American Heroes Series - 01 - Resurrection (23 page)

By this time, Coral had stopped praying and was listening apprehensively to the conversation between Joseph and Nat.  Joseph, however, was apprehensive for another reason; Nat was unpredictable at best. He wouldn’t put it past the man to kill them all in the quest to fulfill his own agenda.  He didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Then maybe you should let the Cardinal decide what’s to be done,” he said. “Right now, we have a job to fulfill. I’ll call him and tell him we have the tooth and see what he wants to do about it.”

“No,” Nat said firmly. “I’ll call him.”

Joseph surrendered and walked away.  The plan for The Lucius Robe was growing by leaps and bounds; no longer was it only intended to crown the next Holy Roman Emperor and bring on a new age of Enlightenment.  The discovery of the tooth in the folds of the Robe now brought about an entirely new set of issues and possibilities.

Joseph wasn’t sure he liked the new twist.  Just as he was mulling over the ominous turn of events, the phone rang.  Nat picked it up and introduced himself to their contact at the Prefecture of Police for the City of Paris.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Cydney could hardly believe she was in Paris again.  She and Brad had come here on their honeymoon, but that had been sixteen years ago and she didn’t remember a lot about it.  They had spent too much time in their hotel room or in bars getting drunk. Also, she was concerned that returning to the place of her honeymoon might bring on some melancholy.  But there was none; the fact that she was there with Ethan brought about the excitement of seeing the city in a whole new light.

After going through Customs and baggage claim, they made their way outside to the curb where two shiny black town cars from the United States Embassy were waiting.  It was a brilliant day with a vibrant blue sky and puffy clouds scattering on a light breeze.  The temperature was in the mid seventies.

“Ah,” Cydney drew in a deep breath. “Paris in the spring.”

Ethan was helping is son with a suitcase with a malfunctioning wheel.  He leaned over and murmured to her. “You know what they say about Paris in the spring.”

She grinned at him but Tyler heard him also. “What do they say?” he asked.

Both Cydney and Ethan looked to him; Tyler was a very tall boy for fourteen; he was just at six feet tall and weighed in at about one hundred thirty pounds. Considering his father’s impressive height, it was no wonder he was as tall as he was.  Cydney hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him on the flight over, as she deliberately stayed out of the conversation and let Ethan and Tyler get caught up.  But now, there was time to talk to the light-haired, blue-eyed boy with his father’s good looks. 

“It just means that romance is in the air,” she told him. “Paris is called the City of Light and the City of Romance, among other things.”

Tyler cocked his head in much the same way his father did. “I told my History teacher that I was coming here on Spring Break and she told me to bring her back a report from the Louvre,” he said, looking at his father. “When are we going?”

“We’re going to make a quick stop at the hotel to drop everything off,” Ethan replied as the embassy driver began loading their baggage into the car.  “Then we need to head to the Prefecture of Police to pick up Cydney’s daughter.”

Tyler looked at Cydney again, who smiled at him. The attention from a lovely woman seemed to fluster him and he averted his gaze, taking his suitcase to the trunk of the car.  As Tyler helped the driver load baggage, Ethan turned to Cydney.

“I’m so glad he’s here,” he said softly. “Thanks for being such a good sport about it.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “Good sport?” she repeated. “Ethan, he’s your son. Of course he’s welcome to come. He seems like a very sweet kid.”

“He is,” Ethan gazed fondly at his lanky boy as the youth enthusiastically threw a suitcase into the trunk and nearly shot it over the side of the car. “He’s grown so much since I saw him last.”

“When was that?”

“Christmas,” Ethan replied, still watching his son. “The custody arrangement has him with me on major school breaks and all summer. The rest of the time he spends with his mother.”

With J.D. talking to the driver of the first car several feet away and the other two FBI agents already in the second car, Cydney dared to put her hand on Ethan’s back in a gentle, affectionate gesture.  No one was watching them and she had been dying to touch the man since they left Los Angeles. The entire flight had been full of discreet leg touches and the brush of a hand here and there.

“Why did his mother move to Washington?” she asked softly.

He looked at her. “She had a job offer from the State Department,” he said. “It was just something she felt she had to do and she wanted out of our marriage, anyway.”

“And you didn’t move to Washington, too, just to be near Tyler?”

“My job was rooted on the West Coast. I couldn’t go.”

Cydney sighed sadly, stroked his back one more time, and dropped her hand.

“Well, you’ve both done a good job raising him,” she said. “This will be a great opportunity for you to spend some quality time with him.”

His dark eyes glimmered at her. “I want to spend quality time with you, too.”

She smiled. “You will, don’t worry,” she nodded her head in Tyler’s direction. “But he comes first.”

Ethan’s eyes continued to glitter at her. “You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now.”

“You must be reading my mind.”

The trunk of the car slammed and Tyler leapt back over to his father, interrupted the increasingly heated discussion with Cydney.

“Dad,” he said. “Can I sit up front with the driver?”

“Sure,” Ethan told him.

Tyler bound into the passenger side of the front seat of the first car while Cydney, J.D. and Ethan piled into the back seat. Cydney sat between the two men and when everyone was settled, both cars took off from the curb and headed south towards the city.

The Charles du Gaulle Airport was located northeast of the City of Paris. Cydney sat between Ethan and J.D., watching the scenery go by and the French suburbs that were quaint and typically French.  Coming closer into the city, there was a good deal of graffiti and they passed through an area that was run down and dirty, but other than that, everything was delightful and beautiful as they moved into the City of Light.  

The decision had been made early on to drop everything off at the hotel first before heading to the Prefecture of Police, something that Cydney had initially resisted. She wanted to get to Olivia immediately, but J.D. wanted to drop their baggage and equipment off at the hotel first before making their way to the prefecture.  Olivia was in good hands and he had already received the first report of the girl’s testimony from the French police, so he didn’t see that a fifteen minute delay would be an issue.  Ethan tried to convince him otherwise but, not being a parent and given the fact that everything was under control, J.D. stuck to his guns. They were heading to the hotel first.

Therefore, Cydney had to fight down her anxiety as Ethan and J.D. made small talk as the landscape of France roared past the window.  Up in the front seat, Tyler announced when he could finally see the top of the Eiffel Tower off in the distance. The kid was so excited that it made everyone in the car grin as he announced soccer fields, tiny little cars, schools that didn’t look like anything he had ever seen before, and the landmark in the distance.

They finally entered the outskirts of the city proper and headed for their hotel. They were booked into the Hotel Crowne Plaza Paris Republic, a four star hotel near the St. Martin canal.  J.D. had booked single rooms for himself and the two other agents, but Ethan had upgraded with his travel points from his credit card and got a two bedroom suite for him, Cydney, Olivia and Tyler. 

 J.D. had protested initially and was again concerned with the perception of an agent on a job bunking up with someone he was supposed to be working with, but his protests eventually died because he knew it would do no good.  He knew the man was in love with Cydney. It wasn’t just lust or sympathy that fed his emotions; it was attraction and chemistry, pure and simple. J.D. couldn’t fight an affair of the heart.

Soon they entered the narrow Paris streets. The traffic was crazy and it looked as if it was a free-for-all, but there really was a method to the madness. The taxis were the worst, shooting in and out of traffic and cutting people off.  Cydney finally switched seats with Ethan so she could look out the window, pressed against the glass just as Tyler was.  The city was a magical sight. After a few more twists and turns, they were finally at the Crown Plaza Paris Republique.

It was an enormous hotel that looked like a French palace.  Her first glimpse of it towering against the blue sky was that of a fairy princess castle; it was magnificent. The two town cars pulled into the lavish drive and immediately, bell boys in dark suits were opening the trunks and removing the luggage.

 J.D. got out of the car, followed by Ethan, who held out his hand to Cydney and helped her from the car.  He took a moment to study her; even though she’d been traveling for about fifteen hours, she looked fantastic in her slender jeans and three inch heels.  She had a casual top on that clung to her shapely breasts and her hair looked great.  He realized he was extremely proud to have her with him and when they moved into the hotel, he took her casually by the elbow and escorted her inside.  Truth was, he just wanted to touch her.

“We’re just going to drop our luggage off and go straight to the police station, right?” Cydney clarified anxiously. “I need to get to my daughter as soon as possible.”

Ethan nodded. “I know,” he assured her. ”We’re going to check in, drop the luggage off, and go straight to the Prefecture. It’ll take us ten minutes at the most. I might leave Tyler here as well, in fact; there’s no reason for him to go with us.”

Cydney watched the boy race ahead. “He might wreck the place if you leave him here. Maybe we’d better take him.”

Ethan grinned in response. Tyler was rushing towards the Check In desk and Ethan had to call out a couple of times to slow him down. The young man waited long enough for them to catch up with him before promptly dropping his suitcase on his father’s foot and running off to the gift shop. The kid was all over the map. 

Ethan tried to check in and keep an eye on his son at the same time, but Cydney finally took pity on him and went to find Tyler.  She found the boy thumbing through some very expensive knick-knacks in the posh gift shop.

“There you are,” she said pleasantly. “Your dad was wondering where you’d run off to.”

Tyler glanced at her before returning to his treasure hunt. “I want to find my mom something,” he said. “I told her I’d bring her back a present.”

Cydney nodded in understanding. “Well,” she began to look at the necklaces. “What does she like? Jewelry?”

“Naw,” Tyler shook his head. “She has enough of that stuff. Her boyfriend buys her all sorts of stuff. I want to get her something he won’t think about buying her.”

“Okay,” Cydney turned around and started looking at the purses and very expensive designer outfits on the mannequins. “How about a wallet? Or a hat?”

Again, the boy shook his head. “I want to get her something nice.”

Cydney looked around a bit more and finally put her hands on her hips. “Why don’t we look around at other places,” she suggested. “We’re going to be doing a lot of sight-seeing and you can get her something nice from the Louvre or another place. Does she like perfume?”

Tyler stopped pawing through the merchandise and cocked his head thoughtfully. “I think so,” he ventured. “That might be something good to get her.”

“Also,  we’ll take a picture of you in front of the Eiffel Tower, blow it up, and you can give it to her in a nice frame.  She might like that.”

A smile formed on his lips. “Yeah,” he nodded in agreement. “That would be cool.”

Cydney smiled back. “Good,” she said. “Now, why don’t we go find your dad and go up to our room? I need to drop off the luggage so we can go get my daughter.”

Ethan was just coming to get them when the exited the swanky gift shop.  He eyed his son. “You didn’t spend your inheritance in there, did you?”

Tyler grinned; Cydney noticed that he looked just like his father when he did. “No,” he said much in a way that Olivia replied when annoyed. “I was just looking for something for Mom.”

“Did you find anything?”

The boy shook his head. “No,” he replied. “But Cydney said we could take a big picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower and put it in a frame for her.”

Ethan put his hand on his son’s shoulder and began to lead him back toward the front desk.  He looked over his shoulder at Cydney and winked at her.

“I think that’s a great idea,” he said.  “I’m sure your mom would like that.”

Tyler picked up his suitcase and his big duffle bag from where he had left it in the lobby, slinging the duffle bag over his shoulder.  Cydney collected her enormous suitcase while Ethan took Olivia’s bag plus his own two.  He grunted under the weight.

“I feel like a Sherpa,” he muttered.

Cydney smiled at him as they moved down the corridor to the elevator banks. The lobby was unbelievably gorgeous with its modern décor and expensive artwork.  J.D. and the other two agents were on the third floor while Ethan, Cydney and Tyler were on the eighth.  They got off the elevator and found their way down the lavish hall to a beautiful dark pair of double doors with stainless steel hardware. Ethan used his key card to open the door.

It was a beautiful modern suite of rooms. The kitchenette was immediately to the right and the living/dining room combination beyond.  To the left off the living room was a decorative entry attached to a bedroom.  As they walked into the living area, to their right was an identical entry leading into a second bedroom.

“Dibs!” Tyler bolted towards the bedroom on the right. “I get the bed near the window!”