Read The French Code for Free Online Page B

for.’
    â€˜You don’t think you should stay here?’ Max asked. ‘Considering what’s just happened to your –’
    â€˜I have been instructed to carry on with my life as normal and that you are here to protect me.’ Her smile seemed like a taunt. ‘You can stay if you like, but I do not think Commandant Tetu would be happy if you did. Come on, Fifi.’
    Fifi jumped off the lounge, barking at Max as she skittled from the room after Veronique.
    â€˜She’s right, Max. Our mission is to stay with her,’ Linden said. ‘And it might be fun.’
    â€˜I think I’d have more fun shipwrecked in a sea full of sharks.’
    Linden laughed.
    â€˜I’m serious.’
    â€˜I know. That’s what I like about you.’
    Parked outside was a long black limousine with deep leather seats that resembled more of a lounge room than the inside of a car.
    â€˜You own a limousine?’ Toby asked.
    â€˜It was a present from a friend of Papa’s. He thought it too extravagant and was going to refuse, but I convinced him we should have it.’
    After they’d all buckled themselves in, Veronique placed Fifi in a special dog seat between Max and everyone else. Veronique laughed and giggled with Linden and Toby throughout the journey and filled every second with stories of herself, famous people she’d met and holidays to exotic places.
    Fifi stared at Max the whole way and, whenever she went to speak, the poodle bared her salivary white teeth and growled.
    â€˜Fine,’ Max whispered to the mutt, ‘I wouldn’t want to take away from her majesty’s limelight.’
    Max stared out the window as the streets of Paris slid past. Cafes and parks filled with people laughing in the sun and strolling along tree-lined boulevards and avenues. The River Seine streamed silkily beneath them as they crossed the city’s oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf. They drove around the traffic-choked road circling the hulking single arch of the Arc de Triomphe before heading down the bustling, stylish shopping strip of the Avenue des Champs-Elysées.
    It seemed everyone, from tiny kids to old menand women, had dressed up for an important function. Taxi drivers, teachers leading groups of small children, street sweepers and flower-sellers. She looked down at her torn pants and the dark stain where Fifi’s dog dribble was starting to dry. Everyone was dressed elegantly, Max thought, except her.
    The limousine swung into the driveway of the TV studio and stopped before the glass entrance.
    â€˜Ready for my big moment?’ Veronique smiled at the boys and pulled her seat forward to reveal a concealed wardrobe. She took out a covered clothes hanger and a shoebox. ‘Could you carry these for me?’ she asked Toby and Linden in a helpless baby voice.
    â€˜Sure. We’d love to.’ Toby almost grovelled.
    â€˜Oh, and bring Fifi will you, Max? Her lead is hanging there beside you.’
    â€˜Sure.’ Max glowered and lifted the sparkling pink lead. ‘Because it isn’t bad enough I have to mind a spoilt brat, now I have to dog-sit, too.’
    Fifi barked dog breath all over her.
    â€˜You know an animal your size would be easy to lose,’ Max warned.
    Inside the TV station, the auditions had begun. After signing in, Veronique and the agents sat inthe audience listening to the last of a love song sung by a young girl.
    Max’s face screwed up into an expression of pain. ‘I’ve heard chainsaws sing better than that.’
    â€˜It was actually very good, but you have to have a musical ear to hear it. I need to go to the changing room.’ Veronique jumped to her feet. She rubbed her nose against Fifi’s and took the shoebox and hanger from the boys. ‘Take care of my little angel … and wish me luck!’
    â€˜This babysitting thing is going to be more painful than I thought.’ Max sighed.
    â€˜I like