Into the Lion's Den (98 page)

I swear I will not do it to Karl and Klaus!

Who am I kidding? Probably I would do exactly as he does with me. The super revolutionary behaves
like my grandfather according to his tales! Your father was stern? Did you take a look in the mirror this morning?

He almost kicked out Konrad from his own house for coming too close to me! I'm not a bloody maiden! I
was living with him and with Constantin without asking his permission! I hope this improves after we are in Zurich.

At least it seems he has found a compromise for this situation. Yesterday he spoke with Constantin. I
almost fainted when he told me during dinner that he had come to his office in Brussels with his goons.

“Don't worry Guntram. My bodyguards are used to deal with more difficult people than his men. They're
kittens compared to what they saw during wartime. We spoke long and we might have a solution but I have to consult
with you before I speak with Lintorff.”

“I don't think he will hear you. Konrad dislikes you very much,” I told him.

“I have also my opinion about him, Guntram. The thing is that Repin will stop to importunate you with
his demands in exchange that you agree to give him your friendship and allow him to see you now and then. He would
also like to continue to see your work. He will cease any attack on Lintorff too,” Papa told me very calm.

I was a mess. Friendship with Constantin? I don't know. After Claudia's mess, I can't see him like I used
to do. He terrified me in Rome and I only wanted to escape from him in Russia. Fuck, I was so desperate that I cut my
wrists open!

“It's not a good idea, father.”

“As you wish, Guntram.”

“He's very violent and I don't think he will keep his word. He kidnapped a little girl to force me to go to
Vienna! I would have never spoken with him!”

“Why did you go then?”

“To convince him to leave me alone! I'm afraid he goes against the babies! He's obsessed with me! I
loved him, but he lied to me about his wife and children! When I was in St. Petersburg, there was a man with me all
the time!”

“I never said that he was the best option for you, but you said it yourself. You have to convince him to
leave you alone and this will not be achieved in one go. You've always spoken well about him, almost like a friend
more than like a lover.”

“Yes, I did but after Rome many things changed.”

“He was a desperate man. We do many stupid things under pressure. This way you will be sure that he
will not go against Lintorff's children. If you forgave him for lying about Roger, why can't you forgive Repin?”

“It's different! I love Konrad but I still don't know if I will resume our relationship. I'm only going
because of the children. We will not share the bedroom, so you can keep your watchdog act to yourself!”

“Don't you think that you're being unfair to Repin?” he asked me with a blank face, only caring about
the meat in his dish!

“How? He's a mobster!”

“Lintorff does the same but with more class, that it's true,” he shrugged and asked the butler to get him
more sauce.

“What is your game this time, father?” I retaliated when we were left alone. He's not the man who used
to play horses with me. He can be cold and calculating to a point that I don't think Konrad could ever be. I'm sure my
father loves me, but if he can play his game, he will do it.

“None. I'm only looking for the best solution for you. One in which you can still live your life like an
independent person or do you prefer to hide behind Lintorff's back for the rest of your life, depending on him to take
the bus or go for a coffee? He would love it, I'm sure, but it's a bad idea. Pacify the Russian front, so to speak. I will
be present, if you want. I believe, Repin loves you as well as he can and he tried to do his best for you. Give him a
second chance to be your friend. He asks nothing else. If you allowed Lintorff to come near you again, then the
logical thing would be to let the Russian too,” he told me with his logical voice. I could only gape at him.

“If you agree, I'll speak with Lintorff. It will be also good for him to recover his share of the Russian
market. His associates are pressing him over this, Guntram. For all our sakes we have to stop what is coming. It can
only end badly for all of us and innocent people could get hurt. Every time Lintorff attacks Repin, like he did in 2005,
he loses his companies and people their jobs, all this without counting “military solutions”. Whether you like it or
not, you are in a place of an enormous responsibility, Guntram. I never wanted this for you, but somehow you landed
there and now you have to carry this burden the best as you can. You're not a child any longer. You agreed twice to be
Lintorff's consort and your responsibility lies in how you support him. Obeying him blindly is not the way, my son. You
have the opportunity to prevent a long and bloody conflict.”

“Konrad does not want that I'm involved with the Order's affairs.”

“Of course he does not! I already read that script in 1985!” Papa snorted. “But you're in. Give Repin a
chance and stop what's coming now. It's the only way to control Repin.”

“Constantin will do as he pleases! Don't you know him already?”

“Repin will respect your wishes. Did he touch you in Rome?”

“He drugged me! He tortured and killed my bodyguards! He kidnapped a small girl!”

“So you wouldn't have a heart attack! And as for kidnapping, Lintorff almost threw you in his plane and
forbid you to leave his house! You were not exactly a free man! Could you have just walked out of the door?”

“No,” I admitted, “but this is a bad idea. Konrad will not allow it.”

“Do you want to speak with Repin? It could save the German's position. He has also exhausted his own
credit. Nothing would please me more than see him falling, but I'm sure that you would suffer for it.”

“Yes, I will. He has given all his life to this organization.”

“A total waste, if you want my opinion, but it's his life. I'm only concerned about you, Guntram. Lintorff
should not choose your friends. You're a free person, not his toy.”

It was hard for me to hear what he said but he was right. Konrad directs my every move, just like
Constantin did. He exploded the moment I decided to risk my neck for Claudia. It's my neck, not his. “If I agree to his
request, will Constantin leave you alone papa?”

“Yes, he will.”

“Then, tell him I will see him after I have established myself in Zurich,” I accepted very weakly. I'm
totally insane, but I also don't see any other way out. “I don't know how I'm going to do it. I don't know how I'm going
to live with Konrad again. I'm having all these doubts when he's not around,” I confessed to my father.

“Guntram, there's no need for you to live with him. I'm more than able to protect you from Lintorff or
Repin.”

“I know, papa, but I want to come back with him and the babies. I do really want to have them. I love
them perhaps more than the father.”

“I know, although I don't understand it. If you want children, why don't you have your own? It could be
possible.”

“Because I know I will not last long. When Konrad told me about Klaus and Karl, I thought that God
had given me a chance and I took it. I couldn't leave a child behind. Who would look after him or her after I'm dead?

I want to live as long as I can for those babies, but I will not fool myself thinking that my health will improve. Dr.

Wagemann spoke long with me and I have to be very careful for the next months.”

“You will get better once you're in a less stressful environment. You will see the babies and visit me once
I have a place in Zurich.”

“Are you planning to take Fairuza to Zurich?” Guntram chortled, already imaging how crossed
Friederich, Goran, Mirko, Ratko or Milan would be. She had started a campaign against the five men and she was
winning in Guntram's view.

“Sure, she's my housekeeper,” Papa told me with self sufficiency. This could be a huge and epic
explosion when the Germans and Serbs hear about this. Somehow they don't like her and vice versa.

“Friederich can't stand her. She fights with him the whole day and with Konrad too! Imagine, she kicked
him out of his own living room! Fairuza told Friederich to go away several times! She does not allow Mopsi to sleep
in my room!”

“Good and sensible woman. You also need a firm hand sometimes. Friederich should be nice to her or
she will stay in the castle with him. She has already expressed her desire to continue to look after you.”

“Father, Konrad could accept to ask Constantin once per year for tea, but to live under Fairuza's fist
will be too much for him!” I laughed.

“A Fairuza in his life would have helped him a lot,” my father laughed and I can really imagine how it
would have been for Konrad: to be commanded by a woman! I guess he would have had stroke in less than a month!

In a way I feel bad for Konrad. If I agree to resume our relationship as it was, he will get my father as father in law. I
guess he has no idea where he's getting in. Coming to think, none of them has any idea of what the other can do.

They both need a Fairuza in their lives.

Guntram had tried several methods but he couldn't sleep. He had counted sheep, drawn to the point of exhaustion, watched TV but it only caused him a headache. He was restless and worried about the next day and his return to Zurich. The bag and the clothes laid on the chair, ready for tomorrow, were a painful reminder of what was coming next.

'I have to do it now or it would be impossible once I'm there. Why am I such a chicken? It's just a talk and he's several thousand kilometres away.'

He flipped open his mobile and looked for a long time at the photo of Konrad holding Karl deeply asleep in his arms and smiled when he remembered that 'it was impossible to get one with Klaus. He was furious because it was his bottle time. He's way too temperamental!' “You also, Konrad, you also,” Guntram whispered while his finger traced the contours of their faces and knew that he had made up his mind.

Still in his large bed, hoping that the covers would protect him against evil, he dialled the number by heart quickly, hoping that it was still valid. He hesitated before pressing the send button, but closed his eyes and punched the icon and held his breath at the distant sound of the ring. His heart beat when he heard the baritone voice he knew so well barking “
skazhite mne
,” and gulped to suffocate the bile's taste in his mouth. “It's me, Constantin,” he whispered with a raspy voice.

“Guntram?”

“I'm sorry to call you at this hour, must be very early there. I…” Guntram babbled, unable to stop his words.

“It's all right. It's 9 a.m. I'm already working in my office,” Constantin answered and waved his hand to dismiss his secretary. The elderly woman obeyed without saying a word and closed the door behind her. “I can speak now.”

“This is Konrad's mobile. He gave it to me,” Guntram said, so the other would understand that it was not a secure line.

“Will you not be in troubles?”

“Most probably, but I know you have spoken with my lawyer and I needed to talk with you.”

“This is most unexpected, Guntram. I don't know what to say.” Constantin's brain searched for a plan but his mind was blank. “I never thought you would call me again after Vienna. I shouldn't have told you.”

“It would have come up some day,” Guntram sighed. “It was not your doing, Constantin. I didn't like that you used it in your benefit or that you threatened a small girl.”

“Guntram, you have no idea what I've been going through since you left Russia. I hoped to recover you and did all what I could to gather the money, but you abandoned me in June. You dumped me! In the full sense of the word! Not only that, you allowed Lintorff to fool you and started to live with him! How do you think I took it?”

Constantin shouted at the end.

“It was very bad from me, I know!” Guntram also shouted. “But you drove me mad in St. Petersburg. We had nothing going between us for a long time before! I guess I didn't love you any more much before Olga! You didn't love me too! I was just a nice toy for you! I almost jumped in Konrad's plane!”

“I love you more than anything in my life. More than my own children!”

“Constantin, you only love yourself. You treated me like a pet!” Guntram shouted him. “I was eighteen when I met you and almost a child. I grew up and changed, but you didn't want to accept it. I will never be that boy again!”

“Have you called me to argue?” Constantin huffed and felt his coldness return after the explosion.

“No, I only wanted to tell you that I'm coming back to live with Konrad and that I wanted to sort things out between us. You said no strings attached.”

“I do want you with me, Guntram.”

“But we can't be together! I don't love you and I guess I never did,” the youth confessed. “I misunderstood and confused many things. I admired you and needed your love and support. Without you, I would be still in Buenos Aires, painting and throwing things to the trash can, deeply frustrated and bitter. You showed me another world and I loved you for it; as a friend or a brother. I gave you all I had just to reward your kindness to me, but I should have gone away much earlier, much before Olga's intervention. I ruined your marriage and my life because of my own cowardice.”