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Page 5.

"I dream of finding a nice one," Hannah said with good humor. Her voice was both musical and a little throaty. "I can't wait to get back home and find Mr. Right. Or at least Mr. Good Enough. Nothing but bummers out here. So what happened to Mélusina?"

"She was bound by mermaid or river maid law and had to leave him. So she jumped from the tub and threw herself out the window. She fell down the famous cliffs of the old city and landed by a miracle in the Petrusse River—down in the valley with a big splash, and he never saw her again. But people may sometimes see her apparition around the old city of Luxembourg. Sometimes she comes as a beautiful woman, and other times as a snake with a key in its mouth."

"Sounds very dangerous," Hannah said. She laughed. "Like, these days you take any job you can get."

"You might get work carrying a key in your mouth."

"It would beat being a sex toy."

Mélu gave her a grieving look. "How did you get into this predicament?"

Hannah's face lost its forced, surfacy cheer. "I was trying to get the money to pay for my mom's cancer care. I was extra cute, and got brokered to a few different zillionaires, and ended up with Wan." She shrugged. "I've seen worse, but I wouldn't recommend him. Anyway, they let my mom die in a cheap rental back in San Diego after they took her house, her savings, and her pension. She died broke after they cut off her treatments. And I wasn't there with her. I had no idea. I thought they were taking care of her, while I was out here getting raped and abused. But they saved money and let her die. Health insurance—what a joke. Call it what it is—a Health Denial Industry."

Mélusine regarded her darkly. "We always wonder why you Americans can't figure it out. Everyone else has universal health care. We can afford it, it's cheaper, no health denial Mafia are stealing a trillion dollars every year, nobody loses their home or pension, and health care is a basic human right, not something you can traffic away like slaves."

Hannah shrugged lightly. "That's how it is over there. They lie to us, and we believe it."

Mélu resisted the urge to lecture the poor thing. "You Americans are so much better and smarter than everyone. You cannot learn from anyone else because you are god's chosen people. You didn't need to deny reality and try to reinvent fire or the wheel. You could have learned from over a hundred countries that have universal health care."

Hannah shook her head. "Corporations own all the media, so we don't know any better. We're told by all these corporate nazis and fake preachers that Jesus wants it that way. I tried to tell my mom to move to Canada, but she didn't want to leave her home and friends after my dad died. So she stayed and lost everything and died."

Mélu said, "I have to get back outside and work. But I'll tell you what. Maybe you will be interested in helping our underground network called PAX—the Progressive Alliance for Peace. We are working to reduce corporate power and restore democracy in your country, and around the world."

Hannah nodded. "I'm ready for anything. They killed my mom, abused me, and took everything."

Mélu said, "C'est bien. Before you leave here, I will give you some information. Particularly, be on the lookout because your friend Wan has a new toy."

"Oh?" Hannah looked uncertain, but willing.

"Yes. I am working on some of the documents. It is a new technology for aircraft and missiles called Intelligent Fuselage Skin, or IFS. It is very powerful and effective. It makes all existing aircraft and missiles obsolete—including military ones. His killers murdered a friend of mine in London to steal it."

Hannah looked her directly in the eyes—frankly, honestly, and without fear.

Mélu pressed, "If you see him with it, could you let us know? Could you steal it for us?"

Mélu nearly choked when the girl nodded without batting an eyelash. Too good to be true.

"You have direct, daily access to Wan," Mélu said. "I only have a tiny segment of the overall plan—not enough to mean much. I hear that Wan carries the main data around with him."

"Why?" Hannah asked brightly, carrying the tray of tea and cookies to the kitchen table for Mélu.

Mélu said, "There will be a world wide parliament of CEOs in Luxembourg this summer. It's the Confederacy, or CEOC. He will use IFS technology as one of his tools to intimidate the CEOs. This guy doesn't just use simple persuasion."

Hannah said, "Yes, I know. He uses intimidation. Fear. I've seen it."

Mélu said, "This IFS technology—they killed my friend for it. If PAX could get back those data, it would help fix the balance of power."

Hannah shrugged bravely. "I'll see what I can do."

Too good to be true—but this poor kid has nothing lose. She's for real. It's all she's got.

Mélu leaned close. "Hannah, PAX is working with a very important man in Luxembourg—Professor Sander, who proposes to challenge Wan for the presidency of CEOC when the world's CEO class have their parliament at the Chateau Ansembourg in the Valley of Seven Castles on the Eisch River. Wan wants to make himself the next Attila or Napoleon to rule the world through this tangle of corporations. Sander wants to help bring back a strong democracy with division of powers and balances, so that everyone will get a fair share and an equal voice."

"Count me in," the California blonde said with a startlingly angry, powerful look in her blue eyes.

Mélu said softly, "It could be very dangerous, Hannah."

"I have absolutely nothing to lose."

Mélu found a pencil, and wrote down her name and contact information in Luxembourg. She pushed the scrap of envelope paper across the table to her new friend. "Whatever happens, you can always reach me at home in Belair, a neighborhood in Luxembourg City. If you get any information about the IFS, we can contact Professor Sander." She patted Hannah's hand. "And in the meantime, maybe we can help you get back home to California, away from this horrible mess."

Hannah sipped her steaming tea, wincing both at the heat and at her predicament. "I don't have my papers. The first thing these pricks do is to take your passport away."

Mélu winked, with a little grin. "We can get papers for you. No worry. Whatever it takes."

Two days later, Hannah hugged Mélu goodbye and returned to the now-silent wreckage of the Yakuza-Triad party. The apartment where she and several other women had been molested was now empty—and stank of booze, smoke, and sex. She returned to the main house, where she had a temporary room at the convenience of Wan Hong nearby.

A week later, Mélu wrapped up her job and took a plane home from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to DeGaulle at Roissy just northeast of Paris, and then to Luxembourg City on a connecting flight. She all but forgot about Hannah Smith—her blonde surfer friend, Wan's contract BAN or slave.

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