good Greek family. Amidst the uncertainty and confusion of the siege of Constantinople, Mark never got the chance to contact his mother or brother to let them know. Unfortunately, on his way back to Constantinople, Mark was, apparently, ambushed and killed by bandits and never got to tell them about his find and the last chance was lost.
‘How this letter, which he must have written before he died, survived and ended here, I don’t know, assuming, by the way, that it is genuine, which by the look of it, it must be. I did a bit more digging and came up with various documents indicating that some of my predecessors at the monastery had been following the boy’s progress. But the trail unfortunately went cold somewhere in the 1890s.’
‘Aggelos, does the letter give us the name of that family that took the boy under their wing?’
‘It’s Palantis. I don’t know whether it still exists. It could be that it changed due to marriage, if there were no male descendants, or there may be no descendants left at all.’
‘I’ll try and find out. I’ll put my people onto it. I know the right person to carry out that kind of research.’
Later, Elli called Giorgos and explained what she wanted and suggested the computer hacker that James Calvell used recently to find out the identity of the donor of the icons to the Metropolitan. Giorgos said that he’d call James to arrange it.
CHAPTER 38
Sydney, Australia
Present day
It was a magnificent hot day. Atop the Sydney Tower, the restaurant was doing brisk business as usual at lunchtime.
As it was so close to the Central Business District, it was a favourite spot for the overstressed city boys and girls, the people who wielded the power to make or break companies, cities, countries; the people who everyday handled or played with tens of billions of dollars’ worth in every currency, commodity, stock or other asset class under the sun, a sum many times the GDP of most countries.
Next to one of the windows overlooking Darling Harbour on one side and the Opera House and Harbour Bridge on the other, were two men, deep in conversation, their amazingly tasty and beautifully decorated dishes untouched, while a wine bottle was sitting in one corner with the remains of a very expensive wine.
One of them was Andrew Le Charos, the other Jonathan Milos, the head of the security company Gruller Associates, a front organisation for the Madame Marcquesa de Parmalanski, leader of the Ruinands.
Andrew looked straight into Jonathan’s eyes. ‘I want to see her. I believe we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.’
‘What do you have to offer?’
Andrew was amused. One of the richest and most powerful men in Australia asked what he had to offer. He could not deny that he knew what he was getting himself into. ‘I have information I bet she would give one of her arms to get hold of.’
Jonathan Milos knew Andrew was joking, but, nevertheless, as a faithful devotee of the Madame Marcquesa, saw that comment as an insult to her face. However, he decided nothing useful could come from making an issue of it and he ignored it, keeping a straight face. ‘No information could carry such a high price.’
‘Not even if it had to do with a key secret of the Order of Vlachernae?’
‘Ah, the only thing she is interested in is the source of their power to travel in time which they seem to be able to use like turning a tap on and off. You do understand that she has spies already. And your falling out with your family and the great matriarch herself is not exactly a secret. You could not call yourself an insider, a member of an inner circle of trust, so forgive me for seeing the value of any information you may have with scepticism.’
‘Things have changed.’
‘Oh? How so?’
‘I have taken steps for a reconciliation that have been bearing fruit.’
Jonathan Milos was intrigued. ‘Interesting. But it could not be that easy to regain their trust. And by the time you do that, assuming you succeed, any information you have given us would probably either be information that we have obtained already or it would be too late for us to act on it. And there would also be doubts on the accuracy of such information. Your rehabilitation will not remove any doubts about your intentions and they may use you by feeding you incorrect or dubious information, as a means to test you and trip whoever else you may be in cahoots with.’
Andrew was insulted even though he agreed with what Jonathan Milos said. His pride and dignity did not allow him to admit let alone bow to the Madame or her minions. He would not even ask Jonathan to at least take the offer to the Madame. He had no doubt that Jonathan Milos had her complete trust and authority to assess the situation and decide on the spot.
From what Jonathan had said it sounded to Andrew that Jonathan had practically made his decision. His wavering, which was in itself offensive and dangerous, was Jonathan’s way of amusing himself by testing Andrew, trying to trip him, playing with him to see how far Andrew’s patience could go before he had had enough, returned the insult and got up and left.
Andrew suddenly realised that there was nothing to be gained by such an alliance. He didn’t trust them and would never trust them. And he had no doubt the feeling was mutual. This meant that there would be no guarantee that they would not turn and double-cross him or remove him from the scene once they had got what they wanted. And he didn’t want to have to watch his back on that many fronts.
He would keep the information for himself. He would have to go it alone. He would not change his mind even if the Madame changed hers and came back seeking an alliance. And he was not concerned that, if that happened, he might make a dangerous enemy of the Madame.
‘Mr Milos, thank you for the pleasure of your company. Enjoy the rest of your day.’ Andrew’s formality gave out a clear message, not just a hint, which Jonathan understood.
Andrew got up and without looking back walked out of the restaurant thanking the Maitre d’ on his way out. When Jonathan asked for the bill he was told that it had already been settled by Mr Le Charos.
By the time he left the restaurant Andrew had made his decision.
Once outside, his driver was already holding the door open for him. He got into the car, which left the kerb within seconds on its way to the airport. He pressed a button, lowering the glass partition.
‘Thomas, we need to make a stop at the Point Piper house on our way. I’ll only be a few minutes.’
Half an hour later, the car stopped outside Andrew’s seafront home. Andrew opened the front door and walked briskly through the hall and out into the garden. He saw her standing by the quay before she saw him and he quickened his pace.
‘Andrew, it’s exactly one o’clock. Punctuality was always one of your good traits.’
‘I haven’t got long. I need to be at the airport in an hour.’
‘This won’t take long. I’m sorry for not giving you more notice.’
‘I must admit I was surprised when you called. I had no idea you were in Australia. I saw Katerina the other day and she did not mention that you may be visiting.’
‘She had no idea. I only decided two days ago.’
He studied her. ‘How is it that you become more beautiful with age?’
‘Andrew, don’t flatter me please.’ She indicated her hair. ‘This is the work of a master craftsman. And please don’t tell me you refuse to see the lines on my face, the legacy of a busy life.’
‘Maturity suits you. I have watched you all these years, what you’ve done with the company. Imagine if we had joined forces. But you always wanted to keep the two companies separate. What a pair we would have been. What a dynasty we would have created.’
‘We always had a dynasty and a lot more besides. A family. Two great sons. Only you could not see it.’
‘Yes, I have followed their path as well with interest. They have done well. You have done well with them,
