“Yes … this is why we want you to be with us for this,” the man with the flat accent said. “ If he sees you with us, he may reconsider whatever hit he’d planned for you, and then maybe we can renegotiate with him an agreement that will ensure no one moves on you, even if you show up in Europe.”

“Will that be enough?” Bette asked.

“We all hope so.”

For some reason, Bette felt the move could blow up in their faces.  But she had to consider one thing.

 There was an undeniable tactical advantage to this move, and, amongst other things Bette assessed at the very least this first encounter with him would be from a position of strength – this group probably had has much resources as Peter had, and would most likely be able to prepare meticulously for this confrontation. She would never have been able to pull that together on her own.  If he was smart, he wouldn’t try to pull anything in such circumstances.

Yes, she told herself, she had to go to Cannes, just as they’d suggested. 

Like scorpions in a bottle, they’d both have their stingers at the ready.

“Ok, I’ll go,” Bette said.

“We’ll see you here on Sunday, then,”  the man with the British accent said.  Then they all clicked off.

Bette slowly dropped her phone back into her pants pocket, blew out a breath that she suddenly realized she’d been holding, and wiped her suddenly clammy hands on the sides of her pants.

 Round one was coming.  Yes, she was bringing reinforcements in for this.  But she needed her own people around her, too. 

 Who?

 Bette thumbed the glass screen, and tapped the phone icon.  She selected a name from it.

“Brom,” she said quietly.  “I know I’m breaking protocol, but I need to refresh my memory about that magazine article we’d read a few months ago.”

“I’ll call you back in five,” Brom responded coolly as he checked his watch.  He rose from the table where he’d just been seated in, finally about to have dinner with Luke, his brother.  He saw it was past midnight where Bette was.  Something must have happened.  He signaled to Luke that it was Bette on the line.

Bette broke out her own copy of the article and began writing out what she wanted to tell him, based on the words they’d pre agreed they could use when they needed to communicate with each other, but either one felt the call could be monitored.  Once they’d used this article, Bette would burn her copy, and Brom would burn his.

Guided by the article, she wrote down a sequence of sentences that embedded what she wanted to tell Brom, “I need you to fly to Cannes asap.  Text me when you get there, and then I’ll give you a time to meet me where the  “Superyacht A1” is docked.”

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