Chapter 2: Bremerton

Reggie and Captain Alfred were waiting for me when I reached the bridge.

“Have a seat Alex, Roland will be joining us in a minute,” Reggie said. Roland showed up moments later and seated himself in the chair across from mine.

“Okay, what’s the story?” Roland asked of no one in particular.

“Well, it seems that the President of the United States called the President of France and asked for a diplomatic favor. And President Macron has agreed to his request with conditions. It seems that President Dexter has requested that his Chief of Diplomatic Security, Officer Bremerton, be allowed to speak with you. This morning. Here. Aboard the Serendipity. He is coming alone, and unarmed and will be escorted by Admiral Bouchard,” Captain Alfred explained. “But Craig specifically said we had to get your agreement or the deal was off.”

I paused for a moment, trying to think it through.

“Will it create trouble for Admiral Bouchard if I refuse?” I asked.

“More than likely, there will be some kickback, politically speaking,” Roland answered. “But Al is right. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“Let’s at least see what he wants,” I said. “If I don’t like it, I don’t have to answer.”

Captain Alfred excused himself and went down to the fantail and spoke with the French Lieutenant on duty there. Meanwhile, Roland just looked at me.

“It’s as if you are maturing right before my eyes,” he said with respect. “Is there anything you need before he gets here?”

“Well, we might want to get Carina up here. Just in case...” I told him.

“Not a bad idea,” he replied and left to go find her. Reggie looked at me curiously, wondering why his sister might be needed, but said nothing as we waited for everyone to return.

Soon, everyone was back. I saw that Archara and my mom had joined Carina. Reggie quickly brought Mom, Carina, and Archara up to speed with what was happening. Before he finished, there was a disturbance on the dock as a platoon of Troupes de la Marine (Troops of the French Navy) marched down the pier escorting the Admiral and a man dressed in a business suit. When they paused at the sugar scoops, Admiral Bouchard rang out, “Permission to come aboard?”

As Captain Alfred went down the steps to the cockpit, I heard him say, “Welcome aboard, Admiral.”

Leaving the French Marines on the pier, Admiral Bouchard and the suit came aboard. After a brief handshake, Captain Alford escorted them to the flying bridge.

“This is the Chief of US Diplomatic Security, Officer Bremerton,” the admiral began. “Officer Bremerton, may I present Captain Alfred Fourreau, Master of the Serendipity and his wife Princess Archara. With them is Dr. Henri-Roland Rappeneau, his wife, Dr. Carina Rappeneau, Mrs. Laura Masters, and Mr. Reginald De’bushe, chief of security for The Rappeneau Foundation. And last, but not least, Mr. Alexander Masters of Marietta, Georgia.”

“Won’t you all have a seat?” Archara asked gracefully moving to the large table.

After we were seated, I waited to see what was next. When nobody said anything, I looked at Bremerton and said, “It’s your nickel.”

“Ah ... Alex is it?” he started. “Just how old are you?”

“How old are you?” I shot back as the lights flickered once.

“Mr. Bremerton, I’m sure you didn’t come all this way just to discuss birthdays,” Reggie said. “I’m also sure your file on Alex has that information. Why don’t you get down to why you’re here?”

“Well, I had hoped I would be speaking to Alex alone. I hadn’t expected a committee. However, I’m sure he has you all here for a reason. May I see your passport, Mr. Masters? For identification?”

“Do we have your word that it will remain here when you leave?” Carina asked.

“Of course! I just have to verify whom I am speaking with,” he answered.

Captain Alfred pulled out my passport and slid it down the table to Mr. Bremerton. He looked at it, and then looked at me before laying it down and passing it back up the table. I noticed that Reggie had quickly grabbed the passport.

“Thank you. I am afraid I do not have the full story of what is going on, but I was given to understand from President Dexter that Alex has some special skills that the United States government would like to utilize and I have been authorized to interview him and if approved, present him with this offer of employment.”

Then he removed a stack of papers from his briefcase and pushed them across the table to me.

I looked at the bound stack of papers with the presidential seal on top and then at Mr. Bremerton. “Okay ... What does it say?” I asked without touching the offer.

“It’s an offer to become a special consultant to the White House,” he replied.

“And it took that many pages?” I asked incredulously.

He just smiled as he said, “You know what government is like. Never use one word when a hundred will do.”

“Hey! These pages aren’t even numbered!” Reggie pointed out as he thumbed through the offer.

“Mr. Bremerton, before I go through your offer, would you be so kind as to go through and number each page and initial beside it. Please?” I asked.

Bremerton flashed a distasteful smile then pulled the stack back and began numbering them. We all sat quietly while he completed his task. When he finished I nodded at Archara. “Would you allow the Princess to examine it and make sure you got every page?”

While Archara was going through the document, I asked, “Can you tell me what is really going on?”

US Diplomatic Security Officers are dual trained, in that they are both federal agents and diplomats. But Mr. Bremerton was having difficulty remaining diplomatic under the circumstances.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Day before yesterday, the United States threatened to kill me. Now you’re here to interview me for a job. Something just doesn’t ring true,” I told him.

“The United States threatened to kill you?” Bremerton asked, confused.

“We have it on tape, Mr. Bremerton, and I believe Alex’s attorneys plan to use it in international court, at The Hague,” Admiral Bouchard told him. You could see that this news upset him. I was guessing that it was not my murder, or the murders of all my family and friends, but the fact that we had it on tape that bothered him.