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“So we had to dig deeper,” said Lacoste. “Go back over what Charles left behind. Go back to the map and pore over the notebooks.”

“And we had to find the laptop,” said Jean-Guy.

“So you knew something was up,” said Workman. “How did you figure out what?”

“Yvette here realized the numbers and symbols Charles had written on the lake were passwords,” said Isabelle. “They took us to .family and eventually to War Plan Red.”

Yvette. She called me Yvette. Not Nichol. Yvette. She looked around and realized she was part of the circle.

Workman shook his head. “Hard to believe War Plan Red actually exists.”

“Agreed,” said Gamache. “After the shock of the First World War, the US decided it needed plans, defenses, should it happen again. So it created various plans. Each with a different color. They were collectively called the Rainbow Plans.”

“War Plan Black for war with Germany,” said Nichol. “War Plan Grey for Central America. War Plan Orange for war with Japan. There were others.”

“Marcus Lauzon, as Deputy PM, had access to the classified files,” said Evelyn Tardiff. “He knew that WPR had been resurrected as military exercises. Updated constantly, but never, as General Whitehead said, meant to be put into action. But Lauzon saw the potential.”

“He saw how fragile water security was becoming,” said Reine-Marie.

“And how desperate the Americans might become,” agreed Isabelle. “All they needed was a shove in the right direction.”

“Toward Canada,” said Jean-Guy.

He was shocked by how easy it had been to turn Canada into an enemy. There were still millions who considered the megafires a deliberate assault. Once that perception was planted, it was almost impossible to refute. The Ministry of Truth at work.

Jean-Guy had just read Nineteen Eighty-Four, after first finishing Animal Farm.

Now he was reading the biography of Maurice “The Rocket” Richard. A hockey legend who had nothing to do with any of this.

“But how do we know that this thing”—Workman tapped the file—“is real? Maybe it was planted. It all seems too easy.”

“Robert Ferguson has admitted it’s real,” said Isabelle. “Besides, everything in it was proven true.”

“War Plan Red. Sounds ridiculous,” said Nichol, shaking her head. “And we all thought you were nuts.”

Armand had dropped his eyes to the document. He’d been silent through this. Partly remembering the steps to get there. Mostly remembering the missteps.

“I really thought it was Woodford,” said Lacoste. “That makes the most sense.”

“That’s what Lauzon said to me. That only Woodford had the power and contacts to organize all this,” said Jean-Guy. “I have to admit it’s one of the things that convinced me I’d been wrong about Lauzon. And then, when he saved us in the caves—”

“If he’s behind all this, why would he save you?” Workman interrupted.

“He needed you alive,” Beauvoir said to Evelyn Tardiff. “To tell us what you knew about Joe Moretti and Mirabel. He needed us to go to the wrong airport.”

“It was Lauzon who told us about the caves and got us to go there, remember,” said Nichol. “He wanted us to save you.” She took Evelyn’s hand. “And really, thank God he did.”

“What is it?” Jean-Guy asked. He’d noticed that Armand was still staring at the document.

Now the Chief raised his eyes. Though he said nothing, Jean-Guy could read that look.

Oh, merde, he thought. We have a problem.

As they left the café, Armand paused on the terrace and looked at the spot where Charles Langlois, the young biologist, had been mown down and died, as Armand held his bloody hand.

This was where it all began. And Armand knew now, it wasn’t over yet.

“What is it, patron?” asked Beauvoir.