The Forty Column Castle

by Marjorie Thelen

  “You might not have information, but you’ll make a good hostage.” She fumbled in her bag and came up with a length of leather cord.

  My eyes widened. If she thought she was going to tie me up and leave me in a tomb, she was mistaken.

  “Sit down,” she said.

  I swung.

  Between the flashlight and the leather cord, I found my opening. I had never socked anyone with my fist before, but terror put so much adrenaline and determination in my swing, I connected with her jaw before she knew what was happening. The woman careened back. The flash light ricocheted crazily around the chamber. She crashed to the floor, hitting her head against the rough wall of the tomb.

  Hopefully, she was dead. The hateful woman.

  I snatched up the light and her purse and ran.

  Life giving air greeted me at the entrance where I gulped in great lungfuls. No sounds of pursuit followed. The island night had descended. I switched on the light and searched her purse like it would have snakes or some other hideous creature inside. A gun, some money, no identification. No make up. It would have to do since I no longer had my purse. I dowsed the light.

  I crept up more stairs, my whole body shaking with the near encounter of being left tied up in a tomb. That had scared me worse than being held hostage. I peeked over the ledge at the top of the tomb. The Maruti sat in the parking lot. Using tumbled rocks as cover, I crouched and crawled as close to the Maruti as I could then ran like a banshee toward the driver’s side of the vehicle.

  “Hands up,” I screamed, pointing the gun in the general direction of the driver’s seat. I was determined to get control of the Maruti and get away from these creeps.

  “Don’t shoot,” said an accented, quavering voice.

  “Get out and leave the keys in the ignition.”

  The door opened cautiously, and the little man climbed out.

  “Keep your hands in sight. I’m shaking and very nervous, and I might pull this trigger at the slightest suggestion of a wrong move.”

  “Please, I have wife and children.”

  “You should have thought of that before you hooked up with that ugly broad. Now walk to the front of the car.”

  As soon as he cleared the front of the car, I whacked him on the back of head with the butt of the gun. It worked famously. Now I had to figure out how to drive that stupid vehicle and get the hell out. I jumped in, slammed it through its gears and didn’t turn on the lights till I was well away from where I had dropped the guy.

  I was shaking so bad I could barely grip the wheel. My entire arm hurt from socking the woman and whacking the guy. But I was alive, and I wasn’t going to be tied up in a tomb for the rest of the night.

  Eighteen

  I drove that sorry excuse for a car, pedal to the floor the whole way back to Pafos, passing with reckless abandon any car that slowed me down, not caring what side of the road I was on. I headed for Yannis’s house. Nothing was going to stop me. I would turn myself into the police and tell them about the American couple and Zach. I couldn’t help them with where he was, but I could tell them everything.

  Everything.

  And I did.

  After I got to Yannis’s and he had hugged me to oblivion, we called the police, and they came to his house. Inspector Polydeuces, the same cousin I had met on Sunday, listened attentively to everything I said. His assistant, a neat looking woman in uniform, made notes as I spoke.

  The Inspector nodded gravely at the part about Zach being wanted for smuggling, Mr. Bellomo harboring my aunt, the American woman kidnapping me, and Berengaria’s jewels. After asking me every possible question relating to the antiquities theft, he remained in silence, looking troubled and pulling at the corner of his bushy moustache, as if that would help him think.

  Finally, he said, “Miss Lowell, there are one or two facts of which you may not be aware. I need to share these with you, as you are now in our custody and under our protection.”

  That gave me pause since I expected him to haul me off to jail. My heart sank into my cute little sandals which had stayed faithfully on my feet through the whole ordeal. I waited on the edge of my seat.

  “You see, Miss Lowell, Zachary Lamont is a double agent. He works for the New York Police Department anti-terrorism unit but is on assignment with a consortium team through INTERPOL. They are trying to help us destroy this terrorist cell we know is forming on the island of Cyprus.”

  “He’s wanted by the FBI for smuggling,” I said. “Yannis said you are looking for him.” I stared at Yannis while I was saying this. He gave me a don’t-ask-me shrug.

  “Yes, I know. That is his cover. We gave Yannis that information so that no one would suspect Mr. Lamont’s true identify. It was crucial that his cover not be blown, I think you say. The American couple is the front for the cell that is trying to build an operation here. They had to believe Mr. Lamont was a criminal. You see, they were monitoring Yannis’s phones.”

  “Oh,” I said, a rather lame response to the information bomb the Inspector had dropped. I wanted to get the whole picture, so I pressed on with my questions.

  “Who is Helena then?” I asked.

  “She is a Cypriot police woman. She is his contact here, his go-between.”

  “I see.” She had been his partner, but as one of the good guys. This was comforting. Some things that didn’t make sense before made sense now.

  The Inspector had more to say. “We know that your aunt did not steal those statues. The American couple planted them on her to throw us off the scent. We had to detain your aunt, as we at first suspected she might be involved. We apologize for the inconvenience to you and your aunt. As fate would have it, when the American couple heard we had retained your aunt, they got bolder. They took more chances. They believed the story that Mr. Lamont had Berengaria’s jewels.”

  “You mean there are no jewels?”

  “They are part of the deception.”

  “Then in our own blundering way, my aunt and I helped the cause.”

  The Inspector nodded.

  “But Zach didn’t let me go when he could have,” I said almost to myself.

  The Inspector cleared his throat, as if he had just swallowed something unpleasant like a scorpion. “That was Mr. Lamont’s doing. Perhaps he wanted to keep you with him. Perhaps there was something else going on between you that he wanted to work out. Keeping you was not part of his orders. He was to monitor your activities.”

  I narrowed my eyes. The Inspector loosened the top button of his shirt and didn’t meet my gaze. Wait till I got my hands on Zachariah Lamont. “Where is Zach now, and why did he leave me at the mercy of that horrid American woman?”

  The Inspector pressed his lips together. “I cannot say where he is or why he left you. I would speculate he didn’t realize the American woman was close at hand, and, of course,” he cleared his throat behind his hand, “he had work to do.”

  Red heat crept up my neck into my face until I was a tomato, I’m sure. I didn’t want to know how much the Inspector knew about our relationship. What a spider web this was. I felt its sticky tendrils clinging all over me.

  The Inspector stood and shook hands all around. “I fear it is late and that you might want to get some rest. You have had a difficult experience. In the morning we would appreciate your coming to the office to sign a statement, if you would be so kind. There will be a twenty four hour watch placed upon you so that nothing untoward happens again. Good night.”

  “Wait, what about my aunt?”

  The Inspector smiled for the first time, a slight turn of his lips. “Mr. Bellomo takes good care of her. Such good care, I believe he is talking of marrying her. Good night.”

  Yannis and I sat looking at each other while his mother brought plates of sliced lamb and a salad of tomato and cucumber. She poured tiny cups of coffee and placed them before us.

  “Yannis,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder, “A little wine perhaps or some brandy.”

  �
�Brandy, mother, please,” he said and looked at me. “Make it two.”

  “He’s a double agent,” I said. “The dirty rat. Why didn’t he tell me?”

  “He could not is the obvious reason.”

  “Then why did he keep me with him?”

  Yannis rolled his eyes. “Claudie, have you looked in the mirror lately? You’re gorgeous. You possess a body that any man has trouble keeping his eyes and hands from, you’re intelligent and fun to have around. I can understand why he didn’t want to let you go.”

  That was a powerful statement coming from Yannis. However, at the moment I felt ninety-two and like a wrinkled old hag. It was hard to believe what he was saying.

  “Do you know where Zach is?” I asked.

  Yannis shook his head. “I’m just a government worker in the Department of Antiquities. Zach operates in rare circles. At this moment, I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to where he was.”

  I shivered.

  “You cold?” he asked.

  “No, just a passing thought of that tomb. Yannis, what if the terrorists got Zach, and he’s laying in one of those tombs?”

  “Zach is a big boy. He’s trained. He’ll get himself out, if he is in a dangerous situation.”

  Yannis’s mother sat brandy snifters before us and a plate of home made baklava, my favorite dessert in the entire world.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Vasilis, you are very kind,” I said in my dilapidated Greek.

  Even though it was late, she had that endless energy that all Cypriot mothers seemed to have, especially when it came to feeding her brood and friends. She beamed a wide, warm smile in my direction. She said something in Greek that translated into her wish that I rest well because I looked tired.

  Yannis agreed. “Would you like to call your aunt?”

  “What time is it?”

  “Around one A.M.”

  “I’ll wait and call her in the morning even though it already is morning.”

  I sipped the brandy, thinking over the evening’s events. The police had been dispatched to search the tombs for the hateful woman that had kidnapped me. They were sure to find Zach if he had ended up there which I hoped he hadn’t. But even if they found the woman, they could only charge her with kidnapping not antiquities theft. Her husband partner was still free. I hoped I hadn’t killed either one of the two that I had whacked. I wondered what kind of murder that would constitute.

  Yannis gave me a warm hug. “I’m glad you are safe, Princess. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get some rest so I can go to work in the morning.”

  “Thank you dear friend for all you have done for me.”

  He brushed my cheek with a kiss and smiled into my eyes then wandered out of the room, yawning and scratching his belly.

  I remained at the table and helped myself to another baklava. Mrs. Vasilis brought more coffee, gave me a kiss on the cheek, wished me good rest, and left the room. The windows in the dining room were open to the night. No screens. Cypriots didn’t believe in them even though they shared the island with the ubiquitous mosquito. I turned out the over head light and sat in the moonlight.

  I was wide awake but lost in thought when the stone hit the table. My automatic reflex was to look in the direction the stone had come. There, leaning through the open window, was Zachariah Lamont.

  “Busy?” he asked, nonchalantly, and climbed through the window. “I thought Yannis and his mum would never go to bed.” He studied the food on the table and pulled the platter of lamb to him. “I could eat a whale.”

  “Where have you been?” I asked, like a kidnapping had not occurred since last we were together.

  “Trying to get back to you.”

  I moved the salad toward him and the plate of baklava. He topped Yannis’s glass of brandy from the decanter and drank deeply.

  “How are you, Princess?” Our eyes met. I knew he could see the smoke coming out my ears. He held up one hand, nails neatly trimmed. “Don’t give me the details. I heard your recitation to Inspector Polydeuces.”

  “How long have you been out there?”

  “Since the police arrived. I came running as soon as I found out that you had re-surfaced here, and they were on their way to question you.”

  He looked none the worse was the infuriating part. Like he had just come from the library or something. He had on a new outfit, pressed black slacks, collarless gray silk shirt, hair neatly combed. He continued to sip his brandy and study me.

  “You’re gorgeous, has anyone ever told you that?”

  “Yes, Yannis did a few minutes ago.”

  “I thought I was the only one who noticed.”

  “Not according to him.” I wanted to rub something gooey and sticky into his smug face.

  He cupped my neck and smoothed his thumb over my cheek. “She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

  I shook my head. “I gave her a headache though. The driver, too.”

  “Well done, Princess.” He ran his hand down my back and up under my shirt. “Have anything on under here?”

  “Stop that.” I socked his arm as hard as I could. “If you think you’re going to get off easy, you aren’t. Where did you disappear to?”

  “Claudie, I felt certain you would be safe in the hotel room. Besides, I had to find the American couple. I found him, but unfortunately she found you. I’m truly sorry.”

  He scooted his chair over so he could put his arm around my shoulders and pull me into him.

  I resisted his embrace and pulled away. “You’re a cop, not a criminal. Why did you play that infernal game with me of suspecting I was a criminal when it was all a game, and you knew it?”

  He shrugged. “It wasn’t a game at first. I did suspect you, because I didn’t know who had planted the antiquities on your aunt, or if in fact she was involved. So I tried to draw you out, hoping, of course, that you weren’t involved. Besides, I have this gorgeous creature who comes to me, damsel in distress, and you think I’m going to let her out of my sight?”

  “Likely story. I’m not buying it. You nearly got us both killed at your so-called safe house. What about Max and Irene? That was carrying things a bit far, don’t you think?”

  With the tip of his finger he moved my chin so I had to look into his eyes. “I told you that wasn’t in the plan. The whole business was unfortunate. You fitted into my charade, and we started to enjoy each other.” He grinned into my eyes. “Tell me you didn’t relish our interludes.”

  I huffed and looked away. I hated giving him the satisfaction of saying yes. “What happens to the American couple?”

  “He’s still on the loose. She’s in police custody, thanks to you. They found her in the tombs. I need him to lead me to the jewels. Tonight I hope to catch him in the act, and we’ll have all of them, if everything goes according to plan. With their demise the terrorist cell’s source of funding will be gone and their operation, too.”

  Moon glow lit his face. Maybe it was the silvery play of moonbeams around us that threatened to weave me back into his spell. I was relieved to see him in one piece.

  He checked his watch. “I’ve got to go. I wanted to make sure you were all right. Wait for me here, will you, so I know you’re safe?”

  I avoided his eyes, and he moved his face into my line of vision. “Promise me, you’ll wait here. I’ll come back for you in the morning. Okay?”

  I had to look into those deep brown eyes, and I searched the darkness and depth of them.

  “Okay,” I said in a small voice.

  He left through the kitchen and went out the back door. As he crossed in front of the window, I saw he was carrying the duffle bag. He couldn’t be going that far I reasoned, since he was walking and carrying a heavy satchel. Of course, I wasn’t going to allow him go without me. Not after all we had been though.

  I followed him along several back streets through a Cypriot neighborhood lined with small, neat, adobe houses and shadowed by orange and lemon trees. He was headed in the direction of the ruins at the w
est end of Pafos. He ended up at the beach parking lot where we had parked and enjoyed each other in the back seat of the green Honda SUV. The blue Honda SUV was the sole vehicle parked there. I took cover behind the rocks on the beach. He changed clothes, put on the photographer’s vest and loaded it from the duffle bag, then took off across the rocky terrain. I followed at a distance, using the light of the moon to keep track of where he was going and praying the rocky goat path would not be my undoing. The surf pounded to the west. I hoped the sound of it would cover my footsteps. The only breeze was off the sea, for which I was grateful.

  His destination was the Forty Column Castle. The moon shone on the ruined castle, the arches shadowed and menacing. I lost him as he rounded one of the massive walls outside the main entrance to the castle. I hurried so not to lose sight of him. As I rounded the wall, an arm snaked out and covered my mouth and crushed me against him. I was forced into a crouch, and a familiar voice said, “You promised to stay at Yannis’s house and wait for me.”

  I couldn’t say anything because he had his hand clamped hard over my mouth. I didn’t make a squeak. He hauled me to the shelter of a mound of rubble from the excavation. I could tell by his ungentle manner of dragging me that he was mad.

  “Why can’t you do what you promised,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

  “You need help.”

  “I have help.” He blew out a breath of frustration.

  I was almost sorry I had come. Almost.

  “Look, there’s no time now for talk. I don’t want to blow this sting operation. I’ve worked a long time to nail this bunch. Don’t blow this for me.”

  I shook my head, not daring to talk.

  “Here.” He pulled a small pistol from his vest pocket.”Take this. I’ve got to go closer and watch the entrance. Stay right behind me and don’t make a sound.”

  He led the way to another pile of rubble where we had a good view of the entrance. I crouched beside him, and we watched for signs of activity. The moon slowly traveled across the sky. The shadows changed shapes in the ruins but no one showed.

  “Do you really think they buried the jewels in the ruins?” I whispered.