Unnatural Acts (Stone Barrington 23)

“I understand you had a career at the CIA,” Herbie said.

“I did.”

“What did you do there?”

“None of your fucking business,” Josh replied, coolly.

Herbie laughed. “No, I guess not. I take it you were on the operational side, though-that’s according to Mike Freeman.”

“I would have made a poor support man,” Josh said, “and an even worse analyst.”

Herbie produced a legal pad. “Mike has told me you’ll need to s

et up a corporate structure. I take it you’ll be CEO?”

“That’s right. Mike will be chairman of the board. If you do decent work I might ask you to join the board.”

Herbie jotted all this down. “I take it there’s a piece of property upstate somewhere.”

Josh popped the end out of the cardboard tube and shook out a thick sheaf of papers. “There is,” he said, “and this is what we’re going to put on it.” He unrolled the papers and tucked one side under Herbie’s T’ang dynasty terra-cotta horse, and Herbie set his marble pencil box on the other end.

“As you can see,” Josh said, “we’ve got a dozen buildings, six of which have just been completed, four outdoor firing ranges, each with a high earthen berm to stop the lead, and two indoor ranges, as well. We’ve already got a five-thousand-foot runway in place, with two large hangars and a fuel farm. Mike bought a private field intact, along with another six hundred acres.”

“You’re expecting a lot of executive aircraft, then?”

“It’s more secure to fly your students in. We don’t want to arouse attention at a commercial airport-Stewart International is the nearest-and a lot of them will be bringing in personal weapons.”

“I see.”

“You ever fired a weapon, Herb?”

“Yes,” Herbie replied, “but in a coffeehouse, not a firing range.”

“Did that get you arrested?”

“It did, but I was released after a short time. I had a good lawyer who made a good case to the DA for self-defense.”

“Did you hit anybody?”

“Only the man I was aiming at.”

“That’s the idea, isn’t it?”

“I suppose it is,” Herbie said.

“I’d like you to come up to our place and do a course with us.”

“That would be interesting,” Herbie said.

“It will be more than that,” Josh said. “It will be educational, in the best sense of the word.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Herbie replied, smiling. “I could use some more education, especially since it’s something of a practical nature.”

“It’s a dangerous world,” Josh said. “It’s practical to stay alive and unharmed.”

“I’m in favor of both of those,” Herbie said. “Did you come directly to Mike from the Agency?”

“No, in between I started my own consultancy. That’s how Mike found me-we were competitors. It was smart of him to buy me out.”