Page 109 of Near Miss

Chapter 56

Ed Rawls rang Stone’s doorbell and waited, fidgeting, on the doorstep until it was answered.

Stone ushered him in. “Lunch is soon,” he said.

“I’ll stay, but I’d like a drink, now, please.”

Stone poured him a stiff Laphroaig. He had never seen Rawls so fidgety. “What’s going on, Ed?”

“We’ve got new opposition,” Ed said.

“What opposition?”

“I’m getting ahead of myself. I got a couple of calls this morning from people I take seriously, to say that questions are being asked about me.”

“Okay, what else?”

“You don’t understand, Stone. They know who I am.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Before, I was a ghost, an old man on a pension. Now they know who and what they’re dealing with.”

“I see,” Stone said. “And that will make them more cautious?”

“There’s more. They’ve hired a specialist called the Sergeant.”

“An assassin?”

“A whatever-it-takes guy, and he knows who and what I am.”

Stone nodded, but he really didn’t see what difference that made.

“It means they’ll come after me, first,” Ed said. “They know what I can do, and they won’t want me in the way. They checked out my front gate earlier today.”

“So, what does this mean to how we’re operating?”

“It means I need to stop operating and start working on staying alive. I’ve got to get out of here.”

Stone was speechless.

“I know that comes as a blow,” Ed said, “but I’m no good to you dead.”

Ed had a point. “Have you talked to Peter about this?”

“I sent him an email.”

“When and where are you going?”

“As soon as possible, and I thought about my place in Virginia, then I thought about my girlfriend’s house in England. Sarah’s there now, and that’s her preference.”

“I’ll call Mike Freeman, and see if he can offer you a ride over.”

Stone went into his little office and called Freeman and made his request.

“Wheels up at eightamtomorrow,” Mike said. “Tell Rawls no weapons.”

“Okay, Mike.”

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