“You’re welcome, though I’m wondering if doing so might have stirred up a hornet’s nest.”
“It was a nest that needed stirring.”
“You’ll let me know how it all plays out?”
“For a future movie?”
She grimaced. “Not the kind of films I usually make.”
“I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Just so you know. I head back to L.A. on Friday.”
“Dinner on Thursday, then?”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
She climbed out, gave him a wave, and disappeared into the hotel.
“Home, Mr. Barrington?” Fred asked.
“Please.”
Stone closed his eyes and, before the Bentley had pulled back onto the street, fell sound asleep.
Five hours later, and fifteenhundred miles to the south, a Zodiac Cadet tender left a fishing trawler just off the coast of Key West and headed toward Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park on the southwest end of island.
A hundred yards from shore, one of the four men on board cut the motor, and two others deployed oars to bring them in as silently as possible. Manny Lloyd, the leader of the group, was sure the area would be unoccupied at this hour, but people in his line of work could never be too cautious.
Once the boat was secured on shore, Manny and his men removed the black overalls they’d been wearing, revealing theleisure attire typically worn by those on the island. Not typical were the weapons they carried under their shirts, and the extra gear in a duffel bag that one of his men carried over his shoulder.
Manny had arranged for an SUV to be waiting for them. They found a Jeep Cherokee parked where promised, its key fob on top of the right front tire.
They drove into town. Even in the early hour, there were still groups of people out and about, laughing and stumbling and in one case bent over double beside a parked car.
It didn’t take long to reach the street where Stone Barrington’s Key West house was located. The block was quiet, the houses dark and still.
“I don’t see any security,” one of the men said as they drove by Barrington’s place.
That didn’t surprise Manny.
Dame Felicity would want to keep as low a profile as possible. Obvious security would bring unwanted attention.
That did not mean there would be no security at all, however.
Manny parked the SUV a couple blocks away, then said, “Send it up.”
One of the men removed a small drone from the duffel and passed it and its controller to the man in the front passenger seat. That man then flew the aircraft out the window and into the night.
A minute later, he said, “Over the target,” then turned the controller so Manny could see the monitor.
The drone was high enough above Barrington’s property that Manny could see the entire lot. There were two separate buildings and a swimming pool, and except for some ground lighting, the place was completely dark.
“Thermal,” Manny said.
The man switched the camera to thermal imagining mode.
“Are you sure you got the right place?” Manny asked.
