To Run With the Swift

by Gerald N. Lund

  “Unbelievable,” he said in awe. “But why let you see your own body?”

  “That’s easy. It was the ultimate blow to the inside of my head. For a moment there, I thought I was going mad. Even now, it makes my flesh crawl thinking about it.”

  “What kind of a sicko could do something like that?”

  “And it’s not over, Rick. In her letter, Gisela said that—”

  “Letter? What letter?”

  I forgot I hadn’t mentioned that. “She wrote me a letter and put it in the fake pouch.” I reached out and touched the pouch with one hand. “And one of the things she said was that if I didn’t cooperate, she would take away the most precious of all gifts. Hope.”

  “Ah,” he said. “Man, Danni. This is incredible.” Brief pause. “So what do we do now?”

  That question had been tumbling around in my mind for some time now. But when Rick asked it again, the answer came immediately. “We fight back.”

  “Good.”

  “No. Fighting back may put my folks and Cody in jeopardy. We have to end it. Here and now. Somehow, we have to end it.”

  “I agree,” he said slowly. “I like that idea a lot. But ... uh ... Danni? How do we do that?”

  I actually laughed inside my head. “Hey, I gave you the solution. It’s up to you to work out the details.”

  As we moved into the library, things were pretty much the way they had been before. Once again the logs in the fireplace had been replaced, and now a bed of glowing coals covered the entire area beneath the grate. There were still six chairs in front of the desk. Niklas stood behind the desk beside his mother’s chair, dressed in a business suit, looking like he was about to attend a board meeting of the bank. Once they seated us, Doc and Jean-Claude took their places behind us, their hands resting easily on the butts of their holstered pistols. Other armed guards were posted at each of the side doors.

  But again, Gisela was not there. Of course not. Get the unwashed masses in their places first; then Her Majesty would make her grand entrance.

  As we sat down, heads facing front, Rick started talking in my mind immediately. “We’ve been studying China in our World Civilizations class this year, and we read a book by a guy named Sun Tzu. He was a famous Chinese general who lived a couple of centuries before Christ. He wrote a book called The Art of War.”

  I turned and gave him funny look. Seriously? You’re talking about World Civilizations at this point? But his head was down and he was staring at his hands and didn’t look at me.

  “He said, ‘Pretend you are inferior and encourage your enemy’s arrogance.’”

  “Well, that should be easy enough. No pretense necessary.”

  “I mean it, Danni. Gisela thinks you are this silly, immature, foolish American teenager.”

  “You forgot gauche.”

  He ignored that. “Now would be a good time to convince her that she is right.”

  As we waited, the only sound in the room was the slow tick-tock of the grandfather clock in the corner. Nor was there any movement. We were like stone statues left in the library as some weird form of decoration. Finally, tired of the games, I looked at Niklas. “I know your mother is an old woman and needs her beauty rest, so why don’t we just postpone this till morning?” I yawned, and not just to fake it. I suddenly was feeling the exhaustion of a very long and traumatic two days.

  His lips pinched into a tight line and his eyes narrowed. But before he could say anything, Doc moved in behind me. His hand shot out, and once again pain knifed through me as he gripped my shoulder and pinched down hard. “No talking.”

  “You’re hurting me,” I cried, trying to pull free of his viselike grip.

  He leaned in until I smelt the cigarettes on his breath. “Aw, I’m sorry, little Miss Smart Mouth. Does this help?” He dug his fingers in deeper and literally lifted me up out of my chair, using nothing but that one hand.

  Yelling with pain, I jerked free and spun around. “Have you learned nothing from what happened to Niklas?” And with that, I reached out with my free hand and placed it palm down against his chest. I could feel the hardness of his muscles beneath the fabric of his shirt. He grunted, then cried out. Doubling over, he let go of my arm and dropped to his knees, his body jerking violently. His eyes bulged as he fought to breathe. He couldn’t do it. His whole body was being hit with violent spasms.

  I leaned in until I was looking straight into his eyes. “That’s what’s known as being Danni-Tasered, Mr. Tough Guy,” I said sweetly. “Please don’t touch me again.”

  I swung around. Jean-Claude was moving in to intervene. Niklas was too, but more hesitantly. He was gaping at Raul, who was starting to turn blue. Seeing my face, Jean-Claude stopped, then backed up a step. I sat down, and instantly Raul was released from whatever it was that had hit him. He remained on all fours, gasping and wheezing.

  “So much for Sun Tzu and trying to look inferior.” It was Rick’s voice in my head, and he sounded amused.

  “Sorry. You know me. Raise the gun. Fire. Take aim.”

  “Don’t be sorry, Danni. You just proved that Le Gardien is not fully in Gisela’s power.”

  Good point! I turned back around to sit down. To my surprise, Gisela was standing next to the side door. Once again, she was impeccably dressed, this time in an elegantly tailored blouse and full-length black skirt. She stood there in regal silence, like the queen she was, looking totally bored with it all.

  “Up to your old games again, are we, Danni?” she sniffed, then moved to her chair.

  She waited until Raul managed to stagger back to his feet. “Did you search them?”

  He nodded, still grimacing with pain, and reached in his pocket. He withdrew Grandpère’s phone and the key card and handed them to her. “The kid had nothing. Danni had these. Do you want the other pouch, too?”

  She shook her head, but as she took the phone from him, I saw real fear on her face for a moment. “Where did you get this?” she demanded.

  That surprised me. “It was on Grandpère’s corpse. I assumed you had put it there as a nice touch.” I said the last two words with heavy sarcasm.

  She turned to Niklas. His hands shot up, as if to ward her off. “I didn’t put it there. I’ve never seen it before.”

  So who did? I hurriedly sat down, guessing she was asking herself the same question. But the veil came down over her eyes again and they showed nothing more—not surprise, not dismay. “Cuff them,” she said to Niklas. Though he blanched a little at that, he nevertheless jumped in, taking two metal handcuffs from his jacket pocket. I quickly put my hands out in front of me, not wanting to have him pull them around to the back. He put the cuffs on. Rick did the same, and then Niklas moved back to stand beside his mother.

  She turned the phone on, waited for a few moments, then hit some buttons with her thumbs. When she looked up, I could see I had broken through her reserve. She was angry. That was good news. Not every single thing she had arranged with such meticulous care was going according to plan.

  She tossed the phone to Niklas, who looked at the screen, then at me. “So you called the FBI again?” he shouted.

  Before I could answer, Gisela smiled. “And I assume you told them you were being held in the Schloss von Dietz. Ah, Danni, have you no imagination. You take all the fun out of it.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about. Which only amused her all the more. “The real von Dietz Castle is on the other side of the lake. And it has absolutely no links or ties with the villa where we are now. But we put a sign on the gate announcing this was the von Dietz Castle so your parents and Cody would see it as we drove in. We figured you would make contact with them sooner or later.” She clucked sadly. “You are so predictable.”

  Looking at Niklas, she went on, “Have those guarding the outside perimeter be especially alert. And have them call us at the first sign of
any activity. In the meantime, I think we can chat without fear of being disturbed.”

  So Clay would not be coming. Not in time. And Grandpère’s words came back to me, “Do not underestimate her, Danni.” Which I had just done. Again.

  She leaned forward, opened a drawer, and withdrew something. When I saw what it was, I tensed. It was Le Gardien. The real Le Gardien. She clutched it tightly in her hands and turned it enough that it was facing me square on, like she was sighting on a target. “Earlier today, I sent you a letter with an offer for a deal between us.”

  I nodded. “And I am ready to deal. But first I need to know that my family is safe.”

  She laughed harshly. “But your family is all dead, my dear.”

  “Show me my family or you get nothing.”

  She exploded with rage, causing me and several others to jump. “Don’t trifle with me, girl!” she shrieked. “You have no idea who you are dealing with.”

  “Oh, I think I do.”

  “You think that because you haven’t yet taught me how the pouch works, I cannot use it?”

  I rocked back as I saw her raise the pouch and point it directly at me. She half closed her eyes. There was a soft POOF! and a cool breeze brushed my cheeks. For a moment, I wasn’t sure what had happened. When it hit me, I laughed right out loud. “Whoa! That was impressive.”

  She stared at the pouch for a moment, her face ashen, her eyes like twin points of glowing lava. Then, quick as a cat, she dropped Le Gardien on the desk and yanked the drawer open again. When she withdrew her hand this time, it held a Taser pistol.

  “Watch out, Danni!” Rick yelled.

  As she raised the weapon and fired, I jerked hard to one side, almost tipping the chair over. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the two electronic probes flash by me and bury themselves in the fabric of the chair. Instantly I felt a shock pass through the whole backside of my body. It was enough to knock me flying off the chair. Hitting the floor with a crash, I lay there for a moment, too dazed to move.

  My next conscious awareness was of Gisela bending over me, her face just inches from mine, her mouth twisted in a disdainful sneer. “Consider yourself Gisela-Tasered,” she cried.

  Suddenly the anger was back. Every evil thing that she stood for crystallized in my mind. I lunged up, jerking my head forward with every ounce of strength I could muster. Stars shot across my vision as my forehead connected with the bridge of her nose. Blood sprayed outward as she fell back and crashed against the desk.

  “Mama!” Niklas darted around the desk as she crashed to the floor, her hands coming up to cover her nose. Instantly, cold steel pressed hard against my left temple. I looked up and saw Raul’s murderous expression as he cocked the pistol. I didn’t care. I pushed it away with my hand and rolled over onto my knees. When I looked over at Gisela, our eyes met. She was dazed. So was I. Both her hands were clamped over her face. Blood oozed between her fingers, and I could see spatters of it on her immaculate white blouse. She was moaning softly.

  “Get the doctor up here,” Niklas screamed. Somewhere behind me, I heard footsteps take off running and a door slamming open and shut.

  The pistol pressed harder against my temple. “Move again and I will shoot you dead,” Raul hissed into my ear.

  I ignored him and looked up in Gisela’s eyes, now shadowed with pain. “I no longer have the real pouch, but I will not stop fighting you. Right now, I have every reason to believe my family is dead. So show me that they are alive or tell this Spanish dung beetle to pull the trigger.”

  “Easy, Danni,” Rick cried in my head. “Easy.”

  Gisela and I glared at each other for several seconds, but finally she nodded. “Raul. Stand down. But watch her. One more outbreak and you have my permission to go down and shoot her little brother.”

  Raul straightened. “Gladly.”

  Niklas stepped between us. “Tip your head back, Mama,” he said. He had his handkerchief out. Jean-Claude was behind the desk now, rummaging in a bottom drawer. A moment later he stood and held out a bottle of water to Niklas.

  Working with great gentleness, Niklas wet the cloth, carefully pulled Gisela’s hands away from her face, and began dabbing at the blood. The nose was swollen and horrible to look at.

  “You broke my nose,” she whispered, looking past his hands at me.

  “Tell you what. I’ll pay your doctor bill if you give us back the money you stole from us.”

  She said nothing more. From the rigidness of her body and the tightness of her face, I could tell she was in a lot of pain. Having once nearly broken my nose in a biking accident, I was not totally without sympathy for her.

  A few moments later, a tall, lean man hurried in with a black bag in one hand. He raced over and dropped down beside her. One look at her face and he began to mutter under his breath. And with that we settled into an uneasy silence, me watching her with loathing, her staring back at me with utter contempt.

  I quickly tired of the glaring game and laid back my head and closed my eyes. The throbbing in my head was increasing in intensity and I was tempted to ask the doctor if he might have a couple of aspirin. I resisted the temptation.

  I looked over at Rick. His head was down in his handcuffed hands as he stared at the floor. I guessed that he was thinking about Sun Tzu’s advice and how little it had affected me.

  “Sorry,” I said to him in my head.

  “For what?” Then he chuckled, though not audibly. “For acting so inferior?”

  “Yeah. I wasn’t thinking about that when she shot at me.”

  “Danni, listen to me. Toss Sun Tzu out the window. Disregard what I said earlier. You have to go with your instincts, with what your feelings are.”

  “Even when it is pure rage?”

  “That wasn’t rage,” he retorted. Then he caught himself. “Well, maybe you were a bit ticked off. But it was also brilliant, Danni. She was treating you like a street punk. You had to come back at her, or she would have completely dominated you.”

  “Do you really think so?” I said, surprised by his words.

  “Absolutely. Look at the way she’s looking at you, Danni. She had dismissed you like some annoying bug to be stepped on. But look at those eyes now.”

  I did. I raised my eyes to hers and willed myself not to look away. Behind those startling blue irises, I saw what Rick was talking about. I saw respect. Not the respect you show for someone you admire and like. Respect for an adversary. And with it, I saw wariness. She was taking my measure, and she was taking it seriously.

  “Thanks, Rick. There is nothing in the world I needed more than that at this moment.”

  “Go get her, Danni. I’m here. I’m praying for you. And I’m pleading with Le Gardien not to abandon you, because I’ve got a feeling that this war is going to be mostly between you and her.”

  Gisela suddenly snarled at the doctor, who was just starting to put a bandage across her nose. “That’s enough. Get out.”

  Right on! Get out, and let the games begin.

  But as he stood up, closed his case, and started to back away, I flashed him my prettiest smile. “Don’t go too far, Doctor. You never know what’s going to get broken next.”

  CHAPTER 37

  To my surprise, the doctor followed my advice rather than Gisela’s command. He moved to the back corner of the room and stood beside one of the guards. Gisela barely noticed. By now the whole area around her nose was swollen and starting to darken. I guessed that by breakfast, she would greatly resemble a raccoon. Knowing how important chic was to her, that gave me a sort of savage satisfaction.

  They had cleaned the blood off her face, but when Niklas tried to send out for a new blouse for her, she waved him off. There were one large, dark smear and half a dozen smaller spots on the front of the one she was wearing. In spite of my anger, it was freaking me out to think that I had done
that. Without thinking. Out of pure rage. And I felt zero remorse right now.

  I looked directly into Gisela’s eyes. “You have just had your first lesson in pouch management. Le Gardien is a force for good. It will not respond to your wishes or desires if you seek to make it do something wrong, something evil.”

  “Oh, really?” she sneered. “What about the handwriting on the windshield of that little sports car with the blonde driver?” she shot right back. “Was that a ‘good’ thing? You nearly killed that poor woman.”

  I wasn’t sure exactly how to answer that, so I ducked her question. “I didn’t say the pouch doesn’t let us do stupid things. Just not something that is directly evil. So, as you have just seen, if you’re thinking you can use the pouch to carry out your crimes, you’re in for a surprise.”

  “Seeing justice done is not a crime.”

  “Obviously not in your eyes, even if it violates the law, but it will be from the pouch’s perspective.” I took a quick breath. “So let’s get to it. I accept your proposal. I will show you everything I know about the pouch in return for you getting out of our lives. But first, I need to see my family. After your sick little game with the wax bodies, I need to see for myself that they are all right.”

  “I think instead I may just have my Niklas take you out and shoot you,” she said contemptuously.

  “Like your father did with innocent men and women so many times, right? Without a trial. Without remorse.”

  Her hand flashed out and slapped the desktop with full force. The crack echoed sharply in the room, and both Rick and I jumped. She leaned in, visibly trembling. “If you speak of my father again, I will shoot you myself.”

  “Don’t push her, Danni,” Rick said inside my head. “She’s near the edge.”

  Not near enough. I leaned in. “If you want my help, you will prove to me that my family is still alive and unharmed. Until then, I will do nothing. And all your empty threats about shooting me do not frighten me.”