Chapter 12

The men moved too soon to close the jaws of the trap that had been laid for Erene Skujans. Their anticipation betrayed them. Or perhaps it was because she was a woman and they didn't expect her to put up much of a fight. Erene didn't know. But they had come fully equipped to kill her.

They had automatic machine pistols. Bullets chipped the stone balusters supporting the marble handrail. The posts were wide, in the shape of chess pieces. Erene guessed that even if his men succeeded in killing her, Schluter was going to be angry about the damage. She knew from the work Mario had done that the Schluter family fortune wasn't what it had once been.

Flinging herself up the steps instead of down, Erene fired her crossbow through the balusters. The bolt caught a man in the forehead and snapped his head back. He dropped to his knees and then to his face, snapping the bolt's shaft.

Staying low, Erene raced up the steps. Broken pieces of the tiled wall behind her crumbled. She took a bolt from her quiver and held it in her teeth as she put her foot in the stirrup at the front of the crossbow and yanked the string back. She fitted the bolt into the groove as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Throwing herself prone behind the crossbow, Erene aimed at the man's chest as he ran up the steps. She squeezed the trigger and felt the slight recoil against her shoulder as bullets cut the air above her head. They'd only missed her by inches.

Her own shot hadn't pierced the man's heart as she'd intended, but it had slammed through his neck. The crossbow was so powerful that the bolt had passed completely through. The man halted and held up a hand to the bright blood pouring from his neck. Until that moment, he didn't know how badly he'd been hit.

Taking advantage of the dying man's astonishment, Erene pushed herself up and raced forward. She threw herself at the dying man and seized his machine pistol, then rode him like a sled to the bottom of the stairs.

Machine-gun bullets tracked the wall and splintered the balustrade. At the bottom of the stairs, Erene levered her arm up and opened fire on the man who'd stepped out of hiding. The bullets thumped him in the chest and drove him backward.

Remaining on the floor, Erene checked to see if there were any other men. Nothing moved.

Rolling to her feet, Erene ejected the spent magazine and inserted the spare she'd grabbed from the dead men. She was angry.

Running to the foyer, Erene crept up to the door with the machine pistol in both hands. She peeked around it and saw the ruby taillights of the luxury car and two others streaming through the front gates.

Erene cursed. Schluter had guessed she would be coming. He'd been prepared. And she had no idea where he was going or what had happened to Mario. She felt more frightened and less in control than she had at any time since she was a young girl and had walked out of her grandmother's village.

The man on the floor groaned. Erene ran back inside the room. Covering him with the pistol, she walked over to him and kicked away his machine pistol. She leaned down and tore the man's shirt open, revealing the Kevlar vest that had saved his life. A handful of mushroomed bullets slapped against the floor.

She checked the unconscious man for other weapons and found three knives and a small semiautomatic pistol at the small of his back. She threw them out of his reach, then rolled him onto his stomach while he was still stunned. Cutting the drawstrings from the ornate curtains, she bound his hands behind him, then bound his feet, as well.

When she was satisfied with the job she'd done, she rolled him onto his back again. While she waited for him to recover, she picked up his cell phone and checked through his address book.

She found Schluter's cell phone number and pressed the speed-dial function. The phone rang twice and Schluter answered.

"Is she dead?" he asked in German.

"No," Erene replied in the same language. "She isn't dead. She's alive and she's pissed."

Schluter chuckled. "It appears you're more resourceful than I'd guessed. The man I had look into your background wasn't as thorough as he should have been. That is going to get him killed."

"It's going to get you killed, too," Erene said in a harsh voice. "If I decide to kill you, you'll be dead. Soon."

"I think we both intended that for each other tonight," Schluter said. "But we're both alive, aren't we?"

Erene didn't say anything for a moment. She gazed at the man lying on the floor. He was conscious, and his eyes were wide with fright.

"You should think about leaving Mario alone," she said. "If you walk away, I won't have a reason to kill you."

Schluter laughed. "Some of the people I've talked to in Riga – the poor, ignorant people you seem to have so much influence over – seem to think you have some kind of powers. That you're something special."

Witch. Erene heard the accusation in the back of her mind again.

"You've got three dead men in this castle who know I can be lethal, Herr Schluter."

"Perhaps. And perhaps you merely got lucky."

"Luck had nothing to do with it."

"I'd heard that you were a killer," Schluter said. "I also heard that you were often for sale. Perhaps if you hadn't fallen in love with Mario Fellini we could have been associates."

"I don't think so."

"It's a pity you don't have those powers that so many think you do. Otherwise, you'd know it's already too late to plead for your precious Mario's life. He's been dead hours now."

No! Erene wanted to shout her denial, but her voice locked in her throat.

The phone clicked dead in her ear.

She tried calling the number again but was immediately moved to Schluter's voice mail. Furious, hurting, wishing she knew the truth about what Schluter had intimated, she threw the phone at the painting of the Teutonic knight. The phone shattered into pieces and tore the painting.

Taking a deep breath, getting her emotions under control, used to the fact that she had to do such a thing, Erene stared at the man she'd tied up.

"Look," the man said, "you don't have to kill me."

"It's not a matter of having to," Erene said. "It's a matter of wanting to."

The man tried to remain calm. "You don't have to want to."

Erene smiled at him, knowing it was the most terrifying thing she could do under the circumstances. "But I do."

The man didn't say anything.

"Do you know who I am?" Erene opened the bottom of the quiver of bolts she carried. A pouch the size of her fist dropped out.

"Erene Skujans," the man said.

"That's right. Do you know what I am?" Erene took a small plastic vial from the pouch. She hadn't forgotten any of her grandmother's teachings even as she'd made her way through Europe learning the other skills she'd needed to survive.

"No."

"Many people around here know me as a witch," Erene said.

"I don't believe in witches," the man replied.

"That's too bad. Because you're about to." Erene spilled a greenish powder onto her palm and blew it into the man's face.

The man tried to hold his breath, but it was too late. He'd already inhaled some of the powder.

Calmly, Erene waited for it to take effect. The man's eyes turned glassy and sweat beaded on his forehead.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Wilhelm."

"Good. Now you're going to answer my questions."

"Yes," the man said dully.

Quickly, Erene asked him questions about Wolfram Schluter. She didn't get any information she didn't already know.

Then she asked the question she'd been afraid to ask. "Where is Mario Fellini?"

"He's dead. Dieter killed him in New York."

Anguish tore at Erene's heart. The pain was so acute she didn't think she was going to survive it for a moment. Then she hated herself because she knew she would. She had lived through everything that had happened to her, and there were some bad things.

Since she'd left her grandmother's village, she'd taken her life into her own hands. Most of that time, she'd risked her life to achieve a certain style of living. That risk had made the achievement sweeter. But there had been no one to share her triumphs.

Mario had been the closest she'd come to it, and she hadn't told him everything. That was why he'd left. Because he'd begun to suspect it.

Or maybe Schluter told him, Erene thought. The possibility made her hate Schluter even more, and it allowed her to forgive her own mistakes.

She took another vial from the pouch and poured purple powder onto her hand. Gently, she blew the powder onto the man's face.

Despite his condition, the man held his breath. Some part of him was fighting to be free.

"Breathe," she told him.

He did, drawing the purple powder deep into his lungs. Almost immediately, he started shivering, bucking uncontrollably. Blood leaked from his nostrils, then from the corner of his mouth. He coughed and choked, spitting up scarlet.

"Now," Erene said, "die."

A moment later, the man did. His head rolled to the side, relaxed in death, and his eyes stared off into the distance.

Erene stood and gathered her things. She had to return to the village to figure out what she was going to do next.

And she had to mourn.