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“Condition, please?”
“Seven thousand feet of well-maintained concrete.”
“Not cement?”
“Cement comes in bags. It is mixed with gravel and water to make concrete, which is poured and smoothed.”
“Is it in the middle of nowhere?”
“Au contraire. It is in the middle of a green and pleasant place.”
“Ah, Ireland!”
“Close, but no Upmann. And that is all you may know until we land.”
They had lunch and watched a movie, then the aircraft began its descent.
“We’re coming down,” she said, “but I still don’t see any land.”
“There is plenty of that where we are going. If you look to your left, you will see some.”
“That looks very like England,” she said.
“It is very like that,” Stone replied.
As the sun set lower in the sky, trees and houses were visible, and they made a left turn.
“I caught a glimpse of a big house,” Vanessa said.
“It is called Windward Hall,” Stone replied. “It is where I repose when evil lurks elsewhere, like New York.”
“Ah, that’s right! You have a house in England!”
“You’ll get a better view shortly.”
The aircraft touched down softly, brakes were applied and engines reversed, then it made a 180-degree turn, stopped, and the engines wound down. A Range Rover pulled up to the bottom of the airstairs door, and as they descended, theirluggage was loaded onto another vehicle, and Stone introduced Vanessa to Major Bugg. “The major is the estate manager, and nothing escapes his eye,” Stone said, “so watch yourself.”
“How do you do, Major?” Vanessa said, and shook his hand. Two officials from Customs and Immigration glanced at their passports and stamped them.
—
They were deliveredto the front door of the house and entered. “This is Windward Hall,” Stone said. “We should go upstairs, unpack, and dress casually for dinner.” He took her up a floor and showed her the master suite and her very own bath and dressing room. Then Stone sat her on the bed. “Now, listen,” he said. “We are here because someone is trying to kill Jack, and failing that, we’ll do nicely. Do you understand?”
“This isn’t a trick, just to get me out of the country for immoral purposes?”
“Well, there is that, but the threat is real. Now, when you report to whomever you report to back home, like your mother, you must make no mention of this country, this house, or my name. If someone is inquisitive, tell them that we are at a remote location in the American West, sleeping by a campfire and riding horses. Nothing else.”
“I understand,” she said, “and I understand that you are serious and why.”
“That is all I ask,” Stone replied. “Well, I’ll ask more later, when you’ve had time to digest that and are out of your clothes. Right now, it’s you and me for dinner in the library. Freshen up.”
—
Half an hourlater they were having drinks on a Chesterfield sofa before a warming fire. The sound of rain could be heard pattering against the windows.
“It’s raining,” she said.
“It’s England. It does that here.”
