Dig Two Graves: Revenge or Honor (37 page)

“Of course. You are, after all, a lawyer. Do attorneys trust anyone?”

“Some people, but certainly not you,” AJ said, trying to sound confident.

“So what do you propose?” Solaris asked.

“He’s in no condition to drive, thanks to you, so I will have to arrange for someone to collect him.”

“And that person will bring the book?” Solaris said taking a step toward AJ.

“Perhaps,” he replied.

Anna laughed aloud. “Look at you two sparring. It’s fantastic. I wouldn’t have missed this. Rafael, get a drink and watch. You could learn something.”

Rafael poured a glass of wine and sullenly took a seat next to his mother.

Solaris glowered at Anna and said, “Can we get on with this?”

“Yes, let’s get on with it. May I make a phone call?” AJ said, looking first at Solaris then at Anna.

Anna gave a permissive wave and Solaris nodded curtly.

AJ took out his cell phone and dialed. Gia answered on the first ring. “I am at an estate north of town called …” AJ looked at Anna.

“It’s called Costa Nopia, twenty minutes from Limenas, north on the coast road,” Anna said.

AJ repeated the name and directions then said, “Get here as soon as possible.”

The wait could have been a tense one, but Anna entertained her guests with a brief history of the island. Solaris was impatient but listened just the same. Anna explained everything, the 600 B.C. Phoenician colonization, the discovery of gold, the Ionian Revolt, the Ottoman conquest, and the island’s role in the Greek War of Independence. She was about to begin with the modern era when the group’s attention turned to the sound of an approaching vehicle.

Anna said, “Gentlemen, I believe your package has arrived.”

AJ, still seated in the wicker sofa, casually uncrossed his legs, as he tried to still his pounding heart. A moment later Sophia escorted a young man in an airline pilot’s uniform to the terrace.

“Mr. Pantheras, this gentleman is here to see you,” Sophia said.

“Karl,” Solaris said pointing at the uniformed man at the door. Karl instructed the man to raise his arms and conducted thorough pat down.

AJ fought hard to still the light of recognition in his eyes as Tinos was searched at the terrace entrance.

“Sir, how may I be of service?” Tinos said when Karl cleared him to enter.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, captain. This man,” indicating Ceres, “needs to be taken to a hospital.”

“Yes, sir,” the fake airline captain responded.

Tinos went to Ceres’ wheelchair and began to push him toward the door.

“Wait!” Solaris commanded.

Tinos stopped in his tracks.

“There is, I believe, something to be exchanged first,” Solaris said, looking at AJ.

“Yes, of course, how foolish of me,” AJ replied. “Captain, you have something for me?”

Tinos took a scuffed black notebook from his breast pocket and held it up. AJ clapped his hands once and nodded. Tinos tossed the notebook across the terrace to AJ. Solaris watched as the object of his obsession flew through the air right in front of him. AJ caught it in one hand.

“I believe this is what you want,” he said, holding up the source of so much trouble.

“Give it to me!” Solaris said, lurching unsteadily toward AJ.

AJ took a step back and said, “Not until Ceres is gone. Once he’s on his way to the hospital you can have it.”

“I don’t think so,” Solaris said.

“Why don’t you give it to a neutral party for inspection,” Anna said casually playing her part, “then you can conclude your business and both can be on your way.”

“An excellent suggestion,” AJ said.

Anna moved imperceptibly toward AJ.

“I don’t know,” Solaris said suspiciously.

“I’ll give it to Mrs. Arons. She can look through it while we talk,” AJ said. AJ turned his back to Solaris. He held one hand on top and the other on the bottom of the notebook and slipped the tiny palm gun underneath. Anna played her part perfectly deftly dropping the little gun into her skirt pocket.

Leafing through the notebook Anna looked up at AJ and said, “This is very interesting.”

“Enough,” Solaris stormed.

“No, we’re just getting started,” AJ replied. “You get the notebook when Ceres and I leave.”

“You don’t actually expect to leave here alive, do you?” Solaris said.

“No, I didn’t have very high expectation of that happening, but I had to meet you. I had to meet the man who’s plagued my family for, how long, seventy years?” AJ said, his resolve growing with each breath.

“I’ve plagued you? From the time I ran across your grandfather I’ve been fighting your family,” Solaris said.

“So you did steal the gold during the war,” AJ said.

“Steal? No, more like liberated,. It was already stolen, after all. It was more than just gold too. There were diamonds, and other jewels, silver, and pieces of art. It was fabulous.”

“I don’t guess the art faired too well when you sank that ship,” AJ said.

“Aha, you discovered that. I thought I covered my tracks, but no matter. No, the art works did not survive, but that was only a small part of the fortune. It was easy enough to recover after the war. I’ve searched for the rest of it all these years. Now it’s mine. Give me that book!” Solaris bellowed.

“Who are you, anyway?” AJ said, looking over Anna’s shoulder as she thumbed through the notebook, and looking up at Tinos. “What is it you need this treasure for? You’re an extremely wealthy man.”

Solaris chuckled, “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me,” AJ gently insisted.

“There is wealth and there is power,” Solaris began. “You need one to have the other. I have too little of both. The ultimate power is the ability to manipulate,” Solaris said slowly pacing as he explained. “Start a financial crisis, nothing to it,” Solaris snapped his fingers. “I very publicly sell all my stocks and bonds from a particular country and there’s a panic. How do you think the Greek financial mess started? It has been profitable. Do you want to destabilize a government? Look what I’ve been able to do in Syria. The arms business is very good there right now. When a country threatens its neighbor … well who knows what they may want? Someone needs to supply the bullets and the beans. This one,” Solaris pointed at Rafael, “finances these things, but I fill the needs and make a handsome profit.”

Tinos gave AJ a tiny nod, indicating he had heard enough, but AJ wasn’t finished.

Anna scowled at Rafael. She didn’t like what she was hearing. He was more deeply involved than she’d feared.

“So why send the professional assassins? Surely with all your money and influence …?”

“This one,” Solaris said pointing to Ceres, who was more conscious than had first appeared, “the Italian detective and your father were asking too many questions, even Joseph Arons,” Rafael’s head shot up with a start.

An imperceptible smile crept over Anna’s lips. She now knew what she had risked everything to learn.

“Who I was, how I got my start, it was all problematic,” Solaris continued.

“What’s so …” AJ asked.

“… So important?” Solaris interrupted. “Since none of you will live out the hour, I’ll tell you,” Solaris said. “I was born with nothing. I fought for my country when war came but still had nothing. The Germans showed me comfort, luxury, and power … the important things in life.”

“They seduced you?”

“I prefer to say my eyes were opened,” he replied with a sneer. “I vowed never to be poor or hungry again. I learned how to get what I wanted.”

“You learned from the best. The Nazis cornered the market on ruthless megalomania,” AJ said. “You stole the stolen ransom and kept it from the Germans.”

“Dorn sent me to collect it for him and was going to give me a pittance,” Solaris snorted. “I planned to steal it but your grandfather stole it first. Now tell me where the rest of it is.”

Solaris’ eyes narrowed,

“Sure, sure, it’s all in there,” he said pointing to notebook in Anna’s hand, “but how did you go over to the Germans? They didn’t trust anyone and you must have been very young,” AJ said, hoping he wasn’t pushing too hard.

“You really want to know this? Your grandfather was a traitor, too.”

“That remains to be seen but yes, I want to know,” AJ, said.

“I was young, just seventeen but I had a reputation. I fought beside my father. Soon, I’d killed more men than he had but he didn’t like my methods. I was too brutal, he said. I enjoyed killing to much, he said.” Solaris’ voice was rising. “How can you fight a war and not be brutal?”

“Your father was jealous of your success, wasn’t he?” AJ said.

Solaris smiled a wry smile, took a breath, and began again with a calmer voice. “That was a clever diversion. You won’t make me careless though. I’m never careless.”

“Go on with your story. It’s fascinating, in a bizarre way.”

“The Germans captured me with six other Andartes,” Solaris continued. “They were going to kill us. When I saw how things were, I offered to help the Germans. One-by-one I executed the others to impress the German officer. The other Andartes leaders all knew my father and trusted me so it was nothing to sell them out.”

“You mean kill them,” AJ interrupted.

“It’s all a matter of interpretation,” Solaris replied. “I wiped out one group after another. I killed every one of those leaders myself,” Solaris pounded his chest with his fist. “The Germans were grateful and helped me change my name. I did any dirty job they wanted and eventually led the security forces in the north. We were Greek soldiers fighting for Greece.”

“You were turncoats killing civilians and the resistance for the Germans,” AJ countered.

Solaris laughed, “The Communists were the real enemy. The Greek government was more afraid of the Bolsheviks than the Germans. Anyway, I learned to enjoy life.”

“So why did they trust you?” AJ asked.

“It won’t matter if I tell you now. They gave me a big job as a final test of loyalty. I led the Germans to my own village. The German officer handed me a pistol and I shot my father. Then I helped the soldiers kill everyone in the village and burn the miserable place to the ground. The boy born in that village died that day and I became someone else.”

“Who are you? The Greeks executed Nikko Solaris after the war,” AJ said.

“You’ve done your homework,” Solaris replied. “When the Germans pulled out of Greece, I decided I should go too. I’d used many names by then, but I took Solaris’ when I left the country. I liked the sound of it.”

“But who are you?”

He smiled at AJ as if it was some great inside joke then looked at ‘. “I’m Alac Savas,” he said.

“Alac Savas!” Ceres said, his head jerking up painfully. “You’re…”

“I’m your brother, you fool. You don’t even recognize me. I’m three times the man you are. Just look at you, poor and weak.”

Ceres eyes burned with an inhuman intensity. “The Germans killed my brother,” Ceres croaked. He tried to rise, but Tinos gently restrained him with a hand on his shoulder. He leaned down and whispered to the wheelchair ridden man.

“We’ll have none of that,” Alac Savas said to Tinos. “No stupid one, I wasn’t killed. I was reborn.”

Turning to AJ, he said. “I’ll have that notebook now, if you please.” He pulled out a Walther .380. Verde, who had worked his way over toward Tinos, also produced a weapon, as did the Karl, the bodyguard.

“The book,” Alac demanded.

“You don’t think that move is entirely unexpected do you?” AJ asked surprised how calm his own voice sounded.

AJ moved away from Anna, opening a gap of about fifteen feet between them. He was no more than ten feet from Alac Savas.

“I’ll take the notebook now,” Alac said more forcefully.

AJ started to reach for his .45, but Anna, who had been watching Alac, took several steps forward and leveled the tiny .22 palm gun at Alac.

“You murdered my husband,” Anna said. “He helped you and you murdered him.” She continued to walk toward him.

“Stop right there.” Alac Savas demanded. He dropped his head, shaking it slowly, “What do you expect to do with that toy?” he said then he lurched toward Anna.

The movement startled Anna and she fired twice, but her aim was off and both bullets whizzed by their intended target.

Alac raised his Walther and fired. Rafael sprang to his feet and dove in front of his mother. The bullet struck him in the chest.

The gunfire as his cue, Tinos’ fist smashed three quick punches into Verde’s face. He slipped behind the stunned man, snaking his left arm around Verde’s throat, and applied a chokehold. Verde’s arms flailed as he struggled for breath but he kept a firm grip on his gun. The unexpected move placed Verde between Tinos’ and Karl, the surprised the bodyguard.

Karl, more a brawler than a marksman, couldn’t get a shot off without hitting Verde, so he charged. He pounced, pummeling Tinos with shots to the ribs and head. Tinos grimaced but held on. He could feel the effect lack of air was having as Verde began to weaken. Grappling with two larger, determined men put Tinos at a disadvantage, but his years of Special Forces training took over. He sensed Karl’s position behind him and to the right and snapped the heel of his right foot to the inside of the big bodyguard’s knee. The man dropped like a bag of rocks, his knee shattered. Writhing on the ground in searing pain, Karl was out of action.