Lucian had bitten his lip. “Because I informed on them. I had to. It was just a matter of weeks until they would have been discovered. We . . . I had to go to the strigoi so that I would be beyond suspicion. The stakes were too high this summer to allow everything to be destroyed at the last minute. “
“What stakes?” said Kate. “You mean Joshua? You helped' me adopt him and then you helped the strigoi steal him back.”
Lucian shook his head. “My hope was that you would find the secret of the retrovirus before they found you. You did.”
Kate lost it then, flying across the seat at Lucian, pounding at his chest with her fists. “They killed Tom and Julie, you lying son of a bitch! They killed them and burned my house and took my baby and . . . goddamn it!” Only when her fingers clawed toward his eyes did he restrain her wrists.
“Kate,” he whispered, “it had to be. Just as the death of my parents had to be. The stakes are too high.”
She pulled away from him and threw herself against the far door. “What stakes? What are you talking about?”
Lucian put the car in gear and pulled out onto the empty highway. “The destruction of the strigoi Family,” he said. “All of them. Tonight.”
The stone kilometer marker read COPRA MICA8 KM. The road wound along the Tirvana Mare River through isolated uplands with no farmhouses, no villages, and no traffic except for the occasional rubberwheeled cart. The clouds were low and a cold wind blew leaves across the narrow road and slammed against the Dacia like invisible fists.
“Tell me,” demanded Kate.
Lucian did not take his eyes off the road. “It would be foolish, Kate. There is little chance that they will come after us today . . . they won't notice you're missing for several hours . . . and we'll be far away from here by then. Still, if we were caught . . . “
“Tell me,” said Kate. Her voice held an imperative that she had honed through long hours in emergency rooms, operating rooms, and conference rooms.
Lucian glanced at her. “Really, it would be stupid to“
“Tell me.” Her tone left no choice in the matter.
Lucian licked his lips and smoothed back his spikey haircut. “It's arranged, Kate. Tonight the strigoi Family is going to die. All of them.”
“How?” Kate said flatly.
Lucian shook his head but kept talking. “They're gathering at the castle on the Arges . . . Poienari Citadel, it's called . . . the ancient keep that Vlad rebuilt more than five hundred years ago. It's been arranged . . . they won't survive the ceremony. “
“How has it been arranged?” Her voice showed her disbelief.
“The citadel has been abandoned and shunned since the days of Vlad,” said Lucian. “The locals still fear it. The government ignored it. The tourist bureau led the few tourists to fake `Castle Draculas' like Bran Castle near Brasov rather than acknowledge the real site on the Arges River.”
“So?” said Kate.
“So this ceremony has been anticipated for years. Ceausescu began reconstruction of Poienari Citadel more than three years ago. The new government has finished it, despite the economic collapse. The strigoi demanded it.” He paused and looked at her, then went on. “Explosives were planted there during the reconstruction.” He let out a deep breath. “They're timed to go off tonight during the Ceremony. The entire mountain is wired. None of the strigoi will leave alive. “
Kate folded her arms. “You're lying again.”
He seemed startled at her attitude. “No, Kate, I swear . . .”
“You have to be lying. The strigoi would never allow someone access to one of their Ceremony sites like that. Also, their security people would sweep the place before the Ceremony. They're cruel bastards, but they're not idiots.”
They were entering the valley town of Copsa Mica. It was an industrial town unlike anything Kate had ever seen: the streets were black with soot, the houses were black, the people walking by were gray and black, and tall smokestacks belched out more pollution. Lucian pulled the car into a rutted area beside the railroad tracks. “Kate,” he said, “it's true. I swear it.”
She stared at him.
He sighed. “The construction was authorized by the strigoi Family leaders, was paid for primarily by Vernor Deacon Trent's foundation, and was carried out by Radu Fortuna's construction company.”
Kate's arms were still folded across her chest. “And you're saying that Fortuna just happened to ignore your mythical bombs being planted. Or is it going to be done the way they tried to kill Hitler . . . one strigoi turncoat with a bomb in his briefcase?”
Lucian gripped her arms and then released them quickly when he felt her stiffen up. “I'm sorry. Listen, Kate . . . Fortuna almost never visited the site. Most of the work was done by Hungarian artisans. During my summers I worked as a supervisor on the project . . . “ He stopped when he saw her look of disbelief. “The strigoi trusted me, Kate. I had been an international courier as a teenager. I was ambitious and greedy and showed loyalty only to those with the ,power to help me. And I had help . . .” He stopped.
“Your mystery mentor,” Kate said sarcastically.
“Yes.
“And the bomb was set in place while no one was looking. “
“It's not a single bomb, Kate. The two main towers of Vlad's citadel were rebuilt, as were the main hall, the south battlements, the old approach bridge, and the east battlements, where the actual ceremony will be held tonight. They're all loaded with explosives and wired with separate timers. The entire mountaintop is coming off.”
Kate held her cold stare but she felt her heart rate accelerate. “The strigoi security people will find it.”
Lucian shook his head. “They've been over all of the sites a dozen times. The explosives are sealed in the actual construction. Even the timing devices have been mortared up and shut away. They haven't found anything and they won't. There's no way to disarm it. If the strigoi are there tonight, they'll be destroyed.”
“With Joshua,” said Kate. “And O'Rourke.”
Lucian touched her hand. “I'm sorry, Kate. I'd hoped they might bring the baby with you today. But they must be flying him down tonight in the helicopter with Radu Fortuna and the other VIPs.”
Kate pulled her hand away. “You're lying there, Lucian. You didn't think Joshua would be in the car with me. You wouldn't have rescued us if he were. You need him there tonight, so the ceremony will proceed. So the assassination will proceed.”
He looked away and she knew then that he was lying about wanting to save Joshua, but telling the truth about the explosives. Her arms and legs literally ran cold at the thought. Outside, gray shadows moved through the industrial filth of Copsa Mica.
“Kate,” Lucian said softly, not turning to look at her, “you have to understand that there have only been three of these Investiture Ceremonies in the past five hundred years. There wilt never be a better rime. The entire Family will be there . . . all the strigoi who are important enough to count. “
Kate nodded. “And my baby and an expriest who never hurt anyone are a small price to pay for that chance to assassinate them. “
Lucian wheeled and his eyes were wide. “Yes! A hundred babies and a hundred priests are a small price!” He took her by the shoulders and shook her. “Do you realize how many centuries my people. have been enslaved by these monsters, Kate? Do you know how many babies and priests and ordinary people have died horribly because of their cruelty? Can you imagine a nation which has never taken a breath outside the shadow of totalitarian madness?” His voice was shaking. His entire body was shaking.
Lucian let go of her arms and put the car in gear. “It doesn't matter what you think, Kate. It will happen tonight. I'm sorry about Joshua . . . I truly am. And O'Rourke. They will be martyrs just as my adoptive parents were.” He drove slowly down the highway through the black city.