Unintended Consequences

“We couldn’t open it. Three zeros didn’t work.”
    “The CIA couldn’t get into a briefcase?” Stone said. “What’s the world coming to?” He unlocked the briefcase and opened it. “Euros,” he said, holding up a thick envelope containing a stack of notes secured by a rubber band.
    “That reminds me,” Douglas said. “We gave the cabdriver a hundred.”
    Stone extracted a hundred-euro note from the stack, handed it to him, then put the rest into his inside pocket with his passport. “Nothing unusual in the case,” he said. “My iPad and charger, some stationery, no business papers.” He closed the briefcase.
    “Well, we won’t keep you,” Douglas said, rising.
    Stone got to his feet and shook hands with everybody.
    “We’d like to know if and what you start remembering,” Douglas said, handing him a card. “That’s my direct line and cell number. Doc, will you walk him to our side entrance? There’s a car and driver waiting for you there, Stone.”
    “Thank you, Whit, and I thank all of you for taking me in.”
    Keeler led him on a short walk to an exterior door and opened it for him. “The car’s through there,” he said, waving Stone through the door and pointing at the walkway to a wrought-iron gate. “Right down the garden path. Call me if there’s anything I can do for you.”

3
    T he driver delivered Stone into the hands of a doorman at the Plaza Athénée who directed him to the front desk, where a man in a dark suit greeted him. “Good morning, Mr. Barrington,” he said. “We were concerned about you when you didn’t turn up yesterday.”
    “I’m sorry about that,” Stone said. “I was unavoidably detained, and I couldn’t call.”
    The man nodded and handed Stone an
International Herald Tribune.
“Would you like a paper delivered every day?”
    “Yes, thank you.”
    “And how long will you be with us?”
    “I’m not sure. I’ll have to let you know.”
    “That will be fine. Your suite is ready.”
    Stone followed the bellman, who carried his briefcase, to the elevator, then to the top floor. The suite was larger than he needed and filled with sunlight. There were French doors leading to a terrace.
    The bellman handed him his briefcase. “You have no other luggage, sir?”
    “It’s being sent from the airport,” Stone said.
    “We’ll see that it’s delivered immediately upon arrival.”
    The doorbell rang, and Stone opened it. Another bellman stood there with his two cases on a luggage cart. Stone directed him to the dressing room.
    “Would you like anything pressed?” the man asked as he set down the bags.
    “Let me see.” Stone opened the two large cases and found that everything had been removed, then stuffed in haphazardly. “Please have everything pressed but the underwear and socks,” Stone said, removing suits. He noted that he was traveling with a dinner jacket, something he only did if some event at his destination would require it.
    “We’ll have everything back as soon as possible,” the man said. Stone tipped both bellmen and closed the door behind them, then he got his charger from his briefcase and plugged in his iPhone. He sat down and had a look through the
Trib
; all the news was fresh to him. He called the front desk and asked if they had any old
Trib
s and was told no. He had just sat down again when his phone buzzed. He went to the desk, picked it up, and sat down. He didn’t recognize the calling number.
    “Hello?”
    “Stone? It’s Holly.”
    “Oh, hello. I was told you were at a retreat and couldn’t be reached.”
    “I’m at a conference of department heads, at our training facility, the Farm,” she said. “They made us turn in our cell phones, but somebody brought me a message from Whit Douglas in Paris, and he told me what had happened to you.”
    “Good, that saves me from having to explain it again,” Stone said. “I’m afraid I don’t know any more than he told you.”
    “No memories have returned?”
    “Not yet. Can you help?”
    “No. When I left you that morning I went straight to my apartment and left my luggage, then went to my office and was summoned to Fort Peary, in Virginia.”
    “Wait a minute, you moved your things into your apartment? Did we have a fight or something?”
    “No, but it was intimated to me from the top that Langley would feel more comfortable if I weren’t shacking up with you.”
    “That was very narrow-minded of them.”
    “Well, we’re getting a lot of