Dancing with the Dragon: Jessica Thorpe novels, #8

By William Wresch

Book 8: Jessica's new love brings her to Europe. A geology professor, he will help her place her water wells where they can best aid a world getting hotter, and drier. But it is a ploy to get her help. Her late husband's family company is being attacked by a woman who is beautiful, brilliant, and relentless. To save the family company, Jessica will need to face her. But this is a woman Jessica knows, and loves. A woman who has bested Jessica every time she has faced her. Now they will meet, dance, and battle on a yacht cruising between Dubai and Oman. Held captive on the yacht, Jessica finds a new love. But can she trust him? And what will be the price of his help? Before she is done, she will need to dance with the dragon in Dubai and in Switzerland, and find some way to make peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Wresch
• Release date: May 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463853504

William Wresch

I have three sets of books here. The first is an alternative history of the US, envisioning how things might have gone had the French prevailed in the French and Indian War. That series comes from some personal experiences. I have canoed sections of the Fox, and driven along its banks. I have followed the voyageur route from the Sault to Quebec and traveled from Green Bay to New Orleans by car and by boat. My wife and I have spent many happy days on Mackinac Island and in Door County. The Jessica Thorpe series is very different. It takes place in the tiny town of Amberg, Wisconsin, a place where I used to live. I wanted to describe that town and its troubles. Initially the novel involved a militia take over of the town, and it was called "Two Angry Men." But both men were predictable and boring. I had decided to have the story narrated by the town bartender - Jessica - and I soon realized she was the most interesting character in the book. She became the lead in the Jessica Thorpe series. I restarted the series with a fight over a proposed water plant with Jessica balancing environmental rights and business rights. I put Jessica right in the middle of a real problem we are experiencing here in Wisconsin (and most other places). How badly does a tiny town need jobs? How much environmental damage should we accept? The third series changes the lead character. Catherine Johnson solves mysteries. She also travels. It took her to many places I have been. The last several books take place in Russia. I admit I have no idea what is motivating the current madness there. Catherine looks, she tries to help, she struggles. What else can any of us do?

Book preview

Chapter 1

Saanvi

Saanvi.  Lover.  Phantom.  Fantasy.  Occupant of my memories and imagination.  My favorite memory is her lying atop me, her thigh pressing mine, her weight on my chest, her fingers snaking into my hair to hold my head while her face hovers above mine.  Her shimmering black hair slides along her cheeks, down aside my head, setting black curtains around our faces.  Hiding the rest of the world.  Nothing is left to me but the feel of her thigh, the warmth of her chest, and the look in her huge brown eyes.

She will kiss me.  Eventually.  First, she waits.  Her eyes are watching, studying, waiting to see the required amount of desire in my expression.  Yes, I want her kiss, but do I want it enough?  She waits, tempting, teasing, building my desire.  In control of me.  Always in control.  The most beautiful woman in the world, it is her right to rule.

She has ruled my world for half a dozen years.  Through births and deaths and fights over men.  Absent for nearly two years, she in Dubai, me in Wisconsin.  Thousands of miles apart, but a constant presence in my mind. 

In days I will be with her again.  I will go to her.  Test myself.  Test our love.  Risk much.  Trapped on her yacht.  Her lover and her toy.  Her dance partner.  Her wife.

I wasn’t prepared for Saanvi.  I was prepared for a different partner.  A new beginning.  Heidelberg.  New city.  New man.  Klaus.  Professor Klaus Model.  Geology professor at Heidelberg University.

Chapter 2

Klaus

Klaus was a surprise.  I put water wells into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The area just south of Lake Superior.  Why?  Because I think Global Warming is going to make a mess of many things, one of them being access to water.  My former husband and I were sure water would be good near Lake Superior.  Good long after water was gone from lots of other places.  My husband is gone now, but I want the project to continue.

One problem with the area where I am drilling for water?  The area has been heavily mined.  Lots of land poisoned.  Where is it safe to drill?  Along comes Klaus with maps.  Just arrives one day with research he has done at his university.  Helpful guy.  Good looking guy.  The beard and glasses of a professor.  The body of a man who spends time outdoors.  Yes, I’m attracted.  It helps he has kind eyes.  He shows me maps, tells me mining history, takes me for drives to areas with safe water. 

Three days later I had him in my bed.  Two weeks later he flew me to Heidelberg.  I should see his university.  See his research.  I see his city, his home, his bed.  I like everything I see.  And I like where this is going.  We are exploring.  Circling each other, studying each other, evaluating each other.  We know what might be down the road.  Very possible.  Marriage.  We feel it.  An exciting time for us.

My days in Heidelberg?  He flew me over in the company jet.  That set the stage.  I have a special dress.  Black, scoop neck, short sleeves, tea length, in a material I still can’t identify, but it has a slight sheen and a silky feel.  I wore it with three-inch heels and even a string of pearls.  Give me a fancy plane, I will try to match it.  Amberg bartender suddenly becomes elegant lady.  At least I tried.

Klaus seemed to like what he saw.  He was standing just outside the plane when I got off.  Klaus with a big smile, open arms, and a kiss that went on and on.  The man knew how to receive an elegant lady.  Nice thing about private planes – no need to rush.  You can stand and talk all you want.  And we did.  Klaus held me, and smiled, and stood with me.  Message?  Nothing is more important than being with you right here, right now.  Good man.

With my noon departure, a stop for refueling, and a seven-hour time change, I had arrived just after dawn.  When he asked if I was tired, I knew what to say.  He loaded my bags into his car, and we went straight to his apartment and to his bed.  A great way to start a visit.  I was welcomed at the plane, welcomed at his apartment, and welcomed in his bed.  Very welcome.

So, most of our first day in famous Heidelberg was spent in his bed.  Yes, we did get up later.  He cooked.  I’m thinking the guy is a keeper.

Day two?  A tour of the town.  Required of all visitors, right?  And my tour guide?  Well, it turns out he has some quirks.  Heidelberg.  Nice enough city, along a river, big old church, but the reason people go there is to see the castle – the Schloss.  It is on a hill above the town, it is huge, it is a ruin, and even in December it has plenty of tourists.  But don’t go there with Klaus or any other geologist.  Want to know when it was built, or who lived there, or who blew it up?  All good questions, but not questions for a geologist. 

We stood in the central courtyard and looked at incredible walls of statues.  Really special.  What could Klaus tell me about them, or any other feature of the castle?  He knew where the stones had been quarried, when the stones had been formed (please don’t ask me to name the era or how many millions of years ago it all happened), and even why they all had the colors they had.  But who carved the statues, and when they had been built into story after story of walls, and what bastard had then blown much of the place up, well, that had all happened in the last few centuries and so didn’t interest him.

For what it is worth, I bought a guidebook in the information center (ugliest little building in Heidelberg.  You look at that building and then look across at the castle and know that the profession of architecture is well and truly dead).  What did my guidebook tell me?  Louis the Fourteenth blew the place up in some war between the French king and whoever the local ruler was at the time.  Since 1693?  Mostly it just sat there.  Locals took stones from it to build their homes.  These days?  Tour buses and taxis get you up there.  A huge wine barrel is in one of the basements and people line up to get their pictures taken there.  There is also a balcony where you can stand and look down at the river. 

I liked the balcony.  Klaus and I stood there a long time looking down at the river.  He put an arm around me and talked about the various things you could see below.  His university was on this side of the river, not far from the big church; his apartment and the better restaurants were on the other side of the river.  The wind was cold up on that balcony, but the view was good, and his arm felt good, and we had the place pretty much to ourselves as the crowds descended to the wine barrel.  He held me close.  I will give him that.

What else should I say about the town?  We walked down from the castle (much better idea than walking up to it), pausing to enjoy the view (and catch our breath), and walked into the older part of town (always my favorite).  The Christmas market was already set up around the old church (why is Germany the only country smart enough to create those), and we walked slowly around, drinking warm wine, and finding lots of gifts for my family (those Christmas calendars with little chocolates behind each day were my first buy – five of them (dad and four grandkids)).  I made Klaus take me to the Christmas market each day.

Klaus’ university is just a few blocks past the church, although you wouldn’t know it.  The buildings are pretty much like all the other buildings in that part of town, so you just walk along, and suddenly you at the University of Heidelberg.  I guess that’s good – no ugly new architecture to muddle the city.

His office?  All the professor offices I see in movies are three walls of books wrapped around a large wooden desk.  His?  Shelves of rocks, one wall of books, two walls of maps.  Needless to say, the maps didn’t show countries, they showed the rocks under the countries.  A little confusing, but not too bad.  We spent about an hour looking at maps of Lake Superior.  Turns out he knows a lot that can help me.

What is primary in all that touring and talking?  He holds my hand when we walk, he keeps an arm around me when we sit, he sits close to me in restaurants, and at night, he keeps me hot and breathless.  He is everything I hoped he would be.  I am having a great visit.

Then comes my third night in Heidelberg.  We have dinner – nice restaurant, good food, candlelight, his hand on mine – and have walked across the river to wander the Christmas market again.  It’s chilly, but we have warm coats and are drinking warm wine.  I’m staring at some handmade wooden toys I think the kids might like, and Klaus is standing behind me, his arms wrapped around me.

I am now on my third glass of wine, and between the jet lag and our nighttime activities, I am missing a lot of sleep.  I am not at my most lucid, but he has his arms around me, I have my ass pushed back into him teasing, well, maybe teasing a fair amount, and I decide now is the time to ask a question that had been fluttering deep in my jet-lagged brain.  His plane.

Klaus, why am I here?

You are here because I am unbelievably lucky.

I turned in his arms and looked at him.  He kept his arms around my shoulders.  I kept my arms around his waist.  Even through our heavy coats, I thought I could feel his warmth.  So far so good.

Good answer.  And I feel lucky too.  I enjoy Heidelberg, I enjoy you, and I think we have some ideas for future drilling sites.  Just one concern.  You flew me over on the corporate jet.  The Naturale corporate jet.  You are new to the board, yet you get to send the plane after any girl you want?

I have an interest in you.  So does the company.

Naturale can go to hell. 

I am really hoping this ends that conversation.  I have already dropped my arms from around him.  I hope I am sending a very strong signal.  No more, Klaus, drop this, Klaus, you won’t like where this leads, Klaus.  I don’t know if he is missing my signals, or just wants to send a few of his own.

You know I want you.  Your old company wants you too.  They want you back.  Naturale will buy your bottling plants.  Seven million dollars.  They take over the plants and you...well, I hope you have more time for me.

I’m not selling.

I didn’t present the idea well.  I just gave you a number.  I didn’t give you reasons.

There are no reasons for me to give up my company.

Aunt Willa would like to give you some reasons.  She wants to have lunch with you tomorrow.

And you were going to tell me this when – as we sit down at the breakfast table?

I punch people.  I don’t slap.  And if they want to punch back, fine.  Give me your best shot.  I had my hands in fists in a second and one hand pulled back.  He had set me up.  I had been in his bed three days so Aunt Willa could arrive and close the deal.  Get Jess here, get her loosened up, get her in bed, and then send in Willa to make the deal.

In the end, I didn’t punch him, but I did hit both his shoulders with my palms to push him away.

Jess, she’s Emil’s aunt.  You know her.  She knows you.  She’s a good person.  She wants to talk.  She can explain this better than I can.  She just wants to sit and talk.  Frankly, I think she misses you.

How is she your aunt too?

She isn’t.  I don’t know how to explain it in English.  She is my great aunt’s sister.  It’s my great aunt who left me the shares of the company.  Willa put me on the board after my great aunt died.  How do you say the relation in English?

I have no idea.  But I don’t want to talk with her.  Not about this.

Then I will tell her not to come.

Klaus, sit. 

I pointed to a bench nearby.  Yes, I know I was talking to him as I would a dog, but you will notice I am not punching him.

If we are going to be friends, you need to know some lines you cannot cross.  I sat next to him, and no, I was not holding his hand.  I was staring straight into his eyes.  "Emil and I were partners.  I flew here four years ago to buy the water plant in Amberg.  I had been told it would be closed.  That was a lie, but I didn’t know that.  All I knew was that my tiny Wisconsin town needed jobs, and the plant kept two dozen families employed.  Emil and I fought like crazy for weeks.  Then he took me for a hike into the mountains and showed me the remains of a glacier.  He had a mission.  Prepare for when all the glaciers – and lots of other water supplies – were gone. 

He asked me to be his partner.  I would drill wells south of Lake Superior, a place his researchers thought would have water for decades after the rest of America’s water was gone.  I would work North America; he would work Europe.  That was the deal.  I agreed.  We also got married, but the deepest part of our partnership was water – we would try to provide water for as long as we were able.  He may be dead, but our partnership isn’t.

Could the company help with your wells?

It did – when Emil was alive.  Not anymore.

We had a woman from the World Bank come and talk to the board.  They seemed interested.

If they were really interested, all they have to do is restart the bottling plants I built for them.  They haven’t.  Klaus, I don’t know what they really want, but they are lying to you. 

We sat and looked at each other.  I had said my piece.  I started settling down.  I even took his hand.  He wasn’t a bad guy.  New to the board, hell, new to business.  How was he to know who was telling the truth?  It certainly took me long enough to figure it out.

I’ll tell Willa not to come.

Thank you.  Now, can we go home?  It’s pretty cold out tonight.

The man got out his phone and got us an Uber.  We were home in fifteen minutes.  His bed was warm, but jet-lag nailed me pretty good.  As I drifted off, I did notice he had both his arms around me.  Good man.

Chapter 3

Kidnapped by a Very Old Lady

Klaus was out of bed pretty early the next morning.  Some seminar.  Professors go to those, I guess.  Maybe they give them.  How would I know?  I never finished tenth grade.  I lay in bed while he showered and dressed.  Quick cup of coffee and a quick kiss, and he was gone.  He really needed work on his bed-side manner.

I took my time getting showered and dressed.  He said he would take me to lunch, so I wore a dress with long sleeves and skirts past my knees.  Heidelberg is cold in winter.  I made myself a pretty big breakfast, mostly because I was trying his apartment on for size.  Would I like the kitchen?  If I stuck around?  If Klaus and I hit it off?  If Klaus, well, if Klaus turned out to be more than a guy who could help me position my wells?

The kitchen wasn’t bad.  Big enough to have room for a small table.  Most of the equipment looked familiar.  All containers were marked in liters (I would just pretend the word was quarts), and all equipment had instructions in German (not that I paid much attention to instructions anyway).  Mostly his kitchen looked like and operated like any kitchen in the U.S.  I had toast and eggs and coffee and didn’t encounter any real problems.

Breakfast done; I wandered the rest of the apartment.  From the outside, the building looked like a larger two-story house.  Good.  No blocky, ugly apartment building.  Inside were four apartments, each with a small balcony (his/ours faced the river (nice view)), and nice windows.  Klaus had a large living room (also facing the river), two good sized bedrooms, and a large bathroom (with a shower big enough for two, if the bozo ever thought of that).  I don’t know what German professors get paid, but I do know things cost more in Europe than they do in the U.S., so I was seeing a fairly pricey apartment.

I sat in the living room, cup of coffee in hand, and looked out those huge windows toward the river.  Would I be comfortable in this apartment?  Yes.  Would I host dinners as a professor’s wife?  Yes, I could do that here.  Was I getting ahead of myself?  Definitely.  But the ceiling was high, the furniture good quality, and I liked those windows.  And the sun was shining.  I sat back on the couch and sipped my coffee, generally feeling pretty good.

And the doorbell chimed.  Should I answer it?  I had enough German to tell a person Klaus was not home.  So I went to the door.

It was Aunt Willa.  She was about eighty, and I remembered her as being a fairly nice person, but tough as nails.  She had shed weight with age and seemed to be like dried out leather.  She even had a bit of that color.  Maybe five four, silver hair that had so much product in it, it held a shape around her head like a helmet.  Fortunately, she didn’t do that old lady thing with so much makeup it looked like a mask.  It was just her- blue eyes, thin lips, dark cheeks.  And she was smiling.

Hi, Jessica.  Her English was pretty good, but her accent did things like change the s’s in my name to z’s.  Jezzica.  I am so pleased to see you again. 

And she hugged me.  Europeans hug much less than Americans, especially older Europeans.  It was a brief hug, and then she took a step back to smile up at me.  I’m no giant, but she seemed tiny.  Vulnerable.  I decided not to slam the door on her.  But I was absolutely determined I wasn’t going to stand for her sales pitch.

Klaus told me you didn’t have time for lunch with me, so I have come for coffee.  You have time for coffee, yes?  I will take you there. 

She pointed behind her to a larger car.  So, how big a jerk was I prepared to be?  She was Emil’s aunt, so a relative of mine by marriage, she had been good to me in the past, and she was essentially the head of the Gruber family.  How could I say no to coffee?  I agreed and got my coat.

Willa’s large car?  A BMW that went on forever.  We got in the back, and her driver took us off for coffee.

You have been in Heidelberg for several days now.  It is beautiful, don’t you think? 

We settled back into the softest leather seats made by human hands, she smiled her encouragement, and I talked.  I gave my impressions of the schloss, and the Christmas market, and the university.  I had something to say about everything.  I went on as if I were a child performing for a respected adult.  She smiled, and nodded, and said encouraging things, and my mouth just kept moving.

And Klaus.  He is being good to you?

Yes, he is a good man. 

And I sensed a change in direction.  She wanted to know about him, which was really a way of asking about us.  What did I say?  What did I really know about what might happen between him and me?

I think you might like being a professor’s wife.  She smiled at me.  The life is very quiet.  I understand there are music recitals to attend, and lectures, and of course dinners with other professors and their wives.  During the day, you can cook and clean for him, and maybe redecorate.  Most men have too few ferns.  You could add those.  About midway through that comment, I decided she was mocking me.

I do not know what future Klaus and I may have, but I would still be involved running my bottling plants, and he has promised to help me with that.

I am afraid your time running bottling plants has come to an end.

Oh?

There is a portfolio in the seat pocket there.  She pointed to a leather case across from me.  It has several papers.  The first is an injunction, asking that your plants in Outer Michigan be closed.

It is Upper Michigan.

Of course.  She smiled.  Was she playing with me?  The injunction asserts that you violated a contract provision to not compete against our company.  You signed that when you were president of the North American division.  We will also be charging you with infringement of trade secrets, since you designed your new plants using the same plans as you used for our plants in Upper... Whatever that city was.

It’s Michigan, and you know it. 

I just stared at her.  Was she serious?  That pale, old lady face framed in that shellacked old lady hair just stared back at me.  Her hands were in her lap, her back against the car seat.  She seemed perfectly at peace.  What the hell?

That non-compete clause was years ago.  And the plant design – hell, every plant in the world uses the exact same design.  How many ways can you line up a row of machines?  I will challenge the injunction in court, and I will win.

There was no time limit on the non-compete clause.  And we can show the contractor used the same blueprints.  You will not win in court.  And while you are in court, we will ask that your plants be closed.  All your employees will lose their jobs.

You can’t do that.

I will do all that and more.  While we are fighting you in court, we will close all our other North American plants, including the one in your hometown, and the other two in little villages somewhere west in Minnesota.

Why would you do that?  It is so evil.  You are being a complete bitch.

I am a woman protecting her family.

I had no idea what to say.  If she had been a man, or fifty years younger, I would have punched her.  Instead, I just stared at her. 

She made me wait.  She studied my face.  She wanted to see something; God only knows what.  Did she expect me to cry?  Was she that mean?

In that portfolio is another document.  A contract.  It says you sell your Iron River plant to me, and again agree not to compete against the family.  We will pay you seven million dollars – in stock – for your properties.  That is equivalent to one percent of our company.  I think a very fair offer.

And my friends keep their jobs?

As long as I am running the company, they will have their jobs. 

Kurt was actually the CEO, but it appeared Willa was the real head of the firm – and the family.  I took the portfolio from the set pocket.  Inside was the injunction.  I scanned it.  It was in English, not so I could read it, but so it could be filed in an American court.  She was serious.  Behind it was the contract she mentioned.  I needed to sign and initial in several places.  If you have to take nasty medicine, it’s best to swallow fast.  I signed and initialed, and put the contract back in the portfolio.

Happy?

Yes.  As of now, you are no longer the solitary water warrior, off saving the world on your own.  From now on, what happens to this company happens to you and all your friends.

"And I go back to Klaus’ flat,