Tyranny of Coins (The Judas Chronicles, #5) Page 11

  “Perhaps. But you have always been a cunning sorcerer, Krontos,” said Roderick. “Very few of the world’s poisons can harm you.”

  “And that makes me evil, then?”

  He laughed, and the mirthful look in his eyes was soft and cheerful. I felt a chill cross my spine as the image of Josef Mengele came to mind, fresh from that afternoon. Like Krontos, Auschwitz’ famed wicked doctor was outwardly kind, too. And, look what happened to the Jews and Gypsies who trusted him—especially the children to whom he offered fatherly comfort.

  “I’m just a silent observer, watching the world and its deceitful ways, Judas,” he said, undeterred by the silence and suspicious gazes surrounding him. “And, talk about deceit. How is that coin collecting pursuit of yours working out? I do believe you are slowing down, old boy. Obviously, you are in no hurry to finish and leave this world when your wife and child are so young once again. Hmmmm…. Perhaps I should try your crystals, eh?”

  What could I say in response? Especially while sorting through the latest mindfuck. Krontos played as if he had access to my thoughts… or was it just a masterful salesman reading his prey?

  “Why don’t you take out your wallet, William-Judas, and see if the Dragon Coin remains there. You have long feared me taking it back, so why not check to make sure it’s still there?”

  I did fear it. In fact, I spent much of the journey into the mountains trying to think of an effective hiding place, should it become necessary. I fished out my wallet from my pants, and without showing everyone else, determined the coin was still there. Wrapped in cerecloth, I only revealed one exposed side in my wallet. The coin was glowing blue.

  Roderick saw the coin’s radiance, and no doubt, so did Krontos. I was certain no one else could see it. I suddenly worried Krontos could figure out where the other twenty-four collected coins were at present. I tried to think of obscure places and things to prevent him from connecting the dots from my other thoughts to reveal exactly where the other coins lay hidden.

  “Well, is it there?” he persisted, his loving smile never wavering.

  “Yes. It’s there.”

  I closed my wallet and returned it to my pocket, wondering if the coin would still be there when I checked again, later on.

  “Good. I would offer you supper, but I understand you have eaten already. Perhaps you would like to retire to your rooms, since we will begin our reclamation project in the morning,” Krontos advised.

  “So, you won’t allow us to return to our own lodging arrangements?” asked Roderick.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Krontos replied, chuckling. “And, here I thought you came all this way to Budapest to keep me company. How foolish of me to assume so.”

  “We came to find out why you killed off the competition for the Stuthoff-Auschwitz coin,” I said, purposely not acknowledging his ‘Holocaust’ label for the coin.

  “An answer to the question and you’ll be on your way then? Is that any way to treat an old friend you have not visited in more than two centuries?” Krontos continued to smile, but his tone bore a slight chill. He moved over to one of the servants and picked up a fresh cup of cocoa before continuing. “You assume this is the truth, Judas. We have much to discuss about the very event you mentioned… but not tonight.”

  “Why not tonight? For one thing, we’re not friends,” I said, feeling my blood begin to boil. “Friends don’t try to kill each other. Nor do they send threatening notes.”

  “Hmmm… yes, that is unfortunate,” he said, his smile fading as his brow furrowed. As if he was deeply pained by the accusation. But just as quickly as his countenance turned cloudy, his warm smile returned. “Let bygones become bygones, Judas and Roderick. I intend no harm to you, your family, and your friends. Why not stay tonight and hear my proposition of peace to you at breakfast? What would Beatrice, Alistair, Amy, and Cedric like to do? Stay here and enjoy the amenities, or go back to your hotel in Budapest with the intent to travel back here tomorrow and spy on my castle as originally planned—something I already knew about and had a plan to thwart? It’s obvious which option makes the most sense.”

  True. Although, where was the assurance he wouldn’t have his thugs or house servants slip into our rooms and slit our throats? Or, serve some sort of poison in a clever manner undetectable by Roderick or me?

  Krontos drained his cup and motioned for the girl he took it from to take it back. Then, he returned from whence he came, shaking his head in disappointment.

  “You may do as you like,” he called to us, once he left the room. “Gajo will take you back to Budapest, and we will let the matter end here. Or, you can accept my hospitality and be in position to recover the coin you seek. Should you decide to stay the night, Alida and Eneh will show you to your rooms. Good evening.”

  As unprepared for this response as we had been for the entire encounter with Krontos, we all watched him continue to walk away until the shrouded little Hungarian became too indistinct to follow. Roderick spoke first.

  “It feels like a trap. However, I get the feeling he truly needs our help.”

  “Doing what?” asked Alistair.

  “My thought exactly, Ali,” I said. “If we leave, we might never know what it is he needs help with. And, it’s not like we can study the place from a safe distance and figure out why we were drawn here in the first place….”

  I felt like a complete fool as realization set in that we had been played. Expertly so? Not necessarily. But by virtue of bringing us here—subtly from Germany and blatantly that night—it was too late to retake control of a situation we likely never had such power in the first place. Definitely not since our arrival in Berlin. Hell, the cheese-filled maze could’ve been started when we decided to take matters into our own hands in Sedona… and possibly even before then.

  There was no way to know anything for certain anymore.

  “The safest option is to stay,” said Cedric, who had been surveying our surroundings since we stepped into the castle, as if he were searching for camouflaged sniper points. Old CIA habits die hard. “That’s what my gut tells me, Willie Boy. I bet that’s what Roderick’s instincts would say, too, if this was the covert deal we handled thirty years ago in Croatia. Remember that, man? We weren’t dealing with a sorcerer, but those cats were smarter than Washington expected. It’s the same deal here, and had we stayed put once things got really jacked up, we’d have been better off—”

  “You made your point,” Roderick interrupted him. “We’ll stay.”

  A joyless resolution, Beatrice and Amy carried the most misgivings. But in the end, we all agreed our options were limited. The promise of favorable accommodations in the castle won out over a two-hour journey back to a hotel that might not be as familiar as it had been when we left for dinner.

  It was the only logical assumption to make as long as Krontos was in control.

  Chapter Fourteen

  As had become my habit during this trip, I didn’t sleep. Instead, I kept a protective eye on Beatrice as she slept, her well being my greatest concern. I worried about Alistair and Amy’s welfare, too, in the assigned room next to ours. But I took comfort in the fact I heard my son’s snores when I slipped away for a moment to press my ear against their door. It left only Roderick and Cedric to worry about, and I counted on them both keeping a vigil where light sleep was all they managed.

  “We can’t let him downplay our shared past, my brother,” said Roderick, who must have sensed my presence in the hallway. I moved away from the door in fear my son or Amy might hear me, and steered us both away from the room I shared with Beatrice for the same reason. “Above all things, Krontos is a liar!”

  The beginning of a half hour conversation where we relived the injustices wrought against us. What brought the greatest anger was the fact this wicked bastard had enabled two bloodthirsty men to attain significant reigns of murder, mayhem, and cruelty that pushed the limits of mankind’s immorality. Dracul, better known as Vlad the Impaler, and Adolf Hitler. Were
they mere puppets disguising the designs of a hidden tyrant whose lust for human conquest far exceeded their own?

  Thousands were killed by the Inquisition, as Dracul pretended to be a leading Cardinal championing the punishment of infidels. This came after a lifetime of butchering enemies as the legendary Prince of Wallachia—at least half of the estimated one hundred thousand victims were impaled. Of course, this was a mere pittance in comparison to the millions who died under Hitler’s efforts to purge undesirables while seeking to establish a new world order. A world order that was Krontos’ second attempt to subject the earth’s residents to his depraved imaginations.

  Would the third time be a charm?

  It wasn’t hard to picture a new Final Solution, and the victims might not be chosen by race or nationality. Maybe this time it would be kindred ideologies that would either survive or be purged. The only thing known for certain was Krontos’ ruthlessness. A dangerous man and immortal in years past, he was more so now, as long as he held all the cards. It was far easier picturing him crushing the throats of my star-marked brethren seventy years ago with Nazi boot heels than to believe his current amicable disposition was a lasting thing….

  “How did you sleep?” asked Krontos, at breakfast, maintaining the same damned giddiness from the night before. The servants had led us to a long oak table graced by a pair of large silver candelabras in the grand dining room. Three chefs stood nearby, alongside a banquet line of culinary treats. Hopefully, the non-poisonous variety. “Did everyone bring their appetites this morning?”

  Our host appeared well rested. An old man in his late sixties when he discovered an elixir that made him immortal, his seven hundred and fiftieth birthday was just around the corner. In past encounters, he often displayed more energy than those half his age. That morning, he seemed slightly younger, as the age spots from the previous night had disappeared and the lines around his eyes and upon his forehead were not as deeply etched. His full head of white hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his attire of a beige sweater and dark slacks made him look more like the dashing lord of this huge estate.

  “Smells like kolbalz,” said Alistair, the first in line. “If it is, then this will be a real treat.”

  “It is,” Krontos confirmed. “Have as much as you like, since a big breakfast and lunch will prepare you for your trip this afternoon. And, the weather is perfect!”

  As if on cue, the sound of an electric motor high above our heads drew everyone’s attention.

  “Holy shit,” whispered Cedric. “Now that’s truly something you don’t see every day.”

  An immense retractable glass ceiling slid open, and the songs of birds filled the air beyond the opening. The castle that had once seemed nothing more than a brooding place for an evil, ink-eyed ogre continued its transformation in my mind to a veritable palace.

  Beatrice and Amy gasped in unison as small flocks of birds flew inside and soared near the castle’s heights from seemingly nowhere. Colorful birds, I should add. Many resembled blue jays and cardinals, though impossible to define from where we were gathered below.

  “Were you expecting an imposing abode run by a vampire like Dracul, Judas?” Krontos laughed. Most of us had taken something to eat from the banquet line and stood as if unsure what to do next. He motioned for everyone to take a seat with him at the table. “You shouldn’t be quick to judge those you don’t fully understand. I am not like Dracul, but I did love him as a son. I am not bitter against you for what you did to him, as it was simply his time to go. I judge you not for it, nor do I hold the hostility you arrived here with last night against you and your companions. Live and let live. That is the law of the world… of the very universe. Unlike many, I see violence as an answer only when it is absolutely necessary.”

  No one responded to Krontos’ expository moment, although I felt certain Roderick shared my silent question.

  What in the hell do you want from us?

  “I worried you might not ask,” said Krontos, obviously privy to my thoughts, and drawing curious looks from everyone but Roderick. “You have the Dragon Coin, which technically was once mine, but more so belongs to you since you’ve now owned it twice. I am content to let you keep it permanently.”

  “Oh? How generous, to allow me to keep what’s rightfully mine in the first place!”

  “Ahh, Judas…. Unwilling to give someone like me a second chance?” he chuckled. “Very well, as I understand. But I truly don’t want your coin. Long ago, it served me well… and would serve me just as well again. But, as you have also learned these past two thousand years, good is always better than evil. It’s so much stronger because of the purity, and will serve me especially well in my efforts to save the world from itself.”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?” asked Roderick.

  Krontos eyed him compassionately, as if he had been reduced to a simpleton overnight.

  “I want the coin of the Jews who suffered in Stutthof and Auschwitz,” he said. “And, I want you to find it for me, Judas. Its call is known to you better than anyone else.”

  “Are you telling me that you didn’t arrange for our CIA contact and the dealer handling the auction to disappear?” I asked.

  “What… to kill them?”

  “Yes.”

  “It wouldn’t have been a bad idea, I must admit,” he said, pouring a glass of mimosa for himself from a carafe on the table. “But someone else beat me to it.”

  “And you don’t know who it is?” Roderick’s contempt and suspicion came shining through.

  “No…. and that’s a problem,” Krontos replied, gently. “You all understand dimensions and time to some degree, maybe just well enough to be dangerous. Yet, another understands it better than all of you combined. This individual has the coin. Get it back for me, and I will lavish on you gifts far beyond your current wealth. I will also give your lives back, without interference from me ever again.”

  “And, let’s say we can’t track down this coin you seek—what then?” I asked. “Will you let us go, even so?”

  He eyed me thoughtfully before answering, allowing a slight smile to tug at the corners of his mouth.

  “No. You will be my prisoners forevermore,” he said, evenly. “So, find it and live.”

  Talk about a mood crusher. A hush settled upon the table, and my wife sent me a worried look. She subtly shook her head, alerting me that her misgivings about everything were alive and well. The dulled light in her usually bright green eyes revealed her defeated heart. I was beginning to lose her.

  “None of us know where to begin, Krontos,” I said. “Surely you have some idea of where to begin our search?”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have much to give you. I’ll gladly share the scant information I have, since this mysterious person showed up in Berlin and disappeared without leaving anything beyond a vapor trail. The rest will be up to you and your instincts. Instincts that have aided your success in finding twenty-five of your thirty blood coins,” he said, still smiling. “But, I must warn you, my friend. If you try to escape back to America, the consequences will be severe, and without mercy.”

  Roderick bristled next to me, and I shared the same aversion to being manipulated. But, without a clear plan in place, this was not the time to protest. Both of us nodded in response, saying nothing.

  Despite the solemn mood among us—other than Krontos, of course—we fed our hunger with mostly Hungarian cuisine. After finishing, we had several hours to roam the castle and grounds before lunch would be served. Krontos advised that I’d be given the keys to our ride from last night, with the initial stop being Auschwitz once more.

  “Perhaps you can follow the coin’s energy trail better with your loved ones’ fate on the line,” said Krontos, before taking his leave from us. “In the meantime, you are free to utilize the library upstairs for additional research. Many of the works I’ve collected over the years deal with subjects that would interest you and Roderick. It will be up to you to utilize
all you can before it’s time to leave.”

  Having learned the day’s agenda, I spent the first few hours with Beatrice, trying to allay her fears that none of us would survive this latest adventure with our host. She seemed much more terrified of Krontos after meeting him in person, and I found myself leaning more toward her intuitions about him than my own. Especially, in light of how different he seemed from when Roderick and I dealt with him in centuries past.

  “No leopard changes its spots beyond the surface,” she told me, when I sought to sell the positive aspects of her and Amy staying behind while the guys in our group went looking for the mysterious coin thief. “There is something about him that is worse than what you shared about Viktor Kaslow.”

  At the time, I didn’t agree. But knowing a rebuttal would do little to change her thoughts and feelings, I smiled and confidently assured her that I’d get things sorted out to her liking before all was said and done. She smiled weakly, trying to warm up to my assurances. Afterward, we said little, but explored the first two floors of the revitalized home of our absent host, hand in hand. If things did go badly, we at least had this time together to reflect upon.

  It was nearing noon when we arrived at the library, and I openly wondered then what became of our three Budva escorts from the night before. For all we knew, Krontos had zapped them from our reality, and perhaps the reason why we were being given their smartly outfitted Mercedes for our trip north.

  Meanwhile, Roderick had his nose buried in ancient German texts, while Cedric reviewed a large English translation of the works of Guido Von List, noted for being the famous mystic who inspired the Nazis’ use of rune symbols and other aspects of German occultism. As for my son and his gal, they were huddled around a computer playing the latest version of Grand Theft Auto.

  “I don’t believe this shit!” I hissed to Beatrice when we came up behind them. “Everyone else seems to be taking this seriously, while these two—”