The Viennese Waltz(146)

“And someone is having them watched. I want it stopped before the attack.”

“Then have your people pick up one of the mercenaries.” Moses shrugged. “I’m not going to tell Susan about it, and I’m not going to object.”

A Tavern in Vienna

Adorján Farkas felt an itch between his shoulders. It wasn’t the first time he’d had such an itch and he had learned to pay attention to them. Someone was after him. He could feel it. He looked over his shoulder and hid every time he turned a corner. Normally he drank in the common room, but he’d paid extra for an alcove because of his itch. When he saw the guardsmen entering the tavern, he slipped out the back before they saw him. There was a guard out back, but he wasn’t really expecting Farkas. The moment Farkas saw the guard, he attacked.

He jumped forward, pulling his knife as he moved, and shoved it into the guardsman’s belly. The guard screamed like a girl, but Farkas didn’t really care about that. All he’d been interested in was getting past the man. He ran out into the street, bloody knife in hand, to the accompaniment of more screams, and ran. For three blocks and two alleys, he was followed. Then he found a place to hide. It was a soldier’s shack near the city wall and unoccupied at the moment. Farkas waited half an hour, then left the shack, wearing the clothing of the soldier. It didn’t fit, but it was a different color than his own clothing, and the hat was a different style.

He wasn’t sure what had gone wrong, but with the probably dead guard, he couldn’t afford to hang around to find out.

That night, Farkas was on a barge going downriver.

Basement, von Debrecen Townhouse, Vienna

“I didn’t do anything!” whined Rácz.

“You were watching Princess Millicent Anne Barnes von Up-time, and you work for Adorján Farkas.”

“I wasn’t watching anyone and what business of yours is who I work for?”

Johannes hit him. Rácz was tied to a chair, but Johannes didn’t care. Erwin was in the hospital out at Race Track City and probably going to die, because this fuck’s boss had wanted a clear way to run.

Rácz spit blood and a tooth, then tried to pull loose. It didn’t work and Johannes smiled. Then he got himself a little under control. “Your boss cut up a friend of mine when he ran for it. So I want him in that chair and I want to take my time with him. But until I get him, I’ll make do with you. In the meantime, do me a favor and lie to us. Because every time you do, I get to hit you.”

Rácz looked at Johanne’s face, then at his hand, then back at his face. “Look, I don’t know anything about that. I don’t tell the captain what to do.”

“What did Farkas tell you to do?”

“Just watch.”

Johannes hit him again.

Two Nights Later

“We caught three,” said the commander of Márton von Debrecen’s guard. “The rest got away,”

“Why so few?”

“We didn’t have the men to go after them all at once. And Farkas made quite a scene when he ran. That warned the others. The men we got were mostly far enough away so that they didn’t hear about it before we found them.”

“Did they know anything?”

“Not much. At least not individually. When we put it all together with the help of Herr Pfeifer and his clerks, we ended up with a bit more than I was expecting.

“Farkas was hired by some noble to kill the Barbies, but not until after the wedding. We are assuming that they meant the wedding of Prince Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein and Princess Sarah Wendell von Up-time. And then, a week or so ago, the contract got canceled.”

“Then what were they doing, still watching the women?”

“Apparently, Farkas wasn’t happy with the cancelled contract, so he was looking for some other profit to gain from the observation. A kidnapping, perhaps. None of the men we caught actually know. What we do know is that they lost the contract after the Barbies got ennobled.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“If someone was offended by the Barbies and felt that having peasants killed, but not nobles . . .”

“You’re talking about Archduke Leopold!”

“Not necessarily,” the captain said, but Márton could hear in the man’s voice that he did think it was the archduke. “It could have been someone in the They of Vienna who decided to back off after the Barbies got ennobled.”

“That doesn’t make much sense, either. We knew they were going to be ennobled before they were, but the contract didn’t get called off till after the ceremony. Correct?”

“Yes, My Lord Count.”