Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

said. “By tomorrow morning, no one, not even the press, is going to pay attention to anything he has to say.”
    â€œAnd how did you accomplish that?”
    â€œMy darling, you don’t want to know.”

49
    S tone and Holly sat in their car on Black Mountain Road as dusk fell. Holly had produced a small pair of binoculars from her handbag and was training them, alternately, on the Pemberton and Weatherby houses, which could both be partly seen from their vantage point. They had already peered through the windows of the Robertson house and seen nothing out of the ordinary.
    â€œWhat else have you got in that handbag?” Stone asked.
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œYou keep pulling things out—a satphone, binoculars. What else is in there?”
    â€œOh, a couple of changes of clothing, a disguise or two, a bowling ball, a light machine gun—you know, the usual spy stuff.”
    â€œI don’t think I want to walk through customs with you on the return trip.”
    â€œDon’t worry; the duty is paid on everything.”
    â€œWhy are we sitting here? Why don’t we just go knock on both doors and see who opens them?”
    â€œI want to see if any lights come on first,” she said. “That way, we’ll know if anybody’s home. I don’t want to approach the houses if anybody’s home.”
    â€œWait a minute; are you thinking of breaking and entering?”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œI don’t know, maybe alarm systems, attack dogs, security cameras. All we need is to give duBois an excuse to rearrest us.”
    Suddenly, lights came on in the Pemberton house.
    â€œThere you are,” Stone said. “Somebody’s home.”
    Then lights came on in the Weatherby house.
    â€œDid you notice,” she said, “that, in each house, three or four lights came on at once?”
    â€œYou’re thinking they’re on a timer?”
    â€œThat’s what I’m thinking. Isn’t it odd that both houses came on almost simultaneously?”
    â€œNot very odd,” Stone said, “if they’re both set to come on as it gets dark. Maybe, instead of timers, they work on light sensors. You want to hang around and see if they go off when the sun comes up? I’d rather go get some dinner and, eventually, some sleep.”
    â€œYou’d never make a CIA agent,” she said.
    â€œWhat, doesn’t it say anything about dinner and sleep in the official spy handbook?”
    â€œCome on,” Holly said, opening the car door.
    â€œWhere are you going?”
    â€œI want to peek through some windows.”
    â€œDo you have any memory at all of what I just said a minute ago about alarm systems and security cameras?”
    â€œOh, come on, Stone; don’t be such a wuss.”
    â€œTell you what, you do the spy thing, and I’ll play the part of the getaway driver. If any alarms go off, you run like hell for the car, and you might catch up with me.” Stone started the car, put it in gear, made a U-turn and stopped, keeping his lights off. “Don’t delay, or you might have to hoof it down this mountain.”
    â€œYou move from this spot and I’ll kill you.”
    â€œDon’t give me that; you’re unarmed.”
    â€œI’m a trained killer; I don’t need guns.”
    â€œHurry up!” Stone left the engine running.
    Holly took a small flashlight from her handbag, got out of the car and trotted up the drive toward the Pemberton house.
    Stone waited and watched; he could see her silhouetted against the lights of the house. She looked in a couple of windows, then he was astonished to see the front door open and Holly go inside. He could see her moving about from room to room. Stone waited for the alarm to go off, but nothing happened.
    Holly left the house, came down the driveway, then trotted up the road to the Weatherby driveway and disappeared. Stone took deep breaths and tried to remain calm. He glanced at his watch; she had been gone for nearly fifteen minutes.
    Suddenly the car door opened, startling him, and Holly got in.
    â€œOkay, we can go now,” she said.
    â€œYou scared the shit out of me,” he said, putting the car in gear and starting down the mountain. “What the hell were you doing inside that house?”
    â€œWell, somebody got here ahead of us and forced the front door—both front doors, in fact.”
    â€œYeah, I think duBois got here