The Robber Princess

Chapter 22. The Albatross Around Her Neck

Chapter 22

About the time Colonel Mason arrived at Nardini's home in Rome, Brickelstein got another phone call from Folkering in Mumbai. Angelica had been arrested, formally charged as an accessory to the theft of the Eidelstein, and was being processed for extradition to Eidelmark. Folkering's work was largely done; his remaining responsibilities were to work with the Prosecutor to prepare for Angelica's trial—and to receive the Distinguished Service Citation with Highest Honors, for which Brickelstein recommended for him that morning.

This development was also good news in that it would provide Brickelstein with further leverage against Regina. With most of her associates in custody, Marcelo himself incapacitated (albeit under murky circumstances which Brickelstein did not at all condone), and her own sister facing criminal trial in an enemy state, Regina might be induced to simply surrender the Eidelstein and get it over with.

All he needed at that point was a place to look for her. At about noon he got it.

"Your ploy to coerce Nardini worked beautifully," said Mason gleefully on his cell phone at Fiumicino airport. "With the S-G's help I got a whole squad of Italian police to go with me to Nardini's house. I threatened to formally charge him with two counts of attempted kidnapping and put him away for twenty years, and the man squealed like he'd landed on his balls."

Brickelstein did not understand the expression. "Nardini landed? From where did he take off?"

Mason laughed. "Never mind, I'll explain it to you at Princess Regina's trial, okay? Anyway, Nardini told me where that hideout is. Are you at your laptop?" Brickelstein went to it, opened up Google maps, and keyed in the set of coordinates that Mason gave him. "By the way, any word from Prince Franz?"

"Yes, about an hour ago. Princess Angelica has been arrested and charged as an accessory."

"Hot damn!" exclaimed Mason. "I think we're near the end of this!" Brickelstein slumped in his chair slightly. Mason was right; with the world closing in on Regina, her apprehension and the case's closure was inevitable. But it also meant the end of their long-distance love affair.

After exchanging parting pleasantries, Brickelstein ended the call and studied the Google map. The hideout was truly remote. To get there, he would have to take Via Ambato-Quisapincha to the nearby town of Quisapincha. That road alone looked so windy that he already felt a little queasy. Then he would take Via Punguloma Quisapincha up into the mountains and the mere sight of that road on the map almost made him airsick. Then there was a series of ... "roads" that were on Google maps but had no names. The coordinates of Marcelo's Andean retreat were about 2 ½ kilometers west of the end of the closest one of those unnamed roads.

He showed the map to Colonel Barrios over lunch. He shook his head. "I was afraid of this. We'll have to go by mule. It will be slow and difficult. I doubt we can find a guide who's willing to work with us; like I said, we almost never get any cooperation from the locals."

"How long will it take to get out there?"

Colonel Barrios studied the map further. "If we have to rent the mules in Ambato, then I'd say about five hours. And up in the mountains we should travel by day only."

"I'd like to be there in time to arrest Princess Regina and get back to Ambato the same day. She's an extreme flight risk."

"We can start out tomorrow at first light. Provisioning will take the rest of today anyway. We should take overnight gear, just in case." Brickelstein nodded his assent.

At first light the next morning, Brickelstein set out with Colonel Barrios and two local officers. As Barrios had feared, no one with intimate knowledge of the terrain was willing to help them. They needed seven mules—four for each of them, two to carry camping gear and provisions, and one for Regina. The trip to Quisapincha was easy but after that the road was as steep and foreboding as the maps had portended. Once they left the last unnamed road, the going was very slow; they had to document their route very carefully to keep from getting lost. Brickelstein had hoped to make it to the hideout by mid-morning but the journey took seven hours, not five.