Hot Pursuit by Stuart Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

call,” Will said.
    “I’ve never flown direct from Manassas to Teterboro,” Stone said.
    “It was the least I could do.”
    Stone asked for a taxi clearance, and to his further surprise, was immediately cleared for takeoff. That had never happened before, either.
    As they taxied onto the runway, Stone said, “Watch the screen in front of you. You’ll see the speeds come up and the flight director bars that show us we’re climbing at the right rate.” He pushed the throttles forward and began calling his own speeds, then rotated. “You just keep the bars together,” he said to Will, then he switched on the autopilot and let it do the work. They got a spectacular view of Washington as they flew over.
    “I talked them out of a fighter escort,” Will said.
    “Thanks so much. I don’t know what they would think of that at Teterboro—I’d never live it down.”
    “My reasoning was that we’d attract less attention without it, and thus be more secure. We don’t have to use an Air Force call sign, either, and you will have noticed that the ‘football’ no longer travels with me.”
    Stone had seen enough movies to know that the “football” was the briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes, carried by a military officer, who followed the president everywhere. Stone thought Will seemed as delighted as a child on his first flight, and he was enchanted with the glass cockpit.
    “Do you know this is the first time in nine years I’ve flown in any airplane smaller than Air Force One?”
    “Welcome back to general aviation. Maybe you can start flying your own airplane again soon.”
    “Not going to happen,” Will said. “Maybe after Kate’s time is up I can get something like this, if I’m not too old to fly.”
    Stone showed Will how to set up the instrument approach to runway six at Teterboro, and they were cleared directly to the initial approach fix. He pointed to the little red airplane representing them that appeared on the screen, overlaid on the approach plate.
    “Now that is fantastic!” Will said.
    They touched down smoothly and taxied to Jet Aviation, where they were given the plum parking spot, next to the lounge. It wouldn’t have mattered, though, because there was another three-car convoy waiting for them, and Stone’s Bentley was right behind it. Five minutes later Will shook Stone’s hand and thanked him again for the flight, then they were on their way back to the city. At the appropriate moment, Fred peeled away from the convoy for Turtle Bay, while the first gentleman continued uptown to the Carlyle. Fred left Stone at the house, then continued uptown to deliver Viv to her Strategic Services office, while Dino got into his waiting police SUV and headed downtown to One Police Plaza and his office. Stone went into his office via the street door.
    “Welcome back,” Joan said as he looked in on her. “How was it?”
    “I’ve just had the best transportation experience of my life,” Stone said. “I wish Will Lee could fly with me all the time.” He gave her a blow-by-blow, then went into his office. There was a note from his younger law partner, Herbie Fisher, inviting him to lunch at the Four Seasons. Stone looked at his messages, found nothing very important, grabbed his coat, and left the office, telling Joan to call Herbie and tell him he was on his way.
    The Four Seasons Grill had begun to empty, as it was nearly two o’clock, but Herbie was there, nibbling on a crust of bread. “I ordered you the Dover sole,” he said as they shook hands.
    “How’ve you been, Herb?” Stone asked. “I watched as much of your murder trial as I could. You did a great job.”
    “Yeah,” Herbie replied, “and I feel a little guilty about that.”
    “You think you got a guilty client off?”
    Herbie shrugged. He was not about to admit to that. “Let’s just say that if she’d had any other attorney, she’d be upstate in the women’s correctional facility.”
    “That’s modest