“Sure. Okay. Yes.” I paused for emphasis.
“Just make sure you take a good look at his face before you punch it.”
We were under the Eiffel Tower, waiting. Lines of people snaked around us. There was a line for the stairs entrance to the Tower. There was a line for the elevator entrance to the Tower. There were lines to get tickets for either the stairs or the elevator entrance. There were lines out of the bathroom, and I was pretty sure that there was another line to get tickets for the line to the bathroom.
So many people. I turned around, my eyes searching the crowd. Sean wasn’t there. Neither was that surgeon, Rien. Or if they were, I couldn’t find them in the lines winding around us. Above head, a fake pigeon circled.
“Stay close,” Jake said, wrapping his arm around me.
“There’s no way he could do anything here,” I said. “It’s safe. As safe as we can be.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out.
“It’s him.”
“Answer it. Tell him we’re here.” Jake scanned the faces of the people around us.
“Sean? Hello?”
“Are you alone?” he asked. “It’s only you and Jake, is that right?”
“Of course,” I said. “Are you here?”
“Yes. Are you under the tower?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Come out on the lawn side.”
I looked up and Jake and motioned in the direction Sean had told us. We pushed our way through the shuffling mass of people.
“Okay,” I said. My eyes passed over the huge lawn stretching out in front of the Eiffel Tower. There were just as many people out there as there were under the Tower. Families had picnic blankets laid out all over the grass. Streetcart vendors pushed back and forth.
At my side, Jake waited impatiently, tapping his foot.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“First, a warning. My associate is nearby. Any police, and you’ll be in real trouble.”
I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, but it didn’t matter. There was nobody else here. Jake didn’t want to get the police involved.
“Okay,” I said. “We came here alone, like you asked.”
“Look out to the lawn. There’s a red balloon right next to the third walking path.”
I peered out, letting my eyes search for anything red. It was like finding Where’s Waldo in my picture books when I was little.
“Where is he?” Jake asked.
“Do you see a red balloon?” I asked.
He looked out with me.
“The third walking path… there!” I pointed triumphantly. It was only a spot of red. “I see you,” I said into the phone. “We’re coming.”
I thought Jake would have been more excited, but he walked silently at my side and said nothing. His face was completely blank. I wondered what it would be like, to have someone you thought was completely lost… reappear. I hoped that I hadn’t led us both on a wild goose chase.
As we walked closer to the red balloon, we saw that it was tied to a wine bottle that was sitting on top of a picnic blanket, next to a few empty wine glasses. Nobody was there. I ran forward and picked up the bottle.
“A trick?” Jake said.
“I don’t know. I don’t—”
“Lacey.”
Jake stepped forward to my side. I lifted my eyes to see Sean standing right in front of me.
He had taken out his contacts, and the resemblance was more than striking in broad daylight. The same dazzling green eyes, the same dark hair. The same jawline, lightly stubbled.
He held out his hand to Jake.
“Hello, brother.”
Chapter Nine
Jake’s eyes betrayed his surprise. Even though I’d told him that the resemblance was remarkable, he hadn’t believed me.
Not until now.
He steeled his jaw as he shook the other man’s hand and looked at him more closely.
I watched his expression change from disbelief to uncertainty, to a kind of curiosity.
“You say you’re my brother,” Jake said.
“I am.”
“Prove it.”
“Gladly. I’ll explain everything.” Sean seemed completely at ease with the situation. He gestured down to the picnic blanket. “Please, sit.”
We sat down. Sean uncorked the bottle of wine and poured out a glass. He handed it to me. I took it, but Jake caught my wrist.
“What? Do you think it’s poisoned?” Sean asked.
“I have a right to be suspicious,” Jake said.
Sean shrugged and poured the other glasses full of wine. He raised one and took a sip.
“See? No tricks.”
“Okay,” Jake said. His shoulders relaxed a fraction of an inch, but his eyes kept circling around us.