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PART SIX:

HARRY KEOGH, CATALYST

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

In the privacy of Francesco&039;s rooth; but even at first glance in the cavern of the pit that housed their terrible father, Francesco had gasped, &039;What in the - ?&039; before showing the badly mottled pictures to his brother Tony&039;s reaction had been more or less the sa, old Angelo Ferenczy, was right For he had to agree with Francesco that for all the distortion of the grainy prints he, too, was certain they&039;d seen ies of this man before

Some months earlier their sleeper in the British Isles - a trusted, senior lieutenant - had sent them a series of snaps taken outside &039;the woh Just like these current pictures they too had been badly lit, monochrome, spur-of-the-moment efforts; scarcely studio quality But then, they weren&039;t required to be They had been obtained &039;for information only,&039; items destined for the brothers&039; file on one Bonnie Jean Mirlu, who in thrall to Radu Lykan

Now the contents of that file lay sprawled across a massive desk; one picture uppere For it was clear to both raph, and the intruder pictured inside their treasure vault, was indeed one and the same man

&039;A dead man!&039; Francesco snarled for the third time &039;Hiree that our father was right, then?&039; Tony ness; he took pride if not pleasure in the fact that he&039;d been wise to take Angelo&039;s side in this matter

&039;Eh?&039; Francesco rounded on him &039;And what difference does it ht? Yes, yes, of course he was right - but isn&039;t he always? It&039;s his function to be fucking right! And yours to bolster his bloody ego, or so it seems to ht, then&039; And before his brother could rage again: &039;Which seems to mean thathave a feud on our hands You and I, and the people we control - all of us, under the, er, Thing&039;s guidance, of course - against this elusive character in the photographs, hisbut by no irl we took?&039; Francesco was trying hard to control hielo said,&039; Tony nodded

This Radu: he goes to war over a thrall, while he himself is still in hibernation or whatever?&039;

&039;So it would seem&039;

Then he ain Francesco&039;s outburst And again his brother&039;s nod:

&039;Pretty daainst, brother? Oh,what our intruder looks like - but how did he do it? Where did he coelo says he talks to dead people!&039;

&039;Angelo babbles!&039;

&039;Frequently, yes But at other tih to me&039;

&039;Lucid and devious,&039; Francesco snarled &039;He took Guy Cavee knowing that he was innocent This intruder had no inside help, and our bloody father knew it!&039;

&039;He was hungry,&039; Tony shrugged &039;As always And anyway, it was your idea Cavee was your exa to and fro, Francesco scowled and nodded grudgingly &039;Yesss,&039; he hissed, &039;he was! But anyway, it did produce results of sorts We appeased the old bastard and he did speak to us - if only to talk rubbish&039;

&039;Some of it, maybe But we do know the intruder&039;s name, at least What, Harry? British, isn&039;t it?&039;

&039;Probably&039; Francesco picked up the vault photographs from a corner of his desk &039;He looks British, anyway&039;

Tony took the initiative &039;Let&039;s take a look at e&039;ve got and try putting it all together We&039;ve been watching Bonnie Jean Mirlu for years, but fros, we&039;ve been taking a lottio, but that would have alerted Radu&039;s other thralls and it still wouldn&039;t tell us the location of his lair So, aited More warnings frorab one of Mirlu&039;s people, the girl We got very little out of her - yet in a e did At least she showed us how strong Radu&039;s power is over his people Even our father failed to get into herwell, in one way at least Or perhaps she didn&039;t know a lot? But in any case she was only a thrall Oh? But she was one of his, Radu&039;s

And apparently he cares for

his own, even from his secret lair Hoere traced, tracked down, and discovered after all this ti-Lord struck back, hit us where it hurts most So, what use is h, in this modern worldto re-establish himself, ill doubtless build his oer base, his own army And what a wonderful irony - to fund it with the proceeds of a strike against his greatest, his oldest enemies!&039;

&039;But ere not his enemies!&039; Francesco burst out &039;After two thousand years? Radu&039;s ene before ere born!&039;

&039;Perhaps you should have paid more attention to our father whenwhen you could have,&039; Tony told him &039;For to the Wamphyri, the blood is the life And a blood-feud is a blood-feud, unending untiluntil it ends This Radu will seek to avenge hiainst hieneration&039;

&039;Another world, another tiends - and lies, of course And tell me, hoould our dear father know about that, anyway! What? Why, he never knew his father, Walde! So what are his sources to all this Wamphyri history? What makes him such an authority?&039;

Anthony smiled wryly at what he could only assume was his brother&039;s naivete, his stupidity, his petty, argu word ga for argument&039;s sake Our

"dear father," as you have it, had centuries in which to research his forebears I&039;ll tell you so you don&039;t know, for you were away at the time in the USA, Rome, Berlin That was a most difficult period, as you&039;ll perhaps recall?&039;

&039;What, the Second World War?&039;

&039;Exactly You remember the American invasion?&039;

&039;Of course I reo-between, "Emilio" Francez-ci&039;s spokesain for Luciano&039;s freedo" for the American invasion force? And also to ensure that no shells fell in the vicinity of Le Manse Madonie?&039;

Tony sained for, or with Our dear father had toldon: a saturation air-raid on Nazi-held territory north of Ploiesti in Ro&039;

&039;I remember,&039; Francesco answered There was to be a top-brass ists, to re-direct the course of the war they were losing This was a valuable piece of inforelo wanted passed on to the Aet for the bombers, ould then head south and raid the oil installations at Ploiesti What of it?&039;

"There were no Gerust 1943,&039; Tony told hiardens And in one of those housesa Ferenczy!&039;

&039;What?&039; Francesco frowned &039;What are you saying?&039;

&039;Our father&039;s brother, a bloodson of Waldemar, but out of a different mother - which is to say our uncle, Francesco! -lived there As he had lived there for hundreds of years! His naht possibly become a threat Such was our father&039;s research, brother, that he are of Faethor without that Faethor ever knew of hience, that he had Faethor removed without that he, or we, could ever be shown to have been involved That way if Faethor had survived, he would never know that the boht were intended specifically for him! But in any case, he didn&039;t survive&039;

&039;And I never knew about this? I was never informed?&039; Francesco&039;s broere black as thunder

Tony held up a hand placatingly &039;You were the negotiator You were our liaison with the A others If you had knoould your story have held the saed for the death of my own uncle?&039;

&039;Before he could discover you and arrange for yours, yes&039;

&039;I don&039;t kno I should take this &039;

&039;Take it as it was intended Angelo - he and I - were protecting you, us, the Francezcis&039;

&039;Without ? All these years &039;

&039;You were away for years! It was one thing, one incident Why, I wouldn&039;t have remembered it myself, if you hadn&039;t questioned our father&039;s authority in such matters But it&039;s as I&039;ve said: he is an authority, mainly as a result of research in his youth Such research as led him to the conclusion that this was the way forward: his way - and our way&039;

&039;Our way?&039;

&039;Strength in riches, in secrecy, in ritual silence, Francesco Why are the Sicilians the way they are? Omerta! Because of the Mafia Why is the Mafia? Because of the Francezcis Why e - until last night -untouchable? Because we are the heart of a secret eelo Francezci&039;s talents! What? But he knew so, even of the future And he knew that the blood ere not finished!&039;

&039;Huh! Francesco snorted The sins of the fathers, indeed But out of another world and ti with everything else Haven&039;t you enjoyed it, then? What? And isn&039;t it worth fighting for? You say eren&039;t the dog-Lord&039;s enemiesoh, really? but the Ferenczys have been his eneer than you or I can possibly reirl, to examine her, we rekindled an old fire, lit an old fuse Yes, and it&039;s burning down even now, Francesco "

&039;We have to find him,&039; Francesco was paler than ever

&039;Him?&039;

The intruder Find hie, and kill him!&039;

But Tony shook his head &039;No, we have to find them And I mean al of them The Lykans, the Drakuls, their aeries, their thrals to the last man And we have to do it soon Then - and only then - can we ainst them And even then in stealth and secrecy&039;

&039;A blood-feud,&039; the other reed &039;I would cal it a blood-war,&039; he said &039;Oh, yes, for that&039;s how hot it could get to be! Yet on the surface al must appear calelo used his Itraid on those "Ger, then?&039;

&039;It has conorance; for just like last time, we Ferenczys are the ones who started it&039;

&039;Damn it to hel!&039; Francesco sla papers

To hel, yes,&039; Tony agreed &039;Or e, brother Radu isn&039;t back yet, but we&039;re already here! Not only do we have the inteligence of a certain - what, "disgusting thing?" - but also of the Mafia, the KGB, and even our several contacts in the CIA

&039;As for this Harry person, whoever he is: he&039;ll be out of Sicily by now But we knohere to find him: with Radu&039;s lady lieutenant, Bonnie Jean Mirlu! And we certainly knohere to find her - and through her Radu hi,&039; Francesco told hi - like our vulnerability? We&039;ve been hit once So what&039;s to stop thehost! Indeed we have our father&039;s word for it that he "talks to dead people!" Hah!&039;

&039;We were vulnerable, yes,&039; Tony answered &039;But no uards outside the vault, ress; Le Manse Madonie has to becoer within a mile of the place &039; He left the threat unspoken

Finally Francesco was convinced &039;Everything you&039;ve said makes sense,&039; he said &039;Especially what you said about intelligence So why not put our contacts to use? In the past we&039;ve been in the business of selling them information, so why don&039;t we buy a little back? Let&039;s not stick our own necks out - or, at least, not too far - but have the KGB and CIA do it for us Our father tells us this Harry is no coh already! But doesn&039;t that mean he should be on record somewhere?&039;

&039;Good!&039; Tony was enthusiastic &039;Send out copies of these photographs If he&039;s known, then we&039;l know him too And meanwhile I&039;l look to the security of this place We have a network, brother, so let&039;s use it But slowly, oh-so-slowly And let ain: the world must never suspect, must never know of our secret war For if it did know, be sure the world would go to war, too - against us, al of us! Our father says two to three years before Radu Lykan is up again That is when he wil be at his weakest, in the hour of his resurgence Wel, two to three years should be tih to find him So I repeat: slowly, slowly does it And let&039;s be sure that whatever it is that&039;s going doe&039;re not going with it&039;

Harry Keogh, Necroscope, woke up in his house on the outskirts of Bonnyrig one one by He had known they were going, of course, but stil it surprised hiht It was the colour of the leaves that told hiain - just as they&039;d been when he and BJ had first started cli as that? Maybe it was only one!

And feeling disoriented - but even so, knohat he would find -he checked his calendar Two years, yes

And again he wondered about hisfor that! Echoes of Alec Kyle: his talent, and all his probleliments of his past? But Kyle&039;s

&039;probleing with or being subsuer identity; and his dubious talent hadn&039;t recurred Not so far, anyway

But two years! And as he got dressed, Harry tried to fil the, for his wife and baby of course

Except nowhe soot what Brenda had looked like; and this ti-terirl, in Harden on the coast; and school holidayson the beachthe woodslong walkstheir first furief, but Harry didn&039;t know that It was as if Brenda had died, and his et what she&039;d felt like in his arful part, had been closed down He had found ways to close it down, to forget - if only to get to sleep at nights - when he was on his own

As for the baby: nothing Harry just didn&039;t know, couldn&039;t rele feature of the baby But except to a mother, aren&039;t all babies

like that? A baby is a baby And what the hel, Harry Jr wasn&039;t a baby any longer (and had he ever been one?) He was an infant, almost four years old now: lost years, from his father&039;s point of view And Harry wondered: would he even recognize Harry Jr or his mother if he were to pass the - personally, that is, and keeping it quite separate fro on his case The west coast of England: Maryport to Blackpool the Derwent at Workington

&039;grockles&039; in kiss-me-quick hats on fifty different promenades Blackpool and the illuhts liquidly ain: Whitley Bay, Seaton Carew, and Redcar; Marske and Saltburn-by-the-Sea; Whitby and Robin Hood&039;s Bay But all stereotypes - ies, unreal somehow -scenes that drifted on the surface of his memory, unable to anchor themselves, as if he had never been there at al! Except he must have, for they were al places he&039;d struck from his itinerary Yet if he tried to focus on any specific place orhi with iven it up: his search, the personal side of it He would let the professionals do it Except they see as litle luck as he himself And of course he had to fund them al the way Or sooodthe most powerful of Japan&039;s Yakuza &039;fas were such that they operated their own bank, and several oil-rich, potentially dangerous potentates, and a Czechoslovakian ars with terrorists So far it had cost twenty milion pounds, or the equivalent, and the end was nowhere in sight Another two or three ain But since there was no lack of rich villains, that shouldn&039;t be too hard

But the idea of &039;villainy&039; - the word itself, the thought of it - was sufficient to bring on other eain), Harry felt himself victimized; by whom or what he couldn&039;t say Worse, he, too, felt like sorand larcenies (his &039;fund-raising activities,&039; as he liked to think of theard he felt more like souilt

And no mater how many times he reminded himself that his wife, Brenda, had deserted him, stil he felt like the vilain of the piece; like some kind of aniht of people as ani BJ, but he did now For his sexual appetite when he ith her was certainly animal Likewise hers! Love? Perhaps he was in love with her, and she with hiether, they ild! Harry told hi up for lost ti stolen from him, if only by circumstances - but at the same time he admited to a fascination he&039;d never known before No doubt about it, BJ was fascinating

And for her? What was in it for her? Just lust? Maybe in the beginning, but Harry felt it was deeper than that no much deeper, then? What if he were to find Brenda now? What if she should change her mind, decide to come back, and suddenly appear? Where would BJ fit in the sches then? And would he even want Brenda back?