Dig Two Graves: Revenge or Honor

by Nick Vellis

“That’s right,” she smiled. Gia flopped down on her back, luxuriating in their afterglow.

  “You stay here and get some sleep,” AJ said as he sat up. “I’ll come get you when it’s your turn on deck.”

  “I’m just going snuggle against my lover a moment longer,” Gia murmured. She embraced AJ as she closed her eyes and sighed contentedly, “You’re a good man, AJ Pantheras. Did you know that?”

  AJ turned, kissed her deeply, and murmured, “You’re not much of a judge of character, but I’ll take your word for it.”

  AJ freed himself from Gia’s embrace and reached for the phone on the wall. It buzzed once, twice, three times, and AJ frowned at Gia. He heard something bang on the port side. Gia sat up with a start. AJ flicked the switch hook a couple times and let it ring three more times,” then said, “Trouble, come on,” as he reached for his .45.

  His watch’s alarm sounded at 2:00 a.m., but Dobos had been awake for two minutes. He rose, already fully dressed, checked his weapons and spare magazines and suited up for work, the Kel-Tec on his ankle, the .22 Pug in his left pocket.

  He took the suppressor from his bag and carefully threaded it onto the barrel of his Makarov. Dobos slipped out of his room, down the hall and out the window to the fire escape and silently climbed to the fourth floor.

  By 2:15, the three men in room 410 each had a bullet in his head. Dobos examined their IDs, Greek Police, and their equipment, telescopes and video cameras with ultra long lenses. Through the telescope, he could see one man on the Helios’ deck. At least someone was alert. He watched on the video monitor as the man walked the deck purposefully checking both seaward and toward shore with binoculars. He walked slowly around the enclosed cabin checking both port and starboard sides. Watching the man on the video monitor made it too easy. If I only had my rifle, I could…

  Without warning, the man on the boat moved suddenly, ducking and running. On the high-resolution monitor, he watched as fragments of wood and fiberglass flew about. Finally, the lone man fell overboard on the port side, his body now surely in the water behind the boat, out of Dobos’ view.

  Who, he thought. My competition! Where, the roof? Dobo’s mind raced frantically as he pounded up the stairs. No time for stealth now. He had killed three men, but someone else was taking out his targets. I have to neutralize the competition and get on that boat.

  CHAPTER 32

  The jackhammer in AJ’s chest was in overdrive. A moist, clammy sheen enveloped him and clung to him like a second skin then trickled down his back and chest. Where was Tinos? Was someone already onboard? What was that bang they’d heard? He reached for door with his left hand, hesitated as he tried to catch his breath, and then forced himself to ease the door open. The cold steel of the .45 in his right hand weighed a ton. He’d expected the gun to comfort him somehow, but it only stoked his fear. Nervous eyes jumped side to side, scanning the dim companionway; ears ached, listening for any clue. The only sound was the water gently lapping at the hull and the only movement the boat’s gentle roll. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when he realized no one was there but shuddered as he felt Gia’s naked body slip behind him and around the open door. She ducked into her own stateroom and reappeared a moment later wearing a long nightshirt and holding a 9 mm Beretta. She stood close to him for a moment. Their eyes met. How can she be so calm? He prayed she couldn’t see the abject terror in his eyes. Gia gave him a tense smile, nodded, and slowly led the way toward the stairs leading up to the main deck. They made their way, side by side, the dozen or so paces to the bottom of the narrow steps. Gia touched AJ’s shoulder and pointed into the galley to their left. AJ acknowledged her with a nervous nod and turned to cover the stairs.

  She moved toward the galley, her 9 mm steady in a two-hand grip. Eyes focused on her sights, the gun swept in a slow arch across the dark compartment. Finding nothing, she lowered the Berretta to the low ready position and returned to AJ at the foot of the stairs. She touched his outstretched left hand to let him know she was back. He took her hand, gave it a squeeze, and without looking at her, forced himself up the eight steps to the deck. What have I gotten myself into? Three steps from the top, AJ crouched. He turned and cautiously put his head through the opening.

  No one was in sight. The deck appeared empty. He breathed another sigh, but then, mind racing wondered, who was there? AJ hoped their adversary couldn’t hear his pounding heart. Bare-foot quiet, he went to the cockpit’s right as Gia came behind him and went left. There was glass on the deck. He noticed Tinos’ radio on the dashboard and stuffed it in his back pocket. They were crouched low, covering the open rear deck for an eternity, listening, waiting for some foreign sound or movement. Nothing seemed amiss. The table and chairs on the rear deck were arranged as they’d left them a few hours ago. Everything was still. Nothing was out of place, except Tinos was missing. AJ turned to see a stony-faced Gia. She pointed toward the bow. He hesitated then reluctantly nodded his agreement. They each crept out of their side of the cockpit and around the cabin’s side to make their way down the narrow walkway toward the bow.

  Steadying himself on the woodwork, he immediately felt chips and splinters in the cabin’s edge and saw three holes in the sideboard window. AJ didn’t have time to interpret this discovery. He’d taken only a few cautious steps from cover when he heard Gia call his name.

  “AJ,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

  Fear and anxiety are just different words for the same emotion, his shrink had said. In the past, AJ’s anxiety had distorted his perception of people and events and even paralyzed him. He recognized the rapid, irregular heart-beat, the cold sweat, and the dry mouth as symptoms that had overwhelmed him in the past. Despite knowing he was about to crack and a cloying desire to hide, he rushed to Gia. I won’t leave her, he thought. He found Gia leaning over the rail, butt exposed. AJ followed her gaze over the side and saw Tinos. His right arm entwined in the boarding ladder dangling over the side, his face a mask of pain.

  “Help me pull him up,” she said.

  “Stay low, gun fire from the beach,” Tinos grunted. He gave his warning through clinched teeth as Gia and AJ hauled him back onboard.

  AJ tried to look away from Tinos’ blood-soaked right side as they eased him to the deck but unconsciously, his eyes fell directly on the ragged cavity. He felt his knees weaken and thought he was going to be sick.

  “The radio, call the surveillance team. Warn them. I called…” Tinos passed out on the deck.

  “He’s out,” Gia said. “I’ll get the first aid kit. Find the radio and warn those guys on shore.”

  AJ suddenly remembered the radio in his pocket. The necessity for action, at least temporarily, diverted his attention from his own weakness. He pulled out the walkie-talkie, pressed the transmit button and said, “Surveillance Team, Surveillance Team come in.” There was only silence.

  “They’ll be coming for us soon,” Gia said as she returned, medical supplies in hand.

  “Who? How can we…?”

  “Whoever shot Tinos will be coming. We better get ready,” Gia said, her eyes cold with resignation.

  How did she control her fear? Was she even a little afraid?

  Dobos stopped his race to the roof when, from the fire escape, he saw a lone black-clad figure sprinting down the alley, a rifle slung across his back. Must have heard me. At least he’s running away from the beach. Dobos quickly reversed direction and clambered down the fire escape as quickly as possible.

  He sprinted through the alley to the beach, pushed the first small boat with an outboard he saw into the water, and jumped in. Speed was the key. The people on the boat may not have noticed their guard was gone, but the sniper wouldn’t be far behind.

  No one was visible on deck, and only the anchorage lights were showing. Below, none of the portholes were illuminated. He pulled down his night vision goggles. And the scene turned green, but he could now see every detail. Eight minutes later, Dobos touched the Helios’ stern and stepped up on the swi
m platform, steadying himself with his left hand, his suppressed Makarov 9 mm in his right. He crossed the aft deck and quickly noticed through the night vision a dark blob on the deck, port of the main cabin. A quick touch confirmed his suspicion. It was blood. The sniper had hit someone. He quickly searched the topside areas and confirmed no one was present. Now he’d have to put himself at risk and descend the narrow stairs to the staterooms.

  He held the Makarov in his right hand, tight to his ribs. His left hand was up to fend off any surprise attack as he crept down the steps. At the bottom, he turned 180 degrees and headed toward the forward stateroom.

  Passing an opening to the galley, he scanned and cleared the tiny space in an instant and continued down the hall. The door opened easily onto a darkened stateroom that was the full width of the boat. Through the pitch black of the moonless night with his night vision, he quickly saw that no one was home.

  Reversing direction, the assassin crept toward the two doors at the opposite end of the dim companionway. He opened first one door then the other. Both rooms were dark, but the night vision goggles allowed him to confirm they were empty.

  He retraced his steps up to the cockpit and stood, deciding what to do next. Where could they be? Then he heard a soft moan coming from directly above him. They were on the cabin roof. If he went aft, he wouldn’t be able to get an angle on them.

  Dobos made his way forward slowly, keeping his gun always aimed at the source of the fleeting sound. Another sound caught his attention, this one from the direction of the beach, but he was focused. It was now or never, live or die. Dobos stepped up on to a bench seat near the bow, crawled along the sun deck, and stood up to take his shot.

  Phoff, Phoff, Phoff, three suppressed shots came from the water. Dobos looked up to see a small boat flying over the water, a rifle poised on the small craft’s console windscreen and a dark-clad figure behind it. An impossible shot. He fell. His breath was ragged. A boat came along side, banging into Helios’ hull. A dark-clad figure deftly swung up on to the deck like an acrobat and produced a suppressed pistol. The intruder crouched and listened, waiting for another target, weapon at the ready.

  A wounded Tinos lay between Gia and AJ on the cabin roof beneath the furled sail. AJ had his eyes screwed shut tight and was sure they were about to die. At least I’ve been with Gia, he thought. She touched him and he forced his eyes open. The sound had been on the starboard side. She pointed below them and leaned into him, stretched over the unconscious Tinos.

  “Go to the front corner. When I signal, pop up, and shoot anyone you see,” she whispered.

  AJ was too stunned to protest. Gia moved soundlessly to the back corner of the cabin roof. When she was in place, she looked at AJ then mouthed a three count.

  Gia silently came up on one knee at the back corner of cabin’s roof, her 9 mm zeroing in on the boarder who was about midway along the narrow walkway to the bow. In an instant, the boarder wheeled toward Gia, taking aim. They fired simultaneously. Cat like, the assassin bolted toward the bow firing over his shoulder. Gia fell with a thud, blood oozing from a head wound.

  AJ lay on the cabin roof, afraid to open his eyes. He’d let Gia down, he’d been frozen, unable to move. Now she and Tinos were both wounded, and a killer was loose on the boat. Do something, fight or you’ll die. He heard a clunk and the squeak of footsteps on the forward seat cushions. The gunman was coming for him. He rolled toward the sound and forced his eyes open as a head appeared in front of him. AJ, his right arm extended toward his target, fired twice. The muzzle flash blinded him and the concussion stunned him. What’s happened? The metallic sound of a gun clattering to the deck echoed in his ringing ears. AJ pressed up to peer over the edge. Below him on the sun deck were two bodies.

  AJ sighed and realized he’d been holding his breath.

  “You OK?” he whispered to Gia.

  She didn’t respond. He continued to lie there, afraid to go to her, afraid of what he’d find.

  “Gia,” he shouted. The sharp sound of his voice startled her back to consciousness. “Yeah,” she said weakly.

  He crawled over to her and saw the blood on her head. AJ was stunned, but was prodded to action by the need to get help. He eased Gia, then Tinos off the cabin roof and put them on the aft deck.

  “Hold on, Gia,” AJ said, I’ll get us some help.” AJ patted Gia’s hand.

  “I’m all right,” Gia said. “It just grazed me.” Then she touched her head. “Damn, that hurts.”

  “Can you walk?”

  Gia nodded slowly.

  “Come with me,” he said, helping her up. “We need to be sure they’re dead.”

  Gia picked up her 9 mm and followed AJ to the forward deck. The figure in black was sprawled across the windshield. AJ turned the body over, and it slid three feet to the sun deck below. He pulled off their assailant’s ski mask. Gia’s sharp intake of breath startled him as much as what he saw.

  He realized the body in front of him was a striking blond woman. He checked for a pulse but knew from the glassy, unblinking eyes that the woman was dead. Then he saw a bullet hole in her forehead and another one in the neck.

  The other killer was sprawled on his back in the center of an expanding pool of blood of the white sun deck. He groaned and moved his right hand. Gia took aim. His gun was within reach, but instead of going for it, he beckoned them.

  AJ looked at the man lying helpless in front of him and felt the hate drain out of him. Gia peeled the night vision goggles and mask off the man. AJ recognized the craggy face from their encounter outside the Athens hotel and locked eyes with the man who’d been trying to kill him.

  “You got him? The other agent?” he said with labored breath.

  “Yeah, we got him, only it’s not a him. Who sent you?” Gia asked. The man was as good as dead, but maybe, just maybe, there might be some answers in him.

  There was no response. AJ’s anger and fear boiling in him, grabbed the man. “Who? Who sent you?” AJ was shaking the dying man by shoulders. “Why are you here?”

  “Solaris. He wants you dead, the old man, too. He wants some book. He’s… he’s obsessed,” Dobos said in a voice weaker than before.

  AJ couldn’t believe it, the damn notebook again. What could be in it?

  “Did you kill my father?” AJ demanded.

  “Yes, her father, and yours,” Dobos’ eyes darted over to Gia.

  “Why? Why did you kill my father?” Gia’s exclamation startled them both. She put her hand over her mouth.

  “Giorgio Donnattela questioned a banker. Solaris’ banker … He asked too many questions.”

  Dobos’ eyes rolled up in his head, his life ebbing, and AJ shook him again.

  Dobos took AJ’s arm again. He was bleeding out, but his grip was like iron. “Solaris. You get him. You kill him, for … for me. Take this …”

  Dobos painfully reached for his jacket. AJ grabbed the slow moving hand, reached into the pocket pulled out a small revolver. “Take this… kill him.” Dobos wheezed.

  “I’ll kill him, but it won’t be for you,” AJ said, taking the little gun from him.

  The wounded man took a painful breath and said, “Something else for you … go to room 210 Olympia.” Dobos coughed as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. “Under the right side of the mattress, a flash drive.”

  “What’s on it?” AJ demanded.

  His pale lips turned into a crooked grimace of a smile.

  “Why are you helping us?” Gia asked.

  “To get even, to get …” Dobos’ words trailed off as the sad twisted smile disappeared. The Romanian’s head rolled to the side, and he gasped one last time and was gone.

  Gia and AJ gaped at the dead assassin. Relief, fear, remorse, they didn’t know what to feel. Then AJ slipped the palm gun into his pocket, not caring how many men it had killed. It only needed to kill one more.

  Suddenly, the radio sitting on the aft deck crackled to life. “Helios … Helios this is Greek Coast Guard. C
ome in.”

  AJ looked at Gia, jumped to his feet, and ran aft to grab the radio.

  “Helios … Helios this is Greek Coast Guard. Come in. We have assistance enroute. Your phone call’s been received.”

  He looked at Gia who shrugged. Phone call? Tinos! Tinos must have called for help. He picked up the radio to acknowledge the call.

  “Greek Coast Guard… We have two wounded, two dead on board. Believe the Greek police at Hotel Olympia dead or wounded, over.”

  “Helios … police units are enroute. A patrol boat is on its way to you.”

  Within minutes, AJ and Gia could hear the sirens and then saw the blue lights as dozens of police swarmed the Olympia Hotel. Less than ten minutes later, a Coast Guard patrol boat arrived on scene and took Gia, Tinos, and AJ off the Helios. AJ sat with his arm around Gia as the boat sped away from the slaughterhouse the Helios had become.

  The windowless conference room at police headquarters was quiet and comfortable enough for meetings, AJ supposed. The black vinyl swivel chair squealed when he turned in it, so he tried to stay still. Gia, her bandaged head on her folded arms slept peacefully on the table, but AJ was wide-awake. The only time he’d had in bed last night wasn’t spent sleeping, but he was too keyed up to close his eyes.

  A man in a crisp police uniform burst through the door and strode confidently into the room. He was about thirty with a kind face that currently was wearing a dark scowl. He opened his mouth to speak and AJ put his up turned finger to his lips then pointed at the sleeping Gia. AJ nodded toward the door as he quietly got up.

  Once outside of the room, AJ closed the door and turned to the man in uniform and said, “I’m AJ Pantheras,” as he extended his hand.

  AJ’s actions must have defused some of the man’s anger because a smile crept over his face, and he shook AJ’s hand.

  “Good morning, I’m Captain Vlacos. I’m in charge here.”

  “Well, captain, thank you for the help. Your men were fantastic last night. I guess I’ve some explaining to do.”