Ник Картер - Assassin - Code Name Vulture

“Vassilis went to this man. He suspected that Adelfia would be the one to engineer a meeting, and he was right. Adelfia knows the entire plan. Vassilis ranted about the three colonels and won Adelfia’s confidence. Adelfia told him the time and place of the meeting. Kotsikas, Plotarchou, and Glavani have already agreed to meet with me at the residence of Kotsikas. He has a country estate north of the city in a rather remote area. Adelfia will be there, too.”

“When?” I asked.

“This afternoon,” Minourkos replied. “In just a few hours.”

“How are the colonels to be assassinated?” I inquired.

Minourkos hunched his heavy shoulders. “Adelfia would not tell that part when he found that Vassilis did not know. We will have to wait and see, it seems.”

“That could be extremely dangerous,” I said. I glanced at the watch on my wrist. “Erika, call a cab. We’re going out to Kotsikas’ place. Mr. Minourkos, you stay here at the hotel and keep out of sight. If anybody recognizes you we’re in trouble.”

“Very well, Mr. Carter.”

While Erika called a taxi, I removed my jacket and strapped on my Luger in its holster and then the stiletto on my right forearm. Minourkos watched silently and somberly. I took the Luger from the holster and pulled the slide ejector back, working a cartridge into the chamber with an easy movement, then reholstered the automatic.

Erika was off the phone. “Our cab will be outside in five minutes.”

“Then let’s get moving,” I said. “We have an appointment to keep.”

“I don’t think I understand,” Colonel Anatole Kotsikas said after he had received us in the entrance foyer of his large home. “Adelfia said this was to be a private meeting, General.”

We had picked up General Kriezotou on the way because I knew that Kotsikas would turn us away if Erika and I went by ourselves. Kotsikas, a slim man who appeared to be a young fifty, stood in his khaki uniform, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Are any of the others here, Colonel?” Kriezotou asked.

“They are expected shortly.”

“Good. Just give us a moment of your time,” Kriezotou said.

Kotsikas looked at us silently, biding his answer. Although his military rank was beneath that of the General, he was the most powerful man in Greece at the moment. When the 1967 coup had taken place, the men who headed it had purposely kept the highest-ranking officers off the junta because the generals were associated with the favored upper-class.

“All right,” he finally said. “Come into the study, please.”

A moment later the four of us were standing in a circle in the center of the rather dark study. A servant pulled a drapery open, and the room was brightened. Kotsikas offered us drinks, but we refused.

“Colonel, I would like you to allow these two people to search your house before the meeting and to stay here through the meeting,” Kriezotou said.

“Why?” Kotsikas asked. “What a ridiculous request.”

“Listen to me. This meeting is a trap,” the general said. “There is much to explain later when we have the time, but Nikkor Minourkos is not the man behind the recent attacks on you. There is a man named Adrian Stavros who is hiding behind Nikkor’s name and who plans a bloody coup against the junta. You, Plotarchou and Glavani are to be assassinated here in your home this afternoon.”

Kotsikas’ face took on hard, straight lines. “I see.”

“I suspect that Adelfia is to escape unharmed,” the general added. “Nikkor, of course, will not be here because he has nothing to do with any of this.”

Kotsikas looked out the window for a long time. When he turned back to us, he asked: “And this man and the girl?”

“They are here to help,” Kriezotou said simply.

“How do I know that it is not you three who have come to murder me?” Kotsikas asked evenly.

Kriezotou made a grimace.

“Colonel,” I said quietly, “if I had come here to kill you, you would be dead.”

His eyes stared deeply into mine. “All right. You are free to check out the house. But I am certain nobody has been inside who would want to harm me or my friends.”

“Is there a basement, Colonel?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“We’ll start there,” I said to Erika. “You and the general have a nice talk, Colonel. How much time do we have before they begin arriving?”

“I would say at least fifteen minutes.”

“That should be enough.” I turned to Erika.

“Let’s get started.”

We searched the large basement quickly and found no bomb or explosives. We checked out the rest of the house and left the study, where the meeting was to take place, for last. We searched the study carefully. Although no bombs were discovered, we did find two electronic bugs.

“Incredible,” Colonel Kotsikas said when I pointed out the devices. “I don’t know when it could have been done.”

“These people are professionals,” I said. “Now you should believe me.”

“Well, it’s about time,” Erika remarked. “Will they arrive separately?”

“Since they have been at the committee headquarters this morning, they could come together,” Kotsikas said. “Even Adelfia might be with the others, despite the fact that they dislike him immensely. After all, this is an alleged attempt at reconciliation.”

The colonel’s guess was right. Ten minutes later a big, black limousine drove up, and all three colonels were in it Plotarchou and Glavani were older men, Glavani with white hair. Adelfia was about forty, an oily, obese man whose uniform seemed three sizes too small for him. He beamed smiles in every direction and spoke loudly of settlement and accord and was very surprised when, in the entrance foyer, I slipped the handcuffs on his right wrist.

His demeanor changed like lightning. The smile was gone, and an icy hardness appeared in the dark eyes. “What are you doing?” he cried.

Kotsikas and Kriezotou kept silent. I turned Adelfia roughly and cuffed his hands together behind him. His hard face was quickly filling with rage. “What is the meaning of this?” he asked loudly, looking from me to Kotsikas and the general.

“Mr. Carter here says you came to my house today to kill us,” Kotsikas said coldly.

The other two colonels exchanged shocked looks. “Is this true, Anatole?” Glavani asked Kotsikas.

“It is absurd!” Adelfia exclaimed. “Who is this man?” Before Kotsikas could answer, Adelfia switched from the formal manner to one that allowed a barrage of hot Greek, spitting out the words like venom, throwing his head toward me regularly. I couldn’t catch most of it.

“We shall see, Colonel,” Kotsikas finally replied.

I grabbed Adelfia roughly by the arm. “You get to spend the next little stretch of time in the study,” I said, “in case we missed some surprises in there.” I looked over at Kotsikas. “The rest of you except Erika stay in the room across the hall until you hear more from me.”

“Very well,” Kotsikas said.

The colonels and General Kriezotou entered a living room on the opposite side of the hall from the study while Erika and I applied tape to Adelfia’s fleshy mouth and tied him to a chair. I took a revolver off his hip and stuck it into my belt. Erika and I returned to the foyer with Adelfia mumbling insults at us from behind the tape.

“Now we wait?” Erika asked.

I looked down at her. Her red hair was pulled back in a twist and she looked very businesslike in her bell-bottom pants suit. She took the Belgian .25 from her purse and checked its ammunition.

“Yes, we wait,” I said. I went to the open front door and looked down the long drive fringed by tall Lombardy poplars. It was almost a mile to the only road that passed the place. A perfect spot for a multiple killing. The question was, what had Stavros’ twisted mind dreamed up? I had considered questioning Adelfia, but time was short and he was too scared of Stavros. That showed in his face.