Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14
showing his ID; he parked in his reserved spot in the basement garage, near the elevator, swiped his ID card at the door and went upstairs to his office, clearing three more security checks.
He put the papers and his breakfast on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa, glancing at the headlines while he sweetened his coffee and munched on the Danish, not noticing the tiny, flashing red light on the phone behind his desk. He switched on the TV, which was already set to CNN.
He had finished his breakfast and was halfway through the Times when he glanced at a clip of yesterdayâs golf tournament and, almost simultaneously, caught sight of the tape crawling across the bottom of the screen:⦠TWO POLITICAL SHOOTINGS ON CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF ST . MARKS
Lance walked around his desk and picked up his phone, noticing the flashing red light. He dialed voicemail and listened for a moment, then dialed Hollyâs satphone number. âYouâd better answer the bloody thing, girl,â he said aloud to himself.
55
H olly grabbed the ringing satphone and went outside.
âHello?â
âWhere the hell have you been?â Lance demanded.
âRight here,â she said. âI left a message for you.â
âI just got it; do you know who got shot on the island?â
âOnly what Iâve seen on local TV,â Holly said. âA policeman named duBois was shot, and theyâre saying there was a reported attempt on the PMâs life, but no confirmation yet.â
âJesus, that has âTeddyâ written all over it.â
âI donât know what we can do about this, Lance; our search for Pemberton and Weatherby came up dry, and we donât have any other suspects for Teddy.â
âDid you go over the photographs I sent you?â
âWhat photographs?â
âCheck your e-mail; our photo analyst says Pemberton and Weatherby are the same man, and sheâs made up sample photos of what he might look like in different disguises.â
âIâll check that out right now,â Holly said.
âForget about Robertson; he turns out to be one of the Heathrow Robbers, a guy named Barney Cox. Call me back if you have any ideas. You know about the airplane?â
âYes, at noon; I hope he can land; theyâll probably shut down air travel again.â
âIâll get word to the pilot to declare a fuel emergency, if necessary; then theyâll have to allow him to land. You just be there.â
âOkay.â She punched off the connection and ran into the house.
âWhatâs going on?â Stone asked.
Holly switched on her computer and waited for it to boot up. âLance had the photographs of Pemberton and Weatherby analyzed, and the analyst says theyâre of the same man.â She typed in her e-mail password and waited. âHere we go.â
âThey donât look like the same man,â Stone said.
Holly scrolled down. âLook at this; without the facial hair and the wigs they do,â she said and kept scrolling. âThe analyst has made up some others showing what he would look like in different disguises; here they are.â She scrolled slowly through a dozen pictures.
âWait a minute,â Stone said, pointing. âLook at that one. Who does that look like, except for the hair color?â
âHoly shit,â Holly said. âThat one is a ringer for Harold Pitts! But he sailed yesterday, didnât he? I mean, we saw him.â
Stone picked up the phone and rang Thomas Hardy.
âHello?â
âThomas, to the best of your knowledge, did Harold Pitts sail for Ft. Lauderdale yesterday?â
âYes, he did. I was down at the marina, and I cast off his lines myself.â
âYeah, we saw him sail out of English Harbour and turn to the east. Is there anywhere along the eastern shore where he could have anchored? Another marina or a cove?â
âNo, itâs all cliffs on that end of the island, and thereâs heavy surf from the trade winds, so he couldnât anchor there, either. Whatâs going on, Stone?â
âHave you heard about duBois and the prime minister?â
âYes, there was just a report that Sutherland was DOA at the Markstown hospital.â
âDuBois, too?â
âYes. That pretty much cuts off the heads of the government and the police force. Thereâs going to be chaos, and I think you should expect to be
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