Gaudet stopped talking. She couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"Come here," Gaudet said, stepping to the bed. He touched the tip of the knife to each of his fingers as if he were counting them. His pallor was white and he seemed to have no life in his face. The lips were tight.
Fear swept through her; she consciously tried not to shake.
He cut the bra down the middle between her breasts so that she wore only her panties, shoes, her garter belt, and thigh-high stockings under the dress. He ripped it open.
"Turn around and bend over. I don't believe the diseased guard story… I want it like it used to be," but he was not acting like before. She knew their reunion was not going like his dream. It frightened her.
What fellowship has the darkness with the light? Sam did not understand. She turned and leaned forward, caressing his thigh, but she envisioned the Loire Valley, and the hope in her mother's eyes when she talked of better days to come. And she remembered Spring's insistence. She bit her lip to make herself think. What was worth dying for? After a moment she took her hand from his thigh. Slowly she straightened herself, forcing slow, deep breaths. She felt Gaudet's hand on her shoulder and the point of his knife at her spine, knowing at any moment he could paralyze her forever. Kill her.
"You deny me?" His breath was in her ear.
"I only advise you. When we have finished our business and after I have tested clean, I will give more than you have ever dreamed." Her mother's eyes. The valley. "But it must come from my heart and not the point of your knife."
His breathing was heavy and she knew he wanted her not just for the sex, but for the power. The knife bit a little deeper. She turned her head slightly and leaned back, putting her cheek next to his. "If you wait, my body will reward you. I'll give you every assurance you need."
His breathing stopped and she could feel the tension in him. She summoned all her we pac maw and tried to find her peace. She left the tension of his indecision behind.
He exhaled long and slow and dropped the knife hand to his side, but he did not put it away. "Waiting is hard."
She smiled and kissed him. "And I'm the one you said is in a hurry. Tsk. Tsk." She reached for the outfit that he had brought for her as part of his disguise and turned away while she removed the ruined dress and put on the new. His eyes followed her, but he made no move to stop her.
"Tell me about Raval. I never met him in Malaysia."
"He is a bit obsequious for a tall man. His mind never leaves the science. He knows nothing of the world. He is very naive. There is not much to tell."
"You sound like you don't think much of him, Benoit, and yet you are getting him two million."
"Even weak men can find strong friends. And he is very valuable as a scientist, if not so impressive as a man."
"You're trying too hard."
"What do you mean?"
"To make him sound like an insect. But just know that if you ever touch him, I will turn him into a eunuch-should I happen to let him live."
"I must go now and speak with him to be sure he's ready for the exchange."
"No."
She looked at him, at the phone he held in his hand. "You are not leaving. Use this and stay with me. That is the end of the discussion." Gaudet had spoken.
Chapter 19
Calamities come like the blizzards, never the same, and never a man's choosing.
When Sam heard Raval's voice on the phone, he knew that something had gone terribly wrong.
"She says she's not coming back right now. She says I have to get ready to give her the materials."
"What else did she say?"
"We spent almost no time on the terms of my contract with the French government. But then she had told me before she left that I would not be working for the French gov ernment. And she winked. I don't know how she winks about such grave matters. I hope she is not making promises she cannot keep. I am supposed to print out and sign docu ments at seven tonight. We are faxing signatures. I will e-mail the documents into escrow. I am to provide the official Grace documents via FedEx to escrow. You must know from Benoit that they are phony records because Chellis was so paranoid. He made sure the official records were false and the real papers privately held. Now I have them all."
"We should talk," Sam said.
He met Georges at the Plaza Hotel in the same conference room where he had met Benoit, only this time they were alone. Georges always wore a blue blazer and tonight was no exception. Although he appeared worried, he also appeared collected. He was a strong man. It was 5:00 p.m., two days after the meeting in the park.
"I will send the Grace documents and the contract from the attorneys, like she asked," Georges began.
"She knows what she is doing, we have a plan."
"You know the real Chaperone document is in the safe-deposit box."
"Yes. I know. Benoit knows it as well. She knows what we're doing, Georges."
"I don't want to endanger her in any way."
"We passed that point when she went to Gaudet. We have to stick with the plan."
"What in the hell is the plan? I thought she was coming back."
"Georges, we were going to keep it between ourselves- Benoit and me-but things are changing. So, I'm briefly going to give the broad outlines of what is happening. She's going along with Gaudet because we're trying to stop a terrorist attack on the United States. This attack is for money, not for revenge or ideology."
"What kind of attack?"
"Using the raging soldier vector on millions in the streets of major U.S. cities. Gaudet calls this plan Cordyceps."
"Oh, my God, that will be a disaster."
"We know. Georges, to get the information about Cordy ceps, we need to go along with a sale of technology to the French government. But as you've figured out, it's a fraud. We intend to stop the sale before it closes. Rogue French agents are involved. We are risking France's two hundred million, but as I said, we'll stop the sale before money changes hands, if we can. We will halt the escrow immediately after we get all the information on Cordyceps. But if Benoit can't get away from Gaudet, or if we don't get the info on Cordyceps, then the deal will close and France may release their money without getting all they've bargained for."
"So then I will be involved in a swindle."
"Not exactly. You will have no legal problem, but we will explain that later. You just need to know that Benoit is going to try to leave Gaudet, and if Gaudet holds her, we are going to try and get her out."
"What if you can't?"
"That's a problem. I won't lie to you."
"This is not comforting."
Sam put his hand on the scientist's shoulder. "We are going to do everything humanly possible to get her back."
Sam left a stunned Georges and stepped into the hall, where he found a pay phone to call Jill. He wasn't com pletely certain the cell would be free of tapping.
"What do you think?" Jill said.
"It wasn't supposed to go this fast. She was supposed to come out. I'm guessing Gaudet doesn't trust her. Either that or I misfigured her, and if that's the situation, I don't know where this thing is going."
"We don't dare tell the Feds to warn the French and stop the deal."
"No way. It will totally compromise Benoit and it will ruin our chances to get information through her."
"Yeah. It is hard for dead people to talk," Jill pronounced.
Benoit and Gaudet were in the St. Regis Hotel, near Central Park. They had been there two days with adjoining rooms, and Benoit's outer door came complete with a couple of guards. Her room was equipped with a high-speed Internet connection and an Inspiron 8500 laptop provided by Gaudet and an "assistant," by the name of Big Mohammed, who watched every move she made. Gaudet was in an easy chair in the next room and didn't come into Benoit's room unless Big Mohammed was absent. Often Trotsky was present; that plus Spring's magic had kept Gaudet at bay. She wondered how long it would last.