Page 138 of Near Miss

“When it is given, what are you supposed to do?”

“Say no, and then talk to you.”

“Please, do not forget that.”

“My brain wouldn’t let me, even if I wanted to.”

Chapter 67

Stone checked himself in his mirror. Dinner was a black-tie affair, so he was wearing a Tom Ford tuxedo.

“Wow,” Carly said from behind him.

He turned. She had just exited her dressing room wearing a dark blue floor-length dress, with a neckline that plunged past her chest and a slit that ran up her right leg to her hip.

“Wow, yourself,” he said.

“You like it?” She slowly twirled around. “It’s a Ramy Brook. I realized I had nothing I wanted to wear, so I picked it up at Bloomie’s yesterday.”

“I approve, but only if you took Fred with you.”

“Even if I had tried to go alone, he wouldn’t have let me.”

“Remind me to give him a little something extra in his paycheck this month.”

There was a knock on the bedroom door.

“Come in,” Stone said.

Helene entered. “The man from Strategic Services is downstairs.”

“Thank you, Helene.” He held out his arm to Carly. “Shall we?”

Waiting for them at the base of the stairs was a man who was at least six and a half feet tall and had the body of a linebacker.

“Mr. Barrington, I’m Richard Ray. I will be in charge of your personal detail tonight.”

Stone shook hands with him. “Nice to meet you, Richard. This is Carly Riggs, a fellow attorney at Woodman & Weld, and my date tonight.”

They exchanged greetings.

“Your Bentley and driver are in the garage, along with one of the vehicles that will be escorting you. I will be riding in the latter. I’ve been briefed on the specs of your car, so I know how difficult it would be to breach, but that does not mean someone won’t try.”

“It’s happened before,” Stone agreed.

“So I’ve heard. My goal is to make it as unattractive as possible for anyone to do so tonight. To that end, there will be three vehicles ahead of us, reconning upcoming intersections. We will not pass through any unless we receive an all clear first. Also, we will be coordinating with the police units set up along your route. If they spot something suspicious, we will immediately return here.”

“It sounds like you have all the bases covered.”

“No one ever has all bases covered, but hopefully we will have done enough to dissuade the enemy.”

“I have every faith in you.”

“Thank you. One last thing.”

“Yes?”

“Mr. Freeman wanted me to ask: Are you carrying?”

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