He came back down from the balcony, looked up at the chandelier. “You wouldn’t hide it in the ceiling, would you? Nobody could be that cruel.”
But of course, all’s fair in love and treasure hunting, so he swung his hook at the chandelier and hoped that it would hold when he started climbing.
* * *
On a level far below Kate, her father was moving through the room they called the Hall of Singers. There were dozens of paintings on the walls, but here they were mostly human characters from Wagner’s operas, a sea of faces that all seemed to look down at Jake with great disapproval for his invasion of their sanctuary. Jake pressed a gloved hand against each of the swans he saw in the backgrounds of the painting, working his way clockwise through the room.
Then he went down a story, into the great kitchen. No swans. He moved to the dining room, where a large swan, elaborately carved from ivory, was featured on the mantel above the fireplace.
Jake moved closer and shined his light into the swan’s mouth.
* * *
Minutes had passed, but it felt like hours to Kate. She had worked her way through the bedroom, interrogating every swan she could see. She even went down on her knees and felt the rug with the swan image braided into it, then moved some furniture so she could pull up the rug and inspect the floor underneath it. Nothing.
“How’s everybody doing?” she asked.
“No luck yet,” Nick said.
“I’m trying to get to the ceiling,” Quentin said. “If you hear a fall, that’s me breaking my neck.”
Kate went to the window and looked out at the dark courtyard. For just one moment, she borrowed her sister’s daydream about being a princess who lived in a place like this, who woke up every morning and looked out this very window at her kingdom.
Something in her kingdom moved. It was just a shadow, but it shifted unmistakably beyond the open gate. Had the gate been open this whole time? Or did this just happen?
The shadow stopped. She saw another shadow move beside it. Vans. Doors opening, no lights, but one quick burst of a flashlight and Kate saw a uniform.
“Police at the gate,” Kate said. “Two vehicles.”
* * *
Nick dropped to the floor in the throne room. “Where are you, Kate? I’m coming to get you.”
“I’m on my way down,” Kate answered. “Go to the meeting place.”
As Nick was about to turn a corner, he sensed movement ahead of him. A door opening.
“They’re inside,” he whispered.
* * *
In the second throne room, Quentin listened to the voices as he was about to climb back down the great chandelier. He heard footsteps and stopped dead.
His ladder rope was still hanging from the chandelier, reaching all the way down to the floor. As he leaned over, he felt the chandelier start to sway. Quentin extended his fingertips, just enough to grasp the rope. He pulled up slowly as he heard the footsteps getting closer and saw the faint glow of a light near the far door. He pulled harder, cursing under his breath as the chandelier started to sway again. A hundred fragile old-fashioned lightbulbs rattled in their little cages.
The light grew brighter. He pulled the rope all the way up, feeling the chandelier rocking back and forth.
Two shadows appeared at the doorway. One pointed a flashlight into the room, scanning from one wall to the next. The two men came into the room and crossed it, stopping just beneath him. Quentin held his breath as he stared down at the top of their official Bundespolizei hats. The Walther semiautomatic was in his belt, loaded with the rubber plugs. As soon as one of them looked up, he would pull it out and fire. He rehearsed every part of it in his mind. Shoot one with a rubber plug, then the other. Apologize on your way out the door.
The two men moved on. When they were gone, he lowered the rope and slid down almost as fast as a fireman coming down a pole. He whispered into his comm, “Where is everybody?”
* * *
Jake came up the stairs, reaching the alcove that was their designated meeting spot. Nobody else was there. “Locations,” he whispered. “Everybody say something.”
“I’m making my way over,” Quentin said.
Jake waited to hear from Kate and Nick. The silence was not good.
“I’m trapped,” Nick finally said. “There’s no way out.”
Jake closed his eyes. “Kate,” he said. “Where are you?”
Nothing.
“Get ready for World War Three,” Jake said. “Don’t worry, it’ll just be lights and noise. Start moving as soon as you hear it.”
Jake pulled out the last supplies from his bag, stepped out into the courtyard, and threw the first of the flashbang grenades. The explosion shattered the silence of the night. He threw another, then another.
Footsteps approached. He took out the flare gun, ready to fire. But then he saw Quentin and pulled back.
“Where are the kids?” Quentin asked him. “Those are armed Bundespolizei. They do not mess around.”
They were interrupted by more footsteps, then by voices speaking German. Jake pointed the flare gun into the archway and fired, following that with another flashbang. Nick emerged from the smoke, holding his ears.
“Where’s Kate?” Nick asked.
More silence, all three men looking at each other, until finally, they heard her voice. “I’m coming down! I need cover on the stairs!”
Jake stepped back into the alcove and looked up the winding staircase. He heard several sets of footsteps coming down. Kate reached the bottom first. As soon as she was clear, he fired a flare up the stairway and threw another flashbang.
“Get out to the rope!” Jake said, firing another flare.
Kate and Quentin both climbed up to the top of the wall, where Nick was already waiting.
“I’ll go first,” Nick said. “Come right behind me.”
As she nodded, she heard the distant sound of a helicopter’s rotors. She glanced up into the sky and saw the lights from the chopper, maybe a mile way, moving fast toward them. While she was still looking skyward, she spotted a statue on the very top of the main building. The statue represented a man looking out over the great valley below.
He was holding a swan.
It all came to Kate in an instant. This was the one swan in the entire castle that wasn’t easily accessible, the one swan that would have the best chance of remaining untouched for seventy-five years. Because who would be crazy enough to go up there?
“Let’s go!” Nick yelled.
“What’s wrong?” Jake said, appearing below her. “Why aren’t you going down?”
“Because I’m going up!” Kate said. “Cover me!”
The roof of the main building was three stories above her, but the surface of the stone was rough and there were ledges across the bottom of each floor. Kate jumped up onto the corner edge of the building before Nick could stop her. She scaled up the wall, one floor, then the second, then the third. Below her, her father was firing more flares and throwing more flashbang grenades. The helicopter was getting closer, sweeping its searchlight over the forest.
She kept moving, grabbing on to the edge of the roof and pulling herself up onto the tiles. As she got to her feet, she struggled to keep her balance on the sloped roof, making her way over to the statue. The life-size swan was tucked politely under one arm, its wings folded. She grabbed the swan’s neck to hold herself steady.