"My mother and father died when I was young and probably never gave a shit about me anyway. I think my mother was an adulterous bitch and my father well on his way to being a drunk. I have no soft memories. I am a realist. As a young man I drove away my boss's competitors in the laundry business with my fists. Then I killed my boss and took his business. That was about as good as anything I ever felt." "I have some good memories and I want at least a few people to be grateful that I lived."
"I want to make bad days for others before they make bad days for me. Now how can I take you in a bathtub?"
Unable to think of anything else, she slipped away into her we pac maw, and after sometime she heard him say "shit" and leave.
Gaudet had left the hotel by the time she dressed. Trotsky and the guards had replaced him in her room.
"He wants you when he gets back," Trotsky said. "If I were you, I'd stop toying with him."
Later, when the maid came, Trotsky disappeared into Gaudet's room. The two guards remained while the woman cleaned. All of a sudden, Benoit was shocked to see a hand emerge from under a linen drape covering the side of the cart. It waved. Glancing at the guards, she could tell that one was absorbed with his sporting magazine and another with pornography. She rose and walked to the desk, picked up a pad of message paper and a pen. One of the guards looked at her and at the paper. She ignored him. Promptly she wrote the following:
Escrow closes at 4:00 P.M.. Cordyceps in three days. French believe five. Gaudet's men to release vec tor with fake police helicopters. NY, Chicago, Wash., LA. Computer virus at same time.
Then she walked past the cart back to the desk, dropping the paper on the floor. The cart stood between the paper and the two guards. In a flash the hand snatched the paper and dropped another on the floor. When she went to the desk, she picked up the TV remote, turned, and dropped it by the cart, scooping up the paper when she knelt.
Do you want out? it read.
Trotsky walked into the room. "Gaudet wants you now."
"You're just in time. We should be getting the e-mailed closing statement any moment."
"Never mind that. We're leaving." He shooed the maid and her cart out into the hall. "The escrow closed. You think we would sit around waiting for an e-mail? Devan has been on the phone with Credit Suisse. We're out of here. Now."
Trotsky grabbed her arm and rushed her into Gaudet's room. They put her in a trunk and two big men wheeled her out.
Baptiste was sweating as he stared at the screen. Escrow was to close in minutes. The admiral had retired to his office to await Baptiste's call. Apparently he couldn't wait because Gaudet's phone buzzed and the electronic readout indicated it was the admiral.
"Just about to close," Baptiste said.
"The scientists are screaming that they didn't have ade quate time to verify Chaperone. Raval's lab notes don't reveal the source of the Chaperone molecule. Apparently, Northern Lights kept that a secret. Bowden's journal shows a salamander discovery of all things and Gaudet says the Chaperone molecule came from this salamander. I'm sure he's relying on Benoit. Apparently, Raval told Bowden and Benoit which of his submissions yielded the molecule, but we have nothing in writing from Bowden. There is a lot of puzzlement among the scientists," the admiral concluded.
"Well, it's too late to worry about it now. E-mail just arrived this second; it's closed."
"It's done then."
"Yes. Our money is gone and we have the goods."
"But verification of Chaperone's nowhere in sight. It could take days, or if we have shitty luck, it could take weeks! This thing is like a runaway train. We just better be right" The admiral slammed a fist into his open hand.
"Benoit is betting her pardon on it," Baptiste insisted.
"We've got to inform the Americans in enough time," the admiral said.
"It's five days. Let's warn them in four or sooner if we can verify that we have Chaperone. By that time we may know for sure."
"What if we find out tomorrow that we don't have it?
Then what?"
"We still have a card to play with Gaudet and Benoit. We tell the U.S. about Cordyceps immediately if Gaudet and Benoit don't get us Chaperone."
"But then maybe Gaudet pulls the trigger early anyway," the admiral said.
"Maybe he does. But we lose all of our leverage with Gaudet once we tell the U.S. All hell will break loose and he'll know we've told them."
"So, it's really a matter of French national security that we verify Chaperone before sharing our theories with the Americans, and that's all they are… theories… about Cordyceps."
"Exactly," Baptiste agreed.
"When, ah… the financial arrangements… Gaudet's, I mean-"
"Of course if the Americans stop Cordyceps as they surely will, there won't be much of a drop in the market. I guess maybe just a small drop because of the scare," Baptiste said.
"Maybe no drop if the Americans stop it completely."
"Absolutely. No question. We're working hard to verify that Cordyceps is real and to determine how the plan would be carried out. So far, I must admit, we have been unable to gather any information on that aspect"
Chapter 21
A man who climbs a cliff cannot stop to build a ledge.
Sam jumped out of the laundry cart as the guards were putting away the laptop. One guard was big and the other was bigger.
"I could use that computer, if you don't mind," Sam said.
Their mouths looked like they belonged to sucker fish.
The mustached fellow went for his gun at the same time Sam was kicking him with a square-on strike to the jaw that broke facial bones on the corner of Sam's boot. For a second the man swayed, unsteady; then Sam hit palm up to the nose and the man dropped, completely slack. Preferring to fight, rather than go for his gun, the second man swung on Sam and hit a glancing blow across Sam's cheek. Sam kicked to the knee and they both grabbed for the man's gun as he was going down. Grasping the gun atop the barrel, Sam twisted it toward the man's thigh when it discharged the first time. A second bullet just missed the man's genitals and again punctured the thigh.
"You better quit pulling that trigger or you're-" Judging from the guard's shrieking, something vital was hit by the third shot. At that point Sam got control of the gun and the man concentrated on grabbing his genitals. The first guy was shaking himself awake but was not ready to take on the 9mm semiautomatic.
Sam came prepared and put cuffs on the one who didn't need to hold his testicles. Then he got on his cell phone.
"Ernie, they are going to spray vectors-I told you about those-over New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and Chicago. They are probably going to use dummy police choppers, but you can't count on that as the only method of application. You have three days maximum. Next get guys over here to the St. Regis, room 2004, and take custody of suspected terrorists. Deep-six these guys for three days. Make sure nobody knows where they are or if they are alive or dead. Gaudet can't know we have them or his computer, or he may change the plan."
"Got it. Did you say computer?"
"Yeah. I know you'll want a dozen G-men around Grogg when he's playing with it."
"You got that right."
"The French know about Cordyceps. They think it will go in five days. It's really going in three. Verify that they aren't telling us. I have what I think will be proof of the electronic communications. Certain French officials want to profit personally by not informing the United States." Sam explained again how the French officials could make a huge windfall profit even though the CIA had already been briefed.
Next he received a message that Figgy called. He asked Jill to call back. That way he could find out what the French wanted and avoid any questions about the transaction. No doubt they were calling everybody they knew to determine if anybody had any good reasons for canceling the escrow. And that was a call he didn't want to take.