Transylvania's Most Wanted (28 page)

Then both cargo doors were thrown open and
Trunk fell out backwards and landed on the platform. He was knocked
out cold. As Rollo stepped into view Count Vasili shouted and
dozens of partisans came running out the warehouse onto the
platform and then inside the ship.

The sergeant near Tom went to fire at them,
but Tom stepped forward and knocked him silly with the butt of his
rifle. Shots rang out from inside the ship, a couple of partisans
fell, but several dozen more stormed inside the cargo hold. Tom saw
one Red Army soldier hurled out onto the platform and he figured
Rollo must have gotten a hold of him. Tom started across the
gangplank into the ship and ducked into a doorway as a soldier
fired at him from around a corner.

Partisans following him exchanged fire with
the guardsman until he retreated, but then Tom and the partisan
stormed down the hallway until soldiers appeared and began firing
at them. Bullets zipped both ways as the partisans fought their way
down the hallway and up the stairs while Red Army soldiers tried to
hold them off. The fighting was intense, but then the King’s Guard
retreated further inside the ship when they saw they were
gunned.

Tom led a group of partisans down the next
hallway as rifles were thrust around corners and fired at them, but
they pushed forward, answering with overwhelming fire power. They
were about to break into King Havel’s suite of rooms when,
suddenly, from around the corner before there Dino rushed out
toward them with several guardsmen following him. Tom and the
partisan fired at him, but the bullets glanced off him and Dino
reached them, grabbed hold of a partisan and threw him down the
hallway and then another.

He went to grab Tom then, but Tom grabbed a
chair set in the hallway and threw it at his feet. Dino tripped and
fell and the whole ship shook. Dino got back on his feet as Tom
tried to retreat from him, but the hallway was jammed with
partisans now and Tom was unable to flee. Just as Dino grabbed hold
of him, something shot past his eye.

The steel net wrapped around Dino. The small
barbs at the end of the net stuck into his stone-like hide. Dino
could not lift his arms then or even shuffle his feet. Tom looked
back over his shoulder and saw Dante holding a golem gun.

Just then the door to the king’s suite of
rooms blew off their hinges like an explosive charge had been
placed on it. The wood door flew down the hallway towards them, but
it smacked Dino in the back and knocked him down. As he fell he
took several partisans down with him, but they were not badly
hurt.

Tom looked toward the room then and saw
Esmeralda step into view. She raised her arms and a jolt of
electricity shot out her fingers. Tom and some others dropped to
the floor and avoided being hit, but a few partisans behind him
were struck, causing them to be thrown backwards through the
air.

Tom expected her to hit them with a second
blast, but then Esmeralda screamed as a brilliant flash of light
lit up the entire room. Tom was blinded by the light and could see
nothing for a moment, but he could hear bodies falling to the
floor.

Count Vasili rushed past Tom then, ordering
the partisans down the next hallway and they immediately rose and
stormed toward there. Shots rang out, but what few guardsmen were
left, began to surrender. Count Vasili helped Tom up off the floor
then and winked at him as they calmly approached the king’s suite.
As he stepped inside, Tom held his rifle out in front of him, but
then saw Red holding a gun on a dazzed-looking Mr. Slang and King
Havel. Red winked at him then.

Esmeralda was out cold on the floor and Miss
Kensington was using a cord from the drapes to bind her hands.

“Where’s Rebecca?” Tom asked
desperately.

“Back home in Transylvania,” Red said
gesturing toward Miss Kensington.

Tom looked at Miss Kensington and noticed
she was wearing Rebecca’s dress and he realized then what Red had
done. Miss Kensington had used a spell to make herself take on
Rebecca’s appearance. That’s why Red had delivered a fake ransom
note, to secure the items she would need to concoct the potion.

“You didn’t really think I would risk
Rebecca’s life did you?” Red asked.

Tom looked at Red, dumbfounded. Red slapped
him on the back and laughed. He’d used Miss Kensington to ambush
Esmeralda.

A shot rang out from the floor above them
then.

“Where is Colonel Popov?” Count Vasili
asked.

Red shook his head.

“We must see that he is not killed,” Count
Vasili said rushing out the room and Tom ran after him.

Right at the bottom of the staircase that
led up to the ship’s bridge, a few last guardsmen were trying to
hold off the partisans.

Count Vasili ran there and began shouting
for the partisans to hold their fire and then Tom heard Colonel
Popov shouting from around the corner at the end of the
hallway.

“Colonel Popov,” Count Vasili yelled from
the other end of the hallway. “Please cease fire.”

“Go to hell,” Colonel Popov yelled back.

“I must talk to you,” Count Vasili yelled.
“You must be made aware of the truth.”

His plea was met with silence.

“I’m going to come closer,” Count Vasili
yelled stepping out into the open. “Please do not shoot. We are
both working to save the monarchy.”

“The hell you are,” Colonel Popov
yelled.

“Please let me explain,” Count Vasili said
starting down the hallway slowly. “We are not enemies.”

Count Vasili carefully
approached the far end of the hallway. Tom went part way there and
then Colonel Popov stepped out also. He seemed surprised to see
Tom. Count Vasili began speaking to him in Russian as Colonel Popov
looked at the partisans at the end of the hallway. He surrendered
then. They had control of the
Dauntless
.

Chapter 57

Bishop to King’s
Seven

They brought King Havel,
Mr. Slang, and Esmeralda to the hallway just below the bridge of
the
Dauntless
.
Miss Kensington came along as well. It turned out Prince Marko was
not aboard, accidently left behind in Transylvania City for the
time being. Stone and Rollo showed up then shoving Dino ahead of
them, having cut him out of the steel net, but his hands were tied
with thick rope.

Red approached Rollo and said something to
him and Rollo started back down the hallway. Red came over to Tom
carrying an alarm clock with sticks of dynamite taped to it.

“Is that from Krakov’s casket?” Tom
asked.

Red nodded yes as he withdrew a pistol from
his pocket and handed Tom it. “Here’s your gun back,” he said.

There was a clock on the wall in the middle
of the hallway and they lined their prisoners up underneath it
including Colonel Popov. The rest of the King’s Guard, except one
sergeant who was allowed to stay at Colonel Popov’s side, were
taken down to the barracks below and kept under guard by the
partisans.

Tom felt the
Dauntless
lifting into
the air then and the ship’s engines came on and the ship was once
again in flight. They were waiting for Count Vasili to return as he
had gone to see that the
Dauntless
was put into the air.

The count had also radioed
the
Tempest
and
informed them they had taken control of the
Dauntless
. The
Tempest
was only a couple miles
ahead of them, having circled back to see what had happened at the
Vladivostok station and now they were flying slowly to conserve
fuel. Finally Count Vasili returned and joined Red and Tom in the
hallway just below the bridge.

“I have something to show you,” Red told
Colonel Popov when Count Vasili returned. He showed the colonel the
bomb he’d removed from Krakov’s casket then.

“What is that?”

“A little bon voyage gift
Mr. Slang placed in Krakov’s casket. I removed it before Krakov was
loaded on to the
Tempest
.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s simple enough. That
night at the Halloween Ball, Mr. Slang hired Krakov to kill
Princess Alexi. He tried to frame Count Vasili for it. He also sent
the note threatening Prince Marko’s life to throw us off some.
After Krakov failed, Mr. Slang here figured he’d blow the
Tempest
out of the sky
with her aboard instead.”

“Why would he want to kill Princess
Alexi?”

“Just carrying out King Havel’s wish. Your
Royal Majesty here wanted her dead once he learned she’s not his
child. She’s Anna and Prince Yuri’s daughter. He learned that from
the mid-wife that delivered both babies that tragic night twenty
two years ago. After learning this, King Havel knew that Anna
planned on bringing this knowledge to light. That’s why Anna
kidnapped Princess Alexi, not to hold her ransom, but to save her
from her evil uncle and reveal to her that she is her mother.”

King Havel stepped forward then. “Inspector
Meriwether is it?”

“Yes,” Red said.

“This has all been very
amusing inspector, but even if your story was true it is of no
importance. I am still King of the United Realm of Russians and
Kreatures, even if, as you have dreamed up, I did plan the death of
Princess Alexi. Nothing is going to change that. Certainly you
could have me thrown out of the
Dauntless
to my death, but what will
you have accomplished? You’d soon be joining me. Red Army marines
will overrun this ship when we reach the docking station at Royal
City. That is unless I order then to stand down. I suggest we begin
some kind of negotiations.”

“I liked your first suggestion better,” Red
told him. “About throwing you out the ship, but I’m not finished
speaking yet, so shut up. Got a little surprise for you,” he said
shoving him back in line.

Tom noticed Count Vasili wore a slight grin
on his face. He winked at Tom then.

“Colonel Popov,” Red said. “What is your
title?”

“I am a colonel in the Red Army of the
U.R.R.K.”

“Don’t you hold some other office also?”

“I am Protector of the Realm.”

“What if I told you King Havel here is no
king at all and that he has no right to rule your country. Another
has.” he said noticing the crown the king was wearing then and
reaching over and taking it off his head.

“Just you’re saying it means nothing. Even
if he is a bad king he is still king.”

“What if King Nikola decreed otherwise?”

“Then I would be forced, even be honored to
see that King Nikola’s decree was carried out.”

“Here you go,” Red said reaching in and
pulling something out of his pocket. It was an official looking
document that he handed to Colonel Popov.

“What is that?” King Havel asked.

“A decree signed by your father on his
deathbed. Got his signature and the seal of his ring on there even.
It restores to Prince Yuri his right to succeed him as king.”

“Where did you get it?” King Havel
asked.

“Pandora…uh Anna that is, has been holding
on to it these many years. Count Voorhees delivered it to her that
same night twenty two years ago. It was turned over to me just
recently.”

Red turned back to Colonel Popov then. “With
King’s Yuri’s death, even if he was king for only a few minutes,
that right falls to his eldest child – that would be Princess
Alexi. She holds the right to rule the U.R.R.K. and your rightful
title,” Red said pointing at King Havel, “is prisoner.” Red handed
Colonel Popov the crown he’d removed from Havel also.

“I’m sorry,” Colonel Popov said handing the
document back. “Without the testimony of Count Voorhees or some
member of the Administration who witnessed the signing of this
document. I cannot remove King Havel from the throne. I’m
sorry.”

“Yes,” King Havel said. “I suggest you turn
your weapons over now. I may allow you to keep your heads if you do
so immediately.”

“Interrupt me again,” Red said. “And I’ll
see to it that you lose your head. Rollo bring our guest out here,
will you?” he yelled down the hallway.

They all listened to Rollo’s heavy footsteps
coming down the hallway toward them. When he turned the corner Tom
saw he had Mr. Jordan, the man who had welcomed him to Britannia,
with him. King Havel stared at him.

“How did you get here?” the king asked
clearly bewildered.

“Inside a crate labeled Vamp’s,” Mr. Jordan
said. “Mr. Rollo let me out. It was quite cramped, but at least I
wasn’t penned up as long as you’ll be,” he told King Havel.

“Tell Colonel Popov here who you are,” Red
asked of Mr. Jordan then.

“My name is Mr. Jordan. I was assigned to
your realm when King Nikola ruled.”

“Yes I know,” Colonel Popov said. “Did you
witness the signing of this decree? Is it official?” he asked
excitedly.

“It is,” Mr. Jordan said. “I also know that
Princess Alexi is the child of King Yuri. I was there in the room
when Anna gave birth to her. I watched her switch her child for the
daughter of Diana, that night twenty two years ago.”

Red nodded at Tom then and gestured for him
to hand Colonel Popov the rifle he was holding. Tom hesitated, but
Red indicated it was okay and Tom handed the weapon over then.

“What happens now it entirely up to you,”
Red told Colonel Popov handing him the document and crown once
again. “What will you do?” he asked, but before a stunned Colonel
Popov could answer, Mr. Slang began clapping, causing everyone to
look at him.

“I suggest you shoot Inspector Meriwether,”
Mr. Slang suggested.

Colonel Popov swung the rifle toward Mr.
Slang. “Maybe I shoot you.”