It was a lot later than he intended in the first place when they left the house of his aunt and uncle but it was well worth it. He was glad that he listened to his mother's advice and stayed to eat. The food has been amazingly good and he never felt this full in his entire life. Somewhere inside of him, he wished he could just stay here and learn how to cook but he knew it was too late by now. He was committed to his life and his past decisions. Moreover, he was really an atrocious cook as it were. It was simply not one of his skills. Nobody could be good in everything.
"I'm a little disappointed that you are leaving so fast." His uncle said sadly.
"Sorry but I have a meeting that I have already delayed with someone I'm looking to hire for my company." He answers.
"I didn't even know that you had your own company already. Who are you trying to hire in the south west of France?"
"Lucie Lafite." He answers simply as he had no reason to hide it.
Hearing that name his uncle was so surprised that he stopped walking, prompting Nathaniel to do the same so that they could stay close to each other.
"Lucie Lafite? Are you talking about the Lucie Lafite that I think?"
"I believe so, yes." Nathaniel nodded.
"You realize that her family owns more than half the production of wine in this entire region, right? She already is a millionaire at the age of twenty four and her family is worth billions of euros. Moreover, they are all extremely proud people. How are you going to convince her to come work for you, especially in the US?"
"I guess I'm going to have to be really charming." Nathaniel smiles playfully.
"How french of you." He answers, more than a little amused by his response.
"Mom taught me everything I know so that's understandable. More seriously, I think I understand what is driving her and what her ambitions are. This will give me an edge in convincing her."
"I agree. Do you know how you will reach her? They are notoriously difficult to meet."
"I know, that's why I already have a meeting with her in an hour. I will have to leave fast if I hope to be there on time."
"Yes, you should go. I was glad to finally talk with you, nephew."
"Likewise, uncle." Nathaniel answers with a genuine smile on his face.
Walking again, his uncle escorts him to their cars, the women's already there talking between themselves. Seeing the four security escorts, Cedric frowns perceptively, examining them with attention.
"What's going on? Why so much security? I recall that your mothers are quite adverse to it." He asked in concern.
"I can't tell you everything but there have been some threats made against us and the company so we had to tighten our security. I just hope that the threat will be on us and will not move onto you as well. I will hate to put you guys at risk, uncle." He said apologetically, dropping his eyes to the floor. He was not expecting at all to hear the laughter of his uncle as an answer.
"You worry too much. We are living in a Gendarmerie controlled neighborhood. Everyone of these houses are the home of a Gendarmes and we are all looking up for each other. Nobody would be crazy enough to attack us here. And even if they were, they would be shot down immediately. I'm more worried about you three. Four people to defend you three does not sound like much."
"No, no. Moms have three personal bodyguards each, one of them is currently resting. These four are here to protect my mothers exclusively." Nathaniel explained.
"What about you then?"
"I can take care of myself, uncle." He smiles mysteriously, not adding anything more.
******
"Ah, I see that you are finally here Nathaniel Lyndon. Is this your arrogance at play for you to postpone our meeting and arrive late after that or are you trying to send a message?" Lucie Lafite asked with a displeased voice and in perfect english.
Lucie Lafite was a twenty four years old woman with mid shoulder blond hair and brown eyes. 5"11", she was quite tall for a woman and had long, enticing legs that the jeans that she wore displayed beautifully. She had a really attractive figure and even the frown that she had on her face could not hide that fact.
"No, it was not. I was just visiting my family here in France and got delayed. I'm sorry for the delay and for being late." He answers in french.
"Oh. I didn't know that you had family here and that you talked french so well." She answers pleasantly surprised, her hostility ebbing away.
"Yes, it's not well known yet but I'm quite good at tongue." He gave a half smile.
"Now that you are finally here, why do you want to talk about? You were quite vague about that." She answered, hiding the smile that came to her face at that double entendre.
"I'm here to offer you the job of your life, of course."
"Well, you are confident, I can give you that at least. Do I look like I want a job Mister Lyndon?" She said, pointing to herself and the sumptuous decor around her.
"What we want and what we need are two different things. I have an hypothesis about you."
"Oh? An hypothesis about me? Please, do tell." She ease herself in her seat with a knowing smirk.
"I believe you are bored in your life. At barely twenty four, you are already a millionaire without even having to lift a finger to get it. Your whole family wants just for you to appear at caritatif event and be pretty for PR purposes."
"I believe you are a millionaire as well Nathaniel and you are not even eighteen so I think you are not the best person to say something like that." She made a frown at him.
"True but I win it with my own work. You also have a fascination for Molière."
"What does that have to do with anything?" She asked not getting where he was going with this.
"Well, let's ask that question to Frosine Jordain who just got her pilot licence or Cléante Diafoirus who got published in a medical revue for her work in PTSD treatment. There is also Elmire Pernelle who is currently being searched for questioning for destruction of property and theft. All of them mash up characters in Molière novels and all of them fake identities made by you."
Lucie wanted for a second to deny all of it but she realized by the names that he just gave that he knew already too much about it and so decided to cut to the chase.
"What do you want?" She asked icily.
"To stay silent about this? Nothing. I'm not here to strong arm you into accepting to work with me. But if I manage to make the connection, I'm sure others will eventually. You do realize that changing the color of your hair or their style, using makeup and clothes are wholly ineffective against face recognition software, right?"
"I know but it was never supposed to come to that. I was infiltrating the company to use their lab for my research when I found out they were doing illegal experiments on animals. I couldn't just act as if I didn't see anything, I had to do something. I liberate them and smash all their research before running away."
"That was sloppy, you could have done better to put the blame away from you, you are resourceful enough to do that easily."
"I was angry! I just didn't think and even if I would have done that, my disappearance at that time would not have gone unnoticed." She defends herself.
"Indeed but you give them a certainty over a doubt. Still, I understand now why they did not put what you destroy in their reclamation, it was incriminating for them." He mused out loud, deep in thought before going back to the original topic. "I'm assembling a team Lucie, people with unique skills. I believe you will be a nice addition to that team. I can't tell you our mission as of now, you will need to sign a NDA before that but I can tell you we are going to punish bad people."
"Can I know how many people are going to be on this team of yours?"
"Seven if I don't count myself in it. So far three have accepted, two others are thinking about it and will meet with us in January to give me their answers, then there's you and one I have not talked to yet and let me tell you that they are all geniuses in their respective field. We all are."
"Even you? I didn't know being an actor and a singer could be of use in an action team." She mused with a smirk.
"You of all people should know that everything is not what it seems. I have my hidden skills too, the only difference is that I didn't need to create fake identities to hone them." He smirks right back at her.
"I am at a disadvantage here. You know I'm a brilliant psychologist who can pilot everything that has wheels but I don't know what you can do. It's not every gentlemanly of you to keep a girl in the dark like that." She pouted cutely.
"Accept to become a member of the team and I will tell you." He smiled, not affected by her charm act.
"You know what. If your skills can impress me, I will come in January with the others that are still thinking about it and hear you out. What do you think?" She offers.
Not letting the chance pass, Nathaniel did not hesitate. Making his throwing knife appear between his hands, he starts making them turn between his fingers before making them disappear again to reappear somewhere else. All of it was so mesmerizing to watch that Lucie eyes were glued on his hands as the knife beep twirling and flashing. It lasts for about thirty seconds before he throws them suddenly in the air. Making eye contact with her, he put his hands; palme first on the coffee table, not bothering to look at the knife's anymore.
There were two audible 'Chunk' when the two knives finally fell on the table and embedded themselves in the wood of it. Looking at the hands of Nathaniel, Lucie could barely believe it. The two knife have fallen at exactly the same place, between two of his fingers, less than an inch away from them. Taking his knives back, Nathaniel put a letter on the table where the knives had landed.
"I can wait to see you in New York next year Lucie." He gave her a bright smile before walking away. Even as he was exiting her home, she still had an expression of wonder on her face.