When Dead in Greece (9 page)

“And these men who’ve been bothering you?”

“His guys.”

“I thought so.” I looked at Alik for a moment, then back at Esau. “What was the arrangement again?”

Esau was fidgeting with his fingers and hesitated a moment before answering. In a meek voice, he said, “Ten thousand the first year, then twenty each year after.”

“So not quite the ‘pay it back when you can,’ that you mentioned.”

“He changed the terms on me.”

“When?”

“After Eleni died.”

Chapter 16

ALIK AND I RETREATED TO our apartment. We only had four or so hours until seven. Until the instructions arrived. We spent an hour scouring the place for anything I could use as a weapon. It had to be something easy to conceal. I was about to walk into a hornet’s nest, dealing with men who worked for one of Greece’s biggest criminals. Damned if I was doing it naked.

We went over the things Esau had said. It added up, to a point. He spoke of their friendship in a way that nothing could break the bond. I knew what it was like to bleed with a friend. To risk everything to save their life, and have them do the same in return. My old partner Bear could call me any time of day or night, and from anywhere in the world, and I’d show up in a heartbeat even if it meant taking a bullet for him.

And while a hundred thousand was a lot of money, it sounded like peanuts to Kostas. I could see him shaking down his old friend to instill a bit of fear as payback, but then writing it off as a bad debt and moving on. Why go after Esau like this? Hell, why go after Isadora? If Esau had the money, he’d have paid. There was nothing to gain here.

“Maybe he’s got the cash somewhere,” I said.

Alik stopped what he was doing and turned to me. “Why do you say that?”

“Why else would this guy kidnap Isadora? If Esau can’t pay up, they gotta kill her. What good does that do anyone? Just take
him
out and be done with it.”

“They want him to suffer,” Alik said.

“He’s already lost his wife,” I said.

“Guess it’s possible he didn’t care about her.”

“He moved here for her.”

“I don’t know, Jack. I don’t care. I hate how far this has gone. I think we need to scrap this plan and call the police.”

“No. We do that, Isadora dies.”

“We don’t do that and you die. Then her. Then Esau. And maybe me after that. If they don’t get me, Frank Skinner will.”

“So leave if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

“I’m not afraid, Jack. I just don’t want to see you killed over something that isn’t your battle.”

“I’ve made it my battle.”

“Why?” He held his hands up and had a dumbfounded look on his face.

“Haven’t you ever found yourself so close to a situation that you took on the problem as your own?”

“Sure, but with people I knew and cared for.”

“So maybe I care for Esau.”

“You and I both know that’s bullshit, Jack.”

I shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. I do care for Isadora, though.”

“Why? You hardly know her.”

“I know her well enough. She reminds me of someone back home. A woman I was entrusted to take care of. A woman I’ve been in and out of love with for years.”

“And are you in or out right now?”

“Not sure. Haven’t had time to think about it.”

Alik laughed. “You’ve had all the time in the world while stuck up here nursing your wounds.”

I shrugged, said nothing.

“We should call the cops,” he said.

“We can’t.”

“So we do nothing?”

“No, I go wherever Kostas wants me to go.”

“Esau hasn’t even agreed. And it sounds like he doesn’t have the money, so what’s the point?”

“He doesn’t need it.”

“You think you can take on all these men by yourself?”

“Probably not.”

Alik took a seat on the couch. “Then we have to come up with a way for me to follow you.”

“That could get us all killed.”

“We’re all dead anyway. Might as well be proactive about it.”

I crossed the room and stood in front of the window and lifted it open. Warm air billowed past, carrying the scent of a fresh catch. Down the coast four fishing vessels were pulling in.

“We should go see Esau,” I said.

We left the apartment, headed down the stairs, stepped into the cafe. It was a quarter full, with half the patrons on the terrace. The old men looked away as we made the short trip to Esau’s office.

He was sitting in his ratty chair, head leaned back, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.

I rapped my knuckles against his door.

Esau didn’t move.

I knocked again. Alik cleared his throat.

“What?” Esau said, his voice raspy.

“Have you thought about what you are going to do?” Alik asked.

“Do?” Esau’s head rolled forward. His hands lifted from his lap and he draped them and his arms over his desk. He looked up from his hunched posture. “What do you mean, what am I going to do? You talk as though I have options here.”

“You have some,” I said.

“What?”

“They want me. You can send me.”

“Empty handed? You’ll be a dead man.”

“If they can kill me.”

“No offense, Jack,” Esau said. “I understand who you are and the things you have done. But you are a shell of that man right now.”

Alik placed his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off.

I said, “I’m the best option you’ve got unless you’re willing to trade your life for hers. Are you prepared to do that?”

Esau looked down at the space between his steepled hands. His tongue clicked as he licked his lips. A grunt of a word slipped out.

“No.”

“That’s what I thought.”

He looked up, eyebrows raised, forehead folded into a dozen wrinkles. “So what do we do?”

“How much cash do you have lying around?”

Esau glanced up at the ceiling. His gaze remained fixed. He wasn’t mentally counting or thinking about his bank accounts.

“What’s up there?” Alik said.

Esau shrugged, said nothing.

I grabbed one of the fold-up chairs and placed it in the middle of the room. The chair looked like it could hold a guy maybe half my size. I ignored the pain in my hip and planted my left leg on it. Pressed down. Wiggled side to side to inch the chair closer to center.

“Be ready to catch me,” I said to Alik. Then I stepped up and angled my head to the right to keep from hitting the ceiling with it. I extended both arms and pushed the ceiling tile up and set it to the right. I stuck my head into the hole. It was dark and dusty and smelled like coffee and donuts, just like Esau’s office.

“See anything?” Esau asked.

I blinked and my eyes adjusted to the light. In front of me there was nothing. To the right, nothing. Same on the opposite side. I shuffled in a circle on the chair like a ballerina until I was a hundred and eighty degrees from where I started.

“There it is,” I said.

“What?” Alik said.

“Found it,” I said, pulling my head out of the hole. I jumped off the chair. Slid it five feet toward the door, then hopped back up. This tile took a little more force to move. I punched the corners a couple times to free it. Then I reached into the attic and grabbed the canvas bag. It was heavy and full so that the sides puffed out. It slid across the tile with a hiss. I leaned to the side and lowered it down to Alik, then rejoined him on the ground.

“How much is in there?” Alik asked Esau.

The old man shrugged and looked away.

“Count it,” I said to Alik.

Dust rose as he slapped the bag. He wiped off the zipper and pulled it back. Reached inside and grabbed a brick of bills.

“It’s about twenty thousand U.S.,” Esau said.

“Not near enough,” Alik said.

“But it might buy us Isadora’s life,” I said.

“Or it might get yours extinguished,” Alik said.

“Maybe, but that’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

Alik set the bag on the chair and shoved his hands in his pockets. He looked past me at Esau. “It should be you going, old man. You should own up to your mistake.”

Esau rose, cheeks burning. He aimed a loaded finger at Alik. “I did what he asked. How was I supposed to know he’d call the loan like this? I don’t have that kind of money just laying around.”

Alik grabbed the bag and held it in front of his chest. “You had this, you old fool. You could have bought time with it. Instead you kept it squirreled away. What were you going to do with this money? Huh? Is it more important than your niece’s life?”

Esau stepped around his desk and bulldozed his way toward Alik. He grabbed hold of the bag and started yanking. Wads of cash fell to the floor. The old man yelled and swung and stumbled and crashed into the wall and fell to the floor.

Footsteps echoed into the office like rumbling thunder. Five old men stood outside the door, staring in.

“It’s all right, fellas,” I said.

Esau sat up. Wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked at the guys and waved them off. “It’s OK.”

The men retreated. I closed the door and stood between Esau and Alik. I held the men at arm’s length.

“This is how this is gonna go. I’m taking this money. And Esau, if you have any more, you better let me know. I don’t care if it’s cash, stocks, bonds, a title to a house in Siberia, I want it available to negotiate with.”

He shook his head. “That’s all I got other than the house and this place, and there’s no equity in either.”

I glanced at Alik. He shrugged. We had to take the old man at his word, which wasn’t that solid.

“Fair enough, I guess. We’re gonna get the call or message or carrier pigeon or whatever at seven. That’s four hours from now. I need to rest up. Esau, you do whatever you can to get me a decent weapon. One for Alik, too.”

“They said alone,” Esau said.

“I know,” I said.

“Let us handle that part of it,” Alik said.

Chapter 17

SOMEHOW I MANAGED TO SLEEP for three hours. I woke up a quarter after six as the sun dipped low behind the building, casting shadows over the terrace and the rocky beach. The wind had picked up. So had the waves. The sound of them crashing against the shore carried up the side of the building and rumbled in the apartment.

I started a pot of coffee and pulled some cooked ground lamb out of the fridge. Poured some olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Heated it all up. By the time the coffee was ready, so was the meat.

The muted light and sound of the rolling waves made it feel as though I was at a yoga retreat. It helped clear my cluttered mind. I isolated my thoughts and destroyed them one at a time until all I had left was the sequence of events ahead of me. Problem was, after arriving at the location they were to provide at seven, I had no idea how things would go. There were too many unknown variables.

Sure, I could visualize the ideal scenario, at least for the situation. But what then? What if there was a wild card? That, I told myself, was my specialty. I was the guy who they sent in when the mission had no set path to reach the objective. Getting Isadora back was no different. It required the specific mix of talent that I brought to the table.

The door opened up as I dropped my fork on the empty plate. Swirls of olive oil remained. Alik walked in. He carried a plain brown bag in one arm. The canvas money bag in the other.

“He cleaned out his bank account,” Alik said. “Another three grand for you to use.”

I nodded. “Weapons?”

“Got a Beretta M9 for you.” He reached into the brown bag and pulled out the pistol and set it next to my plate, muzzle facing the wall.

I picked up the weapon and inspected it. Ejected the magazine. Racked the slide. It felt cool against my hand. Smelled freshly oiled.

“Good?” Alik said.

“It’ll do,” I said. “He come up with something for you?”

“Same weapon.”

“Good enough, I suppose.” I stood, tucked the pistol in my waistband, grabbed my mug and my plate and carried them over to the sink and set them there. “Anything else?”

“A cell phone.”

“You keep it. Write down the number so I can memorize it.”

Keys jingled. “Have to use his car.”

“He get the spare replaced?”

“No.”

“Hope I don’t have to drive too far.”

“Do what you got to do, Jack.”

I turned and met his gaze. “I am.”

Alik walked to the window. The wind lifted his hair and tugged at his clothing. “I suppose we should head downstairs now.”

“Guess so.”

He led the way through the apartment, down the hallway and stairs, into the cafe. There were a dozen or so patrons there. The old guys had retreated. Families now sat around the tables. Moms and dads and kids. Were they oblivious to what had happened in there?

Esau stood behind the counter. His drawn face didn’t move as I approached. No smile, no hello, no wink or lift of the eyebrow or dip of the chin. His eyes looked sunken, surrounded by black circles.

I approached and stopped in front of him. He still didn’t acknowledge me. “Anything yet?”

Esau spent a long moment staring over my shoulder, ignoring my presence. Then he blinked and his gaze swept slowly and met mine.

“No,” he said.

I took a seat next to Alik in the midway through the room against the back wall. We both leaned against it, giving us a view of the front and back of the cafe. No one could come in from the terrace unless they fought the breakers and the rocks and scaled the ten-foot high wall. But perhaps they had already planted the courier and he waited outside.

At five to seven, a family of five rose from their table and headed toward the door. The dad looked back at us, focused on me. He furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes. Had I seen him before? I scanned the recesses of my mind trying to find a match for the guy. There were plenty that looked like him. Average height. Dark hair. A little spare tire around the waist. Permanent shadow on his face. Maybe he had heard what had happened. Presumably, he blamed the stranger for it.

A few feet from the door he turned to his wife and led her through the opening. Then the family was gone and we were down to seven other diners in the cafe.

“What was that?” Alik asked.