Secrets (16 page)

“Those in
charge at the school are aware of our fear of a kidnapping, and
precautions have been taken. When I return from Canada, I shall
have him live here. I was sent to a boarding school as a child and
it is not an ideal situation. It was a matter of out of sight, out
of mind, and it would be cruel to leave him alone with his father’s
very life in question and with his grandmother’s breakdown.” A
cloud of bad memories passed over his face.

“If Mike has no
objection, we can leave for Italy in two and a half hours. The
dining car has exceptional food,” he declared.

“Well then,”
Mike smiled, “I will get packed! I’m looking forward to the trip.
”

He left the
dining room and climbed the stairs to his room. A villa in Tuscany?
A private jet? He and his father did indeed, have a great deal to
get to know about one another he thought, as he threw clothes into
his suitcase. Was that not why he had taken this trip to Paris?
Presumably, they would be returning to the house, but in case they
didn’t, he packed everything.

Sonya helped
Bryan up the stairs at a pace that he could handle. He was
physically tired, that she could easily see. Manoeuvring him into
bed, she pulled the covers over him and smiled. “Get some sleep!”
she ordered, kissing his cheek. “Do you have any pain medication to
take?”

“Yeah,” he
grunted as he struggled to retrieve a pill bottle from his pants
pocket with his left hand.

Reading the
label, Sonya took out two pills, placed them in Bryan’s hand and
poured a glass of water. “Take them,” she demanded. “I’ll stay here
until you fall asleep. Then I’ll be in the library with my
computer, so don’t panic if I’m not here. I’ll check in on you
after two hours.”

Bryan smiled
sweetly. “Thanks, Babe. Love you.” His eyes began to close.

“Love you too,”
Sonya replied, kissing his forehead. He was already asleep.

Collecting her
laptop and a note pad, Sonya closed the bedroom door and went
downstairs to the library. It was such a wonderful room! She though
that perhaps it was her favourite in the entire house, all of which
was in her humble opinion, exquisite.

The library was
lined with dark cherry wood bookshelves, which displayed leather
bound books and
objet d’art
from all over the world.
Overstuffed chairs were set into conversation groups and a round
oak table was surrounded by maroon leather chairs, at the ready for
a meeting or a poker game.

Surprisingly,
Sonya found the library already occupied. “Sorry,” she spoke when
she noted that Mimi was already ensconced in one of the overstuffed
chairs.

“Come in,” Mimi
smiled. “I am kill time. BB and Steven ‘talk!'” She rolled her
eyes.

Sonya laughed.
It felt good to laugh again. “Yes, they all seem to be the same.
You and Steve seem to be close. Have you been friends a long time?”
she asked curiously.

A slow smile
spread across Mimi’s pretty face. “Almost long. We meet many times
because BB and Maurice have business and Steven come sometime. We
begin to date, maybe three or four month ago, when he return from
Canada, the first time. His brother, John and wife, Sara, they make
big impression on him. He say that is time that he live life for
himself, like Sara tell him. Me, I am happy what he decide.”

“It looks to me
like he is a happy man as well,” Sonya declared. “You must be very
pleased that he will move to Paris.”

Mimi shrugged.
“Yes that he will be here,
non
that at time, the business
can be dangerous.”

“But you were
part of that operation!” Sonya declared. “You are not a spy?”

Laughter
tinkled. “
Moi? Non non!
Sometime, I gather information, and
help with a mission, but I have my own business.
La joie de
vivre
, I like more! These people, they are too serious all the
time! Maurice and Steven as well.”

“So what
happens when Steve begins to work here in Paris? Will he work for
Maurice?”

“No,” Steve’s
voice interjected as he walked into the room. “I am pursuing other
options. Somehow, I don’t think cloak and dagger is an ideal mix
for good family relationships.”

“I thought that
BB said that you would be here because he’s retiring,” Sonya
stated.

Steve took a
deep breath. “We have had several heart-to-hearts over the past few
days. There are many options here in Paris, but MI6 isn’t, I’m
afraid, one that I will choose. BB knows that. It was a bit of
wishful thinking on his part, and his way of putting in his seal of
approval.”

Bryan and Sonya
dined in the kitchen that night. Steve and Mimi had gone to do
whatever it was that they had planned, and BB and Mike had set off
on their train trip to Italy. It seemed strange to be all alone
after being completely surrounded by people for the past few
days.

“This is nice,
don’t you think?” Sonya reflected as she sipped on her glass of
wine. “Who would have thought three days ago, that we’d be sitting
in this kitchen having a romantic dinner in BB’s beautiful
home?”

“Not me!” Bryan
declared immediately. “I certainly didn’t think so before I was
rescued. It was the scariest time of my life. I didn’t know where I
was, and there was absolutely no light at all. I could think about
was I wouldn’t see you again.”

He took a sip
of his wine and then twirled his glass thoughtfully. “When I was
conscious, it gave me lots of time to think. It’s interesting what
comes to mind. It sure made me clear the clutter out of my thoughts
and concentrate on what was most important to me.”

“Sonya, I’m so
sorry to have gotten you into all of this. I thought that Paris
would be a really romantic and memorable honeymoon. It certainly is
unforgettable, but not in the way that I had intended.”

This statement
took Sonya by surprise. “Honey, you had no idea whatsoever, that
this would happen! And I thought that Paris would be a wonderful
place for our honeymoon as well. Do you remember when Sara and Ivan
were held hostage by that guy named Igor? OMG! Igor!”

“What’s an
Igor?” Bryan asked completely befuddled by his wife’s reaction.

“Boy, we have a
lot to catch up on! When you were kidnapped, Sylvain and I were
almost hysterical. We went rushing out onto the road and
Madame
Lalonde came out to see what we were doing. I
insisted in reporting it to the police, which we finally did, but
she was very reluctant.”

“Now, I know
that she was going to report it to BB, but at the time, I was
so
pissed that she wasn’t as upset as I was. When we got
back from the
arrondissement,
she checked out every corner
of the house and then called someone on her cell. The only word
that I recognized was ‘wizard’. She was probably calling BB or
Maurice now that I think about it in retrospect.”

“So, I packed
up the computer, our passports, your camera and a few essentials
into my tote bag, and when
Madame
Lalonde went out to do
some errands, I tried to slip out. Sylvain caught me and insisted
on coming along as well.”

“It was a
really good thing that he did, because Madame Lalonde returned home
to find two men pulling her house apart looking for a memory card!
They roughed her up and dislocated her arm looking for this damn
card! And she has spy training! Sylvain and I would have been no
match for them.”

“In the
meantime, Sylvain and I took a taxi to the
Mercure
where
Mike and Steve were staying, because I didn’t think that the police
believed us. BB was there and before we knew it, he drove us back
to Madame Lalonde’s, where the police were already investigating
the break in. After being treated at the hospital, Madame Lalonde
joined us here, at BB’s.”

“By us, you
mean everyone? Mike included?” Bryan qualified.

“Yes, everyone!
BB was being chauffeured by Maurice! That was their cover, can you
believe it? We became part of a cloak and dagger operation which
involved three spy agencies! Anyway, I was frantic to find you, so
when I was looking for clues, I opened the memory card in the
computer. I knew they were your paintings, even if they weren’t
your usual style. I thought it might be important, so I substituted
it for the mp3 card in my cell phone to keep it safe.”

“I sent you a
text asking how you were and finally got an answer. It wasn’t you
texting, I was sure about that because it just didn’t sound like
you, so I tried to sneak out of the house to get to the
Eiffel
Tower, ostensibly to meet you
. Madame
Lalonde
caught me, but she convinced me to let her come too because Lucien
was also kidnapped! It seems like I’m a failure at sneaking out of
anywhere!” By now Sonya was on a roll, and took another swallow of
her wine.

“
Madame
Lalonde went too?” Bryan asked. “She was injured, what could she
do?”

“For one, she
got Steve’s car keys. In hindsight, she told them all what was
going on, because she is one of them – a retired one of them!”
Sonya replied. “Can you believe that? I sure did when I saw her in
action.”

“Whoa, hold on
now!
Madame
Lalonde was a spy? So how come Lucien was a bad
guy, or do you know?”  Bryan asked, rubbing his bruised
chin.

Swizzling her
wine, Sonya hesitated. “No idea why. At least, BB and Maurice
didn’t say why. He was working for Maurice too, but somehow his
loyalty shifted. Money perhaps, I don’t know. They never told
us.”

Bryan was
sitting back, listening and sipping on his wine now, interested in
learning the rest of what had happened while he had been all alone
in the dark. His wife didn’t disappoint him.

“Anyway,
Madame
Lalonde directed me and I drove to the tower and
parked. Then, it seemed all hell broke loose. Along came Steve and
Mike on a motorbike, both of them dressed in black. BB’s Mercedes
went by and before I knew it, BB was handing me an earpiece and a
receiver and demanding that I obey his orders to run if he issued
them. Well, I wasn’t going to refuse! Steve and Mimi went off in
different directions, both in black and wearing balaclavas.”

“I approached
the position that BB directed, and lo and behold, just as he
advised, that swine Grégoire, materialized out of the dark. What a
gross pig! Anyway, he pulled a gun on me, and BB told me in my
earpiece that I was covered and that when I got to the lamp post, I
was to turn right and run as fast as possible to the car.”

“And I did! I
ran as fast as I have ever run in my entire life. Mid-stride, some
big guy picked me up and continued running and then and took me
between two buildings. He put me down and someone pulled a
balaclava over my head. I was so mad! I was ready to nail them, or
at least land a judo chop or two! Mike and Madame Lalonde stopped
me and advised me that my hair was too bright and that we had to
remain unseen and to keep the balaclava on my head.

“It was then,
that we looked back at the lamp post. Grégoire was on the ground
and a really, really big guy was standing over him, arguing with
Steve. I could hear them because I still had the earpiece. Finally,
BB asked Steve to come over to where we were, and the big guy
picked up Grégoire like he was nothing, which he is, and walked
away with him.”

“Within ten
minutes they had a location where you were being held. The guy’s
name was
Igor
! I think it’s the same one that was in Johnny
and Sara’s house, because he told BB that he owed Hunter and Toth
and that now his debt was paid.”

“We all rushed
to the university, and I heard all of the activity on the earpiece,
which BB forgot I still had. The first guard was taken out and when
they got the second guard, they figured the second door was booby
trapped."

"Something
happened that made a huge noise and it was then, that both
Madame
Lalonde who also had an earpiece, and I heard Lucien
say that his employers would be delighted to have both The Wizard
and his Sorcerer captive. BB and Maurice! That’s when
Madame
Lalonde started to cry. I didn’t recognize Maurice's voice, but she
did!”

Sonya paused
for a sip of wine and to reflect on how shocked Madame Lalonde had
been.

“So what
happened then?” Bryan asked. This was all such a revelation to him.
He had no idea that all of this had happened while he had been
captive.

Sonya took a
deep breath. “Then Igor stepped in again to help Maurice and BB. I
don’t know what he did to Lucien, but it was effective. They all
rushed back to the university to get the door open. By then, they
knew that it was only you in there. Steve ordered lights and every
corner searched. When I heard him say that they had found you, I
thought my heart would stop.”

The horror of
those last few moments came crashing back on Sonya, and tears began
to spill. “It was awful hearing all that was going on, and not
being able to do anything about it. Steve came and said that you
were alive, and being checked out by a doctor. We were rushed back
here. I was driven to the hospital the next morning. And the rest,
you know.”

Bryan stood and
hugged his wife as tightly as his bruised body would allow. “Thanks
for coming to save me,” was all he was able to articulate, as his
emotions overcame him.

BB had been
absolutely correct; the train car was luxurious, the food was
excellent and although each had a private sleeping room/sitting
room, it was a good place to begin to get to know each other.

At first it had
been incredibly awkward. During the ‘cloak and dagger’ stuff as
Mike had begun to think of the past few days, they had been
surrounded by people. First, at their initial lunch meeting and
until they left BB’s lovely home in Paris. They didn’t know one
another, and finding some common ground other than the ‘stuff’ was
uncomfortable. They were essentially strangers. What did one say to
a stranger that was your father? What did one say to a stranger
that was your son?