Stuart Woods - Strategic moves

"Do you have something against the institution?" she asked.

"No, I always assumed I would be married someday; it just hasn't happened."

They left the elevator and walked to the car.

"Have you ever come close to marrying?" she asked as he opened the door for her.

"Yes, but I've managed to stay out of serious trouble."

She laughed. "A bachelor would look at it that way."

"It was just a joke," he said.

"I wonder," she replied.

"I'll have the driver take you home, if that's all right."

"Of course," she said. She reached up and put her hand on his cheek, then kissed him in a meaningful way. "I hope you'll ask me out again."

"What are you doing this weekend?" he asked.

"I'm perfectly available."

"I'll pick you up at nine on Saturday morning, then."

"Where are we going?"

"A surprise," he said. "Bring country clothes and some good boots for walking and a warm coat."

"I'll be ready," she said.

He kissed her again, then put her in the car and sent it on its way. Now he had something to look forward to.

Stone was having breakfast in bed the following morning while doing the Times crossword puzzle with the TV on. He was distracted from the puzzle by the mention of Jack Gunn's name and turned his attention to the TV.

"A moment ago," the reporter was saying, "the forensic accountants who have spent the past days combing through the business records of Gunn Investments made the following statement."

A man in a pin-striped suit appeared on camera: "After a thorough inspection of the books and computer systems of Gunn Investments, we have concluded that no money is missing, and no wrongdoing has been committed by anyone in the firm. We did find and have corrected an anomaly in the firm's computer software that incorrectly transferred some of the firm's general fund to three of its foreign accounts. Those funds have been returned to the New York account, and the books now balance. We have recommended to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the firm's customer accounts be unfrozen, and we have recommended to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York that no charges be filed against any member of the firm."

The camera returned to the reporter. "There you have it. Gunn Investments has been given a clean bill of health, and Jack Gunn is scheduled to make a public statement in about an hour. We'll have that for you. In the meantime, David Gunn, Jack Gunn's son, has returned to Miami after a week-long sail in the Caribbean." The camera showed a handsome young man in sailing clothes being mobbed by reporters at a marina.

"I knew nothing about all this until we sailed into the harbor this morning," he said. "I've been at sea and out of touch for a week, and I'm returning to New York today to be of any help I can in sorting this out."

Stone turned the volume down and went back to his puzzle, but he couldn't concentrate. Herbie had told him that David Gunn had spoken to his sister, Stephanie, a day or two earlier. Now he was saying he'd been out of touch for a week?

But Stone had other things to think about. He put down the puzzle, called the caretaker of the Maine house, and asked him to get the place in order for guests and to meet him at the airstrip on Saturday morning, then he called Mike Freeman.

"Good morning, Stone. Did you hear the good news about Jack Gunn?"

"Yes, I just saw it on TV," Stone said.

"That's a great relief," Freeman said.

"I'm planning to use the Mustang on Saturday and Sunday," Stone said, "if you don't need it. I'll be back no later than noon on Monday."

"Fine, enjoy yourself."

"Have you heard anything more from Lance Cabot?"

"No. I think he's expecting me to call him today. I'll do that, and I'll say, while we are interested in doing work for the Agency, we don't want to participate in the sort of mission he mentioned."

"I think that's a good move, Mike."

"Let's have lunch next week sometime."

"I'd like that," Stone replied. They said goodbye and hung up.

Stone was already at his desk when Milton Levine called.

"Morning, Milt."

"And to you, Stone. Thanks for the referral of Peter Collins."

"You're very welcome. How did it work out?"

"We're pretty much squared away. Turns out Collins had a permit for the gun, and the man who was shot agreed it was an accident. I pleaded him to one count of unlawful discharge of a firearm and he got probation and community service."

"Nothing for the hostage-taking?"

"None of the people involved wanted to press charges, and the hostage negotiator testified to Collins's cooperation, so the whole thing pretty much went away. He's back at the office this morning."

"I'd like to be a fly on the wall at the first meeting between Collins and Jack Gunn," Stone said.

"So would I, but my guess is they'll put it behind them, and it will be business as usual. I owe you a good dinner for the referral."

"Anytime, Milt," Stone said, and they hung up.

Stone felt a sense of relief that all the problems that had cropped up in the past few days seemed resolved. Now he could leave for the weekend with nothing on his mind, and he relished that prospect.

"Hi, Stone."

Stone looked up to see Herbie Fisher leaning against the door-jamb.

"Good morning, Herbie."

"I hear you and Adele hit it off last night."

"We had a very pleasant evening," Stone replied.

"And I hear you're off to some surprise place this weekend, too."

Stone frowned. "You certainly hear a lot, Herbie."

"The women in the family are constantly talking to one another," Herbie said. "Don't tell one of the family, unless you want them all to know. Where are you taking Adele?"

"I'm going to take your advice, Herbie, and not tell you. Otherwise, it won't be a surprise, will it?"

"You heard that Jack is off the hook? David too?"

"I heard."

"Jack's spending the day calling clients and telling them everything's okay."

"Good idea."

"Say, Stone, would you like to invest some money with Jack? He doesn't take a lot of new clients, but Stephanie could have a word with him."

Stone thought about the unaccustomed large chunk of cash sitting in his accounts, from his Woodman amp; Weld bonus and the sale of his old airplane to Strategic Services. "That's an interesting idea, Herbie. Let me get back to you on that, will you?"

"I'm putting everything with Jack, myself," Herbie said.

"Everything?"

"Sure, why not? Stephanie will be watching over it for me."

"It's a good idea to put her in charge of your money, Herbie. She probably doesn't have a bookie."

Herbie found that very funny. "No, she's a lot more conservative than I am."

"Everybody is a lot more conservative than you are, Herbie."

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"Anything else on your mind?"

"No, I was just passing by," Herbie said.

"When are you off on your honeymoon?"

"In a few days. We're rebooking everything."

"Have a good time," Stone said, turning back to his work. Investing with Jack Gunn seemed like a pretty good bet, he was thinking.

On Saturday morning Stone picked up Adele and drove to Teterboro Airport, to Jet Aviation, where the Mustang sat out on the apron, waiting for them.

Adele showed an interest in the airplane, so, after loading their bags in the forward luggage compartment, Stone took her along on the preflight inspection, then he hooked up the battery, and they prepared to taxi. Stone got his IFR clearance, then worked his way through the long checklist, started the engines, and asked ground control for permission to taxi. Shortly, they were lined up on runway one with a takeoff clearance. Stone did his final, brief checklist, then pushed the throttles all the way forward and held the brakes on while the engines spooled up. He released the brakes, the airplane accelerated quickly down the runway, and Stone rotated, then retracted the landing gear and flaps. At seven hundred feet, he switched on the autopilot and began flying the Teterboro Six departure, but shortly he was given a vector to the Carmel VOR, then a moment later, direct to Kennebunk.