“Surprise.”
That was the last word Efisio heard before the shotgun went off in his face.
***
Within an hour every trace of what just happened was gone. The major was right about those guys. The dead kidnappers disappeared, the crippled found their way to the welcoming arms of Italian police, and no one said a word about the unscheduled celebratory fireworks festival in the park.
Tassos was particularly happy that none of his men was hurt, though the one who drove the Hummer and pulled off the distracting door slam did catch a ricochet in his ballistic vest. Tassos was sorry he missed the actual battle, but he knew he was too old for that sort of thing. He was far better suited these days to supporting roles, like scout, backup—and old, fat farmer in a pickup truck.
Andreas fell asleep in a chair next to Lila’s hospital bed, where he’d been holding her hand and talking to her. He’d read somewhere that might comfort her, help to bring her back. He didn’t talk about anything in particular; just whatever came into his head. Andreas missed her.
He sensed light in the room and slight pressure on his shoulder. He opened his eyes. It was Lila’s mother.
“Morning, Chief Kaldis.”
He stumbled to get up. “Morning, ma’am.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being here for our daughter.”
Andreas nodded. He wanted to say all of this was his fault, but didn’t. He had a tough enough time as it was dealing with the guilt, and he couldn’t bear the thought of turning her parents against him, too. He promised himself to tell them some other time.
“The nurse said there is a message for you at her desk. The caller said to give it to you when you woke up.”
“Thank you.” He put out his hand. “Goodbye.”
She took it and looked in his eyes. “This is not your fault,” and kissed him on both cheeks.
Andreas left quickly. He didn’t want her to see his tears. Like daughter, like mother.
On the way out he picked up the message. It was from Kouros.
“Hi, Yianni.”
“How’s Lila?”
“No change. Thanks for asking. What’s up?”
“Tassos called this morning. He’s been trying to reach you all night. I told him what happened and he said he’d pray for you both.” Yianni paused.
“That’s nice of him.”
“Good news. Efisio and his boys are no more.”
“That’s terrific. What happened?”
“Tassos made me promise I’d let him tell you himself. He sounded like a rookie talking about his first collar. Really excited.”
Andreas felt a slight grin, his first since… “Can’t wait.”
“But you better hurry, before it starts sounding like a winning version of three hundred Spartans fighting a million Persians at Thermopylae. And since Tassos says he was the only Greek in the fight, we know who’s getting the King Leonidas part.”
Andreas laughed. “And there’s no one to challenge his story.” He paused. “Thanks, Yianni.”
“For what?”
“For making me laugh. I’ll call him right away. And, if he says it’s a go with the plan, we hit the Angel Club. With luck, this afternoon.”
“Sounds good.”
“What about Demosthenes?” Every time Andreas said that name, his thoughts cursed the man to hell.
“He’s still in his apartment. Nothing different; no calls, no visitors, just typing sounds and humming.”
“I guess that means he hasn’t heard what happened in Sardinia?”
Kouros paused. “You’re right.”
“Not sure who there is to tell him. Possibly Anna, if someone calls to make her day by saying Efisio’s dead, but my guess is she hates Demosthenes as much, if not more, than she did Efisio. Doubt she’d tell him.”
“Do you think the Sardinians will come after her?”
“It seemed pretty much a personal thing between Efisio and her. No reason I can think of for any of them to care about her now. But keep an eye on her anyway. At least until we see how this Demosthenes thing plays out. My guess is he’s her biggest threat. No telling what that asshole might do.”
Andreas was standing next to his car by the time they hung up. He decided to wait and call Tassos from home. He needed Tassos’ help if his plan was to get off the ground, and he wanted a shower to put some distance between his praying here and talk of vengeance there.
***
All Andreas had to say was “hello” and Tassos was off and running after a brief, but sincere, inquiry into Lila’s status.
Tassos’ telling of his epic tale took almost an hour. They joked and laughed through much of it in the bravado style cops use to help process the many fears and dark memories that surround events, even great successes, which so easily might have ended their lives.
“How did you know it was Efisio coming up to the pickup?”
“I didn’t. One of the Italians on our side radioed me to say they found a grenade launcher without an operator. Whoever got away had to be pretty nasty, because he brought the only RPG to the party.”
“They had some heavy weapons.”
“Yeah, but no match for our guys’ professionalism. They had the pickup truck and sawed-off shotgun waiting for me by the farmhouse, and after I radioed the location of the ambush they told me where to park the truck and wait. They said anyone who escaped was likely to be running like a madman and, by the time he reached me, be past his adrenaline rush.”
“How thoughtful of them to make it easier for an old, fat farmer like you to handle an uninvited visitor.” Andreas laughed.
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you that part.” Tassos laughed.
“So, how did you know he was one of them?”
“I was inside, leaning against the window, looking back up the road in the side view mirror. He kept creeping up as if he thought I was sleeping. So, I started snoring. Then he pulled a knife, I pulled a shotgun, and the rest is history. Didn’t know until later he was Efisio. One of the wounded identified him. From his clothes.”
Andreas started clapping. “Bravo, bravo, great job. I’m sure the Kostopoulos family was happy.”
“Who knows with those people? They think it’s your job to turn water into wine and only complain when you don’t.”
Andreas chuckled. “So, let me tell you where we are.”
“You mean there still are bad guys out there?”
Andreas ignored the sarcasm. He knew it wasn’t directed at him. He told Tassos everything he knew about Demosthenes, the Angel Club, and Demosthenes’ meeting at the Kolonaki Club. When Andreas named Demon’s hosts—
“You
must
be kidding me! The Old Man’s involved?”
Andreas answered flatly. “Don’t know. All I’m certain of is Demosthenes is the link between whoever wanted Kostopoulos’ son murdered and the actual killers. The Old Man and Linardos met with Demosthenes at the Kolonaki Club. Only someone from the club could have told Demosthenes that Lila mentioned his name in connection with that meeting, and Demosthenes hired two low-lifes to kill her.” He crossed himself.
“That’s never going to convince a court the Old Man and Linardos were involved.”
“No shit! It doesn’t even convince me.”
“So, what are you saying?”
“I want to be convinced.”
“How do you propose doing that?”
Andreas spent the next fifteen minutes telling him.
“That’s a pretty interesting plan. Do you really think it’s going to work?”
“If you convince Kostopoulos to work with us, I think we have a better than fifty-fifty chance. Especially after that fiasco in Sardinia.”
“You know, once I tell Zanni all these things and mention names, there’s no telling how he might react. He could send his little army off on vengeance missions like the Israelis after the Munich Olympics.”
“I know how he feels, believe me, but I don’t know what else I can do. Sure, I can go after Demosthenes and let the big boys get away. But don’t you think Kostopoulos has a right to know the facts? After all, it was his son who was murdered, and the only chance I see of proving who was behind it is
if
Zanni cooperates. Either we get them on tape admitting to everything, or there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of touching one of them in court.”
He heard Tassos breathing heavily. “Okay, but I’m still worried about how he’ll react.”
“Let me put it this way. If he goes after Demosthenes he’ll lock horns with me, big time. And he doesn’t want to do that, fucking army or not. He has no reason to go after Linardos or the Old Man on what we have now, unless he’s insane.”
“That’s one thing he’s not. Bitter, angry, vengeful, yes. Insane, no.”
“Fine, then tell him if he wants to know who was behind his son’s murder, this is how to find out, and the only way to prove it to a court. Otherwise, tell him to see a shrink, put the tragedy behind him, and get on with his life.” Andreas paused. “Maybe that’s the best advice after all.”
Tassos cleared his throat. “I’ll talk to him and let you know.”
“Well, make it soon, because I’ve got to put the Angel Club boys in play.”
“I’ll try. That’s all I can promise. Take care. Give Lila a kiss for me.”
Andreas stared out the window. He decided to go back to the hospital and wait for news. Pray it was good.
***
Demon was waiting for a simple, one-word e-mail from Efisio:
Done
. But there was no word from that psycho and no word from the druggies. That didn’t surprise him. Demon long ago gave up on expecting society’s irresponsible scum to act otherwise. The only thing that ever worked with them was money. They always were on time for payday.
Demon decided to go back to the university for an hour or so to give the druggies another chance to call. If they got to Vardi today, they’d be calling for their bonus money. Efisio presented a different problem. Demon and his new political allies faced potential all-out war with Kostopoulos, but he knew Efisio couldn’t care less about their problems. He didn’t need Demon any more; the ransom demands and negotiations could be directly with Kostopoulos. No middleman required.
Demon needed to know the status of the kidnappings, and he needed to know now. Not when Efisio got around to telling him. If he didn’t have an e-mail from Efisio by the time he got back to his apartment, he’d call him. No, Efisio might not take his call. Anna would make the call. That’s a call he’d take for sure.
***
“Maybe we should call ahead, make sure Giorgio is there?”
Andreas drummed his left-hand fingers on the dashboard. “No, he’s used to us kicking in his door, not knocking on it. That might make him suspicious.”
Kouros nodded. “Are you surprised Kostopoulos agreed to go along?”
“Tassos can be pretty convincing.”
“How are we going to get the Old Man to admit all this shit on tape?”
Andreas turned his head and looked out the side window. “I’m working on it.”
“If we don’t, there’s going to be war. I can’t see Kostopoulos letting them get away with killing his son and then trying to take out the rest of his family.”
“Look at those kids over there, the ones playing in the park. Nice to have a family.”
Kouros gave a quick glance toward Andreas. “I was talking about war.”
“I’d rather talk about peace.”
They compromised and spoke about soccer.
At the Angel Club, they were met in the vestibule by the same two bouncers as greeted them the last time. Andreas smiled. “Excuse me, gentlemen. Is Mr. Giorgio available to see us?”
The bigger of the two glared. The smaller one spoke. “I’ll check,” and went inside to a phone.
No one else moved or said a word. They just waited for the man to return.
He called out from the doorway. “He’ll see you now.”
The four walked together to Giorgio’s office. Giorgio was inside, sitting alone, and Andreas suggested he kept it that way. Giorgio told the bouncers to wait outside.
“Okay, so what’s so private?” Giorgio seemed indifferent.
Andreas didn’t bother telling him to shut off whatever recording device he was using. Guys like him always ran one, hoping to catch crooked cops demanding bribes, to keep them in line if they later got greedy. Andreas wanted all this on tape so Giorgio could play it back for whoever made the real decisions.
“I got a call this morning from a Captain Cacace of the Italian Police. He said Zanni Kostopoulos told him to call me.”
Giorgio shrugged. “About what?”
“I asked the same thing. He said last night some local boys over in Sardinia took a shot at kidnapping Kostopoulos’ wife and kids.”
Giorgio blinked twice.
Andreas shook his head. “Didn’t work out too well for those boys. They ended up either dead or in jail. All ten of them. He wanted to know if I might know the guy who hired them to do it. I didn’t, but I thought you might.”
“Me? Why me?”
“Remember that girl in here with the Kostopoulos boy the night he was murdered?”
Giorgio nodded. “Yeah.”
“The captain told me that one of the guys in the kidnapping crew was her ex-boyfriend.”
Giorgio shifted in his chair.
“Yeah, and the same guy said they were hired for that job by someone who contacted them through her.”
“What’s the name?” It was Giorgio’s first show of interest in anything Andreas had said.
“Nobody I ever heard of.” Andreas pulled out his notebook. “Mavrakis, Demosthenes Mavrakis. You know him?”
Giorgio looked straight ahead at the wall. “Never heard of him.”
***
“Hello, is Efisio there?”
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. “Who’s calling?”
“Anna, Anna Panitz.”
“Been a long time.”
“Yes. I know, but I must to speak to Efisio. It’s very important.”
“He’s not here.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“Back in his village, in Sardinia.” The speaker let out a breath. “The funeral is in a couple of days.”
“What funeral?”
“His.”
Demon grabbed the phone. “Dead. He can’t be dead! What happened?”
Anna heard a hum on the other end of the line, but Demon kept yelling into the phone.
“The line’s dead. They hung up,” she said.
Demon threw the phone against the wall, then swung around and slapped her face. “It’s your fucking fault.” And stormed out of the apartment.
Anna touched her fingers to where he’d slapped her. Despite everything else Demon had done to her, this was the first time he’d hit her. She swore to herself when she fled Efisio that no man ever would strike her again.
It was time to move on.
***
Andreas was in his office with Kouros when the call came in from the cops covering Anna’s apartment. They played what they caught on tape. Andreas bit at his lower lip while he listened, and Kouros seemed to be holding his breath. When it came to the part where Demon stormed out of the apartment, Kouros threw his right fist in the air and yelled, “
Yes!
”
Andreas smiled. They listened to the tapes again and hung up.
“First good news in a long time. The son of a bitch is worried.” Kouros pumped his fist again.