He had been carrying the big card in his pocket with the odd key, but he could not have replaced it after showing it to his mother during the vision. It must have fallen when he collapsed. Radu felt the despair of his loss overtake him. Somewhere in his conscience he heard his mother echo, “See? Now you get to feel the loss you caused for the lady you stole it from. See how it works, my son?”
His eyes filled with tears as he slipped out of the hospital bed to check the bedside locker for his clothes. Filled with dread, he found his pockets empty and his heart started pounding painfully again from the disappointment he felt.
“What are you looking for, laddie?” a voice spoke from behind him.
The teary eyed boy turned quickly, fearing that he had been discovered. He could not help but reveal that he was being nervous and jumpy. Guilt would do that to a little thief. Behind him stood a tall and attractive man with ruffled wild dark hair and eyes. He reminded Radu of a pirate on a rum bottle without all the trappings. Around his shoulder and arm there was a thick white bandage with a seeping stain straining through the fabric and his shirtless torso was impressively chiseled. The hospital had given him loose fitting pajama pants that looked quite comical and the distraught boy wondered who he was.
“I am just…” Radu had to choose his words carefully in front of the stranger. Adults had a way of talking to one another and he had no idea if he could trust this man. “… looking for something I had with me before I got sick.”
“What does it look like? Maybe I can help you look for it?” the stranger offered, already running his eyes over the cupboards and under the bed as he spoke. His voice was kind, sort of optimistic, as if he was approachable and playful. Radu liked him, but he did not trust him. Radu trusted nobody, no matter how nice they came across. Too many times he had learned his lesson with those.
“Um, it’s just a picture.”
“A photograph?” the man asked.
“No,” Radu hesitated. He looked around for eavesdroppers and then raised his big innocent eyes to the man, “it’s a card. Like a playing card without the numbers and hearts and stuff.”
“Oh! Okay, just one?” the stranger asked, and laboriously crouched down to help Radu look for his card.
“Yes, just the one. It is just a picture and it is a bit bigger than other cards,” the boy replied, now joining the stranger in his search.
“Mr. Cleave, please return to your bed! You are not well enough to get out of bed yet!” the doctor said in a mild German accent. She was stern and old, but easily amused. Arms folded across her chest, she stood watching her two patients scurrying about the smooth polished floor and she had to smile.
“I am really alright, doctor. Not using my arm, as you see, I should be okay,” he responded. Radu memorized his name. It was a trait he had taught himself over the years in order to sound more educated. Besides, name dropping was an important part of his cons.
“I will tell you when you are well enough to get out of bed, Herr Cleave. Back to bed with you. Now!” she ordered and clutched his other arm to pull him up. “Do not make me administer a valium drip on you,” she jested and Sam chuckled. He stood up and looked down at the small lady doctor, “That does not sound half bad, doc.”
He limped back to his bed by the window and Radu was delighted to see that his new friend was sleeping in the same ward room as he. He looked up at the doctor. She was smiling and she held out his hand to help him up.
“It is bedtime, Herr Costita,” she winked.
“I am looking for my card,” the boy protested with worry in his face. His eyes were wet and red from his crying before and she gestured for him to get up from the floor. From the pocket of her white coat she pulled the card, holding it lightly between her two fingers.
“This card?” she smiled.
Radu was ecstatic. His face lit up and he reached for the item, but the doctor held it back, motioning with her head for him to return to bed first. The young boy leapt into bed eagerly and she came to stand by his side.
“Now, if I give this back to you, you promise to go to sleep?” she asked.
“Yes, doctor! I promise,” Radu smiled. He was clearly overly zealous to have his hand on that card. It woke an inkling of concern in the doctor that the child was so infatuated with the object. Reluctantly, she held it out to the child and he snatched it from her hand with a beaming smile and slipped it under his pillow, with his hand on top of it as to make certain nobody took it from him.
It was odd. She shot a glance to Sam Cleave, who was back in bed, watching the whole scene. He raised an eyebrow in agreement to her shaking her head. The boy seemed obsessed with the card. Almost instantly the child drifted off to sleep in the pale light of the hospital room, completely content. The doctor switched off the small wall light above his bed and joined Sam, taking his vital signs for the evening.
“You have to take it easy Herr Cleave. That bone is not going to mend with you frolicking around like a child… with a child,” she warned.
“I know. Is there any way I can make a call from here? I need to contact a friend in Scotland,” he asked.
“Yes, but you can do that tomorrow. First, you get some rest,” she advised.
After the doctor left, Sam looked at the sleeping child on the other side of the room. Curious about the card, he decided to wait until later so that he could steal over there and see what the big deal was about. The urge was inexplicable. It was almost like fate.
Chapter 7 — Sam’s Invitation
As promised, Nina had received the first half of her fee by bank transfer by the middle following week, from Professor Kulich’s office in Prague. The professor herself was absent, being on an expedition in the Amazon jungle until Sunday. Nina had been looking into the area they were set to visit. The forests of Western Bohemia, in particular the Brdy Forests, were mysterious and shrouded in historical legend. All Nina was told was that she would accompany the professor to a patch of land her family used to own there, on which more controversial things took place during the Second World War.
Nina had never been to Bohemia, the ancient center of Europe where Prague was the shining gem in the crown of the continent, the City of a Hundred Spires, the mother city of the Bohemian world. There was a wealth of cultural treasure to be found there, not only in history, but also in architecture and art.
On the morning of the Thursday prior to her departure from Edinburgh, Nina received a call from an unknown number with a telephone code she identified as based in Germany. The historian knew many people in the country, but had never seen this number before, so it was with some curiosity she answered her cell phone.
“Nina,” a familiar voice said.
“Sam?” she exclaimed, smiling immediately at the sound of her best friend’s voice. Her heart jumped like a school girl’s. “Sam! Where the hell are you? Patrick told me you left on a quick job and said you would be back in a few days and then you just fucking vanished! I was worried, goddammit!” She meant to sound irate, but it only fell from her lips as welcome excitement.
“Jesus, are you done?” he answered. “I have been meaning to call, but I have been a tad preoccupied with a hunting trip.”
“What were you hunting in Germany?” she frowned.
“Oh, I wasn’t hun-ting. I was hun-ted,” he said nonchalantly. Nina gasped on the other side of the phone, but before she could respond he continued. “Anyway, that is why I am calling. I need your help.”
“Anything, Sam,” she said quicker than she meant to, overcome with relief that she heard his voice again. She had become far more attached to Sam than she ever meant to, and now certainly far happier to hear from him than ever before.