Jeffrey Siger - Assassins of Athens

'And protects the wacko rich from the revolutionaries by letting the wackos pick who gets slaughtered.'

'How's the paid muscle fit in?'

Andreas shook his head. 'Not sure yet, but from what Kostopoulos told me about getting press clippings along with a message telling him this was what happened to families who didn't leave, my guess is most fled because of psychological strong-arming, not muscle.'

'Quite a monster.'

'Better believe it. Fascists for a head and revolutionaries with retractable, professional killer claws to capture and destroy the prey.'

'What part is Demosthenes?'

'Central nervous system, bringing it all together.'

'More like the asshole if you ask me.'

Andreas grinned. 'So, where do you suggest we go from here?'

'Why don't we bring him in?'

'For what? Being inside a gay bar the night the kid was murdered? He has a room full of alibis. And all we have on tape is Demosthenes asking for an address on Mykonos and the telephone number of some guy from Sardinia. Big deal. Bringing him in only sends the whole operation spinning out of control and underground. We're better off letting him run loose, on a tight leash. He's our only chance of finding whoever's at the head of whatever this is — and cutting the damn thing off.'

'We've got 24/7 coverage on him and the girl. It's up to Demosthenes to make the next move.'

Andreas leaned back and stretched. He yawned, too. He'd forgotten how tired he was. 'Just make sure to be there when he does.'

Kouros left and Andreas buzzed Maggie. 'No interruptions except for Kouros. I've got a lot of work to catch up on.'

'Nitey nite.'

Andreas looked at the phone, then walked over to the couch, pushed some papers onto the floor, and lay down. He kicked off his shoes, and fell asleep to a single thought: Is it just Andreas Kaldis, or is every man transparent to the women who know him?

It was tougher than usual finding a phone to use at the university, but Demon did.

'Hello, is this Efisio?' Demon spoke in Italian, using his most conciliatory, solicitous voice.

'Who's this?' In the tone of those two words Demon sensed what Anna feared.

'I have a proposition to discuss with you.'

'How did you get this number?' Menace was the tone.

'Through a mutual acquaintance.'

'Who's that?' Now anger.

'Can't say.'

'Conversation's over.'

Demon panicked. 'Anna, it was Anna.'

Dead silence. Demon thought he hung up. 'Are you there?'

'Where is she?' For an instant Demon wondered if it were the same person; the voice was so unexpectedly calm. As at the eye of a hurricane.

'In time, my friend, in time.' Demon spoke softly.

Efisio exploded. 'She's dead, do you hear me, dead. You, too, asshole, if you don't tell me where she is now!'

Demon felt back in control. He loved it when adversaries lost their tempers. 'That would be a terrible shame, and a loss of a lot of money for you.'

'Where is she, where is the miserable-'

'Now, Efisio, if you don't need forty million euros just tell me, and I'll take my business elsewhere.'

'She's dead.' He did not scream this time.

'Going once…'

'What did you say?' The voice was back to flat.

'Going twice…'

'About the money.' Efisio's voice showed just the touch of anxiety Demon was hoping for.

'Ah yes, the forty million euros. Are you interested?'

'Are you some sort of wacko?'

'If you're willing to meet, you can decide for yourself. You pick the time and place, as long as it's in Athens and by no later than tomorrow.'

'If you're fucking with me…' Efisio was back to threatening, but his tone wasn't.

'I know, don't bother telling me what you'll do to me, but if I'm not, I'm the person who is about to set you up for the rest of your life. That will make me your boss, and I'll expect to be called sir.'

Demon heard a muffled curse, no doubt from Efisio's attempt to cover the phone with his hand, followed by a calmly said 'How do I tell you when and where?'

Demon said a cell phone number and told Efisio to text the details there.

Efisio grunted, 'Okay,' and hung up.

Demon put down the phone and ran his hands through his hair. It was a long time since he'd dealt with someone as out of control as Efisio. The guy probably was a psycho. He must be careful. He knew that ultimately he'd have turn over Anna, and the kid, too, when Efisio found out about him, but not until after he finished the job. Demon shrugged, as if talking to himself. Too bad for them — but shit happens. 'Chief, it's Kouros.' The words came over the intercom. Maggie said them three times.

'Okay, be right with him.' Andreas twisted off the couch, stretched, and looked at his watch. He'd slept for all of forty-five minutes.

He reached across the desk for the phone. 'Yianni?'

'He's made contact.'

Andreas still was a bit fuzzy. 'Who are we talking about?'

'Demosthenes. He spoke to the Sardinian. He went to the university again this morning to make a call. We thought he might, so we set it up to shut down every line but the ones we'd covered.'

'Must have pissed off a lot of people trying to make calls.'

'Imagine if they knew we did it.'

Andreas preferred not to. Cops tapping phones while illegally on university grounds was not a wise career move. 'So, what did they say?'

'They're meeting sometime today or tomorrow in Athens. Efisio is text-messaging the details to Demosthenes. We got the cell number, so we can intercept.' He paused. 'Chief, there's something else.'

'What is it?'

'I think we should pick them up when they meet.'

'Why?'

'This Efisio is a real crazy. My bet is he's wanted by the Italians for serious shit.'

'So what? We've got our own serious shit to worry about here.'

'The guy promised to kill Anna. I mean he screamed what he intended to do to her.'

'Does he know where to find her?'

'Not yet. But I wouldn't bet on Demosthenes keeping it secret much longer.'

Andreas didn't answer immediately. 'I understand where you're coming from, but the only reason I've heard so far for blowing this investigation out of the water is to question, not even arrest, an Italian living outside of Greece who might be wanted in another country. And why? Because in an angry rage he told a third party what he wants to do to his ex-girlfriend if he ever finds her. I'm not convinced.'

Kouros paused. 'There's the forty million euros he offered Efisio.'

'Forty million euros! To do what?'

'Didn't say.'

'Holy Christ, Yianni, we're in the wrong line of work.'

'I was thinking the same thing.'

Andreas rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his left hand. 'How can we do anything but let this play out? Either Demosthenes is a nut-job or into something so big I don't want to think about it. Forty million euros.'

Kouros cleared his throat. 'But don't you think we have enough to squeeze Demosthenes into making a deal to give up whoever killed the Kostopoulos kid?'

'And turn us into media heroes?'

'I was thinking more along the lines of catching the killers we're looking for and letting someone else chase after whatever else is out there. Hiding in some cave, with long sharp teeth and claws, breathing fire-'

'Okay, okay, I get your point. I'll think about it. In the meantime, make sure whoever's watching Anna's apartment knows the ex-boyfriend's threatened to kill her, and that they're to protect her, if necessary. Okay?'

'Okay.'

They hung up. No way Andreas could go back to sleep now. Too excited. He leaned back against his desk and stared out the window toward the sky. What Yianni said made sense. The only crime his unit was officially investigating was the Kostopoulos murder. They probably could nail who did it with the right amount of heat on Demosthenes. But there was something so much bigger going on…