“Nothing I recognized, and the computer didn’t flag anyone else. The only name I noticed was Theodora Morgan. I don’t know if you remember her. She was married to a big deal luxury-brand guy, he and their son were kidnapped last year and both were killed over some mess with the delivery of the ransom. It sounds like everyone blew that one, and she lost a husband and a son.”

“I read about it,” Richmond remembered. “It sounded like everyone screwed up. Sad that they killed the boy especially. I don’t think they ever caught them. Russians, as I recall, but they sounded like amateurs from everything I read. I felt sorry for her too. So what’s new with you? Ready to retire yet?”

“I’ve got another sixteen years to go,” Mike said with a smile. “I’m not complaining. I like my job.”

“Yeah, me too. Except when everything goes wrong. It happens.”

“It does to us too, but it feels great when everyone gets it right and we get our guy.”

“It’s an absurd job for an adult, isn’t it?” Robert said, laughing. “It’s like playing cops and robbers for the rest of your life.” But the people were real, and some of them died, like Becky. Mike had never been afraid for his life. The risk just went with the job and was a hazard he had expected when he signed up. He didn’t mind his solitary life. He was busy, and facing armed gunmen seemed a lot less dangerous to him than falling in love.

He and Robert Richmond hung up a few minutes later, and Mike went to bed for a couple of hours, satisfied about Pierre de Vaumont. If he was up to any mischief while he was in New York, the tail would spot it and report it to Mike. They had all the bases covered. He was sound asleep five minutes later, as the flight took off in Paris, headed for New York.

Chapter 2

Once the flight took off from Paris/Charles de Gaulle, it was uneventful. There were four seats in first class, and only two were occupied, one by Pierre de Vaumont, the other by Theo Morgan. Each had chosen window seats, so they were far apart, and the two seats together between them were vacant. Theo paid no attention to Pierre and sat in her seat lost in thought. She hadn’t bothered to draw the curtains and didn’t really care if she had privacy. She had taken off her hat, but kept her dark glasses on for a long time. She didn’t look forbidding or unpleasant, but there was something about her demeanor that made it clear that she wasn’t open to conversation and didn’t want to be approached. The cabin crew offered her magazines, champagne, damp cloths to wash her hands, pajamas, a toiletry kit, and slippers, and she refused it all.