Jeffrey Siger: Sons of Sparta

She smiled.

“Sorry I missed you at the office, Chief. I got hung up in traffic. Farmers protesting tax increases blocked the highway with tractors. It was a mess for hours.”

“So what else is new? Everything’s a mess these days. How are things with your family?”

“Terrific.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Good news.”

The secretary’s phone buzzed, she picked it up, listened, and nodded at Andreas.

“Got to go, Yianni, his majesty will see me now.”

Andreas crossed in front of the secretary’s desk and opened the door to the minister’s office. Before stepping inside he looked at the secretary and said loudly. “I meant what I said about you deserving a raise.” He turned to Spiros. “Don’t you agree?”

“Please,” said Spiros, “just close the door and sit down.”

Andreas closed the door and sat in one of the chairs by Spiros’ desk.

“You must learn to show me more respect,” said Spiros.

Andreas smiled.

“Did you hear me?”

“Are you recording this?”

A flash of anger crossed Spiros’ face. He drew in a breath, reached for a glass of water on a silver tray sitting atop his desk, and took a sip. “Okay, so we’ve had some rocky times. Can’t we put them behind us?”

“Did you bring me here to have that conversation?”

Spiros gestured no.

“I didn’t think so.”

“I could fire you.”

Andreas shrugged. “Or I could resign. Either way you’d have the media to contend with. They know me, remember. And like me.” He didn’t have to add, far more than they do you .

The anger had returned on Spiros’ face.

“Don’t forget who I am,” said Andreas. “I’m that ‘crazy bastard who can’t be bought or fired or set up.’ I’m the only excuse you have to all those potbellied patrons of yours pressuring you to make nasty things about them on your desk go away.” Andreas pressed his forefinger on Spiros’ desktop. “Without me to blame you’d have long ago lost your ministry for not doing favors, or be facing prison time if you had.”

Andreas pulled his finger back from the desk. Greece’s track record for prosecuting corrupt ministers hovered at just above zero, but times were changing so the risk was there and Andreas knew Spiros wasn’t a risk taker. “We both know you need me more than I need this lousy-paying job.” That part wasn’t a bluff. Andreas had married the socially prominent daughter of one of Greece’s oldest and wealthiest families.

Spiros took another sip of water. “Like I said, I don’t think we should dwell on the past.” He put down the glass.

“Okay, so let’s talk about the now . Why am I here?”

Spiros bit at his lower lip. “I’m not a crook.”

Andreas leaned back in his chair. “And precisely what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re right about the pressures exerted on this office. More so today than ever before. The people are screaming for prosecutors to cut off every politician’s head. The corrupt are looking for ways to make as much as they can while they still can, and opportunists are trying to buy up government assets on the cheap.” Spiros brought his hands up to his face and rubbed at his eyes. “Now I’m being dragged into the mess.”

“Is this about your wife’s bank account in Switzerland?”

Spiros gestured no as he kept rubbing at his eyes. “For now that’s just an annoyance.” He dropped his hands. “I’m talking about serious pressures involving more than a trillion euros.”

Andreas cleared his throat.

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that all the talk about huge natural gas deposits off the southern coast of Crete has a lot of people wanting in on the action. And not just Greeks.”

“I’d be surprised if that weren’t the situation,” said Andreas.

“We’re talking pipelines, drilling rights, construction, shipping, maintenance. Everything you can imagine, all the way down to who gets the right to open a taverna. There’s enormous money in play.”

“And claims by Libyans to the same gas deposits.”

Spiros nodded. “If Gaddafi were still in power, our government could have worked things out with him. But who knows what the Libyans will do now, or more likely, who will tell them what to do? The Americans, Chinese, Europeans, and Russians are all jockeying for influence in the region.”

Andreas shrugged. “Big money attracts big players.”

“I know. Look what happened after gas and oil were discovered in the Mediterranean off Cyprus. Every country in the area laid claim to the deposits. It has Israel teamed up with the Republic of Cyprus against Turkey’s claim through Northern Cyprus. And with Cyprus’ banking economy shot to hell, the Russians are licking their chops to get a piece of it.”

“But how does the gas find in Crete involve you?”

“There are rumors that certain private foreign interests are attempting to influence Greek government officials improperly in the awarding of drilling and pipeline rights.”

Andreas smiled. “I get it. Our countrymen are pissed off at having to compete with non-Greeks in a free-for-all bidding war for the favors of our accommodating government officials.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“I know. Real wars are fought over oil. Just ask the Americans. But you have to admit it’s ironic.” Andreas smiled again.

“A lot of powerful people are clamoring for me to start an investigation.”

“I assume you’ve been asked to be selective in choosing targets.”

Spiros nodded. “All of them want me to go after their competition. The trouble is, in something this big everyone in the hunt has powerful friends asking me to do the same thing to everyone else.”

“In other words, you’re caught in the middle.”

Spiros put his hand to his forehead. “Tied to a spit like an Easter lamb waiting to be slow-roasted the moment any of the losers starts shouting ‘government corruption.’”

“Because their corruptors weren’t as good as the winner’s?”

“The reason won’t matter. They’ll point to our investigation, find something we missed, and say the other side obviously bought me off. The corrupt in government who actually were part of it all will righteously agree and make me their sacrificial scapegoat.”

“Isn’t that the way it’s always been? Set up the good to protect the bad? If you think everyone’s corrupt and an investigation won’t make a difference, why bother to open one? Just say no.”

“Everyone may not be corrupt, and even if they all are, I still can’t say no. If I refuse, the big players demanding I act are powerful enough to drive me out of office and put someone in this chair that they can control.”

“Don’t tell me you’re doing this out of loyalty to country.”

“Is that so hard for you to believe?”

Andreas studied him. “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to look into this and come up with something I can use to get everyone off my back.”

“Do you have any idea what that ‘something’ might be?”

“No.”

“You do realize, Spiros, that you’re sounding a bit crazy?”

“No, ‘desperate’ is the word. I don’t want to end my public life under a cloud. If I can’t find a way out of this I’m ruined.”

“You could resign before this goes any further.”

“If I resigned now, the media would say it’s because of that bank account in Switzerland.”

Andreas shook his head. “I wish I could help you, but if anywhere near a trillion euros is involved, I have about as much a chance at finding the lost city of Atlantis as that ‘something’ to get your alphabet list of world powers and who-knows-how-many connected Greeks off your back.”