will you, and as will the French. Nobody has to trust anybody.'
'We all have to trust the escrow holder.'
'Come, come. The Swiss are impeccable. Everything closes at once-you, Bowden, Raval, the French government. Everyone is paid directly out of escrow pursuant to identical countersigned instructions.'
He watched her for maybe two minutes, saying nothing. She did not like her dress open where he had cut the buttons, but she knew better than to pull it closed until he was through with his ritual.
'Everything is too smooth.'
'I have thought about it for months. That is why. I have waited to work with you. I have plotted and schemed.'
'There is no one so blind as a man who wants to believe a woman, unless it is a woman who wants to believe a man. But you never had that problem because you never had a weakness for any man. Not like I have a weakness for you. You're lucky I don't pull your entrails out on the floor and watch you die. I hate that you weaken me!'
Benoit didn't move a millimeter. She knew that it would take almost nothing to drive the man to murder. He stepped close and touched the tip of his knife just beneath her sternum. She knew it was the place that he made the incision when he wanted to unravel the intestines.
'Tell me everything you and this Baptiste get out of this.'
'I get to be with you. I get a pardon from the French gov ernment. And if Cordyceps goes off as planned, I get to be rich. I still have funds from Grace that are hidden and I will invest heavily on the short side just before Cordyceps. Baptiste and the admiral will get five million each in exchange for my pardon, Baptiste splits with others. The admiral says he won't take the five million for a long time, if ever. Maybe, he says, he will turn it over to the French government. You and I know that if he would consider it, he will take it.'
'Admiral Larive will be involved with this?'
'He will not say that he will do it, of course. I told him the money would go into a Swiss bank in the name of a Swiss trust. We would invest. He never has to claim the money. He said nothing at all. A man like that cannot agree-it just has to be done.'
'So he agrees by his silence. You amuse me.'
'That is how it has to be. When he gets up in the morn ing, he tells himself he will not take the money, that it is blood money. It is how he respects himself even a little bit. And who knows, maybe he will never take any.'
'Bullshit. He will take it. Maybe when he is old. How does the French government explain this to the Americans?'
'They notify the Americans on the day of Cordyceps, but, of course, they will say that they thought it wasn't to happen for weeks.'
'It could affect our execution of Cordyceps if the Americans have advance warning.'
'They won't.' She gave the knife a deliberate glance. 'I am betting my life on it.'
'They cannot tell the Americans more than a few hours in advance.'
'I understand. But we will have to know the date for a few days in advance in order to make our investments.'
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.'
