When Dead in Greece (13 page)

I recalled the paper Alik and I had found in the cellar of the abandoned house.

“How did he pull it off?” I said. “How did he make you believe she had the surgery?”

“She was in bad shape by that point. She didn’t know what was going on. He sent her away for a little bit. Told us the doctor said no one could see her. I don’t think she was ever coherent again. It wasn’t long after that she passed. But I’d look at her, and say something about the procedure, and she’d get this confused look.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. Where’s the money then?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s hiding it somewhere. And I want him to pay it back. I want him to pay it back with interest, because he hurt my mother, and he stole my life from me. If my aunt had had the operation, I might have been able to leave and continue with my education. Instead, I wept for my aunt, for my tortured mother, and for my distraught uncle. And I stayed. The old bastard duped everyone. He robbed me of my future, Jack.”

I glanced back at the old guy. He sat stoic, said nothing, made no movement or gesture.

Isadora said, “I don’t want to see him again. I don’t want to go back there. They are treating me well here.” She nodded at Kostas. “Uncle Esau needs to repay his debt. I’ll wait here until you return with the rest of the money.”

I leaned in close to her. Her lips brushed my cheek. I spoke softly. “You don’t have to do this. If they’re putting you up to this, tell me. I can get you out of here.”

“No, Jack,” she whispered. “It’s all true. Please, just go and get the rest.”

I remained there for a moment. Her breath was hot on my neck. Her skin soft against mine. I didn’t know what to think. The whole situation had been turned upside down. I needed space and time to work it out. Needed to run it by Alik. Needed to speak to Esau and get the truth from him.

“Two days, Jack Noble,” the Kostas said.

“What if he doesn’t have it?” I said.

“He’d better.”

“And if he doesn’t? Will you take the cafe?”

“We already worked it out that the place doesn’t earn anything. Why would I want it?”

“It’s something, at least.”

“He has two days to come up with the money.”

The old guy’s stare shifted to the door. I heard it open. Looked back. Chris had left his position and someone else took it. He walked over to where Isadora sat. Stopped behind her. Pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the top of her head.

She gasped and sunk into the couch. The guy yanked her back up by a fistful of hair.

“Use your imagination, Jack Noble,” the old guy said.

I crossed the room, stopped at the door, looked back at Isadora. “Should’ve left and given me your monologue on the plane.”

Chapter 24

A GROUP OF MEN USHERED me down the hallway, along the outside walkway, and into the square room with the women. About half were still there. None were nude. Maybe I had come through at shift change. Maybe they were hired only for the night. A celebration? Three guys sat with six women on two couches. Everyone looked at me.

“Wait here,” the bald guy with the fat head and mustache said.

He bumped into me as he passed on his way to the front door. One of the women smiled at me. I looked away from her. The door opened up. The car sat outside.

“OK,” the bald guy said. “Let’s go.”

They escorted me outside. One guy sat up front. The bald guy in back with me.

“We’ll have no problems, right?” he said.

I shrugged, said nothing.

“I’d feel better if you agreed with me,” he said.

“I’d feel better if I had the girl with me,” I said.

“You want a woman?” He lifted an eyebrow and smiled. “I can go back inside and get you one.”

I looked away. “We’ll have no problems. Now let’s go.”

The drive was quicker going back. Less than ten minutes had passed when I first spotted the lights of the airport. Either they’d driven in circles on the way to the house, or time slowed down with the blindfold on. I wasn’t sure why they hadn’t put it back on now. I figured the guy wasn’t used to doing this and had screwed up.

So I spent the entire drive remembering every landmark we passed while looking like I was doing nothing but nodding off to sleep.

The jet remained on the apron where we’d left it. The driver pulled up next to it. The front door opened. The guy walked around the back of the car, opened my door.

“Get out,” the bald guy with the mustache said.

“What about you?”

He shook his head. “Only you. Get on the plane. We’re gonna wait right here and watch and make sure you are on board when it lifts off.”

“And if I don’t get on?”

He pulled back his coat and grabbed the handle of his pistol.

I looked up at his smiling face. “You know you wouldn’t get that out before I hit you.”

“You want to try it? Be my guest.”

I heard the guy behind me back up and rack the slide of his pistol. The sound came from three or four feet away. Even if I did get to the bald guy in time, I’d still get shot.

“Well?” he said.

“You’d better hope you’re not at the house next time I’m there.” I swung my leg and planted it on the ground.
 
Heard the other door open. When I stood, he was watching me from over the roof.

“You don’t want there to be a next time,” he said. “A next time means the end of your life. Now get on that plane.”

A surge of anger rose up like bitter bile in my throat. I forced it down. Nothing good could come from getting into a fight out here. Not when I had two armed men who remained out of arm’s reach.

A second car pulled in. Headlights washed over the tarmac. Doors opened. Two other guys got out. Two silhouettes approached me. I figured they were joining me on the flight.

Chris walked right up to me. He reached into his pocket. I tightened my chest and arms to ready them for action. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it between us.

“For Esau,” he said. “Make sure he gets it.”

I took it from him and slipped it in my pocket. Thought about what it might be. A finger? Wasn’t thick enough. And there was no lump. Maybe a lock of hair.

“A revised contract,” he said. Then he smiled. “Written in the woman’s blood.”

Something happened in my brain and signals traveled along synapses then down my nerves and reached my arms and the muscles fired on their own. My left hand rose up in a defensive position while the right drove forward a distance less than a foot. But the distance didn’t matter because my fist was a like an engine revved to the red line and suddenly thrown into gear. It plowed forward hard and fast while the fingers curled and rose and my palm drove into the guy’s solar plexus.

It happened so fast he didn’t have time to deflect the blow or prepare his abdominal muscles for the strike.

He expelled all the air in his lungs and his shoulders hunched forward while his back bowed. A flurry of movement occurred around me as three men pulled their weapons and started shouting in as many languages. Chris dropped to his knees. He had one arm wrapped around his stomach and the other planted on the ground for support. He was desperately trying to suck in a mouthful of air. All that happened was he made a gritty hollow type sound and his face turned red in the false light.

The metal stairs and deck next to the jet clanged as it filled with the pilot and the rest of the flight crew. They watched on with open mouths and spoke in hushed tones.

The bald guy started shouting at me. The other two joined in. They drew closer to me. I couldn’t see all three at once. I stepped back and turned in a quarter-circle.

“Enough,” Chris shouted. He cradled his gut with one hand and lifted the other. He swayed on his knees, then lifted one and got a foot planted on the ground. “No one harms him. He gets on the plane. Those are orders. Got it?”

No one moved. Someone coughed from the platform. They followed it up with something in Greek. Sounded timid.

“Got it?” the guy shouted.

Three sets of hard-soled shoes backed away from me. I looked around and saw three weapons holstered. Another chance to do something. Not enough of one. As soon as I secured a weapon, the others would be raining bullets on me, orders or not.

“Now get on the damn plane, Jack, and hope that you never encounter me again.”

Chapter 25

AS I CLIMBED THE STAIRS, the breeze grew stiffer. Still smelled of oil and gas and rubber, as though I stood in a mechanic’s garage. The railing felt cool and slick. Half the flight crew boarded before me. The other half followed me in. My escorts remained on the ground. I took a seat on the side of the plane nearest them and stared out the window. One by one, they broke off their gaze and returned to their respective vehicle. Chris remained until the end. He watched me while the jet taxied and was still standing there when we barreled down the runway, his black suit flapping.

Like the drive to the small airport, the flight back was shorter. I figured that was something out of Kosta’s control. Not much was, it seemed. Even had me under it.

To a point, at least.

I’d hand over the letter and I’d make Esau tell me where the rest of the money was hidden. I’d arrange the drop and even bring the money if I had to, so long as it was public. No way in hell was I going back to the house. They could threaten me with anything they wanted and I wouldn’t step foot in there again.

I wondered if Alik could arrange someplace else for us to stay. Would Frank go for it? Would he send some help to deal with the mess, or apply pressure to Kostas? He was one of Greece’s top criminals. Surely he didn’t want the SIS or CIA looking into his dealings. Likewise, Kostas presumably had contacts within the Greek government and potentially in intelligence. That caused all sorts of problems. The kind of problems Frank wouldn’t want to deal with.

The jet crested, hung there for a moment, and then began its descent. The airstrip was in view. The pilot banked left, looped around, then dropped the bird down and landed.

A woman came out and opened the door. She looked at me, smiled, turned, disappeared into the cockpit. They wanted nothing to do with me. I was surprised they hadn’t locked the doors after what had happened on the ground. They must’ve been on the old guy’s payroll. Only explanation.

I rose and made my way to the door, passing bursts of stale air from the overhead vents, happy to get out. At the opening I swept my gaze across the lighted tarmac. At the edge of the wash I saw a familiar sight. Esau’s car. Alik stepped forward. Both hands were out of view. Both held a weapon, I presumed. He nodded. I returned the gesture, then I exited and climbed down the stairs. The whine of the jet engine blocked out all other sounds. Alik turned his head left and right and looked over his shoulders. Even when his head didn’t move, his eyes darted around.

Ten feet away, I said, “Relax, it’s only me. Everyone else stayed behind.”

It didn’t calm him.

“How’d you know I’d be here?” I said.

“They called with the phone you brought,” Alik said.

He’d left the car running. We got inside. He shifted into gear before I had my door shut.

“They say anything worth mentioning?” I said.

Alik shrugged. “Just that you were on a plane and where and when to pick you up. Said I had better be there on time because they had snipers on the ground and if you stood there for five minutes they’d blow your head off.”

Now I understood his apprehension. He hadn’t been afraid of anyone on the plane. I glanced around, wondering whether it was true or if they were trying to get a rise out of us.

“Bullshit,” I said. “Where are they hiding?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” He turned onto the road and slammed the gas to the floor. The cabin darkened and filled with diesel fumes. I lowered my window an inch. The wind roared in and out and neutralized the air.

“Did you tell Esau?” I said.

“No,” he said.

“Care to know what happened?”

“Not really.”

“I need to talk to someone about it.”

“Call them when we get back to the apartment.”

“Dammit, Alik. This isn’t over. And until it’s over, we aren’t safe in the apartment. So either get Frank on the phone and tell him we need to move or cooperate and listen to me.”

He clutched the steering wheel with both hands while glancing between the road and me. He jerked to the right and we slid to a stop on the gravely shoulder.

“So tell me then,” Alik said.

He faced me while I told him what had happened at the house, starting with the blindfolded ride, and all the way up to punching Chris and no one doing anything about it.

“So they think you can deliver?” Alik said.

I shrugged. “Guess they’re thinking I can. The money has to be somewhere, right? If Esau doesn’t come up with it, he’s a dead man. And Isadora won’t leave the house alive. They made that clear.”

“You want me to call Frank? Get us out of here?”

I sat for a long moment, staring out into the blackness. Part of me agreed that getting Frank involved was the best option. He could move us. Maybe I could convince him to send some muscle over to help free Isadora. Chances of that were slim, though. Frank was under intense scrutiny lately. Always being watched by someone in the Pentagon. They’d see the movement no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Would only be a matter of time before they tracked it back to me.

“Frank’s out,” I said.

“Why?”

“Only thing he can do is get us off the island.”

“How is that a bad thing?”

“I know you compartmentalize well, Alik. I do most of the time, too. But this isn’t part of the job. It’s become personal.”

He shifted into gear and started the car rolling forward again. “I guess it’s time to shake down Esau then.”

Chapter 26

ALL THE LIGHTS WERE ON inside the cafe when we pulled up to the curb. Someone had placed a large piece of plywood over the shattered window. Perhaps they were there now making the repair. I scanned my surroundings, then jogged over and peered inside. The dining room was empty. A tool bag sat open on a table.

“Let’s go around,” Alik said.