Edge of Tomorrow (69 page)

On the street again, they followed
their guide down
Singerstrasse
and saw medieval Vienna at its best. They finally crossed
over
Rotenturmstrasse
and
entered the famous “Bermuda Triangle” with its numerous bars and
taverns.

By noon, Syd was tired and hungry,
albeit somewhat exhilarated by the historic sights she had seen.
Hatch suggested they eat at the famous
Cafe Landtmann
where Freud had his morning
coffee in earlier years.

Syd answered, “That sounds historic and
interesting, but you know what? I haven’t had a good old hamburger
and fries since I met you! Don’t they have something like a
McDonald’s around here?”

“Actually, several. Let’s go!”

The driver took them to the McDonald’s
on
Schwedenplatz
and Syd’s
mouth began to water as she spotted the golden arches.

“You know,” mumbled Syd through a mouthful of
French fries dripping catsup, “being with you this month has been
like living in a travelogue! Let’s see. We’ve been to Israel,
Turkey, Italy, Greece, the Cyclades, Austria …”

Hatch interrupted, “I’ll show you the
whole world if you let me! There are some places even
I
haven’t seen!”

“My, my!” she said as she took another bite
of her Big Mac.

I said it has been like a
travelogue, but it’s been a lot more like the movie
Raiders of the Lost Ark
! I hope
things quiet down from now on!

Little did she know that the adventure had
just begun!

• • •

They arrived at Baron Hans von Hochsburg’s
Salle d’Armes at 15 minutes till 2 P.M. When they entered, the
Baron was on a long rubber strip giving a saber lesson to a
student. Syd had never seen real fencing before—only the type used
in swashbuckler movies. The student was dressed all in white,
whereas the Baron was all in black. The Baron had a coat of arms
embroidered on the left breast of his fencing jacket. They both
wore wire-meshed fencing masks and the Baron was yelling
instructions to the student as the student lunged, parried, and
moved back and forth on the rubber strip.

The Baron yelled, “Halt,” and whipped
off his mask and saluted the student with his saber. The student
returned the salute, sharply. The Baron then spotted Hatch and
saluted him, did a slight bow, then said something in German to
him. Hatch nodded his head in acknowledgment. The student left
the
piste
—the rubber
strip—and joined several other white-clad fencers who had been
watching. There were other rubber strips in the large room where
fencers were practicing with foils, epees, and sabers.

The Baron approached Hatch and Syd and Hatch
introduced Syd to the Baron as his fiancée. The Baron hung his
fencing mask and saber on a rack on the wall, took off his glove,
and took Syd’s hand. He raised it toward his lips, clicked his
heels together, and bowed to her.

“My extreme pleasure,
Fräulein Steppe
! I am sure you are
too good for this rascal! Certainly more beautiful than he
deserves!” said the Baron in accented English.

“You’re too kind, Baron!” replied Syd,
blushing, wondering if she should curtsy.

“Careful, Baron,” laughed Hatch. “You’ll
swell her head!”

“I speak only the truth!” replied the Baron
with mock seriousness. “Are you here to take your monthly
thrashing?”

“Yes. I’ll go get dressed. Syd, you can sit
here. I have some fencing clothes in a locker in the dressing room.
You can charm the Baron some more. I’ll be right back,” said
Hatch.

The Baron gave Syd the once over, the way men
do, then said, “Many beautiful women have tried to snare Baron von
Hüber. You are very lucky to be the one. He is quite a man!”

“I know. I wasn’t trying to snare him. It
just happened. I still can’t believe it! And I know he is not
really von Hüber. I’ll keep up the pretense while we’re here, of
course. He told me you preferred it that way,” replied Syd with a
small smile.

“Thank you,
Fräulein Steppe
. Steppe is a German name, is it
not?” he said as he fussed with his gray, handle bar mustache,
which was waxed on the ends.

“Yes. My great-grandfather came to the U.S.
from Germany in 1922. I’m sorry, but German is not one of my
languages. It was never spoken at home, and I specialized in Arabic
languages in school,” answered Syd. “Is Baron von Hüber as good at
this fencing as he is everything else?”

“He is very good! His lack of everyday
practice hampers his ability to, say, win the World Championship.
But I would not want to have a real duel with him. He has a killer
instinct, and is very adept at reading his opponent’s weaknesses
and finding the opening that kills. Ah, here he is. You watch, and
judge for yourself!”

Hatch was dressed in a white fencing jacket,
pants, and shoes. He did some stretches and practice lunges, then
went to a rack on the wall and took down a fencing mask and saber.
Baron von Hochsburg motioned to one of the fencers to come over to
where he and Syd were standing. He was introduced as Rudolph
Brüner.

The Baron said to him in English,
“Rudy,
Fräulein
Steppe is not
familiar with fencing. Perhaps you could answer her questions while
I join Baron von Hüber on the strip?”

“Ja!
Of
course! It would be my pleasure,
Maestro
,” Rudy replied.

The Baron joined Hatch and started the
lesson. He slashed at Hatch with his saber while yelling words such
as
tierce
,
seconde
,
prime
,
riposte
, etc. Hatch parried each cut in turn.
Things seemed to be moving much slower than what was going on with
the fencers practicing on the other strips.

Syd asked Rudy, “What’s happening now?”

He replied, “They are warming up.
The
maestro
is calling out
parry positions: third, second, first, for example. They will speed
up in a moment. They are very fast together when they go all
out.”

“I know some French. Isn’t the
maestro
calling out the positions in
French, not German?” said Syd.

“That is correct,
Fräulein
. It has become custom through the years
to use French terms in fencing. Sometimes you will hear some
Italian. The genesis of fencing began in the
15
^th
century. I will not bore
you with the history of the development of the rapier and the
smallsword, but suffice it to say that there were two major schools
of swordplay: French and Italian. Although the Spanish and the
English had methods of their own, over time, the French and Italian
schools became dominant. Most of the first written materials on
swordplay were written by the French.”

Syd heard the
maestro
yell “
allez
,” which she knew meant “commence,” and
then Hatch and the
maestro
were fencing at full speed. First one, then the other, would
yell, “
Et la!
” or
“
Touché!
”

Syd said to Rudy, “They are so fast now! It’s
nothing like movie fencing!”

“Nein!
For a
couple of reasons. In the movies, the blade movements must be
slowed down in order to be captured on film. Also, fencing without
a mask is very dangerous, so slower swordplay is safer for the
untrained actors,” answered Rudy.

“Are there any
real
duels anymore?” asked Syd.

“Duels are illegal in most countries now.
However, I have heard of secret duels taking place. They use the
final version of the rapier, the smallsword, which became popular
around 1635. It has a shorter blade than the rapier and is much
closer in weight and size to today’s fencing saber. Some university
students have duels to get scars: so-called marks of honor and
bravery. Fairly stupid, I think!” explained Rudy with a shrug.

• • •

Hatch’s lesson came to a close and he went to
the dressing room to shower and change clothes. Syd viewed the
displays on one wall while waiting for him. There were several
authentic rapiers, smallswords, and even some ancient broad swords.
They all looked very deadly to Syd.

• • •

They returned to their hotel and checked out.
The GS-V had them back in Rome by 5:30 P.M., and they were back at
the castle by 6 o’clock. The chopper pilot told them that the
Finellis had called him and released him for the night. They were
spending the night at Tessitore’s castle in Sicily.

I wonder what that
means.
mused Hatch.

Il Castello di Bragno

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

10:00 A.M.

The next morning at 10:00 A.M., Bruno called
Hatch and said that the Don would see him at 2 P.M.—alone. Bruno
told Hatch that the reunion of mother and father had gone well, and
the old man had at least been polite to him. The Don was curious as
to why the world’s richest man wanted an audience with him, but
Bruno told him he had no idea. Bruno had stepped out on the balcony
as requested by Hatch, so Coffer now knew where the Don’s audience
room was located.

Hatch called a meeting with Syd, Sara,
and Colonel Coffer in the Computer/Comm room at 10:30. They pulled
up the satellite live photos of
Cremora
, the Don’s castle and stronghold, and
Coffer pointed out the balcony where he had spotted Bruno. As they
watched the live feed, they spotted armed men in several of the
parapets. There was also a radar dish slowly rotating, searching
for intruders in the sky.

“Well,” Hatch said, “I have an appointment
with Tessitore at two o’clock. He will see me—but I must come
alone.”

Syd felt her heart skip a beat, then
she exclaimed, “I
don’t
like
that
! I want to go
with you! I don’t trust the old bastard!”

“There shouldn’t be any danger. I’m only
going to talk to him about Lucchese, then I’ll leave. Shadow-4 will
be hovering outside, just in case. I can activate the signal in my
watch if I need help,” answered Hatch. “He emphasized I had to be
alone.”

“Your watch?” queried Syd. “I just
thought that was an international date/time thing so you can keep
track of where you are—or a diving watch. It is really
ugly
! Definitely not a
Rolex!”

Hatch held out his wrist and showed her his
watch, then said, “It has a couple of diamonds on it, and an 18
Karat gold band! Besides, it’s a very useful tool. It has a
transmitter and a GPS chip in it. If I push this button, it sends
out my position on the satellite network, and this button actually
activates the voice transmitter.”

Syd shook her head and said, “A regular Dick
Tracy thing, eh? Does it receive voice, too?”

“Yes. These two buttons alternate
between send and receive,” explained Hatch. “The receiver is very
small, so you have to hold it to your ear to hear anything. It’s
just for emergencies. The GPS locator is the most important
feature: it lets the system know where
I
am.”

They discussed where Coffer and Sara would be
with Shadow-4, and what Hatch would do in an emergency.

Syd said, “I still think I should be with
you!”

“You can go as far as Palermo with me. After
the meeting, we can do the town if you want, and you can add Sicily
to your travelogue,” laughed Hatch, trying to diffuse her
disappointment at not being able to accompany him to the
meeting.

Coffer and Sara left to get Shadow-4 and its
crew ready for the trip back to Sicily. Hatch called the Triple Eye
chopper pilot and made arrangements to leave for Palermo at 11:30
A.M.

Hatch told Syd, “We can have a quick lunch in
Palermo before I go to the Don’s castle. They have a lot of quaint
sidewalk cafes.”

“I’m telling you, Hatch, I don’t
like
this!” exclaimed
Syd.

• • •

They had lunch at
Dante’s Inferno
, a small, hole-in-the-wall
sidewalk cafe. They had an excellent fruity red wine and the
specialty of the house,
Sfincione
, commonly known as Sicilian pizza. Its
crust was an inch thick, and it was covered with anchovies, Italian
sausages, and Parmesan cheese.

Syd and Hatch had just finished lunch at 1:25
P.M. when the black Mercedes pulled up to the curb in front of the
cafe where they sat at a table on the sidewalk, a bright umbrella
protecting them from the sun. The front passenger door opened and a
swarthy man got out and surveyed the tables. He had black,
slicked-back hair, a thin face with a pencil mustache, and stood
about 5 feet 7 inches tall. Hatch waved at him, and the man
approached their table.

“Signore
Lincoln?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Hatch as he stood, towering
over the man.

“I am Antony. I will take you to Don
Tessitore,” he said in fairly good English.

Syd stood and said, “I’m going with you,
Hatch!”

“Now, Syd …”

Antony interrupted, “That will be
fine,
signore
. We will see
that the
signorina
is
entertained while you have your meeting.”