Page 63 of Near Miss

“You or those under your direct supervision,” Stone said.

“Agreed.”

Stone gave him his fax number and email address. “When can we expect you in New York?”

“Are you free for dinner?”

“Yes.”

“Is the witness?”

“As long as dinner is at my house.”

“Is seven o’clock good?”

“Just fine.”

“I’ll bring an associate for dinner, and two other agents will come along to handle video and audio equipment.”

“I can feed them, too, but less sumptuously.”

“They can rough it.”

Stone gave Kinder directions on how to enter his garage fromthe avenue. “Your men can unload their gear in the garage. Don’t arrive in vehicles with blue lights on top.”

“Got it. We’ll bring body armor, as well.”

“Good. You may need it. I can put up you and your agent in my house. The tech people will have to find a hotel cheap enough to satisfy you.”

“See you at seven.”

“Make it six-thirty, if you want a drink before dinner.”

“Considering who I’m dealing with, I’ll stick to lemonade.”

Stone called Joan next. “Please call Mike Freeman and tell him my request for his people to stand down was premature.”

“On it,” Joan said.

Stone hung up and turned to Greco. “We’re all set. Will it upset your wife if you sleep here tonight, instead of going to wherever home is at the moment?”

“That will be fine.”

“I can have someone pick up some clothes for you.”

“Suite One, Waldorf Towers. I’ll phone my wife and ask her to pack a bag for me.”

“Okay. I’m going to ask a young woman, a lawyer at my firm, to join us. She has a prodigious memory, so we won’t have to take notes. I’ll get us a copy of whatever the FBI records, too.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought of everything,” Greco said.

“I hope to God that’s true,” Stone replied.

Stone phoned Carly Riggs and asked her to come to his study at six o’clock. “This will be a business dinner,” he said to her.

“And what do you require of me at this dinner?” she asked, when she was seated in his study.

“I require you to remember whatever is said, and to prepare a transcript from memory.”

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