AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I seem to have lost my appetite,” she replied.
“Doesn’t looking at me make you hungry?”
“Perhaps.”
“We’ll have dessert in our suite,” he said, as the check was put before him. He added a big tip, signed for the bill, and rose. “Don’t hurry,” he said.
The waiter pulled out the table for them and they followed the headwaiter to the garden door and stepped outside.
“How lovely,” Vanessa said, looking around.
“Just follow the walk, and we’ll take the first left.”
She took Stone’s arm and followed his instructions. Stone heard a door close behind them and held her back when she tried to hurry. They turned left and came out onto Mount Street and crossed it. The entrance to the Connaught was at hand, and they used it. A man followed them into the elevator, and Stone unbuttoned his jacket and felt for the butt of the pistol on his belt.
“Don’t bother, old man,” the man said. “I’m with Lance.” The door opened, and in a moment, they were inside their suite. Lance awaited them before the fire, a cognac in his hand.
“Do sit down,” he said.
They sat down, and Lance poured them a drink. “Was it Majorov?” Stone asked.
“I don’t know. He was a passable double, though. You’re not crazy, just a little paranoid.” He took a sip of his brandy. “I think we’ll go home tomorrow, though, just on the off chance.”
38
They left the hotel early,just after breakfast. Lance slid into the shotgun seat. “You’re not paranoid,” he said.
“What?”
“I talked with the headwaiter at Harry’s Bar later. The man you saw was Valery Majorov.”
“Oh, shit!”
“You made him correctly. The question is: Did he make you?”
“And what is your opinion on that?”
“He didn’t look alarmed or make any phone calls,” Lance said. “Still...”
“I don’t know how good an actor I am,” Stone said, “but I made a phone call—to you—and I may have looked alarmed.”
“I thought you were pretty cool,” Vanessa said from the rear seat, which she shared with a lot of boxes and shopping bags.
“I guess we’re about to find out,” Stone said.
“Follow the white Mercedes estate wagon up ahead,” Lance said. “There’s another car behind us; they’ll give notice of anything following us.”
Stone put the Range Rover in gear and pulled onto Mount Street, following the white Mercedes some ways ahead. That car crossed South Audley Street, then turned onto Park Lane and went all the way around Hyde Park Corner twice, before peeling off and out onto Kensington Road.
“Go twice around the next roundabout, as well,” Lance said.
Stone did so and left it pointing down the Southampton road. Fifteen minutes later they were on the motorway south. Lance’s phone rang. “Yes?” He listened, then hung up. “There’s a black BMW SUV behind our chase car that is of some concern. Proceed normally, and we’ll see what happens. Leave the motorway at Southampton, instead of continuing on, and we’ll try something else tricky.” Lance made another call. “Follow the signs to the Isle of Wight ferry and don’t stop, unless they make you. Drive aboard behind the Mercedes.”
Five minutes later, they were aboard the car ferry, departing Southampton for Cowes. “Stay in the car,” Lance commanded. “My people will have a look around.”
Half an hour later, they were leaving the ferry and Cowes, and Lance directed Stone west, toward Yarmouth, while he made another call. Fifteen minutes later, they boarded another ferry at Yarmouth, then crossed the Solent to the mainland, then got off and made for Beaulieu. Lance was on the phone again.
Another quarter of an hour and they drove through the main gate at Windward Manor, then behind the house and into the large building that served as a garage.
