Unintended Consequences - By Stuart Woods

50





Stone ran back into the living room and retrieved the assault rifle he’d left behind the curtains, then he joined Dino on the front porch.

“Are they still coming?” he asked Dino.

“Yep. Let’s go.”

They ran lightly across the backyard, using trees and shrubbery to keep from being seen. At the head of the ramp to the dock, there were two tall evergreen shrubs, and they took up positions behind them. Soon, Stone could hear the sound of the dinghy’s oars and some unintelligible whispering. A couple of minutes later there was the sound of rubber squeaking against the dock, and Stone could see the dock move as the two men alit from the dinghy. They padded down the dock and started up the ramp. “There’s the house,” one of them said.

As they stepped onto the grass and walked past the evergreens, Dino said, in his best cop voice, “Freeze, NYPD.”

Stone thought the NYPD was superfluous, so he racked the slide on his weapon for emphasis.

They froze.

“Now, we’re going to do this very carefully so that nobody gets a bullet in the spine,” Dino said. “First, on your knees.”

The two men dropped to their knees.

“Hands on the back of your heads.”

The two men complied.

“Now behind your back.” Dino handed Stone a set of plastic tie cuffs and they secured both men. Dino lifted the assault rifle over the head of the bald one and looked at it. “Banana clip,” he said. “These guys are loaded for bear.”

Stone took a MAC-10 from the other man and tossed it away. “So, Stanley,” Stone said, “you must have missed me terribly.”

“Mr. Barrington?” Stanley said, sounding surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s my line, Stanley.”

“I’m here to protect you,” Stanley said.

Dino raised a foot and kicked Stanley onto his face in the grass. “So you arrive here in the middle of the night and sneak up on the house? That’s how you protect him?”

“It’s my job,” Stanley said.

“Then why doesn’t Holly Barker know you’re here?” Stone asked.

“I didn’t tell her I was coming. We have a different command structure from the people at the station.”

“And who do you report to?” Stone asked.

“Carlton. He’s in charge of our unit.”

“And did Carlton tell you to come up here and sneak up on my house?”

“Not exactly,” Stanley said.

“How did you find us?”

“I checked the flight plan you filed with flight services. The address of the house was on the information sheet Carlton gave me.”

“Clever fellow,” Stone said. “Tell me, Stanley, are you Russian?”

“I’m first-generation American,” Stanley said.

“Where from?”

“Brighton Beach.”

“A hotbed of the Russian Mob, is Brighton Beach,” Stone said.

“I’m not Mob, I hate those guys.”

Stone’s cell phone vibrated in the pocket of his robe. “Yes?”

“It’s Holly. Stanley is on his way to you.”

“Oh, he’s arrived.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” she said.

“Funny, I’m not relieved.”

“Well, you should be. Stanley is our guard team’s best man. I just spoke to his commander, Carlton, and he dispatched Stanley when he learned you’d abandoned him at Teterboro.”

“I see,” Stone said.

“I hope to God you didn’t shoot him.”

“Not yet, but I’m thinking about it.”

“Stone, the man is doing what he was assigned to do, and you ought to be grateful to him, instead of just leaving him on the tarmac at the airport.”

“All right, I won’t shoot him. Sorry to get you up.” He ended the call. “Okay, Stanley, on your feet.”

The two men got up. “This is Lewis,” he said, nodding at his companion. “He’s a local asset, knows the territory.”

“How did you get here?”

“Once I found out where you were and got permission, I chartered a light plane at Teterboro and flew to Rockland. The rest of the team is assembling there.”

“How many men are we talking about?” Stone asked.

“Eight. They’re ready to chopper in here as soon as I call them on the radio.”

“Stanley,” Stone said, “call them on the radio and tell them to find a place to sleep. We’re not going to need them.”

“I can’t proceed on that basis,” Stanley said.

“Stanley, Dark Harbor is a small community. Everybody here knows everybody else, and strangers tend to stand out. Heavily armed strangers in riot gear rappelling from a helicopter really stand out, and we don’t want to frighten the summer folk. As you should have learned on the boat trip over, we’re isolated here, and quite safe. There is no way anyone could find us.”

“I found you pretty easily,” Stanley said.

“All right, I’ll give you that, but you had my file, didn’t you?”

“We were followed to Teterboro,” Stanley said. “We didn’t lose them until we passed through the security gate.”

That gave Stone pause.

“No reason why they couldn’t check your flight plan, just as I did, and I’ll bet you’re listed in the phone book up here. That’s how they found you in Connecticut.”

Stone winced. “All right, Stanley, we’ll talk about it in the morning. Right now, call your people and tell them to stand down and get some sleep. We’ll see how the cold light of day looks on this problem.”

Stanley called his people and told them to stand by and get some sleep.

“That’s the guest house over there,” Stone said. “You and Lewis go over there and get some sleep, too, which is what Dino and I plan to do.”

“I’m not comfortable with that,” Stanley said.

“Stanley, I’m losing my patience with you. You can take turns staying awake, if you like, but you need rest just like everybody else, and you’ll be useless tomorrow if you’re exhausted.”

“As you wish, Mr. Barrington. Lewis, I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you in four hours.”

“Right,” Lewis said.

“The back porch has a fine view of the harbor,” Stone said, pointing. “Take a rocking chair, and it’s okay if you doze off.”

“Good night, then,” Stanley said.

“And no helicopters, unless I say so,” Stone said.

Stone and Dino trudged back to the house and went to bed.