'Of course. He lacks imagination, though. Would you like me to take off my skirt? It appears that you cannot see whatever it is you are trying to look at.'
'You are very beautiful.'
'Do you want the skirt off or not? You are a shy boy. I don't know how you ever get what you want.' She stood and unzipped her skirt, letting it drop to the floor, then sat again.
He wondered about her blouse. It would be very good if she took that off as well. And the panties.
'I need to go to the United States and see Raval's aunt in New York. This must be in person. She knows me and will send a message to Georges or tell me how to find him. I will explain that France owns Chaperone, which he knows, and I will tell him how he can make some money by helping the rightful owner. In the end, though, we must go through Gaudet.'
'Why through Gaudet?'
'I've been at work for a couple of days now, as you know. It's obvious to me already that our lab does not really under stand the vector technology. We are altering brain cells, but not in the correct patterns. Our scientists don't understand the promoter DNA sequences. The sum of it, without getting too technical, is that we do not get well-defined and predictable mood alteration from modification of cells in the limbic system. Gaudet does much better, as we have seen. All he lacks is Chaperone, which enables the subjects to live with the brain alteration. His scientists clearly understand the technology. So I will get Gaudet to sell you his lab, all the Grace Technologies papers and research, and give you leads to hiring all of his employees as part of the deal.'
'That makes some sense.' Larive was impressed by this gorgeous, conniving woman.
'Now for the second reason I need to go to the States. I need to work with Gaudet and I know he is there. I can talk with him. I believe that he trusts me sufficiently to tell me about Cordyceps. He won't be able to resist bragging to me because we were lovers for over a year. He will believe I have come back to him.'
'It's the right thing to do, obviously, stopping this Cordyceps. But why should we risk Chaperone when it's the U.S.'s ass that's on the line. Just to play devil's advocate,' Larive proposed.
'If the U.S. markets go, Europe will go with them.'
'I suppose to some extent that is true.'
'More important, you need a relationship with the U.S. so you must be seen as cooperating. Appearance is everything. So are relationships. Of course, if for some reason we fail to stop Cordyceps, there is a fortune to be made.'
'What?' This woman continually surprised him.
She outlined Gaudet's plan to short the market and also to invest in gold stocks and gold bullion so that money would be made when the market fell. She explained how it could be done.
'There is another thing I need to tell you.' She appeared to be on a confessing jag.
'Yes?'
'Baptiste plans to make a deal for a five-million-dollar kickback from Gaudet and to use that money to short the market himself. He will make a fortune if Cordyceps goes forward.'
'I don't believe you.'
'Well, you'd better because it is true. Did he tell you what he learned from a Turkish prisoner by the name of Alfawd?'
'I never heard of Alfawd,' Larive replied.
'Well, you should have.' Then as the admiral sat dumb founded, she told him all that Baptiste had learned about the investment group and Gaudet's tests of the technology with Sam's neighbors and at Northern Lights.
'Did Baptiste tell you that Figgy Meeks accidentally killed an associate of the man they call Sam and that he then, at Baptiste's direction, made it look like Gaudet by gutting the man, as Gaudet often does?' She was relentless in her disclosures.
'This could implicate the French government. It's a disas ter.' Larive nearly moaned.
'Yes, and apparently the autopsy showed the heart still beating when he was gutted.'
Larive groaned.
'I could fix that too with Gaudet. I could provide testimony that one of Gaudet's men did it. A man who is now dead.'
'Why would you do this?'
'I'm getting to that. One more thing: did you know that one of your agents, a Rene, accidentally killed Michael Bowden's girlfriend when he tried to take a gun from her? A gun that she was using to protect herself against Gaudet and his men?'
'This is true?'
'All of it. Baptiste is planning a meeting with Gaudet to make that deal. And he is going to allow Cordyceps to go forward. If you put that together with the money…' She allowed Larive to make his own deduction.
'That makes the French government an accomplice. Fucking Baptiste is out of control!'
'That's why you should let me go to the States when Baptiste asks. You will know everything that is going on. You will then, on behalf of the French government, be seek ing to thwart the plot of a renegade agent.'
'It's not that simple. I should turn him in and replace him.'
'Keep in mind, first and foremost, that you want the tech nology. Diplomatically, you need only a fig leaf. You need complete success and not another horrible scandal in your agency. And most important of all, you may need someone to blame. Baptiste has done this on his own, but if you replace him, then suddenly you become solely responsible for whatever happens. Or am I incorrect about that?' Benoit had built a tower of irrefutable facts.
The admiral sighed-as she knew he would. 'Tell me ex actly what you will do.'
'First I will go to Gaudet. I will be present when Gaudet meets Baptiste, but Baptiste will be unaware of this. That way the French government is spying on its own and is not acting in concert with the renegade Baptiste. I will tell you exactly what goes on. Then, in New York, I will broker deals with Bowden, Raval, and Gaudet. I will ensure that Gaudet offers all of his vector technology as part of the bargain. I know about it and am the best one to judge. We will open a Swiss escrow. The formula, notes, and so on will be deposited in escrow, along with contact numbers for ex-Grace employees and their job functions, et cetera. France will deposit two hundred million; ten million will be deposited for kickbacks, leaving a net one hundred ninety million.'
'Wait, I thought you said Baptiste was getting five million, not ten million.'
'I'm coming to that. There will be a period of examina tion to authenticate the materials. If I'm able to bring Bowden into the deal, the Chaperone molecule will be part of the escrow. Finally Raval will deliver that actual, authen tic Grace record of invention for Chaperone, along with everything he knows about Chaperone. I will do everything in my power to learn the date when Cordyceps will be un leashed-how Gaudet's going to do it and what exactly he is going to do. I will deliver that information to the French government before it happens. You will notify the Americans. That will avoid any scandal. The French did their part. If for some reason it is too late to stop Cordyceps, then you, Admiral, can invest the five million I'll earmark for you.'
The admiral slammed his fist in his hand. 'I would do no such thing. I will not take money. Do you think I am a dog like Baptiste?'
'Calm down. You can tell the Americans the details of Cordyceps once escrow with Gaudet closes and not before. If you tell them before, then the whole deal could come apart and you will not get Chaperone or the rest of the vector technology. Once the Americans know of Cordyceps, they will go crazy. Gaudet will know that you have told them. He will cancel the escrow with immediate document destruction as provided in the escrow. And then he will unleash Cordyceps anyway.'
'But we must tell the Americans.'
'And you will. After escrow.'
'I will tell them and that is all there is to it. And I cannot take this money.'
'You need to calm yourself and think this through. Your money will be in a numbered account. You will have the number. In truth, if discovered, it will be part of what Baptiste expected to get. That will be the story. He'll get arrested for five million. The other five million will be missing. Yours. Leave it in the anonymous account if you don't want it. You can always turn it in to the French government. Say you tricked Gaudet and it would be a feather in your cap. I am putting it there in any case, and only you and I will know. The point is, you don't have to decide now. The key, remember, is making the deal for the French with Gaudet before telling the Americans about Cordyceps. Under stand?'
'Benoit, I have one simple question: why would you risk telling me all this?'
