Kate's voice was hard. “And do your legends tell you where the ceremonies are held? Snagov again?”

“No,” said Lucian. “But I don't think there'll be anything else at the monastery. Perhaps places important to the strigoi Family . . . important to the legend of Vlad Tepes. I don't know.”

Kate lay back on the dusty cushions. “This is nuts.” She pounded her fists against the door. “My baby has been kidnapped and I'm out playing Indiana Jones.”

Lucian made a noise. “It wasn't as interesting as Indiana Jones,” he said. “I couldn't see anything clearly. If there was a human sacrifice, I missed it. “ He realized what he had said and bit his lip.

No one stopped them as they took back streets to their abandoned tenement and basement apartment. Lucian parked in an alley a block from the building and they let themselves in with more exhaustion than precaution. No one was waiting in the cold darkness.

“What next?” asked O'Rourke. “Do we stake out Radu Fortuna's place again in the daylight?” He glanced at his watch. “It's almost daylight now.”

Lucian seemed to sag onto the cushions of the couch. “I don't know. I can't think.”

“Stay here tonight,” said Kate. “I think we should stay together. There are two mattresses on the little bed in there. We'll drag one out for you.”

Lucian could only nod.

“Let's sleep,” she said. “We're all stupid with fatigue. We'll talk about things later.” She realized that she needed solitude as much as sleep, that the idea of being aloneeven in the freezing, dank basement roomwas an almost physical necessity for her now.

They dragged out Lucian's mattress, there was a small domestic moment of finding an extra blanket, and then Kate was alone, the door locked. She slipped out of her grimy clothes, pulled flannel pajamas from her one bag, and crawled under the covers. She was shaking, more from the aftereffects of the long night than from the cold, but sleep settled on her like vertigo.

Suddenly she slammed awake and ran to the door, unlocking it with clumsy fingers. Lucian's flashlight beam caught her in the eyes and she waved it away, seeing the two men's startled faces even as she began to explain.

“I've been thinking all along that I'm going after Joshua as much for medical reasons as for personal ones. Do you understand? We had extracted and cloned the retrovirus at CDC . . . I told you that .. . . Chandra was beginning to understand the mechanism, I think, but more importantly, her team was doing trials on the virus's effect on cultured samples . . . cancer, HIV . . .”

“Neuman,” said O'Rourke, “can we talk about this later?”

“No!” said Kate. “Listen. It's important . . . I mean; the retrovirus has incredible immunologicaland oncological implications. But I've been fixated on finding Joshua . . . in retrieving the sample of Joshua's blood . . .”

Lucian was nodding. “I see. But you realize that any of the strigoi would do. Those men we saw tonight . . .”

“No!” Kate lowered her voice. “The body . . . the thing you have in the vat at the medical school. His blood has the pure Jvirus. I was so stupid . . . so obsessed with Joshua.”

Lucian was staring, rubbing his eyes. “I had no idea you could apply the strigoi virus for immunoreconstruction.” He stood up, naked, and began struggling into his jeans.

Kate set her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back onto the mattress, noting idly that his body was muscled in the way she liked men's bodies, a swimmer's or runner's physique. “Later today,” she said, “we'll get redundant samples, assay them to make sure that there's no contamination, and then get them to CDC Boulder. I'll include instructions so Ken Mauberly will know exactly what to do with the new team.”

“How . . .” began the priest.

“Your job will be to get the sample and my note to the U.S. Embassy,” she said. “One of your Franciscan priest buddies in mufti, perhaps. I'm sure the strigoi are watching for us to appear at the embassy.”

“Yes,” said Lucian. “That is certain.”

“But all we have to do is get the sample in,” continued Kate. She pointed at O'Rourke. “You invoke Senator Harlen's name in a note, or do whatever political magic you can, and the sample will be in a diplomatic pouch headed Stateside by tonight.”

The priest rubbed his beard. “It might work.”

“It will work,” said Kate. She was so tired that she sagged against the doorframe. “I didn't need Joshua's blood after all. “

“But that doesn't make any difference in your going after him, does it, Kate?” said O'Rourke.

She blinked at him. “No. No difference at all.”

O'Rourke pulled his blanket up. “Then we might as well get a couple of hours' sleep before we cure AIDS and cancer. It promises to be another long day.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

It was all on fire.

Lucian stopped the Dacia half a block from the medical school and he and Kate watched as the ancient fire trucks drove up over the curb or blocked the street while firemen ran hose to a single hydrant and shouted at each other through the fence surrounding the university. Smoke climbed in thick columns through the brisk morning air. Kate could see flames in the shattered medical school windows, the orange glow mirroring the reflected sunrise in the officebuilding windows on the west side of the street.

“Stay here,” said Lucian and walked toward the barricade of fire trucks and official vehicles. Despite the early hour, a small crowd had gathered.

Kate stepped out of the Dacia and leaned dejectedly against the car door. She had wakened after only two hours' sleep to find Lucian still asleep in the outer room and O'Rourke gone. There had been no note. She and Lucian had shared a cold breakfast, waited another twenty minutes for the priest, and then left a note saying only Gone to get the sample. Kate had thrown her single large carryon bag in the back of the Dacia, leaving only her toothbrush at the basement apartment.

Another fire truck roared by as Lucian walked back to the car. “The fire started in the basement,” he said. “The morgue and medical labs are gone. “ He settled behind the wheel, and Kate dropped into the passenger seat. The column of smoke was thicker now.

“Could it have been an accident?” she asked.

Lucian tapped the wheel. “We have to assume it's not. The strigoi must have traced me to the school and found their man. I doubt if they went to the trouble of removing him before they set the fire.”

Kate shuddered at the thought of the thing in the tank writhing while flames filled the basement. “What do we do?” she said.

Lucian started the Dacia and drove back to the area of narrow streets west of Cismigiu Gardens. He had pulled to a stop opposite their building when Kate said, “Keep moving!”

Lucian put the Dacia in gear and drove slowly down the street. “What?” he said without turning his head.

“The shade was down in my basement window when we left,” she said. “It's up now.”

“Perhaps Father O'Rourke“ began Lucian and then said, “Shit.” He was looking at the rearview mirror. “There's a car following us. It was parked in the alley near the corner.”

Kate resisted the urge to look back.

“It's a black Mercedes,” whispered Lucian. “The Securitate like to use diem.”

“They can't be very inconspicuous tailing people in a Mercedes,” said Kate, keeping her voice light. Her heart was pounding and she felt a little sick.

“The Securitate don't need to be inconspicuous,” said Lucian. He had turned right onto Strada Stirbei Voda and now had to wait as a streetcar lumbered out of a narrow side street and took on passengers. Traffic coming the other way on the narrow brick street kept him from passing. “Damn,” he whispered. “There's another one.”

Now Kate did turn and look. There were two Mercedes sedans behind the horse and wagon immediately behind them. The streetcar finally moved on and Lucian kept the Dacia close behind it, waiting for an opportunity to pass.