by Nick Vellis
“I will check you for weapons sir,” Karl said almost apologetically.
AJ shrugged and extended his arms to the side. After a thorough pat down, AJ followed the servant into a bright, airy corridor.
“Are the others here?” AJ asked as they walked through the house.
“Not yet, sir,” the maid replied.
He followed the woman down a wide hall, then through a set of glass doors onto a sunny terrace. A fountain in a stone niche burbled in the shade of the house. Wide marble slabs on the ground and a low rock wall extended across the back of the house. Wicker chaises and sofas with plush cushions, and marble tables furnished the outdoor room. A dozen cypress trees flanked the terrace and focused the view toward a distant snow covered peak.
“Please wait here,” the maid said and then disappeared into the house.
AJ took in the view as he tried to settle his nerves. Solaris’ retainer on site wasn’t surprising but it worried him. He looked at the distant mountain covered in green and white as his mind raced.
“That’s Mount Ipsario,” a familiar voice said. AJ turned to find Anna Arons emerging from the house, her ebony cane firmly in her hand. “It’s 1,206 meters high. There’s a beautiful waterfall up there,” Anna said. “Welcome to my summer residence Mr. Pantheras.”
“When will the others be here?” AJ said. He was in no mood for social pleasantries.
“I’m told they will arrive shortly. May I get you something to drink?” Anna asked. “Sophia will get one for you.”
“No, thank you,” AJ responded.
“Mineral water perhaps?” Anna insisted.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” AJ said turning the conversation to business.
“You called me. You asked for my help, to use my home, why would I not be here?” Anna said. “Ceres is my friend, too.” She led the way to the main sofa, shaded by the sweet-smelling cypress.
“You’re behind all this?” AJ said.
“Not so much behind as, shall we say, accidently involved,”
Anna replied. “Are you sure, you won’t have a drink. You look like you could use one,” Anna said, toasting AJ with a glass of white wine.
“No, thank you,” AJ said, regaining his composure. “I would like to sit down, though.” He felt the familiar sick ache churning in his stomach.
“Not there,” Anna cautioned. “You will like the seat on the end better,” she said. “You will find it most comforting,” Anna said.
AJ sat down and quickly realized why Anna had directed him to this particular spot. He slipped his hand under the cushion, found a plastic bag, and pulled it out. It contained his .45 and Dobos’ .22 Pug palm gun.
“Conceal those quickly if you would. I’m not sure how long my housekeeper, can distract Solaris’ thug.” Anna said taking another sip of wine as she looked toward the house.
“I imagine, it would have been embarrassing for one of your other guests to find these,” AJ said as he quickly checked the .45 and slipped in the back of his slacks.
“I wasn’t sure what would happen if you didn’t arrive first,” Anna said. “It was difficult to manage after that hulking brute arrived at our door. I was quite taken by the young policeman who brought those, by the way. He’s from a good family in Thessaloniki. Thank you for sending him to me,” she said trying to sound aloof and unperturbed.
“I don’t know much about him. I only met Captain Vlacos recently,” AJ replied.
“Mr. Pantheras, I certainly hope you know how to use those items,” Anna said as she watched AJ settle back into his seat.
“I do. I won’t miss,” AJ replied.
“I knew I could count on Lieutenant John’s grandson,” Anna said. My son and I need your help to be rid of a pest,” she said taking a sip of wine.
“I counted on Ceres’ friend and you came through, but I didn’t come here to help you. I came here …”
“To free your friend,” Anna said. “I want that too, but to achieve your goal, we have to work together.”
“I don’t see…”
“Of course you don’t,” Anna said. Her manner was abrupt but soft. “My family has worked behind the scenes for decades. No one sees us, and we want it kept that way. One of our, shall we call him a client, while enriching our bottom line has become a liability. In my business, you eliminate liabilities. Mistakes have been made and …”
“Mistakes! What exactly is your business? You facilitate kidnapping, murder …”
“No … as I said. Our client …”
“Your client has attacked Ceres twice and kidnapped him. I’ve been his target twice so far. He had my father killed, and I don’t know how many others.”
“I’m trying to make up for that Mr. Pantheras. Let’s keep a united front for now. As to my business, well that’s sort of a family trade secret.”
“What are you, Mafia?”
“That’s from another country, dear boy but no, nothing as melodramatic as that. My late husband found there was profit in aiding those who couldn’t go to traditional financial institutions,” Anna said.
“You’re not organized crime, but you finance it. Is that it?” AJ was agitated.
“My husband began helping grey market entrepreneurs after the war. He attracted quite a client list, and today many of those men are very wealthy. My family helped these people get started, and now we manage their fortunes.”
“So you’re financial consultants to Murder Inc.,” AJ said. “That’s all very enlightened, even if it is a tad Machiavellian, and you have your son in the family business, too. You must be so proud.”
“No, it’s nothing like that. We’re simply bankers,” Anna laughed and smiled as she slowly shook her head. “You amuse me, Mr. Pantheras,” Anna said with a smile as she took another sip of wine.
“No offense, but the feeling isn’t mutual. Can we get on with our business?”
“Certainly, your first priority is …”
“My first priority is to get Ceres back and guarantee his safety. Do that and I’ll do anything you want,” AJ said, not quite believing what he’d just said. “Thank you for honoring our agreement, Madame Arons,” AJ said. “I’ll do my best to hold up my end.”
“You’re recording our conversation I assume?” Anna asked.
“We don’t really want a record of what’s going to happen, do we?” AJ chortled.
The whine of an engine outside signaled a car arriving at the portico. Anna turned toward the house, then paused another moment. “We understand each other then. Let me do the negotiating on this, please. I know what this man is like.”
A moment later, Sophia led an older man followed by a man in his forties on to the terrace. Verde followed, pushing Ceres in a wheelchair, followed by Karl, the huge bodyguard AJ had encountered at the front door.
“Welcome to Costa Nopia,” Anna said, rising as her guests arrived. She greeted the younger man with a kiss on each cheek and turning to AJ said, “This is my son, Rafael.”
AJ gave the Italian banker a curt nod.
“And you would be the interesting Mr. Solaris,” Anna said as she approached the older man. “At last we meet,” Anna extending her hand as she approached the man. She did not look toward Ceres.
In contrast, AJ couldn’t take his eyes off his friend. His face was as mask of bloody purple. His eyes were black and swollen shut, his nose was broken, and he could barely raise his head. AJ felt his anger boil. Anna may have facilitated, but Solaris was the incarnate evil behind it all.
AJ turned away from Ceres to size up his adversary. He was a slight, gaunt man who stood apart from the others. A crooked walking stick helped him compensate for an obviously stiff right leg. He had a fringe of white hair, part of which he had combed over the top of his head. Parallel to and about an inch above the right arm of his silver wire rim glasses ran a wine-color keloid scar. His face was slight and narrow but trenched with age. Thin bloodless lips were lost under a thick handlebar mustache and hard green eyes.
With his pressed linen slacks, open collared shirt, and double-breasted navy sport coat he looked as though he was on the deck of his yacht. He strode stiffly to greet Anna and said, “An unexpected pleasure Madam Arons. To what do we owe the honor?”
“This is my home and I’m here to facilitate your business,” Anna said. “You’ve seen fit to violate our arrangement by involving my son directly in your business. I want to make clear this will not occur in the future and conclude this affair.”
The Cheshire cat smile disappeared from Solaris’ face, and his true nature seeped through as he held Anna’s hand a moment too long.
“For years I’ve made millions for your family. Do not interfere now,” Solaris snarled, his eyes narrowing. “It would not be … healthy.”
Anna drew her hand back as if she’d been jolted by electricity.
“And this would be young Pantheras,” Solaris said, turning to look directly at AJ. He did not offer his hand. “Here’s your friend, if you have the price,” he said indicating the mangled Ceres.
“I have it, but not with me, of course,” AJ said.
“Of course. You are, after all, a lawyer. Do attorneys trust anyone?”
“Some people, but certainly not you,” AJ said, trying to sound confident.
“So what do you propose?” Solaris asked.
“He’s in no condition to drive, thanks to you, so I will have to arrange for someone to collect him.”
“And that person will bring the book?” Solaris said taking a step toward AJ.
“Perhaps,” he replied.
Anna laughed aloud. “Look at you two sparring. It’s fantastic. I wouldn’t have missed this. Rafael, get a drink and watch. You could learn something.”
Rafael poured a glass of wine and sullenly took a seat next to his mother.
Solaris glowered at Anna and said, “Can we get on with this?”
“Yes, let’s get on with it. May I make a phone call?” AJ said, looking first at Solaris then at Anna.
Anna gave a permissive wave and Solaris nodded curtly.
AJ took out his cell phone and dialed. Gia answered on the first ring. “I am at an estate north of town called …” AJ looked at Anna.
“It’s called Costa Nopia, twenty minutes from Limenas, north on the coast road,” Anna said.
AJ repeated the name and directions then said, “Get here as soon as possible.”
The wait could have been a tense one, but Anna entertained her guests with a brief history of the island. Solaris was impatient but listened just the same. Anna explained everything, the 600 B.C. Phoenician colonization, the discovery of gold, the Ionian Revolt, the Ottoman conquest, and the island’s role in the Greek War of Independence. She was about to begin with the modern era when the group’s attention turned to the sound of an approaching vehicle.
Anna said, “Gentlemen, I believe your package has arrived.”
AJ, still seated in the wicker sofa, casually uncrossed his legs, as he tried to still his pounding heart. A moment later Sophia escorted a young man in an airline pilot’s uniform to the terrace.
“Mr. Pantheras, this gentleman is here to see you,” Sophia said.
“Karl,” Solaris said pointing at the uniformed man at the door. Karl instructed the man to raise his arms and conducted thorough pat down.
AJ fought hard to still the light of recognition in his eyes as Tinos was searched at the terrace entrance.
“Sir, how may I be of service?” Tinos said when Karl cleared him to enter.
“Thank you for coming so quickly, captain. This man,” indicating Ceres, “needs to be taken to a hospital.”
“Yes, sir,” the fake airline captain responded.
Tinos went to Ceres’ wheelchair and began to push him toward the door.
“Wait!” Solaris commanded.
Tinos stopped in his tracks.
“There is, I believe, something to be exchanged first,” Solaris said, looking at AJ.
“Yes, of course, how foolish of me,” AJ replied. “Captain, you have something for me?”
Tinos took a scuffed black notebook from his breast pocket and held it up. AJ clapped his hands once and nodded. Tinos tossed the notebook across the terrace to AJ. Solaris watched as the object of his obsession flew through the air right in front of him. AJ caught it in one hand.
“I believe this is what you want,” he said, holding up the source of so much trouble.
“Give it to me!” Solaris said, lurching unsteadily toward AJ.
AJ took a step back and said, “Not until Ceres is gone. Once he’s on his way to the hospital you can have it.”
“I don’t think so,” Solaris said.
“Why don’t you give it to a neutral party for inspection,” Anna said casually playing her part, “then you can conclude your business and both can be on your way.”
“An excellent suggestion,” AJ said.
Anna moved imperceptibly toward AJ.
“I don’t know,” Solaris said suspiciously.
“I’ll give it to Mrs. Arons. She can look through it while we talk,” AJ said. AJ turned his back to Solaris. He held one hand on top and the other on the bottom of the notebook and slipped the tiny palm gun underneath. Anna played her part perfectly deftly dropping the little gun into her skirt pocket.
Leafing through the notebook Anna looked up at AJ and said, “This is very interesting.”
“Enough,” Solaris stormed.
“No, we’re just getting started,” AJ replied. “You get the notebook when Ceres and I leave.”
“You don’t actually expect to leave here alive, do you?” Solaris said.
“No, I didn’t have very high expectation of that happening, but I had to meet you. I had to meet the man who’s plagued my family for, how long, seventy years?” AJ said, his resolve growing with each breath.
“I’ve plagued you? From the time I ran across your grandfather I’ve been fighting your family,” Solaris said.
“So you did steal the gold during the war,” AJ said.
“Steal? No, more like liberated,. It was already stolen, after all. It was more than just gold too. There were diamonds, and other jewels, silver, and pieces of art. It was fabulous.”
“I don’t guess the art faired too well when you sank that ship,” AJ said.
“Aha, you discovered that. I thought I covered my tracks, but no matter. No, the art works did not survive, but that was only a small part of the fortune. It was easy enough to recover after the war. I’ve searched for the rest of it all these years. Now it’s mine. Give me that book!” Solaris bellowed.
“Who are you, anyway?” AJ said, looking over Anna’s shoulder as she thumbed through the notebook, and looking up at Tinos. “What is it you need this treasure for? You’re an extremely wealthy man.”
Solaris chuckled, “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” AJ gently insisted.
“There is wealth and there is power,” Solaris began. “You need one to have the other. I have too little of both. The ultimate power is the ability to manipulate,” Solaris said slowly pacing as he explained. “Start a financial crisis, nothing to it,” Solaris snapped his fingers. “I very publicly sell all my stocks and bonds from a particular country and there’s a panic. How do you think the Greek financial mess started? It has been profitable. Do you want to destabilize a government? Look what I’ve been able to do in Syria. The arms business is very good there right now. When a country threatens its neighbor … well who knows what they may want? Someone needs to supply the bullets and the beans. This one,” Solaris pointed at Rafael, “finances these things, but I fill the needs and make a handsome profit.”
Tinos gave AJ a tiny nod, indicating he had heard enough, but AJ wasn’t finished.
Anna scowled at Rafael. She didn’t like what she was hearing. He was more deeply involved than she’d feared.
“So why send the professional assassins? Surely with all your money and influence …?”
“
This one,” Solaris said pointing to Ceres, who was more conscious than had first appeared, “the Italian detective and your father were asking too many questions, even Joseph Arons,” Rafael’s head shot up with a start.
An imperceptible smile crept over Anna’s lips. She now knew what she had risked everything to learn.
“Who I was, how I got my start, it was all problematic,” Solaris continued.
“What’s so …” AJ asked.
“… So important?” Solaris interrupted. “Since none of you will live out the hour, I’ll tell you,” Solaris said. “I was born with nothing. I fought for my country when war came but still had nothing. The Germans showed me comfort, luxury, and power … the important things in life.”
“They seduced you?”
“I prefer to say my eyes were opened,” he replied with a sneer. “I vowed never to be poor or hungry again. I learned how to get what I wanted.”
“You learned from the best. The Nazis cornered the market on ruthless megalomania,” AJ said. “You stole the stolen ransom and kept it from the Germans.”
“Dorn sent me to collect it for him and was going to give me a pittance,” Solaris snorted. “I planned to steal it but your grandfather stole it first. Now tell me where the rest of it is.”
Solaris’ eyes narrowed,
“Sure, sure, it’s all in there,” he said pointing to notebook in Anna’s hand, “but how did you go over to the Germans? They didn’t trust anyone and you must have been very young,” AJ said, hoping he wasn’t pushing too hard.
“You really want to know this? Your grandfather was a traitor, too.”
“That remains to be seen but yes, I want to know,” AJ, said.
“I was young, just seventeen but I had a reputation. I fought beside my father. Soon, I’d killed more men than he had but he didn’t like my methods. I was too brutal, he said. I enjoyed killing to much, he said.” Solaris’ voice was rising. “How can you fight a war and not be brutal?”
“Your father was jealous of your success, wasn’t he?” AJ said.
Solaris smiled a wry smile, took a breath, and began again with a calmer voice. “That was a clever diversion. You won’t make me careless though. I’m never careless.”