“I’d like to thank you all for being here tonight despite your busy schedules. It means the world to me. Most of you I’ve known for longer than you or I would like to admit.”
A few people laughed.
“Others I may not have known as long, but please know I appreciate our friendships just as much. This brings me to the real reason I have asked you all here tonight.”
In the pause that followed, Dino looked at Stone, a question on his face, but Stone simply shrugged. He was as much in the dark as Dino.
“There’s one secret I want to let you in on before you read about it in theTimestomorrow,” she said. “I know it will come as quite a shock to some of you, but at the end of the year, my time at MI6 will come to an end.”
For a moment, silence filled the room, then several people began speaking all at once.
Felicity held up a hand to quiet everyone.
“I know you have questions. Foremost, I’m sure, is whether I’m being forced out or leaving on my own terms. Despite any speculation you might read in the press, the choice is entirely mine. In fact, the prime minister called me right before we ate to try to convince me to reconsider. I thanked him for his confidence in me but told him that my mind is made up.”
“What will you do?” someone asked.
“Are you taking a new position?” another chimed in.
“What I’ll be doing is enjoying early retirement, quietly and pleasantly,” Felicity said. “And preferably somewhere warm. Now, I’m sure I’ve babbled on long enough, so please, let’s banish talk of retirement and return to the grand salon for drinks and music.”
The man who’d been sitting next to her, a prominentmember of parliament, stood up and escorted her out of the room. Conversations broke out among the others as they, too, got up and followed her out.
Stone, Dino, and Tamlyn rose to their feet, but Lance remained seated, his gazed fixed on the table.
“Lance? Are you coming?” Stone said.
Lance didn’t move.
“I think he’s broken,” Dino said.
“Lance?” Stone said again and touched his shoulder.
Lance blinked. “What?”
Stone motioned at the empty chairs around them.
“Oh.” Lance stood.
“Why do I get the feeling you didn’t know about Felicity’s announcement?” Dino asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lance said, donning his usual self-assured expression. He then hurried past them, out of the room without another word.
“I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen Lance caught off guard like that,” Stone said.
“Me neither,” Dino agreed.
“Did either of you know Felicity was contemplating retiring?” Tamlyn asked Stone.
Stone shook his head. “I hadn’t a clue.”
Chapter 22
Back in New York City,where it was still early evening, Murray Hatcher was sitting in the downstairs office of his auto shop when his cell phone buzzed three times in quick succession. He snatched it up and opened the tracking app.
“Finally,” he muttered. The glowing dot that had been stationary all day was on the move.
In the early hours of that morning, he had broken into the building where Jack and Hillary Coulter lived and sneaked into the underground garage.
