“That guy left my firm less than a month ago, Bette.  He was a highly skilled operative, something I’m sure you noticed when he was around you, but really ambitious,” Brom was explaining as Bette took a seat on the couch near him.  “The reason I’m worried is that the team lead just sent me an email to say he’d found out that the guy you saw had been picked up by another security agency type firm, but one which, it’s rumored at least, carries out, um… contracts for governments.  Or very wealthy clients.”

Bette raised her eyebrows. 

“Uh-huh,” Brom nodded, “And the team lead said further that he’d heard that that type of firm was the one that had likely picked up a contract that was being shopped around again discreetly, which I’d heard about almost accidentally from a source, the first time it was being floated to a few people about five months ago.  The contract concerned high-value art or collectibles.”

Bette stood up, and began to pace.  She turned to Brom, “What contract was this…”

Brom nodded, seeing where she was head with the phrasing of her question.  “Yes … that contract is the reason I came forward, and admitted to you and Tina that it was me on the other end of the call in Paris several summers ago.  It was the reason I offered you protection.”

“But you didn’t tell me about this angle, Brom,” Bette said disappointedly.

He pursed his lips, and stood next to her and grasped her shoulders.  “I wasn’t sure how it was, or if it was, connected to you, in any way at all, Bette.  But, there just seemed to be something to it, and in my gut I was really concerned.  I told Mike about it, and when all of this stuff about the film treatments came up, and which you told us about, it got both of us worried.”

He turned to similarly pace the room, “But your report just now about that guy, given what I’d just learned from the team lead, raises my worry level several degrees, Bette, I’ll be honest with you.  It is an unexpected piece of the puzzle that amps things up.  Him being in New York, joining that firm, the firm getting the contract, knowing about you, who you are.  And the firm is probably executing another phase of it, given that they’ve probably had that contract for some time now.”    

He clasped his hands over his head, “I have an early theory that I’d like to discuss with you and Mike, when he calls in.”

Bette nodded, maintaining a calm attitude on the outside, but a knot was beginning to form in her stomach.