Jeffrey Siger - An Aegean Prophecy

Kouros looked at his watch. ‘I feel more like I’m cooped up in a phone booth with a parrot who can’t keep its beak shut for thirty seconds.’

Tassos shook his head. ‘Gratitude is the rarest gem to find.’

Kouros watched two young girls walk by, stare at the two men squeezed together in the front seat of a garbage truck on a dark Mykonos back street, and giggle. God knows what they must be thinking, he thought.

‘What you need to straighten out your life is the right girl,’ said Tassos.

‘Whoa, now you’re cutting in on my mother’s turf. Only she gets to nag me on that subject.’

‘Sorry. I always respect union rules.’

‘And, besides, what’s with you? You hook up with Maggie after a zillion years of bachelorhood and now you want all of us to go down with you? Power to the unattached, let freedom ring.’

‘Bolshevik.’

‘Royalist.’

Tassos stared out the window. ‘If we sit here much longer we’ll be playing rock, paper, scissors.’

Kouros let out a breath. ‘Not much else to do until that lightweight Barbara shows up. Chief’s been holed up in that piano bar in Little Venice for over an hour. If I have to listen in on this earpiece to one more bartender story from the two guys who own that place I’ll scream.’

‘It’s one of the few place he’s not likely to bump into the Russian before we’re ready for him. Guys like that avoid gay crowds, afraid it might cast doubts on their manhood.’

‘Besides, the chief likes the singer.’

‘The sexy broad?’ said Tassos.

‘We don’t call them “broads” these days.’

‘Whatever, she turns me on.’

Kouros grinned.

‘Screw you, I saw what turns you on.’

Kouros smiled. ‘Now, now, you’re getting back into my mother’s bailiwick.’

Tassos sighed. ‘I’m so bored.’

Kouros grabbed his arm. ‘Not for long.’ He pointed out the window. Two men had stopped the girls who’d just passed the garbage truck. Two other men were coming up on the girls from behind. What bothered Kouros was that the men behind the girls were gesturing to the two men in front and pointing to a building. ‘That building is empty, it’s under construction.’

‘Honk the horn, scare them off, they’re drunk,’ said Tassos.

‘But they’ll just go after someone else.’

‘Just deal with the problem at hand.’

The men now surrounded the girls. ‘I’m getting out,’ said Kouros.

‘We’re on a stakeout.’

‘They need help.’

Tassos leaned over and pressed the horn. The men jumped. He hit the horn again and flashed the lights. The men left. ‘Now they don’t.’

Kouros stared at Tassos. ‘A life lesson?’

‘Lesson number one. Beat evil when you must, but only when you must. There’s an inexhaustible supply in this world to keep you busy every second of your life. Put differently, there’s too much crap in this world to shovel it all. If we try, we end up buried in it. Lesson two. Protect and treasure all the good that comes your way, whenever and wherever you’re lucky enough find it.’ He smiled. ‘Especially if it’s the right girl.’

Kouros pressed his hand against his earpiece. ‘Sounds like the chief found his. Hot chick number one is now in town and on the move. It’s a go.’

‘Let the games begin.’

Starz was Vladimir’s hangout on the island. Only two hundred yards down the busy lane leading from Vengera, its open, garden-like front was strategically set off from a continuing parade of the curious by an array of closely-grouped potted greenery. Starz was where everyone wanted to be seen late at night. Inside the music was deafening, outside the chatter nonstop. Everywhere nothing but beautiful people — and those who could afford to pay for them.

Vladimir would sit until dawn at his favorite table next to the front door, a few steps above the masses squeezed into tables in the garden below, and study those lucky enough to pass through the velvet rope guarded by lovely women. From there he’d watch them for hours, indulging in his favorite pastime: fantasizing how much everyone envied his life. It gave him more pleasure than sex, sometimes.

Tonight he felt particularly confident. Perhaps because he’d been to church, something he rarely did anymore. He stared at the tall, white wall enclosing the far side of the courtyard. Above the garden, and slightly in from each end, the wall sloped sharply up to form a triangle jutting into the sky. It reminded him that a kindred spirit shared this space. Few, maybe none, realized the other was here. But all anyone needed do was look up, for at the top of the triangle stood the sign of His presence: a simple, white stone cross atop the church bounding the garden courtyard.

Vladimir stared at the cross the and smiled. ‘Don’t worry, you take care of the hereafter and leave the here and now to me.’ He’d spoken his thoughts aloud.

‘What was that?’ Katerina asked.

He kept staring at the cross. ‘Just a private conversation with God.’

Katerina nodded. It was after four and she’d been sitting next to him the entire night. Vladimir knew she’d love for him to show interest in her, but not a chance — even if she were twenty years younger. Make that thirty. There was just too much available without complications. He’d come to the conclusion that it was best to use hooker types. Not to pay them for sex, but to pay them to leave.

Vladimir looked down from the cross. A fat, sixty-year-old man at a table across from him was groping two twenty-year-olds in strapless cocktail dresses. From the bags at the women’s feet and similarity in their dresses, it was obvious they were wearing the fat man’s purchases. Vladimir watched the man take the hand of one girl and press it to his crotch. She rubbed, as the other kissed him on the lips. Vladimir couldn’t help but laugh. Just who did he think he was impressing?

‘Disgusting, that old man over there with those two young girls.’

Obviously, Katerina had caught the subject of his interest. ‘Jealous are we, my love?’

‘Not of them. They’re classless, and,’ she gave what must have been her most coquettish, cleavage-emphasizing smile, ‘I’m sure lousy in bed.’

He smiled, and squeezed her thigh. ‘I’m sure.’

Suddenly, faces began turning and several people headed toward the velvet rope, led by the owner. Paparazzi started flashing away.

Vladimir gestured for the attention of one of his bodyguards. ‘Find out what’s going on.’

Katerina put her hand on Vladimir’s. ‘I like it when you touch me like that.’

He smiled and held her hand.

The bodyguard was back. ‘Nothing to worry about, sir. It’s just a pretty woman everyone seems to know.’

‘Really, I think she should meet me.’

‘I don’t think it will be a problem, sir.’

‘Why’s that?’

He turned and pointed to a couple the owner was leading toward the VIP table across from them, as two members of the club’s staff hurriedly relocated the obnoxious fat guy and his two ladies to a place on the terrace.

Vladimir stared at the woman: ice-blue eyes, long auburn hair, almost as tall as he, and more gorgeous than a dream. He pulled his hand away from Katerina’s, waved to the couple, and said in English. ‘Andreas, my friend, how nice to see you again. Please, come join us.’

He turned to Katerina. ‘Please, move over to make room for your friends.’

Katerina’s anger was obvious. ‘She is not a friend of mine.’

‘Too bad, then perhaps you should leave.’ It was time for him to reassert control over the here and now and all its beings.

The gorgeous woman smiled at him, said in perfect English, ‘Thank you very much, but we’re expecting friends,’ turned away, and sat down in the power seat at the next table. ‘Darling,’ she said, waving to Andreas and still speaking English, ‘come sit here,’ patting the seat next to her. People started flocking to her table.