Near Miss

Stone woke to the sound of his cell phone vibrating on his nightstand. Beside him, Carly groaned and turned away without fully rousing.

He glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly ten am. He seldom slept this late, but last night had been a long one, even with Dino’s help to free him from the investigators.

Speaking of Dino. He pressed accept on his phone.

“Don’t tell me I woke you,” Dino said.

“I’m not sure if you know this,” Stone said, “but I had a rather eventful evening.”

“I was there, remember?”

“Not until after the fireworks.”

“Traffic, what’s a guy gonna do? Speaking of the fireworks, I was given a message to pass on to you.”

“From whom?”

“Gregor Dryga.”

“Never heard of him.”

“He’s also known as the Bean Counter.”

“That name I know. What’s the message?”

“That for the foreseeable future the Russians have no interest in seeing you dead.”

“That is not news I was expecting to hear this morning, welcome as it is. But is he even in a position to tell me that?”

“From my understanding, he is. He is now the head of the family.”

“What happened to Asimov?”

“I was told his services were no longer needed, and that he has been retired.”

“Permanently?”

“If so, do you really think the Bean Counter would have told me that? I am the police commissioner, if you recall.”

“I do remember hearing something about that.”

“You’d do well not to forget,” Dino said.

“I wonder how long the ‘foreseeable future’ is.”

“At least long enough for us to have dinner tonight. Clarke’s at seven?”

“That all depends.”

“On what?”

“If I get out of bed in time.”

Stone hung up, set the phone down, and stretched out next to Carly, who soon made it clear his odds of getting out of bed for dinner were low.