Chapter 10

"Burke, there is something I cannot understand." It cost Vicky to talk normally, in spite of her fear and outrage. Burke had raped her, and he called it love... Did he ever love her, or was she just a possession to him from the start.? Had there been anything good about him? But if she made him talk, he might uncover a weakness, a weakness that she would use to plunge a knife into him.

She wanted Burke dead, but she could not let him know it.

"What you don't understand?"

"Why would anyone want to kill you.? You said that someone paid your kidnapper to kill you, and he would have done."

"Yeah, some illiterate peasant from there. All going on about his village and his people. We offered to move them away, but they were too stubborn. They just held to the land. We thought that if we set fire to their place they would see reason. They had time to get away... If they were too stupid to run, what fault was it of mine? And why did they want their land? They did not know how to use it. While us, we were bringing progress to that godforsaken place. Why should a bunch of half starved illiterate peasants, barely a step above savages, hold up progress?'

"Progress and your profits?'

"It was the same thing."

"So that's how you made your fortune?"

"You were quite glad to let me treat you and buy you gifts, weren't you? You never asked where it came from."

"What was that place?"

"What do you care:?"

"What was that place?'"

"Oh, well, San Cristobal das Montes., I think it was. Not that it matters. They cannot come bother us."

He looked at her. Vicky looked down, but not quick enough. Burke could see her raw hatred in her eyes.

She might need some disciplining. he thought.

But not now. He had a trap to bait. Vicky would be the bait to catch Barnabas.

"Sit on the chair. he ordered her as he took the rope.

"Please let me get dressed."

"No. You will sit naked in it. I want Barnabas to see you like this. I want him to know that you are now my property."

She had to obey. He bound her tightly, twisting her hands painfully. :"this is punishment for your rebelliousness" he said when she protested. Then the knotted a cloth and pushed the knot roughly in her mouth pushing her tongue back, and then tied the ends around her head. "This way you cannot warn Barnabas about what I am about to do."

He got up and called Elsa, who came, pouting, but still came.

"I have a task for you, too."

Break

"Little Phillip is sick" Barnabas said grimly. "that's what Louella told me. He was doing all right, and then he started screaming, and then slipped into a coma."

'More of Burke's doings, I imagine. " Howard said. "Another reason to stop him. We finally know where he is. We now have to come with a sensible plan to get him."

"Are you sure that he is there?"

"As sure as I am of anything. All evidence points to this cottage. Now, as to how to approach..."

"I could turn into a bat and hide in the egg basket you carry."

"It is not a bad idea, but Burke is expecting you. He may put a barrier against that kind of thing. Make sure you can only come through one opening... You will have to be our bait. and talk to him. Stand on the threshold, don't go in. Just let him gloat and taunt you. And it is better if you are wired when you do. We need to know how it goes, and when it is the best time to move."

Peter looked at Roger as he moved across the street. Funny man, he thought... He would look funny with the dancers... He might make a fine jester... After all, didn't people laugh at him?

He wished for Roger to be gone into the egg.

Carolyn would do it this time. She would send him back to the clinic.

Roger knew that it was not really Carolyn, that it was Adam's idea. He was making her do it.

But it did not matter. He would have to go, as he had gone before, until Carolyn relented and bought his way out.

Maybe if he tried again to get rid of Adam... Once gone Carolyn would come back to her senses. She always did. And she would thank him for it.

But how could he kill Adam? He would be on his guard now, and it would not be easy this time to get his hands on a gun.

He would never let Adam put him away!

He did not notice the twinkling music behind him, nor the soft, silvery dust falling on him...

"So you are going to be our jester." the woman said.

"Huh?"

She was beautiful, in her long silvery gown. He had never seen anybody like her... She reminded him a bit of Laura...

"You will come with us."

"Hey! Who are you? What do you want?"

"Yes, you are the one."

More dust fell, and then his eyes began to lose focus and his balance seemed gone. He stumbled and fell, but his body never touched the ground...

From his window Peter watched this. He grinned as he saw how the silvery dust disappeared.

It was too early for it to show, but he knew that when he opened the egg tomorrow, the jester would be there.

"It will not be long now." Burke said. "they have figured out where I am, and they know that the child is sick. Barnabas is bound to barge in. And he will find out that I am ready for him.

Vicky despaired at his words. She knew how impulsive Barnabas was. As soon as he saw her as she was, naked and bound to a chair, he would come in, not caring who else was there, to free her. Burke knew Barnabas' weakness all too well.

Had there ever been anything good about Burke? The story he had told of how he had made his fortune had disabused her. He had been corrupt from the start, only she had chosen not to see it... a naive child, that's what she was, caught in the glamour of the Collins, and those who gravitated around them . And Burke gravitated towards them,...

Burke would kill Barnabas, she saw. And she could not change that.

Elsa whimpered as Burke gave her a task to do.

"You stand here, by her side. When he comes in, and goes to her, plunge this wooden knife into his heart. You will be invisible. . Strike at once. Even if you do not hit the heart, it will wound him, and I will finish him off."

Elsa whimpered again. She did not want Barnabas to die.. But she could no longer disobey Burke.