Stuart Woods - Hot Mahogany

Book 15 in the Stone Barrington series

Elaines, late.

Stone Barrington breezed into the restaurant and found his former NYPD partner, Dino Bacchetti, waiting for him, Scotch in hand.

A waiter set a Knob Creek on the rocks before Stone, and he took a large sip.

Where have you been? Dino asked.

You mean for the past week?

Youve been gone a week?

Dino, remember when I went to Lakeland, Florida, to ground school for the new airplane? For a week?

Thats where youve been?

No. Ive been in Vero Beach, Florida, for flight training.

For a week?

For three days.

You have a new airplane?

Not exactly. I had the engine removed from my Piper Malibu Mirage and replaced with a turbine thats a jet engine, turning a propeller. So now its called a JetProp, and its like a new airplane, and because its like a new airplane, my insurance company insisted I have flight training in it from a guy named John Mariani, in Vero Beach.

Whatever you say.

Dino, why dont you remember any of this? How much have you had to drink?

You think Im drinking too much?

You seem to be in a state.

What sort of state?

The word stupor leaps to mind.

Genevieve will be here in a few minutes, Dino said. Genevieve James was Dinos girlfriend, a nurse in the ER at a nearby hospital.

Good.

When she gets here, dont leave me.

Why not?

Im in some sort of trouble.

What kind of trouble?

I dont know, but if youre here, she wont hurt me.

Well, Im not getting in the middle of this, Stone said.

Just sit there in your chair and dont say anything, and itll be all right.

Okay. Ill just sit here.

Stone? Dino was looking over Stones shoulder, toward the door.

Yes?

Have you seen Lance Cabot lately? Cabot was the newly appointed deputy director for operations of the CIA. Both Dino and Stone had done consulting work for him.

Not lately.

Well, he looks like shit, Dino said. Hes aged years.

How do you know this?

Because Im looking at him right now.

Stone turned and looked toward the door. Lance Cabot stood there, looking, as Dino had said, years older. He was also a bit disheveled, needed a haircut, and had at least a three-day growth of beard. His face was bruised.

Good God, youre right, Stone said.

Lance was, ordinarily, the most fastidious of men, always perfectly dressed and groomed. Stone watched as Frank, one of the two headwaiters, greeted him and led him to a table at the rear of the restaurant.

He didnt even look at us, Dino said. Somethings wrong Uh-oh, Dino said.

What now?

Genevieve.

Stone turned to see the beautiful Genevieve enter the restaurant and head for their table. They both stood, while Dino held her chair, a sure sign of fear.

How are you, Genevieve? Stone said, giving her a kiss.

Im very well, Stone, she said, ignoring Dino. How was your Malibu training?

Stone shot a glance at Dino, who was looking very uncomfortable. Hard work and great fun. The new airplane is faster, smoother, and quieter, only its not a Malibu anymore; its called a JetProp.

I remember, she said.

Im going nuts, Dino said.

What?

Lance just came in again, and he looks perfectly fine.

Stone turned and looked, and there he was, younger, undisheveled, unbruised, and perfectly groomed. Were both going nuts, Stone said.

Lance came over to the table and greeted them all, shaking their hands. Good evening, he said.

Lance, Dino said, you should be working as a magician.

I beg your pardon?

Because, in addition to standing here, youre sitting back there. Dino pointed.

Oh, thats my older brother, Barton Cabot.

Ahhhhh, Dino and Stone said, simultaneously.

He came in ahead of me while I finished a phone call in the car. If youll excuse me, Im going to join him, but Stone, Id like to speak with you alone, after weve ordered dinner.

Sure, Stone said. In his experience, when Lance spoke to him alone, trouble invariably followed.

Lance went to join his brother.

Eerie resemblance, Genevieve said.

Yeah, Dino agreed. Its like Lance can know exactly how hell look in a few years.

Genevieve spoke to Dino for the first time. Thats how youre going to look when Im finished with you, she said.

Stone made a point of inspecting a row of photographs of Elaines regulars on the opposite wall.

Elaine came over and sat down, exchanging kisses with Genevieve. Dino looked relieved to have her there. So? she said.

I just got in, Stone replied.

From where?

From Vero Beach, Florida.

What for?

Dino will explain it to you, Stone said.

Lance came and tapped Stone on the shoulder. Lets go into the next room for a minute, he said.

Dino looked anxious. Youll be all right, Stone said. Elaine is here.

Shell help Genevieve, Dino said.

Stone got up and followed Lance into the dining room next door, where people occasionally threw parties and which Elaine used for overflow when the main room was full. They sat down at a table.

I didnt know you had a brother, Stone said.

I havent had a brother for many years. Until tonight.

Does he live in New York?

I dont know, Lance said.

What?

I have no idea where he lives. Neither does he. Thats the difficult thing.

Stone settled in for a story.

Stone thought Lance looked as though he needed a drink.

Can I get you a drink, Lance?

Thank you, no. Weve got a flap on two agents missing in Afghanistan and I have a meeting with the director in two hours.

In the middle of the night?

I have to make a recommendation, Lance said. We think we know where they are: Do we send in more people to get them and risk the lives of a hundred men, or do we call in an air strike and kill everybody.

Including the two agents?

Thats the decision. Theres a chopper waiting for me at the West Side helipad. Thats why I cant deal with this right now.

Deal with what?

My brother, Barton.

Start at the beginning, Lance.

My brother is four years older than I. Barton has been a star all his life: In school, in sports, wherever he went, he was always the star. Our mother died in childbirth with me. When I was twelve, our father died, and Barton became a surrogate father. He joined the Marines during the war in Vietnam, right out of Harvard; got a commission, led a platoon. I was at Harvard then. By the time it was over he was a colonel, commanding a regiment. Nobody in the Marines had advanced so quickly since World War Two. He was sent to the War College and told he would be a general before long, perhaps a future chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Sounds like a spectacular career.

It was, until he abruptly resigned his commission and disappeared.

Disappeared?

Nobody could find him. I tried and failed. When I was giving my commencement speech at my graduation I looked down and saw him in the audience, but when the thing was over, he had disappeared again. I didnt see him again until tonight.

So he abandoned you when you were in college?

Not entirely. My fees were paid, and a generous check arrived every month from a trust he had set up to receive my inheritance, since I was not yet of age. I wrote to him in care of the bank, but my letter was returned.

But you heard from him tonight?

Not exactly. I had a call earlier this evening from a hospital in New York, saying that the police had found him, three days ago, unconscious, on the street. He had been beaten and, apparently, robbed, since he had no money or identification. His wristwatch had been taken, too. He was unconscious for around thirty hours, and when he woke, he didnt know who he was. The police tried to identify him, and today they finally got a match on his fingerprints and got hold of his service record, where I was listed as his next of kin. Somebody at the Pentagon recognized my name and called me.