I braced for the worst. Bonaparte’s command of the language of the drill field was legendary. But, after glowering, he shook his head 3 3 2
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in grudging wonder. “I should have guessed. Have you indeed discovered the secret of immortality, Monsieur Gage?”
“I’m just persistent.”
“So you follow me for two thousand miles, set fire to a royal palace, and leave my firemen to find two bodies in the ashes?”
“We were preventing worse things from happening, I assure you.”
“General, he owes me rent!” Madame Durrell piped up.
“I would prefer you refer to me as first consul, madame, a post to which I was elected at two o’clock this morning. And how much does he owe you?”
We could see her calculating, wondering how far she dared inflate the true total. “One hundred livres,” she finally tried. When no one erupted at this absurdity, she added, “With fifty, for interest.”
“Madame,” Napoleon said, “Were you the one who sounded the alarm?”
Durrell puffed herself up. “I was.”
“Then another fifty livres as a reward for that, as a gift from the government.” He turned. “Berthier, count out two hundred for this gallant woman.”
“Yes, General. I mean Consul.”
Madame Durrell beamed.
“But you must never breathe a word of this to anyone,” Bonaparte lectured her. “What has gone on here tonight involves the security of France, and our nation’s fortunes rely on your discretion and courage.
Can you handle such a burden, madame?”
“For two hundred livres I can.”
“Excellent. You are a true patriot.” His aide pulled her away to count out some money, and the new ruler of France turned back to me. “The bodies were burned beyond recognition. Can you identify them to me, Monsieur Gage?”
“One is Count Silano. It seems we could not renew our partnership.”
“I see.” He tapped his foot. “And the second?”
“An old Egyptian friend named Omar. He saved our lives, I think.” Bonaparte sighed. “And the book?”
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“A victim of the same conflagration, I’m afraid.”
“Was it? Search them.” And we were searched, roughly, but there was nothing to be found. A soldier confiscated my rifle yet again.
“So you betrayed me to the end.” He peered up at the smoke beginning to dissipate, frowning like a landlord at a leak. “Well, I have no need of the book any longer, given that I have France. You should watch what I do with her.”
“I’m sure you’ll not sit still.”
“Unfortunately, you are long overdue to be shot, and France will be safer when that happens. Having left it to others before this night, without success, I think I’ll tend to it myself. The Tuileries Gardens are as good a place as any.”
“Napoleon!” Astiza pleaded.
“You will not miss him, madame. I am going to shoot you too. And your jailer, if I can find him.”
“I think he’s looking for treasure in the crypts of Notre Dame,” I said. “Don’t blame him. He’s a simple man with imagination, the only jailer I ever liked.”
“That idiot lost Sidney Smith from Temple Prison too,” Napoleon grumbled. “Whom I then had to face at Acre.”
“Yes, General. But his tales encouraged all of us to keep looking for your book.”
“Then I’ll shoot you twice, to make up for him.” We were marched outside. Wisps of smoke were rising into a predawn gray sky. Once more I was much the worse for wear—exhausted, slashed by a rapier, scraped raw to make friction, and sleepless. If I truly have the devil’s luck, I pity the devil.
Bonaparte stood us up against a decorative wall, the season having taken most of the flowers. It is there in an ominous November dawn that my story should end: Napoleon master, the book gone, my love doomed. We were too exhausted to even beg. Muskets were raised and hammers drawn back.
Here we go again, I thought.
And then came a sharp command. “Wait.”
I’d closed my eyes—I’d had quite enough of staring down musket 3 3 4
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barrels at Jaffa—and heard the crunch of boots on pea gravel as Napoleon came over. What now? I opened them warily.
“You’re telling the truth about the book, aren’t you Gage?”
“It’s gone, General. I mean, First Consul. Burned.”
“It did work, you know. Parts of it. You can put men under a spell and get them to agree to extraordinary things. It’s a criminal waste what you’ve done, American.”
“No man should be able to enchant another.”
“I despise you, Gage, but I’m impressed by you as well. You’re a survivor, like me. An opportunist, like me. And even an intellectual like me, in your own odd way. I don’t need magic when I have the state. So what would you do if I let you go?”
“Let me go? You’ll excuse that I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.”
“My position has changed. I am France. I can’t indulge in petty revenge, I must think for millions. There will be an election next year in your United States, and I need help improving relations. You’re aware our two nations have been dueling at sea?”
“Most unfortunate.”
“Gage, I need an envoy in the Americas who can think on his feet. France has interests in the Caribbean and Louisiana, and we’ve not given up hope of recovering Canada. There are strange reports of artifacts in the west that might interest a frontiersman like you. Our nations can be enemies, or we can help each other as we did during your revolution. You know me as well as anyone. I want you to go to your new capital, the one they call Washington, or Columbia, and explore some ideas for me.”
I looked beyond him at the line of executioners. “An envoy?”
“Like Franklin, explaining each nation to the other.” The soldiers grounded their arms. “Delighted, I’m sure.” I coughed.
“We’ll waive the charge of murder against you and overlook this fiasco with Silano. Fascinating man, but I never trusted him. Never.” That’s not what I remembered, but there was a limit to argument with Napoleon. I felt life returning to my extremities. “And?” I nodded toward Astiza.
“Yes, yes, you’re as bewitched by her as I am with Josephine. Any t h e
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man can see that, and God pity us both! Go with Astiza, see what you can learn, and remember—you owe me two hundred livres!” I smiled as affably as possible. “If I can get my rifle back.”
“Done. But we’ll confiscate your ammunition, I think, until I’m well out of range.” As they handed back my empty long rifle, he turned and contemplated the palace. “My government will begin in the Luxembourg, of course. But I’ve a mind this could be my home.
Your fire is an excuse to start remodeling: This very morning!”
“How fortunate I could be of assistance.”
“You realize that it’s because your character is so empty that it’s not worth the bullets to kill you?”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“And that France and America share the same interests against perfidious Britain?”
“England does have a way of being overbearing at times.”
“I don’t trust you either, Gage. You’re a rascal. But work with me and maybe something will come of it. You’ve yet to make your fortune, you know.”
“I’m well aware of that, First Consul. After nearly two years of adventure, I don’t have a penny to my name.”
“I can be generous to friends. So. My aides will find you a hotel, well away from that horrid landlady of yours. What a Medusa! I’ll start you on a small allowance and count on you not to risk it at cards.
We’ll dock some until I get my livres back, of course.” I sighed. “Of course.”
“And you, lady?” he addressed Astiza. “Are you ready to see America?”
She’d looked troubled as we talked. Now, she hesitated and then slowly, sadly, shook her head. “No, Consul.”