17
Kouros and two cops from his GADA unit followed Demon to the Omonia metro station. They lost him in the crowd on the platform but found him at the far end, next to a pillar. Kouros didn't realize what Demon was doing until he saw an angry look on the face of the guy standing behind him. They'd been talking. Thirty seconds later Demon was standing alone by the pillar and the guy was heading toward a train about to leave the platform.
'Stay with Demosthenes,' Kouros told the two cops and scrambled for the train. Luckily the guy was in the next car and couldn't see Kouros struggling with the closing doors.
Two metro trains and about an hour later, Kouros and the guy were at Athens' Venizelos International Airport. The guy walked past the ticket counter to the boarding pass checkpoint line for domestic and EU departures. Kouros stayed back, watching. After the security guard let the guy through, Kouros hustled to the head of the line and showed his badge to the guard, but the guard wouldn't let him pass. Kouros got the attention of a supervisor when he threatened to use the guard's laminated ID badge to slice off his nuts. By the time the supervisor realized what was going on, and let Kouros through, the guy was gone.
Kouros was about to return to the checkpoint and begin performing the promised surgery when he saw the guy looking at cell phones in a shop across from a coffee bar kiosk. Kouros sat at the bar with his back to him. He kept an eye on the guy by watching his reflection in shop windows on the other side of the kiosk.
Ten minutes passed before the guy left the store. He was headed toward the departure gates. That meant metal detectors. Kouros wasn't about to risk letting another numbnuts security guard start some commotion over all the forbidden pieces of metal he carried. He stopped two soldiers detailed to airport protection, showed his ID, and they let him into the departure gate area through a private access door.
Kouros stood by a window watching the reflections of passengers clearing security. The guy came through without a problem. He paused to look at a monitor, checked his boarding pass, walked to the gate next to where Kouros was standing, and sat down.
Kouros waited. A few minutes later the guy started talking on a cell phone. That's when Kouros walked past him and glanced up at the monitor with flight information on that gate. The flight was to a city about as far north as you could go in Greece. That figured. By staying in Greece and not flying directly to a non-EU country he avoided the more rigorous security screenings for international flights. From northern Greece he could get over the border undetected in any number of ways. No doubt this guy was from the Balkans.
Kouros bought a bottle of water from a kiosk directly across from where the guy was sitting. With one hand he took a sip and with the other reached for his cell phone, perhaps the most common gesture in Greece, and held it up to his ear. Then he turned sideways to the guy and took a few photos. It was a YouTuber technique mastered by many cops.
Kouros found an open seat at the next gate among a crowd waiting for a delayed flight to Rhodes. He sent the photos to Maggie by MMS, along with the flight information and specific, bold face instructions: HAVE UNKNOWN SUBJECT FOLLOWED MOMENT PLANE LANDS. DO NOT INTERCEPT. MUST BE PREPARED TO CROSS BORDER. CONSIDER EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
Kouros hung around until the guy boarded a bus taking him from the gate to the plane. Then he checked his missed calls. He hadn't taken one since jumping on the train in Omonia. There were three from the cops following Demon.
He stood up and walked toward the exit, dialing as he did. 'Angelo, what's up?'
'Where are you?'
'At the airport.'
'We have something you'll want to hear. The guy went straight from the metro to that girl's apartment. Damn good idea you had putting surveillance on her place. How'd you know about her?'
That was not a question Kouros was about to answer. It was bad enough he set it up without telling Andreas. He just hoped there was nothing on the tape he'd regret. 'Angelo, just play the tape.'
'Okay, here's where the good stuff starts.'
The first voice Kouros heard was Demon's.
'I need a telephone number for that old friend of yours, the one from Sardinia.'
On the word Sardinia Kouros reacted like a cop, not a tourist. His first thoughts weren't of that Italian island's modern-day reputation as paradise for tourists in love with its beauty and pace, but of a sordid and notorious decades-ago past filled with tough guys and big-time kidnapping, at ten to fifteen million euros per snatch, with victims rarely turning up alive.
'I can't. If he ever finds out where I am… where we are…'
She's scared of that Sardinian guy.
'But I must find him. It is very important.'
What's important enough to get him running around Sardinian mountains looking for people dangerous enough to kill him just for asking the wrong question?
'I don't have a number for him. I'll have to find someone who does.'
He knows how to work her.
The next sound Kouros heard was a door opening, then closing, followed by a string of curses.
'That's it, Yianni. Nothing else of interest, and she hasn't called anyone since he left. But we're on it if she does.'
'Good. Anything else on Demosthenes?'
'He went to some apartment we didn't know about. We're trying to get listening over there, but doubt it will be up for awhile.'
'Okay, text me his new address. I'll get there as soon as I find a ride back to Athens.' He paused. 'And Angelo, get a copy of the tape to Maggie. Ask her to find out what she can about the places they're talking about and everything there might be on that Efisio character.'
'Will do. Ciao.'
'Yeah, ciao.'
Kouros wasn't sure what was happening, but he was damn sure it wasn't something good. He pressed a speed dial key. Time to bother the Chief. Through most of the sunset Andreas thought of his father and how trust cost him his life. If his dad hadn't trusted that government minister, he wouldn't have been accused of taking bribes or have felt the need to save his family shame. Yes, he thought, I definitely have trust issues.
Lila was staring at a bright orange and deep blue horizon. The sun had just set. He let his mind — and eyes — wander to other things, like cleavage.
She turned to him and smiled. 'Drachma for your thoughts.'
He choked. 'Ahh, I was thinking of my father.'
'I bet he was a great man.'
'The best.'
'Is your mother still alive?'
'Yes.'
'Bet she misses him.'
'Every day.'
'I can understand.' She turned back to the sky.
'What was he like?' He didn't have to say more.
'The nicest, sweetest man I ever knew.' She talked for quite a while about her husband, not of his money or accomplishments but of simple things that mattered and defined character. Lila showed such open passion in her memories of her husband that Andreas felt a tinge of jealousy. He wondered if his feelings were out of desire for the woman or envy at the man for finding a woman who loved him so unconditionally.
Suddenly, he jerked forward in his chair.
'What's wrong?' She sounded alarmed.
He reached into his pants pocket. 'Just my phone. It's on vibrate.'
She giggled.
