Athos met Milady at a mutually agreed upon bar that evening. He was dressed casually, but had added an ear wig and Constance's special contacts.* Milady was in a dark ruby silk dress with a crushed velvet wrap. They took a table that wouldn't attract attention.
"You look nice," Athos complimented her. "You didn't say it would be formal."
"I'm going to the theatre after this." she told him "Spamalot."
"You said you have some information."
" One of my - associates - gave me the name and address of a gentleman that had inquired about contracts on you and the others. He apparently didn't like the price quoted, as he didn't use the services."
"And how does your associate have the man's information if they didn't do business?"
"I've never inquired into his business and he's always allowed me latitude in handling our transactions." she hedged. "Here is the information he gave me."
She slid an index card over to Athos. He picked it up and looked at the block printing on it. With a small, wry grin, he sighed, "Your handwriting, of course. And only our fingerprints on this card. You kept the original in case you needed leverage for some reason at a later date."
Her laugh was bitter. "That was the plan, but the SOB was a step ahead. The paper had some special coating or something that destroyed the ink within the hour of my getting it."
"Good thing you transferred it immediately then." was the sardonic response. "Hope you kept the paper, maybe you can take it back and renegotiate whatever deal you made to get the information."
Milady's smile would've scared a lesser man. "Believe me, I intend to. Now, I really must be on my way. Keep me informed, though."
"Of course. And thank you."
Mid-afternoon of the next day, Athos and Treville stood in the parlor of a large mansion on the outskirts of Paris. Both men were again wearing earwigs and contacts to transmit back to headquarters. The owner entered a few minutes, carefully walking toward them with the aid of two canes.
"Gentlemen, I am Phillipe Feron. Please have a seat and we can talk."
The three men sat as the butler brought in coffee. As he served, Treville explained why they were there.
"Governor, I apologize for not making an appointment beforehand, but something has just come to our attention, and we didn't want to take the chance of any information getting out."
Hearing the carefully phrased wording, Athos could appreciate having Treville with him on this visit. Not even Aramis could have made an ambush at home sound so polite. He sat back to learn something new from his commander while the other two men continued to talk.
"I'm glad to help you any way I can." Feron smiled over the rim of his cup, "What sort of information?"
"Your name came up in connection with an investigation into a contract taken out on Captain Athos. We, of course, believe it to be false, but you understand we have to follow up on it." Treville explained, using every bit of political charm he had learned over the years.
Both of the KM men were watching Feron as Treville told him the reason for the visit. The governor looked at them in confusion, but the agent's excellent training detected the tightening of Feron's fingers on his cup and a quick flash of something in his eyes.
Feron gave a short laugh. "A contract? On Captain Athos? How ridiculous, I've never met you before today. Why would I possibly want you dead?"
"Exactly," Treville agreed, while Athos nodded. "Our thoughts as well. But, as I said, we needed to follow up. Sorry to have bothered you."
As the men opened the parlor door to leave, the governor stopped them. As they turned back, Athos caught a glimpse of a blonde woman running up the stairs.
Feron asked them, "You said at the start that you didn't want to alert anyone you were coming here. What did you mean by that?"
"We weren't sure if the people that did this might have your phones tapped." Athos bluffed. "We wanted to make sure you weren't threatened or worse."
"Well, I certainly appreciate your looking out for my welfare." Feron thanked them without sounding sincere.
Once Treville and Athos were gone, the woman entered the parlor and sat down opposite Feron. Her hair was now brunette and she kept running her hands through it, shaking it out as her blue eyes stared at Feron.
He spoke before she could, "Did Athos see you?"
"If he did, he saw a blonde woman from behind." Diana shrugged. "I hate that wig. More importantly, how did they manage to link anything to you? I thought that phone was untraceable?"
"I'll look into that. You're sure he didn't recognize you?"
"Relax," she reassured him. "I know what I'm doing."
As they drove back to Headquarters, Treville and Athos discussed what they had both noticed during their short visit. They agreed on a lot of details, mainly that Feron was involved in the contract in some way.
Athos then told him, "There was a woman there I don't think we were supposed to know about. And before you ask, no, I didn't see her face. But I'm fairly certain I know who it was and I plan on having a talk with her. Very soon."
