Just around sunset, Louise woke from her nap refreshed. The sea air had already done wonders for her and she relished dressing in the simple bikini and sarong. She walked out to the beach and took on the western view, with the sun slowly sinking into its watery night. It reflected in her green eyes like celebratory fireworks. She made her way back to the Tiki bar.
“There she is!” Big Steve shouted.
There was a rousing chorus of “SURPRISE!” as many of the regulars, sprinkled with the divers of the day, had come to participate in the homecoming. The drinks began to flow, and Louise was served her first tropical libation in months.
Big Steve went to the terrace and raised his glass. “Lulu, I want y’all to meet some friends of mine.”
Louise put her glass on the bar and turned to Big Steve. In the twilight, Louise spied another boat at the dock, not a diving charter, but a luxury yacht.
“Oh, now I see what’s going on,” she teased. “You were ‘surprising me’ so you could have friends over for a party.”
The gaggle of guests parted, as if they were the Red Sea. Louise looked up from her drink to see the silhouette of a familiar superstar and Big Steve made the introduction.
“Lulu, I’d like you to meet my homie.” He grinned as he saw Louise’s eyes open wide. “Louise Moscow, meet Snoop Dogg.”
Big Steve turned up the music, and Snoop Dogg kissed her hand. Louise’s soul swelled back into island time and she raised her glass. “Now this is my kind of homecoming!”
She awoke the next morning, not as much hung over, as wholly satisfied. Captain Robert had been part of the celebration crew, but things had changed for Louise since the encounter with Jean-Philippe. Knowing she would only be back on the island temporarily, she had paperwork inside her bags transferring the Tiki Bar to Big Steve and would eventually have to tell him the news.
She leisurely strolled to her private beach for some much-needed yoga and meditation. The freedom to walk straight from bed barefoot to the beach was hard to beat. As she sat in lotus pose, silently repeating her mantra, her thoughts sifted down and settled. Suddenly, a moment of clarity hit her like a lightning bolt. She opened her eyes and looked at her watch, which indicated she had done exactly thirty minutes of meditation.
It was words echoing in her mind, a much-loved passage from a special book. She went back to her bungalow and opened her closet. She reached way back and found it was still there, in a hermetically sealed case, the ancient manuscript. The words were contained in this book. She brought it out to the beach along with her laptop computer. Reclining on the cushions of her chaise lounge she began to re-read the words that seemed to have new meaning:
Perched safely on the cliffs of Thera, high over the southern Aegean Sea, her screams of anguish were heard by no one as she witnessed the massive wave wash away the entire civilization.
Louise had read the manuscript many times since first discovering it in a hidden closet of her Paris apartment almost ten year ago.21 She had always intended to explore its meaning if she ever had the opportunity. The writings contained many clues mapping out a geographical region yet to be confirmed. Up until then, she had been off the grid for her own protection. But in light of recent events – she had been cleared from her exile, she had property in France, and she was free to roam the world again.
She booted up that same laptop from the mission, the CIA had let her keep it – after they had erased the memory, naturally –turned on the satellite Internet and did a quick query of the Lost City of Atlantis. On Usenet she scanned several theories, but one from Marina Mylona, Tourism Officer of Marketing at the Cyprus Tourism Organization stood out:
It’s been long-rumored that the lost city of Atlantis was located just off the coast of Cyprus.
Louise lay back and gazed upwards at the cloudless blue sky.
“Cyprus,” she muttered to herself.
E N D
NOTES
1. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
2. attunedvibrations.com/432hz-healing
3. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
4. A monastic dormitory. Sometimes the monks slept in isolated rooms called cells.
5. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
6. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
7. www.newsweek.com/time-grand-finale-203022
8. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
9. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
10. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
11. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
12. The feeling one gets of not being in one’s own country.
13. Terroir is a French term that refers to the environmental factors that affect a crop’s observable structure.
14. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
15. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
16. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
17. A devoted follower, adherent, or advocate of someone or something.
18. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
19. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
20. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
21. From the author’s first novel in the Louise Moscow series, Foliage: An International Banking Spy Thriller
ENDNOTES
• Murderpedia, Juan Ignacio Blanco, Website: http://murderpedia.org/male.M/m/maher-theodore.htm
• Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments, By Dominick Dunne, Feb 25, 2009
• Death in Monaco by Dominick Dunne December 1, 2000 12:00 am
• Wikipedia: Law enforcement in Monaco
• Wikipedia: Ted Maher
• Wikipedia: Camino de Santiago
• Wikipedia: Georges André Malraux
• Wikipedia: Marc Dutroux
• Gouvernement Princier, Principauté de Monaco, Website: http://en.gouv.mc/Government-Institutions/The-Government/The-Ministry-of-State/The-Minister-of-State
• Understanding A Course in Miracles, Website: https://understandacim.com/
• Lordsandladies.org/medieval-monastery.htm
• Wikipedia: Fathers of Mercy
• Richard Clarke: “Against All Enemies, Inside America’s War on Terror” by Free Press, a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster
• Newsweek: Time For The Grand Finale, By Meg Greenfield, Aug 18, 1991
• Giza Death Star: 1991-2011: The BCCI Scandal 20 Years Later, By Joseph P. Farrell, Apr 13, 2011
• Goldseek.com, 9/11 & Gold, Money and Power, By Darryl Robert Schoon, Aug 20, 2012
• The New York Times: Russian Money-Laundering Investigation Finds a Familiar Swiss Banker in the Middle, By Timothy L. O’Brien With Raymond Bonner, Aug 22, 1999
• Spy Museum: Language of Espionage
• Marlow Yachts Limited, Inc.
• Jon Stewart, 2004
• Caminoways.com
• GlobalCom Satellite Phones
• Chicago Tribune: The French Connection, By Mary Daniels, Sept 24, 1989
• BBC News World Edition: NYC Out of the Ashes, By Peter Gould, Dec 21, 2001
• The Italian,
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• Burgundytoday.com
• Independent: Billionaire Who Blew Whistle on Russian Cash Scandal is Killed in Monte Carlo, By John Lichfield, Dec 4, 1999
• The Guardian: The Strange Case of Edmond Safra, By Andrew Anthony, October 28, 2000
• The Safra Dynasty: The Mysterious Family Of The Richest Banker In The World, By Carrie Hojnicki, June 7, 2012
• Aubert de Villaine
• Intowine.com
• Trans-D Digital Blog, Mar 2, 2015
• Office De Tourisme, Beaune & Pay Beaunois
• Airbnb.fr
• Bourgogne-wines.com
• The Telegraph: Burgundy Canal Journeys, Aug 9, 2017
• Crédit Agricole Group
• Irene and Giorgio Silvagni
• Independent: Joanna Parrish, By Cole Moreton, Sept 12, 2015
• Lodi Wines California
• Privilege La Reserve du Prince Cognac
• Bilderberg.org
• Time: What to Know About the Bilderberg Group’s Secret Annual Meeting, By Josh Sanburn, Jun 9, 2016
• LaLibre.be: De Sars-la-Maudite à Sars-la-Buissière, By Sophie Lebrun, Feb 23, 2004
• Independent: A Country Brought Low By Horror, By Sarah Helm, Sept 10, 1996
• Sacred-Destinations.com
• The New York Times: Ex-Chief of BCCI to Be Extradited to US for Trial, By Stephen Labaton, Jan. 10, 1994
• Independent: BCCI Men Jailed and Ordered to Pay Dollars 9bn: Former Chief Executive and Founder of Collapsed Bank Sentenced in Their Absence, June 15, 1994
• The Washington Post: Former BCCI Official Naqvi Sentenced to Prison By Sharon Walsh, Oct. 20, 1994
• Mbgmindfulness: OM: What Is It & Why Do We Chant It? By Sam Saunders.
• Medievalchronicles.com
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