He felt the warmth spread through his body, and then something else.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” he said.
“Oh, please don’t,” the Countess Batthyany said practically.
“You never c get that smell out of a car!”
Canidy fought down the urge to vomit and took slow deep breaths. I desire to vomit passed, and he was able after a while to keep his eyes open.”!
found himself looking into the Countess’s face.
“You’re getting color back,” she said.
“You’ll be all right now.” ‘ There was genuine relief on her face, Canidy saw, and then decided t most certainly wasn’t for him. ‘ There was another queasy feeling in his stomach. He fought it by sith up, and it passed, but there was a wave of sharp pain behind his eyes. He took another pull at the silver brandy flask and looked out the W shield. They were all alone on a narrow, curving road cut through a dense ( est of mature pines. “Where are we?” he asked.
“How long was I in the trunk?” 1 “It’s another couple of hours to Pecs,” the Countess said.
“We left Budap at half past nine. You were back there about two hours.” ** “What’s next on the road?” Canidy asked.
“Am I going to have to get b8 in the trunk?” f’ “We just went through Dunafoldvar,” the Countess said.
“There’s a cott( of small towns between here and Pecs, Sioagard and Pecsvarad, hardly riS than villages. You’ll be all right in the back, I think.”
“Do we go through Pecs itself?”
“There’s a way around,” she said.
“But it’s dirt roads, and there’s no telling how muddy they would be this time of year. And we would attract attention.”
“I was wondering whether we could run by the jail,”Canidy said, “and then trace the route the truck takes moving the prisoners to the mine.”
“We’ll take that road anyway,” she said.
“But it would be a detour to go past Saint Gertrud’s.”
“A conspicuous detour?
“Canidy asked.
She thought that over before replying, “No. It’s on the edge of town. But we wouldn’t be more conspicuous there than we’re going to be anyway.”
“Then please tell Herr von Heurten-Mitnitz how to get there,” Canidy said.
“I want a look.”
At quarter to two, the tires leaving a path across previously unbroken snow, the Opel Admiral pulled up before the hunting lodge. It was a long, low wooden building with elaborate scrollwork, now covered with dripping icicles, along the roofline. There was a chimney at each end and a much larger one in the middle. Smoke rose from one of the end chimneys, and as Canidy got out of the car, he could smell wood smoke.
“I think it would be better if you spoke German,” the Countess said.
“Who’s in the house?” Canidy asked.
“The caretaker and his wife,” she said.
“And there are foresters in small houses behind the lodge.”
“And they can’t be trusted?” Canidy asked.
“Of course they can be trusted,” she said.
“They have been with my family for hundreds of years. But if the Black Guard comes here, I don’t want to ask them to lie any more than necessary. They don’t speak German, but they recognize it.
I want them to be able to report they saw me with two German-speaking men.”
“They’re going to know what’s going on,” Canidy said.
“They will do what I ask them to do,” the Countess said, “and then, because I ask them to, they will forget having done it.”
Canidy’s disbelief showed on his face.
“My father was active in the Independent Hungary movement,” the Countess said.
“Crown Prince Rudolf used to come here secretly. If my people could forget that he was here, they can forget you.”
The look on his face confused her.
“Crown Prince Rudolf was the.. she started to explain.
“Heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne,” Canidy filled in.
“The one who shot his girlfriend, and then himself. At Mayeriing.”
“Like Standartenfuhrer Muller,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said, “the Countess ems to have underestimated you, Canidy.”
“And not you?”
“A good diplomat never underestimates anyone,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
As they approached the hunting lodge, the door was opened by a hefty, large-bosomed woman with jet-black hair. The hair was parted in the middle and done up in elaborate braids.