tell him I sent you.”
    Stone put down his coffee cup. “Thank you, Thomas, for the coffee, the advice and the information.”
    â€œStone, it might be nice if you stopped in to see Sir Leslie Hewitt.”
    â€œHow is Leslie? He must be very old now.”
    â€œMy guess would be about eighty-five, but I swear, he hasn’t changed a bit in all the years I’ve known him.”
    â€œIs he still pretending to be half gaga half the time?”
    â€œOnly when it suits his purposes. And you may find that Leslie has a lot of inside knowledge about what goes on in St. Marks.”
    â€œThanks, Thomas, I will go and see him.” They shook hands, and Stone headed for his car.

18
    T eddy Fay drove down to the docks in Markstown and found the freight shipping company. He followed the signs to the receiving platform, gave the foreman his shipment number and waited. Shortly a forklift appeared, bearing two cardboard-and-wood crates, and loaded them straight into his vehicle. Teddy signed for them and started back.
    On his way he passed a large hardware store and turned into their parking lot. He bought a small chain saw and a five-gallon gasoline tank and a can of two-stroke motor oil, loaded them into the truck and went on his way. He stopped at a filling station for gas and filled both his vehicle and the spare tank.
    Three-quarters of an hour later he backed the vehicle alongside a pair of cellar doors. Using a hand truck, he managed to get both crates inside, then he went back for the chain saw and the gas tank. He garaged the vehicle, then got the crates open to look at his new toy. It seemed sensible enough. He had ordered the thing to be shipped in a half-completed state, and he read the instructions for completion carefully before beginning work. It never ceased to amaze him that most people never read the instructions, until they got into terrible trouble putting things together. Teddy loved instruction manuals, especially when they dealt with assembling something.
    He finished reading the manual, put down a pad for kneeling on the concrete floor and set out the few tools necessary for assembly. There were three basic parts that had to be joined; two had come in the long crate and one in the short one. First, he went through the