Stone was at his desk when his Agency iPhone went off. “Stone Barrington.”
“Scramble.” It was Holly.
“Scrambled.”
“Hey.”
“Hey, yourself. Are you back at State?”
“Yes, and I found Lance’s guy waiting for me. I hope he solves this fast.”
“What’s your hurry?”
“I can’t announce while this guy is still working.”
“Everybody already knows you’re running.”
“Yeah, but if you’re a federal employee and you decide to run for public office, you have to resign, unless you’re the president or vice president running for reelection. I can’t walk away from this job while this investigation is in progress.”
“Why not? Leave it for the next secretary.”
“So, I resign today and announce, and next month Marty Schell finds the mole in the State Department, and it’s front-page stuff. And the first news conference or debate question I get asked is, ‘Why didn’t you find the mole?’ I don’t want that hanging around my neck for the whole campaign.”
Stone sucked his teeth. “No, you don’t.”
“Did you notice that I’m crying on your shoulder?”
“That’s what shoulders are for,” Stone said.
“I can make speeches on the subject of foreign policy, though, even if the Republicans say I’m campaigning on the federal dime. In fact, I’m speaking to the Foreign Policy Association next week, in New York, of all places.”
“Fancy that!”
“I do,” she said, “and there should be time to fancy you, as well.”
“I’ll have the sheets changed.”
“Why would they need changing?” she asked, suspiciously.
“Just a matter of form, when a guest arrives.”
“Or when one departs.”
“Don’t go there.”
“I know, I know, I won’t complain if you need a sex life when I’m not around.”
“When you’re around, too.”
“But when I’m not, I can be jealous.”
“Jealousy doesn’t become you, but you have other qualities.”
“Like breasts, you mean?”
“Of course and still other qualities. I’ll point them out to you as soon as you arrive.”
“Thanks, I’ll need that. See you next week.”
“Let me know your flight time, and Fred will meet you.”
“I couldn’t live without him. Bye.” She hung up.
Lance called a few minutes later and scrambled.
“Good morning,” Stone said.
“And to you. Our agent at State has arrived and is on the job.”
“I’m glad to hear it. How will he investigate?”
“It’s an easy start. There were thirty or so people in the staff meeting where the now all-too-familiar words were uttered. They’ll all get a 701C review.”
“What’s a 701C?”
“The FBI’s most thorough background check is called a 701. Our version is the 701C, and it’s tougher.”
“I’m not sure I’d want to undergo that,” Stone said.
“You have already done so and passed, or I could not have installed you here as a deputy director.”
“I guess that’s a good thing, then.”
“Except for the fact that I now know everything about you that’s worth knowing.”
“I have nothing to hide,” Stone said.
“Not anymore,” Lance replied. “I must say that I was impressed with the list of women. It goes all the way back to that thing in the back seat of a Buick parked on West Tenth Street, the summer before you entered NYU.”
“Let’s not go there,” Stone said.
“I think the press would have a field day with that one, since the young lady in question is now the junior United States senator from New Jersey.”
“I said, let’s not go there.”
“As you wish.”
“Tell me, who else has access to my file besides you?”
“Oh, almost everybody.”
“What?”
“Joking. Only a superior with a need to know may see the file, and you have only one superior.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Of course, should I levitate to better things, you would have a new superior.”
“In that event, can you put a blowtorch to it?”
“That would be destroying public property and against the law.”
“Public property?”
“Perhaps Agency property would be a better way to put it. I suppose I could take it with me.”
“It would be easier if, in that event, you just handed it to me.”
“What would you do with it?”
“Maybe it could have an accident?”
“Files don’t have accidents, people do.”
“Who’s to say?”
“We’ll see,” Lance said.
“Don’t be coy, Lance. When I accepted the post, I hadn’t counted on somebody digging into my private existence.”
“Stone, it’s just how the government works. It needs to know.”
“I never thought of the government having needs,” Stone said.
“You trust the government, don’t you, Stone?”
“That depends on who’s in charge of it.”
“In this very limited case, I am. Tell you what, I’ll send you the necessary codes for you to access your file, in the event of my death or ascension to a higher place. Once you’ve accessed it, you can delete it.”
“Are there copies?”
“Oh, perhaps in a salt mine somewhere. Nobody ever goes down there.”
“Promise?”
“I try never to make promises I can’t keep.”
Stone groaned. “Did you call just to ruin my day?”
“Well, your morning, perhaps,” Lance said, chuckling.
“Unscramble,” Stone said, and hung up.