Then he kissed her.
With the knowledge that she was about to draw her last breath came a flash of blinding white light.
Was this death? No, she still felt his weight on her upper back. And then, for an instant, he relaxed the noose.
It was only a glimmer of a chance, but she snatched it. Sheer will bowed her back, as she summoned strength to thrust off from the ground, gain her knees, and buck him flying over her head. He landed still holding one end of the dress and yanked at it, but she'd expected it this time and spun out of the dress as he pulled. Her hands found a rock. Adrenaline was back; she was ready to finish this.
The rock hit him hard. She picked up another and flung it but realized she could no longer see him. The blinding light had returned and grown brighter. She threw rock after rock in what she thought was his direction, toward the blinding light. She kept hearing her name. She couldn't see but knew he'd keep coming for her no matter how much she hurt him. She had to kill him. If only she could see, if only… suddenly she felt his grip on her injured wrist. She tried pulling away, but she had no more strength. Then she heard a gunshot. He pulled her closer to him. She tried punching him with her free hand, but he grabbed it and butted her head with his. A second shot, louder. She felt him wince. He jerked and twisted her so she was between him and the light.
He pressed his face to hers, stared into her eyes and whispered, 'Later, Annika. There's a promise to be kept.' And then he was gone.
She didn't know what to do anymore. So she started to spin around in the light… and scream… and scream… and scream. Andreas reached the ridge ten seconds after the lights went on. He was thirty yards from her. She was throwing rocks wildly in every direction. He saw someone crawling toward her, beneath the aim of her throws. Andreas yelled, 'Annika!' but she didn't seem to hear and didn't stop throwing. He pulled his gun. He wanted to shoot the crawling bastard but didn't dare, because Annika was directly beyond him, in the line of fire. He started running toward her but had to stop when within range of her rocks. He called her name again. Still no reaction.
Suddenly, the killer sprang from below her and grabbed her arm. Andreas had no choice now but to fire. He didn't dare aim for the killer's center of mass, they were too close together. He aimed just to hit him. The first shot missed. He adjusted and fired again. A hit! Better yet, the killer let go of her and was heading to where Andreas had a clear shot. Andreas refocused his sight picture and started to squeeze off a round. 'Damn it,' he said aloud, and pulled back his gun. Annika had stepped right into his sights. She was spinning and screaming.
There was no choice to be made. He ran to her and let the killer run. There would be no place for him to hide in that temple.
26
Catia was the first to see the lights shining on Mount Kynthos. 'Over there, Spiros, over there!'
The helicopter had flown west from Mykonos directly to Saint Kiriake. The pilot nodded and veered south toward the lights. Catia was holding her breath.
'Look, up there, by the Temple of Isis,' shouted the mayor, sounding as excited as she was.
Catia saw two people — a naked, bald woman and a man holding a gun. She screamed, 'There's Annika.' The helicopter came in for a closer look, and the man waved as he took off his jacket and put it around the woman.
'Land, please land.' Catia was frantic.
'There's no place to land up here, Mrs Vanden Haag. We have to land by the museum,' said the pilot.
Everyone seemed to be waiting for Catia to decide.
Her eyes were glued to her daughter. She saw another man join them. He was in uniform. He took Annika's arm and walked her away from the temple in the direction of the museum. 'Okay, land there.' She watched as the jacketless man walked — gun still in hand — toward the temple. There were no signs of life inside. Nothing. Andreas had seen him run in there and there was blood on the floor. It led to the left rear corner and disappeared. No doors, no windows — hidden or otherwise — just marble. He stomped on the squares in the corner. Solid, no give in them at all. He looked at the carved marble pieces next to the corner. That must be it, he thought. He'd climbed them to get over the wall. Strange, though, no bloodstains on them or the wall. Whatever, we'll tear this island apart after daylight. He's not getting away, certainly not now that we know who he is.
Andreas heard his name on his two-way radio. 'Yes.'
'Did you find him?' It was Tassos.
'No, he just seemed to disappear into the Temple of Isis, but don't worry, we'll find him when the sun comes up.'
Silence.
'Tassos, are you there? Tassos, Tassos.' He was yelling into the phone.
'Chief?'
'Yes, who's this?'
'It's Kouros, sir, I flew over on the deputy minister's helicopter.'
'Where's Tassos?'
'I don't know, sir, he just handed me the radio and ran off.' Andreas could hear Kouros shouting into the phone trying to be heard above the wind.
'Where are you?' asked Andreas. 'By the museum.' 'I'll be right there.' What the hell was going on now? Catia and Annika were crying in each other's arms when Andreas reached the museum. A medevac helicopter was on its way from Athens.
The first thing Andreas did was find the port policeman who'd been tracking the killer with Tassos. 'What happened? Did you find anything?'
'Yes, sir, we followed his tracks to there.' He pointed to the south end of the museum. 'That's where they turned toward the sea. We followed them until they disappeared in the water. We walked back and forth along the shore looking for more tracks but didn't find any. That's when we came back — and were walking south toward Mount Kynthos. We were almost up to you when I got the call for the lights.'
Andreas paused. 'You must have found something. Something that made Tassos take off like he did.'
The cop shrugged. 'He was interested in some caves over there that open onto the sea.' He pointed to the southeast, beyond Mount Kynthos. 'But there were no tracks, just wet rock.'
'Did you go into the caves?'
He nodded. 'There were no tracks but a lot of passageways. "Perfect hiding places for smugglers," he told me.'
That must be it, thought Andreas; Tassos is looking for a tunnel entrance. One that leads up to the temple. 'Officer, I want you to take me there now,' he said firmly.
'Yes, sir.'
At that moment he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around, still a little edgy from it all. It was the deputy minister.
'I guess I owe you an apology, Chief.'
Andreas' mind was elsewhere — he had to help Tassos. 'Fine, no problem.'
'No, really, please come with me. My sister and niece want to thank you.'
Andreas felt trapped. He looked at the cop. 'Stay here, I'll be right back.'
When Catia saw Andreas, she ran to him, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him. 'I cannot thank you enough. I will pray for you every day.'
Andreas didn't know what to say; he just smiled and said, 'I'm glad she's safe.'
'I told my brother that if he didn't listen to what Officer Kouros told me I would never speak to him again. Thank you, thank you, thank you.' She kissed and hugged Andreas again. 'Come, I want you to meet my daughter.'
Andreas wanted to say, 'No, later,' but how could he? She led him to the helicopter where her daughter sat huddled under a blanket.
'Annika, this is Chief of Police Kaldis. He's the man who found you.'
The woman looked at him and said not a word. Andreas stared into her eyes. Neither spoke. Andreas felt as if he were in church. He bowed his head. She reached out and gently touched his hand. 'Thank you, sir, and bless you.'
He was about to say something when he heard the shot. Instinctively, he pulled his gun and swung around to stand between Annika and the direction of the sound, but it was too far away to be of any risk to her. 'Tassos!' He ran to the cop. 'Take me to those caves.'
Two more shots; five seconds apart.
'Hurry!' Andreas was
praying as he ran — and thinking of his father's death. Tassos met them just outside the caves. The grim look he'd worn when Andreas last saw him was gone.
'Are you okay?' Andreas was out of breath from running.
'Yes.' His voice was easy.
'What happened?'
Tassos looked at the port cop. 'Why don't you go back and tell everyone everything's okay.' He waited until the cop left.
'Our killer's gone.' Tassos sounded as if he'd won the lottery.
'As in gone gone?' Andreas asked, still panting.
'As in gone dead!' Tassos replied, his voice as jubilant as if Greece had just won the World Cup.
'What happened?' Andreas asked, confused.
'I waited by the caves. I knew he had to come out of one of them. That's where the old-timers always said the secret tunnels must be.'
'You guessed right?' Andreas sounded surprised.
There was unabashed enthusiasm in Tassos' answer. 'Yes.' He nodded. 'He came out right in front of me.'
'Did he have a gun?' Andreas asked.
'No,' Tassos replied, sounding unconcerned.
'But the shots?' Andreas said, his concern mounting.
Tassos shrugged. 'Mine. The first took out his kneecap. I didn't feel like chasing him.'
'And the other two?' Andreas asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
'I decided to move the process along,' Tassos said.
'"Move the process along,''' Andreas repeated, shaking his head and staring at the ground between them. Now Tassos was pissing him off.
Tassos smiled. 'You know he did it, I know he did it, the court would know he did it, and every inmate in prison would know he did it. Even though there's no death penalty in Greece, sooner or later someone on the inside would kill him. So, I just moved the process along.'
Andreas kept staring at the ground. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'And the body?'
'It's back in one of those deep holes inside the cave. He'll never be found — at least not by mortals.' Tassos smiled again and punched Andreas on the arm. 'How do you like that, he gets to be buried with the gods.'
Andreas looked up at Tassos' face and wondered if he'd flipped.
A deadly serious look suddenly replaced Tassos' smile, and he spoke now through clenched teeth. 'May they enjoy torturing that bastard's black soul for all eternity.'
Maybe he has lost it, thought Andreas. 'What are we going to tell the deputy minister, the mayor?' Andreas paused, 'And everyone else?' After all, an unarmed prisoner in custody had just been murdered by a chief inspector.
Tassos' voice resumed its nonchalance. 'I don't know. I'm sure we'll figure something out on the way back.' He patted Andreas on the back, linked his arm through his and started them walking toward the museum.
Too many moral questions for such a short walk, thought Andreas. By the time they reached the museum the medevac helicopter had landed and taken off with Annika and Catia. Spiros and the mayor had stayed behind.
Spiros spoke first. 'Again, gentlemen, thank you for finding my niece.'
Tassos and Andreas simply nodded.
'So, how do we catch the man who did all this?' Spiros asked.
Andreas looked at Tassos to answer. 'Well, sir, I don't think that's going to be necessary,' said Tassos in a calm professional voice.
'What do you mean?' Spiros' voice seemed about to head toward its high-pitched anger range.
'Like I said,' Tassos said in a tone that let him know who held the cards, 'it won't be necessary.'
Spiros was glaring at him, but before he could say another word the mayor jumped in. 'Tassos, are you saying the problem has been — uhhhh — resolved.'
'Precisely, Mr Mayor,' said Tassos as if patting a precocious child on the head.
The mayor smiled. 'Uh, Mr Minister, I think this means we don't have to worry about a trial.'
Spiros' eyes darted between Tassos and the mayor, and outrage spread across his face. 'But there has to be a trial — we can't let the man get away.' Suddenly, his expression changed and he focused a look of understanding on the mayor. 'Oh, I see,' he said, nodding.
Andreas knew it was his time to speak. 'You two will have to decide how you want to handle this. There are at least eighteen families who don't know their daughters are dead, and Mykonos still thinks a killer is running around loose.' Silence. 'I have no choice but to tell the truth about the Vandrew woman's killer. He was pursued and killed. His body will never be recovered.' His voice was coldly professional.
Tassos quickly added, 'He was an itinerant worker.' He glanced nervously at Andreas, as if unsure how he'd react to the lie.
Andreas said nothing, just looked at the ground.
'An Albanian,' the mayor said. 'He'd only been on the island a short time.'
Spiros added his own embellishment. 'And he was in the country illegally.'
Unbelievable, these politicians, thought Andreas. Now that the killer's dead, they don't care who he was. They don't want the truth; they just want someone to blame who fits their personal political agendas. No wonder Tassos wasn't worried that he killed him. He knew all along that's what they wanted.
'And what about the other victims? What do you tell their families?' Andreas asked, unable to keep the belligerence from his voice.
Spiros shrugged. 'It's been so long, why add to the suffering of those innocent families by opening everything up and subjecting them to an uncaring media only interested in sensationalizing the death of their children?'
The mayor nodded in agreement.
Fucking, disgusting politicians, thought Andreas. He looked at Tassos.
Tassos didn't return the look. He simply asked, 'So, how are you going to explain the sudden disappearance of such a well-known man from Mykonos?'
The mayor and Spiros gave each other a puzzled stare.
Tassos continued. 'Let's not jerk ourselves off here. I'm talking about the man who really kidnapped your niece — and killed at least eighteen tourists on Mykonos.' He paused and, as if to remind them of the tremendous favor he'd just done them all, said, 'I'm talking about the killer, who won't be getting the chance to enjoy all the publicity of his trial. What are you going to say about him?'
'Who are you talking about?' asked the mayor.
Tassos stared at Andreas. 'They don't know?' he asked, surprise in his voice.
Andreas nodded no. 'He was gone before they got here. They never saw him.'
Tassos laughed out loud. 'I don't believe this. You two really don't know who the killer is.' He laughed again and looked at Andreas. 'I don't think we should tell them. That way, if something nasty happens to us down the line — like my forced retirement or' — he pointed at Andreas — 'bad assignments for you — we have another way to make a living.'
Spiros started shouting. 'Don't you dare threaten me with what I can or cannot do to you. I can do anything I damn well please.'
Tassos winked at Andreas. 'Somehow, I don't think his thank you was sincere.'
Andreas didn't respond. He honestly didn't know what to do, what side to take — if any. What would his father have done? He decided to stay out of it for the time being. He could always do something later, after he'd had time to think. After all, the killer was dead, Annika was safe, and Mykonos was secure again — except from its politicians.
Tassos looked at Spiros. 'I'm glad we had this little chat. In an hour, this place will be filled with Mykonians honoring Saint Kiriake on her name day and tourists visiting from Mykonos — possibly even a few journalists. It will be my great honor to announce to them — and the rest of Mykonos — that after twenty years Mykonos is free of its serial killer.' He turned to Andreas. 'I think that's an appropriate way to resign from the force, don't you?'
Andreas only shrugged.
'And move on to CNN, BBC, and a book and movie deal,' Tassos said, smiling.
Veins were popping on Spiros' forehead. He was cornered.
'You'll destroy our island's reputation!' Now it was
the mayor's turn to be hysterical. He looked at Andreas. 'Chief, do something!'
Andreas hated the devious little shit as it was and wasn't about to be drawn into his mess.
'I said do something!' the mayor screamed.
The mayor had succeeded in pissing Andreas off, which is why Andreas said more than he intended. 'Not my problem. As you once reminded me, I'm from Athens and don't belong here.' He smiled and finished with the unstated punctuation: asshole.
Spiros' face lit up. 'Yes, you're absolutely right.' He turned to the mayor. 'I think the chief has earned a promotion back to his old unit — as head of his old unit — in Athens. Don't you agree, mayor?' He made it sound as if the mayor's opinion mattered.
The mayor did not hesitate. 'Absolutely.' He looked at Andreas. 'Do we have a deal?'
Andreas didn't know what to say. This wasn't what he'd meant. Yet he was being offered the very thing he most wanted — for a price he never thought he'd consider… but… the killer was dead, Mykonos and Annika were safe…
'Well, do we have a deal?' Spiros asked.
Andreas drew in a deep breath and shut his eyes. Fucking politicians. 'Yes.' He'd become one of them.
'Good,' said Spiros, and turned to Tassos. 'And you?'
'No retirement,' said Tassos, waving a finger.
'No retirement.' Spiros nodded.
The mayor let out an audible sigh of relief.
'So, who's the killer?' asked Spiros.
Tassos looked at Andreas. 'I don't think we should tell you. Of course, if you really want to know, all you have to do is check up on which of our distinguished suspects never shows up again on Mykonos. But do you really want to know?'
'Why wouldn't we?' Spiros seemed surprised more than angry.
Tassos looked at him. 'Because, if you don't know — as far as you're concerned — none of this ever happened, and isn't that what you want to believe?'
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