That Spring in Paris

by Ciji Ware

  Her mind spun in circles wondering what Finn had actually meant when he’d said that he couldn’t make any predictions about whether he’d “mend fences” with members of his family. Did he mean he and Kim might give their marriage another chance? Then she relived the moment when he’d put his hand over his heart and bid her farewell. Confusion, followed by exasperation, succeeded by a pang of sadness to be leaving suddenly made her throat ache.

  Yes, it was a good thing she was departing France this day. Just like Finn, she couldn’t make any predictions what the future might hold.

  * * *

  Juliet’s plane landed at San Francisco after an uneventful eleven-hour flight. She was relieved to see the text from Jamie as soon as she turned on her phone.

  Waiting curbside outside Air France baggage.

  She had barely given him a hug when he exclaimed, “Did you hear about San Bernardino?”

  “What about San Bernardino?”

  Juliet was totally mystified about his naming a California city some three hundred and fifty miles to the south of San Francisco.

  “Another terrorist attack,” he reported as he pulled onto the freeway. “It happened while you were in the air. Some jihadist converts shot a bunch of people at a Christmas party there.”

  Juliet’s heart felt as if it had rotated in her chest and she felt clammy all over. She’d just left Finn and Avery and this had happened?

  “Oh, God, no!” she moaned, praying that Finn had called immediately to set up an appointment with his doctor since Avery had reluctantly agreed during their last lunch that she’d go to “talk once,” she’d said, with his PTSD shrink.

  It was the first week in December.

  Merry Christmas, America, she thought, a sense of despair grabbing hold.

  “Turn on the news,” she commanded, pointing at the car radio.

  “It’s all terrible,” Jamie replied. “I was listening all the way down here. The reports just kept repeating themselves. And before we get home, I need to warn you that Brad is demanding you return to work even before you unpack your bags.”

  “Nice,” she said with her usual edge of sarcasm when it came to interactions with her elder brother, “though his ordering me around before I even walk into work is no surprise.”

  “We’ve got trouble. Big time. He and Jed have both been requested to meet with the FBI about the encryption we use in our video war game software.”

  “And that doesn’t surprise me either.”

  “So far, Brad’s put them off and called the lawyers.”

  She turned to face her brother who was gripping the wheel of the family SUV.

  “Jamie, after what I just experienced in France in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks there, we are all entering a ‘New Normal.’ And believe it or not, I’ve actually come over to thinking that in the wrong hands—either by the terrorists or an authoritarian government—encryption can certainly result in really bad stuff, but it’s also the public’s last protection of privacy and freedom.”

  “Wow... when did you come to this conclusion?”

  “I talked to somebody who’s really informed on the subject,” she said obliquely.

  “Your Air Force Major?” Juliet heard the skepticism in his voice.

  “My Air Force Major was so repulsed by drone warfare that he resigned from the service after fifteen years as a career officer. Don’t assume he’s some knee-jerk military-industrial-complex cheerleader.”

  “Okay, okay! No need to be so touchy about it,” he said with a grin.

  Juliet shot him an exasperated look. Then she said, “You and I both agree that encrypted communication is crucial in matters of banking and business and all sorts of electronic interchanges—including the government’s— that demand security to function. But trust me, bro, this is going to get very headachy for Brad, for you and me, for the company—and especially for Mom and Dad. Being in the video war game business has enmeshed our family into all sorts of crap that, in my fervent opinion, we shouldn’t be party to.”

  “Brad already went on record with the guy on the phone from the Feds. He told him that he would refuse to provide any “back door” help to authorities—even with a court order. Apparently there are some six hundred and nineteen companies like ours who have invented their own brand of encryption, including cell phone apps like ‘What’s App’ and ‘Telegram’ —all with billions of patrons.”

  “Yeah, and a small percentage might be terrorists,” she affirmed. “In Paris, the authorities theorized the shooters used ‘What’s App’ to send un-decodable messages, world wide, when they planned their attacks. But just because someone can reach into a drawer for a knife and stab people doesn’t mean the government should claim the right to access to everybody’s kitchen’s knives... especially without a warrant.”

  “Brad says everybody in the industry is on the Federal hot seat and he and a lot of other companies are taking a stand in the name of ‘freedom.’”

  “Oh, spare me our brother’s platitudes,” she retorted. “He doesn’t care about anything other than selling Sky Slaughter. But for sure, it’s not at all a simple debate,” she added while absorbing the sight of the TransAmerica pyramid as they headed for the Bay View Hotel on Nob Hill. “Do the Feds think encrypted messaging was involved in San Bernardino?”

  “The issue there is the Feds want to get access to the security codes to the attackers’ cell phones to find out if there may be other associates or family involved in carrying out the attack.”

  Juliet wondered aloud, “Who would ever have thought our family would be drawn into any of this? Doesn’t it feel sometimes that our monthly paychecks are blood money?”

  “Same as,” Jamie replied glumly.

  Juliet found herself obsessing about how Finn may have reacted when he heard the news about San Bernardino? How bad a setback to his or Avery’s recovery might this be?

  Interrupting her anxious speculations, Jamie said, “Well, Brad figures that the heat will be mostly on companies that invented the messaging services used on smart phones. They’ll probably leave the smaller gaming companies alone—at least for now.”

  “That’s probably true,” she agreed, “but my main concern, now, is how Avery is going to react to this latest news. She’s not in great emotional shape, Jamie. Nobody is who was caught up in those horrendous attacks.” Her thoughts immediately recalled the night in Paris when the car backfired—and Finn’s instant reaction to duck for cover.

  She studied her younger brother’s profile that was so like their father’s, along with his kind heart and mild manner. Both men had an approach to life that couldn’t have been more different than Brad’s, but she’d never understood why the contrasts between the three Thayer men were so stark. Meanwhile, Jamie signaled a turn and headed up the steep hill that led to the hotel’s underground garage.

  “I told Brad two days ago that I can’t stomach editing war game videos anymore,” he announced, not taking his eyes off the road. “I told him I wanted to quit.”

  “Oh, boy. I bet that went over well. But good for you! I feel the same way.”

  “Well, that was before the FBI called. This morning he practically went postal, yelling about what he’d do if anyone left the company at this ‘crucial juncture.’”

  “Well, until things cool down, just claim you’re due all that vacation time and go to Paris anyway. Get outta Dodge. Avery’s thrilled you’re coming over for Christmas. Given these latest attacks, it’s really important that someone is with her right now.”

  “That’s all I could think about as soon as I heard the news,” Jamie said. “And what a relief she wasn’t wounded in the arm she paints with.”

  Juliet glanced at him closely. “So you really do care about Avery, more than just as a friend and former colleague.” It was a statement, not a question.

  Jamie looked embarrassed. “I always liked her, but we both decided that it wasn’t such a great idea to... ah... mix business with pleasure, giv
en Brad’s strange attitude toward her from the moment she joined the company.”

  “Yeah, he always acted like he either wanted to jump on her bones, or fire her.”

  She glanced over to gauge Jamie’s reaction to her last words. Did he know—or just guess—what had happened in Brad’s rooms at the hotel?

  But all he said was, “Yeah, those two were oil and water.”

  The car nosed into the underground garage and pulled into a designated parking place for hotel staff.

  “Forget all that for the moment,” Juliet said. “What’s important right now is that we have to figure out a way to get Mom and Dad out of the financial bind they’ve put themselves in by granting Brad the ten-million-dollar equity loan against the hotel. The sooner the hotel is out of jeopardy and their retirement money is safe, the sooner you and I can make our escape.”

  Juliet was startled when her brother banged on the steering wheel.

  “That was Dad’s decision to risk the hotel to help his favorite son,” Jamie shouted with a bitterness Juliet realized must have long been simmering. “It’s his to lose.”

  “Well, it’s ours to lose, too, remember.”

  “I don’t care about that anymore,” Jamie declared, his green-gray eyes flashing with pent-up anger.

  “Well, I care about the hotel. And what about Mother?” Juliet protested. “God knows, she’s always taken Brad’s side on just about everything, but think about their age and the fact they’ve worked all their lives to keep the place going.”

  “Mother’s even more to blame,” insisted Jamie, unmoved. “She pushed Dad to risk everything on the Golden Boy... so it’s on both their shoulders, seems to me. I can’t let their stupidity and favoritism rule my life forever!”

  Juliet was taken aback to hear such uncharacteristic vehemence uttered by her younger sibling. She reached over to touch his sleeve.

  “Hey, Jamie... believe me, I’m so sorry you’ve had to hold the fort like you did while I was gone. I’m sure it was no fun.”

  “It’s not just that. I’m tired of the whole deal and have been for a long, long time.” His face was flushed and he looked more serious than she’d ever seen him. “I just want out, Jules, and to hell with my so-called legacy! I can always find work lots of places as a video editor. Brad and our parents have risked it all without a qualm or a thought for our future welfare, so why should I care? Let them be slaves to it!”

  “But you and I—not Brad—will be slaves to taking care of them one day, with or without the funds to do it.” She put a hand on his sleeve. “But believe me, I hear you.”

  “Well, you’d better hear this, Juliet! If Mom and Dad continue to side with Brad on every single thing like they always have, I’m done. No parental care-taking for this guy.”

  Juliet could plainly see that her younger brother was at an emotional breaking point. To change the direction of their heated conversation, she quickly told him about Finn’s offer of a place to stay in Paris over the holidays.

  “Whatever else you decide to do,” she said, hoping to calm the waters, “why not definitely take some time off, and do it soon? It’s the perfect moment, given production shuts down over the holidays.”

  Jamie inhaled a deep breath and nodded. “I’ve already bought my ticket to France. I’m leaving December eighteenth, and your friend’s offer of a bed is great.” He looked at her sheepishly. “I don’t know if Avery will welcome me beyond hanging out at a Paris café or something.”

  “Given that she was shot in a café and her friend was killed there,” Juliet reminded him, “you can help her by just being a friend and escorting her to doctors’ appointments and to her professor’s painting studio whenever she wants to go.” She looked at her brother steadily. “This is a caretaking job, not a time to make any serious romantic moves on her. Do you think you can do that?”

  “I’ll do whatever you say,” he said with a look of chagrin. “I’m sorry. It’s been pretty shitty while you’ve been gone. I need to get away from all this for a while.”

  This was the moment she realized that she had to bring up another explosive subject concerning their elder brother. “OK, so now listen... Avery told me why she quit GatherGames so abruptly. She also said she expected that you understood her reasons as well.”

  In the driver’s seat, Jamie turned in her direction again, his face losing its color. Another car pulled into the underground garage and parked nearby, but they ignored it.

  “I’ve had my suspicions about Avery’s abrupt departure, but I didn’t know for sure,” Jamie said. “Brad tried to get her to go to bed with him, didn’t he?”

  “Basically, he tried to assault her sexually and threatened career repercussions if she didn’t go along with it.”

  “What a—”

  This time, it was a restraining hand she laid on Jamie’s sleeve. “Tell me why you assumed that he’d made some sort of pass at her?”

  “That night, I saw how upset she was rushing down the hall, away from Brad’s room,” he said, seething. “Then, two days later, she was gone. I figured he’d done something unsavory, but do you actually think it rose to the level of sexual assault? In a court of law, I mean? After all, she went to his apartment...”

  “Damn it, Jamie!” Juliet shrieked, “when will you men understand sexual harassment, as well as assault, are crimes, not a case of ‘maybe if she hadn’t just gone into his hotel room?’ Her boss lives in a hotel. She thought it was a legitimate meeting! When he put the moves on her, she hit him with a silver dome from room service!”

  “Jesus! Really? What’s happened to that guy?” he wondered aloud. “Brad used to kid me mercilessly when we were younger, but now he’s just turned into a nasty s.o.b.”

  “Look, he’s the eldest son... the little prince of Nob Hill.” Juliet tried to keep her tone light and her own bitterness at bay. “I guess he felt from an early age he was superior to us two and entitled to whatever he wanted because our parents did nothing to disabuse him of that opinion. Mother pampered him and coddled him, and told him what a genius he was. I think he just got used to bullying everyone to get his way—and succeeded ninety percent of the time.”

  “Well, that’s for sure,” Jamie agreed. “Over the years, Dad and Mom didn’t do much to curb his ‘I am the King’ attitude. For one thing, Dad’s kinda in awe, I think, given his eldest son made a couple of million dollars before he hit thirty-five.”

  Juliet gave a short laugh. “Well, you’ve got to admit that The Big Bro was pretty close to a genius in school... and a champion athlete and all that. No one ever really restrained him about anything, or said he couldn’t have or do virtually whatever he wanted. No wonder he became ‘Mr. Unbridled Entitlement.’”

  “Well, I’m here to tell you,” Jamie said grimly, “he won’t be entitled to my services for very much longer. As soon as I can figure out what’s next for me, I’m outta here. Permanently.”

  Juliet continued to stare at her younger brother across the passenger seat in the darkened garage. “I’m out, too,” she declared softly, “as soon as we sort out this family mess. I’m going back to Paris to study and paint.”

  “That’s great,” Jamie said, “but neither of us had better announce our future plans too loudly right now. The other thing I need to tell you before you see anyone else in the family is that rumors are all over the place that a couple of the venture capitalists on our board are tired of dealing with Brad’s thinking he’s emperor-of-the-world. Word is, the VCs are nosing around for a buyer so they can sell GG and make back their investment sooner, rather than later. They’ve apparently lost confidence in him as a CEO. Too many reports filed with our Human Resources department about his abusive management style.”

  “Good!” Juliet replied. “If the company is taken over, the venture capitalists will settle out and Dad will get back his investment.” She patted her brother on the shoulder. “Hopefully, you and I will get our payday by then and we can cash in the stock we were granted when th
is whole thing began.”

  “Except that Brad told me to my face just this morning that, given the threat of a takeover, he won’t tolerate anyone in the family rocking the boat by hinting we’re thinking of siding with dissident members of the board. He mentioned specifically that he’d do something terrible if any of us tried to sell our stock.”

  “Why does none of this surprise me?” Juliet groaned, opening the car door. “Well, we can’t sell, anyway, until we pass the five-year threshold next July.”

  Jamie got out on his side and extracted Juliet’s luggage from the trunk. He set it on the garage’s concrete floor.

  “We’re painted into a corner, you and I,” he said. “That is, unless we’re willing to leave with nothing.”

  “Not necessarily,” Juliet said thoughtfully as she grabbed her shoulder bag while Jamie seized the handle of her suitcase. “What if the VCs make a takeover move soon?”

  “How would that help us?” Jamie demanded as they walked toward the back entrance to the hotel, their voices echoing in the underground garage.

  Juliet smiled as he held the door open for her. “Well, VCs who want control of the company might make the principal stockholders, including us, an offer we won’t want to refuse.”

  “What kind of offer?”

  “Give us cash now, equal to what we’d get if we sold our shares in July.”

  Jamie frowned, worry lines creasing his forehead. “I honestly think Brad would put a hit out on us if we accepted something like that. Besides, Dad and Mom would have to vote in favor of the takeover, too.”

  “But a buyout at a good price would save their bacon!” Juliet protested, pushing the button on the service elevator that she and Jamie had used since childhood to travel between the floors of the family hotel.