13 WINDOWS

Chapter 29 Part 3: SINAIA

When Rupert finally awoke he felt a heavy pressure on his chest. He wondered if he was having a heart attack. His eyes were blurry and his heart seemed to be beating very slowly. He was exhausted. He looked out the window. The train was slowly entering the station and the sky was dark. He could see from the signs inside the station that they had arrived in Sinaia. Rupert had slept through the entire journey, but he did not feel refreshed. In fact, he felt like he had been drugged.

A train conductor, a tiny woman in her forties with short spiky hair, opened the door to the compartment and said something in Romanian to Rupert. He rose up too quickly and the blood seemed to take a while to get to his head. He felt dizzy and then he collapsed. The conductor grabbed a hold of him under his arms.

Rupert was awoken again, this time by two conductors. He was lying on the compartment seat and they were waving newspapers over his face like a fan. Rupert was in a cold sweat. He sat up.

"Danke," Rupert said, thanking them.

"Ai fost drogat," said the conductor.

Rupert felt a little more clear-headed than he had before. He grabbed the arms of the conductors and they helped him up. They were trying to say something urgent to him, but Rupert couldn't comprehend what they were saying. He tried to speak to them in English but they just kept shaking their heads saying, "We do not speak English." They did not seem to want him to leave. He was sure they had said something about the police. He grabbed his bag and forced his way past them out of the compartment.

Rupert stepped off the train onto the platform. The October air was crisp. Sinaia was a thin, winding town that was wedged inside a valley in the Carpathians. He was looking forward to a good nights rest so he could wake up in the daylight and see the mountains that must be surrounding him.

Rupert walked out of the train station looking for the hotel he had booked back in Bucharest. He desperately needed to sleep off his exhaustion. He looked up at the Palliser Hotel across the street. The white hotel stood majestically at the top of a hill. He crossed the street and walked up towards the garden gate, which then led up the hill to the back entrance.

The Palliser Hotel was a good name for it since it had a palatial back garden doorway with two large majestic wings branching off of each side. Rupert stepped into the large lobby. Several vacationers were sitting by an immense fireplace. Two long winding stairwells led all the way up to the third floor. He immediately thought of the movie The Shining.

'Great,' he thought. 'I'm in Transylvania hunting down a Nazi in the hotel from The Shining.'

Rupert was relieved that the young woman at the front desk spoke some English. She had the reservation on her computer and asked Rupert for his identification. Rupert went to grab his wallet in his leather jacket, but it wasn't there.

"Oh shit," Rupert said patting around all the pockets. He checked his jeans. The wallet was gone. Rupert had a sinking feeling.

"Sir. Is everything all right?"

"My wallet. I've lost my wallet," Rupert said stunned. "I must have...been robbed. On the train." He rubbed his temple. He still felt like he had been drugged.

"Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that sir. Do you have your passport at least?" she asked.

Rupert remembered that he had kept his passport separate inside of his bag. He unzipped it and rummaged through his stuff. Sure enough his passport was still there. He handed it to the woman at the desk.

"You should contact your credit card company right away, sir. Now normally we would need a copy of your credit card, but I think my manager will understand under the circumstances," she said trying to ease Rupert's nerves. He looked quite alarmed.