The Viennese Waltz(147)

“I’d suspect one of the Liechtensteins, but I don’t see them backing off just because Ferdinand III hung a title on the girls. In fact, with Gundaker, the title would just make him more angry.” Márton shook his head. “None of this makes sense.”

Liechtenstein House, Vienna

Gundaker von Liechtenstein almost canceled his plans when he heard about Farkas. After considering the matter, however, he decided that he was too far in to get out, save on the other side. He did hire a mercenary to bring him Farkas’ head. He wanted Farkas dead because the man could answer questions that Gundaker didn’t want answered, but at the same time he had a perfectly good excuse for wanting the man dead, in that the Barbies, two of them, were about to become family. It was almost his duty to kill their attacker, whether the attack had actually happened or not.

He rang the bell and had the steward bring in some of the carbonated wine. Then he went back to his paperwork and to his thoughts. Farkas had been a mistake . . . and possibly Lamormaini as well.

No, he decided. At least for now, he wouldn’t have Lamormaini killed. Too much risk for not enough gain. Besides, Lamormaini and the Spanish-leaning Jesuits were just the cats’ paws he needed. What was the up-time term? A cutout. The thing about a cutout was that it eventually had to be cut out. After the bomb had gone off. At that point, Lamormaini would be nothing but a liability. He would make arrangements.

He got up and went to see Karl Eusebius.

* * *

“What can I do for you, Uncle?” Karl looked up in surprise as his uncle came in. Uncle Gundaker hadn’t been in any hurry to talk to him for over a month now.

“For now, we still own the Liechtenstein Tower?”

“Yes. The imperial government won’t get it till mid-January.”

“What about contracts for long-term storage?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know that the cost of storage is still quite high, in spite of the new warehouses planned for Race Track City?”

“Yes, I know.” Karl nodded.

“I want to rent one of the basement rooms in the Tower for the next four or five months, till they finish those warehouses. I have acquired a large consignment of apples for a specialty wine. But I need a place to store them that is dry, cool, and secure. And not too expensive.”

“Yes, there is a grandfather clause in the transfer because we had already sold some apartments. But we’re talking about prime real estate. Are you sure you want to store barrels of apples in that?”

“Only if I can get a good deal.”

Karl didn’t push the price very hard. This was the first sign of rapprochement he had gotten from Gundaker.

Debrecen House, Vienna

Jack Pfeifer looked around the room. Márton and Amadeus were at one end of the table, and Sonny Fortney at the other. Jack, Hertel Faust, and Carla Barclay were arranged along the sides. They had all been seated and they all had drinks. There were snacks on the table. Something the up-timers called donuts. Márton had just asked Sonny about the laws against forcing people to give evidence against themselves.

“The girls are right, you know, as far as the laws are concerned,” Sonny Fortney told the group. “There’s a reason Moses didn’t get into the Promised Land.”

Moses Abrabanel looked over at Sonny Fortney in surprise. “And what reason is that?”

“Because sometimes, when your job is leading your people out of bondage, you have to cheat a bit. After all, Moses is the guy who called down the plagues on Egypt.”

“God delivered the plagues,” Moses said.

“Yep, that’s true. But the point is that calling them down had an effect on Moses. Sometimes there are not any good answers and someone has to do something iffy—or even downright evil. It’s never something to be proud of, and there is a moral cost. Also, if you do it enough, you end up one of the bad guys, no matter how noble your motives.”

“What about spying?” asked Amadeus.

Sonny Fortney looked over at Amadeus like he had no clue what he was talking about. Then he gave a twitch of a shrug. “Yes, that would be one of the things that leaves a mark on the soul. You’re making friends with people with the full intent to betray them as necessary for your cause.”

“What sort of a cause would justify that sort of betrayal?” Amadeus wondered aloud.

“I’m not sure ‘justify’ is the right word. Necessitate, maybe. ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ There’s also a moral cost to standing around doing nothing while those rights are being denied to your fellow men. Like I said, sometimes there are no good answers, just a choice between evils. The scary bit is how easy it is to convince yourself that those necessary evils aren’t evil because they’re necessary.”