Cut and Thrust Read Online Free

sitting nearby. “Excuse me, Dad, but did I hear you mention Governor Collins?”
    “Yes, you did.”
    “Ben and I gave him a tour of Centurion Studios a couple of days ago. We invited him to the housewarming. He said he’d get back to us. He hasn’t yet.”
    “You have a better network than you know, Stone,” Kate said. “Peter, don’t ask him again. Don’t worry, he’ll get back to you, he never forgets anything. If he shows up, Stone, then there’s an opportunity.”
    “Does he know that you and I are acquainted?” Stone asked.
    “Stone, after that stupid rumor the opposition started about you and me, the nation knows we’re acquainted. And Dick knows we’re staying next door to you at The Arrington.”
    “Peter,” Stone said, “when the governor calls back, tell him I’m looking forward to seeing him again at your housewarming.”
    “Sure, Dad.” Peter went to get another tonic water, his usual drink.
    “If he doesn’t make the party,” Kate said, “we’ll find another reason for you and the governor to rub elbows.”
    “He’ll be here for our gala,” Stone said. The Arrington was hosting a big fund-raiser, where the singer and actress Immi Gotham would be performing in the hotel’s amphitheater for an invited audience of 1,500 of the top party contributors.
    “I think Peter’s housewarming would be better—more intimate,” Kate said. “Too much backslapping going on at the gala, too much flesh to press.”
    “We’ll leave the gala for a backup, then,” Stone said. “I’ll see that we sit in the same box—that will cut the crowd down enough for us to have a word.”
    “These things have a way of working out,” Kate said, “if we work hard enough to make them happen.”

T hey were seated at half a dozen tables by the pool, having served themselves from the buffet, when Stone looked up and saw two Secret Service agents where they had not been before. Then there was another pair, and another. Kate affected not to notice, but Will Lee crooked a finger at Mervin Beam, and he approached the table. They exchanged whispers, then Beam walked around the area with another agent.
    “Everything all right?” Stone asked the president, who was sitting across the table from him.
    “I think so,” Will replied quietly. “If there are any further concerns, they’ll move us inside.” He quickly changed the subject. “By the way, Stone, you recall the drone strike we watched together at the Carlyle a few weeks ago?”
    “How could I forget that?”
    “We’ve confirmed since that our effort was successful with all six of the subjects.”
    “Congratulations. I hope you don’t have to take any heat for that.”
    “You know, during World War Two, we and the British killed tens of thousands of civilians during bombing raids on strategic targets in Europe—and a hundred thousand in Tokyo in a single night—and though people thought civilian raids were regrettable, they understood the reason for them. Now, when a terrorist’s wife or child become collateral damage, there’s an uproar.”
    “When an active terrorist hides in the bosom of his family, he’s responsible for putting them at risk, isn’t he?” Stone asked.
    “My view exactly,” Will said. “Unstopped, those men would have been responsible for hundreds of deaths in Middle Eastern and European cities, and perhaps some in this country. While I’m still in office, I’ll keep hunting them down.”
    —
    AS THE TABLE was being cleared, Beam approached the president again and whispered. Will spoke up. “You know, it’s beginning to be a little chilly in this desert air, why don’t we have dessert in the house?”
    Stone herded the group inside, and they settled around the big living room while waiters served them dessert. Will came and sat next to Stone.
    “You know, I took that e-mail to Beam more seriously than Kate did. I’m not sure what it was, but something in that message raised the hair on the back of my