“Borja is not to learn anything about this body, other than that we found it with the other two who were similarly equipped. But he is to be told nothing of how this body’s equipment and accoutrements differed from the others’.”
Dakis blinked. “Is that wise, Pedro?”
“It is essential, Dakis. Now, make quiet inquiries among the wounded lefferti; promise them clemency if they speak true and quickly as to the origin of these men. I need to know if they are Scottish or Irish.”
“Does it really matter, Pedro?”
“It most certainly does, Dakis; it most certainly does.”
Dolor forced himself to forget those first twilit moments when he realized that the bullet-ridden corpse might provide him with the political leverage he had long sought, might put his greatest ambition within his grasp. Standing before Borja now, he had to continue before the cardinal noticed any distraction in his demeanor. “There were two more of these Irishmen, Your Eminence. Do you wish to inspect either of the other bodies? Also, there are many lefferti and no small number of common townsfolk who were-”
“No, I have seen enough.” The cardinal reclined like a cat after a belly-filling meal. “So, your success buys you full discretionary powers, Senor Dolor: what next?”
“Now, we move the prisoners again.”
Borja sat up; he clearly had not expected this response. “We move them again? After Lefferts’ rescue has been successfully repulsed? Surely we can now resort to normal methods of imprisonment.”
“Surely not-not here in Rome, at any rate. As this attack shows, Rome is too comfortably within the operating envelope of the USE and Grantville. And obviously, both the Jews and lefferti helped them considerably.”
“And so, they will be chastised. Strenuously.”
“If you must, you must,” commented Dolor with a shrug, “but it would be better to merely threaten the Jews with chastisement, while offering them a better option.”
“Which is?”
“Collaboration. To work for us as double agents if they are approached by the up-timers again. If you were to take a few select hostages from the major families of the Ghetto-well-treated, of course-that should serve to ensure the loyalty of the rest.”
Borja stroked his vulpine chin. “So do you really think the up-timers might be so foolish as to strike again?”
“If the prisoners remain in Rome long enough, then yes. Which means that next time, they will need to strike at you, too.”
Borja’s response was surprisingly high-pitched for a full grown man. “They would strike at me?”
“Of course, Your Eminence. The up-timers are well aware that they no longer possess the advantage of surprise, and have seen that we are on guard for their tricks. So, failing at finesse, they will resort to brute force.”
“We have many tercios to dissuade them from such action, Senor Dolor.”
“Those tercios are less of a disincentive to up-timers than to our other adversaries, Your Eminence, owing to their style of warfare. The up-timers rely on speed and small, intensely destructive units, not set-piece field engagements. However, to mount a major rescue attempt now would require them to not only destroy or paralyze our units, but to do the same to our command centers-possibly by using immensely powerful, timed bombs. With you and the generals who assist you dead, our units might remain in their barracks, waiting for orders that never come.”
And now, it was time to play one of his trump cards in today’s game of scare the cardinal. “The agents of the USE might even be able to stir up a popular revolt to preoccupy our military assets in advance of such a strike, and so obscure their own actions. Such a plan might be welcomed by many communes of the Lazio. After all, we are not welcome here, and Duke Barberini has many friends in the hills that ring this city.”
Borja seemed alarmed. “Do you think such a disastrous course of events to be likely?”
Dolor smiled within: it was important not to overplay one’s hand. “No, I do not think it likely. However, I am less sure of our enemy’s next move, now. It was relatively easy to predict that they would employ their famed Harry Lefferts in a rescue attempt: the up-timers were as dazzled by his myth as the gullible Roman boys who emulated him.”
“So, you believe we have seen the last of Lefferts?”
“As a commander? For now, probably. But Harry Lefferts is still a dangerous weapon in service of the USE, whose leaders will now realize that in this scenario, it was not Lefferts who failed; it was his methods. Which means they will appoint a very different commander for their next rescue attempt.”
“Ah. You mean someone more like you.”
Dolor was not often surprised. But he had not yet thought through the probable nature of his next adversary, and he certainly had not expected such an insight to come from a rash pope-intendant. However, Borja’s spontaneous assertion had a certain elegant logic to it. “I suspect so, yes. At any rate, I do not expect their next captain to walk so blindly into a trap, no matter how well I lay it.”
“So our best option is-what?”
“To move Stone and his wife to a more distant location, as quickly as possible.” Seeing Borja about to sputter objections, Dolor extrapolated: “At this moment, we still hold the initiative. The up-timers are still fleeing, probably back to Venice, licking their wounds as they go. So this is the perfect time for us to move their objective. By the time they have recovered enough to begin reassessing the situation, the prisoners will be gone without a trace. We, of course, will maintain the charade that they are still being held in the insula Mattei. But I do not expect that ruse to buy us much extra time.”
Borja was still not placated. “And so now we must ship these two wretches off somewhere?” His tone became archly facetious. “Where would you propose to send them? To Madrid? Perhaps to be held in a chamber adjoining Philip’s own?”
Dolor shook his head. “No. The chamber next to the king would not be secure enough.” Seeing Borja’s dumbfounded stare, he shrugged. “A king has courtiers. Where there are courtiers, there are debtors. And where there are debtors, there are men who can be bought, extorted, or both. No, Your Eminence. I have someplace much better in mind. A place that will hard for the USE to find, impossible to assault, and so far away from here that you need not worry about becoming a target of their next attack.”
That last trump card won Dolor the prize he had hoped to gain. Borja waved airily. “Very well. It seems there are sound reasons for moving them. But before we drop the subject of the prisoners, show me the head of the Roman again.”
Dolor nodded to the man holding the appropriate bag. The face of Giovanna Stone’s brother Fabrizio rose back up out of the blood-spattered canvas that housed it.
As Borja smiled, the color drained from Ferrigno’s face. Almost as white as the paper upon which he was scribbling, Borja’s small secretary jumped up and withdrew several steps. Dolor raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Borja was staring at Fabrizio Marcoli’s head and sad, staring eyes. “Given young Stone’s meddling during the attack, I wonder if the head of his wife’s brother is a providential asset.”
Dolor frowned. “I am sorry, Your Eminence, but I do not understand what you mean.”
“Surely you must, Senor Dolor, being a man who understands the need for absolute discipline and obedience. Punishing Stone himself might bring edification through pain, but not so much through terror. And for a man such as Stone, the greatest terror will not be in anticipating further injury to himself, but to those he loves.” Borja’s smile became positively feral. “For instance, if we were to show this head to his wife, or better yet, present it to her in just one more covered dish brought in with breakfast-”
Dolor shook his head. “Think of the shock, Your Eminence; women have miscarried with far less provocation. Far less.” Borja was frowning, considering-but still not fully dissuaded. “And if the unborn child were lost we would have less political leverage against the USE. Also, the prisoners might become suicidally hostile instead of grudgingly cooperative. Right now, they are still concerned with protecting their unborn child. If they lose that child-particularly due to any action of ours-they might welcome death.”
Borja sighed and looked disappointed. “Yes, yes, I suppose what you say is wise. We shall not harrow the little she-devil as she deserves. But then you must take other steps to ensure that Stone has learned his lesson.
