AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Before you ask,” Lance said. “I arrived in Key West and slept at Stone’s house, blissfully without company. I then took the seaplane from Key West International Airport and arrived here an hour ago and was met by the cutter, just in case of unforeseeable problems of any sort.”
“Okay,” Stone said, “are you ready to be grilled?”
“I perceive that this must be about Vanessa’s ready kit,” Lance said. “I had her apartment visited yesterday, and it was missing, so...”
48
Lance looked around him.“Do I detect a whiff of disbelief?”
“Maybe just a whiff,” Stone said. “Why did Vanessa have half a pound of plastique in her go bag?”
Lance shrugged. “Beats me,” he said.
“Beats you?” Stone asked. “You’re the guy who’s supposed to knoweverything!”
“Well,almosteverything. A committee sits and rules on requests for things like mortars, .50-caliber machine guns, and high explosives. I’d have to go through the records and find out who made the request, what the serial number is, and when it was issued.”
Stone reached into the bag and produced the bomb. “Here you go. We did our best to disarm it, but who knows?”
Lance looked at the device as if it were a poisonous reptile about to strike. “Open it, please.”
“Your turn,” Stone said. “So far, we’ve been having all the fun.”
Lance got a well-manicured fingernail under one edge and flipped it open. “Ah,” he said with a sigh. “Disabled. Good job.” He made a phone call and gave somebody a number. “They’re checking.”
Stone looked at Dino and Viv, who both seemed intensely interested in Lance’s conversation.
Lance hung up. “Vanessa didn’t requisition it. Jack Collins did.”
“For what purpose?” Stone asked.
“I’m afraid that information is above your pay grade,” Lance replied regretfully.
Stone waved a hand. “We’re all cleared to the same level you are,” he said.
“Not quite,” Lance replied. “There is a teeny level above you that is reserved for things like high explosives and who receives them in the mail—that sort of thing.”
“You mail that stuff?”
“Well, we wouldn’t mail it to a residence or even a neighborhood.”
“What’s left?” Dino asked.
“Oh, things like drug factories and machine shops that manufacture illegal weapons.”
“So what was Jack’s target when he requisitioned half a pound of plastique?”
Lance gave them another shrug. “Conceivably...”
“Actually,” Stone said.
“For that information I would have to see the minutes of the meeting in question.”
“And you don’t have those on you?”
Lance patted his pockets, like a man who had forgotten his wallet when the check arrived. He held up a notebook. “Actually, I do.”
“We anxiously await,” Stone said.
