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waiting for the rest of his staff, but no one else followed. So this was it for legal representation—Snowden, two male secretaries, and her? Emilio Tejada was either trusting or a cheapskate, and from the looks of this place, it wasn’t the latter.
    Then one of the doors opened again and a muscular, broad-shouldered man with a bald head stepped in. He was built like Uncle Ben but looked a whole lot scarier.
    Maria raised her eyebrows at Elena, who scribbled,
Carlos Molina. Head of security for Cat. Everywhere
.
    That made sense. Who would mess with him?
    As Tejada took his place at the table, the room quieted. He raised his hands in a stand-up gesture and Maria started to get to her feet, but Elena put a hand on her arm and whispered, “Just them.”
    Twelve men stood and at a nod from Tejada, said in unison, “
Con los antiguos que vinieron antes que nosotros, y para el futuro de nuestrapropia creación, nos comprometemos nuestras vidas y nuestras fortunas con el Maestro.”
    Before Maria could utter a “Huh?” Elena passed her a note that said simply,
Don’t ask
.
    Yeah, she was definitely going to have to work on her Spanish. And she was going to ask Snowden if they did that every time they met. It would be nice to be prepared so she didn’t make some huge cultural error.
    For the first hour, the board conducted regular business, all in English, which Tejada said, with a nod toward Snowden, was for the benefit of his American colleagues. There was a lot of receiving and approving of financial reports, most of which Maria only summarized in her notes. Gump, Snowden and Meir represented Catalonia in all aspects of its business, but its main purpose here was the Belgian deal.
    Finally the discussion turned to the pending acquisition and Maria came to attention. As each document was passed to Snowden, he in turn handed a copy back to Maria, and she read it with the keen—and fast—eye she’d learned to use in her nine months at the firm. She then typed the main details on her laptop and e-mailed them to Snowden, who could talk intelligently as questions arose from the Belgian contingency.
    â€œYou’re good,” Elena whispered at one point.
    Maria gave an appreciative nod. She hoped Snowden thought so.
    The meeting broke at two for what Elena told her would be a two-hour lunch.
    â€œI wish,” Maria said. “Is there someplace I can work while maybe you run out and get us something?”
    Elena all but rolled her eyes. “I wonder how any of you Americans live to retirement. There’s office space for your whole firm, but you’ll be the only one in there.
Everybody
goes out for a meal.”
    â€œOkay,” Maria said, “but only for an hour.”
    â€œLouis will drive us.”
    â€œWe can’t walk? That’s the best way to see a city.”
    Elena pulled her aside and lowered her voice. “I guess no one explained this to you.”
    â€œExplained what?”
    â€œLouis isn’t just your driver. He’s your bodyguard while you’re here.”
    â€œ
Body
guard!”
    Elena put her finger to her lips, but Maria was having a hard time going with that. “I do
not
need a bodyguard.”
    â€œIt’s not like you have a choice. Everyone who comes here in association with Catalonia is assigned one.”
    â€œWell they can give Happy Face Louis to someone else.” She brushed Elena’s shoulder with her fingertips. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to Mr. Snowden.”
    â€œThat won’t do you any good,” Elena said. “These are
Señor
Tejada’s orders.”
    And he started giving
her
orders when? Maria switched her briefcase to the other hand, plastered on a smile, and said, “So, where are we going for lunch?”

When the meeting ended, Tejada retreated to his office. Snowden followed and watched as Tejada eased into the throne-like armchair behind the