The Matarese Countdown (50 page)

“You wouldn’t think so, Your Eminence, if you knew the number of kidnapping threats we’ve received. Last year alone, our security firm in America thwarted four attempts against me and five against my sister.”

“I had no
idea
—”

“It’s not something you make public,” said Cameron with a grim smile. “The idea could be planted in too many demented minds.”

“Naturally, such crimes have been committed here in Europe, but the idea, as you call it, is still shocking to an aging cleric like myself.”

“So you see,” continued Cam, “your nephew, Carlo, doesn’t worry me at all. I’ll be relieved if she’s with him, so if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to see if I can find them. The art collection, right?”

“Yes, the gallery’s on the main floor, west wing. I understand you have a superb family collection yourself, along with priceless tapestries.”

That’s it!
thought Pryce as he rose from his chair. In all the misinformation circulated about the American Brookses, there was no mention of an art collection or tapestries. John and Joan Brooks were reported to be self-indulgent dilettantes, socialites who loved the spotlight, especially show business, not serious collectors of paintings and tapestries.… Cameron’s telephone conversation with Geoffrey Waters in London had been tapped, and this attractive prince of the Church was sadly part of the conspiracy.

“Main floor, west wing,” said Pryce, glancing down at the cardinal. “Thanks. See you later.” As he entered the brick walk that led to the mansion, Cam was grateful that his false concerns about his “sister” were an acceptable reason for him to get into the Paravacini house. However, except for a minor twinge of adolescent jealousy, he had no worries about Leslie. Lieutenant Colonel Montrose was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, probably with a
crushing knee to the groin. Also, it was likely that the extrovert Don Carlo was simply impressing her with the extraordinary beauty of the Paravacini estate with its numerous fountains, its ancient and modern statuary, and the rows of gardens, exploding with color. Cameron had no idea what he might learn inside the castlelike structure, but an axiom of his profession was that to infiltrate any property was to make progress.

He was wrong on all counts,
all
counts.

Cameron walked through massive doors of the mansion into the marble hall of the great house. It was deserted, the silence disturbing as opposed to the distant, muted laughter outside. The door closed automatically, the silence now complete. He casually strode forward toward a high-ceilinged central room preceded by another intersecting marble corridor that extended both east and west. He turned right into the west wing where there were scores of exquisite paintings covering the walls, many recognizable from art books and magazines devoted to the masters.

Suddenly, along with his own, other footsteps echoed off the walls; they were behind him. He stopped and turned around. A heavyset man in nondescript dark clothing stood immobile, a trace of a smile on his lips. “
Buona sera, signore
, please keep walking,” he said, the last three words in relatively cultured English.

“Who are you?” asked Pryce sharply.

“I am an aide to Don Carlo.”

“That’s nice. What do you aid?”

“I’m not required to answer questions. Now,
piacere
, walk to the end of the gallery. There is a door on the left.”

“Why should I? I’m not used to being given orders.”

“Do try,
signore
.” The Paravacini aide reached behind his loose black silk shirt and pulled an automatic from his belt. “Follow this order,
piacere
, to the door,
signore
.”

The armed, heavyset man opened the thick, carved door. It led to what could best be described as a very high-ceilinged aviary: birds in scores of cages hanging from the beams, all sizes, from the lesser parrots to mature macaws, to large falcons, and huge vultures, their wired prisons commensurate
with their sizes. It was the immense personal collection of an eccentric. And behind a long polished table in front of a wide-paneled window that overlooked the manicured lawn at sundown was Carlo Paravacini. On his left, Leslie Montrose sat stiffly in a chair, her face impassive.

“Welcome, Officer Cameron Pryce,” intoned the don of Lake Como in a flat, courteous voice. “I wondered how long it would take you to come here.”

“Papa Rudy suggested I do so, as I expect you know.”

“Yes, he’s such a lovely man, so committed to his faith.”

“When did you find out?”

“About the cardinal’s faith?”

“You know what I mean—”

“Oh, you’re referring to Agent Pryce of the American CIA, and Colonel Montrose, United States Army Intelligence.” Paravacini leaned forward on the table, his eyes leveled at Cameron. “Would you believe less than an hour ago?”

“How?”

“Please, I’m sure you understand the necessity of confidentiality; after all, you live with it every day. You’re living with it now.”

“Speaking of now—what now?”

“Obviously, it can’t be very attractive for you.” Don Carlo rose from his chair and walked around the glistening table, heading toward the cluster of cages, hanging in varying heights, none lower than seven feet from the floor. “How do you like my airborne friends, Colonel Montrose and Officer Pryce? Are they not magnificent?”

“Birds aren’t my favorite animals,” answered Leslie coldly from the chair. “I told you that when you brought me in here.”

“How come they’re so quiet?” asked Pryce.

“Because there’s peace in here, nothing to upset them, nothing to provoke them,” replied Paravacini, picking up a small wooden instrument from a low mahogany stand. He raised it to his lips and blew into the mouthpiece. For a half second there was only silence, then suddenly, without warning, the room was filled with screams and shrieks as if some
obscene hell beyond human understanding had broken loose. Wings flapped and feathers flew; panic showed in the riveting large eyes of several dozen caged, furious birds. Carlo reversed the instrument and blew again; within three or four seconds, the ear-shattering, thunderous clamor stopped. “Rather amazing, isn’t it?” the host said.

“That was the most horrible sound I’ve ever heard in my life!” cried Montrose, removing her hands from her ears. “It was bestial!”

“Yes, indeed it was,” said Don Carlo, “because they’re truly beasts, you see. In one way or another, they’re all attack birds, some carnivorous, others so protective of their nests they are willing to go to their deaths.”

“What’s your point,
Charlie?
” asked Cameron, glancing at the heavyset armed guard still holding his weapon on the two prisoners.

“It goes back years ago,” answered the young don of Lacus Larius, “when I became obsessed with the medieval sport of falconry. Such an ingenious exercise of man’s control over the flying beast. It started, perhaps, with the ancient training of simple pigeons to return to their nests, having been smuggled miles away to bring back messages to their pharaoh owners. They were the original spies before the wireless and the radio. But my studies taught me something: All birds can be trained, from the pretty household parakeets to the larger avaricious falcons, to the immense lethal vultures. It came down to an anatomical and chemical combination of inbred sight and acute smell.”

“You’re not impressing me, Charlie,” said Pryce. “All of us have esoteric methods, some anatomical, others chemical, and a lot brutal. Why are you so different?”

“Because I’m more clever than you are.”

“Why? Because your Matarese moles in Washington and London let you know who we are?”

“Washington gave us nothing because they didn’t
know
anything! Beowulf Agate is a genius, I’ll grant you that. However, our man in London put it together, and his immediate target is your British ally, Sir Geoffrey Waters. He’ll be dead within twenty-four hours.”

“You’re the Italian branch of the Matarese, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am! We are the answer to the global economy, as our predecessors were. We will put the world on a stable basis, no one else can do it!”

“As long as everyone goes along with you, buys what you sell,
only
what you sell. Collusion is the order of the day, mergers and buyouts eliminating competition until you run the whole goddamned thing.”

“It’s far better than the economic cycles of a warped capitalistic system. We will eliminate recessions and depressions.”

“You’ll also eliminate
choice
.”

“I’ve had enough of your sophomoric abstractions, Mr. Pryce. Neither you nor Colonel Montrose will survive this day.”

“What if I told you that MI-Five and our Italian branch of the CIA know that we’re here right now?”

“I’d have to say you were lying. On pure speculation, all your calls have been monitored from the Villa d’Este.”

“Hell, I knew that when your lousy
prince
of the Church told me about our tapestries! You think that when our bodies are found with bullets in our heads, you’re off the hook,
Charlie?
”

“There’ll be no such thing. Let me show you.” Paravacini crossed back to his table and pressed a button on the right. The huge window behind him slid back, its opening at least twenty feet by twelve. He then pressed a second button and blew into his wooden instrument; the cages opened and at least forty screeching birds of all sizes and shapes flew out into the sundown, circling in the orange sky. The don blew into the opposite end, the signal for the birds to return. “By the time they come back, next time, you’ll be dead,” said Don Carlo as his guard began spraying Pryce and Montrose with an aerosol can.

“Why?” asked Cameron.

“Because you’re dead meat, I believe is the phrase. The smell on you guarantees it. Dogs can be immobilized with darts and bullets, but my birds devour corpses until there’s nothing left.”

“It’s time for a
McAuliffe
, Colonel!” yelled Pryce as the maniacal birds flew back through the window, screeching and screaming their horrific caws. As the deadly flock flew in, Montrose, yelling “
Nuts
,” crashed herself into Carlo Paravacini, rubbing her dress around his own clothes as Cameron sent a deadly
chi sai
chop into the startled guard, grabbed the aerosol can and sprayed it over him, then aimed it at Paravacini.

“
Leslie
, let’s go!” shouted Pryce.

“I want his
weapon!
” yelled Montrose as the birds circled around her.

“He probably doesn’t have one, you idiot! Come
on!
”

“Yes, he does, you moron! It’s a small twenty-two. Get these goddamned birds
off
me!”

Pryce fired two shots with the guard’s automatic. The vicious birds flew in circles, collisions everywhere, as he grabbed Leslie’s hand. They raced out the door and down the marble hallway.

“Are you all
right?
” asked Cam as they ran to the grass parking area.

“I’ve got pecks all over my neck—”

“We’ll call Togazzi and get you to a doctor.”

They reached their rental car. It would not start. “They must have pulled out the plugs,” said Leslie, exhausted.

“There’s a Rolls,” said Pryce. “Do you mind going first class? I know how to hot-wire a Rolls. Come
on!
”

“This soon-to-be-middle-aged mother,” cried Montrose, chasing after Cam to the elegant brown-and-tan automobile, “is not going to question a maniac who says he can hotwire a car while I’m running for my life from a bunch of flesh-eating birds! My
God!
”

They opened the doors and jumped in, Pryce behind the wheel. “I love the rich!” he exclaimed. “They leave their keys in their fancy automobiles. What’s a Rolls or two? We’re
out
of here!” The powerful engine roared as Cameron shifted into gear and sped over the lawn and out to the lake road, tires screeching and grass flying.

“Where to?” asked Leslie. “I don’t think the hotel is a very good idea.”

“It couldn’t be worse. We’ll head for Togazzi’s, if I can find it.”

“There’s a phone,” said Montrose, pointing it out below the dashboard.

“Only if I really get us lost. Those things are sieves.”

After several wrong turns in the narrow streets of Bellagio, Pryce found the steep hill that led to the long mountain road paralleling the lake far below. Twice they missed the hidden entrance to Silvio Togazzi’s equally concealed house. Finally, the orderly pavane at the guardhouse over with, the exhausted, still-in-shock Cameron and Leslie sat with the don on his screened-in balcony overlooking the lake. Stiff drinks were brought to the couple; they were gratefully received.

“It was all so
horrible!
” said Montrose, shuddering. “Those dreadful, screaming birds,
augh!
”

“Many have believed that Carlo Paravacini’s obsession with his creatures would one day be his death,” said the old man. “And so it was this day.”

“
What?
” interrupted Pryce.

“You haven’t heard then?” asked Togazzi. “You didn’t turn on that lovely automobile’s radio?”

“Hell, no, I didn’t want to touch anything more than I had to.”

“All Bellagio knows, tomorrow all Italy.”

“Knows
what?
” insisted Leslie.

“I shall relay it as delicately as possible,” continued Don Silvio. “The door to Carlo’s aviary had been left open and soon the guests began to notice many different birds soaring in the sky. At first it amused them until strips and pieces of human flesh began falling over the lawns and the yacht. Apparently, there was pandemonium and servants rushed into the mansion. What they found caused many to vomit, others to faint, and all to wail and shriek in horror.”

“The bodies,” said Cameron, making a quiet statement.

“What was left of them,” agreed Togazzi. “The shredded clothing was the principal means of immediate identification. As with the seagulls over beached fish, the eyes were the first to go.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” mumbled Montrose, turning away.

“What do we do now?” asked Pryce.

“You stay here, of course.”