Andy McDermott - The Midas Legacy

‘On his yacht,’ said the driver, pointing out to sea. There were several vessels cruising between the islands, but the one he indicated was considerably larger than the others.

‘Big boat,’ Eddie commented. It was a twin-masted sailing vessel, long and sleek.

Petra nudged her husband. ‘Why don’t we have a yacht, babe?’

Lonmore chuckled. ‘There’s a saying: what’s the quickest way to become a millionaire? Be a billionaire and buy a boat.’

The launch headed towards the yacht. The water was choppy, a stiff breeze kicking up whitecaps. While it made the ride uncomfortable for the visitors, it was clearly to the taste of the local sailors, some of the smaller craft gleefully racing each other. Someone was even parasailing, gliding high above the sea behind a speedboat.

As they approached the yacht, the name on its hull became clear: Pactolus . The streamlined gantry of a double boat hoist extended out over the vessel’s stern. One place was occupied by a speedboat, hanging chains beside it waiting for a companion, but rather than take the space, the launch manoeuvred to a small retractable dock below. A pair of crewmen secured it, and the occupants disembarked.

A short flight of steps led up to the aft deck. The mainsail blotted out the sun as it swung across from one side of the ship to the other. Nina instinctively ducked, remembering a painful encounter with a moving sail on the far smaller yacht of a friend of her parents as a child, but from here this one was well above head height. The mainmast was rooted amidships, behind the wheelhouse, so anyone on the uppermost deck would need to watch out for the moving boom. Stairs to one side descended into the hull, while a set of sliding glass doors at the superstructure’s rear led inside the ship.

A bearded Greek man in a pristine white epauletted shirt greeted them. ‘Mr Lonmore! It has been a while.’

‘Captain Rouphos, isn’t it?’ Lonmore replied, shaking his hand. ‘You’re right — the last time I saw you was on Augustine’s old yacht. It was a lot smaller than this one.’

‘Mr Trakas has traded up,’ said Rouphos with a smile. ‘Welcome aboard. He will be back soon.’

‘Back?’ said Lonmore. ‘Where is he?’

Rouphos pointed at the parasailer, who was about half a mile behind them and closing. ‘There.’

The speedboat approached the yacht. Rather than slow so the flyer could make a gentle descent into the sea, however, it swept past. Trakas pulled the release to free his harness from the tow rope, working the steering lines to zigzag down towards the aft deck. The observers held their breath as it seemed that he would collide with the boat hoist, but he brought his legs up to glide over it and make a near-perfect touchdown on the teak planks. A couple of crewmen raced to him and collapsed his parachute before the wind could yank him backwards off the stern.

Eddie chuckled. ‘Talk about making an entrance.’

‘He always did like to show off,’ Lonmore said with an affectionate smile.

Trakas removed his life vest and crash helmet, then strode to meet his guests. ‘Spencer!’ he boomed in a voice as big as he was. The Greek tycoon was both tall and broad, with a bronzed and hairy barrel-like torso on display through an unbuttoned yellow short-sleeved shirt. He sported a chunky gold necklace and an outsized and over-engineered gold watch, as well as several nautically themed tattoos. ‘My friend! So good to see you again!’ He embraced Lonmore in a bear hug, the slender American looking decidedly overwhelmed.

‘Augustine, hi!’ Lonmore managed to say in return. ‘Yes, it’s been a while.’

‘Too long. We should see each other more often.’ Trakas released him and went to Petra, taking her hand and bowing to kiss it. ‘And the beautiful Petra. I haven’t seen you since the wedding!’ He straightened, then turned towards Nina. ‘And you must be Dr Wilde, the famous archaeologist.’

‘Yeah, I must,’ she replied, finding herself struggling not to like him. Their host’s larger-than-life bonhomie was instantly infectious — but she reminded herself that he was responsible for her almost being killed. ‘My husband, Eddie Chase.’

Trakas reached for her hand. She turned it on its side, making it clear that she would go no further than a shake. He did so with a shrug and a small smile before facing Eddie. The Englishman gave him a perfunctory but firm handshake before pulling away, stone-faced.

‘You are not so pleased to see me, I can tell,’ said the Greek, unconcerned. ‘But I always welcome guests, so please! Come inside.’

He led the visitors through the glass doors, the temperature immediately dropping as they entered an air-conditioned combination of gym and lounge. Trakas headed through it and along a lengthy passageway with more rooms to each side. The scent of cooking food wafted up from the deck below as they passed a flight of stairs. ‘My chef will have something good for you,’ he announced. ‘Swordfish, freshly caught. I landed it myself,’ he added proudly.

‘With help, I bet,’ said Lonmore.

Trakas laughed. ‘Spencer is still bitter about the time I took him fishing and he hurt his hands trying to bring in a swordfish this long.’ He held his palms about eight inches apart. ‘Including the sword!’ Another booming laugh, then he opened a door and stepped through. ‘Please, in here.’

The new room was another luxurious lounge, wraparound windows giving a panoramic view of the ocean. Glass doors were open to the bow deck, a couple of crew members beyond the foremast. A table had been laid for a meal. Trakas took the seat at its head. Nina noticed that six places had been set, rather than five.

‘So,’ said the Greek as his guests sat, ‘you want to talk to me.’

Lonmore spoke first. ‘Yes, we do. It’s about the—’

‘It’s about the Crucibles,’ Nina cut in. ‘The Atlantean artefact your mercenaries stole from the Detsen monastery in Nepal.’

Trakas showed no surprise. ‘Yes, the Crucible. What of it?’

‘What of it?’ Eddie echoed scathingly. ‘We want you to give the bloody things back!’

‘And why should I do that?’

‘Because if you don’t,’ said Nina, ‘we’ll bring down Interpol on you. There’ll be plenty of charges, but the biggest ones will be the theft of Atlantean artefacts — which the UN consider protected items under the jurisdiction of the International Heritage Agency — and multiple counts of murder.’

‘Murder?’ barked Trakas. ‘I have killed nobody.’

‘But you hired mercenaries who did. It amounts to the same thing. If you don’t cooperate, you’ll be arrested and extradited to Nepal to stand trial.’

‘But if you turn the Crucibles over,’ said Lonmore, in a more conciliatory tone, ‘I’m sure we can come to some mutually beneficial arrangement.’

Trakas shook his head dismissively. ‘You say I am responsible for these deaths. But that is not the version of events I have been told.’

‘We were there,’ said Eddie. ‘We saw it for ourselves.’

‘And so did the man who told me.’ He called out in Greek. Someone came down the passageway — and Eddie and Nina reacted in shock as Axelos entered the lounge.

The Yorkshireman jumped up. ‘What the fuck is he doing here?’

‘This son of a bitch tried to kill us!’ Nina cried.

‘Please, please, be calm,’ said Trakas, gesturing for Eddie to retake his seat. ‘Petros works for me — he is my chief of security. I sent him to Nepal to obtain the Crucibles, but because of the short timescale, he was forced to hire local men instead of more reliable ones he had worked with before. This was,’ he brought his hands together as if in prayer, seeming genuinely contrite, ‘a mistake.’