The Grecian Manifesto (14 page)

Chapter 27

Rome, Italy

The cell door slammed shut without Sean saying so much as
a word in protest. The polizia had detained him and Tommy on illegal possession
of firearms, something that could cause them no end of trouble in a European
country. They were in someone else’s territory now, which meant that the president
would likely not be of any help. As he’d insinuated before, if another
government got wind that President Dawkins was behind Wyatt’s investigation, it
could mean big trouble both at home, and abroad.

Fortunately, the Italian police had let Cagliari go free.
He had no weapons on him, and because the man was old the authorities had
decided not to charge him with trespassing. The last thing Sean had done before
being detained was to tell Cagliari to find Emily Starks and tell her what
happened.

He hoped the man could deliver, but there was really no
telling at this point. Tommy was in the cell next to him, demanding to speak to
an attorney. He’d issued verbal threats and angry insults the entire ride from
the river to the police station. While Tommy did have a substantial financial
fortune behind him, at the moment he was just another prisoner.

“I’m an American citizen!” he shouted at the two guards who
had deposited him in the cell next to Wyatt’s. “I have rights. I want to call
my attorney.”

The two guards disappeared around the corner, ignoring the
requests. Tommy languished for a second at the barred wall before slumping down
on a metal bench.

“Don’t think it works that way here, buddy,” Sean
consoled.

“It’s a democracy, isn’t it? It should work the same.”

Sean didn’t answer immediately. He had other things on his
mind. If Gikas somehow found out that they’d been arrested, the Greek might try
to make some kind of a play to have them both killed. The Italian government
had dealt with its fair share of corruption in the past. Made sense there were
still plenty of people who would be more than happy to do a few bad deeds for
profit.

“Just try to relax,” he said to Tommy. “Emily will get us
out of here.”

“You think Cagliari can find her? She works for a
government agency, Sean. She’s not supposed to be easy to find. It’s not like
the old guy can just pull up Google and do a quick Internet search for Emily Starks’s
phone number.”

Tommy wasn’t saying anything Sean didn’t already know.
That didn’t make it any less true, though. Something else was bothering Sean.
One of the guards had been eyeing them since they’d arrived. He doubted it was
because the guy didn’t like Americans. The policeman appeared to be waiting for
something. But what? Being on foreign soil many times in the past, Sean had
seen a number of things happen that got swept under the rug. He wouldn’t be
surprised if someone tried to kill both him and Tommy, thinking that no one
would notice. If Sean had to bet on it, that guard would be his first suspect
for the job. He hoped he was just being paranoid again, but like he’d learned
so many times before, better to be over prepared than not at all.

“Seriously,” Tommy was still ranting about being arrested,
“how can they keep us here like this? Has the whole world gone insane?”

“Tommy,” Sean finally said, tired of hearing the
complaining. “We were caught with weapons we aren’t allowed to have here.
Whether you like it or not, we broke the law. Just try to relax, man.”

Tommy was speechless for the first time in the hour since
they’d been marched into the police station. Sean figured his friend hadn’t had
a lot of experience with being kept behind bars. Sean, on the other hand, had
been in plenty of situations like this. He remembered the worst being just
outside Moscow. In post-communist Russia, anything went. At least the Soviets
had standards, albeit minimalist at best. He’d been found snooping around some
of the old KGB archives and taken in for questioning. The escape had been
easier than expected, something that would not have been true had the Soviets
still been in charge. But the prison itself was one of the foulest, dirtiest
places Sean had ever had the misfortune of being stuck in. It made the current
situation seem like the Ritz.

He took a look outside the cell and through the square
window at the top of the door that led into the main area of the station. He
could still see the man who’d been watching them the whole time, and now the
guy was talking to another officer. Sean put his head back down and stared at
the floor when the suspicious-looking guy pointed in his direction. Sean
wondered if the officer had noticed him looking at him, not that it mattered.
Now Sean was fairly certain the man in the uniform was working for someone
else. Gikas? No way of knowing at the moment, and it didn’t really matter who
he was working for.

Sean had seen that look a dozen times; it was a face that killers
wore. They probably didn’t realize they were wearing it. For Sean, however, it
was a dead giveaway.

The door to the holding area suddenly opened, and a portly
man in a tie and police hat wobbled in. He had a thick mustache and a fleshy
face that seemed to fit with his rotund body. When he spoke, his baritone
Italian voice boomed throughout the cinder block room.

“So, gentlemen. It seems we have a bit of a situation
here.” He carried a clipboard in his hand and glanced down at it for a second
before resuming. “Sean Wyatt?”

“Si,” Sean answered with the Italian form of the word
yes.

“Your friend with the United States government called. You
and your friend are going to be released immediately.”

“Thank you, signore,” Sean said respectfully as he stood.

“Of course, your weapons will remain here. Foreigners are
not permitted to carry guns, Mr. Wyatt. Please remember to abide by the laws.
If you are arrested again, I may not be able to help you. At that point, it
will go over my head.”

Sean gave an appreciative nod. “Thank you, sir. We will be
sure to stay clear of trouble from here on out.”

The policeman unlocked the two cells and lumbered back
toward the door. “Please, follow me. You will need to sign a few papers before
you are released.” He stopped and spun around, eyeing both of the Americans.
“Also, you have a friend here. Signor Cagliari is a well-respected man in this
city. See to it that you do not get him mixed up in anything criminal.”

“We definitely won’t,” Sean answered.

Tommy remained silent on the matter until they cleared the
front desk of the police station. Cagliari sat alone on a bench against the far
wall of the lobby, a surprisingly cheerful look decorating his face. He had
picked up a magazine somewhere and was scanning through it when the two
Americans approached.

“Ah, good. I’m glad your friend was able to get you out so
quickly,” Cagliari said with a twinkle in his eye. “That’s a good connection,
that Starks lady. Useful to have someone like that in your life, no?”

“I’ve bailed her out of plenty of sticky spots too,” Sean
said defensively.

Tommy snorted. “Pretty sure you owe her right now.”

Sean’s head snapped to the side, surprised by his friend’s
joking insult. “Didn’t realize you were keeping score. Last I checked I got you
out of some tight spots too.” He smiled as he made the statement.

“Yeah, but this little trip is putting us closer to even,
I think,” Tommy replied with a crooked grin of his own.

“Fine,” Sean said, giving up, realizing the conversation
wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

They went around to the front of the receptionist’s desk,
which was protected by a bulletproof glass window. The woman in uniform had
already processed their information and had their identification and phones
ready to be returned.

“Grazie,” Sean said, scooping up his belongings and
sifting through his credit cards to make sure everything was in order. Slightly
relieved to see nothing had been lost, he put his cards and identification back
in his money clip and slid it into his pocket.

He turned his attention to their new Italian friend as
they descended a set of stone steps and exited the building. “Signore, are you
sure you don’t want to go to Mount Fumaiolo with us?”

“I’m quite sure. I do appreciate your entertaining the
idea of having an old man like me along on your quest, but I believe my race is
run in regards to field work.” Cagliari stopped on the sidewalk and spun around
to face Tommy and Sean. “You will be able to move faster without me tagging
along. All I ask is that when you discover the relic, I be invited to be one of
the first to examine it.”

Sean smiled and extended his hand. “Done.” Cagliari
grasped his hand and shook it firmly. “Thanks again for all you’ve done, Signor
Cagliari. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

He pulled Sean close as if he were about to share a great
secret. He spoke in a hushed, just-between-us-guys tone. “You better take care
of that woman of yours when you get her back. She is one in a billion.”

“I intend to.”

The older man let go of Sean’s hand and reached out to
take Tommy’s, shaking it in the same, strong manner as before.

“Like Sean said, sir, thank you for your help. We will be
in touch as soon as we have the device in our possession.”

Cagliari gave a quick nod. “I know you will.”

He turned and walked down the sidewalk toward one of the
many cathedrals dotting the Roman landscape. After twenty seconds, he had
disappeared into the throng of people bustling about their day.

The sun was still high over the horizon. Sean looked down
at his phone to check the local time. It was getting late in the afternoon. The
little delay of getting arrested had taken up more than two hours of their
time. They were lucky it hadn’t been more, and Sean knew it.

Tommy checked his phone too and realized how late it was.
“What are we going to do?”

Sean already had a plan. “First, we get our car.”

“Obviously.”

Ignoring Tommy’s comment, Sean kept talking. “We need
weapons and flashlights.”

“Flashlights we can get in a grocery store,” Tommy said, and
then paused as he thought about the other item on the list. “The guns might be
a problem.”

Sean shook his head. “I know someone who can help us with
that.”

He had worked with a low-level arms dealer out of the
Czech Republic during his days with Axis. The guy was smart about his business,
never getting too over his head when it came to inventory or the types of
weapons he dealt. Sean didn’t mind bending rules, so he forged a relationship
with the guy. It had turned out to be an extremely beneficial one for Sean. The
arms dealer had intel on everything that happened on the black market, as well
as some of the inner workings of local and regional governments.

Last he’d heard, the guy had moved his base of operations
to Rome. From what Sean had heard, it was because of his Italian wife.

Tommy looked skeptical. “Someone from your days with
Axis?”

A coarse grin crept to one side of Sean’s face as he
started to dial their driver. “Don’t worry about it. He’s a good guy…for an
arms dealer.”

Chapter 2
8

Corfu, Greece

Adriana heard the helicopter leave over an hour ago. More
time than that may have passed, but without access to any kind of clock she
really had no idea. For all she knew, Gikas could have left three hours ago.
The only information she had was that the man was going to speak somewhere. To
whom, and where, was a mystery. In the far reaches of the northwestern part of
Greece, Corfu was more of a remote outpost than anything. Its vineyards and
beach towns were sparse at best. The nearest city with a significant population
would be at least an hour’s flight by helicopter.

That meant if Gikas had a thirty- to forty-five minute
speech, he wouldn’t be returning for another hour…maybe. With the head man
gone, she reasoned that some of the security forces he employed would have gone
with him. Maybe only a few of them, but that was better than none. It would
mean fewer men to deal with on the grounds, and any edge she could get she
would take.

She’d spent the better part of the last thirty minutes
trying to grind away the ropes that bound her hands behind her back. After a
tireless effort, and rubbing her wrists raw, she was finally able to get the
bonds loose enough to wriggle free.

Niki had watched her from the corner. He remained quiet,
and far away from her as Adriana struggled to free herself. She thought about
asking the boy to help her, but decided against it. He was already afraid
enough. More than that, if one of the guards did a random pop in to check on
the prisoners and caught the boy helping her, the punishment could be severe.
That was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.

She shook her arms and hands, letting the blood flow back
into her fingers. The ropes had been so tight; relief flooded her to have them
finally removed. A few times she’d lost feeling in her fingertips from the
constriction.

Niki still sat in the corner, watching her warily as she
tugged at the rope around her feet. It took a considerable effort to loosen it,
despite having the use of her hands, but after a few minutes her legs were free
as well.

Adriana stood up and wobbled for a second, not having been
on her feet for some time. She moved cautiously to where the frightened boy
crouched in the shadows. “Niki, are you okay?” she asked quietly, just barely
audible.

He shook his head.

“Are you afraid of what those men might do to you?”

He gave a shy nod.

“That’s okay,” she smiled at him reassuringly. “It’s okay
to be afraid, but I need you to answer me honestly. This is an important
question. Can you handle it?”

“I guess so,” he volunteered.

“Good. I think you can. I need to know, are you a fast
runner?”

The boy seemed to cheer up slightly, and answered her
query with a dramatic nod.

“Are you faster than most of the boys in your school?” she
asked, pressing the line of questioning.

He gave the same response.

“Good,” she said, “because I’m going to need you to run
very, very fast. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yes,” he said, still nodding.

“Now, we are going to play a little game with these men.
It’s called escape from Alcatraz.”

Niki giggled a little at the last word.

 
“I know,
Alcatraz is a funny word, isn’t it?”

He gave two huge nods.

“Well, today we are going to play that game, and if you
can get to the church in the little town down the road, you will be the winner.
Do you want to play?”

“Yes,” Niki answered.

“Now if the men catch me, you have to promise me that you
will keep going. After all, you want to win the game, right?”

“Okay,” he said with a final nod. “I promise.”

“Good.” She ran her hand on his soft, young cheek. “I’m
going to lure one of the guards in here to start the game. I’m going to pretend
to knock him out, but he is just pretending to be asleep. It’s all part of the
game, but you must not say anything to the guards. No matter what, stay close
behind me, and when we reach the road start running and never look back.”

Adriana stood up and grabbed a small wooden step from the
base of one of the wine racks. She positioned it directly under the narrow
window in the corner and put one of her feet on it to boost herself up. She
stretched as far as she could to reach the latch on the window, and was
relieved to find that it opened easily.

“Are we going through that window?” Niki asked?

She smiled down at him as she stepped off the stool. “No.
But we want to make it look like we did.”

She moved quickly back to the wine rack and grabbed one of
the bottles. “Come over here, and remember to stay perfectly still when the
guard comes in.” Adriana grabbed Niki’s hand and pulled him over to the
interior wall, near the doorway.

“Are you ready to start the game?” she asked, looking at
the boy to make sure he was still composed. Surprisingly, he appeared to be
fine, and was smiling at the proposition of doing something fun for a change.

“Good,” she said. “Here we go.”

Adriana stepped forward and fired the wine bottle toward
the wall near the window. She grabbed another two and chucked them in quick
succession into the same area, spilling dark-red liquid all over the floor and
wall as the glass shattered on stone.

The guard’s reaction was faster than she anticipated. The
sound of a key being inserted into the door lock clinked throughout the room. A
few seconds later, the door swung open, and one of the guards stepped in,
holding a gun in his hand. He looked around for a second, and then noticed the
open window on the other side of the room.

As soon as he saw it, his suspicion kicked in. He touched
an earpiece that dangled from his right ear and spoke into a concealed
microphone. “We have a problem,” the man said in a heavy Greek accent. “The
prisoners have escaped through the window. Everyone be on the lookout for the
woman and boy.”

He took a few more steps toward the corner where the
gentle sea breeze rolled up the hill and down through the little window. The sound
of the waves crashing against the shore accompanied the fresh air. Adriana put
her finger on the boy’s mouth, her last warning for him to stay quiet as she
stepped lightly from the shadows. She tiptoed across the hard floor, careful to
step as stealthily as possible.

The guard had reached the window and was inspecting the
broken glass and spilled wine. He never saw or heard Adriana take the final
step between them before she wrapped her hands around his head and snapped it
to the left, breaking his neck in one quick movement. The body collapsed to the
floor amid the shards of splintered glass. Adriana wasted no time, taking the
man’s handgun and the extra clip he had attached to his belt.

She spun around to make sure Niki was still there. The
frightened boy stood with mouth and eyes wide as Adriana returned to his side
with the weapon in hand. “He’ll be okay, Niki. He’s just pretending. Remember,
stay behind me until we get to the road. Then you run as fast as you can toward
the town. Where are you going when you get to the village?”

The boy hesitated for a second, reluctant to speak.
Finally he said, “The church.”

Adriana rubbed his head, tousling his hair, and smiled
proudly at him. “That’s right. You head for the church. Now, stay close. These
men may shoot at us, but they aren’t real bullets. They’re just bb’s. If I hit
one of the guards with it, they have to fall down and pretend to be dead.
That’s part of the game. Understand?”

Niki nodded eagerly.

“Good. Let’s go.”

She stepped into the open doorway with the weapon drawn in
front of her. The staircase was clear. She grabbed the boy’s hand and led him up,
careful not to pull on his arm too hard. They reached the top of the stairs,
and she let go of his hand and motioned for him to wait for a moment. Adriana
peeked around the corner of the doorsill and found a large, empty kitchen. She
started to step out of the stairwell when she heard footsteps coming from the
left. Instinctively, she retreated into the shadows for a moment to wait. With
the weapon she’d taken from the guard downstairs, shooting the current threat
would be no problem. She had the element of surprise, but firing the gun would
draw too much attention. If at all possible, Adriana needed to wait to shoot
the gun as an absolute last resort, at least until the boy was out of harm’s
way.

A set of kitchen knives on top of the kitchen’s island caught
her eye. As a child, her father had let Adriana play with dangerous things most
parents would never dream of allowing their child to even touch. Throwing
knives at the oak trees on her family’s estate had been one of her favorite
activities. She remembered the warm summer days out in the yard with her father
as he went through the correct motion of how to throw a knife with deadly
accuracy. At the time, Adriana never imagined she would need to use that skill
for any real-world applications. Since becoming a reclamation thief, she’d made
use of the ability more times than she could count.

The guard seemed on edge, and walked over to one of the
far windows in a hexagonal dining area. He pulled down one of the blinds to
take a look outside. It was the moment Adriana needed. She moved quickly over
to the island and withdrew one of the large blades from its sheath. She gripped
the tip of it in a sleight of hand motion and flung it at the unsuspecting
guard. The sharp edge struck deep into the base of his neck. He started to
collapse, but managed to turn around just in time to see Adriana leaping toward
him. Her knee caught him square in the jaw, rendering him unconscious. The man
slumped over onto his side. She yanked the blade out of the bloody wound and
returned to the island to grab two more like it.

Niki was peeking out from the staircase with apprehension.
She called to him, “It’s okay, Niki. Come on. We have to go.”

The boy reached out his hand for Adriana. She smiled
weakly at him and clasped it tight. “I promise, everything is going to be all
right.”