Limassol, Cyprus
Present day
It was early afternoon when, having had an uneventful flight from Crete and having landed back in Cyprus only an hour earlier, Katerina rang the bell of Giorgos’ house. She had asked Vasilis to meet her there. She waited, but there was no reply.
Aristo was still missing. Katerina didn’t know what had happened back at the house in Crete after she had left for the military hospital with the injured Iakovos in the chopper. She tried to call Aristo’s mobile, but it seemed to have been switched off.
She considered asking for someone at the military base to take her to the house, but then thought better of it. Her first duty was to Iakovos. It wasn’t safe for him to be left on his own, unguarded, considering what had happened at the house. And she wouldn’t dare to leave Iakovos’ bedside until he came out of unconsciousness and could walk by himself.
She thought about telling them at the military base about what had happened and asking them to send someone to check out the house. But she did not want to do that. She called Elli and told her what happened. She told Elli that she could not get in touch with Aristo and had not heard from him.
‘I will deal with it. It is sharp thinking of you to stay there with Iakovos. Keep him safe. Make sure he’s well looked after. I’ll send people over. I will speak to you soon.’
The people that Elli sent out to the house in Crete reported back that they had found lots of blood just inside the front door, but no body. Elli feared the worst. Then Katerina remembered about Iakovos’ father and tried in vain to locate him. All their enquiries, even with Elli’s resources at her disposal, drew a blank.
She arranged for blood analysis. The blood was not Aristo’s. They were relieved, but not happy. The result was still horrible. The blood matched that of Iakovos’ father.
Katerina rang the bell again and then knocked on the door. Still there was no reply. She looked at Vasilis, concern clouding her face. Under normal circumstances she would not have been worried about Giorgos. He lived a very active and unpredictable life, jumping in and out of Cyprus to visit the locations of his projects.
But these were not normal circumstances. They were dealing with dangerous people, with objects and matters that people were prepare to kill for. She did not want to worry her parents, but, seeing no other way, she called her mother, Anna.
Anna confirmed that she had not seen or heard from Giorgos for a few days, but had not found anything odd with that as he had told them he was going on a short holiday. A holiday? In the midst of all this excitement? He wouldn’t even remotely have contemplated it.
Her brother had lied to their mother to conceal the real reason of his absence. Katerina knew for one thing that what they were all working on was dangerous and she understood Giorgos’ reasons for not wanting to worry their mother. She had not told their mother anything either.
Katerina wondered why Giorgos had not told her about what he was actually working on or where he was planning to go. But then she had been away so he had no chance. Although there were no missed calls from Giorgos on her mobile or even a text, perhaps he did try to contact her or left a sign, a clue for her.
It was unlikely he would have called her office. She had to find out as much as she could from her mother, knowing as she was doing it that it would not yield anything useful. ‘Mother, where exactly did he say he was going?’
‘He said something about wanting to check an archaeological dig in Cappadocia.’
Now that was really odd. He had nothing to do there. She knew the excavation had ended and the archaeological team had disbanded, packed up and returned home.
Katerina’s senses were immediately alerted to danger. She looked at Vasilis and shook her head. He understood she was telling him that it didn’t look good.
She was astute enough to realise that she should get off the phone before her mother started asking her uncomfortable questions for which she had no answer. That would really panic her mother. She quickly wrapped up the conversation and hung up.
‘Vasilis, we need to get inside.’
Katerina pushed the door, but it was locked. They walked round the back of the house and saw broken glass scattered on the ground. It was then that they saw the shattered back door. They walked cautiously towards it. They could hear nothing.
The place appeared deserted. Inside they encountered havoc. Their first thought was that it was a burglary. But then they saw the blood on the walls and the floor, and everywhere there were signs of struggle.
The whole place looked as if a hurricane had passed through. This was definitely not the place of someone who had willingly gone on holiday. There could be no doubt about it. He had been forcibly taken.
They searched all the rooms. Giorgos’ laptop seemed to be missing together with the hard drive of his personal computer with the cables just hanging there, as if they were arteries of life support severed from the head and body of their subject. Vasilis turned to Katerina.
‘It seems that he’s gone, and not willingly by the looks of it.’
They searched the house again, very carefully this time, but found no clues.
‘I have an idea.’ Katerina took out her mobile and dialled a number. The phone was answered on the second ring.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, dad.’
‘Hi, darling. Your mother told me you were back. How are you?’
‘I’m fine, dad.’ Katerina did not have the time for niceties. ‘Dad, have you received anything in the post from Giorgos, a letter or a package, perhaps?’
‘No, why?’
‘He was supposed to have sent something for mum before he left, a gift for her birthday from the both us. I was just wondering whether you’ve received it.’
‘No, honey, nothing. Why wouldn’t he have left it here himself?’
‘Well, it wouldn’t be the same, would it? Dad, I have to go. Thanks.’ She was about to hang up when she caught her dad saying something and brought the phone back to her ear.
Andros sensed a hint of edginess in his daughter’s voice. ‘Katerina, is there something troubling you?’
Katerina knew she couldn’t fool her father, so she couldn’t completely deny it. ‘It’s nothing I can’t handle.’
His daughter was her own woman and brilliant at her work. He didn’t want to pry further. That would have been as good as insulting her to her face and belittling her abilities and her strength. ‘You will let me know if I can be of any help, won’t you?’
‘I will, dad. Thanks.’
‘You are having dinner with us tonight, aren’t you? We’d love to see you.’
‘I’d love to see you too. The offer is accepted. However nice food was in Crete it could never compete with home. I couldn’t go another day without mum’s cooking. I need my fix. It’s a date.’
‘See you tonight then.’
‘See you tonight. Bye, dad.’
‘Bye, love.’
CHAPTER 49
Limassol, Cyprus
Present day
Twenty minutes later Katerina walked into her office. Vasilis was with her. Dora, her loyal personal assistant, stood up when she saw her, her face wreathed in smiles and bathed in bright light.
Katerina’s troubles always shrank when she got a dose of “Dora-induced” warmth, perspective and a reality check. She was back to being a member of the workaholic routine-chasing human race.
