“Free?”
“You promised to pay, remember?”
“When was this?”
“I think your third day in the hospital, right before you fellasleep. You said something like, ‘When I get out of this, I’ll buy you dinner.’ ”
“I think you’re making that up.”
“When have I ever lied to you? Wait, don’t answer that. Are you going to buy me dinner or not?”
“Fine. I’ll buy. Also, Tamlyn will be joining us.”
“If you’d led with that, I might have offered to split the bill.”
“Was there a reason you called beyond just trying to annoy me?”
“Isn’t that reason enough?”
“Goodbye, Dino.”
“Wait. There was something.”
“What?”
After a pause, Dino said, “I can’t remember.”
“See you at dinner.” Stone hung up.
The phone rang again.
“It’s Dino,” Joan said.
Stone picked up the call. “Yes?”
“I remembered,” Dino said. “Felicity called me while you were in the hospital. She heard about the accident and wanted to know how you were doing.”
Dame Felicity Devonshire was the head of MI6 in the U.K.
“She could have called me directly.”
“Your phone is at the bottom of the ocean.”
“Oh, right.” Stone hadn’t obtained a replacement until he left the hospital.
“She was glad to hear you were okay. Said she owed you an explanation.”
It took Stone a moment to realize what she’d meant by that. “She does, indeed.”
“About her announcement?” Dino asked.
“That would be it.”
A few months earlier, Felicity had invited several people to a party at her countryside estate. At the affair, she dropped the surprising news that she would be retiring at the end of the year. She had promised to tell Stone the reason behind her decision but had yet to do so.
“Did she happen to mention when we might be having that conversation?”
“Who am I? Your appointment secretary?”
