“Or any other national park,” Luis added.
“Maurice, are you suggesting you and Amelie will attempt the climb?” Remy asked.
Luis raised a hand. “And me.”
“Don’t you think we should send in a subset of our team?” Remy said. “We’re trained combatants. If Armand Benoît was murdered, whoever killed him might be waiting to claim the prize and might kill again to get it.”
Amelie shot a glance toward Maurice. “Armand entrusted the watch and recipe book to Luis and me. He wanted us to follow the clues. If there’s something to be found, it should be us finding it.”
Remy’s gaze shot to Maurice.
“It wouldn’t hurt to have backup,” Maurice compromised.
“We’re supposed to do everything in our power to protect our clients,” Remy reminded him.
Maurice’s jaw tightened. “And I will do everything in my power to protect Amelie.”
“Me, too,” Luis said.
Maurice nodded. “I doubt we can sneak an entire team into the tower. But if we’re going in with three, we might as well take four. Do you have someone in mind?”
Remy nodded. “Me.”
“You’re the boss,” Xavier noted. “Shouldn’t you be directing the rest of us? I’ll be the fourth on the infil team.”
Remy frowned. “Maurice? Xavier is an experienced?—”
“Navy SEAL.” Maurice gave the man a chin lift. “We never worked together on active duty, but I know his record. Yes. I’d take him in a heartbeat.”
Remy turned to the others. “The rest of us will set up a perimeter around the cathedral, arriving at different times.”
“Swede, we’ll need pictures of the German, Fredrick Schulz, and the Frenchman, Eugene Peltier, who claims to be a cultural preservationist, and whatever you can dig up on him. Could you get it to us ASAP?”
“On it,” Swede said.
“When do we leave?” Remy asked.
“Immediately,” Amelie said, “if not sooner.”
Maurice nodded. “We don’t know if Schulz or Peltier was responsible for the death of Amand Benoît or someone entirely different. But they were able to find Bayou Mambaloa. I say we locate the Monet and get it into the right hands before Armand’s killer turns his sights on Luis and Amelie.” He lifted his chin. “We leave as soon as we gear up.”
Chapter 12
Amelie was shocked at the amount of equipment, arms and protective gear the Brotherhood Protectors had in the room they called the arsenal. “You could wage your own war with the stuff you have here.”
“That’s not our purpose.” Maurice helped sift through a drawer of lethal-looking knives and pulled out one that appeared to be plastic. He found a sheath for it and held it up. “It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re taking a toy knife into a gunfight?”
“It won’t be a gunfight. Guests at the cathedral have to pass through a metal detector to get inside. Otherwise, I’d load you up with body armor, a helmet and bubble wrap.”
“Nothing says love like the gift of body armor and bubble wrap.” She ran her fingers up his chest. “You like me better alive, I take it.”
“Much better.” He strapped the knife scabbard to her wrist and pulled the long sleeve of her T-shirt over it.
He reached back into the drawer of knives and found a thin set of three with a scabbard and strapped it to his forearm. Moving to another drawer, he extracted several long zip ties, folded them and tucked them into his pocket. In yet another drawer, he selected a small plastic file and slid it in with the three knives.
He grabbed a mini can of mace and tossed it to Amelie. “Careful where you aim that mace.”
