Transylvania's Most Wanted (24 page)

Just then an announcement came over a
speaker in the room. It was the ship’s captain announcing that they
had finished crossing over the pole and were in U.R.R.K. airspace.
He informed them they would soon cross the Kilga River on their way
to the Vladivostok Station.

“I’m sorry this is necessary,” Mr. Slang
told Inspector Flynn, checking the rope with his finger as the
captain finished his announcement. “You don’t want anything to
happen to your wife do you? I give you my word nothing will if you
cooperate and answer our questions and then it will all be
over.”

“What are you talking about,” Tom said
trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head still. “I don’t
understand what he’s doing here,” he said nodding toward Stone.

“That’s exactly why we wanted to talk to
you,” Mr. Slang told him.

“Why? Because I don’t know anything?”

“
Exactly. You only know
what the TCPD knows. I think some introductions are in order first.
This is Esmeralda,” Mr. Slang said gesturing toward the witch
sitting in the corner. This is Trunk,” he said, pointing at the
other golem in the room, “And this is his majesty King Havel,” he
said then and the young detective looked and saw the king wearing
his night robe sitting in a chair behind Mr. Slang. Mr. Slang had
ordered all the king’s guardsmen out of the room.

“I want to talk to Colonel Popov,” Inspector
Flynn requested desperately.

“I’m afraid it would be best if Colonel
Popov stayed out of this matter,” Mr. Slang said as King Havel
snickered behind him.

“
Let’s get started,” the
king said impatiently then, gesturing for Esmeralda to hand him
something. The witch crossed the room and handed the king a small
potion bottle which he subsequently handed to Mr. Slang.

“
Force his mouth open,”
Mr. Slang said, and Stone stuck a finger inside Inspector Flynn’s
mouth until he gagged. Mr. Slang then poured the contents of the
bottle down his throat, forcing him to swallow it.

“What was that?” Tom asked when Stone
finally removed his finger.

“Nothing harmful,” Mr. Slang said. “Simply a
bottle of truth serum. You won’t be capable of not telling us the
truth for the next little while.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” he said. “I’ve
got nothing to hide. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“I know you will,” Mr. Slang said as he
stepped out of the way. King Havel stood and stepped closer then.
He brought his chair with him and set it down in front of Tom and
sat down.

“How long till it takes affect?” he asked
Mr. Slang.

“Ask him if it’s working,” Mr. Slang said
gesturing toward Inspector Flynn.

“Is it working?” the king asked. “Are you
capable of lying right now?”

At first the young detective just meant to
smile and ignore the king, but then potion went to work on him and
he was compelled to answer both questions put to him.

“
Yes,” he said.
“Yes.”

“Terrible tasting isn’t it?”

“Yes,” he said, unable to say
differently.

“I know,” King Havel said. “There’s toad
blood in there and some other nasty things, but nothing that’s
going to hurt you. We just have some questions for you and we need
to make sure we’re getting the truth. Understand?”

Again he tried to ignore the king’s
question, but then Inspector Flynn blurted out ‘Yes.’

“The thing about this truth serum is that it
only works once or twice. You build up immunity the more it’s
administered. It would have no effect Count Vasili,” King Havel
said glancing toward him. “He long ago became immune to it. Now
let’s get started. First question – is that your beautiful wife I
met earlier on board the ship?”

“Yes,” the young detective said. “And you
better not hurt her.”

“I don’t plan to. I’m not an evil man at
all,” King Havel said. “I’m only trying to unite my country once
again. That’s what this whole affair has all been about. I’m trying
to save my country from evil men like Count Vasili there. Did you
know he’s been sending coded cables back home trying to stir up
trouble in my country?”

“No,” Inspector Flynn said glancing at Count
Vasili.

“Bit of a pompous jerk, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” he said.

King Havel nodded in agreement. “How long
have I got?”

“Ten minutes,” Mr. Slang said. “Let’s hurry
though, just in case Colonel Popov comes along. He should be having
dinner with his men right now.”

King Havel nodded. “Let’s get to the more
important questions,” he said turning back to the detective. “I’m
sure the TCPD figured out that Pandora is really Anna, my brother
Yuri’s wife?”

“Yes.”

“I figured you would find that out soon
enough,” the king said. “But is the TCPD aware that Krakov was
working for us?”

Mr. Slang watched as a look of surprise came
over the young detective’s face.

“No,” Inspector Flynn said shaking his
head.

“Excellent.”

“Did you know his target was the princess
and not Prince Marko?”

“No,” Inspector Flynn said trying not to
answer at all, but it was the total look of surprise and shock that
amused Mr. Slang.

“
Are you aware that Count
Vasili had nothing to do with the attempt on Princess Alexi’s
life?”

“No, but I guess I do now.”

“Yes,” King Havel said smiling, “but does
Chief Inspector Meriwether or any other members of the TCPD know
this? Does Mr. Jordan know?”

“No. Not that I know of.”

“If Inspector Meriwether does not know then
Mr. Jordan does not know,” Mr. Slang said.

King Havel pointed at Mr. Slang then as he
looked at Inspector Flynn. “Mr. Slang hired Krakov to assassinate
the princess and then he framed Count Vasili for it, but
unfortunately things did not go as planned. Anna messed up our
plans that night, but we’ll rectify that soon enough. Count Vasili
and his fellow partisans will yet be blamed for the princess’
death.”

“Why would you want to kill your own
daughter?”

“That’s just it,” King Havel said, smiling
back at Inspector Flynn. “She is not mine.”

“She’s not yours?”

“No.”

“But why would you want to kill her?”

For a moment King Havel did not respond, but
finally, the same as the truth serum worked on Inspector Flynn,
King Havel’s own out-sized ego worked on him.

“Oh I don’t mind telling you,” he said.
“It’s been fun watching you and your fellow TCPD policemen running
around blaming all the wrong people and not having a clue about
what this is really about. Princess Alexi is not my child. I myself
only found out a couple of years ago when the midwife who delivered
my child confessed on her death bed to what had really happened. My
child and Anna’s were born the same night twenty two years ago.
Anna came into the room when she heard the midwife attending to my
wife scream. My child only lived a few moments. My wife had passed
out, so Anna switched her child for mine and threatened the midwife
to never say a thing. What a sneaky, vile thing to do, don’t you
agree?”

The young detective seemed unsure how to
answer this question, so no response came from him.

King Havel continued, “So when Mr. Jordan
approached me several months ago and suggested this little trip to
Britannia, I knew then what he and Anna were up to. I knew Anna
would try and contact Princess Alexi so that she could scheme to
make her queen. Of course Anna knows I cannot let that happen.
She’s been planning this ever since she switched her child for
mine. Let me think my own daughter had lived and her child had
died. And she plans to see to it that everyone knows just what she
did. I can’t let that happen. My son, Prince Marko will succeed me
as king and in order for that to happen I need to get rid of Anna’s
child. And I will. Our kingdom will be all the better for it, and
better yet, the right people will be blamed for her death.”

“You’re sick,” Inspector Flynn said causing
the king to become angry and slap him.

“
I could have your head
for that,” King Havel shouted. He leaned back in his chair then and
calmed himself down before leaning forward and gently placing his
hand on top Inspector Flynn’s head.

“I’m sorry,” King Havel said patting the
young detective on the head like a dog. “You simply don’t
understand. How could you? It was Shakespeare in Henry IV who said
‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’. Someone like you would
never understand what it takes to rule a country. My brother Yuri
did not understand either. You remind of him,” he said pointing at
Inspector Flynn. “Like him, you only see right or wrong, black or
white, but I’ve found our realm to be a murky shade of gray, where
one’s hoped for end often requires a messy means. Our country would
have descended into further chaos had my brother become king. He
believed the people should be given more freedom, more rights. Give
them too much freedom though and like children given candy they
scream for more even as it makes them sick. They’ll quickly find
ways to abuse that freedom, promoting their own religion, or race,
or status as better than anybody else’s. History has taught us this
lesson over and over again, so many wars, and riots and revolutions
that most have been forgotten. And I have a particularly volatile
mix of subjects; vampires and witches as well as humans. Already
they are fighting among themselves.”

King Havel stood then. “But I’m boring you
with all this. You are certainly more interested in what’s going to
happen to you,” he told Inspector Flynn “I’m afraid you will have
to die to serve the greater good. Believe me I do think it is a
shame. Make you look like a hero though. What is it we have
planned?” King Havel asked turning toward Mr. Slang.

“He went to stop Count
Vasili from escaping and the count dragged him out the
Dauntless
just as he was
shot in the head.”

“
Excellent,” King Havel
said. “Make sure Colonel Popov is not around.”

Mr. Slang nodded and then pointed at
Inspector Flynn. “We just need to ask one last question,” he
reminded King Havel.

“Oh yes,” King Havel said
turning back to Inspector Flynn. “Just one last question before we
drop you out the door. Do you know there is a bomb planted on
the
Tempes
t?”

Mr. Slang watched as a look of shock came
over the young detective. His eyes darted from the king to Mr.
Slang to Count Vasili to Stone’s even, hoping someone would tell
his this was a lie, but none did.

“No,” Inspector Flynn said finally.

“I didn’t think so,” the king said
gleefully. “How could you? Throw him out,” he said like he had
become suddenly bored with the whole matter. “Make sure the fall
kills him.”

Stone placed his hand on Inspector Flynn’s
shoulder while Trunk untied him and Dino lifted Count Vasili up out
of his chair by the back of his coat.

“Don’t try yelling for help,” Mr. Slang told
them. “You’ll just end up getting more people killed. Maybe even
that charming wife of yours,” he told Inspector Flynn as he
motioned for Dino to drag Count Vasili out the room.

They went down the hallway, down to a lower
deck and into the hold of the ship.

“Throw the door open,” Mr. Slang told
Stone.

A cold gust of wind blew into the cargo hold
when Stone threw the door open. Dino picked both the count and Tom
up by the back of their coats and brought them right next to the
open door. He stepped away as Mr. Slang held his gun on Count
Vasili who stood looking out the cargo door at the ground passing
below.

“We should be flying
higher than this now,” Mr. Slang said noticing how close the
Dauntless
was to the
ground, just a mere eighty feet above the frozen tundra. “I wonder
what the problem is. Doesn’t matter,” he said aiming at Count
Vasili’s head. He started to squeeze the trigger.

“Mind if I speak some final words?” Count
Vasili asked and Mr. Slang lowered his weapon.

“Not if you keep it short and hopefully
something memorable,” Mr. Slang told him.

Count Vasili peered down at the ground
again. “I simply want to say…”

“Say what?” Mr. Slang said when Count Vasili
paused to look out the open door at the ground passing just eighty
feet below.

“Until we meet again,” the count said as he
threw himself out the door.

Mr. Slang lifted his gun and fired, but he
missed Count Vasili’s heart and hit him in the shoulder instead as
he fell out the door.

“Grab Inspector Flynn,” Mr. Slang told Stone
as he rushed to the cargo door.

Mr. Slang grabbed hold of a handle there so
he would not fall out also as he watched Count Vasili fall through
the air and splash into a river below, barely missing hitting a
block of ice floating downstream.

“You magnificent count you,” Mr. Slang said
under his breath, unable to control his glee at the superb show of
cunning and daring. “We’re not high enough up for the fall to kill
a vampire,” he told Inspector Flynn. “Damn clever of him. He was
waiting for us to pass over the Kilga River. I should have realized
that. Never the less I doubt he’ll live too long. The ice wolves
will hunt him down. They like to follow behind the zeppelins.
They’ll be after him before long,” he said looking out the door.
“In fact I see some coming now,” he said pointing. “I’m afraid the
fall will kill you though,” he told Inspector Flynn. “Vampires are
so much lighter than us. I would put a bullet in your head to save
you the agony of hitting the ground and being devoured by wolves,
but I’m afraid it would just raise too many questions if your body
was found.”

Mr. Slang looked at Inspector Flynn a moment
then, admiring him.