Iron Orchid (Holly Barker 5)

“Well, I guess that’s better than admitted failure,” Holly said.

FORTY-FOUR

ON A THURSDAY NIGHT Holly called the duty officer and asked him to pull the team off her for the night. Then, she dressed in a cashmere sweater and slacks that showed off her ass in a favorable light, put on her coat and got a cab to 88th Street and Second Avenue. She got out, took a deep breath and walked into Elaine’s.

Thursday was the busiest night of the week, she knew, and she reckoned it was her best chance to “bump into” Stone Barrington. She hoped to God he wasn’t with someone else.

Gianni, the headwaiter, spotted her and came and kissed her on the cheek. “Holly! Long time! You meeting Stone?”

“Well, no, but if he’s here, I’ll say hello.”

Gianni turned and pointed at a table along the wall. Stone and Dino Bacchetti, his former partner on the NYPD, were having drinks and arguing about something. “Let’s break this up now,” Gianni said, taking her arm and walking her back to the table. “Look who’s here,” he said to Stone.

Stone was on his feet, looking surprised, and so was Dino. Everybody hugged and kissed. “Join us?” Stone asked.

“Sure,” Holly replied.

“Gianni, bring Holly a Knob Creek on the rocks,” Stone said, and Gianni departed for the bar. Stone was a lawyer who was counselor to a prestigious New York law firm, Woodman amp; Weld, and his specialty was handling the cases Woodman amp; Weld did not want to be seen to be handling. He was also one of Lance’s recruits as a consultant to the Agency. So was Dino.

“Excuse me a minute,” Dino said, apparently giving them a moment. “Be right back.” He walked toward the men’s room.

“So, you and Dino were really going at it when I came in. What’s going on?”

“Oh, Dino and Mary Ann have been having some problems, and I was just counseling him.”

“Counseling him? It looked more like you were yelling at him.”

“He needed yelling at.”

“You aren’t exactly qualified to be a marriage counselor.”

“All right, all right. What are you doing in New York? I thought Lance had shipped you off to some place in Virginia to be remolded by the Agency.”

“I was already a deadly weapon and performed brilliantly, so they graduated me early and assigned me to New York.”

“How’d the rest of the class do?” Stone asked suspiciously.

“Well, they did brilliantly, too,” she said.

“So he brought your whole training class to New York?”

“Everybody who survived the training,” Her drink arrived, and they clinked glasses.

Stone leaned in close. “You’re on that Teddy Fay thing, aren’t you?”

She was surprised he knew. “Sorry, that’s classified.” She took a deep sip of her drink.

“Come on, Dino’s been reporting to Lance about a bunch of murders around the U.N.,” Stone said. “And I think Lance let something slip.”

“That doesn’t sound like Lance,” she said, keeping her guard up. “But if anybody lets anything slip about anything, it ain’t going to be me.”

“Okay, okay. God, it’s good to see you; it’s been months.”

“Has it?” she asked, feigning indifference.

“You know very well how long it’s been. I tried to call you in Orchid Beach, and I got some young lady who’s house-sitting for you. That’s when I knew you must be in Virginia.”

“You’re so clever, Stone; how could I ever hide anything from you?” she said, batting her eyes theatrically.