Jeffrey Siger - Mykonos After Midnight

The interpreter was a slight, dark-haired, blue-eyed, policewoman in her early twenties. Kouros told Andreas she could be trusted. “She wants to be one of us.”

The woman smiled. “The name is Petrova. An honor to meet you, Chief.”

Andreas nodded. “It’s important that the subject understands things will get very nasty very quickly if he doesn’t cooperate.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve studied acting and love all the Dirty Harry movies.”

Andreas looked at Kouros, leaned in toward his ear, and whispered, “Is she by any chance your ‘cop friend’ from last night?”

Kouros smiled at Petrova and Andreas had his answer.

“She’s totally fluent in Polish, Chief.”

Andreas smiled. “Good, let’s go inside.”

Inside was an operating room. Two cops were standing on either side of an operating table. Between them and strapped to the table, naked but for a surgical gown, was the attempted bomber.

Andreas told the two cops to leave and not let anyone in. “No matter what you hear coming from inside.” He waited until they left, and nodded to Petrova.

“Well, my friend, you have finally reached the end of the road. Welcome to Greek justice,” said Andreas.

Petrova translated.

The man laughed, spit at her, and said in Polish, “You are a woman talking for a man. Why should I listen to you?”

Petrova translated his words and as she finished reached down under the man’s gown, grabbed his testicles, and squeezed until he screamed. She kept squeezing as she said. “Either answer or I’ll pull your useless balls right off you.”

Still squeezing, Petrova repeated her comment in Greek for Andreas and Kouros, punctuating it with a hard yank on the man’s testicles before letting go.

Andreas looked at Kouros. “My compliments. A fine choice.”

Kouros smiled.

“So, shall we continue, numb nuts?” Andreas smiled.

Kouros shook his head and Petrova laughed as she translated.

The man said nothing.

“Good, now that you understand how very serious we are, I have a few questions for you.”

“I want a lawyer.”

“Request denied.”

“I’m not talking.”

“Permit me to explain the ground rules. You came into a hospital planning to kill innocent people. You’re also caught on video as one of the killers of a well-loved man on Mykonos, and if you happen to be the lucky one the victim’s dog got a piece of, your DNA is all over a murder scene. Any way you look at it, you’re in prison for the rest of your life.”

“So why should I talk?”

“You want to make a deal?”

“It depends,” said the man.

“On what?”

“On what you’re offering.”

Andreas shook his head. “Now that you’ve established that you’re willing to talk and the only question is price, let me explain the deal I’m willing to make.”

Andreas walked over to the table and patted the man on his shoulder. “Like I said, you’re off to prison for the rest of your life. The question is whether you’ll be able to walk, or see, or piss with your own dick during your remaining years.”

Andreas stepped to where the man could see Andreas’ eyes. He spoke slowly, allowing Petrova to translate as he did. “You tried to kill someone I consider family. So I don’t care what it takes to get you to tell me what I need to know to protect her and the rest of my family. If you live or if you die is not of my concern. Only yours.” Andreas held up his right hand and Kouros slapped a scalpel flat against his palm.

“So, shall we begin by removing your nose?”

Andreas swung the scalpel down and across the man’s face narrowly missing the tip of his nose.

The man jerked back violently trying to pull free of the restraints. “You’re crazy.”

Andreas nodded. “Very.”

“We didn’t know you would be here. We were only going after the woman.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

The man stared at the scalpel. Andreas twirled it between his fingers.

“I shall not ask you again.”

“My friend.”

“The other one with you on Mykonos?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he now?”

“I don’t know.”

Andreas brought the scalpel toward the man’s right eye.

“Honest, I don’t know! Teacher found us and sent us to Athens. We’ve been staying at some place in Athens. I have no idea where it is.”

“How did you know where to find the woman?”

“Sergey made arrangements with old friends of his now living in Athens. There are a lot of people from the old country here. They located her, showed me the layout of the hospital, and gave me what I needed to do the job. Afterwards, I was to take the metro to Omonia Square and someone would meet me there. It’s much easier to do these things here than back home. Everyone is trusting and no one is expected to follow rules. I failed only because I did not expect you to be with her.”

“Sergey told you to kill the woman?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“And what if you failed?”

“My friend has his own instructions.”

“What are they?”

“I don’t know. Sergey gave us our orders separately. He said in case one was caught he could not inform on the other.”

Andreas put down the scalpel. “I see he knows the quality of his men.”

***

Andreas and Kouros stood outside the operating room watching the prisoner led down the hall in handcuffs and shackles. He was cursing at Petrova, who followed along, translating his insults for the benefit of the other Greek cops.

“He should enjoy his trip to Korydallos,” said Kouros.

“Bet he’ll slip and fall a few times along the way.”

“He’s just lucky Petrova’s not wearing stiletto heels.”

“Let’s not go there,” said Andreas.

“She’s a very nice person.”

“I’m sure. And speaking of nice people, let’s check on Maggie.”

They took the stairs to Tassos’ floor. Maggie was sitting in the hall outside the entrance to the burn unit.

“Why are you sitting out here?” said Andreas.

“If I were with Tassos he’d know something was wrong. I didn’t want to worry him.”

Andreas nodded. “He’d be right to worry. They were after you.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Wish I knew.”

“If Teacher is on to our plan, I’d think she’d be looking to take all of us out,” said Kouros.

“It makes no sense why she’d only be going after Maggie. I’m the logical one to target,” said Andreas.

“Maybe they’re following someone else’s orders?” said Maggie.

“That could only be Sergey,” said Andreas.

“Which means Teacher may not be on to us,” said Kouros.

“Yet,” said Andreas.

“So what do we do?” said Maggie.

Andreas smiled. “Pray for the best and prepare for the worst.”

***

It was late afternoon and Wacki was banging away furiously at Sergey’s hotel room door. No answer. He’d been to the front desk twice and was assured by the clerk that Sergey was in his room because the clerk had personally connected calls going out of that room to Athens through the switchboard.

“Boss, please, open up. It’s very important.”

Still no answer.

He leaned against the door, cupped his hands around his mouth, and tried to whisper through the edge of the door.

“Teacher is on Mykonos. She wants to see us right away.”

Wacki heard the bolt turn and the door opened.

“What are you talking about?” Sergey looked as if he hadn’t shaved in days. He was wearing sweatpants and a tee-shirt stained with spots of coffee down the front.

“Teacher is here. On a yacht docked in the old port. She called and wants to see us right away.”