by J C Ryan
“Me?!” He cleared his throat after the exclamation came out as a high-pitched squeak. “Pre-natal classes?”
Her smirk told him she’d done it even before she confessed.
“Well, I may have told him my husband will be my birthing partner.”
Rex blushed. He could feel the heat reddening his face as he hemmed and hawed and finally said, “Husband, you said? But I’ve never... No, wait. Yes, of course I will do it. But what do husbands do at these ah… pre-natal classes?”
With his discomfort on full display, she couldn’t help but have another quip at his expense. “Maybe you should be asking what they do to the husbands there.”
As frightening as the whole idea was for Rex, it was obvious she was enjoying every moment of it, and he was good with it—this was the Margot he’d met first, full of fun and a little mischief.
***
EARLY EVENING ON the same day, Rex decided that it was time to talk about Aguillard, and there was no way to sugarcoat it. “Are you ever going to tell Aguillard the baby is his?” And to his surprise, she was not upset about it. She must have been mulling it over, too.
“I’ve been thinking about that.” She sat down at the table. She’d put a made-from-scratch chicken pot pie in the oven to bake for their dinner and poured him a second cup of coffee. She had green tea.
“I’m pretty sure he knows, and that’s the reason he’d have the DGSE try to take me back to France. He’s worried I’ll go public with it.
“Of course, it’s all speculation. As far as I understand the situation, he would’ve had no idea that the Russians were also on my tail until the DGSE agents would’ve told him. And of course, when the DGSE agents discovered the Russians, it played right into their hands—it gave them a reason to apprehend me, because I’m in cahoots with the Russians. That’s what the agents told you, is it not?”
Rex agreed. “So, what’s your thinking? I mean, at some stage you’ll want to show your face again and go back to France, I take it. For now, it seems, there are a few people who know you’re alive, but the rest of the world believes you’re dead.”
She nodded. “Yes, I’ve been thinking a lot about that, and you’re right—I have to resurface sometime, and I don’t think I can put it off for much longer. If I wait much longer, I’ll never be able to give a believable explanation for my disappearance. It’s already been what, twenty days or so since I’ve gone missing from Vanuatu.”
“Twenty-four,” Rex replied.
“I’ve been thinking I want to contact him and let him know that I don’t expect anything from him, won’t make political waves, and that I’m no threat. I just want to reappear, give the public an explanation, and have my baby in peace, raise her in peace, and stay away from the limelight, for now.”
“You wouldn’t return to politics?”
“Well, I would, if I could explain this baby. But not for at least six months after she’s born.”
Rex nodded and thought for a moment. “So, how are you going to explain the baby?” He had been thinking about that for many days already, and he’d made up his mind. If it became necessary, he was prepared to take on the role as father of the baby. Whether they’d have to get married could be determined later, and if that’s what was required, then he was okay with it, as well. But he didn’t want to put it out there as an option, not yet.
“I don’t think it should be a major issue. One option is to just explain that I wanted a baby but wasn’t ready for a relationship and therefore went for artificial insemination during the last month of the campaign. It’s not an unbelievable explanation. Yes, I know the media might have a field day speculating and guessing, but unless they have blood tests done that’s where it will end—conjecture.
“But that’s not the real issue here, is it? The problem is the President of France has got his secret service out looking for me, and I don’t think it’s with good intentions. And then of course, the Russians. I can just imagine if they were to get hold of me what they’ll want to coerce out of me.”
“Yep, you’ve got that right. Until we know what Aguillard has in mind it’s better to ensure that you’re safe. As for your idea of artificial insemination, that can work. It’s not an entirely unbelievable option. So, now we need to get in touch with Aguillard and tell him to call his dogs off. How do you want to communicate with him?”
“I’d rather do it in person.”
Rex nodded. “It makes sense, but it might not be easy to set up and might expose you to much more danger than I’d like.”
“I understand, but I want to look him in the eyes when I talk to him.”
Rex nodded.
“I’m sure between the two of us we have enough brains to work something out.” Margot smiled.
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure I’ve got as much of those as you have. But for what it’s worth, I am happy to contribute all the brains I have. So, to start with, we have to figure out how to get a message to him without betraying your whereabouts.”
Late that night, while thinking about the day’s events, Rex found himself examining his feelings about posing as the father and attending pre-natal classes. He was happy to support Margot in any way he could. But this chain of thought made him wonder if a guy like him, with so much blood on his hands, could ever contemplate being a father in truth.
What kind of father would I be? As a former assassin, what kind of father could I be? Is it even fair to a child if all you have is a history of death and destruction?
Nonetheless, despite his misgivings about his aptness at fatherhood, he was prepared to take on the role to keep Margot safe.
Chapter 50
Geneva, Switzerland
“I’VE BEEN THINKING about how to get a message to Giles,” Margot said at breakfast the next morning. “What if we send it through my brother to Uncle Lucien?”
“Uncle Lucien? Does he know President Aguillard?”
Margot smiled. “Gosh, if he doesn’t have contact with the President, France is in serious trouble! Lucien Laurent is the Prime Minister.” She chuckled. “He isn’t really our uncle, but he’s an old and close friend of my late father. We called him Uncle out of affection and respect.”
“Oh, I see. Yeah, I suppose they’d know each other,” Rex answered. “But I thought we’d established that you can’t contact your brother.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, too. Rowan, Bert must be worried sick. Whether this plan of mine would work or not, I must let him know I’m all right, somehow.”
“Okay, so now to work out how to get in touch with your brother, and when contact has been established, to impress upon him the necessity to keep it a secret.”
***
MARGOT INSISTED BERT would recognize her even in her disguise, if he could also hear her voice. Rex thought it would be safer not to reveal her face in her new guise but wasn’t certain a recording of her voice would be enough to convince Bert the recording was genuine and not coerced. In the end, he agreed to a video but suggested she leave the glasses off, and maybe wrap her hair in a scarf.
Rex went out and found a store that carried flash drives with the correct connection for the iPad USB-C port and bought a couple, along with an adapter for standard USB. He set up the iPad and recorded two videos, both without a script, so Margot’s delivery would be natural and unrehearsed.
The first was Margot talking to her brother. In it, she apologized for the trouble and worry she’d caused him. She said she was sorry also that she’d refused to tell him who the father was, and unfortunately, for the sake of his and his family’s safety, she could still not tell him.
She went on to tell him her reasons for not coming forward with the news in the first place, and then she told him about the Russian and French DSGE involvement. She went into detail about how she met Rex on Vanuatu and how they’d become good friends and how he’d saved her.
“Bert,” she went on, “it has become dangerous for you as well as for me. We believe they discovered
my whereabouts because our phones are tapped, definitely by the Russians and almost certainly also by our own government. I need you to do one more thing for me, and then my friend, Rowan, who will be delivering this message to you, will protect me until I can reach an agreement with Giles.
“The other flash drive Rowan will give you is a message. I’m asking you to deliver it to Uncle Lucien to take to Giles.”
After that, she had Rex join her in the frame, so Bert would know he was the friend she mentioned in the video, introduced him as Rowan Donnelly, and said a tearful au revoir. She hadn’t seen her brother for a long while, and she didn’t know how long it would be before she’d see him again.
Rex patted her on the shoulder and let her turn to him and cry on his chest for a few minutes before fixing her makeup for the second video.
In that one, Margot addressed first Laurent, whom she asked simply to show it to Aguillard, and then Aguillard himself. The message to the latter was brief. “Giles, I would like to meet with you face to face so that we can come to an agreement about our baby. As you no doubt are aware, this is a matter that holds wide-ranging implications, not only for yourself, but also for our country.”
Chapter 51
Lyon, France
REX LEFT DIGGER with Margot to protect her and drove across the border to Lyon that very night. Before approaching the farmhouse, as Margot described it, his plan was to observe it and the surroundings for a while to see if there was anyone else keeping a watch over her brother. The farmhouse turned out to be a three-hundred-year-old stone mansion.
Trust Margot to keep her own counsel about family wealth.
Rex took his usual precautions, wishing he could have cloned Digger as he could have used the help. Checking the entire perimeter of the house and grounds without being seen himself was more than a chore. It was the work of almost the entire night. It was strange, but he could detect no one watching Bert. He would’ve expected the French and the Russians both would be around in the hope that Margot might turn up there. Or maybe they just relied on electronic surveillance, which could include bugging phones and Internet usage and maybe also bugs in the house, maybe even cameras.
Dressed in dark clothes and balaclava, and after assuring himself he couldn’t have missed live watchers, Rex approached the house. As it was an hour before dawn, and by all indications, the Lemaire family, Bertrand, his wife, and two kids were asleep. He was also glad there were no dogs.
Margot gave him detailed drawings of the layout of the house and buildings as well as the garden. The luscious plants surrounding the house made it difficult to see what was going on inside, but at the same time, it offered Rex good cover as he sneaked up to it.
Margot told him that Bert was an early riser and that he was usually up about an hour before sunrise when he would make coffee, pour it into a stainless-steel travel mug, and then do the rounds on the farm, inspecting everything and planning the day’s tasks.
Rex was bargaining on Bert keeping with his routine and waited for him outside the backdoor in the shadows of a large oak tree, which could not have been younger than a hundred years. It could have been much older, given that those trees were known to have a lifespan of up to seven hundred years.
Of course, Rex would have preferred to rather arrive during the day, and like a normal visitor, drive up to the house, knock on the front door, introduce himself, state his business, and have a conversation with Bert.
Right on time, an hour before dawn, Rex saw the kitchen lights coming on, and about fifteen minutes later, a man matching Margo’s description of her brother stepped out through the backdoor with a stainless-steel travel mug in his right hand. In the brief moment when the kitchen light was still shining on him when he exited, Rex could see the family traits—this was Margot’s brother, no reservations.
He was a sinewy, dark-haired man of about six-two or so. Rex could see that he would be a tough man with a lot of strength from the hard work on the farm—not to be trifled with when it came to a physical encounter.
Surprise and overwhelming force, he said quietly to himself, but not so much force that it would injure him.
Rex waited behind the big trunk of the tree for Bert to pass, and when he was about two meters away, he moved in quickly and noiselessly and put his right arm around Bert’s neck from behind and his left hand over his mouth. At the same time, he swiped Bert’s legs with his right leg. As expected, that was enough to drop Bert to the ground, and Rex landed on top of him holding him down, keeping his arm around his neck and hand over his mouth.
Rex’s strategy worked like a charm. Bert was not a trained fighter, and the sudden attack must have paralyzed him because he lay there quietly, not putting up a struggle. Not yet. But Rex could feel Bert was tough as nails. If he were to get his wits back, he’d be able to put up some serious resistance that would compel Rex to use more force, and that was the last thing he’d like to do.
I better state my case quickly before this guy comes to his senses and puts up a fight and makes a big noise.
Rex kept his head out of the way of Bert’s head in case he tried to head-butt him and whispered urgently, “I’m not here to harm you, Bert. Promise not to raise an alarm, and I’ll let you up and explain. I’m here about Margot. I am sorry to have scared you like this.”
As soon as Bert heard his sister’s name, he mumbled something and went still.
Rex said, “Bert, I’ll remove my hand from your mouth, but please don’t make a noise. I have news about Margot. She is safe and not in any danger. She sent me to talk to you. Do you understand?”
Another muffled sound followed, which Rex took to mean Bert agreed and removed his hand from the man’s mouth.
“Who are you? And what is this about Margot? Where is my sister?” he fired off, the anger unmistakable in his voice.
“I’m a friend of Margot’s. I have a message from her. We need to get to a quiet place where we can talk.”
Rex sensed that Bert was considering his odds and tightened his hold. It must have convinced Bert that he had little or no choice in the matter.
“All right. I will listen. But if you have harmed…”
“Save it. You’ll see she’s unharmed, and I’m genuinely a friend.”
“We can talk in the cellars,” Bert said.
Rex let go of his grip around Bert’s neck, stood, and took two steps back giving the man space to get to his feet. Bert turned toward the cellars and Rex followed him. It was less than fifty meters away. Bert opened the door to the cellar and a set of stairs that must have been almost as old as the house. The stone steps led to a cool underground area redolent with the aroma of fermenting grapes.
“Will this do?”
Rex assented, and Bert put down the flashlight on a rough-hewn counter along the wall. He struck a match and lit a lantern, setting it on the counter and turning to see Rex, who still had on the balaclava.
“Friend? What kind of friend wears a mask when he introduces himself? Am I going to see your face?”
Rex peeled off the balaclava. “The kind who doesn’t want others seeing him. My apologies again for scaring you out there. I trust I didn’t injure you in any way.”
Bert sneered. “Yes, you scared me. No, you didn’t injure me.”
“Okay, that’s great to hear,” Rex said. “Let’s get down to business. The mask was to hide my face from the people who mean harm to your sister and might be watching you and your family and your property. In other words, I considered the wearing of the mask as prudent, for your sake, your sister’s, as well as my own.”
Bert began to protest, but Rex cut him short with a chopping gesture. “Save it. Let me show you what I’ve brought, and then you can ask all the questions you want. I don’t promise to answer all of them, but you’ll be convinced your sister is safe. You’ll see why the precautions, also.”
Rex pulled the iPad from his backpack and set it up.
Bert watched with evident curiosity, and then gave a star
t when Rex turned on the video, showing Margot’s face, framed by the scarf with which she’d wrapped her hair. He leaned closer, as if to see her better, though the video was clear, and the voice recording came through sharp and clear as well. When it came to the part where Rex had joined her on camera, Bert looked closely at Rex’s features in the dim lantern light and must have concluded he was seeing the same man.
He nodded. “Who are these people following her, and why?”
“I’ll let her explain the why herself, when the time is right. The people following her are the same ones who tapped your phone and found where she was going in Vietnam. Some are Russians, and some are DGSE. They were hoping you’d lead them to Margot, and they still may be hoping that, though I didn’t see any signs of them tonight. However, your house may be bugged. You must remain calm and make sure that no one, not even your wife—no one must know that Margot made contact, except for Lucien Laurent and the President.”
“Lucien? Why him?”
“She’s got a message for the President, which she wants Lucien to take to him.”
“What is this message?”
“It’s on another video.” Rex gave it to him in a sealed envelope and asked that Bert honor Margot’s request that he not view it, but instead take it to Laurent himself as soon as possible. “It’s a matter of national security.”
“Who is the father of her child?” Bert asked.
Rex shook his head. “I don’t even know. Margot and I have agreed that I won’t ask, and she won’t tell,” Rex lied without blinking an eye. “It’s best that I don’t know, and it’s also best that neither you nor anyone else knows. But also keep in mind that, these days, there doesn’t necessarily have to be a man involved in getting a woman pregnant.”
Bert looked at Rex with a ‘huh’ expression on his face for a second or two, and then said, “Ah okay, I see what you mean. But I am surprised that she never told me. And if that’s the case, what’s the big deal with her being pregnant then? I mean, why has her being pregnant become a matter of national security?”
