CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Minerva Kyril sat aboard the Mirage, when Ilya finally walked in the stateroom. “Please tell me we finally have word?” she asked.
“They’ve apparently landed on an islet just south of Fourni, Megalos Anthropofas.”
“Why would they be there? More of this Poseidon’s Trident nonsense?”
“That would seem the most likely reason. The islet is a barren piece of rock. My men can pick them off before they ever realize they’re targets. I’ve ordered the helicopter readied.”
A fitting end. Because of her son’s obsession with that godforsaken treasure, bringing unnecessary attention to her island, she’d had to suspend all operations in the face of the federal police investigation.
Her phone rang. She checked the caller ID, saw her attorney’s number, and answered it, turning it on speaker. “Leon,” she said, placing the phone on the table. “Please tell me there’s some good news?”
“The best I can give you is that it’s not all bad. Since your men are unwilling to testify that he pushed the old man into the cave, and the two witnesses didn’t actually see anything but your son standing there, the police don’t have a case for murder.”
“Small miracle.”
“That being said, they do have a good case for kidnapping. If it goes to court, we’re likely to find ourselves in the midst of an ugly inquest. I have a feeling that none of us will survive it.”
The mistake had been hers. She should have cut Adrian from the family business years ago. He was reckless and there was no talking to her son once he set his mind to something. Sadly, his narcissistic personality clouded all sense. He knew better than anyone, refused to listen to reason, and blamed everyone else for his inept handling of whatever the task at hand. “So how do we stop this . . . nightmare from happening?”
“Short of murdering your son in his cell?” Leon said.
Ilya’s expression darkened. “I don’t find that amusing.”
“I agree,” Minerva said. While Ilya might work for her, he had an unwavering loyalty to her son.
“I meant no harm,” Leon replied. “It was merely an unfortunate figure of speech. The prosecutor has offered a plea deal, which is why I’m calling.”
“A plea deal?” Minerva said. “To what?’
“Kidnapping,” Leon said. “My suggestion is that Adrian will admit to organizing the kidnapping in his misguided attempt to protect the family olive oil business, after the old man slipped into the cavern. The sentence for that is far less than anything else they’re likely to offer.”
The idea had merit. But her son wasn’t the only problem they were dealing with. There was also the shooting at their processing facility. Ilya had suggested that they may have to sacrifice a few guards for the good of the organization, adding a well-thought-out letter of confession to go along with their suicides—not that she was about to suggest such a move to her attorney. Right now, though, her son’s situation was more important. “Can I give this some thought and get back to you later this afternoon?” she asked Leon. “We have something in the works.”
“Unfortunately, I need to let the prosecutor know before we appear in court this morning. Otherwise the deal is off, and we’re faced with a trial.”
Minerva looked at Ilya. “How long do we need?”
“As I said, they’re readying the helicopter now.”
In the end, her decision wasn’t that hard. Adrian was going to have to pay for his misdeeds. Unless she found a way to even the playing field for him—and eliminating Sam Fargo was at the top of her list. She picked up the phone and turned off the speaker. “Hold off on that deal until you hear from me.”
“Very good.”
“Is that wise?” Ilya asked her once she disconnected.
“Until I know every one of those people is dead, I’m not willing to take a chance that my son will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
“I understand. I’ll call you as soon as it’s done.”
“You won’t need to. I’m going with you.”
Ilya, the man who usually seemed so calm, suddenly stood, looking alarmed. “I wouldn’t advise it. You need to be here. Besides, there’s not enough room.”
“They’ll have to make room.” She walked out, crossed the deck, then took the stairs up to the helipad, the sound of the rotors beating the air growing louder.
Ilya followed her. “Mrs. Kyril . . .” he shouted as he followed her up. “It would be best if you stayed here. By the phone. I’ll call you as soon as it’s done.”
She rounded on him. “Every single time I’ve relied on you to make sure things get done, your men have failed. Perhaps it’s time for someone else to ensure this is handled properly.”
The pilot and two men carrying assault rifles were already aboard. When she climbed on, the pilot looked over at Ilya, who waited behind. Minerva turned. “Why isn’t he boarding?”
“Not enough room, Mrs. Kyril,” the pilot shouted. “Four seats, four passengers.”
She waved her hand. “Let’s go. Maybe this time we can get it right.”
He gave a slight nod, then took off.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Had Sam and the others not seen the goat leaving the cave, they might have missed it altogether. Between the glare of the sun, and the shadows cast upon the ground, not to mention the large rocks in front of it, they were lucky to have even seen the goat from where they stood. With smaller rocks and scrub cleared, it was hard to believe anyone could miss such a wide opening.
Remi stood at the entrance, looking down. “I guess I thought it’d be covered with more rock. Wasn’t part of the story about how Poseidon shook the earth and swallowed the cave?”
Nikos laughed. “You forget you’re in Greece. With all the seismic activity over the centuries, it’s not surprising that what at one time covered the cave is no longer there.”
When everything was ready to go, Sam stepped up to the cave mouth, turning on a flashlight. Remi moved next to him and looked in. The cave sloped diagonally into the interior of the islet and the light hit the walls about thirty feet down. There was a definite dark shadow below. Beyond that, Remi couldn’t see.
“It doesn’t look too deep from here,” she said.
“It’s hard to say until we get in there,” Sam replied.
He double-checked Remi’s harness, making sure the fit was right. “You’ll be fine. It’s a lot easier than rappelling down a cliff.”
“And what if something bad happens? Who’s going to call for help if we’re all down there?”
Dimitris smiled at her as he adjusted his helmet, grabbed the rope, then started down. “Zoe knows we’re here. She’ll send someone to come looking for us.”
The first part of the descent appeared easy. The stone rock formation made natural steps down into the shaft, and the rope was used more for balance.
Nikos went next. When he reached the bottom, Sam looked at Remi. “Your turn.”
She buckled her helmet’s chin strap, then peered into the cavern. It wasn’t getting down there that was the hard part. It was being down there. She wasn’t a fan of deep, dark places. “You sure you don’t want me to stay here and chase the goats out?”
“Something tells me we’ll be fine from any marauding wildlife.”
He held out his hand. She took it, stepping down into the cave, and grasping the rope, let it slip through her hands as she picked her way down the stone steps. At the bottom, she dropped the rope, waited for Sam, then crossed the cavern floor toward Nikos and Dimitris. The two men stood near a pool of water, the surface reflecting the light from their headlamps.
Nikos crouched down in front of it. “Runoff from the rain,” he said. “Undoubtedly why the goats visit.” He stood. “It would have been too much to ask that the treasure was in there.”
They worked th
eir way around the edge of the pool, where, just a few feet beyond, was an opening in the floor leading down into another chamber. Dimitris took a coil of rope from his pack, looking for a spot to anchor it.
Remi eyed the rope, then the cavern below. “That looks pretty dark.”
Sam reached over and switched on her headlamp. “Better?”
She looked down, the beam of light bouncing off the cavern walls but failing to reach the bottom. “Definitely not better. Exactly how deep is it?”
He picked up a large rock and tossed it down.
Clunk, clunk, clunk.
“About that deep,” he said.
She moved away from the edge. “If you find anything good, you can come back and get me. Or, even better, I’ll see it when you bring it up. To the surface. Where I’m going.”
Dimitris looked up from the knot he was tying. “What if we find something?”
“Something tells me I’ll be one of the first to find out. Good luck.”
Dimitris descended first, and Nikos followed. Sam grabbed on to the rope, then looked over at her. “It’s not too late to change your mind. You’ll be missing out.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Remi said as Sam rappelled down after them.
When their lights disappeared, she climbed back up to the cave’s mouth, walking to the cliff’s edge, looking out across the water toward Fourni. So much had happened since she’d arrived here. And then there was Sam . . .
They were completely mismatched. She meticulously planned out every aspect of her life and her future. He acted on impulse. All that aside, when it came right down to it, what did she really know about him? Sam Fargo was an enigma.
Deep in thought, she drew her gaze from the water, aware of the faint sound of a helicopter coming from the south. She smiled at the memory of how Sam had called in a favor to someone high up in the military to secure her a ride back to Long Beach, all so she wouldn’t miss her flight to Greece . . .
Turning, she watched the helicopter as it neared, curious, because it seemed to be headed straight toward them.
As the noise of the rotors grew louder, curiosity turned to alarm when the craft seemed to slow, then hover over the south side of the island. There was only one reason someone would send a helicopter here: they were looking for them. Remi backed toward the cave, seeing Dimitris’s gear bag sitting near the mouth. She shoved it underneath a rock, then grabbed the rope, lowering herself into the cave entrance. “Sam!”
No answer.
She started down.
The slope wasn’t too steep near the opening. “Sam!” she called out again as she extended her foot behind her, trying to find a good toehold. Suddenly she was sliding, the friction from the rope heating the palms of her gloves as she pulled herself to a stop.
“Don’t move, Remi. I’m coming up.”
She looked back, catching a glimpse of Sam’s headlamp somewhere near the bottom. “There’s a helicopter out there. I think they’re trying to land on the island.”
Sam climbed up, then helped Remi to a ledge on the side. “Wait here.”
He pulled himself out of the mouth and crept toward the outcropping of rock that shielded the cave from view. The beating of the rotors grew louder as the aircraft rose from the south side of the island.
Sam, crouched behind the rocks, watched for a moment, then called back at her. “Do you have your sat phone?”
She pulled it from her pocket, looking up Zoe’s number as the helicopter moved in, hovering. Glancing up, she caught a glimpse of the pilot, a woman, and two other men leaning out, looking down at them.
“Get down!” Sam shouted. He pressed back against the outcropping.
Remi ducked as one of the men pointed an assault rifle. Bits of rock and dirt jumped as he peppered the ground in front of them.
Sam drew the little Smith & Wesson, fired once, then ran to the cave as the helicopter banked away. He holstered his gun, then held his hand out to her. “We need to go down.”
Remi craned her head upward, saw the helicopter rising, whipping the dirt and dried brush. She shoved the phone in her pocket, took Sam’s hand, stepped off the ledge, balancing one foot on the cave wall as she grabbed the rope, then started down.
Dimitris and Nikos shouted from below as the helicopter thundered above them. Sam was still near the top, holding the rope with one hand, the pistol with the other.
The helicopter rose over the rocks and cave entrance, one of the gunmen leaning out, aiming his rifle into the cave.
Sam aimed for the pilot and fired. Again and again. Blood splattered across the windshield. The gunman twisted, grabbing the rail before falling to the ground as the chopper rose, spun around, then hit its tail on the massive rocks. Sam rappelled to the bottom. He grabbed Remi’s hand, pulling her behind him as the pilot lost control and the helicopter slammed into the huge rock above them.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
It sounded like an explosion echoing through the chamber, the walls rumbling around them. Sam shielded Remi from the falling rocks. Dust filled the air. They pulled up their shirts and covered their mouths and noses, trying not to breathe in too deep. Nikos and Dimitris found them, after they climbed up to the entrance of the lower chamber. As their coughing subsided, Sam heard the hiss of gravel and sand that slid down the cavern walls.
He glanced at Remi, who was patting her pockets. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. But I think I dropped the phone.”
“It won’t do us much good now. Nikos? Dimitris?”
“We’re fine,” Nikos said.
Sam turned back in the direction of what had been the opening of the cave. “Let’s see if we can’t get up there and dig our way out.”
The beams from their headlamps lit up the particles floating in the air. Sam looked over at the pool, where rainwater had collected, the surface rippling from the debris falling from above. They followed Sam past the pool. The cavern entrance was blocked, the spire of rock having fallen right over the mouth. The rope they’d used to make their descent was still there.
“Should we try it?” Dimitris asked.
Sam tugged. It held firm. “Let’s do it.” He looked back at Remi and Nikos. “Stay over there. In case anything else falls.”
He held on to the rope, using it to climb over the rocks that had landed at the base. His foot slipped, knocking one of the larger pieces. It caused a small avalanche, making it more difficult to see. Dimitris waited until it settled, was about to step over, when he glanced at the rubble. “That looks like red clay.” He picked up a rather large shard of thick pottery. There were many pieces scattered with the rock. “Something definitely broke down here.”
Nikos, watching from the other side, said, “Maybe one of the goat herders dropped a jar when they brought it in to fill with water.”
Sam, hanging on to the rope, looked down, the beam of his headlamp hitting the pile of rocks. What he noticed was that some of the shards were sitting on top of the rubble pile. As though they’d fallen from above. He looked up. Pieces of the narrow ledge that Remi had been sitting on near the top had sheared off from the force of the helicopter’s impact.
So why were the shards sitting on top?
Dimitris must have thought the same thing. His gaze followed Sam’s. “Do you think . . . ?”
“Whatever it is, it’s going to have to wait. Let’s find a way out.”
“Sam’s right,” Nikos said. The man’s dust-covered face was tense, his expression mirroring Sam’s. Worried. “We can always come back.”
A moment later, Sam felt the rope moving below him as Dimitris began climbing up the scarred slope. Side by side, they balanced on what was left of the stairs carved into the shaft, their headlamps shining on the rock that now covered the opening. Sam and Dimitris reached up and pushed. It felt solid.
That was both the
good news and the bad.
It didn’t look like it was going to come crashing onto them anytime soon. For now, there was no getting past it. No loose corners that they might dig out, freeing up enough space to get through.
Sam and Dimitris returned to the bottom.
“Let’s move out of here,” Sam said. They walked past the pool of water to the opening leading to the lower chamber.
“Zoe will send someone,” Dimitris said.
Sam had no doubt. Though Zoe might not sound the alarm for a few hours, since they weren’t expected back right away, someone was bound to have seen the helicopter crash. “We don’t want to waste battery power. Until then, I’d suggest we find a safe place to sit in the dark while we wait.” He moved next to Remi, who sat on a flat rock jutting out, while Nikos and Dimitris sat on the cave floor opposite them.
They each switched off their headlamps, the dark turning absolute. Sam reached over, grasping Remi’s fingers in his. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Perhaps because of the absence of light, the sounds around them seemed to magnify, and he listened to the calm breathing of Remi next to him.
After a minute, maybe two, she suddenly sat up. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” he asked.
“Rhythmic.”
“The air’s moving,” he said. “It’s like putting your ear to a giant seashell. Which is good for us. We won’t suffocate.”
Remi let go, then stood, moving away. “Quiet . . .”
“I hear it, too,” Dimitris said.
“Hear what?” Nikos asked.
“The sea,” Remi and Dimitris said together.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Sam switched on his light, finding Remi pointing to his feet. “It’s coming from under there.”
He crouched, his headlamp shining into a foot-high crevice beneath the ledge that seemed to go back quite a distance. Closing his eyes, he listened. Whether it was actually the sound of the sea or simply the sound of air moving through the narrow passage, he wasn’t sure. “I’ll go see where it leads.”
Wrath of Poseidon Page 26