Стюарт Вудс - Indecent Exposure

“Why are you shocked? That doesn’t fit with our new, more sophisticated format, and anyway, the secretary is in the company of one of our owners, Stone Barrington. Remember him?”

“Are you telling me those naked people on Loggerhead Key were the Presidents Lee?”

“I am. Surely you knew that.”

“I didn’t know it until this minute. Have you been watching TV for the past few minutes?”

“No.”

“Well, in the middle of last night, Trafalgar III weighed anchor and headed south. We followed as soon as we could, but we didn’t have the paperwork for Cuba, nor the fuel to go all the way.”

“She went to Havana?”

“Yes, and President Lee and the Cuban president signed a document ending the Cuban embargo and establishing full diplomatic relations.”

“Holy shit! And you missed that story?”

“Hazel, the entire world missed that story. I told you, we didn’t have fuel or the documents to follow. Trafalgar III is docking next door at the Coast Guard facility as we speak, and we can’t get in there to interview anybody.”

“So we’re completely shut out?”

“No more than anybody else. Hang on a minute.” She covered the phone. “Bobby, grab your camera bag and find a spot from where you can shoot the Coast Guard docks. Shimmy up somebody’s mast, if you have to!”

“Hazel, we’re going to try to get photographs of the yacht and anybody aboard it that we can see. I’ll call you back.” She hung up.

“For Christ’s sake, Bobby, hurry!”

Half an hour later, the Lees’ luggage was taken off the yacht, and the other passengers walked them ashore and to their waiting car to say their goodbyes, while the crew peeled the borrowed name off the stern and replaced the White Ensign with an American yacht ensign.

“It was absolutely wonderful, Stone, every minute of it,” Kate said, hugging him. They got into their car and were driven away, and the other passengers returned to the yacht for dinner.

Bobby Marks came, panting, back aboard Ciao . “I got them, Gloria,” he said, grinning. “All of them, and with my long lens it looks like we’re standing next to them. The light was good, too, from the docks’ flood lamps, and the yacht’s real name is Breeze. ”

Gloria got on the phone to Hazel. “Sweetheart,” she said, “check your e-mail — we got more of the story than anybody, and I’m rewriting the rest!”

The Gulfstream jet set down smoothly at Warm Springs and taxied to the ramp, where a three-car motorcade awaited them. There was no press or media present, since they had not been informed.

The motorcade proceeded quietly through the warm Georgia night to the Lee farm, where they were greeted by Aunt Beatrice. “Billy’s sound asleep in his room,” she said. “Why don’t you look in on him?”

Kate and Will tiptoed into Will’s childhood room, now Billy’s, and regarded the sleeping child with parental affection.

The following day, with press and media present, the Lee family boarded the Gulfstream and flew back to Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, from where they were choppered back to the White House.

The daily White House press briefing that morning was bedlam.

The following morning after their cruise, Stone and his party took off from Key West International, and he dropped Holly and the Rules at Manassas two hours later. Holly gave Stone a big kiss. “I’ll see you New Year’s Eve,” she said, “if the world can keep it together until then.” After a pause to take on additional fuel, Stone took off and flew to Teterboro, where Fred and Bob awaited him and the Bacchettis in the Bentley. He dropped Dino and Viv off at home, then continued to his own.

Joan greeted him in the office. “Thank you so much for the beautiful cashmere sweater, and the staff thanks you for their gifts and their bonuses.”

“You’re all very welcome,” Stone said. He regarded the dog. “Has Bob gained weight?”

“Ah, um... Well, it was Christmas, wasn’t it? He got an extra cookie or two.”

“You’re a complete patsy,” Stone replied.

“Where that dog is concerned, you’re absolutely right,” Joan said. “Did you see the President on TV in Havana?”

“Joan, I was there. The ceremony took place aboard Breeze .”

“Oh, I had no idea!”

“Neither did I, and I hope no one else catches on. I don’t want another deluge of press calls. We woke up that morning on the way to Cuba. I didn’t know where I was until I saw Morro Castle.”

“That must have been some meeting!”

“A good time was had by all. We were back in Key West in time for dinner.”

Gloria got in later that day. A message was on her phone from Alphonse Teppi, and she called him back.

“Listen, sweetheart,” Al said, “I was on Barrington like a clam, but Danny lost him that same day and we never found him again.”

“I found him,” Gloria replied.

“Oh? Where?”

“About sixty miles west of Key West.”

“Florida?”

“There’s only one.”

“I read the President was down there somewhere, too.”

“They were on the same yacht, which left us in the dust, so to speak, then went to Cuba. We managed to photograph them when they were back in Key West.”

“Holy shit!”

“Exactly.”

“Danny wants to know if you want him to kill Barrington.”

“Yeah, sure, tell him to get right on it.” The only worse numskull than Al, she reflected, was Danny. She hung up and called Hazel.

“You’re back!”

“I am. How did you like the shots in Key West?”

“They were perfect, and we’re the only ones who have them. When we publish tomorrow, the Times and the networks will be extremely jealous. I especially liked the shots of them ripping off the name and exposing the real one.”

“I certainly hope so,” Gloria said. “Bobby risked his neck to get those shots from the top of a utility pole!” She hung up, and the phone rang immediately.

“Hello?”

“It’s Benton. Welcome home.”

“Hey, baby.”

“Chinese at your place tonight?”

“I’d rather go out to dinner,” she said. “Someplace splashy, where everybody will see us together.”

He laughed. “All right, why not? You’re on. I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty.”

“See you then, babe.” She hung up, gratified.

Dino called.

“Yeah?”

“Patroon, seven-thirty? Just you and me, Viv’s flown the coop again.”

“You betcha. See ya then.” Stone hung up.

Stone and Dino were still on their first drink at Patroon when Benton Blake and Gloria Parsons walked in together. They didn’t see Stone across the room until they had sat down.

Stone raised a glass to them, then sent them a bottle of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame. They looked pleased.

A moment later, a waiter brought over a magazine on a silver tray. “It’s Just Folks ,” Stone said, examining the cover. “Tomorrow’s edition.” He was astonished that it was a beautiful photograph of Breeze , probably taken last summer.

“Nice shot of the yacht,” Dino remarked.

“Yes, it is,” Stone replied, “but why?” He looked at a Post-it stuck to the cover. See pages 16–20. G.

He opened the magazine to find a double-page spread of a photograph of Kate and Will’s departure from the yacht. It had been taken from a height and was very clear.

“Looks like she had a drone,” Dino said.

Stone flipped through the piece, which ended with a shot of him and Holly jumping from the yacht the first morning, with suitably blanked-out parts. “Looks like we were under surveillance the whole time,” Stone said.