Rocketing to a place beside the house he leaped to land silently atop the roof and was quickly inside at this point gliding noiselessly through the house. Finding a large portrait hanging on a wall over a large fireplace, he quickly produced a knife and cut the thing from its frame, leaving the empty frame hanging, as he had done in the home of Ernesto Chavez. As before he rolled it up and stuffed it in the long bag and soon was rocketing through the darkness toward Madrid.
He arrived there around ten o’clock that night and went directly to the palace. Soon he had found a place to leap astride the privacy wall surrounding the site of the palace of the King himself. It was a formal stone six-story affair with numerous large windows everywhere and several on each of its four sides had balconies. From the wall he bounded down and up nearly as one movement to become a shadowy spider crawling along the walls of the palace, seeking entry.
After several minutes, he seemed to melt through a darkened window on the third level. He glided through the hallways and avoided guards at all times. If he wanted to investigate a room, he would quickly exit the area through a window and crawl along the outer walls to that place and just enter there. He eventually found the bedroom of the king himself and glided into it from a window in an adjacent sitting room, a part of the personal quarters of the King. It was unoccupied. He found a portrait there of a lady that he quickly stole leaving its picture frame behind. In only a half hour he had silently stolen yet another larger one from the Throne Room itself and had also tucked it into the long bag.
In less than two minutes he was clear of the palace and rocketing toward the neighborhood where Enrique Chavez lived. It was yet an hour until midnight when he seemed to melt through a third floor window of the large sumptuous stone home of Enrique Chavez. He ignored the third floor being as it was likely servant’s quarters. Gliding stealthily down the steps to the second floor and through the silent hallways he silently tried each door, hoping that a guard dog wasn’t sleeping in the house
He found a room where a young woman slept. Ian thought that she might be a daughter or niece. He silently took a tortoise shell hairbrush and a finely crafted mirror from the room and glided back to the deserted hallway to try another door. There were four more bedrooms. Two were empty. Entering the third one he found a middle aged lady asleep there and took her to be Chavez’s wife. He stole her hairbrush and mirror as well. Silently he glided out and down the hallway to finally arrive at the last bedroom. It was a very large room with a desk and chair at one end and the usual bedroom items elsewhere. Stealthily he entered and glided to the large bed. A middle aged man slept there. Like lightning striking Ian gagged him and threw him over his shoulder and leaped to the farthest wall of the room. Producing some sturdy cords he bound him with his hands over his head to a large wrought iron candelabra mounted in the wall. He lighted it and it gave off enough light for the terrified man to see the hooded black-clad apparition who had done this to him.
Speaking only in a whisper Ian said “Good evening, Enrique.”
The man’s eyes were wide with fear. Sweat had beaded his brow and he trembled a bit.
“You’re in trouble this night. We’ve learned that you have jailed Roberto Rodriguez and his wife Alicia.” Opening the long bag Ian drew out the stolen items holding up the hair brushes and mirrors first.
“Do you recognize these?”
The terrified man nodded rapidly.
Ian took the four dog collars out and dangled them in front of the man whose eyes widened in recognition. He nodded without being asked about them. He then took a portrait that he had stolen from the man’s brother’s home in Barcelona. He unrolled it and held it up for the man to see. “Do you recognize this?” he whispered. The man nodded, sweat now dripping from his face and running down his neck. Ian laid the item aside, and took the portrait from the throne room and unrolled it. He had to step back to display it because it was a life size portrait of the King. The effect was electrifying. The man began to tremble violently and the sweat poured from his face.
“Here’s another one I took this very night also. It’s from the King’s chambers.” he whispered. Here he unrolled the smaller portrait of a woman.
Ian rolled up the King’s portrait and the one taken from the king’s bedroom and stuffed them back into his long bag. He set that aside with his rucksack and bounded in a flash to the far side of the room where there stood two large ornate candelabras. Each was the height of a man and made of thick wrought iron. Ian picked up one effortlessly and as he carried it toward the man, he twirled it in one hand like it was only a broomstick instead of a three hundred pound piece of iron. He stopped in front of the man and raising it easily to shoulder height with one hand, he twirled it and suddenly grabbed it with his other hand as well. Shifting his grip until his hands were about four feet apart he then silently began to bend it. It creaked as Ian bent it until it was in the shape of a horse shoe, and then he sat it on the floor in front of the man who by now was shaking violently.
Whispering again, Ian said “Here’s what’s going to happen now, senor. You’re going to that desk over there and you’re going to write out a complete exoneration for Roberto and Alicia Rodriguez. This will include an official apology and a personal one as well. You’re going to write in that pardon that you’re paying them triple the damages done to their properties and that will be determined solely by the figure that Senor Rodriguez submits to your office. You’re going to write a duplicate of that exoneration as well.” Ian paused for effect as the man nodded his understanding.
“You’re going to take that exoneration to the prison where Senor Rodriguez is now and you are releasing him. He’ll be given a clean change of clothing and his own personal horse saddled and ready to go. He’ll be given this exoneration to keep, and money to travel comfortably. You’re dispatching the crown courier with the copy of this same pardon to Almeria where Senora Rodriguez is in jail, and she’ll also be released. That will happen within four days from now at the latest. You’ll never again so much as speak to either of them unless it is to return a greeting. If you don’t agree to do this now, I will gut you and tie you by your entrails to that chandelier overhead. Do you understand all of this?”
The man nodded emphatically, bobbing his head violently up and down. Ian released him but left the gag in place. He led him to the desk and stood silently over him as he wrote the two identical documents.
Ian whispered “Now seal one of them.” The official seal of his ring was then applied to soft wax dropped on one of the documents. “Now write the address of the jail in Almeria where Senora Rodriguez is being held. Then fold and seal that around the exoneration. That one is for the royal courier.”
When he had finished, Ian raised the man from his seat and placing his hand around the man’s throat he picked him up as if he was nothing and carried him that way back to the candelabra where he secured him again. The man gagged and kicked to no avail.
Pulling down the man’s pajama bottoms Ian took his knife and slipped it gently under the man’s genitals, raising them up slightly with the edge of it and said “This is a token between you and me. When you look upon what’s left of it you’ll remember this night and vow never to do anything to cause my return. Your cruelty and the injustices you’ve done in the name of the king are at an end. The stink of you and your foul deeds has filled my nostrils for the last time.” He then reached down to take the man’s genitals in a gloved hand and the man twisted violently and shook his head from side to side uttering muffled screams. Ian stopped and then whispered “Very well, I’ll take another token of our agreement.”
Pulling up Enrique’s pajamas, he took the left hand of the man and neatly severed the last joint of his little finger in a split second. The man made a muffled scream and eventually it subsided into muffled sobs. He urinated all over himself. Ian took a large candle and held it under the cut finger, cauterizing it until it stopped bl
eeding. A searing frying noise was soon drowned out by the muffled screams of the man. He struggled in vain to pull his hand away from the flame but it seemed that his hand was locked in a steel vise.
Ian whispered “I’ll be watching to see that you honor our agreement beginning tonight with the release of Senor Rodriguez within the hour. If I ever so much as learn that even the lowest campesino in Spain has been maligned by you I will return and finish what I started. The paintings that I took from the palace this night will be kept in a safe place where my friends can find them. They could one day be found somewhere on one of your properties by agents of the crown. Wouldn’t that be interesting? There’s no place that you can hide from us. Sometimes a small band of us attends to things like this, but for a pimp like you, typically only one of us is sent. God has smiled on you this night. Don’t make me regret my generosity, senor.”
Ian then shouldered his long bag and his rucksack. Cutting the man’s bonds as fast as lightning striking he whirled and bounded to the center of the large bedroom and leaped head first, diving through the window as if he was flying out of it into the blackness of the night. Doing a somersault in the air he landed running, bounding up and over the outer wall like windblown smoke. Finding a large tree across the street he leaped into it to watch and wait.
Within only seven or eight minutes, the man emerged from his house with a servant who followed the prosecutor to the carriage house where both of them harnessed the horse to the prosecutor’s personal carriage. Soon Ian was following the carriage through the dark streets of Madrid until they arrived at the Royal Prison. There were shouted commands and soon men were running around inside the courtyard of the prison as viewed by sharp vampire’s eyes from the roof of a turret at one corner of the fortress-like structure. It was a quarter of an hour later that a man emerged with an escort of four guards and the chief prosecutor.
He mounted a horse that had been brought from a stable nearby and was handed a document. He turned his mount and walked it to the gate, cantering away. Ian followed him to el Banco de Rodriguez and then he took the hood off and waited. Soon Roberto came out of the bank and Ian stepped out of the shadows saying “Hello Roberto.”
The man whirled, startled and then smiled and said “Ian, you did this?”
“Let’s say that Senor Chavez and I have an understanding now. I believe he has seen the error of his ways.”
“He has, and he is seeing to it that Alicia is released too.”
Ian smiled and nodded as the man stepped forward and grabbed him in a bear hug and then stepped back and kissed both of his cheeks. “How did you do this?”
“I can be persuasive.”
“Ian, how can I ever repay you?”
‘Friends don’t repay friends but with friendship. I’ve acted toward you as I would for a valued friend anywhere. You might ask around and see if there is a bank in Portugal that might be interested in partnering with Banque de Lafayette. If not, don’t be concerned. Are you going home?”
‘Yes. I leave now. I’ve left written instructions for the manager here to detail any damages here and at my apartment, and to ascertain that all of our records are intact.”
‘If the least thing is not to your satisfaction, you have only to tell me via our bank couriers. Via con Dios, Roberto.”
‘You are leaving for Barcelona then tonight?”
‘Yes. I miss Alandra already.” he said with a laugh. “We’ll see both of you soon at our home?”
‘Yes.” They embraced and each said goodbye again. Ian waited until Roberto was out of sight and followed at a distance, choosing a spot to wait and see if any pursuers came. In two hours he saw no sign of any pursuit so he bounded away in the night towards the north.
Chapter 80
Dinner was done. Alyssa and Damien sat holding hands across the table, talking about nothing in particular as young couples often do. “Are we going to see Celeste at her next performance then?” said Damien.
“Yes, I always want to attend one when it is in Paris. She always gets four good seats for Aunt Caryn and me.”
“So you met her through working for your aunt then?”
“Yes. .Ian brought her here when she was around twelve years old. The Lafayettes had found her.”
“They have a sterling reputation. I’ve heard that their estate east of Marseille is magnificent.”
“Oh, it is, Damien! There is a waterfall there that you can jump off of, and many scenic things to see. The chateau is magnificent, but rarely full. Most of the time there are only maybe six people there besides staff, and sometimes only two or three.”
“This Ian fellow, I forget his last name…”
“Ian McCloud?”
“Yes. He always comes to her concerts when he’s here. She introduced him to the audience once when I was there. She said something about him saving her life. He has the reputation of being a savvy banking expert and an adventurer of sorts. There was all of that business what with him rescuing that ambassador’s daughter from pirates and everything.”
“That’s all true. He married that girl that he helped rescue too, you know. They live in Spain now, although he travels to Paris regularly with her. I’ll tell you something else, Damien. I’d be dead if not for him.”
“What?”
“Yes. I was kidnapped a few years ago. Ian broke into the place and saved me.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I was sure that I’d die that night but he got me safely to my home at that time.”
‘Why haven’t I heard of this?”
“He asked me not to tell it and I never have except to you and Celeste. You’re never to breathe a word about it. He was quite clear about that, and he is no one to trifle with.”
“You seem to know him well. If you don’t mind my asking, were the two of you… involved?”
“Well, yes… now and then. He is sweet by nature but restless also at times. I loved him very much. He has suffered grievous losses, private things that I won’t divulge.”
“You needn’t talk about it more than you wish.”
She smiled warmly at him and took his hand as she continued. “He has to travel a fair amount and I’m always tied up with my career. We had a type of on again off again thing. I spent too much time with my career to nurture our relationship when I shouldn’t have. I didn’t realize that at the time but I do now. I know of no one that I respect more.”
“I’m glad that you are so forthcoming with me about this. I was involved with a girl myself. I thought it would lead to something better, but it didn’t. I never felt about her the way I do about you though.” As he spoke, Alyssa thought I had my chance, an open invitation to join them. I could have taken it and had only to ask and Ian himself would have seen me through the process. We might be together this day had I only accepted his offer. I closed that door when I didn’t act at that time I suppose. I was foolish, but what is done is done.
Lifting his dinner napkin he exposed a golden ring with a very large exquisite diamond. “Alyssa, will you marry me? If you say yes, I’ll promise to try to make you the happiest woman alive. And you’ll make me the happiest man in the world.”
She sat smiling brilliantly at Damien thinking so it’s taken out of my hands in a manner of speaking. I do love Damien, but I’ll always love Ian too. I wanted to be a part of Ian’s life and a part of his entire circle of… others…. He’s married now and lost to me. I’ll marry Damien then after all. It will be good, and he’ll be a good husband to me. I’m getting too old to remain single if I want to be a wife and mother as well as a fashion designer.
“Yes, Damien. I’d be happy to be your wife.” She leaned halfway across the table as he did to meet her halfway with a kiss.
***
Ian and Alandra had a long visit with her family and went to a number of events with them, and had them out to their home for dinner several times. The work at Barcelona House
was nearing completion. Ian loved to watch Alandra with the children at those times. He felt bad that he was incapable of fathering a child, and it was a thing that nagged at him from time to time, especially when watching her with the children in her care.
Roberto and Alicia came to stay with them for two weeks. All of Roberto’s troubles with the Spanish Crown had vanished as if they were never there. There was news of a large increase in the numbers of guards posted in the King’s palace for some reason. Speculation was varied about why that had happened. Roberto had laughingly related that to Ian who only smiled and rolled his eyes skyward, never commenting.
After Roberto and Alicia departed, they packed and took a ship for Marseille. Tom and Celita remained in charge of Barcelona House and were told that they might not be back until late spring or early summer. Ian wanted to take Alandra to the Swiss Confederation and spend a winter there with her.
The reunion at the Chateau was a joyous one. Marie doted on Ian and Alandra. Alandra had grown to love Marie and Henri and she was beginning to think of them both as a mother and father. Li and Sophia were there, living in Ian’s home nearby. The boys, Louis and Mustafa were nineteen and twenty one now, and were both handsome men.
There were several weeks of idyllic days then, filled with activities such as horseback riding, swimming and sightseeing as well as wonderful evening gatherings.
One evening while sitting in the large parlor of the chateau with everyone Henri mentioned how that Cosette would have loved to see her brother so nearly grown and would have been so pleased with his infatuation with Celeste. That pricked Ian’s’ heart and he thought that of all of the strange events that had happened to change his life, losing Cosette was by far the worst.
Alandra and he were sitting together on a sofa. His eyes moistened as he dwelled on that. I’ll never completely get over losing Cosette he thought. A hand warmly took his and he turned to see Alandra smiling sympathetically. He smiled, blinking away his tears and gathered her into his arms then and kissed her face softly. “You can tell when I hurt, can’t you lassie?” She nodded and took one of his hands and kissed it tenderly, laying her head on his chest.