now, a couple or so that he could hear above, and a few more within earshot below.
There would be men posted at the stairs probably looking for a bearded guy, but there might be those who would sus pect a disguise. If it was Gaudet, his men might have his pic ture from their surveillance of the LA office. There was no good explanation for how Gaudet's men might have tracked him here, and that was a serious concern. He suspected that Figgy had somehow figured it out and passed it on to the French. Suddenly he knew he had to have the office checked for microphones. The betrayal was a miserable feeling.
He heard sirens outside and knew that both the FBI and the fire department would be arriving. As he descended to the fifteenth floor, a man in a tailored blue suit with expensive shoes exited, obviously unconcerned.
'There's no significant fire. Wastebaskets on the twentieth. Some asshole practical joker getting his kicks.'
'Yeah,' Sam said. 'Think I'll wait right here for the elevators to start again.'
'Suit yourself,' the man said, electing to walk down the stairs. Sam walked into a hallway to find locked doors to a computer-processing facility. On a lark he went and knocked on a door. Soon a curious-looking Asian woman opened it.
'Yes?'
'I'm just checking that this floor is cleared,' he said as of ficially as possible. He stepped past her, gently pushing through when she tried to stop him by holding his arm.
Then, Sam had a minor epiphany. Gaudet and the French were in league-for the moment, at least, they were the same. The men on the street and in the tunnel were Gaudet men acting on French information.
Chapter 18
A man is distinguished by his strong spirit in a great storm.
It was a bone-chilling, misty November evening and it felt like snow. At the bottom of Central Park, just off Fifth Avenue, there was a duck pond, and at its northern corner Michael stood in the dark waiting. After he and Grady said their good-byes, he had finally collected all his journals and sneaked away to California, taking only a couple of days to find a piece of property that was to his liking. There he waited with Sam's men, hoping to lay his hands on Gaudet and anyone else who had the tenacity to chase him to his hideaway. He had returned to Manhattan just for this meet ing. It was 6:55 p.m. Time did not pass easily when the adren aline flowed. The place was mostly quiet, except for seekers of solitude and lovers walking hand in hand, or the occasional homeless person. Michael had learned to recognize these wretched souls who slept in bushes, and fled the foot police.
His nerves kept him alert, but he wished for a stash of coca leaves to chew, here in the urban equivalent of the jun gle.
From quite a distance he saw a man and a woman coming from the Fifth Avenue side of the park. The man wore a beret and had on a long coat. According to his verbal description, that would be Georges Raval and the woman on his arm was as mentioned in the e-mail.
As the couple approached, he looked warily about, determined that if he saw others he would flee, but he saw no one this time. The man wore a bulky coat and he wondered if he too was wrapped in body armor. The woman wore a hat that looked to be of fur, or a look-alike material, and a heavy, stylish, long dress coat.
'Georges?' he said quietly as the man drew close. This was the man he had met briefly in the apartment building.
'Hello, good to see you again.'
The man's features were hard to make out in the dark; he still had the mustache and was a little under six feet, give or take. Even in the low light the woman seemed beautiful.
'Shall we walk?' Michael said.
'Yes. As you can see, I brought a friend, but you can trust her. Let me introduce you to Benoit, the love of my life.'
'I am very pleased to meet you both.'
'Benoit knows everything I am about to tell you.'
'Are you married?'
'No. She is a prisoner in France, let out to find me. How's that for a shocker?'
'That's a shocker.'
'We should do this quickly. You know about the work of Grace Technologies, yes? Altering brain cells to achieve per sonality changes.'
'Yes, I know generally.'
'You have heard of Chaperone?'
'Yes. You created this miracle?'
'I believe I'm the only person alive who understands it. Although the knowledge is incomplete. The molecule has not yet been fully mapped and therefore it isn't ready to be synthesized, although it can be used if a supply could be obtained.'
They were walking in the park and Michael led them into a darkened area and into some heavy brush and out the other side to an old bench in a small clearing on another path. 'Let's sit here.'
'Are you sure it's safe?' Raval asked.
'I'm sure,' Benoit said, taking a very large pistol from her handbag.
'God,' Raval said, 'I hate guns.'
'Let's continue,' Benoit said.
'My only regret,' Raval said, 'is that I don't know you better.'
Michael interpreted that as a need to trust him before di vulging more. 'I understand.' He had a book bag, from which he removed three sandwiches. 'Would you like some thing to eat? When you've been in the jungle as long as I have, it's hard not to carry food around with you.'
'I don't need much.' Georges broke his sandwich in two and gave half to Benoit. He thanked Michael, then spoke of science generally. He seemed interested in the Amazon and all that it spawned. In moments they were eating and laugh ing like friends, and they hadn't mentioned Grace Technologies again or vectors or the like.
When the food was gone, Michael turned the conversation serious once more. 'You've been through hell. Perhaps afraid for your life. As for your friend, she seems to have an iron constitution. Perhaps she fears nothing.'
'All of the above,' he said.
'I fear French jails,' the woman said.
'Why don't you come with me. I've moved to the mountains of California, where it is lonely and beautiful. I have bodyguards you can trust.'
'Bodyguards?' Georges said.
'You saw them in the Village, when we were attacked on the street. They are good men, and I'll be able to work there.'
David Dun
Unacceptable Risk
'First we must be about other business,' Benoit said.
'What is that?' Georges seemed puzzled.
'You are good scientists. But the rest of life escapes you both. It's part of your charm. There is a man, Sam. You both know him?'
'Yes. He's the one with the bodyguards.'
'Well, Mr. Sam?' Benoit spoke loudly all of a sudden.
There was only silence.
'No one knows we are here,' Georges said.
