True (2004)

by Cordy, Michael

  Max frowned behind his mask. Why?'

  Two of the ex-Stasi, in full Arctic gear, appeared behind Helmut. 'Just do it, Max.'

  Max stepped out, leaving the waitress alone in the freezer room with the drinks. What's wrong?'

  'These men have just returned from an excursion to find Stein. Their dogs followed a trail across the ice to an inlet on the fjord side of the lake. His father extended a hand and opened it. Stein's torn eyepatch lay on the palm. 'I assume his body's in the lake. And I'm guessing that Isabella Bacci is alive.'

  Max's first instinct was to fight, but when he considered his main objective, he decided against it. His father stared at him. 'I'm disappointed in you, Max,' he said eventually. Where's Isabella?'

  'She's gone. I helped her escape. She told me all about Venus and she's got all the evidence on disk. She's taking it to the authorities.'

  Helmut's jaw muscles clenched. 'Even if she reached civili2ation, it won't matter after tomorrow -- because everyone here will have drunk that toast.' His eyes hardened. 'What concerns me is that you betrayed me again. Why?'

  'Because you're insane and someone has to stop you.'

  Helmut glared at him, apparently incredulous that anyone, especially his heir, could speak to him in such a way. 'You're like your mother. I could never reason with her. When you betrayed me in Milan, I forgave you, Max. I thought you were misguided. I see now that I was the one who was misguided.'

  Another man appeared in a mask. 'Is the toast okay?'

  'It's fine, Joachim. He could not have known we were going to deliver the drug in the toast, but please check.'

  Joachim removed his mask and smiled malevolently at his brother. He disappeared into the freezer room. 'Wait outside,' Max heard him order the waitress.

  She stepped out and stood a discreet distance away.

  'So, you're using the toast to deliver Venus,' Max said. 'You won't get away with it.'

  Helmut ignored him. Joachim reappeared less than a minute later and replaced his mask. 'You can serve them now, he said to the waitress. I'll help you.'

  Max's father waited until the woman and Joachim had left with the first two of the trays, then turned to the guards. 'I must get back for the toast. You know where to take him -- somewhere we won't be disturbed when I talk to him later. He killed your boss, so I'll understand if you're not too gentle with him.'

  'FOLLOW ME,' JOACHIM ORDERED.'TAKE YOUR TRAY TO THAT TABLE and make sure everyone has a glass. Serve the next tray when you've finished. I'll pass round the last one.'

  Isabella tried to stop her hands trembling as she followed Joachim into the great hall. She had to force herself not to look back at Max, or to think about the fact that she was the sole dark-haired waitress among Odin's flaxen-haired Valkyries. She only hoped the mask and helmet proved adequate disguise.

  The plan had been relatively simple. Since the Kappels had the run of Valhalla, Max had easily procured the mask and staff uniform from Housekeeping. In her disguise Isabella had to hang around in the kitchen until the toast was due and Max came out to her. Once they had located the glasses she was to drop one of her tablets into each drink before she rushed back to the security of his room.

  Even if the plan had gone smoothly, the chances of stopping Venus were fifty-fifty at best. But now the odds of" success had dramatically decreased. It had been a shock when Max was taken, but she had just had time to drop the tablets into the glasses while she was alone in the freezer. But when Max had said, 'So you're using the toast to deliver Venus,' her heart had sunk. It hadn't occurred to her that the guests would have to take the drugs together. She had no idea what the effect would be.

  Then anger overcame fear. She or Max should have guessed that Helmut Kappel would use the toast to deliver Venus. Now, her plan was in jeopardy -- and she was actually helping to serve his drug. She had no choice, though. She passed round the first tray without incident, although she felt a surge of anxiety when she recognized the Australia-shaped birthmark on the masked Warren Hudsucker's hand. He barely noticed her. Waitresses were ignored at the best of times. Masked waitresses were invisible.

  She collected the second tray, and Joachim told her to serve the top table. She looked down to avoid even the possibility of eye-contact. First she served Klaus Kappel and his wife. As she placed a drink by Max Kappel's unoccupied chair, she heard Delphine Chevalier ask where Max had gone.

  Serving Gisele, Claire and Kathryn was surreal. She wanted desperately to tell them what was happening, but they were so engrossed in their partners that she doubted they would have registered her presence even without the mask.

  Helmut Kappel sat erect, and when she placed the ice glass in front of him, she could feel the rage radiating from him. Unconsciously he pushed it away. When she put a glass before Phoebe, she inadvertently brushed her friend's shoulder. Phoebe turned, and for a second their eyes locked. In that instant Isabella felt compelled to pull off her mask and tell Phoebe what her future husband planned. Then Phoebe turned away and the moment passed.

  She forced herself to walk slowly past the diners to the kitchen until she reached the swing doors. As she pushed them open a sigh of relief escaped her lips.

  Then Joachim called to her: 'You, the one who served the toast.'

  She fought the impulse to run, then faced him.

  He barely glanced at her as he gave her his empty tray. 'Take this to the kitchen.'

  She took it, walked through the swing doors and out of the kitchen.

  ASHELMUT LISTENED TO JOACHIM MAKE THE SPEECH IN MAx's place, he couldn't stop thinking of his elder son's betrayal. Max was a Kappel. He had invested so much in his development. When Max had wavered with Isabella he had given him a second chance, stiffened his resolve by injecting him with the NiL drug. By now Max should have been besotted with DelphineChevalier - he shouldn't have given a second thought to Isabella. Yet he had openly defied him and tried to thwart his destiny.

  But this was still a moment of triumph. Lysenko, Corbasson and Nadolny were engrossed with the bridesmaids, having submitted to his demands. In six months their prizes would be dead. And, after tomorrow, the world would be Helmut's to control.

  Yet he had been unable to control his own flesh and blood. Didn't Max appreciate his privileged position as one of the Kappel dynasty? He would punish him as he had punished Max's mother. His son's transgression was her fault. Her genes had diluted the Kappel stock. He had done all in his power to turn Max into a thoroughbred, but deep down he had always been a mongrel.

  'What's wrong, darling?' Phoebe whispered. 'You seem tense and you should be happy.'

  'I am happy,' Helmut rasped. As he heard Joachim thank Odin for the use of Valhalla and propose a toast to 'the happy couple', he calmed himself. Soon Max's betrayal wouldn't matter. Soon the entire world would be his family, his dynasty, and every future generation would recognize him as their head.

  Joachim held his glass high and turned to Helmut. 'To tomorrow's ceremony and a glorious future. To destiny.'

  'To destiny,' the room echoed. As the guests drained their ice glasses a murmur rustled round the great hall and everyone looked up at the crystal roof. Someone turned out the lights and the night sky was ablaze with shimmering colours. Spectral arcs and cones of red and green glowed against the night.

  At that moment, a sense of power rushed through Helmut, purging his anger. He passed Phoebe her glass and watched her drink. As he gazed up at the shimmering ribbons of colour, he realized that Max was unimportant. No one mattered any more, not even Dieter Kappel. It was as though the gods of Valhalla were heralding his ascension to their elevated ranks.

  ASSHE LEFT THE KITCHENS AND STRODE DOWN THE DESERTED corridors Isabella felt sick with anxiety and her head ached. When she heard the roar of the toast from the great hall she realized the die had been cast. She stared out the window and gasped. The sky was alight with ghostly flames. Red and green wraiths shimmered in die night, lighting up the darkness. She had never seen the Northern Li
ghts before and they were far more impressive than she had imagined. But that they should appear on the eve of Helmut Kappel's Project Venus seemed like an omen, heralding a dark new dawn.

  She looked down at the ice chapel and in the arc lights saw two armed guards escorting a third, taller man to the boiler-house. She immediately recognized Max as their prisoner. Two more guards met them by the boiler-house. One struck Max over the head with his rifle. When he fell to the snowy ground the others kicked him then dragged him inside. Max had killed one of their comrades to protect her, and now they were exacting their revenge. She remembered what Helmut had done to Max's mother, and doubted Max would survive the night.

  Yet for all Max's evil deeds, he had twice saved her life. But how could she help him? She was alone. Phoebe and her other friends were spellbound by the NiL drug, and besotted with the ageing men who had bought them.

  Then it came to her. It was a gamble, but there was no other way. After the risks Max had taken to save her and defy his family, she owed him something. And, as he had said, he was all she had.

  She hurried to her room and opened the door. Max had already retrieved most of the items she needed, but in her suitcase she found the tranquillizers she had been prescribed after her father's death. She pulled out a foil strip, then thought better of it, and took all three. This was no time for half measures.

  She checked her mask and walked back towards the great hall. Some of the diners were now dancing, but her target was still in his seat. She went to him and whispered that he was wanted in the reception hall. He stood up as obediently as a schoolboy and followed her out of the bustling great hall.

  He looked around, then turned to her. 'Who wants to see me?'

  She took off her mask. 'I do.'

  Warren Hudsucker took off his own and stared at her as if she was a ghost - or an angel. His face was radiant. 'You're here,' he said. 'They told me you'd gone. But why are you dressed as a waitress?'

  'There's no time to explain, Warren. Will you do something for me?'

  'Anything.'

  TWO HOURS LATER

  'happy new year, max.'

  Max got up from the concrete floor of the boiler-house storeroom and faced his father. He checked his watch: 12:35 a. M. The new year had begun.

  'Happy New Year, Vater.'

  His father pulled a cigar from his pocket, retrieved the assassin's knife from its sheath and sliced off the tip. He lit the cigar, sucked on it and sighed with satisfaction. 'It'll be an excellent new year, Max.' He turned to the guards. 'Give me a gun and leave us.'

  Max's suit was crusted with blood and his ribs hurt from where the guards had beaten him, but he could cope with the pain - even with the prospect of death. At least Isabella hadn't been discovered. There was still a chance, he told himself.

  'You can't stand in the way of destiny, Max,' Helmut said. 'The Venus drug is already working. Everyone will be feeling drowsy, and within an hour Valhalla will be silent. Tomorrow morning they'll wake to start not only a new year but a new era.

  'The world's a mess, Max. No one can agree on anything. Everyone loves different things -- different people, different gods, different countries, even different soccer teams. And they fight over them. They kill each other for what they love. Love doesn't bring the world together, it rips it apart. Patriotism isn't love of country, it's hatred of other countries. If you love one god, you must necessarily damn everyone else who loves another. Love excludes, separates and divides. But Venus will cure that. The world will be left with a single purpose, a single focus, a single love. Me. Humanity will be a single family and I will be its father.'

  He paused. 'And you could have been part of it, Max. You could have been my right-hand man. But you have failed me.' He laughed bitterly. 'You let Isabella cloud your judgement. She made you weak. And for what?' He fingered the blood on Max's collar. 'Nothing.'

  Max shook his head. 'You're wrong. My judgement has never been sounder. I've never seen more clearly who I am, and who you are.'

  'Really? Tell me who you think I am.'

  'I know who you are. You're a hypocrite and a coward. You speak of loyalty and family, then murder your wife and abuse your sons. You speak of dynasty and the duty of passing on a greater legacy than you inherited, then you conceive of a plan where you become immortal and all future generations become your slaves. You care nothing for family, dynasty or duty. You care only for yourself. You've killed my love for you and abused Joachim's by making him create a drug that forces everyone to love you.

  'That's your worst hypocrisy: you ridicule love and yet you fear it. It terrifies you. You hate love, but haven't the courage to die unloved. Isabella didn't make me weak. She showed me how to be strong again. You made me forget what my mother taught me, but Isabella helped me remember. You're the weak one. Vater. You're the coward who hasn't the guts either to earn love, or to live and die without it.'

  For several seconds Helmut stared at him. He appeared calm, but Max sensed his fury. 'As a son you've been a grave disappointment.'

  Max laughed. 'As a father you've been a graver one.'

  Helmut raised the pistol. 'I should have drowned you when I drowned your mother.'

  'I often wish you had.'

  A cruel smile illuminated Helmut's features. 'You'll learn, Max. I'm not going to kill you yet. I'm not even going to give you the Venus drug. I'll leave you here to think things through and greet the dawn. I want you to witness what Venus brings, and then, when you've seen my vision reali2ed, I'll watch you catch the virus and love me too. That's when I'll punish you, Max. While you look into my eyes - the eyes of the father you'll adore -- I'll drive a knife through your heart and watch you die.'

  He turned to leave, then stopped.

  'Your love for Isabella is meaningless. Whether you want to or not, you'll die loving me. And only me.'

  ISABELLAWAITED UNTIL HELMUT KAPPEL HAD RETURNED TO HIS suite in Valhalla before she knocked on the door of the boiler-house. She heard voices inside , then one of the guards she recognized from Schloss Kappel stepped out and closed the door behind him.

  'What do you want?' he asked.

  She proffered a tray of drinks. 'Herr Helmut Kappel asked me to bring you these to celebrate the new year and his wedding tomorrow.'

  We're on duty,' the guard said.

  Despite the cold, her face was hot behind the mask. 'He insisted,' she said, trying to keep her voice light. 'Shall I go back to Herr Kappel and tell him you won't drink to his happiness?'

  The guard smiled, but his eyes were hard. 'If Herr Kappel insists, it would be rude not to.'

  'How many of you are in there?'

  'Two.' He opened the door, passed one of the glasses inside and took one for himself. He pointed to the lake. 'The other two are by the helicopters. Dankeschon, Fraulein. Happy New Year.'

  HALF AN HOUR LATER

  Max didn't sleep. It wasn't the pain of his battered face and bruised body: he couldn't stop thinking of what tomorrow would bring. He hated his powerlessness, and not knowing what had happened. He heard a door open and close, then the scrape of bolts being pulled on the storeroom's steel door. He looked around the room, picked up a cable with a padlock attached and held it over his head like a mace. If the guards wanted another go at him, he'd make them pay for the privilege. He moved to the door, muscles taut, and waited for it to open.

  'Isabella! What the hell are you doing here?' He dropped his weapon.

  'Getting you out.'

  'Where are the guards?'

  She pointed behind her. Over her shoulder, he saw them sprawled on the ground fast asleep. 'I gave them enough tranquillizers to down a horse. They won't wake in a hurry. The pair by the helicopters are sleeping like babies, too.'

  He wanted to hug her, but he didn't. Instead he asked what had happened after he had been captured. When she had finished, he indicated the equipment in the storeroom. 'Come on. Until we know what happens tomorrow, we've got to make sure that no one leaves the island in a hurry
.'

  It took them almost an hour to harness the runners of both helicopters with steel hawsers, and tie up the sleighs with the spare cabling. 'I doubt if anyone's going to leave till after the wedding, but if things go to hell this should delay them.' He checked his watch. It was almost three o'clock. He felt suddenly exhausted. 'There's nothing more we can do now but wait.'

  'Let's get some rest.'

  'Great idea. But where?'

  She smiled and led him back to Valhalla. 'Come with me.'

  THE CRYSTAL PALACE WAS DESERTED AND MAX WAS SURPRISED WHEN she led him to a guest room on the second tier. The door was ajar, held open by a shoe. He pushed it and saw Hudsucker lying on the bed, fully dressed, mouth open and snoring. On the table beside him was a glass.

  Max smiled. 'More tranquillizers? Have you doctors no shame?' 'It's harmless. Anyway, he said I could use his room. Positively begged me to have it. I think he's got a bit of a crush on me.' She went into the bathroom, returned with a small bag and proceeded to make up Hudsucker's face so it looked as if he had a black eye and other bruises. Then she reached up to Max with a moist tissue, wiped the dried blood off his battered face, and smeared it on Hudsucker's nose, forehead and cheeks until the senator was unrecognizable. Finally she put Max's mask on him. 'Come on, let's do a switch while everyone's asleep. It might buy us some time in the morning.'