The Grecian Manifesto (9 page)

Now no one would stand in his way.

Chapter 15

Rome, Italy

The three men burst through the metal door to a surprisingly
quiet alley. Sean could hear the perpetual whine of the sirens echoing down the
narrow side street, but no emergency units had arrived in the back, not yet
anyway. Their car, however, was waiting by the sidewalk as Sean had requested.

“You know something, Wyatt?” Yarbrough said, still
grimacing from the bullet wound. “I think these guys may have underestimated
you.”

“I get that a lot,” Sean said in a fake smug tone. “The
underestimating thing, I mean. I think it might be the hair.” He cast a wayward
eye up, pretending to glance at the messy blond strands.

Yarbrough laughed, followed by short and painful cough.

“Take it easy there, big guy. We’ll have you to the
hospital in no time,” Sean said in a calm voice as he opened the back door of
the sedan.

“Get us to the closest hospital,” Sean ordered urgently.

Carl nodded and stepped on the gas as soon as the men had
closed the doors. A moment later the car was winding and jerking its way
through the streets of Rome. Chaos had fallen on the square, which made Sean
glad it was in the rear window and disappearing fast. Fire trucks, police cars,
and other emergency vehicles had arrived on the scene faster than Sean had
expected.

The driver whipped the vehicle sharply to the right and
down another side street, smack into the middle of a town market. The sidewalks
were lined with awnings and tents, full of produce, meats, breads, and
trinkets. Throngs of pedestrians flooded the road, blocking the thoroughfare
completely. The driver slammed on the brakes, and the car came to a screeching
halt, throwing everyone forward in their seats.

Agent Yarbrough winced and grunted. “You might need to
pick a different street,” he said, trying to remain calm.

“My mistake, guys,” Carl said in a frustrated tone. He
threw the car into reverse and backed it onto the previous street.

“Looks like I may have to sit this one out on the
sidelines,” Yarbrough said, disappointment apparent in his voice. “Is your next
move to head to the train station and see what Ms. Villa hid in that locker?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Good,” Yarbrough said and closed his eyes slowly for a
second. Sean could tell the man was desperately trying to fight off the pain.
“You’re the only one that can get her back. The president is stuck between a
rock and a hard place. We can’t just go in with guns blazing like we did with bin
Laden. There’s a lot more at stake here.”

“I understand.” Sean wasn’t lying. He understood how the
politics of the world worked, and how the bureaucracies were limited in what
they could do, especially when the country was an ally.

Greece had been a friend of the United States for a long
time, never having any reason to be at odds with one another. If the president sent
in a special forces unit on a rescue mission, that could lead to trouble on a
massive scale. Other countries would begin to distrust their allies and wonder
how much of that sort of thing would go on in their own backyards. Other
American presidents had ordered these kinds of missions, but it wasn’t a
precedent President Dawkins wanted to continue.
 
Sean was the only person capable of doing what was needed. It
just so happened that what he wanted and what the president needed were in
line.

The car veered to the left and then back to the right,
merging into a huge roundabout packed with trucks, motorcycles, and passenger
vehicles. The cluster of machines seemed to have no order, people zipping in
and out of lanes without so much as a wave of the hand, much less a turn
signal.

Their driver seemed adept at moving Roman traffic puzzle,
deftly weaving in and out of tight spots until he reached the outlet he was
looking for. The car dove out of the circle and down another road, heading for
a tall, gray building straight ahead.

“The hospital is there,” he said, pointing at the
facility. “Do you want me to pull around back or…”

“We’ll take him to the front,” Sean interrupted. “No need
for secrecy now. He’s lost a lot of blood and needs to get that wound closed
up.”

“Sean,” Yarbrough interrupted. “Leave me at the hospital.
I can have backup there in five minutes. I’ll be okay.”

Tommy cast a worrisome glance at his friend, then back to
the wounded agent. “That’s not really our style.”

Yarbrough shook his head and put on his sternest
expression. “You and I both know you may not have a lot of time. Villa may not
have much time, and we believe Gikas is going to make his move in the next few
days. The only way to save her is to find out what it is that man is looking for.”

Sean thought about it for a moment as the driver of the
vehicle steered the car into the hospital’s driveway and up to the front door.
“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” He sought Yarbrough’s eyes for an honest answer.

“No organ damage. Though I might not be able to throw a
baseball again for a while.” He forced a fake grin onto his face.

“All right,” Sean nodded.

Tommy got out of the car first and ran around to open the
door for Yarbrough. Sean dashed inside, and then reappeared through the door
pushing a wheelchair. He rolled the chair around to the other side of the car
where he and Tommy helped ease the injured man into the seat.

Sean took him to the door where Yarbrough stopped him. “Go
on,” he ordered, looking up with a stoic glare. “I can take it from here. Go
find your girl and bring her back safe.”

Sean didn’t need to say anything. His quick nod told the
man he understood. There was an additional message that Yarbrough passed
through the air between them. It was unspoken, but Sean heard it nonetheless.

He left Yarbrough at the threshold of the hospital and ran
back to the car. Tommy had already gotten back inside when he slid into the
front passenger’s seat.

“You sure he’s going to be all right?” Carl cast a wary
eye over at Sean.

“I’ve seen worse, but I don’t like to leave a man behind.
He’ll survive.” Sean thought for a second and peeked back at the doorway. A
triage nurse had taken the handles of the wheelchair and was pushing Yarbrough
away, most likely to the emergency room. “We need to get to the train station,”
he said after watching the Secret Service man disappear.

“Train station? You taking a trip somewhere?” Carl raised
an eyebrow.

“I guess that depends.”

“On what?”

Sean stared ahead through the windshield. “On what we find
there. I have a feeling that whatever it is, we aren’t going to get a chance to
do any sightseeing in Rome.”

Chapter 16

Rome, Italy

Thanos tried to hold back his anger, when all he wanted to
do was unleash all that inner fury and kill something, or in this case,
someone. He stared hard into the green eyes of his sniper. The man wearing a
black combat vest still had the high-caliber rifle slung over his shoulder.

“You’re sure that you hit one of them?”

“Yes, sir,” the man with a flat top haircut said. “I
believe in the chest or shoulder.”

“That actually makes a huge difference, you idiot.” Thanos
paused for a minute, frantically attempting to figure out his next move. “What
did the target look like?”

A confused look passed over the man’s face. “He was tall.
Looked fairly strong. And he was black.”

Thanos’s eyes grew wider. That last revelation was not
good. He knew that Sean and his friend Tommy were in the room with a Secret
Service agent. If the sniper had put a bullet in the agent, that could be big
trouble for Thanos’s employer, unless of course there was no way to trace the
incident back to Gikas. An old familiar urge was creeping its way into Thanos’s
mind. His thick muscles tightened, and he could feel the vein on top of his
head pumping hard.

“You’ve been watching that room for the last week,
correct?” he asked in a calm voice.

“Yes, sir.” The mercenary’s voice trembled somewhat. His
accent was distinctly Bosnian. The man had served in some harsh conditions
during the war in Kosovo, so Thanos knew what he was capable of, and his
limitations.

“You followed the woman to and from the room, yes?”

The sniper answered with a nod.

“Where was the last place you saw her other than getting
food?”

The man’s eyes lowered for a moment, searching the carpet
for the answer. Then it dawned on him. His head lifted and an epiphany shone on
his face. “The train station. I lost her in the locker room for a few minutes,
but found her as she came out one of the exits.”

Thanos scowled. “And you didn’t think that was important
enough to report to me?”

“It was only a minute, two at the most. She still had her
bag when she left the area. If she had left something there, I would have
noticed.”

The defense was weak, and the mercenary knew that Thanos
saw right through it. “You idiot! She left it there! Whatever Villa was trying
to hide was in her bag when she went in. Obviously it didn’t look like she was
missing an item because you couldn’t see in the bag.”

He turned to one of the other men in the room. “You all
checked the room after you took her?” He received a nod from all three men at
once. “And you found no trace of what she had discovered? Not even the key to
the locker? Surely she must have had a key if she had a storage box at the
train station?”

“Sir, I assure you, we searched the entire room and found
nothing,” the sniper insisted, still standing behind Thanos.

The broad-shouldered Greek had heard enough. He spun
around and simultaneously pulled out a Glock with a sound suppressor attached
to the end. He squeezed the trigger four times, sending all four rounds into
the chest of the Bosnian before the man could even blink, much less defend
himself. The force sent the man reeling backward, stumbling over a chair and
landing on his back. His long rifle dropped to the floor next to him. A thin
river of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His body shivered, then
was still.

Thanos put his gun back in his jacket and turned around to
face the last two. They clearly had no intention of dying like the other guy,
no matter who their boss was. They each took a few steps back and put their
hands on their weapons inside their holsters. Thanos smiled and put his hands
up. “Relax, men. You two are safe. He made a mistake and had to be punished.
You both will split his share.”

The words seemed to please the two men, who eased their
positions to a more relaxed stance. They both kept a safe distance, however,
just in case.

The phone in Thanos’s pocket began to ring, cutting the
silent tension in the room. He slid the device out of his pocket and put it to
his ear.

“What’s your status?” Gikas asked through the earpiece.

“We hit a minor snag, but everything will be back on track
within the next few hours.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth
either. Thanos had learned that when one was working for ruthless men, one had
to be wise as to the information that was divulged, and the manner it was
delivered.

There was a pause before Gikas continued. “Do you have
Wyatt?”

“Not yet,” Thanos answered unapologetically. “But we know
where he is headed. We believe the woman may have hidden something at the
central train station here in Rome. It is likely the clue to what we’re looking
for.”

He was making up the details now. For all he knew, Villa
could have dropped off a makeup kit in the locker, and without the key they
wouldn’t know which locker to look for. The only thing Thanos and his men could
do was show up at the station and watch for Wyatt. If Villa’s boyfriend had
somehow procured the key to the locker, he would lead Thanos right to it.

“Good. See to it this is taken care of before sunset
tonight. Things will be put into motion in two days, and I need the mechanism
to know exactly what to do.”

“You will have it. You can always count on me.”

The call ended, and Thanos put the phone back in his
pocket. He turned his attention back to the other men in the room and thought
for a second before speaking. He didn’t mind being the lapdog for Dimitris
Gikas. A well-paid lapdog could live like a king, after all.

He peered at one man and then the other. “Now, do you two
know what locker area he was talking about in the train station?”

Both men nodded rapidly. One answered, “Yes. We can lead
you there, but we do not know which locker was hers.”

Thanos’s eyes narrowed again. “Do you think you could
figure that part out if Wyatt doesn’t lead us to it?” His tone carried a warning;
one that indicated the sniper’s fate would become theirs if Thanos wasn’t given
what he wanted.

The men glanced at each other questioningly for a second
before giving another quick nod.

“Good. Take me there.”

Chapter 1
7

Corfu, Greece

The little boy sat on the cold, hard floor across from
Adriana. He’d cried for at least thirty minutes when the guards first brought
him to the damp cellar. Now he sat quietly, staring at the wall.

She’d tried to comfort him when he’d been dropped off, but
the child would not respond to any of her questions. Eventually, Adriana
decided the best course of action was to let his emotions run their course. She
hadn’t had much experience with children. The few friends she kept in contact
with from her time at the university had already gotten married and had kids of
their own. Adriana had decided to take a different path for her life. She had
no time for children, and no desire to make that time. Things were hectic in
her world. Exhibit A was the cellar in which she lay at the present moment.
Having a family of any kind would be nearly impossible. It would imprison her
like a wild animal that desperately wants to roam free.

Still, she did like young people. She admired their lack
of understanding about the world and their surroundings. Rules didn’t apply to
them in many ways. Children were dreamers and still believed that anything was
possible. They were innocent, for the most part. That innocence was what pulled
her to continue reaching out to the young boy with her in the cellar.

“What is your name?” she asked in a kind voice, pressing
him gently to open up.

He hesitated, uncertain if he could trust the strange
woman across the room. He eyed the bonds around her hands and feet
suspiciously.

“It’s okay, she insisted. My name is Adriana. They’ve kept
me in this place for two days now. I was just hoping to make a new friend.” She
smiled cutely at him as she finished the sentence.

Her grin broke through the ice of his gloom, and his lips
parted ever so slightly. “My name is Niki,” he said, timidly. He didn’t move,
though, keeping the distance between them.

Adriana forced herself to continue smiling, even though
she was extremely uncomfortable. “And what is your last name, Niki?”

The child hesitated again for a moment before answering. “Teridis.”
He looked down at the floor once more after saying the name.

The boy’s answer stunned Adriana for a second. She
immediately recognized the last name. The Teridis family was extremely wealthy,
second only to the man who held her prisoner. Adriana also knew about the
stories of shady dealings involving the Teridises’ businesses. Niko had a
reputation for killing first and acquiring second. If this was Niko’s boy, that
could mean only one thing, Gikas was making a power play for the Teridises’
holdings. Acquiring businesses of that magnitude would represent a significant
increase to the Gikas empire.

“Niki?” She said after thinking for a few seconds. “I need
your help with something. Would you like to help me?” She spoke like she’d
heard other people talk to children in the past.

“I want my mama,” the boy said in a whiny voice. He was on
the verge of tears again, something Adriana desperately wanted to avoid.

She hoped a little sympathy would help move past the
issue. “I’m sure you do, Niki, but right now your mama isn’t here.”

“She was near me in the bushes,” Niki said, choking back
the sobs. “Then she wasn’t there anymore. She told me everything would be okay.
Where is she?”

The parents were
here
?
“In the bushes? What bushes?” Adriana was curious about what the boy had seen.

“The men who took my mama and me made us stand in the
bushes near the sea. I could hear the waves. They told me to be quiet because
we were hiding from someone.”

They’d been near the cliffs on the edge of the property.
Not a good sign. Gikas must have taken Niki’s parents there to get rid of them.
Adriana had seen the cliffs before. They were a perfect place to dispose of a
body, or in this case, two. The rocks would cut up the flesh, and the tide
would pull the corpses out to seas. They would disappear within hours, consumed
by carnivorous sea life. The fact that the boy was still alive proved Gikas
wasn’t a total monster, but he wasn’t exactly a saint either. She pondered what
unscrupulous future the Greek man had in mind for the young heir to the Teridis
fortune. What was Gikas’s motivation for keeping the boy around? She assumed
the man would pawn him off to some orphanage sooner or later, unwilling to kill
a young innocent.

Then again, if the boy had seen her face and was kept
alive, Gikas might be inclined to kill him too. The thought was disturbing, but
one she needed to face as a real possibility. Adriana needed to escape, but
more than that she needed to get the child to safety. The problem was that the
Gikas property was several miles away from town, and even if the kid reached
the city, it wouldn’t necessarily be the safest place for him. Gikas owned the
local authorities, and purportedly had eyes everywhere. The only chance young
Niki had to survive was to stick close to her, at least for as long as they let
her live.

“Are you cold?” she asked with genuine concern.

Niki didn’t say anything for a minute, and then nodded
slowly. He pulled his knees up under his chin and folded his arms across them,
burying his face in his forearms.

“You should go sit in the sunlight that’s coming through
that little window over there. It isn’t much, but it will keep you warm during
the day.” Adriana nodded to the narrow beam of light pouring into the room.
She’d found a little solace in the dank room by wiggling her way over to the
light, just to keep her sanity for the last few days. The sun didn’t shine
through the window but for a few hours, so she wanted the young boy to take
advantage of it while he could.

He didn’t respond at first, but after a minute or two,
began slowly inching his way toward the light playing across the floor. After a
long couple of minutes, he finally arrived in the warm afternoon glow and
stretched out a little. He lifted his face and let the warmth of the sun soak
into his skin.

“Does that feel a little better?” Adriana asked.

The boy nodded.

“Good. Go lie down and get some rest while it’s still
warm. Tonight, you may find it hard to sleep. It can get chilly down here in
this cellar after the sun goes down.”

Niki obeyed and stretched out on the floor, resting his
head on his left bicep. He closed his eyes and after a few minutes began
breathing in a regular rhythm.

Adriana sighed. She needed to find a way out of this
place.