Chapter 73
When he’d spoken to the barman’s wife, Stefanides had suggested they meet at Cape Sounion at the Temple of Poseidon. It was around an hour’s drive south of Athens and the most southerly tip of the Attic peninsula. Only tourists went there and in the open area of the ruins, it would be easy to see if anyone had followed them. It was also winter, so the number of people there would be small.
Stefanides had said that Ashby would be in Athens for a short time. In recognition of this, the barman’s wife had agreed to meet them in an hour, at four o’clock or thereabouts, depending on how bad the traffic was out of Athens.
“We should just have enough time to get ahead of the rush hour,” said Stefanides.
On the way to Sounion, the journey was uncomfortable. They avoided the coastal road to the airport and instead, took the inland route to Glyfada which joined up with the coast road further down the peninsula. Stefanides pushed his driver to cut across every vehicle in their way. By the time they arrived, the last tourist bus had departed and there were only a handful of people looking out beyond the ruins of the temple to the islands of the Saronic Gulf.
The rosy pink of the evening sky promised another fine day. Near the ruins, they saw a woman on her own, looking away from the temple and the view out to sea, as if she was expecting someone. From the way she was dressed, she was obviously not a tourist.
“Do you think that’s her ?” asked Ashby.
“Let’s go and see,” said his associate.
As they approached the woman, Stefanides spoke in Greek to her and from the flow of the conversation, they had found their contact.
“She says that her husband is in hiding and could not meet you because after you left Athens, two men came into their bar and smashed the place up and then attacked her husband and injured him badly. He was in hospital for over a week and is still suffering from his injuries.”
“What ? He was attacked ?”
“They warned him ‘Keep your mouth shut.’ Now, the both of them just want to get away from Athens and to leave Greece altogether.”
Stefanides translated as the barman’s wife poured out her woes.
“She says that they want to emigrate. If you pay them for the information you want, they can get away from here. They applied to live in Canada and have already been accepted but need money to make a new start there.”
“Can you tell her I’m sorry if I’ve been the cause of all this,” said Ashby. “Believe me, I never intended to get them mixed up in it. If I can help them, I will.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Stefanides impatiently, “they know how to find Christoforou. They say they’ll tell you but only for a hundred thousand US.”
“Do they know for certain where he is and how we could get him arrested ?”
“Yeah, they can tell you for sure where he is.”
“Is that what she said ?”
“Yes, that is exactly what she said. Well ? Do you want it or not ?”
“But they want double what I offered him previously.”
“Compared to paying twenny million, it’s nothing – and we don’t have all day to bargain with her. She wants to go quickly in case anyone is watching her.”
The woman gave another quick-fire burst of Greek and began to cry.
This was translated as “Doesn’t he realise he’s ruined our lives. We lost our taverna. My husband was almost killed. Our lives are in danger now. And we can’t live in our own country any more.”
“She’s right,” admitted Ashby, “about everything she’s said. And you’re right too about the twenty million. But my company’s bank accounts are frozen. The money I agreed to pay you is coming out of my own pocket. I’m not sure if I could go to another hundred thousand. Can you ask her whether they would take fifty.”
“Ohi.”
He already knew it was the Greek word for “No.”
“Ask her whether they would take seventy five.”
“Ohi, ohi.”
“Tell her I’m sorry, I just don’t have that much. It’s a shame we can’t do business because I just don’t have the money myself. We’ll just have to find the Captain some other way. Let’s go back to Athens.”
Stefanides translated and they both walked back to their car. Just as they opened the door, they heard the woman call to them in Greek.
Stefanides translated : “She says ‘Alright, seventy five.’
They walked back to her and began to discuss terms. Ashby insisted that payment would only be made when concrete proof had been given to the lawyers in London, as he’d agreed with Stefanides.
“Tell her to ring you at the Perikles Hotel again tomorrow morning at ten thirty and we’ll plan everything from there. And tell her that she and Nikos should be ready to leave Athens at noon tomorrow. Say that I will give her five thousand dollars tomorrow as a first payment for their expenses and we can talk about everything else together, tomorrow afternoon. And before we go, ask her one question for me – Is Captain Christoforou in Athens or outside Athens.”
The answer came back : “Outside.”
Plantation A Legal Thriller Page 73