Jeffrey Siger - An Aegean Prophecy

Kouros spoke. ‘Look, Chief, maybe you’re right and we should forget about it. It’s really just a far-fetched idea, anyway. Not even a plan. We’d have to get you some sort of introduction to the oligarch, find some way to get him to want to hang out with you, and then-’

‘Whoa, what’s with all this “you” crap?’ said Andreas.

‘You’re in charge of the investigation. You’re the only one with enough credibility to be believed. You both speak English, and you’re also the only one of us who fits in with the look of his crowd.’

‘I beg your pardon,’ said Tassos with a smile.

‘What else were you going to say?’ said Andreas. He sounded testy.

‘You have to convince him you’re drunk enough to be honestly confiding secrets to a total stranger at five in the morning in a Mykonos party bar.’

‘Damn, damn, damn. And I bet the plan has to start today.’

‘Don’t see a choice,’ said Kouros. ‘He’s probably here only for one night, then off to wherever for Easter.’

‘Ah, Eastertime on Mykonos,’ said Tassos. ‘A perfect example of spiritual and temporal coexistence. All of the island’s Good Friday church rituals strictly observed during the day, followed by its nearly as hallowed party traditions through the night.’

‘What time would I have to be there?’

‘Not before two,’ said Yianni.

‘It’s almost two now.’

‘I mean in the morning. These guys don’t come out until two at the earliest.’

‘Great, I can’t wait to tell Lila I’ll be spending Good Friday and Saturday on Mykonos hanging out in bars, getting drunk with wildly partying Russians. Let me talk to her first. Not sure I want to wreck my life here any more than I already have over what sounds about as crazy a plan as any I’ve ever heard.’

‘Thank you,’ said Kouros.

‘I’ll see what I can do about arranging an introduction through my mutual friend,’ said Tassos.

‘Not yet, I have to speak to Lila.’

‘Don’t worry, it won’t be a problem. Besides, she would love to see you.’

‘Who’s “she”?’

‘The lawyer for the oligarch on Mykonos. You remember Katerina. She always asks about you.’

Andreas hadn’t seen Katerina since his promotion to Athens from Mykonos. She always had a thing for him, but he’d somehow managed to avoid her, not an easy thing to do once she’d set her mind on a man. She was a bigger player than most guys, and better at it. ‘Are you smiling?’ asked Andreas.

‘Yes,’ said Tassos.

‘Bastard. Okay, see what you can do and let’s talk later.’

They hung up.

‘What do you think of our chances?’ asked Yianni.

‘About the same as Andreas does. But at least it’ll keep you out of that sort of trouble for a night.’ Tassos pointed toward the bedroom and grinned.

‘Like the Chief said, “bastard.”’ He picked up his coffee.

Tassos patted him on the shoulder. ‘It’s a really good idea, Yianni. But I think we’re all concerned about the same thing.’

‘Losing our jobs?’

‘No, setting something in motion over which we have absolutely no control.’

‘Like pouring gasoline on a campfire in the middle of a tinderbox forest?’

‘Something like that, but let’s not forget who we’re playing with. If these guys get pissed they don’t need gasoline. They’re Russians, they have nukes.’

Kouros swallowed. ‘Maybe I’ll go to church.’

‘Good idea. I think I’ll join you.’

Zacharias’ monastery was in full mourning mode, readying itself for the funeral of Christ. At Good Friday morning services, the body of Christ was brought down from the cross and the symbolic shroud of his earthly form placed upon his bier, the epitaphios. Across Greece this was the day of Christ’s wake, a time for paying respects, practising traditions like passing three times beneath the epitaphios for good luck and blessings, and prayer.

Zacharias remembered other funerals and other bodies. Mainly bodies: the unburied, the buried together. The times had demanded it. One must do what must be done on earth as it is in heaven, he thought. There was no choice then, and there was less choice now. Time was running out. The Ecumenical Patriarch would not live forever.

I must make sure that the new Ecumenical Patriarch’s home is here, he thought. The Russians would isolate him from outside influences more than did the Turks. My plans need his ear. The Russians must be vilified. And not just by petty, bribed journalists whose reach rarely exceeded Greece’s borders and few believed anyway. He must validate their words with an unequivocal act of proof.

That would come Sunday, after the three men returned. The tragic passing of the abbot of the Russian monastery would be mourned deeply. But once the new abbot publicly denounced his predecessor’s death as a brutal assassination — from the same source and uncommon poison as the victim’s native Russia stood accused before the world of using in a botched, but horribly disfiguring, attempt to silence the Ukraine’s president — all that was written before would become fact. The Russians would never recover from the impact of those words coming from its own abbot. Only one more death, and the world shall be on a better path to life.

‘So how long do you think we’ll have to stay at your parents?’ Andreas had been standing in the doorway to Lila’s dressing room for ten minutes, talking to her as she sat at her vanity table putting on makeup.

Lila put down the mascara brush and swung around on her chair. ‘Enough already. You’re like a little kid dancing around something he’s afraid to talk about with his mother. What’s on your mind?’

He shrugged. ‘Guilty as charged.’

‘You’d make a lousy crook, I can read you like a book.’

‘You better be the only one who can. Otherwise, I’ll be in a hell of a mess by morning.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘Why do I think you’re about to tell me you’re taking off again?’

‘Well, only if you say it’s okay. That’s what I told Yianni and Tassos.’

Lila shook her head. ‘As if I have a choice. If I don’t agree, you’d never forgive me.’

Andreas pulled up a chair and sat next to her. ‘That’s not true at all. What they have in mind is crazy anyway. And it’s not worth jeopardizing us.’

Lila smiled. ‘That’s nice to hear.’ She looked at her watch and sighed. ‘We’re late anyway. So, what’s going on?’ She pointed at her belly. ‘Don’t worry, I’m in no condition to do any more stupid things like I did before.’

‘Promise?’

‘Promise.’

Andreas told her everything: from the very first phone call ordering him to Patmos up through his conversation with Tassos and Kouros thirty minutes ago.

When he finished Lila stared at him, not saying a word for a full minute. ‘We’re bringing a baby into this world.’

He looked down. ‘I know. Don’t worry, I’ll stay.’

‘No. You don’t understand. We’re bringing a baby into this world. We must do whatever we can to make it a better place.’

‘I’m not sure that trying to get the Russians to take care of a Greek problem will make the world a better place.’

‘But I’m sure doing nothing will make it worse.’

Andreas smiled. ‘You’re tough.’

Lila let out a breath. ‘But if you’re going to try to pull this off, there’s only one way to get and keep that Russian’s attention beyond a perfunctory “Hello, how are you, nice to meet you.” I know him, and if you want him to include you in his partying…’ She waved her hand in the air. ‘No doubt what you’ll need.’

‘And what would that be?’

She smiled. ‘To put it in the common vernacular, “the hottest piece of ass on the planet.”’