TS3 Chapter 4

Chapter 4

June 17^th, 2015

Auckland 

“Will you lighten up? You're depressing everybody around you,” Constantin huffed once Guntram sat in the leather couch at the doctor's office. 

“I'm sorry for being in mourning.” Guntram answered back. 

“I envy Kurt for going to the Aquarium with Dima and his daughter.” Constantin rose his eyes to the cream pastel ceiling dramatically. 

“How do you know a personal shopper for children?” Guntram put away the iPad he had.  

“Don't tell me she didn't come in handy.” Constantin answered disdainfully. “You'd have died of a heart attack if you'd had to check all those stores.” 

“She knew you very well and not even you can be so obsessive compulsive as to have all this prepared in advance.” 

“Ah, preparation is all in my line of work,” Constantin sauntered and Guntram huffed back. “Be quiet now, you're starting to sound like an old wife. It doesn't suit the Instagram star.” 

Guntram had to bit his lips to prevent himself from starting a fight with Constantin in the middle of a fancy hospital's waiting room. “Be glad, you have a famous boyfriend. For the first time,” he answered with false sweetness. 

“The thirties don't suit you well too. What happened to the doe-eyed boy I knew?” 

“Lived with you and Konrad for nearly fifteen years.” 

“Mrs. Field recognized you instantly. Either you spend the rest of your life denying who you are or you shall consider plastic surgery.” 

“I am who I am.” Guntram answered irritated. “Being forced to be someone else nearly destroyed my nerves. I'm keeping my name.” 

“So you want to start a war with Lintorff?” 

“He'll keep quiet if he wants his own peace. I'm sick of lies.” 

“I don't want crusaders camping in my backyard. I have twenty kiwi families to think about.” 

“They won't come here if they know what's best for them.” 

“I assume your term was quite... instructive.” 

“Highly educational,” Guntram replied dryly. “I'll talk to Konrad tonight. Can you help me with that?” 

“Dial the number.” Constantin picked up a magazine and feigned interest on it. 

“You have something much better than a Sectera.” 

“Guntram, I'm not the CIA. I'm just a retired businessman.”

“Do I have to beg you?” 

“That would help but....” 

“Please Constantin. If I use the normal line you'll get Goran on your backyard before I hang up the phone.” 

“Not quite true but I'll accept your melodramatic concept of geography. I'll be kind enough as to help you with your marital crisis.” 

“I don't want to have this bastard near my child.” 

“Our child. Remember that.” Constantin pointed out with a dry voice. 

“All right,” Guntram mumbled taken aback by the sharp tone. “Do I have your word?” 

“Fine,” Constantin agreed reluctantly. “We'll stay a week in the city and go at the end of the week to the island. It's a nice place but perhaps the doctor needs to run some tests on you.” 

“Last meal before you push me into the ocean? How thoughtful of you.” 

“I never had sharks as helpers before. Could come in handy and it's certainly eco-friendly, don't you think?” 

A blonde nurse came to them and asked them to follow her to the doctor's office and Guntram had to swallow all his righteous indignation at Constantin's barely hidden sneers.

Much to his surprise, Dr. McCarthy knew very well his case and ordered a few more tests. He mumbled something like “once we have you in the system, we will include you in the transplant list,” but Guntram didn't want to hear him and shut his ears to the long explanation. He agreed to do the tests the doctor prescribed him and was glad to hear that his long “pill list” was to be respected. 

“It seems your week is already booked,” Constantin said once they were back in the lobby. 

“I won't do all this. I'm sick of doctors.” 

“Said the one who's on top of the heart transplant list. You'll suffer them all.” 

“Or what?” 

“I'll drag you there.” Constantin shrugged and walked towards the car waiting for them. “Be nice and I'll arrange things for you to speak with Lintorff.” Constantin pushed lightly Guntram inside the limo and followed him. “Send him my regards by the way.”

* * * 

June 17^th, 2015 

Zurich

Rage was a word not good enough as to describe Goran's mood. Not only Guntram had done a very stupid thing once more but he had also dragged his child along! He stopped to pace around Konrad's office like a caged lion and huffed for the fifth time. Ferdinand, sitting in one of the chairs in front of the large desk didn't move his neck to look at the Serb. 

“With all due respect, my Duke, your overview on the situation is wrong.” Goran said through clenched teeth. “If he has taken critical information with him, we are in a serious position.” 

Konrad averted his gaze from the papers he had been reading, glanced at Goran distractedly and focused his attention on Ferdinand. 

“Goran is right,” Ferdinand agreed with a hint melancholia. “We don't know what the lad...” 

“He's not a lad,” Konrad said laconically. “In fact he could be sitting here and running this place much better than any of us. If he would have known all the facts, then he wouldn't have placed himself in such a position.” 

“Konrad, for the hundredth time: you killed the right snake and it was for Guntram's sake.” Ferdinand said heatedly. “What if he is in league with Di Mattei? His people are still around and I don't think for a minute that the Georgians will be on our side if trouble arise.” 

“Guntram loved his father. He will want revenge,” Goran said. “It's all down to the blood.” 

“He didn't want it before and he won't want it now.” 

“You can't endanger us just because of an assumption.” Ferdinand seethed and Konrad glared at him. “I'm not saying that you should eliminate him but we should locate him and set a tight surveillance around him.” 

“If he's up to something, we're very late, Ferdinand.” Konrad said. “He took nothing but his papers from my safe box.” 

“What if the snake gave him something? He met with this De Mornay and took a flight to the UEA. We already know that.”

“Under his real name. It doesn't look like he's trying to hide. Therefore he has something he wants to use to bargain with me.” 

“If it would be any other person...” Goran started heatedly but one glare from Konrad forced him to be quiet. 

“This person would be hanging from a tree. We know that,” Konrad said laconically. 

“He's in the heathens' land!” Goran roared. “There's little we can do there! With that man he knows from London!” 

“Lots of people go for holidays to Abu Dhabi.” Konrad shrugged. 

Both friends wondered if they had been swallowed by a black hole and were in a parallel universe when they heard the words. The duke they knew would have never let an offense like that one go so easily.

“It's just another negotiation, my friends,” Konrad told them. 

“Cecilia wanted to go to that tall hotel,” Ferdinand mumbled, still unable to comprehend his friend's state of mind. “I said no and she was quite upset. Gold is cheap down there.”

“Guntram has some paintings there. Even one of Tarkasov's daughter.” Konrad said softly. “See gentlemen? There's a perfectly good explanation for his presence there. If you start a manhunt now, it will make our allies suspicious and we don't want to waste more time offering explanations about our own internal problems.” 

“I understand sire,” Goran growled unconvinced. 

“He wants to make a deal with us. That's all. He will never go against me, leaving our children orphaned. It didn't happen before. It will not happen now. Warfare is not in his nature.”

“Of all places in the world and he goes there? In the midst of the worst kind of... human trash?” Goran asked furiously and sat next to Ferdinand. “Carrying my own godson?” he mumbled to himself. 

“Abu Dhabi isn't Saudi Arabia no matter how much the Arabs yearn for that. It's a country where you can set a foot in.” 

“It’s full of bloody Muslims!” Goran couldn't held his temper in check any longer and Ferdinand closed his eyes at the noise: His headache was killing him. 

“Indeed.” Konrad closed his eyes, tired of the endless arguments he had been hearing all day long. 'Guntram really outdid himself this time but everything is a circle and we all return to the same place we were.' 

“Anything else, gentlemen?” Konrad asked and both men rose from their chairs. 

Suddenly Goran's phone rang and he frowned as his hand fished for it, lost in his jacket's interior breast pocket. His finger was about to switch it off mechanically when Konrad said “answer it” disdainfully and turned his chair around to allow him some privacy. 

Goran walked towards the office door but froze when he heard the voice on the other line. “It's you,” he said coldly. 

“I did try to contact the Duke but his phone is off.” Guntram answered calmly. “Could you tell him I'd like to speak with him?” 

“I'm going to kill you for taking my godson to that place,” seethed Goran. 

“Did the father and now the son, brother?” Guntram asked venomously. “Don't worry, I can arrange it in the other way too.” 

Fast as a snake Konrad tore the phone from Goran's hands and quickly walked to the other end of the room. 

“Where is my son?” Konrad asked coldly. “If he's still in Abu...” 

“Kurt is not your child.” Guntram replied calmly. “No, we are not in the Emirates any longer.” 

“At least you have some common sense left. What do you want?” 

“That you disappear from my life.” Guntram replied. “For good.” 

“Or else?” 

“Starting by your precious Marvin, I'll tear you to pieces.” 

“You have nothing on us.” 

“Shame on you Konrad, playing with poor orphans’ food for a few tax deductions and that’s the nice side of you. By the way, how did you manage to bypass all existing gun laws in Europe? You have quite a stock in your charity food depots.” 

“Anything else?” Konrad asked coldly. 

“Don't push me. I don't want to see or hear from you if you want your children to have a father.” 

“How dare you!” Konrad shouted, his aloofness finally gone. 

“If anything happens to me, all the material I have on the Order, your people, your associates will be online. Forget it, I won't go to your judges or minions. There will be no place in this world where you or your children could walk with your heads high. It will be a scandal that not even you could silence. The Americans still yearn for your blood.” 

Konrad was aghast. Words deserted him. The person speaking with him was a total stranger. The Guntram he knew would have never threatened him. Normally, he only wanted to run away and hide but this person was more than ready to declare war on him. 

“Don't worry, I have enough pictures of your massacres for the biggest idiot to understand what kind of trash you are,” Guntram hissed. 

“You won't dare,” was all that Konrad could say.  

“Kill me if that makes you happy. I don't care but think on your children before you do it.” 

“You're a traitor.” 'Just like Roger.' The thought lacerated his mind and he couldn't say anything more. His Guntram had argued with him in the past, but this person was threatening and using all his resources to put him down. It felt like a blast from the past. 

“Takes one to know another. Think about it. You on your side of the world and I on mine. I'm sending you something as a proof of my good will. I hope your firewalls are good.” 

Konrad walked back to his desk and opened the laptop kept on his desk. Quickly opened the e-mail attachments and gasped when he saw the documents flickering on the screen.  

“It would be very bad for you if Marvin were to have an accident in the middle of the trading day,” Guntram said coldly. “Yes, I didn't sign the billion transfer in exchange of nothing. Guess who has the key to stop this machine? Don't bother to change passwords. It's like an inside virus well hidden in thousands of computers. It will take you decades to find it.” 

“Whatever you may have, Lavrov will override it in no time.” Fear roamed in his guts as Konrad felt powerless.  

“No, I don't think so. I changed the original password and its generators. Ask him. He let me do it. As a confidence-building measure between us. You don't give a billion away out of selflessness.” 

“You're the worst kind of liar I've ever met.” 

“I did mean to tell you because I was so stupid that I did it for you, so you would have total control over that wretched thing but you were so nasty to me that I forgot to tell you. Sorry, Konrad,” Guntram replied with feigned sweetness. “You always said I was a very bad liar.” 

“What else do you want? Money?” 

“Keep your filthy money, Konrad. I don't need it. I just want you out of my life. Kurt will never see you again. I'm done with the Lintorffs.” 

“You have no right to deprive him of his brothers.” 

“And you of his grandfather. He'll grow out of you. You'll be nothing than a memory for him.” Guntram hung up the phone and Konrad swore nearly smashing the mobile against his great grand father's desk. 

He was able to stop his arm in mid air as he remembered that the phone belonged to Goran. Furious, Konrad threw it back to the Serb who caught it in mid-air. Guntram might think he had had the last word, but he will prove him wrong. His sweet kitten had proven to be a snake of the worst kind, just like Roger. 

* * * 

June 17^th, 2015 

Auckland

“All my life I've suspected that under that armor of good manners there was an oaf lurking and I wasn't wrong.” Constantin commented to the shaken Guntram. The young man's breathing was elaborated as he battled against his own nerves and fears.  

“Well, what else can you expect from Germans? We brought them to Russia to build our toilets, not for their ideas or savoir faire. We had the French for that.” Constantin shrugged and his eyes were lost in the lights of the bay. 

“I'm partly German, Constantin,” Guntram growled, offended by the remark but sat on the sofa next to the man. 

“Thank God it doesn't show much or didn't stick to Kurt.”

“Wait and you'll see how handful he can be.” Guntram replied dryly as his mind played once and again his earlier argument with Konrad. Unable to keep his nerves in control, he rose from the sofa and began to walk around the room, his open iPad forgotten over the crystal desk. 

“I think I have a pretty good idea.” Constantin shrugged as he watched Guntram pace the room and bided his time. 

“There's a place in front of the marina which is rather decent. The lights of the pier give the waters an eerie air. The sight of the sea becomes... out worldly.” 

“You used to be more subtle, Constantin. Usually, you waited a few days or weeks before you made your move each time I had trouble with Konrad.” 

“Temps fugit, Guntram. We are not getting any younger.” Constantin's lips draw a bemused smile while his fingers draw imaginary circles over the silky, white leather low sofa. “But no, I'm not trying to seduce you under the candle lights. We are way past romanticism. If you want to have sex with me, just say it. We are family after all.” 

“You're really enjoying this, aren't you?” 

“I won't lie to you. Yes, I am. I would have paid dearly to see Lintorff's face just a few minutes ago.” 

“And now you're thinking that I'm going to throw myself into your arms. It won't happen. I love Altair. Clear enough?”

Constantin only let a forced smile play in his lips. “Of course. I give you all my blessings.” 

“Are you not upset?” The phrase had taken Guntram by surprise. 

“Why should I be? Men like sex and it seems you have discovered that awful truth too. Besides, if you are into multicultural sex, that will give something to think to good old Konrad: Swapped for an Arab. The beauty and the irony of that.” 

“There won't be any sex with you. That's for sure.” 

“Challenging me already, Guntram? Then I'm half the way there. Starting to remember the old times, dear? How about a lobster?” 

“I won't eat my son's pet.” 

“Crab?” 

“Fine,” Guntram mumbled, not feeling strong enough as to enter in the dialectic arena with Constantin as the old seasoned bull he was. 

“Notice that I'm not offering pork since you have a new boyfriend to think about.” 

“How thoughtful of you,” Guntram smirked. 

“Like always.” 'The Arab will be enough of a distraction for Konrad. This guy will be dead in no time. Setting his eyes on the main crusader's sweetheart! Typical arrogance of all of them. They'll never know what hit them.' 

“Aren't you jealous?” Guntram couldn't refrain himself from asking. 

“Why would I be? Jealousy is for the weak minded people. I know you, you know me and I'm pretty sure of the outcome. I'm not sure why you’re jealous of Misha or Alain, just to name a few. You're perfectly aware that you have the upper hand over them.” 

“I'm not jealous because I don’t love you!” Guntram exploded and glared at Constantin. “Alain?” 

“French like you, musician, excellent person but with a taste for food courts that killed our blossoming love. I think he went to Brussels to continue with his musical studies.” Constantin answered innocently. “This Altair is no competition for me.” 

“Don't be so sure.” 

“Once the glow of a glorious fuck fades away, there will be nothing for you to say to each other. Will you spend the Ramadan with him and endure his foul mood when he's starving? Will you get up at four in the morning to have breakfast before dawn? Will you be happy when he tells you that your Jesus is just another prophet named Isa and not the son of God? Will you two agree when you bring home a naked model? I see a lot of things to polish between you two before you can go visiting his mum.” 

“You....” Guntram bit his lips to keep the words inside him so enraged he was. His frustration at his present situation was killing him slowly. “Are worse than a cockroach. You have the morals of a snail.”

“Do snails have morals? I thought that was something invented at the Vatican.” Constantin snarled and ignored Guntram's glare. “Anyway, I don't think crabs have morals therefore we can dine them.” Constantin elegantly rose to his feet and walked towards the door. “Get a coat, Guntram. Nights can get chilly here,” he said before he closed the door behind him.