“Where is the camera?”, one finally asked. Sam could not believe it. He figured that they were just here to deliver the hit they were hired for. A boot lodged itself deep in Sam’s gut. Sam spat up the warm blood that flooded his mouth and cried out in agony. Someone among them chuckled about it, but he could hardly move, let alone even the score with a sadistic asshole with a gun.
“Answer, bitte,” the same interrogator said.
“Gone,” Sam panted. “I… I lost it in the fields-s when…I…you shot me,” he lied.
He could feel one of them pull him back by his sweater, lifting him into a seated position so that they could see his face. Sam’s cheek was skinned by the grit of the road and blood was dripping from his mouth, just the way they liked their prey.
“You lie!” the man shouted and dealt Sam a mighty clout with a leather gloved hand. It felt like his neck broke under the devastating wallop, sending a jolt of pain from the back of head down his back into his lower spine.
From afar he could hear the roar of an engine. It grew louder in his disorientated ears, but by now Sam was not quite sure what was real anymore. He felt faint, slumping to the side as the men turned to see where the bright headlights were coming from. High beams blinded them where they stood in the road and they pulled their guns into aim, but they were too late. The vehicle struck two of them, hurling their bodies into the third bystander, throwing all three through the air onto the paving of the sidewalk.
The fourth mercenary fired shots and took off towards the hedges that flanked the road, disappearing in the darkness. The car stopped and the door opened. From the doorframe Sam could see someone emerging. Next to Sam, in his line of sight, he could see the other three hunters. They lay spread out, motionless; their bodies contorted with broken bones and dislocated limbs. In the faint light he saw blood splatter all over the sidewalk concrete.
Barely able to open his eyes, Sam looked up at the driver of the old BMW that just ploughed through his attackers.
“Ni-n-na,” he stammered through the blood on his lips, “you’re late.”
Chapter 15 — Fine Print
Professor Kulich was dressed in her favorite cargo pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Her hiking boots were of the light weighted variety, but still very tough. She liked the thick soles that sank slightly under her weight when she hiked and climbed over rocky terrain, making the shoes extremely comfortable. After a week back in the treacherous landscapes of the Amazon basin she fully understood the importance of good footwear. The past week had taken everything from her physically.
Petra had no less than three close calls where her fleeing abilities had saved her life. In fact, she had a bandaged left upper arm where an Anaconda had latched onto her, but thanks to the swift reaction of four of her guides, they prevented the reptile from coiling around her. As the nail-like teeth of the snake had dug deep into her muscle, the men had inadvertently torn a gaping wound when they had freed her from the animal.
Other than the giant snake and its appetites leaning towards the Slavic variety, she had to run from a band of mercenaries hired to dispose of two chiefs she dealt with before, friends to her. But they managed to escape the onslaught with minor injuries. Deep in the marshes she had another unsavory experience with leeches that she still had nightmares from. It was certainly good to be back on her home soil safely in the cold northern Bohemian kingdom, the glorious Czech Republic and its ancient cities, rich history and damn good beer.
Her hair was pinned back to keep it out of her face while she worked, the rest taken back in a short ash blond ponytail. She had arrived the day before at Chateau Zbiroh, her ancestral home where she was still welcome after having been away since she last saw it in 1982 with her parents. Being a descendant of the Colloredo-Mannsfeld family who owned the castle at the time of the Second World War, she had special privileges to the place. And now that the ongoing excavations had delivered some peculiar artifacts and documents pertaining directly to her bloodline, Petra was summoned not only as a daughter of Zbiroh, but as an anthropologist. Some interesting pieces have been found, but indeed, the information on the old documents found at the bottom of the well of Chateau Zbiroh was far more intriguing.
On the desk in front of her she had about 15 pages spread out, almost destroyed by the moist soil it had been buried under for so long. The ink on the pages was almost corroded away, some pages torn from the frailness of wetting and in some places the words were obscured by the failing ink. Occasionally sipping some coffee, Petra ran her hands very gently across the yellow rusted paper, just to touch history.
In some ways it felt as if she could communicate with a distant time when she grazed antique objects. Feelings, emotions, sometimes even events would seep through her consciousness when she touched something in a museum or antique store. From what she had heard there were quite a number of people with similar abilities. I was not as far-fetched as she thought it was.
“Igor!” she called one of her assistants. “Have we heard anything from Dr. Gould yet?”
“I’ll check, Professor,” he replied and got on the phone to Prof. Kulich’s main office in Prague.
“God, I hope she doesn’t bail out on me,” she sighed. One document in particular got her attention. It showed a rough drawing of a deck of cards and a key, but she was unsure of the odd match represented actual objects or if it was some kind of emblem or coat of arms. In German the words next to it said simply, Fortune to the Wielder, by the Hand of the Dealer
The words were scribbled as if written in a hurry or a fit, or perhaps even demonic possession. The latter thought made her shudder. Why would she think such a thing? Why would it even cross her mind? But she could not help it. The feeling she got when looking at the lettering was unmistakably ancient and dark. Petra’s light grey eyes scanned the strokes of the pen master and she slowly shook her head while she could feel her heart rate rising.
“Your tea is cold, madam,” the housekeeper said behind her and she almost jumped out of her skin. Holding her chest, she turned in her chair to stare at the plump woman who took a step back.
“I am so sorry, Professor. I didn’t mean to startle you!” she gasped, but Petra Kulich started laughing.
“My goodness, I was just looking at this odd sentence in deep thought and here you come out of the blue…” she stopped talking and just chuckled with the now reluctantly smiling housekeeper who was relieved that this aristocratic woman was not like the others she had served.
“Professor Kulich, Dr. Gould says she should be arriving soon,” her assistant reported from the doorway.
“Oh good! Good, I have something urgent I want her to have a look at after she gets settled in,” Petra replied, still smiling with her hand on the housekeeper’s arm. “Could you please heat this up for me?” she asked the woman.
“I’ll just make you a fresh cup, madam,” the housekeeper offered. “After all, after the scare I gave you the least I can do is make you a proper cup of tea…maybe with more sugar?”
The two women laughed again.
“Umm, Professor? Dr. Gould wanted to know if it was alright with you if she brought her own assistant with her,” the man in the doorway asked.
Without a thought Petra answered, “Of course! By all means, we’ll need all the help we can get.”
Not an hour later, a car came towards the chateau in the distance. Professor Kulich and her assistant stood watching it appear periodically between the encroaching green trees that hid the tar road in patches. The landscape was breathtaking from the balcony where they stood in awe, looking on the panoramic splendor of the surrounding Brdy Forest. The white car bobbed over the slants and dips of the road leading up to the stunning remnant of old architecture which lay snugly in the emerald embrace of the forest like a well set gem on a regal ring. The sky was majestic and clear overhead, even just temporarily for the change that would usually cool it with clouds.