28

A s soon as he closed the door behind them, they both started talking over each other impatiently.

“Okay. Okay. You first,” he said, holding up a hand.

She caught him up and then added, “I know you think it’s all farfetched. But Gaston Carpentier is here chatting up guests as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. It’s taken all my strength not to accuse him of bloody murder and attempted kidnapping in front of everyone attending the reception.” She said this while reaching into her clutch to give him the jump drive, notes, and safe deposit box key.

“The link you sent to our secure site was encrypted. The moment our team began to try to decrypt it, it disappeared into bits of indecipherable data.”

“Well I didn’t encrypt it. I don’t know the first thing about encryptions and codes. It must be programmed to encrypt if it is copied. I had a heck of a time trying to open the files earlier on Lucian’s laptop. They opened just fine on mine.” She looked bewildered, wondering if all those copies she had sent to her cloud and email would encrypt as well and become unviewable. The contents of that jump drive were her lifelines.

“It doesn’t matter we’ve secured the jump drive now. We will open it,” he said emphatically, as if trying to ward off any creeping concerns Havilah might conjure up.

Thierry called someone and then he watched her as he waited for the call to pick up. “You look stunning this evening, Havilah.”

“You look rather handsome yourself. The different shade of black suits you.” She teased him about the French’s seeming obsession with black clothing, though Thierry’s black suits were mandated by the job.

“I probably wouldn’t have chosen this dress for this occasion, but the concierge at Le Meurice assured me it was suitable.” She prattled on nervously as he continued to stare her down. She felt like a puddle of girlishness under his gaze. She became so self-conscious that she looked away.

“That’s right. You changed at Lucian’s hotel. Did he assist you in undressing as well?” Thierry smiled coolly as he leaned against the wall as if to watch her temper fly.

She was at first stunned to silence. “Really? You want to go there? What about … . ?

But before she could deliver a zinger of her own to sting as deftly as the one he’d just gotten off about Lucian and her various states of undress, an elegantly dressed, small man appeared.

“Professor Havilah Gaie,” Thierry began the introduction, “You remember the Honorable Judge Hervé Simone. He will also be presiding over the Amri and Gilbert case.”

“Enchanté encore, Professeure.”

Havilah nodded as Judge Simone took her extended left hand, though she was still fuming. Whatever. Her attention was now fixated on the judge who had come to play a larger role in her life and fate than she could have ever anticipated.

“We have several issues before us,” Simone began in English, “and they all seem to involve you. But first we need to review and authenticate this jump drive. Its contents have seemed to elude us at the agency.” He tapped the metal drive that Thierry had handed to him and waved over an officer who had come equipped with a laptop.

She began to pace the floor. She would try mightily to suppress her suspicions and therefore disdain for Hervé Simone. “I only recovered it this morning.”

Thierry knew the Silver Fox well enough to know that he was speaking in English to impress Havilah. He was an unabashed charmer and flirt even when carrying out his duties as an officer of the court. Simone’s suspicious mind, though, wouldn’t have allowed him to completely ignore the ‘why she of all people’ had been selected to assist Didier Gilbert. The encrypted link only raised those stakes. Thierry suspected that Gilbert was to Simone’s mind a minor terrorist on the grand scale of terrorists— but a terrorist no less. And his companion Amri flagrantly skirted the laws of the republic and fleeced the state with her aid to undocumented immigrants, as far as Simone was concerned. That they had called upon Havilah would have made Simone’s mind wander in other directions. Simone had readily dismissed Havilah’s theories about Gaston Carpentier when Thierry related them. Thierry couldn’t be sure if he had himself conveyed too much of a healthy dose of suspicion about them when he laid them out before the judge.

“Perhaps we should have Étienne tighten his detail on Gaston Carpentier,” Thierry interjected. He felt he owed it to Havilah to at least gesture towards her incredulous scenario. More importantly still, if Carpentier had been working with FBB, and he betrayed them by killing Didier Gilbert, the politician needed more security than ever.

“That is a splendid idea,” Simone noted. “He should be apprised of this matter immediately since it involves his assignment.”

Thierry stepped away from Havilah and Simone to make a call.

“It is not working, sir.” The officer pointed to the laptop and jump drive.

“What do you mean it is not working? You are supposed to be a technology officer. First an encrypted link now this. Take the drive to the Palais de Justice. Do not let it out of your sight. Get Elle Royale and her team on this immediately. Call her now!” he barked. He shooed the French techie and looked in Havilah’s direction.

Simone walked a pace or two, agitated before again turning his attention to Havilah.

“You will need security again, I am afraid, Professor Gaie.” He spoke softly. “I understand that you were a handful the last time. But I think you understand this time how important it is that you cooperate.”

“Yes, I understand,” she responded dutifully.

“Eh Bien.” Simone was smiling at her now. “Each time I encounter you, you are even more captivating.”

Havilah smiled, acknowledging his compliment.

“Agent Gasquet,” he called out, briefly turning his attention away from her.

Thierry held his hand up to finish the call. “No one has seen Étienne.”

“Curious that. Then who is detailing Carpentier? Surely he isn’t here unescorted,” the Fox inquired with a detectable panic in his tone.

“Alors, you will need to take Professor Gaie to an undisclosed location for a few days until we sort this all out.” He again turned to face Havilah directly and winked. “Thierry Gasquet is one of our best agents. I had to get special permission for his reassignment to you.”

“But I can’t go right at this moment,” she chimed in. “I have family here until Tuesday. My aunt leaves tomorrow for England. And then I have the conference presentation.”

Simone looked at Thierry. The agent however was busily attempting to follow up on his inquiries.

“You obviously know your life might be in danger. And you are now a witness for the French state in two cases,” he said to Havilah before barking again to Thierry, “Take the aunt with you. Her even having a relative on the continent is much too tempting for a determined hobgoblin.”

But the agent was still so preoccupied with someone on the phone line that Simone appeared to be talking to air.

Havilah took the moment to ask, “Don’t I have a say in any of this?”

Not one to be trifled with, Simone waved his hand dismissively after he’d communicated his desires to Thierry. “Non ! You are in the custody of the French state as a potential witness and ,” he emphasized, “a potential suspect in three murders despite the fact that on my authority we have suspended the wanted search for you. Everything to me is as clear as mud. An encrypted link. An inoperable jump drive. Alleged fake police officers showing up to take you into custody using my good name. Agent Gasquet is, at this point, your only surety.”

There it was. Thierry now looked at Havilah, who in turn, looked stunned. “I haven’t murdered anyone! And I certainly didn’t invent the story about the officers at the hotel!”

“The less you say, Havilah, the better,” Thierry cautioned her before she went on a full-blown tear.

“Wise counsel, Agent Gasquet. You would do well to remember our talk this afternoon,” the Silver Fox chided. “Leave it to the Greeks and Italians.”

“Gerard Louis is the only agent assigned to Carpentier for the evening and going forward it appears,” Thierry said. He didn’t respond to the rest of the Silver Fox’s spiel.

“But he’s new and too inexperienced to be guarding Carpentier by himself. When did this happen? He is eager to please though. A bit of a lèche-cul . What is the word in the United States?”

“Ass kisser,” Havilah answered then.

“That’s it. That’s it exactly,” Simone huffed.

“Gaston Carpentier made the request this afternoon,” Thierry continued. “He claimed Étienne tried to keep him to his schedule and was too bossy for his own good. He said he preferred the more agreeable disposition of the least senior of the agents who had been assigned to him. The agency complied.”

“I need to pack a few things,” Havilah interjected. “I need to go to my apartment to gather some things. My aunt has personal items at her hotel. I don’t like disappearing like this. Can’t we just have a guard outside the apartment and an escort? Who’s going to tell my aunt that she has to accompany us and why? And then there’s the presentation.” There was exasperation in her voice. “I can’t just disappear,” she said with finality, after a series of questions and objections.

Simone gave one last order to Thierry without paying attention to Havilah’s fit of pique. “Dispatch Albertin to her apartment now to make sure all is in order there before you arrive. We will contact her aunt’s hotel in Paris and have them mail her things to England where she can retrieve them when all of this is settled. Where is she staying?”

“Le Bristol and the Conrad St. James in London, sir,” Thierry offered.

Thierry then turned to Havilah. “I’ll inform your aunt and we’ll purchase her an open-ended return to London. I am afraid, though,” he paused for effect, “you will have to just disappear for a few days with me and miss the presentation, Professor Gaie. I know how much you want to stay in Paris. But I think your life trumps your professional and personal obligations at this critical juncture.”

He could feel Havilah glaring at him. He wanted to protect her from Simone’s wrecking ball pursuit of the truth, but he was still conflicted about her relationship with Lucian. He wondered if he was merely a passing French fling, an affair that had an expiration date just as soon as Havilah returned to the United States next August. And if so, all Lucian Patrick had to do was wait.

“ Qu-est-ce qui se passe ? What’s happening?” Thierry reached for Havilah, as he whispered into an earpiece lodged in his ear. He saw her scowl and step back out of his reach, mumbling something about his being the absolute worst asshole in the Western hemisphere.

Then he heard two popping sounds, followed by screaming, and the loud clopping of shoes on the black and white marble floor. Thierry imagined it was a mad dash for the three opened doors to the chateau’s gardens.

Pandemonium , he thought, bringing Havilah behind him to cover her. He unholstered his gun.