3. Visit Rue de Rivoli
“Wow! It’s Wonder Woman, Pap,” exclaimed a
boy in the crowd, “I think she’s after that bald headed man with the gun.”
“You’re right, Son. Got to hand it to them,
Walt Disney has pulled out all stops with the entertainment here. Those rounds,
he’s firing, look so authentic the way they’re exploding off her bracelets.”
“He’s dropped the gun and is making a run for
it.”
“This will be interesting, looks like she’s
going to lasso him. I’d like to see her pull this off from that distance. Way
to go, Wonder Woman! I don’t know if there are too many fellas back home who could
have done that, first time. These guys must rehearse like crazy...”
“I think those guards are handcuffing him. He
looked really angry, Pap!”
“They’re all actors, Son. It was all part of
the show.”
“Hey, where’s Wonder Woman gone?”
“I don’t know, Son, but let’s go and find
your mam…”
Back in the subterranean headquarters, Diana
and Chris watched their prisoner be secured to his cell seat, from behind a one
way window.
“He’s Gregori Egorov,” Diana informed, “Another
former KGB agent, now, supposedly, working as a rigger at St Petersburg’s Civic
Circus.”
“Spy or no spy, this guy tried to kill me –
now it’s payback time.”
Diana’s eyes darted up to their lids, “Now is
not a time for an emotional vendetta-”
“Emotional vendetta?” Dalton angrily interrupted,
“I’d be lying dead, if it weren’t for Wonder Woman.”
She took his arm, “Listen, Chris, if the
Russians are holding Karen Harris, we could exchange Egorov for her.”
“Yeah, I thought of that too,” admitted
Dalton, loosening his collar.
“Why don’t we go up to the cabin office and see
what Lavoie has learned, which is so precious they wanted him dead for it,” she
suggested.
Dalton reluctantly agreed. “By the way,” he
said, in the elevator, “how did you get to work with Wonder Woman?”
“You might say, she saved my life a long time
ago and she’s been helping me out ever since.”
“She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever
seen.”
“Chris, you say that to every attractive woman,”
Diana asserted with a wry smile.
“No, with Wonder Woman’s it’s different. I
mean, man, how does she do all those amazing things? Who is she and where does
she come from? Is she even human? I’ve got to find out…”
“Well, right now let’s concentrate on Karen,”
redirected Diana, as they entered the rather inconspicuous cabin office in the theme
park.
Two US agents protecting Pierre Lavoie were
dismissed. The private detective appeared surprisingly relaxed for somebody who
had been shot by a hit man, no less than twenty minutes ago.
“Non,
non, non,” he insisted, striding up and down the room, “I’m quite all
right. We French are used to dealing with adversity. Just as you Americans are
used to opposing the Russians – and when a man is too familiar with something –
he can see nothing else.”
“What are you saying, Lavoie?” asked Dalton.
“When you hired me, Chris, I assumed it was
because you wanted an outsider’s take on the subject. Is that not correct?”
“It sure wasn’t for your straight talking,
Pierre. What’s the story?”
“The story, at this very moment, is arriving
by special courier. I had hoped to already have the package with me, but there
was an unavoidable delay – he was being followed.”
“In that case, we should accompany you to
pick up this parcel, Mr Lavoie,” suggested Diana.
At that second Dalton received a call on his
cell phone. The call left him with an ambivalent look of relief and concern.
“You’ll have to go without me, Diana,” he
apprised, “The Russians want to negotiate an exchange between Egorov and
Karen.”
In many ways, Diana may have preferred to have
stayed for the hostage developments, rather than accompany Lavoie to his mail, but
her priority, for the moment, had to be preventing the Russians finishing what
Egorov had attempted. So she drove Pierre to the rendezvous on Rue de Rivoli in
her new black Corvette ZR1, which had been specially adapted for IADC field
operatives.
“You better wait inside,” instructed Diana,
parking near the entrance to the Louvre museum. “If anybody does take pot shots
at you again, believe me, you’re well protected in this vehicle.”
“Agent Prince!” gasped the investigator, “We
French have still got our pride. Do you really think I’m going to hide in this
vehicle and let a beautiful lady take all risk on my behalf? Non! I will face my enemy head on, like
a man.”
Pierre made his way over to the grand
entrance to the Louvre. Diana decided to browse the boutiques opposite, while checking
on the detective between the overarching pillars encompassing the sidewalk’s
stores. Glancing across, she saw Lavoie receive a parcel from a motorcycle courier,
wearing a helmet. As the detective crossed the road, a large bird looped around
his head, causing the man to duck.
“What was it?" asked the startled investigator,
on returning to Diana.
“I don’t know, Pierre” she said, grabbing his
arm, “But I think we should get out of here.”
A mass of screams stopped them cold. They
turned to see pedestrians spilling out onto the road. A large Andean condor had
entered the covered sidewalk; two more glided in between the arches; the
squawking vultures terrified the people away. They needn’t have feared for
themselves, as all six beady eyes were fixed on Pierre Lavoie.
Panicked into action, the PI took cover
inside a boutique. Only the owners had locked the doors when the disturbance
began. Poor Lavoie found himself trapped in the shop’s doorway as the vultures
descended on their prey.
In the ensuing chaos Miss Prince could be
seen having the sudden urge to visit a toilette publiques. Moments later, the
shimmering embodiment of Wonder Woman stood in front of the boutique where the
condors’ razor sharp talons had already landed on the cowering detective.
“What are you all doing?” she gently inquired.
It appeared the question was enough to make the
vultures take notice. Maybe, it was the rays of light refracting from the super-heroine’s
belt and bracelets. Perhaps, it was the sight of her long powerful legs,
instinctively, telling them they were in the presence of a greater being. Or
could it have been the expression of love and superiority on her flawless
features that willed the birds to bow their heads and hop away from their
captive?
Diana knelt down and took the package out of
Lavoie’s bloody hands. “We’ll get you to a hospital,” she assured.
Using one of her pointed red immaculately painted nails,
Wonder Woman slit the parcel open and dropped a small metal bean-like object
out in her hand.
“I knew it,” she sighed, tossing the object
far into the sky, watching the condors take flight after it, “They’ve controlled
these birds’ actions with an electronic transmitter beaming signals like that
of their prey. Humans can exercise such cruelty in advancing their own agenda. It’s
time the hunters became the hunted.”
Great work ! Please accellerate the pace (if possbile).
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