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Dorian laughed, bringing him out of his dour thoughts, and put the cap on. Klaus wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to the short, tight curls that clung to the thief’s head.

“My Major. My ball cap saving hero,” the Earl said with a wide grin. “But look! Marie Terese has made fresh lemonade, and there is some very nice wine that Benino brought up from the cellar. Come, sit down and we will have lunch. I am sure you are hungry after your great hat rescuing adventure.”

The thief waved his hand towards the wrought iron table with its matching chairs, set with a complete service for lunch. The entire terrace was shaded by a high sail awning that blocked the sunlight but not the view of the sea.

“Heh, no worse than having a statue lobbed at me,” he commented dryly, going to the table and sitting down opposite the other man. He was referring to a mission where Eroica had stolen a statue that had looked like Klaus, and he had thrown the statue at the Major after dropping it into the sea.

The smile widened and this time it did reach the Earl’s eyes. “Oh, but that is my prize! My own Major carved in stone. I still have it, you know. It holds a… place of honor at my home in North Downs. I’ve been known to stare at it for hours when I’ve been denied a glimpse of the real thing.”

“Idiot,” he growled, but he felt the corners of his lips turning up anyway. He took a sip of his lemonade to hide his amusement and watched the Earl fumble trying to uncork a bottle of wine.

“Oh, Major, be a dear and open this for me? I’ve no idea what’s gotten into me that I can’t open a simple wine bottle. Maybe I’ve gotten too much sun,” Eroica complained, handing him the bottle of white wine and a corkscrew.

He smirked, just about to call “bullshit,” but decided to humor the man. There was no way the Earl couldn’t open a stupid bottle of wine, he was just trying to get Klaus to do it so he could practice his grip and work his right hand. He had it open in short order and soon two glasses were poured as one of the waitstaff brought lunch out to their table.

“I thought, since it is such a gorgeous day, that we might take our luncheon out here on the terrace,” Dorian explained. “Perhaps I’ll even fancy a swim later. I saw you walking in the surf. Was the water warm?”

“Ja,” he replied, sipping the wine. It was fresh and light, perfect for the bright day and the offerings of mushroom risotto and roasted eggplant on garlic bread.

No sooner had he finished the first course when a steaming plate of braised beef with tortellini in a cream sauce was placed in front of him. It was accompanied by a selection of grilled vegetables drizzled with olive oil. The Earl got a much smaller portion of the same, but the cook delighted in stuffing Klaus silly. He’d have to take a long run on the beach later to make sure it went to muscle and not fat.

“If you want to solve world hunger, put an Italian in charge,” the Earl had told him breezily when he’d complained that he was eating too much.

“I’m afraid I do have some rather bad news, Major,” Dorian began.

Klaus had noticed the Earl picking at his food, a clear sign that the man was agitated, so he put down his fork and waited.

“Agent A was spotted in Maiori. It’s only a matter of time before he finds us.”

Klaus took another sip of his wine to wash down the lump of pasta that had lodged in his throat. “Herr A is a good intelligence agent. I trained him myself,” he managed to say.

“Well… yes, he is. I’ve always thought well of him, and you know Bonham and he are quite good friends – not that Bonham would ever give our location away to anyone…”

“I know that,” he assured him.

“But the fact remains that he’s been spotted. Frankly, I wouldn’t put it past him to have delayed searching for you in order to give you time to heal. He wasn’t completely against my keeping you, and I did so hate to gas him, but I do think he understood.”

Understood more than the Earl realized. By gassing Agent A and forcibly taking Klaus out of Switzerland, Dorian had protected both the agent and Klaus’s careers. Since Eroica had apparently acted against A and the Major’s wills, neither man could be held responsible, and therefore Klaus was not considered to be AWOL. It was a brilliant move, even if it severely jeopardized the Earl’s future relationship with NATO.

Klaus intended to fix that, though. He already knew what he was going to tell his superiors and the NATO psychologists about his abduction, and it would go a long way to smoothing ruffled feathers – especially if Iron Klaus returned to duty in nearly top condition after his ordeal.

“Regardless, what would you like to do? We could disappear again, if you like. If beaches are your preferred locale, we could slip away to Portugal or South Africa or if you really want to throw NATO for a loop, we could go to… America.”

He shuddered at the very thought of going to the United States – imagining all those rude Yanks, in bathing suits no less!! Always wearing swimwear unsuited to their body shape. He nearly gagged.

“Nein. I like it here,” he answered calmly when inside his chest was aching. He didn’t know if he was ready for what was coming, but it looked like – as usual – he wasn’t being given any choice.

“I suppose, since you are supposed to be my prisoner, I could lock you in the cellar, though I don’t think Jamesie would like sharing his austere cell with you,” the Earl suggested playfully, but there was a shadow behind his eyes.

“That could be classified as cruel and unusual punishment,” he pointed-out.

“Ah, it was just an idea. Shall I put a dog collar on you, then, and tether you to the bed?” The words had no sooner left his mouth when Dorian realized what he’d said, and he went pale as a ghost. “Oh! Oh, do forgive me, Major. I didn’t mean that! You know how I get when I’m agitated. I flirt and say inappropriate things…”

Dorian’s hands fluttered and his face twisted in his frustration. Klaus found it endearing, and he did know how the Earl flirted when he was on the defensive, which was why he didn’t take the thief’s faux pas to heart. “No apologies are necessary, although not too long ago, no one would have been surprised to find me in such a… compromising position.”

It was an attempt to joke, to tease the Earl in his own way, but it unfortunately fell flat. Dorian’s eyes filled with haunted pain and he looked away.

“But you know I’d never, ever, ever do that to you, right? You know it?”

“Ja, I know. It was just a joke, Lord Gloria.”

“Two months ago, I might have found it funny. If you hadn’t been missing. If I hadn’t found you… like that, but now…”

“Forgive me. It was in poor taste,” he apologized.

“Yes, but you’ve always had such a dark sense of humor. I should be relieved that your ordeal has dulled none of its edge,” Dorian admitted, cutting close to the bone as usual. The Earl had always understood him better than anyone.

He shrugged and took a sip of his wine and a few more bites of his pasta. He could see the waitstaff hovering just inside the kitchen doorway, waiting to bring out the third course as soon as he and Dorian were finished the second. Unfortunately, the Earl had barely touched his food.

“You should eat. The staff is getting anxious. They will think you don’t like what they’ve made,” he stated, trying to lighten the serious mood.

“Yes, yes, of course. They’ve been such a good staff while we’ve been here. I’d hate to make them fret on my account,” the Earl agreed and attempted to nibble at his vegetables, but he didn’t seem to want the beef and pasta, so Klaus took it from him, adding it to his own portion.

A salad of radicchio and field greens was brought out once he was finished the second course to cleanse his palate, followed by a dish of sliced fruit with a light glaze. The staff seemed to give the Earl a wider berth, and broke protocol by leaving the plates instead of clearing them away, allowing Dorian to pick at the food at his own pace.

‘They feed the hungry one and don’t worry about the bird,’ Klaus mused to himself as he ate heartily.

“So… what is the plan then, Major? Do we just stay here and let Agent A find us?” the Earl finally said.

“He probably already knows where we are, probably has the place under surveillance.”

“Oh dear. Do I have to worry about a bunch of men in flak jackets and Kevlar with assault rifles breaking in after dark some night to “rescue” you from my deviant clutches?”

He knew the Earl was only half joking, but a raid on the villa would be… unpleasant. He looked around, scouting the bluffs to see if he could locate a likely spot for a spy to watch the villa from a distance. There were two or three possible vantage points, and he sent telling scowls to each of the likely watchers in an attempt to warn them not to be stupid. Seeing him having a casual lunch on the terrace with Dorian, unharmed and not under duress, should temper A’s response or at least he hoped so. The Earl still slept beside him with a dagger under the pillow and three more within easy reach, so he couldn’t guarantee that Dorian wouldn’t throw a knife and do damage before he realized the intruders were the Major’s own men.

“I doubt it,” he deadpanned.

“Well, that’s good,” the other man commented, taking a sip of his lemonade.

“Cook will be cross with you. You have barely touched your lunch,” he scolded.

“I’m sorry. I just have no appetite.”

He watched as the Earl pulled the ball cap off his head and ran his hand through his short curls. Klaus didn’t like the expression on the Earl’s face, and he braced himself for what was to come. After nearly two months of avoiding the obvious, they had to talk about it sometime, best do it now and get it over with.

“I’m sorry. I knew this was coming… to be frank, I’m surprised it didn’t come sooner. I always knew this was only temporary, that… it would come to an end, but I… I tried not to think about it. I just focused on getting you well and keeping you safe, and I just didn’t think about what would happen… after. Tunnel vision, I guess, and naïve. But you needed me, and we were getting along so well. I wasn’t ready to give you up, to give you back to the world. I didn’t want things to go back the way they were,” Dorian said softly, his face downcast.

“Lord Gloria, things will never go back to the way they were,” he stated gently but firmly.

“No… I suppose they won’t, but still… I am sad to see this… whatever it’s been end. I am glad that it’s because you are alright, though, that you are all healed up… physically at least, and I’m glad of the part I played in your recovery.”

A serious Dorian always unnerved him; mostly because that was when the man’s true intellect and personality shone through. The persona of the brainless fop was easier to deal with, but he knew that things had to be said between them otherwise they might never get another chance. Throwing him a rope to keep him from falling off a roof or flying a helicopter into the line of fire was nothing like single-handedly breaking into an enemy compound to rescue him. He owed the Earl his life, and that was not something he ever took lightly.

“You saved me. Never forget that. You found me and you saved me,” he said.

The Earl looked out at the sea, his eyes far away. “I had to. To save you was to save myself. I am only sorry it took me so long to find where you were. None of my normal avenues of information worked. Militias fancy themselves honest men; they do not consort with thieves and murderers.”

The inflection the Earl put on the word “murderers” triggered a warning alarm in his head, and he once again remembered the fuzzy vision of the Earl taking him into the room with the unconscious men.

“Lord Gloria…” he began.

“Oh, no. Your face looks so troubled, Major. I’m not going to like this, am I?” Dorian asked, facing him again, his eyes wide. There was a ghost of fear in them.

He pressed on, gritting his teeth. “Lord Gloria… I… have a memory that I do not know if it is real or not. It is from the day you rescued me. I remember you taking me into a room with six unconscious men. You sat me down and you… asked me to identify the men who… raped me.”

He paused to take in the man’s face, but Eroica had closed himself off, his expression blank. That alone told him everything he needed to know, but he continued. He needed to hear it from the Earl’s own lips.

“I identified four of the six, and you… responded by slitting their throats. Did you… did you do this thing or am I remembering falsely?”

There was a very long pause where Dorian looked at him. He met the blue eyes and felt the other man trying to assess him, trying to decide what would be the right way to answer. Finally, the Earl broke eye contact and looked at his hands.

“Yes. Yes, I killed them,” the other man admitted in a whisper.

Klaus closed his eyes as the answer settled between them. He’d known the truth the moment he’d seen the Earl’s expression harden, but it was different to hear him admit it. Dorian was a thief and a nuisance, but he’d never been a killer. Had Klaus made him so?

“Why?” he asked. “They were incapacitated. They were no threat to you. Why did you kill them?”

“You have to ask?”

He slammed his fist on the table, rattling the glassware. “Yes, damnit! I have to ask! You’re a thief, not a murderer!”

“They hurt you! They raped you! They deserved what they got!” the Earl snapped, then looked away, his expression hopeless and broken.

“Twenty-three years. Twenty-three years, I have waited for you, Major. I have stood by and let you insult me and abuse me and reject me, all in the hope that… one day… you would see me for who I really am: the man who loves you with everything he has. I forsook all others. I’ve been celibate for fifteen years. I don’t want anyone else.

“The last few years, I have been so hopeful. We were getting along. We didn’t fight as much, and you weren’t so angry with me all the time. I thought that… maybe… you were even starting to like me, just a little bit. I thought that if I just stayed faithful, and kept proving my worth to you, that… maybe… in another two years, you would accept me.”

Dorian paused and Klaus thought he looked desolate.

“Then those men caught you, and they hurt you in ways no one should ever be hurt, and they ruined everything. You’ll never love me now. You’ll never let me love you. All my effort and patience, wiped out by a pack of raping sadists. All my hope is gone. I’ve no chance to win you now, and even if I could open my heart enough to love someone who could love me back, that person will never, ever be you.”

The Earl took a deep breath and gave Klaus a glare that could sear through iron.

“Those men killed my dreams, Major. That alone was worth their deaths.”

He was speechless because there really wasn’t anything he could say. It worked in his favor, though, because it turned out that the Earl wasn’t done, and he was startled when Dorian rose to his feet, head bowed, hands limp at his sides.

“But since we are on the subject, I have something for you. Stay here.”

He watched as the Earl walked stiffly into the villa. Once he was out of sight, the waitstaff swarmed out to quickly remove the lunch plates, but they left the wine and lemonade at Klaus’s request. After they were done, he scanned the bluffs again, searching out the hidden watcher, and used his hands to send a message to whoever was out there.

/Stay away. Do not come here. I will come to you,/ he signed to the locations he thought were occupied. After the third time, he saw a flash of light from a distant hilltop, blinking in a pattern he recognized as someone letting him know his message was received. It was a relief because he had wanted to meet his men on his terms, not on theirs.

He sat back in the chair, sipping his wine, and watching the sea, acutely aware that he was being observed. He should have told the watcher to clear out, but by the time he’d garnered the resolve to send another message, the door to the villa was opening again and Dorian was stepping out. What the thief had in his hands made him surge to his feet and block the view of who was spying on them, and he prayed that the watcher hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the object or at least that he didn’t have a sniper rifle.

He put his hands behind his back and frantically signed the order to stand down just in case, and he held his breath as Dorian approached with the Magnum .44 in his tight grip. He was holding it by the barrel and the hilt with the gun flat against his abdomen, and he cradled it that way until he reached the table where he gently placed the gun down on its side. Klaus snatched it up as soon as the thief pulled his hand away.

The last time he’d seen the gun had been… Memory surged back, and he sat down with a heavy thud, torn between weeping with joy for the return of his precious prize or throwing it into the sea.

“I didn’t kill four men. I killed six,” the thief informed in a soft voice.

He looked up at the other man, taking in the subdued body language and resigned expression.

“The reason I found you was… I was in a low-class bar, one my sources said was a popular haunt of the men I was looking for. I was disguised, of course, in an outfit that made me look like a burned out soldier. I tucked my hair into a dark wig and put contacts in my eyes, but I was still fearful that someone might see through me.

“On my fourth night staking out the place, I overheard two men talking, bragging about their exploits, and I soon realized that they were… bragging about you. The things they were saying…”

He saw Dorian clench his fists, and he could only imagine what the men had been “bragging” about.

“When they left the bar, I followed, and, when the opportunity presented itself, I knocked them out with one of Bonham’s soporifics and dragged them into a vacant warehouse. There I tied them up and used some of the methods I learned from you over the years to interrogate them. I think you would have been proud of me, Major, I had them singing for me in minutes. Those brave, military boys just caved under my Iron Klaus glare, though I suppose threatening them with your Magnum might have had something to do with it. The one little bastard had had the audacity to steal it from you and carry it on his person as brazen as could be, so I took it from him. They had no idea that I’m horrible with guns, but the things they told me…”

The Earl sounded like he was about to be sick, and he didn’t need to question why. He knew what things Dorian was talking about; he’d been there when the acts were committed.

“I killed them quickly, the same way I killed those four in the compound, but not until they had told me where to find you. I took the gun with me because I knew you’d want it back no matter what they had done with it. And then I made my way to the address they had given me. What I found there was even worse than what my own imagination had conjured from what I’d been told. I always thought I knew what nightmares looked like, but I had no idea…

“After that, after… seeing for myself, it was easy to kill the rest of them. You can’t blame me, Major, for wanting them dead. What they did was inhuman.”

The truth was, he couldn’t. He’d wished his captors dead any number of times, and he knew the world had suffered no big loss, but it was hard to reconcile that it was Dorian who had cut their throats as easily as he would have stolen a painting. Then again, if their positions had been reversed, and he had been the one to walk in on that scene…

He’d have blown their heads off without a second thought, and he wouldn’t have asked who was guilty and who was not.

“No. No, I can’t,” he admitted, looking down at his gun.

“The little weasel who took it from you told me what they did with it. I tried to clean it, but I was afraid to take it apart, and I didn’t dare show Bonham or Mr. James. Jamesie would have stolen it from me and sold it on the black market to the highest bidder.”

He had no doubt that Iron Klaus’s Magnum would have fetched a hefty sum.

“Ja. Thank you for getting it back and keeping it safe for me,” he said.

“I can get a gun cleaning kit for you in town, if you’d like. I’m sure there are… things you want to do to it before you use it again.”

“That would be good. Thank you.”

He turned the Magnum over in his hands, remembering the last time he’d seen it. His captors had sodomized him with it and threatened to fire it while the barrel was still inside him. He knew he could scrub every millimeter of its polished surface, but he didn’t know if he could ever get it clean. Still, he was very glad to have it back, and it spoke of how well Dorian knew him that the thief had kept the gun in order to return it to its rightful owner.

“I see that lunch has been cleared away,” he heard the Earl comment.

“Oh. I’m sorry, were you not done eating?”

“No. I was. I just feel poorly for the cook, and Jamesie hates it when I waste food.”

He chuckled. “Knowing that Stingy Bug, he’s already raided the garbage for the leftovers.”

That got a small smile out of Dorian. “True.”

“Where is Bonham, anyway? I haven’t seen him since breakfast.”

“In the garage, I think. There was an issue with the car after he got back from running into town. Something about the engine making an odd noise. He was going to work on it and see what was wrong,” the Earl answered, leaning on the stone wall of the terrace and looking out at the blue water.

Klaus rose to his feet eagerly. The car wasn’t one of those useless Italian coupes (those drew too much attention when they were trying to be inconspicuous,) but an older model BMW sedan.

“A problem with the car? Why didn’t you say so? I am very good with engines. What would Roly-Poly know about staid, German engineering?”

The Earl laughed and gave him a smile. “Best you get over there then and make sure my man is doing a good enough job. I’m going to go down to the beach, maybe even take a swim. See you at dinner, if not sooner?”

“Ja. Ja. Don’t get eaten by sharks.”

“I’ll try not to, my dear Major. Good luck.”

He grunted a response, but he was already headed into the house after a signing a quick “all is well” to whoever was watching from the hilltop. He took a detour to the bedroom to stow his gun in a safe place, and to put on suitable clothes for working in a garage. He had no coveralls, but he did have a pair of jeans and a dark colored t-shirt, and a pair of sturdy boots.

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