The Deception Dance

by Rita Stradling

  The room is still dim but when I turn my head I can see my sisters open eyes. She whispers in a raspy voice, “You’re awake?”

  The question needs no answer but I say, “Yeah... Linnie, I’m going with you, when you leave for Malmo.”

  She furrows her brow. “You’re going to Malmo?”

  I shake my head ever so slightly then sweep the room with my gaze and land my attention back on her. I hope she understands what I’m trying to say with my gesture: that they might be listening to us. Okay, so I’m getting a little paranoid.

  But, obviously she is too because she says a little louder than necessary, “of course you may come with me to Malmo, two is better than one for searching.” She bobs her brows and narrows her eyelids into a ‘what’s going on?’ look.

  I choose my words with care, “there are questions we need answered, and the only way I’m getting answers, is if I leave with you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Day Twenty-Nine

  “Run away with me.”

  I smile and ask, “Where would we go?” I roll over so my cheek rests on the soft material separating me from Andras’s stomach. The sun lights a white line from his chin to black hair falling over his forehead as he faces the calm fragrant ocean. In this position the uneven surface of the rock digs into my shoulder so I sit up but turn away from the sea to face him.

  “Burma, Cambodia, Thailand. We’ll discover ancient jungle temples and live among the macaque monkeys.”

  I huff out a breath and shake my head. “I thought you wanted to be windsurfers in South Africa?”

  “That was yesterday.”

  “Grizzly hunters in Canada...”

  “The day before.” He sits up, his shoulder brushes against mine as he leans in and nips at my lower lip. “You are tempting me to just take you, no matter what you say.”

  “No… I still can’t run away with you, I have college, and my family. Anyway, we’re supposed to be talking about what Nicholas and his brothers are up to.” I nudge his shoulder with mine. “It’s been seven days; you said you would tell me.”

  He slings his arm around my shoulder squeezing me into him. I inhale his familiar musky scent as he whispers into my hair, “I do not want to talk about them. Not when you refuse to leave their castle.”

  I bite my lip. This morning I promised myself that today he would tell me everything, I would make him. Linnie has snuck me out to meet Andras every morning of this week, and always I tell myself ‘today’; but each time I dismount from his sleek black motorcycle at the Kullenberg nature reserve and look into his blazing green eyes, my resolve melts.

  Even though there is little space on our stone outcropping I force myself to scoot out of his embrace. “You already know that it's Linnie, not me, who refuses to go. And anyway, I can't convince her to leave unless you tell me what they're up to. Please, tell me, what do they want?”

  The side of his mouth turns up and his jewel eyes twinkle as he answers, “To kill me.”

  I cough to clear my throat. “Kill...kill you? They kill people?” I wrap my arms around my stomach. “Nicholas told me they did some kind of security...”

  “Killing, maiming, torturing, training others to kill, it’s all part of their work. I promise you this is the truth.”

  “That’s their secret; they’re what, like, contract killers?”

  “That they are killers is, I am sure, only part of what they hide from you.”

  "Oh my god, they killed Mrs. Trandle, my neighbor." I fold up my legs. “Oh, god.”

  Andras embraces me around the shoulders again. “Do you see,” he whispers, “Why I didn’t want to talk about them? Discussing these terrible things will only make you unhappy.”

  I turn my head so our noses almost touch. My voice sounds anxious, “But why do they want Linnie and me? What purpose does keeping us there serve? Are we in danger? Would they hurt us?”

  “Hmm,” Andras’s hum is a low rumble from the back of his throat. “You care about your sister, Linnie, most?”

  I shrug; qualifying quantities of love is difficult, messy and unnecessary. “I’m close to my dad, too.”

  “I would like to get to know your sister.”

  I kiss Andras so I don’t have to respond. He’s not the only one who can be evasive. Our light kiss turns deep and urgent and soon Andras has rolled on top of me and our bodies are twining together. He breaks away and I raise my head not wanting our kiss to end.

  “How about tonight?”

  I lie back with a fuzzy mind. “Tonight?”

  “Your sister and you driving out to dine at my friend’s house in Hoganas?”

  “Oh,” that. “I’m not sure that would work. The brothers have probably already planned out dinner, I don’t know.” Nighttime is when I do damage control with Nicholas and his brothers. Thankfully, Nicholas, Albert and Tobias have been holed up every day this week with their grandfather on ‘business’, but I still need the evening hours to convince Nicholas that I’ve been searching with Linnie at her various destinations. And even though I’ve been acting out a pretty spectacular performance, his questions have turned from probing to downright suspicious.

  “Your sister does not want to leave the mansion, yes?” He punctuates each word with a soft kiss on my neck sending tingles throughout my body.

  “Yes,” I breathe as I tilt my head back exposing my neck.

  “I can try to convince her. Is that not what you want? If you are in their house, their grounds, they can easily control you.”

  I close my eyes. “Yes, that’s what I want.”

  “Then you will persuade your sister to dine out with you in Hoganas tonight, to relieve her stress over her missing friend. You will drive her to the Hotell Trädgård Visa at seven, where I’ll meet you and take you to my friend’s house. And I promise that I will attempt with all my powers of persuasion to convince your sister to leave Leijonskjöld castle and all the dangers it holds.”

  I brainstorm a few objections but he’s right, that’s exactly what I want; to get Linnie ‘the heck out of dodge’ (as my father would say). “Okay, I’ll bring her. But...” I glance at my watch, “We have to go now; we’re late, again.”

  The descent off the boulder is easier this seventh time, though still tricky and I jump the last few feet. Andras lands next to me an instant later. Thankfully, we’re the only people in this part of the nature reserve, because of the embarrassing amount of ‘public displays of affection’ (PDAs) we were having on the rock.

  PDAs don’t seem to bother Andras; he winds his fingers through mine and pushes me against the boulder.

  “Late... we’re late,” I laugh and slide out, but I don’t release his hand, I use it to drag him behind me.

  By the time I tow Andras to his motorcycle and we zoom to the rendezvous spot, Linnie’s waiting with her helmet in her hands. I take off Andras’s helmet as he drives up beside her. She’s slumped forward on the bike and doesn't look up as she raises her fingers to half-heartedly return Andras’s wave while he takes off.

  Why didn’t I get more information from Andras? Now I’m late to meet her with nothing I can report about Chauncey. A queasy mass of snakes writhe in my stomach as I walk toward her.

  She looks more dejected than yesterday, and yesterday she was miserable.

  “Hey,” My voice comes out small. “How was Copenhagen?”

  She exhales before saying, “Not any better than Malmo, or Helsingborg, or Lund, or anywhere that I can drive to in a day.” I can’t see her eyes but I bet she’s blinking back tears. “People either don’t understand me or don’t care.”

  “Hey,” I say, sitting on the seat behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist, “Maybe Nicholas will have news. Stephen is still out there, looking.”

  I can feel her sniff through my hands on her stomach. “Maybe, I doubt it,” she mumbles. “How about you? Did you find out anything?”

  My chest constricts, pushing the air from my lungs. I squeak out, “Not
about Chauncey. He told me...”

  “It’s okay.” She pivots in her seat. “No seriously, Raven, it’s okay. Even if you don’t learn a thing that helps me find her, I won’t be mad.”

  I squish my face into her back. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” she doesn’t sound pleased but she’s being sincere. “I thought it a long-shot this Andras, would know anything. And, I’m dubious of your whole conspiracy theory about everyone plotting against us.”

  I correct a little self-deprecatingly, “Incomplete conspiracy theory, but...”

  “You don’t need excuses with me to see this guy. When he drops you off, there’s a glow in your cheeks I’ve never seen you have before. So, it’s okay.” She lifts her helmet then pauses. “And besides, Chauncey was awful to you.” Understatement of the year.

  “I’m still trying to find her,” I say into Linnie’s jean jacket as the scooter purrs to life. Our rendezvous point is only a three minute drive to the front gate and enclosing wall of Leijonskjöld castle; too short to really tell Linnie about what Andras told me. The constricting feeling returns as I flatten my thumb on the scanner and the gate swings open.

  Killers. Killers? Why didn’t I ask for more details? Who do they kill? What kind of killers are they? Contract killers? Espionage killers of the double-O 7 variety? Cold-blooded murderers? Well, they would have to be organized murderers …

  Jeez, what’s wrong with me? Does it matter? They kill people.

  I tremble and not from the wind whistling past my light sweater. There is one thing I need to do and that is: get Linnie out of this compound and away from these dangerous (possibly homicidal) men. As we drive up to the house I’m surprised to find Nicholas waiting for us on the front step.

  He jumps up as we approach. He doesn’t wait for us to stop before he calls out, “I’ve been trying to reach you. Stephen thinks he found her!”

  Linnie almost drives into Nicholas, squeezing the breaks and screeching to a halt less than a yard from his legs. “Are you serious?” Her words are all muffled through her face covering helmet. She pries it off her head. “Where?”

  “Near Berlin.” Nicholas skirts around the scooter and marches past us toward a black Lincoln Town Car. He turns around at the open door of the back seat. “I’m heading there now, flying out in less than an hour.”

  Linnie rushes toward the car and shouts, “I’m going with you!”

  “No.” Nicholas holds out a hand. “No, Linnie, you can’t come. It’s complicated.”

  She doesn’t stop. “But...”

  “Stay here, in the guest house. Do not leave. If all goes well, Chauncey will be back tomorrow, I promise.” Without another word or look he climbs into his car and his driver races them off down the drive, kicking up dust before ours has had time to settle.

  Linnie whispers, “Complicated?” as Nicholas’s car disappears from view. She stands motionless, just staring at the closing gate.

  I step in front of her. “Linnie, this is good news!”

  “Good,” she whispers, eyes dazed.

  I shake her. “Wake up! They found Chauncey. Be happy!”

  She blinks. “Happy? They found Chauncey.” And then, the waterworks start. I lead Linnie into our room in the guesthouse and let her cry on my shoulder all her anxious sobs, and then relieved tears, and finally contented snuffles. When her face is red and splotchy and a smile (that has been absent for days) lights up her features, I squeeze out of her grip to stretch.

  I glance at my watch, five-thirty.

  Linnie’s still breathing heavily from her cry when she says, “She’s coming back tomorrow, isn’t it wonderful?”

  “Perfect.” In more ways than one. Chauncey could not have planned a better time to be found. Tonight, I will take Linnie out to dine with Andras; he’ll convince her to depart the castle of killers and by the time Chauncey returns we'll catch the next train out of here.

  Linnie lies back on her bed. “I feel like celebrating!”

  Perfect.

  ****

  “So what do you do?” Linnie asks in a terrific impression of my father.

  I’m getting a little tired of the grueling interview, but I realize, I have no idea what Andras does for work, I don’t really know much of anything about him.

  “Acquisitions,” Andras says with a little smile.

  “Acquisitions of what?” Linnie asks rudely.

  “Linnie!” I cut in, “enough with the third degree.” I give her a ‘be nice’ glare that she returns with an ‘I’m not doing anything wrong’ smile.

  She gives in, “Okay, Okay, I’ll stop the protective big sister act.” She takes a sip of wine then a bite of her pasta puttanesca, chewing slowly. When she swallows she says in a nonchalant voice, “So, your accent is hard to place; where are you from?”

  I can’t help it, I laugh. Soon the whole table is laughing, including Andras’s good looking, soft spoken, Swedish friend Peder. Linnie hasn’t spared a sideward glance for the bright-eyed Swedish man sitting on her left; I guess she’s over handsome foreigners.

  Andras’s foot brushes against mine under the table. “Before English, I spoke a dialect of Romani. And, I understand,” he says while leaning across the table toward Linnie, “From your perspective your sister and I barely know each other. You do not trust me; you do not trust men; because, you have been hurt before. You see how intensely Raven looks at me; you see her heart in her eyes. But I am not going to do to Raven, whatever that man did to you.” With complete sincerity he vows, “I will do anything in my power for your sister.” He turns his twinkling eyes on me and winks. “I promise.”

  Linnie examines Andras, her weariness visibly diminishes from her expression and she smiles. “Good. Okay then.” She laughs and continues eating. She’s the only one not finished since she used her precious time for the interrogation.

  I’m about to prompt Andras’s ‘ten reasons to leave murder mansion’ argument but I’m distracted by his fingers brushing across my palm under the table. He trails his fingers up and down my palm stopping only to lace his fingers through mine. I glance up at him and the corner of his mouth inches toward the wood paneled roof. We're sitting in a small dining room. Small? Jeez. I'm getting jaded. It's about the same size as our dining room at home, and the furnishings are much nicer than ours.

  “Linnie, do you like violin music?” Andras says while lightly squeezing my fingers.

  She swallows her final bite and sets down her fork. “Um, yeah, I guess, sure.”

  “Then I will play for you.” He lifts my hand to his mouth and gives it a peck before breaking contact to scoot out his chair. “I will fetch my instrument; Peder will lead you to the living room.”

  This house is quaint compared with the living accommodations we’ve been living in, but, I honestly appreciate its lack of grandeur. As in everywhere else I’ve been in Sweden, the interior is almost entirely wood. Peder points out different aspects of his home, but from the glances I’m getting from Linnie, I can tell she’s not understanding anything he’s saying in his soft-spoken thickly accented English either.

  We settle onto a plush striped love-seat, I kick off my shoes and curl up my legs. I’m wearing the red dress; the one Andras saved me in.

  Andras descends a narrow staircase and stops with Violin and bow in hand. As he starts to play, igniting the air around him with sound, all the worries that have been nagging me singe into to ash and scatter to the floor. All that is left is the music and me to consume it.

  I lower my head to rest on Linnie’s shoulder and we lie entranced by the hectic dizzying notes that dance their way around the room. Andras moves with his bow, bends, sways, is lost in the music that holds us all. We don’t seem to breathe until the song is over then he plays us another.

  Perhaps we would have never moved if the banging on the door didn’t jolt us from our trance, but it does.

  Andras pulls one final long note and, like the rest of us, peers over at the door. He sets down his violin on
a chair and says something to Peder in (what I’m pretty sure is) Swedish while raising a hand. To us he says, “Stay here, I’ll check who's at the door.”

  We stay quiet as Andras exits to the hall and out of sight. Excited voices explode out from the unseen front door, one of which is Andras’s, but the other is also familiar. I’m torn between wanting to check what the commotion is about and not wanting to face who I’m pretty sure stands at the front door.

  Linnie does her usual brow furrow. She whispers, “Is that…?”

  I nod and say with a nervous laugh, “Oh, shit.”

  I start to rise but she grabs my arm and nervously giggles. “No,” she whispers, “stay here.”

  I shake my head, bite my lip, and rush to the front door arriving just in time to see Andras slam the door in Nicholas’s face.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Day Twenty-Nine (continued)

  “Hey,” I say for lack of anything else coming to mind as I reopen the door. But no words or excuses are needed, because Nicholas stands frantic and bloody on the doorstep. I gasp. “Are you hurt?”

  “We need to go. Now.” Nicholas says pleading, “Chauncey is in the hospital...”

  “In Berlin?”

  “No, here. Six blocks up, right, six blocks then to your left.” This he says to Linnie, who I didn’t know was behind me until she barges past. She’s on the Vespa and gone before I think of a response.

  “Do not leave.” Andras’s hand caresses down my back.

  I step out of the door and peer over my shoulder. “I have to go.”

  Nicholas already stands at the open car door.

  Andras takes his leather motorcycle jacket from a hook and wraps it around me. "It’s cold tonight. I will wait for you, at Kullenberg.”

  “No...”

  He leans down and before I can stop him, he kisses me.

  For an instant I forget about everything else and lean into his kiss, but it’s not a long instant and I yank back remembering the rush I’m in and who’s watching. I run through the grass barefoot and climb into the car as Nicholas holds the car-door open.