Immortal Beauty (12 page)

“I told you to keep that bird off the table Claire.” Marcus’ voice boomed from behind her. He joined her at the table and poured himself a cup of tea. Claire looked at him with supreme indifference and didn’t bother to look up or acknowledge his presence in any way. She looked back towards the trees and took a deep breath. “I want to thank you for what you’ve done today. You saved that young lady’s life and I am forever in your debt.” Marcus stirred his tea quietly. “I know this in not easy for you….being here.” She continued to gaze out now at the purple irises that sprouted everywhere. Claire’s mask crumpled a little and she allowed the tiniest of smiles to cross her lips.

“I did nothing of the sort.” Her voice was as light and pale as she was. “I just brought her to your house. The rest is up to you. I don’t see why you bother. You know this is only going to make her crazy again.” They both knew to whom Claire was referring. There was no need to mention her name.

“No Claire. You saved her. For God’s sake just take the credit.” Marcus sipped the chamomile tea.

“I don’t want credit.” Claire’s voice was stronger now, but still barely a whisper. “ I just want peace. I want out of this infernal city and I want to be far away from all of you.” A shadow crossed her face. She looked like a petulant doll with her lower lip pouting without apology.

“That’s not true. You can’t fool me Claire and I don’t buy this attitude of yours. I know you love us despite all of your actions that speak to the contrary.” He was trying to get some kind of rise out of her but she knew him far too well to play into his hands.

“Whatever Marcus. The sooner this is all over the sooner I can get back to my life. Get it? My life!” She sighed wistfully. Memories of the vast plains in Argentina were returning to her. She could not wait to stand again in the middle of nowhere with the splendor of nature all around her.

“Some life!” He scoffed. “You call that a life? I call it hiding.” He clumsily placed his cup on the dainty white saucer. “You are hiding from life Claire, not living it.”

“Oh goody, this argument again. I can’t wait to hash it out again for the millionth time.” The smile returned to her face. She stared at the black bird and concentrated her thoughts. The bird jumped up and down on the table knocking Marcus’ teacup off the edge and breaking it into a thousand little pieces. Magdalene squawked and flew off into the trees as if she knew she were in trouble.

“Very funny Claire!” This time it was Marcus who was smiling. “I’m glad to see that you haven’t lost your sense of humor. That would make you truly unbearable, as it is now, you’re just a figure of fun.” He threw his napkin at her.

“God, you’re such a child!” She threw it back at him. “What are you going to do about the other two?” This time she was very serious. Marcus’ face became suddenly more austere. He was thinking again. Thinking of what he was going to do. If he approached them he could lose them altogether and if he waited he could lose them just as easily. He might as well toss a coin. There was no logic involved and he felt he may as well toss a coin in the air and let the Fates decide, but he had had enough of fate intervening in their lives.

“I don’t know Claire, but I want you and Frankie to follow them. They are in very grave danger right now.”

“Wait a minute!” She almost shouted. “There is no way I am going to play Mata Hare again for you. I told you I’m finished!” She wiped her lips with the soft cream napkin.

“I want you to shadow them and make sure that no harm comes to them. That is all. I don’t want you to contact them or interfere with their activities. Until I know exactly what Celine is up to I don’t want to make a move. It would be premature and reckless.”

“Oh for God’s sake Marcus did it ever occur to you that because you are never reckless that you lose at this game every time? It wouldn’t kill you to take a risk, no pun intended. At the very least it would be so unexpected you might actually achieve your goal. Celine would never in a million years expect you to do something rash. It would throw her off completely don’t you see? Are you really that stupid?” This time there was a new softness in her voice as if she suddenly felt very sorry for him. A breeze lifted up from the garden carrying the scent of the intoxicating flowers over them causing them both to purvey the magnificent view before them. Marcus was smiling now. It was the first time she had ever called him stupid in all these years.

“You may have a point my dear. I never thought about it like that. Celine does know that I would never willingly break the truce and engage her in any kind of conflict. I’ve already stolen her secretary and the data on her hard drive. As soon as she realizes that something is amiss the element of surprise will be lost.” He looked at the pale beauty and couldn’t help but remember the first time they had met. Claire spoke up with conviction and actual interest for the first time in many years.

“She doesn’t know that Ellen is missing yet and she may never learn the reason why. She may think that the poor girl was homesick and left without a goodbye or that she fell in love with some impossible French man, and she certainly won’t know about the files. It’s not like you erased them or anything.” She looked up into the branches above trying to spot the black bird.

“She is clever. She’ll figure it out eventually.” Marcus sighed. He wished that Frankie was there but he had already sent him out to watch the young journalist. Celine had him laid out quite nicely at the Ritz and it would be very easy to monitor him without being seen. So far the young American showed no signs of anything remarkable. Maybe Celine was wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time she messed this up. “Claire I just want you and Magdalene to make sure that nothing happens to her. If my calculations are correct she will be coming home very soon.”
“And if they’re not?” Claire looked at him boldly for the first time.

“Then we may be too late already.” Marcus stood up and brushed his black linen suit and returned inside without so much as a nod in Claire’s direction. It would have been wasted on her anyway. She was not one for social etiquette. People found her very rude and disarming and that she couldn’t care less made her even more unlikable. In such a civilized culture she was practically a pariah. She finally got up from the table and felt the need to walk. She might as well check out the digs on Sasha White. She would stake out the place while Sasha was at work and then return at night to find out her routine. She had to admit that she liked this kind of work, skulking about in the background. It was a solitary endeavor and that was the kind she liked best. Besides she was curious about this Sasha. What if it really was her? Would they remember each other or would it al be too vague and too dreadful to remember all that had transpired so very long ago? She closed her eyes and summoned the bird. Magdalene glided effortlessly down to Claire and landed on her shoulder.

“C’mon old girl. We’ve got more work to do.” The bird screamed loudly three times as if protesting the word “old”. Claire walked down through the labyrinth of trees until she followed the slope down to the Seine at the back of the park. She passed through the weathered gate that swung outward onto the Rue Passy and found herself back in the city which she detested. She walked along the river toward the tower. It would be a good walk, probably an hour or so before she got to the address she memorized. At least there were few people down by the river bank. Soon enough she would be surrounded by the mass of humanity and Magdalene would have to hover from above, but for now the graceful bird sat proudly on her shoulder and looked around cautiously as if she were used to danger.

NIGHTMARE

Taylor walked into his room at the Ritz. Everything was perfectly made up from the bed to the sitting room to the bathroom. This was truly luxury on an old world scale. It was truly nice to have invisible people behind the scenes taking care of every little detail. He had spent a somewhat productive day poking around Celgen and talking to almost everyone he met there. The trouble was nobody seemed too keen to talk to him. They answered most of his questions with “I don’t know” and hurried back to their duties. Sasha White had been the nicest of them all but she really didn’t seem to know too much about the new launch coming up. It was all very secretive. Maybe they were afraid to betray the company with such a huge campaign just around the corner. He couldn’t blame them and soon realized that any real information was going to have to come from Celine herself. He looked around to see where his laptop was. He was going to have to hit the web to do some research of his own and had the feeling that he was going to be up all night burning the midnight oil. That was alright with him and he looked around and the gold and white wallpaper and the ornate desk made of mahogany in an old empire style and was grateful once again for such digs. Normally he would be cramped in a bus or plane or the smallest corner of some lobby to work on a story when he was on the road. He had never had it this good and realized with a little smile that he most likely never would again and he should take full advantage of this little bone that life had thrown him. He still had one more day before the interview and that gave him plenty of time to bone up on his subject. Sasha promised to meet him for dinner following his interview with Celine. It seemed she had other plans for tonight and he was disappointed but knew that he would rather get all of this work out of the way so he could focus on the beautiful American girl he had the good fortune of running into. It would be much better if his mind wasn’t obsessing about the article. If only he could get rid of his thirst. He walked to the small refrigerator and found it filled with unmarked glass bottles of clear liquid. There was a note on one of the bottles.

“Taylor, I took the liberty of sending round my favorite water. Enjoy! Celine D’Aumont”

Thank God! He could not stop thinking about how clear and delicious that water was. It was so strange but it was all he wanted to drink since this afternoon and now here was a small supply of it just for him. He reached in and grabbed one of the bottles which was thoroughly chilled. He removed the top and took a long deep swig. It was delicious. He almost felt giddy and absolutely revitalized. It must be some sort of European mineral water full of all sorts of good things for the body. He took another drink and opened his computer. He was grateful for internet service in the room and shuddered at the thought of his awful French and negotiating his way around an internet café. He took out a pad of paper from his luggage and a few silver pens. He was about to order room service when he realized he wasn’t hungry. For now the water would suffice. He could always call later when he did get hungry. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast and normally he would be famished by now but he thought it was all because his body was screwed up from the insufferable jet lag which had him dehydrated and dreaming of water all day. He sat down at the beautiful wooden dessk and began to get tow work. He needed any and all information concerning Celgen. He was in luck as there were thousands of articles on the web when he typed the company name. Celgen was actually an acronym for cellular genetics. The company prided itself on genetically manipulated cells in many of it’s beauty products. Enhanced collagen and superior peptides produced rapidly visible results in the fight against time. They were already one of the top competitors in the business. What could be more thrilling than that? Whatever they were planning to launch must be some huge breakthrough. There was no word about the new product. None of the sights had any information on the upcoming campaign. That was strange to him as normally a company sends word out months before to create the buzz that is so necessary in marketing and sales. It was free publicity. Why the big secret? Fear of competition? He couldn’t believe that the woman he had met earlier today was afraid of anything. This would be a good question for his interview. His analytical mind began to whirr. He started probing the more obscure sites for Celgen looking for any negative press. The light began to change and he turned on the gorgeous tiffany lamp on the desk and wondered if it were real. Finally after about two hours later when all of Paris was bathed in the gray darkness that make it’s evenings so very romantic he stumbled upon something very interesting.

A few months earlier there was a protest outside the Celgen labs in Orleans, a city not too far south of Paris. It seems that some animal rights group was against some genetic testing that Celgen was doing on their property. They were specifically targeting something called Chimera and he read on completely absorbed in this new information. Chimera was the egg of some hybrid animal. Apparently scientists could manipulate the DNA of any animal and combine it with other animals on the cellular level. They were never allowed to grow beyond a certain stage of development which was usually only a week or two. Somewhere in China they had successfully combined human and pig embryonic cells and extracted the new DNA from cells for medical applications. It was all very creepy and something out of a science fiction story. Humans and pigs combined? Apparently the new DNA could fight off human disease and conditions that previously stumped the scientific community. Supposedly it was all in the very early stages of development and as of yet there were no global regulations for such new technology. Why was Celgen involved in Chimera research? He smiled and wrote this down as the next question he would ask Celine tomorrow. What hybrid could be relevant to looking younger? He didn’t know enough science to even begin to formulate an answer and he looked forward to hearing it from Celine herself at the interview. He wanted to talk to Sasha before his meeting if at all possible. He would make sure he got to the company fairly early before she got busy with her own work. She might have some answers for him and may even know something about the protest outside the labs in Orleans. Of course there were no names mentioned in the article and there was only a picture of the entrance to the facility. Apparently the activists were hauled away by security guards before a scandal broke out. It was only about an hour from Paris by train. It couldn’t hurt to look into it. He was jolted by the sound of a knock at his door. His heart mumped in his chest. He was so engrossed in his research that he had forgotten everything else.