The Short Forever (Stone Barrington 8)

“I hope you do.”

“Of course I do, Bill, but should you get some information that doesn’t compromise your relationship with a client, will you pass it on to me?”

“Okay, I can do that.”

“Talk to you later.”

Stone thought it might not be too early to call his old professor, Samuel Bernard.

“Yes?” The voice was surprisingly weak.

“It’s Stone Barrington, sir; how are you?”

“Oh, I’ve had a bad couple of days, but I’m better now.”

“Is this not a good time to talk?”

“No, no, go right ahead. What can I do for you?”

“Does the name Stanford Hedger mean anything to you?”

“Indeed it does,” Bernard replied without hesitation.

“Who is he?”

“When I knew him, and later, when I only knew of him, he was considered one of the agency’s brightest young men.”

“Tell me about him.”

“He was a bit impulsive, perhaps even wild, but that doesn’t hurt one’s reputation in the Company, if the results are good. Of course, if one makes a mistake . . .”

“Did Hedger make a mistake?”

“He did, and I can’t tell you about it, except to say that it cost the lives of half a dozen operatives in a Middle Eastern country. Fortunately for Hedger, none of them was American, or he would have been in real trouble.”

Stone wasn’t sure what else to ask. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him?”

“There was a wife, in his youth, but she died in an automobile accident. Hedger was driving, and he was said to have been broken up by the event, though I never knew him to be broken up by anything. He had a level of self-confidence that is usually only found in maniacs, and that seemed to make him impervious to most disastrous events, like his Middle Eastern debacle. I shouldn’t think it took him long to get over his wife’s death.”

“Anything else?”

“He was extraordinarily brave, in the physical sense, which, I suppose, comes with his level of self-confidence. I doubt if he believed that anyone could ever do him harm. He garnered a couple of medals for valor, and that stood him in good stead in the agency. Still, careful people never trusted him, and there are always a lot of careful people in the Company.”

“What about those who were not so careful?”

“There are always those in the Company, too, and they always found uses for Hedger. Later, when he rose to supervisory levels, he attracted younger men who seemed to share his attitudes. He was kept busy keeping them out of trouble, which some saw as his just reward.”

“Do you have any idea what he might be involved with now?”

“I shouldn’t think he’s involved with anything. He’s dead.”

That brought Stone up short. “Are you sure?”

“He died in an explosion in Cairo about two years ago—one caused by an Islamic fundamentalist suicide bomber.”

“Was his body identified?”

“Some body parts were, I believe. If you’ll forgive me, Stone, I have a visitor, who’s on the way upstairs now. I’ll call you if I think of anything else. You’re still at the Connaught?”