Chapter 16: You Told!
Doina was both grateful and nervous when Amanda came to see her after the incident at the school.
"I thought it might be best to talk without the boys around," Amanda said. "How is Antonia now? Is she upset about what happened?"
Antonia was in the kitchen. She had a plate with cookies and a glass of milk in front of her, but she hadn't touched either. She had tear stains on her cheeks.
"I'm sorry that happened today at school," Amanda said, giving the girl a hug. I know you must have been scared."
Antonia hugged her back and asked, "Who were those men?"
"I don't know," Amanda said, looking at Doina.
"Mom knows!" Antonia said angrily.
"Antonia, enough!" Doina snapped.
"Yes, it is! You won't tell me anything!"
"You know what you need to know."
"No, I don't!"
"Antonia, go upstairs!"
"I want-!"
"Go, now! We'll talk later. I want to speak to Mrs. King now."
"I want to speak to Mrs. King, too!"
"Antonia, go!"
Antonia looked like she might cry again.
Amanda said gently, "You go upstairs and wash your face, sweetheart. I promise, we'll talk later. I just want a word with your mother now."
Amanda had the feeling that Doina was going to tell her something that she didn't want Antonia to hear. Sullenly, silently Antonia left the room. Doina sank into a chair at the kitchen table.
"She will be alright," Doina said. "She is a very strong girl. I just can't believe . . ." She broke off.
"You can't believe what?"
The kitchen table stood in the cozy nook that Amanda had arranged with the pretty blue curtains and matching rug. It looked cheery and comforting on a gray day like this, but the cheeriness of the kitchen was no match for Doina's distress.
Doina put her head in her hands and mumbled, "That's the problem! I can't believe Anton!"
Amanda put her hand on Doina's arm. "What did Anton do?"
"He told them! He told them where we were!"
"Those two men?"
"Yes!" Doina was shaking.
"Who are they?"
"His-his brothers. Stefan and Vasile. They were part of the reason we had to come here."
"His brothers?" The Agency files had mentioned that Anton had brothers but there was no particular information about them, only that they were still in Romania and that Anton had not had contact with his family there since he left. Anton himself reported that they did not get along.
"Not many people know," Doina whispered. "They are dangerous men."
"I think you had better tell me about them," Amanda said.
Amanda listened as Doina poured out the whole story. Lee arrived toward the end of it.
"Anton must have told them!" she cried. "How else could Stefan have been at the airport when we were? How else would he know where Antonia's school is?"
"I just came from talking to Billy," Lee said. "Francine found out something interesting today. I think I know why Stefan and Vasile are here, and it looks like they might have other interests besides your family. For what it's worth, Doina, I don't think they knew that your family was here until they accidentally saw you at the airport. Anton might not have told them anything at all, at least not on purpose. Do you know a man named Adrian Dalca?"
"Adrian?" Doina looked confused. "Is he here, too? He and Anton were friends when we were all students, years ago. He came to this country before we did. Anton writes to him sometimes, but I thought that he was living in New York."
"He's here," Lee said. "Was Adrian also friends with Stefan and Vasile?"
"I think so," Doina said, "but Anton and his brothers didn't get along even then, so I can't be sure. He spent more time with me than he did with any of them."
There was the sound of a key turning in the lock of the front door.
"Anton is home," Doina said.
"Good," Lee said. "I need to talk to him."
"Doina," Anton called, "are you here? There are men in a van outside. Is everything-" He stopped when he entered the kitchen and saw Lee and Amanda.
"Anton," Doina said. "They know about Stefan and Vasile."
"You told?" Anton asked.
"I had to! They tried to take Antonia!"
"No! They wouldn't!"
"They did!"
"Is she-?" Anton looked wildly around for Antonia.
"She's here," Amanda reassured him. "She's safe."
"For now," Lee said more ominously. "But, if you don't tell us where to find Stefan and Vasile, we can't answer for the future."
"I don't know! I haven't spoken to them at all!"
"But, you did speak to Adrian Dalca."
Anton now looked ashamed. "We were friends for years. When we first came to the United States, he was the only person I knew here. I knew where he was living in New York, and I wrote to tell him that my wife and I were living in California. We spoke off and on through the years. When I realized that I was being relocated to the east coast, I told him. I did not tell him why! I told him nothing about the project I've been working on. I only told him that we would live in Virginia. He contacted me and told me that he had also accepted a job in Washington D.C.. I thought we might visit with him sometime. I thought it would be nice to see an old friend."
"When was the last time you spoke to him and what did you tell him?" Lee asked more gently.
"When we first arrived, I called him on a number he told me to call," Anton said. "I told him we were here but that I had seen Stefan at the airport. He told me that he knew Stefan was here but that I was not to say anything to anyone. I knew there could not be a good reason for Stefan to be here."
"Because Stefan and Vasile are plotting to overthrow the Romanian government," Amanda said. That was what Doina had confessed to her and Lee. That was what she had not wanted to tell Antonia.
"They have been for years," Anton said. "They joined the resistance movement as students. They wanted me to join, too, but I refused. I was a scientist, and I did not want to be part of their violence. They called me a coward and a traitor for not helping them. They said that I was turning my back on Romania for not using my skills to rid our country of an oppressive dictator. But, I was not willing to be an assassin. I got married, and then, I had my wife and young daughter to think of."
"I was always afraid that Anton would be arrested for the things that Stefan and Vasile did," Doina said. "The government only tolerated him because they wanted his skills for their own use."
"I did not want to serve a government that was oppressing our people, but I didn't want to join in the violence that Stefan and Vasile advocated. When we had the chance, we left Romania," Anton said. "We wanted Antonia to grow up in a safer place. I had thought that we would never see Stefan and Vasile again. It was sad, but for the best. I don't know how they got to this country. The government already had their suspicions about them, and with my defection, it should have been enough to restrict their travel."
"I don't know the answer to that, either," Lee said. "But, I'm sure Adrian does. He's their friend, and he's helping them. What did Adrian tell you about their mission?"
"That I should mind my own business if I didn't want to be part of it," Anton said. "He said that if I didn't tell my wife or Antonia about him, things would be better for us, we wouldn't be involved. He didn't tell me that he had already told Stefan and Vasile how to find us. If he had, I would have told you and taken my family back to California, out of their reach."
"Why didn't you tell us when we told you that they were watching Antonia arrive at school?" Amanda asked.
"I was surprised and a little worried, but even then, I didn't think that they would do anything to their own niece!" Anton said. "I thought maybe they just wanted to have a look at her, that they wanted to see how she had grown up. They haven't seen her very much, and she was so young when we left Romania. I doubt she even remembers them."
"So Adrian didn't say anything about Mihail Negrescu?" Lee asked.
Anton paled. "He's here?"
"He's staying at the hotel where Adrian works," Lee said. "He didn't say anything about it?"
"Of course not!" Anton said. "If he had, I wouldn't be standing here, talking to you! I would have taken my family and left on the first available plane! He's high up in the Directorate for Foreign Intelligence. He's seen me before, and he knows who my brothers are. Stefan and Vasile must be crazy to think that they could get away with anything with him here! Why is he here? Is he looking for me?"
One of the activities of the Directorate for Foreign Intelligence was using espionage to learn about technological achievements in other countries. Another activity was assassinating dissidents. Anton and his brothers would all genuinely be in danger if this man knew that they were here.
"Officially, he's here as part of a 'goodwill' visit. He's been granted a temporary ambassador status so that he can attend a cultural festival at the Romanian embassy and to join other prominent Romanians to lobby for Congress not to revoke Romania's Most Favored Nation status. However, we believe that he may be checking up on Romanian agents in this country. Their activities have been oddly quiet lately, and our intelligence indicates that some of them may have been recalled to Romania," Lee said. "We don't know why yet. Negrescu's young daughter is one of the dancers at the festival. Have you ever met her?"
Amanda gave him a questioning look.
Anton shook his head. "I have heard that he has children, but I have never seen them."
"Funny coincidence," Lee said. "His daughter's name is Antonia. She's not much older than your Antonia. She just turned fourteen years old today."
Lee was watching Anton's face. The details about Antonia Negrescu didn't seem to bother him. He didn't seem interested in her. He had something else on his mind.
"Where is Antonia? My Antonia?" Anton asked.
"She is upstairs," Doina said. "I sent her upstairs so I could talk to Mrs. King."
"Has she been up there all this time? She is being very quiet."
The four adults looked at each other for a moment before they all hurried to the stairs to go check on Antonia.
The girl's bedroom door was closed. Her father flung it open, calling her name. "Antonia!"
Somehow, Lee already knew that she wasn't going to be there. Her parents stood in shocked silence as Lee charged over to the open window.
"The window isn't supposed to open that wide without the alarm sounding," Amanda said. "How did she do it?"
Amanda's instincts had already told her that Antonia had left of her own free will. She was a clever girl, and she'd had plenty of time alone in her room to figure out how to do it.
Lee inspected the window frame. "Somehow, she got at the wiring," Lee said. "I'm not sure what she used to pry the wood off here, but I think these wires came from Jamie's stock, and I'm pretty sure I recognize the gum holding them in place."
He'd seen Alice blow enough bubbles with that weird purple gum she had to recognize it anywhere. Had she known what Antonia was going to do with it when she'd offered her some? Probably not. Antonia was used to secrecy. She'd lived with it pretty much all her life. She's simply saved a couple of pieces given to her by her new friend until she had a use for them.
"Jamie!" Amanda said. "Come on, I think I know where Antonia is."
