“Most of the time,” Dino said. “Now, tell me your tale.”
Stone began with the story of the sale of Strategic Air Services to the CIA, then continued with the trip to Iraq, the extraction from Spain, and, finally, Pablo’s short drive out of the airplane and his subsequent hiring of Stone.
“You’re shitting me,” Dino said when he was done.
“About which part?”
“The whole thing. You made it up out of thin air, didn’t you?”
“I swear, every word is true.”
“You were in Iraq?”
“Well, not so’s you’d notice it, but even if my feet didn’t touch the ground, I was there—and in the Azores and Spain, too.”
“You know, I did see something on TV about a Mercedes found in a swimming pool in Rye.”
“That’s the one. How else could it have gotten into that guy’s pool?”
Stone looked up to see Lance Cabot walking into the restaurant. He shucked off his coat, hung it up, and pulled up a chair. “You rang?” he said to Stone.
“I did, but a return phone call would have done.”
“I was in town anyway,” Lance said. “Good evening, Dino.” They shook hands.
“How you doing, Lance?”
“I’m not sure yet; that depends on what Stone has to say to me.” He ordered a drink, made a toasting motion, and took a gulp. “Well?” he said to Stone.
“You might want to wait until your second drink,” Stone said.
“Why? Is your news that bad? I presume you do have news of some sort, or you wouldn’t have called me.”
“The news is quite good, if you’re willing to be flexible.”
“Uh-oh, what’s the deal?”
“I have a new client: Erwin Gelbhardt, aka Pablo Estancia. And he wants to make a deal.”
Lance froze, just sat and stared at Stone. “You have a conflict of interest,” he said finally. “You’re under contract to me; you can’t represent both sides.”
“First of all, I’m not currently in your employ, and second of all, this is not, strictly, a legal matter. All it requires is some conversation about terms, then the signing of a letter, then my client begins to talk.”
“You’re representing a man who is a fugitive from justice.”
“He’s not a fugitive from justice, Lance, just from you.”
“He’s wanted by the IRS.”
“Let’s not characterize the IRS as justice.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants you off his back—also, the backs of his family and personal staff.”
“And in return?”
“He’s willing to tell you, in detail, about every arms transaction he has made for the past twelve years. Then he just wants to retire peacefully to this country and live out his life. He is sixty-eight, after all, past retirement age.”