The negotiations with Lecky were long and terrifying. It finally dawned on Fischer and Jessen that they belonged to Lecky and he wasn’t going to let them go. Jessen had a much easier time. He was used to obeying every order without question. Fischer fumed, muttered, and moaned about being a servant to the wrinkled little man.
The subject Lecky returned to time and again, was how his two new servants were going to earn their way to survival. If they didn’t bring in enough money Lecky would kill them without hesitation. He told them this and at the same time images of traditional wizard executions appeared in their minds. The professor and the technician both knew that Lecky was not joking.
The computer, the map, and the phones were taken by Lecky. He vanished them and told his servants they might get them back again if he was satisfied with their efforts. The task he gave them was to identify anyone rich who could be kidnapped and enslaved after signing over their wealth to Lecky. Jessen didn’t know anyone but bar flies like himself and the tiny handful of people like Fischer who worked in the grey area between legality and criminality.
The professor racked his mind for anyone rich enough to be made a victim. Finally, it came, Dr Anastasia Zaitseva. She had got a private sponsor for her new project, Leo Blake, The Viscount Pimlico. He knew exactly where Leo Blake would be and exactly the time he would be there. Fischer had just received an invitation to attend a reception for Viscount Pimlico. Fischer was invited as a matter of courtesy because of his previous connections with Anastasia Zaitseva. They didn’t expect him to show up. This was what Lecky needed to set up a snatch.
The plans were made with frightening speed and ruthlessness. Fischer had no doubt that Lecky would kill him in an instant if he failed to carry out Lecky’s instructions. The two stages of the plan were that Fischer had to present an American First Nations charm to Lord Pimlico. All that had to happen was that Pimlico was to have the charm on him at 10 pm. The charm was a portkey which would activate at 10 pm London time. Lord Pimlico would then be transported to the USA. Anything or any person he was holding on to at the time would be transported with him.
Wizards would be detected by the wizard security if they tried to enter the reception so wizards would not be used on the actual snatch.
The criminals known to Lecky in Europe had another target. They wanted to snatch Lady Blake for ransom as well. The security around her was too much to break by normal attack. If a way could be found to get to the security supervisor in Paris, then the wards at the villa she was staying at could be broken. Jessen was to be sent to Paris. He would be set up to approach the supervisor and activate his enchanted cell phone to Imperious the supervisor. The supervisor would then be instructed to add the names of the villa snatchers to the villa wards to let them in. A local hired criminal would then dispose of the supervisor.
The villa snatch was a complete disaster. All the snatchers were killed or captured. Jessen returned to California by portkey the moment the Imperious curse was cast and the wards broken. He didn’t want to be caught in Paris with his killer accomplice.
The reception snatch worked. Leo Blake was now locked in a storeroom in a barn at the ranch. A second snatch was accidently made. Anastasia had been talking to Leo with her hand on his arm at 10 pm. She arrived in the USA with Leo Blake.
It was dark, a voice called out, “There’s another one, send her on after him.”
Two more portkey trips and Anastasia was put in a lock-up room next to Leo.
The castle had now become Lecky’s favourite lair. He was satisfied that it wasn’t going to revert to nothing or otherwise disappear, and that all the material used came from the same place. The stone had been quarried out from shafts and galleries dug under the castle itself. The space created allowed for many more dungeons than was in the original. The few pieces of timber came from nearby pine groves. Lecky had added a dis-illusionment charm so that the rare visitors to the ranch wouldn’t easily find the castle. Fischer and Jessen stayed in the bunk house.
“Someone will miss you soon, won’t they?” Jessen was hopeful, no one would miss him. “You’re a professor at a big university. Somebody knows you own this place. They will send someone out here to look for you.”
The cars would not start. They tried walking off the property when Lecky wasn’t around. They’d go to the boundary line and couldn’t move any further. The only thing they could do was turn around and trudge back to the old ranch buildings.
“Maybe! The way things were going with the department committees, they might forget that I was supposed to turn up there sometimes.” Fischer was definitely going to need therapy after this, if he lived.
The prisoners in the barn were not co-operating. Lecky put his demands to Leo. Leo did not make any response. He was taken to the castle for Lecky to interrogate him. Lecky used every trick he could, but one thing he couldn’t do was break into Leo’s mind using Legilimency. Leo found that he was a fair Legilimens but nowhere as powerful as Daphne. Leo’s Occlumency stood the test.
Lecky questioned Leo with increasing intensity to break his resolve. Leo concentrated his efforts to repel Lecky and found that he was able to reach Anastasia and block out any Legilimens attacks on her. The interrogation was exhausting, Lecky new that if he kept up the pressure, he could break down an isolated prisoner. After the first week the prisoners survived, just.
The attacks were not continuous. Lecky had to leave frequently, sometimes for days at a time. This left only the two muggles around the place. They never came into the barn except to push basic food and drink through a hatch next to the door. The muggle guards were armed with assault rifles. No talking was allowed at any time, except to Lecky.
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