“Because we flew into Zurich with Juliette yesterday, then drove here.”
Rick came in. “You flew? Wait. I thought you guys were sick and were going back to the hotel.”
“That’s what we thought too. But Juliette had some medicine with her that she said would help. Instead, it knocked us out. When we woke up, we were landing in Zurich. And guess who was waiting for us at the airport with Juliette’s limo, Danni? Jean-Claude, the guy from Belgium. What’s going on? They handcuffed us and put us in the backseat of the limo. Then we drove to Bern and Juliette’s castle.”
“Castle?”
“Yeah, it’s this really cool, old castle. It’s called the Schloss von Dietz. Schloss is the German word for castle. Juliette must be super rich, Danni.”
“And what did Juliette have to say about all this?”
“Nothing. She drove in a separate car. And Jean-Claude refused to say anything to us.”
So much for our dear Juliette being the innocent victim. I felt incredibly stupid for arguing with Grandpère about her.
“Focus, Danni,” Rick chided me gently. “Beating yourself up about what’s now water under the bridge isn’t very helpful.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“What about Grandpère?” Cody asked. “Is he with you guys?”
I barely heard him. My mind was racing. This had all been so carefully planned. The doctored sandwiches. Separating our family into two groups so we would be easier to control. Getting Mom and Dad and Cody clear away before they moved in to take us. But Juliette and Philippe had made one serious miscalculation. Louis Girard. They had no idea that we had met Louis and knew what was behind all this. Nor that we had called Clay and that the FBI now knew what was going on.
“Danni?” It was Rick.
I turned my mental voice back on. “Right. I’m here.” I hesitated, then, “Cody?”
“I’m here too.”
“I have some bad news. I think Grandpère may be dead.”
“What? No, Danni. No!” And he started to cry.
So I told him what the guard had said. Which only made Cody cry all the harder. There was no reaction from Rick because he had heard the guard tell me about Grandpère’s accident.
“Code!” I said sharply. “Listen to me. We have cameras in our cells. They’re watching you. You can’t let them know we are communicating somehow.”
“I ... I can’t stop.”
It was strange. This was all going on in our heads, but I could tell that he was having trouble getting his breath. “I know, but you have to. Turn your face to the wall. If they come to check, say you’re upset because you are frightened.”
“Danni,” Rick came in, “you can’t be sure. Remember what Louis told us. Their purpose is to take away any hope, to inflict as much mental and emotional anguish on us as possible. So this could all be a big ruse. Maybe Grandpère got away and is with Clay right now.”
Good point. “Rick’s right, Code. They didn’t find his body.” I decided not to tell him about the note Grandpère had left me. Gratefully, Rick didn’t say anything more either.
“Can you use the pouch to get us out of here?” Cody finally asked.
“I don’t have the pouch. Philippe took it. I don’t know where it is.”
“So?” Rick shot right back.
“So what?”
“So let’s get it back.”
“That’s what I’m thinking too,” I said. “But we do have this little problem of being behind bars.” I was thinking hard now. “Code, how much of the castle did you see when they brought you here?”
“Not much. We went through a big, fancy entryway, then Jean-Claude led us up this long, curving stairway to the second floor. A short way down another long hallway, he stopped at an open door. It was a library filled with walls and walls of books. Juliette was inside, sitting at this huge desk with a computer and stuff.”
“Like an office?”
“Yeah, like an office.”
“Then that’s the likeliest place for the pouch. Do you remember how to get to that main entry from here?”
Cody thought a moment. “Not really. Jean-Claude told Juliette that we had arrived, but she only nodded. She didn’t even look at us. Dad tried to talk to her, but Jean-Claude shut the door again and took us back down the stairs to the entry.
“What way did you turn once you reached the entry?”
“Uh ... left, I think. Yeah, left, into this long hallway. About halfway down the hall, we came to a narrow set of stairs that led down to the basement. That’s where we are. We’re in the basement of the castle.”
So, not a prison. That was good news. “Great work, Code. I think we must be in a different cell block, because we’ve heard nothing from you or anyone else.”
Somewhere down the hall from my cell, I heard a door open, then shut again. There was a murmur of men’s voices, then footsteps started down the hall.
“Omigosh,” Rick blurted. “I can see down the hall. It’s Doc. Wait. Someone else is coming too. It’s Philippe.” The footsteps were growing louder. “They’re going past my cell, Danni.”
And suddenly there they were, standing at my cell door, Philippe in the lead with a key card in his hand. Doc stood back, one hand resting lightly on a Taser gun, looking as mean, as ugly, and as frightening as always. Philippe peered at me through the bars, his face totally impassive. Then he swiped the card, and the lock opened.
CHAPTER 31
“Well, well,” I said bitterly. “I thought you might be lurking around here somewhere.”
Philippe pushed the door open and motioned for me to follow him. “You are not to speak unless you are first spoken to. Do you understand?”
I said nothing and followed him out. Doc smirked at me as I passed, but also said nothing. We had walked only a few steps down the hallway when Philippe grabbed my elbow and pulled me to a stop. I looked to the left. Rick was standing at the steel door of another cell, watching anxiously. He moved back as Doc stepped past us, ran his own key card through the lock, and pushed the door open. “Don’t speak unless spoken to,” Doc said, pointing the Taser at Rick. Rick only nodded as he came out and fell in beside me.
We passed one more cell—which was empty—then approached a desk near a metal door. Our barrel-chested guard was standing at attention beside the desk. As we reached him, Philippe held out the card. The guard took it and put it in the top desk drawer.
Our two escorts—Philippe in front, Doc behind—led us out into a wider hallway, then turned up a flight of stairs, just as Cody had described. Which seemed to confirm that there were two separate cell blocks.
Cody hadn’t been kidding. As we came up to the main floor, it was evident that this really was a castle. It had high, arched ceilings, stone walls, and cement floors. Our footsteps echoed softly as we started down a long hall studded with paintings of both men and women who I guessed were ancestors. We passed doors on either side, all of which were closed, and then came into this enormous entry hall. It was huge, bigger than our entire house back home. It had two-story ceilings, with marble statues and busts set in tiny alcoves all around. Giant potted plants sat in the far corners. But most spectacular was the grand, sweeping staircase that curved gently as it rose to the second floor.
As Philippe turned and started up the stairway, I decided it was time to stop being the cowed little dummy. “So,” I said, “did the police have any luck finding your kidnapped mother?”
He half turned his head. “I told you. Speak only when you are spoken to.”
“Ooh.” I said to Rick. “Looks like we’re being taken before the headmaster for a spanking.”
Philippe spun around. There was a blur, then my head snapped back as he slapped me very hard. “No one here finds you amusing, Danni,” he snarled. “So keep your mouth shut.”
I was reeling.
My cheek stung like fury and I had spots swirling before my eyes. I knew I would have the imprint of his hand on my face for the next half hour or so. But it worked. I decided that I’d better stop thinking I was this way cool, wisecracking Super Chick.
“Danni?”
It was Rick, inside my head.
“Yeah, I know, I know. No more being cute.”
“No, listen, Danni. I just had two thoughts. First, we can’t let them know that we are communicating with each other. We can’t. This is our only hope right now.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, knowing instantly that he was right. And why hadn’t I thought of that?
“And, we have to play dumb. We don’t know anything about Juliette. We don’t know what is going on. They can’t know that we talked to Louis. And that we called Clay.”
“Right,” I said. “Got it.” But I was marveling. Those were two significant points. No, not just significant. Critical.
So why is Rick getting this and not you? It didn’t take a rocket scientist to answer that question.
At the head of the stairs, a stone-faced man stood at attention, an assault rifle slung over his shoulder. As we passed him and moved down the hallway, I saw another guard posted outside a door. As we approached, Philippe gave that guard a curt nod, and he quickly opened the door.
Cody calling this a library was a big understatement. It was a huge room, with most of the wall space filled with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. There had to be thousands of books here. Many of them looked very old. All were in rich leather bindings. This alone had to represent a sizeable fortune.
A huge fireplace—probably a foot taller than me—occupied the far end of the room. A cheery fire burned several four-foot chunks of logs. The smell of pine in the room was rich and pungent.
Then I turned the other way. “Oh my word!” The words came out without thinking. The wall to our right had no bookshelves. Instead, it had three large picture windows. And what I had barely seen out my cell window now lay before us in full glory. It was a stunning view of the lake and the mountains beyond. The sailboats were gone, but what looked like a passenger ferry of some kind was crossing the lake toward the far side. With yesterday’s snowstorm, everything except the lake was a pristine white. It literally was quite breathtaking.
Down the lakeshore in either direction, and also across on the opposite side, there were signs of human habitation everywhere—homes, buildings, a busy roadway. That was good. If we could somehow manage to escape, we wouldn’t have to go far to find help.
Dominating the center of the room was a large, round table with elaborately carved mahogany legs and a huge floral piece in the center of it. It sat on a circular Oriental rug that reeked of money. Directly over the table, an elegant, cut-glass chandelier hung from a long chain. Overstuffed chairs and small couches were scattered about the room as well.
Finally, my eyes stopped to rest on the other piece of furniture that dominated the room. Beyond the table, in one corner of the library, I saw the desk that Cody had described. It was huge. What in this room wasn’t? It had a beveled glass top that showed not even the tiniest smudge on it. The only thing on the desktop were two 8x10 pictures in elegant gold frames. Attached to the left side of the desk there was a long extension made of the same rich mahogany. Here I saw twin computer monitors, a printer, what looked like a fax machine, and a multiline telephone. A deep maroon leather office chair, the kind that swiveled, was behind the desk, and six matching high-back chairs were arranged in a semicircle in front of it. Desk and chairs also sat on an Oriental rug, only this one had to be twenty feet square. As Philippe led us forward, my feet sank into it like I had stepped onto a cloud.
“Sit down,” he commanded, pointing to the chairs. “Rick, you take the end one. Danni, you’re next to him.” As I passed by him he gave me a hard slap on the rump. “What’s the rule of the day, Danni?”
“No speaking unless spoken to.” I didn’t need reminding. My cheek still burned.
“Very good. Now, sit down.”
As we did so, Doc walked over and stood just behind me. Philippe went around the desk and stood behind the chair, his eyes never leaving mine. Behind me, I heard a door open and shut. I turned my head and saw Jean-Claude entering. He too carried a Taser, as well as a regular pistol in his belt. He planted himself directly in front of the door.
Well, Danni girl, the gang’s all here. So zip your lip. These guys are not playing around.
What followed next was an eerie silence. No one moved. No one spoke. Rick and I sat perfectly still, not daring to even glance at each other. We were obviously waiting for someone, and I was pretty sure I knew who it was.
Finally, Philippe gave Jean-Claude a questioning look. “Where is she?”
“She’s on the phone with Geneva, Niklas,” he said. “She’ll only be a couple of minutes.”
My head came up. Niklas? Not Philippe? And not Nick-O-las. Was this the German form of the name? But of course it was. If Juliette—or whatever her name was—had been born in Germany, then why not give her son a German name?
“Are the others outside?” Philippe, or Niklas, asked.
“Yes.”
“Bring them in. Let’s get everyone seated before she arrives.”
Jean-Claude turned and opened the door behind him. He stepped back and motioned to someone in the hallway. A cry of joy burst from my lips when I saw Mom walk into the room, followed by Dad, then Cody. Bringing up the rear, pistol drawn and ready, was yet another guard we had not seen before. This was not good, one part of my mind thought. The place was crawling with armed muscle.
I didn’t care about the warning. I leaped to my feet. “Mom, are you all right?”
Doc started forward to cut me off, but Philippe—or Niklas—shook his head. “It’s all right.”
I pushed past him and flew into Mom’s arms. Dad and Cody pushed in too, and in moments we were crushing each other in great hugs. Mom reached up and caressed my cheek where Philippe had smacked me. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m okay.”
She looked over at Rick and smiled. Then she looked around the room. “Where’s Grandpère? Isn’t he with you?”
Before I could speak, Niklas cut in sharply. “That’s enough. Sit down.”
Mom was obviously surprised to see Niklas here and gave me a questioning look. I didn’t dare say anything. I just shook my head and looked away.
Niklas spoke, his voice firm and clipped. “Angelique, you sit beside Danni. Cody, sit on your mother’s other side. Then Mack, you sit by Cody. Do not attempt to move. No one speaks unless you are specifically asked to do so by one of us. Please do not make the mistake of thinking we are bluffing here.”
As we moved back to our assigned chairs, Jean-Claude shut the door, but now he moved over and joined Doc just behind us. As he did so, two unrelated thoughts popped into my head. One: There were six chairs facing the desk, but only five of us. Was the sixth for Grandpère? I felt a tiny surge of hope rise inside me.
Second, as I sat there, staring at Niklas, I was shocked to see how different he was. There was no sign of the suave, charming Philippe that we had met before. There was not the slightest hint of a smile. He was still very handsome, but his face was like flint, his eyes a glacial blue. And there was this darkness about him, this sinister aura of evil, that was deeply frightening, much like I felt around Jean-Claude and Doc. I realized that we were sitting in a room full of dangerous, violent men, but Niklas was the most dangerous of them all.
We sat there in silence for another two or three minutes. No one moved. No one spoke. Then finally, a side door to the library opened and Juliette swept into the room. Again the impressions came quickly. No one actually snapped to attention, but I saw out of the corner of my eye that Doc and Jean-Claude both straightened perceptibly. Even Niklas stood a little taller.
Swept was
a good verb, because as she came across the room toward the desk, her bearing was that of a queen entering the throne room. I thought again how beautiful she was. Her naturally blonde hair was pulled up into a bun at the back of her head, accentuating the sharpness of her features. Her dress was simple—a deep royal blue with half sleeves and a scooped neckline. The diamond choker was gone, replaced with a delicate gold chain that held a single blue sapphire dangling from it. It perfectly matched the dress.
But in all that beauty there was not even a glimmer of warmth. She didn’t so much as glance in our direction. She kept her eyes to the front and moved around the desk to join Niklas. As she came up to him, there was a momentary smile. She tipped her head back slightly, and he gave her a dutiful kiss on the cheek. “Good afternoon, Mama,” he murmured.
“Hello, Niklas. Is all in readiness?”
“Yes. Whenever you say, we’ll bring him in.”
I felt my heart leap. Him? Was Grandpère alive? At that moment, I didn’t much care what else happened. If Grandpère was still alive, then ...
Niklas pulled the chair back, and Juliette sat down. Finally, her eyes came to rest on us. They were expressionless, almost disinterested, as if she was looking at a collection of bugs pinned to a board. The change in her was dramatic. There was not the slightest hint of the warm, gracious, grandmotherly hostess of Le Petit Château. This was the Ice Queen—haughty, imperious, distant. And that did not bode well. I had alarms going off in every part of my mind.
She let her gaze move across the five of us, pausing only momentarily to examine us with this oddly curious detachment. It was like she was seeing us for the first time. When she came to me, they seemed to harden even more, and I felt a little shiver run down my back. Finished, she sat back.
“My name is Gisela Elizabette Decker von Dietz.” She pronounced her first name with a hard G and emphasis on the first syllable—GEES-a-lah. “It is not Juliette Dubois. You will no longer call me Juliette. I detest that name and I detest everything that is French. So please do not make the mistake of calling me Juliette again. If you have to address me, it will be as Madame von Dietz or Lady Gisela. Is that clear?”
To Run With the Swift Page 41