Lucid Intervals (Stone Barrington 18)

“May I be excused to go to the restroom?” Stone asked.

“Be quick about it,” she replied.

Stone was quick, and then he tackled the exam.

Ida Ann ran quickly through it. “You missed a question,” she said. “Let’s review the fuel system again.”

Twenty minutes later, satisfied that he understood his error, she dismissed him, said she would see him at nine the following morning, then was gone.

Stone stood up and stretched, rubbing his neck.

“And what was that all about?” Joan asked from the doorway.

“I’m being taught to fly a jet airplane,” he said.

“At the conference table?”

“First, ground school, then flying.”

“And Hackett is paying you to do this?”

“He is. Call Eggers’s office later this week and find out how much to bill him.”

“Will do. Oh, Felicity called and said she’d meet you at Elaine’s at eight-thirty.”

“Then I have time for a nap,” Stone said, heading upstairs, exhausted.

STONE ARRIVED AT Elaine’s to find Dino already there, as usual, and the two ordered drinks while they waited for Felicity.

“How was your day?” Dino asked amiably.

“You won’t believe it,” Stone replied. “I spent it in ground school, learning to fly a Cessna Mustang.”

“Isn’t that a jet?”

“It is.”

“But you don’t own a jet.”

“I do not.”

“Are you planning to buy one?”

“I have a new client, Jim Hackett, who says that if I come to work for him, I’ll be able to buy one next year.”

“You’re leaving Woodman and Weld?”

“No. Hackett is hiring me through the firm for special projects.”

“And the first special project is learning to fly a jet?”

“You guessed it.”

“And he’s paying you for this?”

“You guessed it again.”

“How long will it take?”