Free Foreign Affairs by Stuart Woods

they can’t find you, can they?”
    â€œIt’s always so reassuring to talk to you, Lance.”
    â€œI’m glad to hear it. I suppose you’re wondering why I’m calling.”
    â€œThat crossed my mind.”
    â€œRick LaRose is going to come to see you.” Rick was the Paris station chief for the Central Intelligence Agency.
    â€œIt’s always a pleasure to see Rick.”
    â€œNot this time. He’s going to ask you to do something you won’t want to do.”
    â€œAnd what would that be?”
    â€œI can’t talk about it on the phone. Rick will explain it all when you see him.”
    â€œI can hardly wait.”
    â€œDon’t be sarcastic, Stone, it doesn’t suit you.”
    â€œWould you prefer irony?”
    â€œThat doesn’t suit you, either.”
    â€œAnd what is Rick going to do for me, in return for my doing something for you that I won’t want to do?”
    â€œHe’s going to keep Casselli and his friends from capturing you and barbecuing you on a spit.”
    â€œIs that what Casselli wants to do to me?”
    â€œHe did that to someone very recently—last week, I think.”
    â€œYou’re just trying to frighten me.”
    â€œI am, because you should be frightened. Under Casselli’s thin veneer of respectability, he’s really a vile and barbaric creature. I wouldn’t put anything past him. I could tell you stories from our file on him that would turn your hair white.”
    â€œDon’t, please.”
    â€œIf you’re nice to Rick, I won’t.”
    â€œI’ll be as nice to him as I can be, under the circumstances.”
    â€œI was looking for a more unqualified response.”
    â€œThat’s the best I can do—under the circumstances.”
    â€œI suppose. I understand the new girl, Ms. Kiesler, is very nice.”
    â€œYou know about her, too?”
    â€œStone, we’ve known each other for a long time—when are you going to get used to the fact that I know everything about everybody?”
    â€œNever.”
    â€œWould you like me to tell you something about Ms. Kiesler that you don’t know?”
    â€œThank you, no. I’d prefer to hear it from her.”
    â€œAs you wish, but she may prefer to keep it from you.”
    â€œAs she wishes.”
    â€œIf your curiosity overwhelms you, call me.”
    â€œGoodbye, Lance.”
    â€œGoodbye, Stone.”

18
    H edy took her easel back into the mews and set it up, while Stone returned to his book. He had been reading for no more than ten minutes when a chime chimed. It took Stone a moment to remember what rang the chime, then it came to him: it rang when somebody opened the door in the big gates. By the time he got to his feet, somebody was ringing the doorbell.
    He opened the door to find Rick LaRose, as predicted. “Hello, Stone,” Rick said, smiling and offering his hand.
    â€œHow did you get in?” Stone asked.
    â€œI have a key,” Rick replied. “Have you forgotten from whom you bought this house?”
    He had bought it from the Paris station, which had formerly used it as a safe house. “How are things at the Paris station?” he asked as he offered Rick a chair.
    â€œFairly calm at the moment. It’s one of those welcome periods where we’re not in the middle of a flap of some sort.”
    â€œIt sounds restful.”
    â€œBoring, is more like it.”
    â€œLance said you are going to ask me to do something I won’t want to do.”
    Rick looked a little embarrassed. “Well, yes. What’s more, it’s not something that I want to ask you to do.”
    â€œAs bad as that?”
    Rick shrugged.
    â€œAre you just trying to make things less boring for yourself?”
    â€œOh, sure, but there’s a real purpose in it, too. It’s something that could help us make things materially better in Europe.”
    â€œBetter for