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Milko muttered "fuck the farm" and charged up the steps and into the castle, following the fuse, looking, looking, for other fuses, other charges. He crossed the great hall toward the tower, following the fuse and saw what he was looking for, the fuse spliced onto a big loop of detonating cord. He came back into the great hall and called out, "It's got a ring main cord. That's the only fuse. You got it." Breeching charges were packed around the base of the tower to destroy it, coordinated by the single loop of detonating cord.
The Soviet troops had not bothered to close the front door, and their fire still burned on the hearth in the great hall. Graffiti scarred the bare walls and the floor near the fire was littered with droppings and bum wad from their final act in the relative warmth of the castle.
Milko, Grentz and Kolnas searched the upper floors.
Grutas motioned for Dortlich to follow him and descended the stairs to the dungeon. The grate across the wine room door hung open, the lock broken.
Grutas and Dortlich shared one flashlight between them. The yellow beam gleamed off glass shards. The wine room was littered with empty bottles of fine vintages, the necks knocked off by hasty drinkers. The tasting table, knocked over by contesting looters, lay against the back wall.
"Balls," Dortlich said. "Not a swig left."
"Help me," Grutas said. Together they pulled the table away from the wall, crunching glass underfoot. They found the decanting candle behind the table and lit it.
"Now, pull on the chandelier," Grutas told the taller Dortlich. "Just give it a tug, straight down."
The wine rack swung away from the back wall. Dortlich reached for his pistol when it moved. Grutas went into the chamber behind the wine room. Dortlich followed him.
"God in Heaven!" Dortlich said.
"Get the truck," Grutas said.
10
* Lithuania, 1946*
HANNIBAL LECTER, thirteen, stood alone on the rubble beneath the moat's embankment at the former Lecter Castle and threw crusts of bread onto the black water. The kitchen garden, its bounding hedges overgrown, was now the People's Orphanage Cooperative Kitchen Garden, featuring mostly turnips. The moat and its surface were important to him. The moat was constant; on its black surface reflected clouds swept past the crenellated towers of Lecter Castle just as they always had.
Over his orphanage uniform Ha
Cesar was glad to see Ha
Ha
The male swan climbed out onto the bank to challenge Ha
A blond boy named Fedor whispered to the others. "Watch that black bastard flap the dummy-he'll knock shit out of him like he did you when you tried to get the eggs. We'll see if the dummy can cry." Ha
Disappointed, Fedor took a slingshot of red i
A bell sounded from the castle.
Fedor and his followers turned, laughing from their fun, and Ha
Evening in the great hall of Lecter Castle, stripped now of its finery and dominated by a big portrait of Joseph Stalin. A hundred boys in uniform, having finished their supper, stood in place at plank tables singing "The Internationale." Headmaster, slightly drunk, directed the singing with his fork.
First Monitor Petrov, newly appointed, and Second Monitor in jodhpurs and boots walked among the tables to be sure everyone was singing.
Ha
The monitors stopped before Ha
"Too good to sing with us, Little Master?" First Monitor Petrov said over the singing. "You're not Little Master here anymore, you're just another orphan, and by God you'll sing!"
First Monitor swung his clipboard hard against the side of Ha
"He's mute," Second Monitor said. "No sense in beating him."
The song ended and First Monitor's voice was loud in the silence.
"For a mute, he can scream well enough at night," First Monitor said, and swung with his other hand. Ha
"Stop! Do not hit him again. I don't want him marked." Headmaster might be drunk, but he ruled. "Ha
Headmaster's office contained an army surplus desk and files and two cots. It was here that the change in the castle's smell struck Ha
" Ha
Ha
"It must be hard for you to live in this house."
No response.
Headmaster took a cable from his desk. "Well, you won't be here much longer. Your uncle is coming to take you to France."