French Twist

by Roxanne St Claire

  She went into the bedroom, leaving him to replay an old refrain in his head. It was too easy. God, why didn’t he see it sooner? Karim Benazir was a master player and a man on a mission. Of course Luc couldn’t just blow into Evian, open a safe-deposit box, and walk away with a priceless treasure. Benazir was too smart for that.

  “Now what?” She came back in wearing dark trousers and a top. Even in the dimly lit room, he could see the apprehension on her face.

  “You have to leave.” The sooner, the better.

  “Excuse me?” She crossed her arms. “Where am I going?”

  He paced in the other direction, refusing to look at her. There would be no debate on this.

  Should he send her out alone, or get in touch with Tristan? A sick feeling seized him. Benazir would disappear at the first sight of the FBI or the DST, taking Luc’s get-out-of-jail-free card along with him.

  Taking Benazir’s bait was a dangerous game, and Luc’s future hinged on the outcome. But there was no way he’d permit Janine’s life to be endangered, too.

  “I’m not going anywhere without the Plums, Luc.”

  He stopped pacing at the cocky tone in her voice. “Janine, there’s a man here who wants me dead as badly as I want him dead. He has no regard for anyone’s life, including yours. I didn’t think he knew my name or face, and that gave me a distinct advantage. But now…” Gripping the back of the divan, he looked hard at her. “He could easily get me—and you—before I get him.”

  “How are you planning to get him?”

  Good question. He paced in the opposite direction again. “It doesn’t matter,” he finally said. “You’ll be out of here long before I do anything. If I do anything.”

  He didn’t even realize she’d approached him until she gripped his elbow and forced him around. “You won’t even give me a chance?”

  “To do what?” He glared at her. “The whole safe depository thing is dead. We can’t go in that room; we wouldn’t come out alive.”

  She didn’t say anything, and the echo of his pronouncement reverberated in the silence. Finally, she asked, “Do you still think the real vases are in his room?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Possibly.”

  “What’s stopping you from trying to get them?”

  “Common sense, for one thing.”

  “Well, here’s some common sense for you: if we don’t do something tonight, he’ll know you’re onto him and he’ll be gone by morning. With my Plums. And God knows how many deaths on his conscience.”

  Luc snorted. “Karim Benazir doesn’t have a conscience.”

  “But he knows you’re here, right? Isn’t that what you’re saying? What if we showed up in the casino, I got his attention, and you broke into his room?”

  He shook his head emphatically. “This isn’t a 007 movie, Janine, and it wouldn’t be that easy. Anyway, if he saw you alone, he’d know exactly where I was, and he’d have someone blow my head off in about six seconds.”

  She held his gaze, her eyes narrowing in thought. “But if he saw you, he wouldn’t guess where I am, would he?”

  He let out a quick laugh. “Are you suggesting you’ll break into his room and get the Plums?”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you have no idea what you’re doing.” He took her hands in his. “But you’re brave. I like that.”

  “I’m not that brave.” She gave him a shaky smile. “But I am a very quick study.”

  He gave an unyielding shake of his head. “No.”

  “What if…” She took a deep breath. “What if you got me into the room and then left to meet him?”

  He stared at her, not sure whether to laugh or take her seriously.

  “Listen, Luc, all we need to do is get him out of his room. Couldn’t we come up with some reason to get him to, say, the casino?”

  He eyed her for a minute, hating the thoughts that were forming in his head. “You might be on to something there.” Damn it.

  “What would be irresistible to Benazir?” she asked.

  The Scorpion. Nothing would intrigue his enemy more than an unexpected face-to-face meeting. And the element of surprise was definitely in Luc’s favor. He looked down at her, and something pulled at his heart. She was brave. And utterly innocent and uninvolved in his personal quest. “I won’t put you in that kind of danger, Janine.”

  “Luc, please. We’ve come so far. To walk away now would be a travesty.”

  He smiled at her melodrama. “It wouldn’t be a travesty. It would be wildly intelligent.”

  “Please.” She grabbed both his arms. “We have to try.”

  God knows he wanted to. And it could work. It could. And if they pulled it off, everybody would win.

  “Maybe,” he said softly. “I have to think about it.”

  “Think fast.”

  He took a deep breath, the fragrance of her freshly washed hair and the scent he’d come to think of as Janine teasing him. He put his arms around her and folded her into his chest, right where it ached every time he thought about how little time he had left with her. “I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”

  She locked her arms around his neck and looked up at him. “I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t get this guy and find my Plums. I promise I won’t take foolish chances. Please. We can do this.”

  Luc’s mental wheels started spinning and damn, he couldn’t stop them. He’d have to contact Benazir in a way that couldn’t be resisted. He’d have to make sure Benazir’s room was empty, and he’d have to give Janine strict parameters. And he’d have to have a backup plan in case something went wrong.

  “All right,” he said. “But only if you do exactly what I tell you. If I say stop, we stop. No matter what.”

  “I will.” She treated him to a bright, victorious smile. “Trust me.”

  “Get the door.” Karim slammed a glass of cognac on the coffee table and adjusted himself in the overstuffed chair, a sense of unease playing around the edges of his conscious. He’d expected a phone call from Jean Claude in the safe depository for the last two hours, not a guest.

  Larinna crossed the suite and opened the door to a uniformed hotel employee who handed something to her. “I’ve been instructed to deliver this invitation for a private game of chemin de fer, monsieur.”

  Karim narrowed his eyes at the man. What was this all about? “Give it to me,” he ordered.

  As Larinna approached with the envelope, the unease intensified to a dull pain at his temples. Karim tore it open, the sight of the bloodred ink twisting his gut.

  We have unfinished business. The time has come to meet. There is work to be done.

  The note was signed with a familiar sketch. He swore under his breath. Was this victory or defeat? The Scorpion had found his way here, but had a stinger ready and waiting. Or did he? Maybe he thought he deserved a second chance.

  Karim had nothing to lose. He’d made sure that the vases were in a place where, if discovered, the blame would fall directly on Nick Jarrett and Janine Coulter.

  There is work to be done.

  He stared at the old code words they’d used in the past, then looked up and nodded to the waiting attendant. “Eleven o’clock.”

  Hoisting himself out of the chair, he swallowed the rest of the cognac in one gulp. “Call Surjeet and get him in here,” he told Larinna. “And get dressed to go to the casino.”

  He’d need some assistance. And Larinna would be an excellent witness.

  Or a shield.

  Chapter

  Twenty-two

  J anine held her breath as the door handle slowly turned. Her heart thumped against her rib cage, her feet riveted to the floor in the middle of their suite.

  “You should have had the chain lock on.”

  Relief nearly buckled her knees at the honeyed tone of Luc’s voice. “I knew it was you,” she lied, as he walked in. “How did it go?”

  “The invitation has been issued and accepted.” He held up
a card key. “And the Coopers have a new room. Poor Dave lost a fortune gambling and has to downsize. The young lady at the front desk let us have the key for tonight, but they don’t expect us to move until tomorrow.”

  She inhaled slowly. They were really going to do this. “It’s right next door to Benazir’s suite?”

  He nodded.

  She put her fist over her mouth and bit back a stunned laugh. “How’d you do that?”

  He gave her a surprised look. “Charm. Good looks. Cash.”

  She had no doubt the first two went as far with the “young lady at the front desk” as the last did. “How are you going to get in his room?”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black tie and started tucking it under the collar of his tuxedo shirt. “That’s the least of our problems. I got the cell phone page you sent, so we know my phone works.”

  She nodded. “Good. But I sure wish we had two cell phones.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he assured her. “I won’t be able to call you. Anyway, you’ll be in and out and back here.” He made a perfect bow tie, then reached for his tuxedo jacket and slipped it on. “In. Out. And back here,” he repeated even more forcefully. “Got that?”

  “Got it.” Her voice was totally confident, though her legs were more like Jell-O. “Now what?”

  “Something to carry the Plums in,” he said, walking over to the mink coat. He unzipped the plastic cover to reveal the rich ebony fur. “Your wrap, madame.”

  Janine slid her arms into the satin lining. Her skin tingled, her nerves sparked.

  He pulled a pen-sized flashlight out of his pocket and handed it to her. “You’ll need this. Under no circumstances should you turn on a light in any room.”

  She’d seen the tool before, when he broke into the château. She popped the top off to reveal the screwdriver. “Handy little thing.”

  “You won’t need that,” he assured her. “Just the light. Now, are you positive you’ll remember the cell phone number?” he asked. “Even if you’re…upset?”

  She refused to think about what he might mean and dutifully recited the number. “I know what to do, Luc. A numeric page the minute I’m back in this room. One for yes. Two for no. Three for trouble.”

  He walked across the room and switched off a table lamp. “Three means you need help.”

  “That’s trouble.”

  “And if I’m not back by midnight?”

  She cleared her throat and hugged the fur collar around her. If he didn’t come back by midnight, he’d given her another number to call. A trusted friend who would get help to her in minutes. “Let’s not go there.”

  He laid his hand on the wall switch and glared at her. “You call that number at twelve-oh-one. Do you understand?”

  “You get back into this room by eleven fifty-nine, do you understand?” she retorted.

  The room went dark, and she felt his arm around her. “I’ll do my best,” he whispered into her ear. “Now let’s get in our new room before he leaves.”

  She paused, not quite ready to march into peril yet. “Luc?”

  “Yes?”

  “What happens if he comes out at the same time we’re going in?”

  “We’re dead.”

  They followed a shadowy path that ran along an expansive and blessedly deserted outdoor pool and patio to get to the other side of the resort. Except for the breeze in the trees, the only sound was Janine’s soft, steady footsteps as she kept pace with him.

  The weight of his gun tugged at Luc’s cummerbund. Every time he looked at Janine’s fragile features against the black fur, at the daring sparkle that almost hid the fear in her eyes, his heart missed a beat. And every time, he fell a little bit deeper into a place he had no right to go.

  At the east end of the building, they entered the lobby and hit the elevator button. As they waited, she tucked herself further into the mink, the fur collar almost swallowing her. He pushed an errant blond strand behind her ear.

  “I’m glad we saved your hair,” he said softly.

  She gave him a shaky smile, and the elevator door opened. A young man walked out without acknowledging them. Luc guided her through the waiting doors, then touched a button on the panel.

  He could feel her tense when the elevator closed and started to rise. Draping an arm over her, he tucked her against his chest. “Just do exactly what I say.”

  She looked up at him. “And when you’re gone?”

  When I’m gone, forget me. “Use your brains, Dr. Coulter. You’ve got plenty of them.”

  Her smile was tight, but reached her eyes. We can do this, it said. He gave her the same look back, then put a single finger to his mouth as the car thudded to a halt at the penthouse floor.

  As soon as they turned the corner, he recognized the layout, a mirror image of their floor in the western wing of the resort. Around a corner, a corridor led to the rooms. The suite was situated at the end of the hall, with four other rooms on the floor. The Coopers had reserved Room 522, next door to the suite. When they reached it, he slipped in the card key.

  A red light flashed once.

  She sucked in a quick breath. He stabbed the key again. Still red.

  An elevator car dinged gently from around the corner. The elevator doors rumbled, accompanied by the sound of a man’s voice. One more time, Luc glided the card through the slot.

  Green.

  He twisted the handle down, careful not to make a sound, and they were in. As he eased the door closed behind them, Janine shuddered and leaned against the wall.

  “Not a word,” he whispered, and she nodded. After the voices and footsteps passed, he released the door handle again, testing to be certain he could open it soundlessly.

  He had already studied the lock and card keys and demagnetized one of the extra keys with a credit card. Hotel break-ins were harder than in the days of metal key locks, but after five years in security, he knew the new tricks as well as the old. He wasn’t worried about getting into Benazir’s suite. But trusting her to get out scared the hell out of him. He’d be facing his enemy across a gaming table and unable to help her.

  Janine stood stone still next to him. He propped his head against the wall adjacent to the suite, a much better conductor of sound than the steel door. How many times had he done this in his lifetime?

  Too damn many.

  Closing his eyes, he waited for the thin wall to resonate with the sound of Benazir leaving his suite. Next to him, a tremble shook his nervous partner. He pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  She pulled back, her eyes luminous with incredulity. That would be a yes.

  Then the wall vibrated, and a man’s voice carried through the hall, gruff and low. A familiar sense of calm settled over him as he looked at Janine and nodded once, holding his hand up to remind her not to move or follow him yet.

  Exerting precisely the pressure he’d used before, he turned the handle and cracked the door open, just enough to hear.

  A man said something in Sanskrit. The language of the rebellious Benazir, who refused to conform and speak Hindi. A woman answered, too soft for Luc to understand.

  Then the gentle footfall on the hallway carpet.

  Soon the elevator bell rang and the doors rolled open. And closed.

  “Don’t move,” Luc whispered, and slipped out the door.

  As if she could move. Fear paralyzed her. Her hands, buried deep into the pockets of the luxurious coat, were squeezed into balls so tight she could feel her nails making half-moon indentations in her palm. Her muscles trembled. She’d damn near choked on adrenaline.

  Then she heard his single sharp rap on the wall. The signal to move. Oh hell.

  She slipped into the hall and headed to the next door, stifling a gasp as Luc yanked her into the darkness of the suite.

  “It’s all clear,” he whispered. “Look only in the places I told you. Don’t turn a light on. Don’t dawdle. If you find the vases, don’
t take the time to check them. When—”

  “I know, Luc.” She nudged him toward the door. “Go. Now.”

  He took her hands, slapping a card key in each. “Right, our room. Left, next door.” He helped her shove them into her pants’ pockets. “Don’t go all the way back to our suite if you have any doubts that you can make it. Just page me with a four. Remember, one for yes. Two for no. Three for trouble. Four for hide out. Okay?”

  She nodded fiercely. “Go.” She put her hands on his chest and pushed him toward the door. “You have to get there before he does.”

  He pulled her face to his. His lips were hot on hers for less than a second, and then he was gone.

  Her mind whirled through his instructions. First, the bedrooms. She flipped on the flashlight, and its powerful halogen beam revealed the same layout as their suite. She went straight to the master bedroom and the armoire.

  She rifled through the hanging clothes and pointed the flashlight in the corners. No vases. She pulled out three drawers. Looked in the nightstand. Under the bed. Beneath a massage table. Nothing.

  She darted into the bathroom and whipped open cabinets and drawers. She flung the sauna and shower doors wide open to see inside. She searched under towels and even lifted the toilet tank lid. Nothing.

  Her heart pounded so hard it actually hurt her chest. She concentrated on taking steady breaths as she repeated her search in the smaller bedroom and came up empty-handed. Returning to the salon, she paused to look around. As in theirs, a china cabinet took up one wall of the dining area. She crouched down and yanked open the cabinet doors along the bottom. There was plenty of porcelain in there, but no Sèvres.

  In the living room she searched the wall unit, reaching behind books and the television, kneeling down to inspect the bottom shelves. Nothing.

  She tore back the sofa cushions, patting the springs for something. Anything.

  Nothing. Nothing.

  Where the hell are they?

  She bit down on the frustration that threatened to undo her. She was running out of places to look. If they’re not obvious, they’re not there. Don’t waste time searching, Luc had said.