09.10.2008 / EP. 38
In the National Interest
During the flight from Paris, Andreas had plenty of time to think. The Elysee and the Quai know, thought Andreas. Antoine has told his masters about Immortality. They know he’s pumping it into the American illicit drug scene and they want to use it to elevate France’s influence. Now, if that were true, what would the devious minds that govern France do? Andreas already had part of the answer, personal and incomplete; they required Andreas to visit Albany.
Andreas regarded Pam as a quintessential American success story. Ironically, she was also Antoine’s conduit into the U.S. drug market. The juxtaposition satisfied common sense, however, because many American fortunes had blossomed during Prohibition. They took advantage of bootlegging as they did any profitable enterprise. The legal status of the business didn’t matter, and it therefore wasn’t absurd that a major construction boss would profit from surreptitious forms of enterprise. Indeed, it was sanctioned by historical precedent.
For France, it was important that Carrie find nothing in the Quall burglary that undermined Pam. There was no reason to think she would, but the possibility explained Antoine’s decision to have an agent on the spot. Andreas’s instincts were on high alert. Antoine hadn’t been entirely candid. Perhaps he hadn’t been truthful at all. This didn’t distress Andreas. Truth was a flexible commodity for him and he couldn’t move enough pieces on the board simultaneously to follow the tactics Antoine deployed. Antoine was a master. And as in chess, the adept followed logical paths where common minds fumbled and sprawled. Logic trees were the key to Antoine’s success. In the homeland of strategy and manipulation, Cartesian France, Antoine was king. Andreas could only react quickly to circumstances as they unfolded. It was the best he could do and had always been good enough. Sometimes he suspected, hypothetically, if Antoine misread the script of events, it would be Andreas whose intuition would direct the cast.
Pam’s limousine picked Andreas up at the Albany airport. They met at her house. Andreas wasn’t at his best; he’d been travelling for twelve hours. He cut to the chase. “Yes,” Pam said. Her husband’s laboratory had geared up to produce Rejuvenation. She was sure they’d pay more for the licence. Her husband, Ernest, would hammer out details with Andreas.
The doorbell rang. Pam went to answer, saying, “We’ve had a prank caller.” Andreas stepped into the shadows. It was FedEx. Andreas watched carefully. Pam signed for the familiar red and white envelope and excused herself to open it. Andreas took the package out of her hand. “There’s a lot of money at stake,” he said. “Humour me.”
“Give it back,” Pam demanded. Hesitation and timidity weren’t prominent among her qualities.
“Are you expecting this?”
“I am. You’re on borrowed time.” Pam was furious.
Andreas brushed the envelope with an extensile rod from his pocket. “A metal detector,” he said. “Weight of a cigar.”
“Plastic explosives are everywhere.”
“Good for quarters on the beach. And bomb circuits up close. Your package isn’t a letter. Were you expecting something with wires around the outside?”
Pam said nothing.
Andreas moved the rod in concentric circles. “The wires twist together then snake inwards to a metal core.”
Pam said nothing.
“Twenty dollars say it’s designed to go off when opened. Call the return address.”
Pam checked the address and left the room. She returned moments later. “They sent a contract. Nothing else.”
“The wires around the outside spiral into where the envelope is thickest. Somebody intercepted the contract and substituted this gift.” Andreas nicked the package with a knife and peeled back the envelope. He showed Pam. “Explosive surrounded by blank paper. I don’t think that’s your contract.”
Pam still said nothing.
“It’s safe if we don’t open it at the edges. I’ll put it in my car.”
Pam stopped him. “How do I know you didn’t send it yourself?”
“I could have killed you anytime in the last half hour and walked out the door whistling.”
“Maybe you want my confidence and gratitude.”
“Maybe you believe what you see on television. I have a newsflash about conspiracy movies. They aren’t real and most of the world doesn’t watch them. That includes France.”
“Thanks for your help. Leave now; I have work to do. I’ll trace the envelope.”
“Think about it, Pam. The people who sent this burrowed inside a large company’s computer. They intercepted a package headed your way, just the right size, and substituted their own. The two look, smell and taste the same. Count on it. The explosive load will be right, and no amount of jostling or dropping will set it off. This is no disgruntled employee with a grade six education. You have a serious hunter on your trail with money to spend.”
“What should I do, in your opinion?”
“We should…” They talked for an hour about the bomb, Rejuvenation, illegal drugs and the future. Pam admitted that Andreas made sense. She wasn’t afraid to take advice. Through the years of hard bargaining, only one thing had made her anxious: that someone would tell her the truth and she wouldn’t recognize it. Pam and Andreas reached an agreement that satisfied them both.
