by J C Ryan
They hugged, and he kissed her on both cheeks, French style.
Rehka blushed a little but obviously enjoyed it.
“Where’s Margot?” he asked.
“The poor woman was exhausted. She is asleep in my bed. She’s okay, Ruan, and I really like her.”
“Phew,” Rex sighed. “Thank God for that.”
They spent a few minutes asking how each other was doing before Digger’s cage arrived, and he started whining when he saw the two of them.
With Digger out of his cage and on his leash and having been allowed to greet the two of them, they all headed for Rehka’s car.
Shortly after they were on the road, Rehka asked, “Ruan, why does she keep referring to you as Rowan?”
Rex cleared his throat. “It’s probably just her pronunciation of my name.”
Rehka, took her eyes off the road for a moment and looked at Rex. “Ruan, come on. I’m not that stupid. Out with it…”
“Okay, Rehka, you’re right. She knows me as Rowan Donnelly. I’d appreciate it if you’d go along with it.”
“I have no issue with that, Ruan. Only now I wonder if Ruan is your real name.”
“No, it’s not, but I’d prefer it if you’d go along with that, as well. Just trust me when I say I’m not doing it to deceive you. But for your own safety, it’s better if you don’t know who I really am. Can we agree about that?”
“Yes, we can agree, Ruan. To me, your real name doesn’t matter. You’re still the best, most loyal, and trustworthy friend I ever had. I got to know you as Ruan Daniels, and that’s what your name will be to me forever. And don’t worry, I will make sure not to let her know that I know you by a different name.”
Rex sighed inaudibly. That was much easier than I thought it would be. It wasn’t the time or the place to get into his history or why he traveled under different names. Someday, maybe, if the need arose, he’d tell her everything. Not now. He also asked her to wait for a report of his adventures, so he wouldn’t have to repeat himself when he told Margot, and she was good with that. They had enough other matters to discuss.
At her apartment, they found Margot up and about, looking for the means to make a pot of coffee. Rehka took over and told Rex and Margot to wait, and she’d bring them some coffee and a snack if they were hungry. Digger’s ears perked up.
“Uh, Rehka? I think Digger sensed we’re talking about food, and he’s probably starved.”
Digger’s ears swiveled at the sound of his name, but his attention remained on the door to the kitchen.
“I have something for him,” she called. “Digger, come here, my friend. I have some chicken for you.”
Digger definitely recognized chicken. He was up from his spot at Rex’s feet and into the kitchen before Rex had a chance to answer.
Rehka’s attention was drawn to Digger’s wound when he shifted uncomfortably while eating, and his hair parted to show the gash. She gasped, and her hand flew to her mouth. “Ruan, he’s wounded!” she cried.
Rex rushed into the kitchen to hush her. “Remember, it’s…”
“Rowan, I know. I’m sorry. But Digger…”
Margot wandered in next. “What’s wrong with Digger?”
Rehka was on the floor, cradling the dog, who was straining to get to the food he couldn’t quite reach because of Rehka’s embrace. Rex was telling her it was nothing, just a scratch, but Rehka would have none of it, and as soon as Margot saw it, she was equally disturbed.
“Rowan, what happened?”
“Let’s just all settle down. I’ll tell you what happened when we let Digger eat in peace.”
Rehka let him go and rose to her feet. “He at least needs antiseptic for it. I’ll get some.”
While she went for the ointment, Rex urged Margot back into the sitting room and returned to find Rehka smoothing a white ointment on the flesh wound while Digger continued eating, unconcerned.
“Rehka, he’s just going to lick that off. Come on, he’s fine.”
She shot him an annoyed glance. “Go sit with Margot. I’ll be there in a moment.”
A few minutes later, Rehka emerged, carrying a tray with a carafe of coffee, cups, and some sweet pastries. She set it on a nearby table and poured coffee for Margot first, offering her cream and sugar for it. After repeating the process for Rex, she passed the plate of pastries, got herself a cup, and then sat down opposite them to hear Rex’s report of what had happened.
Digger followed, settled down beside Rex, and proceeded to lick off the offending white stuff, just as Rex had predicted. Rex saw the women noticing it and decided not to rub it in by saying, ‘I told you so’.
“Margot, I assume you’ve filled Rehka in on what happened on the way to the airport.” He waited for her nod. “And I assume you had no trouble, since you arrived here all right.”
This time, both Rehka and Margot nodded.
“Okay, here’s what happened to me after you left the scene. Curly and Brawn…”
“Who?” Margot interrupted.
“The Russians. Those were my nicknames for them. Anyway, after you left, the small one, Curly, started to come to, and I was getting ready to put him out again, when a car pulled up with Ida in it. Well, the woman we knew as Ida. I don’t know if that was her real name. Probably not. Anyway, the details aren’t important, but she started shooting at me. I got hold of Curly’s gun and started shooting back, but I made sure I didn’t hit her. She must have gotten a fright when I started shooting back and ran toward the buildings. By that time, Curly came to, found Brawn’s gun, and started shooting also, but not at me. He was shooting toward the building. He must have been confused about who was shooting. Long story short, one of his shots hit her and, well, it was a fatal wound, Margot.”
Margot’s hand flew up to cover her mouth, her eyes big with shock. A tear spilled, and Rex thought he knew how she felt. Despite what they’d learned about Ida’s treachery recently, Margot must still think of Ida as her friend from Vanuatu.
“I’m sorry, Margot. I’m sure I have not killed her and had no intention of doing so, the matter was taken out of my hands. I managed to overpower Curly again and ran over to where I heard her scream after being hit by Curly’s shot to see if I could help her. I found her, but she was dying. I tried to comfort her and also asked her a few questions while I held her in my arms.”
Margot nodded and dashed a tear away from her cheek. With an air of determination to put it behind her, she asked, “Did you learn anything? Do you know why they were following me?”
“Yes. I’ve had to fill in some blanks. They were following you because Ida’s employer, Russneft, wants that gas pipeline to France pretty badly. Ida was sent to spy on you, as you know, but her employer must not have wanted an international incident such as a kidnapping would have caused. It seems they’ve sent a blackmail letter to your President, and they were prepared to snatch you to back it up if he didn’t cooperate. When they tracked your location after you turned your phone on last night, it didn’t take them more than a minute or two to determine you were headed for the airport, and the rest you know. They were going to prevent you from escaping, and probably this time they’d have gone ahead and kidnapped you.”
Margot nodded again. “I assumed as much.”
“Okay, there is more.”
Margot frowned and looked at Rex. “What?”
“I also had a chat with your countrymen who were following you, Margot. They didn’t seem to know much, except that they were supposed to intercept you and take you back to France as soon as they could.” Rex didn’t bother to detail the nature of the ‘chat’. Margot didn’t need to know that.
He continued, “They hadn’t made their move yet, because they were waiting until you moved to Da Nang, and yes, they knew why you were going there. They figured it would be easier to grab you there without making too much of a fuss. But then they noticed the Russians following you, and then they thought that you were collaborating with the Russians. They were goi
ng to move their plans forward as soon as you turned up at the yacht again. They were still watching the yacht when I went back there.”
Margot showed distress, not only in her expression, but in her body language. She had put down her cup of coffee and wrapped her arms around her body tightly, hunched forward, and was rocking gently back and forth. “Why?” Margot asked. “Who told them to take me back to France, and for what purpose?”
Rex took her hand to calm her. “I’m sorry, Margot. I asked, and they didn’t know, but we can make an educated guess. They were DGSE. They told me they got their instructions directly from the Director of the DGSE, who got his instructions from the Minister of Defense, who got his instructions from…”
“Giles,” she spat.
Rex nodded “Yes.”
“What now?” she asked. The desperation had returned to her voice.
“Now we relax and start planning. They don’t know where you are, and there is no way they’ll find out. It’s important that you don’t leave this apartment, neither should you use the Internet or a phone.”
Rex paused and looked at Margot. “Do we have a deal about that?”
“Yes, Rowan, we have. I’ve learned my lesson about the use of phones. I don’t know how I could I ever repay you or make it up to you. I shiver when I think what could’ve been if you hadn’t turned up.”
“There’s nothing to repay or make up, Margot. Put that out of your head, and let’s start planning what we’re going to do next.” Rex looked at Rehka and nodded ever so slightly for her to say something.
Rehka smiled. “Okay, Margot, first of all, you and I are going to my room, and then we’re going to take your measurements so that I can go out and buy you some decent clothes. No girl can think properly if she’s dressed up in clothes that make her look sixty years older than she is.”
Margot started laughing.
Chapter 46
Paris, France
GILES AGUILLARD PACED as he waited for news. The last report he’d received about Margot was that the DGSE agents had her in view, but there was a complication. The Defense Minister brought him the news in person because he didn’t want any phone records, hadn’t explained the complication, and Aguillard didn’t ask. Plausible deniability, that political construct dictated that if she turned up dead, in truth, he would know nothing about it. All he did know was that they expected to have her in custody today.
His confidant, Lucien Laurent, watched him as one watched a tennis match, turning his head back and forth as Aguillard passed him going one way and then the other. Laurent’s silence was annoying, but Aguillard controlled his temper and said nothing.
When will that idiot of a Defense Minister get back to me with news?
Blocks away, the idiot in question was getting unwelcome news from the Director of the DGSE.
“What are we to do? My agents have failed.”
“What do you mean by failed?”
“I will let their words tell you.” He handed the Minister his secure phone after setting it up to play the recording. The Minister pressed play, and they both heard the agent relate the facts. “Mademoiselle Lemaire is alive but gone. There is a man helping her. He spirited her out of the country, but we do not know where. The man found us somehow, and we do not know how. All we know is that he impressed upon us that we were to return to France, or else.”
“Or else… what?” the Director’s recorded voice asked.
“Sir, his words were something to the effect that if he found us anywhere near her any time after tonight, we will be three very sorry Frenchmen, sir.”
“Did you get a look at this man? Can you describe him?”
“He is about one meters eighty or so but that’s all we can say. He was wearing a black balaclava.”
“And am I given to understand that this man, on his own, was able to overpower the three of you?”
“Sir, it’s… well…”
“Yes or no?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I can’t believe my own ears. One man, not even a big man, can take on three of my top agents and kick their asses. Did any of you even manage to lay a finger on him?”
“Well… no sir, but… but… he surprised us, and he was armed.”
“That’s even worse. Why were you without your weapons? How could he surprise you? What the hell were you doing? Sleeping or drinking or… no, let me not even go there. What an embarrassment.”
There was no reply from the agent on the phone.
“So, what now?”
“All we can do is to start searching for her again. Unless we can find this man and question him. But… well… we don’t know…”
“Yes, yes, I know you don’t know what he looks like, and you’re scared shitless of him.”
“Sir, we believe it would be better to return to France.”
“You’ve got that right. Get on the first plane and when you land here, come straight to my office. I’ve got a good mind to transfer the three of you to the Paris police and ask them to assign you as parking wardens.”
The Minister handed the phone back as the recording ended. “This is not only an embarrassment, its incompetence if you ask me, Director. One man defeats three of our secret service agents. I want a full, and I mean full, report on my desk two hours after those clowns of yours have landed.”
“I will report to the President, but you know I don’t even know where to start. On second thought, give me back that phone. I will let him listen for himself.”
The Director gave the phone to the Minister and showed him the passcode and how to retrieve the recording. The director tried to salvage the situation with a “Good luck, sir.” Which he regretted the moment the words had left his mouth.
“Good luck, you said? Good luck. Let me tell you, Director, good luck is not going to cut it. What you need is a miracle, and not just a small one. I am talking one on the order of magnitude described in the Bible, when the sea parted before Moses and the Israelites.”
The Director was staring at the floor and nodded slowly.
What the Minister didn’t say was, I’m also going to need one of those miracles.
***
“MR. PRESIDENT, I knew you wanted to hear the news straightaway. I have the Defense Minister’s secure phone with a recording of the agents who were assigned to the mission explaining why they have failed.”
“Failed, you say? How is that possible?” Aguillard’s frown would have turned most men to stone, as if they’d gazed on the face of Medusa of Greek mythology.
The Minister quailed. “I do not know, sir, but the agents’ own words will tell you. Here is the phone. The recording is on speaker. If I may?”
Aguillard had to collect himself, then said with exaggerated calm, “Oh, please do. That is exactly what I wish you would do.”
After hearing the recording, Aguillard thought about having them ordered to stay and question this mysterious man, of whom, it was clear, the agents were for some reason more afraid of than they were of what would happen to them and their careers if they returned to France. More afraid of him, in fact, than they were of the President of the country they were sworn to serve. But the remembered the agents had no idea who the man was or where to find him.
Perhaps bringing back the guillotine would be a good idea.
Instead, he dismissed the Minister and turned to Laurent, who had remained silent the entire time the Minister was with them. He’d forgotten his annoyance with Laurent.
“Lucien, what shall I do now? Do you have any ideas?”
Laurent stood. “There is one consolation, my friend. We have not heard from the Russian blackmailers again.”
“But that only means they may have taken her. And that would be a big problem.”
“Mr. President…”
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Lucien. This is no time to stand on ceremony.”
“All right, Giles. Why borrow trouble? Either they have her, or they don’t. If they have her, there is nothi
ng you can do but wait to hear from them.
“But it’s also possible that she is with this mysterious masked man, and that could be a good or a bad thing. Again, we have no idea what his appearance on the scene means. And again, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it until he contacts us—if ever. In the meanwhile, all we can do is to pull out all the stops to try to find her.”
“Perhaps her brother knows something?” Aguillard asked.
“Perhaps. But I think I might have a better idea…”
“I’m all ears, Lucien, don’t make me wait.”
Laurent held his hand up. “Then stop interrupting me. I suggest we request a summit meeting between you and the President of Russia. The negotiations for the terms will take quite some time, and if the Russians have her, they may believe it is progress toward their goal. They can’t help but think, because of the timing, that you’ll use that summit meeting to discuss the terms of the gas pipeline agreement. In our request, we could even hint at that. That should buy us some time to find Margot and keep them off our backs for a while.”
Aguillard immediately agreed. “That’s brilliant! Whether it is the Russian government or some private interest who’s behind this, our request for a meeting will surely fool them into thinking we are capitulating.
“While you attend to that, I’ll call in our top law enforcement and security agencies to redouble their efforts, and I’ll suggest they also request the help of every one of their counterparts in the western world to find Margot.”
Laurent nodded.
“It’s agreed then. This is the best course of action. Make it so.”
Laurent had one more comment. “Just make sure you understand that if the Russians indeed have her, then at that summit you’ll be expected to sign the agreement or resign.”
“Yes, that much I’ve figured out,” Aguillard replied in a whisper.
Chapter 47
Moscow, Russia
FYODOR KOSLOV, CEO of Russneft, the Russian company that so desperately wanted a gas pipeline through France, experienced a rush of adrenaline that caused an icy feeling to slip across the back of his shoulders. It was that kind of feeling commonly expressed as someone walking over one’s grave, as he read the note hand-delivered by a Presidential Security Service agent. The SBP agent waited for him to read it, and then said he’d been ordered to wait for Koslov to escort him to the Senate building, where the President’s official working office was located.