Secrets (15 page)

His father was
a spy! Had he been fourteen, he’d probably have raised his fist in
the air and shouted Kewel! But he wasn’t. His sons were already
older than that. His sons. He did need to have them meet their
grandfather. Of course, they had heard stories about Ivan Toth,
about his bravery, his intelligence and his good looks. All of
which were true. But their biological grandfather had all of those
qualities as well.

Mike’s revelry
was cut short, as he walked into the living room to witness BB down
a shot and almost choke on it. Upon seeing Mike, BB smiled, took
out another shot glass and poured two.

“I want to
drink a toast to my son. You stood up so well today, you were so
calm, so very in charge. I have to admit, watching was the most
difficult thing that I have ever done. Someone else was in command
today, and all I wanted to do was charge in and save the day. I
wanted you to view me as the hero. Petty, I admit, but I wanted it
anyway.”

Mike laughed
and threw back his shot. “Not petty. I didn’t want to disappoint
you! I guess that we have a great deal to learn about each
other.”

BB poured them
each another shot. “I have a plan,” he declared.

Before BB could
share his ‘plan’, the dining room began to fill with everyone else
in the house and then some. Steve and Mimi arrived, as did
Maurice.

They sat to
lunch and it was truly charming. It appeared that worries were
forgotten, all that seemed to matter was the superb food, which
Sonya vowed she would research with the housekeeper, and the good
company. Everyone at the table was an interesting person. Each had
great wit, and each had stories to tell. Their lunch was over in
what seemed to be seconds.

Their host
stood. “Unfortunately, we have business to conduct. Please join me
in the living room.”

The living room
was different than it had been in the previous meeting. It now
housed a round table, with a chair for everyone present.

“Given that
this is my house and my dollar,” BB stated, “I shall chair this
meeting.” No one objected.

“I think it is
best that we begin with what Maurice requires for his
investigation. Agreed?” There were no objections. I hand this
meeting over to you, Maurice.”

Maurice seemed
stunned, but he smiled and took the lead. “We wish only to obtain
whatever information we need to complete our investigation. We have
proof to put Grégoire and Lucien into jail, or to the gallows. That
is not our judgment. We provide the information, the court make
verdict.’

Hearing it in
those words made Sonya ill. Death was a consequence of treason and
what those men had done was considered treason. It was horrific
enough that they had beaten Bryan for information which had yet to
be disclosed, but they had betrayed their country and their fellow
operatives. There was no forgiveness for that, especially amongst
spies. It was her understanding that they had all taken an oath to
their countries. And it was binding upon death.

“Bryan, I ask
you, when you were kidnap, what happen?”

“It was so
sudden,” Bryan answered. “We were shoved into a car, and I thought
it was a joke that Lucien played on me because it was my honeymoon.
It was not! It became apparent immediately that Lucien was in
charge, and he began to demand answers to questions that I didn’t
know. Strangely enough, someone he called Serge kept prompting him.
Then, he went on and on about photographs of a party. He never said
where or when, just photographs that apparently I had. My hands
were tied behind my back. That was when Grégoire broke my
fingers.”

“We drove for
what seemed to be hours. They kept going on about a memory card. I
asked Lucien why he hadn’t just looked for himself. We were staying
in his mother’s house. He said that we were always gone with the
camera. He did check the computer, but all the photos on it were of
family and the wedding. He had almost been caught coming out of our
room by his mother, so he decided to simply get the card from me.
Finally, we parked, and I was dragged from the car. By then I was
blindfolded and gagged. I had absolutely no idea where were.”

“When we got
wherever their destination was, I was thrown into a chair and a
hood was put over my head. I heard Grégoire laugh. It’s not
something that I’d forget, as we did spend a year together and I
had heard him laugh many times.”

“Then I felt
pain. Someone, or something hit me, I can’t even tell you where,
all I know is that when I woke, I was on a cold, damp floor and I
heard voices. I’m sure that I passed out again, because there was
no one there when I woke again. The hood was still on, but
everything around me was so silent. I couldn’t hear a bird, not
even a cricket. I was certain that I was underground,
somewhere.”

By now, Sonya
was in tears. Hearing about how Bryan had been so abused was more
than upsetting, it was to say the least, totally offensive. Bryan
took her hand and squeezed it, and then smiled at her. “It’s okay,
Babe, it’s over now. Maybe you should go, while I continue.”

“No fuckin
way,” was her response.

“That’s my
sweetie,” he smiled back.

Only Mike
seemed to understand their banter, everyone else almost gasped in
surprise. “It’s okay guys, Sonya’s used the word before,” Bryan
smiled through his bruises.

“It was a long
time before anyone came back, and I had no way to know how much
time passed. There was a hood on my head and my hands were still
tied behind my back, so I couldn’t even look at my watch. It was
probably as dark as my hood was, so I played mind games. I counted,
I made up crosswords, I visualized paintings that I would paint if
I lived. That kind of stuff.”

“Finally, there
was a sound of the door unlocking. Guys were talking and laughing.
No one seemed to know that I was even there. There was a lot of
scraping and the sound of dollies being unloaded.”

“Then, there
was silence again. It was as if I wasn’t there. I must have passed
out again, because it seems like I came to and drifted off a couple
of times.”

“The next thing
I remember was a guy saying, 'Easy' and waking up to lots of
lights. Then, it was lights out again.” Bryan sighed. “And, that’s
all that I know.”

Silence
pervaded the room. It was a horrific story. Finally, Maurice spoke.
“These people were looking for a memory card. Do you know why?”

Bryan shrugged
his shoulders. “Not really! The only record that I have of my time
in Paris at the University is the photos of my paintings for the
Crusade project as Grégoire called it, and a party that we had at
the end of the project.”

“What did you
do with the memory card from those photos?” Maurice asked
casually.

“I have no
idea,” Bryan replied. “It’s probably somewhere in my office at the
art gallery. I have literally dozens of cards. I photograph all of
my paintings from various angles. I did take one of the memory
cards and put it into Sonya’s computer as a backup in case we took
too many photos in Paris. It is so very beautiful. Come to think of
it, the card said Paris, so it seemed perfect,” he smiled amid his
brilliant bruises.

“Does this look
familiar?” Maurice asked, turning his laptop to face Bryan.

“Yes! That is
one of the paintings that I did for Grégoire. He said we had a
client from the Middle East that was paying rather handsomely for a
series of contemporary, original paintings. As I was a scholarship
student, any extra money was a big bonus. I photographed the
paintings when they were done as I would any that I sold.”

“And the
party?” Maurice continued.

“Just a bunch
of the guys that were there when we had the wind up party. The only
one that I knew was Grégoire. I was leaving for home the next
morning, so I didn’t party hearty like they did. I left early,
maybe nine o’clock. My flight left at about six the next morning. I
barely had time to grab my luggage and head for the airport. I
checked in, went through security and crashed out in the waiting
area.”

BB stepped in.
“What about Lise?” he asked. “How did today happen?”

Mike took a
deep breath. “It seems rather fuzzy, to be honest. After she took
Sylvain to school, she came back into the house and went to her
room. I was in the library, looking up what tourists normally do in
Paris, when she came in all dressed in black. She took one look at
me, and it’s like her eyes glazed. She left and came back with a
gun. After that, we got into her car, and she told me how to drive
to the hospital. She knew the room number and kept the gun on me
till we got there. We entered the hospital room, then, you know
what happened.”

“You spoke of
your manoeuvre as a ‘body check’. Would you care to describe this
move?” asked Maurice curiously.

“A body check?”
Mike repeated, somewhat surprised. “It is a basic hockey move
against an opponent, not something that I would normally use in
real life, unless my life was in jeopardy. I knew that
Madame
Lalonde’s shoulder was hurting, so I just shoved her
into the wall against the shoulder that hurt. Normally, if I full
body checked someone her size into a wall, they couldn’t get up. My
intention was not to hurt her, but to disable her gun.”

“Ah,” replied
Maurice. “This move is involve in a sport?
Le hockey,
oui?”

“Yes,” Mike
smiled. “I coach little league hockey. I played in the minors for
years, as I’m not good enough for the big leagues. But, I do know
the game, and I am a very good coach.”

“I have a
question, many in fact,” Sonya piped in. “Why were these people
after Bryan for his paintings? He created them, was paid, and then
left. Why the backlash?”

“It is
confidential but not classified,” BB began cautiously. “A mission
called the Crusades was developed to help a pro-democratic movement
in one of the Middle Eastern countries to access modern age
technology. These paintings held in their frames, micro-thin wafers
which held technology that could be used to usher this country into
the modern age. The embargo on these countries denied them this
technology through the open market.”

“What Grégoire
and Lucien did, was to also include space-age weapons technology
for a terrorist faction. The mission was declared a disaster but
Lucien and Grégoire continued, despite the order to abort the
mission. They wanted the memory card for the photos of the people
at the party. We have it now, and have used it to advantage against
both of them.”

“The paintings
that you did, Bryan, were loaded with weapons technology, in wafers
hidden between the canvas and the inside of the stretchers. The
shipment was intercepted, but, they had only sent half. The other
half were in the storage room that you were kept prisoner. No one
knew that you were there except for Grégoire and Lucien. You would
have died if Steve and his crew had not found you.”

“Thank you,”
was all that Bryan could say as emotions took over. Sonya took his
hand and they both sat in silence, grateful that he was alive.

“Why was there
someone else in Bryan’s bed in the hospital?” Sonya requested.

Maurice’s face
flushed a little and he sighed. “We sent him back to BB house with
his guard. We think perhaps we can flush out some of other soldiers
in Lucien gang. We did not know that you and BB were come to get
him. It was gap in communication.”

Maurice stood.
“Thank you all. I have what is need to finish case.
Merci! Un
mot, BB
? (
Thank you! A word, BB?)”
he requested. BB rose
from his chair and left the room.

He was back
before anyone else had left. “A moment please. I would like to make
a proposal.”

BB had their
undivided attention. “Sonya and Bryan are in Paris to celebrate
their honeymoon and Mike is here so that we can get to know one
another better. The unfortunate circumstances of the past few days,
has put all of that on hold.”

“Steven is here
because our missions crossed, and he is considering a transfer to
MI6. As of this morning, I am back to retirement status, which is
where I wish to remain. This creates a position for him to fill
here.” Mimi’s smile grew with every word that BB said.

“I would like
to suggest that while Bryan is recovering from his injuries and
until Doctor Dupont gives him the okay to travel home, that they
take the opportunity to enjoy what Paris has to offer. I have Steve
on loan for another week, and I am suggesting he would be the
appropriate tour guide. Mimi may wish to join you if her schedule
permits.”

“In the
meantime, if Mike agrees, I have a villa in Tuscany that I’d like
to show him. The train ride at this time of year is lovely, and is
comfortable enough to allow us some privacy to converse. The villa
has a car to provide us with whatever transportation needs that we
might have once in Italy”

“Doctor Dupont
has assured me that Bryan will be cleared to travel in a week’s
time. Steven has agreed to extend his leave for another week. In
one week’s time, Steven and I can fly you back to Calgary, if you
so wish. I have a small jet that does not see nearly enough air
time. Mimi has agreed to join us. Does this plan sound agreeable to
everyone?” BB concluded. There was resounding agreement!

“I have one
question,” Sonya posed. “What happens to Sylvain?”

“He remains at
his school while we are away, something that he is excited about.
His grandmother had the foresight to put him into a boarding school
near here. She also signed over guardianship to me, in case Lucien
was able to somehow wiggle out of his charges. It would make things
more difficult for him to kidnap his son. They have a good
relationship and the boy loves his father, which is as it should
be.”