An Aegean April

by Jeffrey Siger

  Yianni touched Andreas’ shoulder before the commander could reply.

  “Chief?”

  “What is it?”

  “Take a look at this.” Yianni held up his phone.

  “What are you showing me? It’s a bunch of numbers, letters, and symbols.”

  “I know. That’s the message I just received.”

  “Who sent it?”

  “No caller ID.”

  “It’s spam, then.” Andreas turned away.

  “This is my police phone. I don’t get junk mail here.”

  Andreas took another look at it, then grabbed the phone from Yianni.

  “Look at this and tell me what you think.” Andreas handed the phone to the commander.

  The commander wiped his eyes, and studied the phone. “I don’t see anything different than you did. Gibberish.”

  “Do you have a map of the area?” said Andreas.

  “I can get you one, but we won’t need it to get the search going.”

  “It’s not for the search,” said Andreas. “I think this ‘gibberish’ may be map coordinates.”

  “Give me back my phone.” Yianni snatched it from the commander. He tinkered with some keys and within a minute had a Google map homed in on a spot less than three kilometers from where they stood.

  Before Andreas or Yianni said a word, the commander had taken off like a shot for his car, yelling into his phone for an ambulance to meet him at that spot on the map.

  Andreas looked at Yianni. “If that’s where the hostages are, who the hell sent you that message?”

  Yianni shook his head. “I have no idea. Maybe the techies back in GADA can pick something up from the phone or get it from the carrier.”

  Andreas stared up at the roof. “Why am I getting this nagging suspicion that it’s our Archangel who’s behind it?”

  “Which one? Today’s or the original version?”

  Andreas waved his hand at the people in the courtyard. “With the way fantasy has become reality in the world these days, I’m not sure we could convince many of them that there’s a difference.”

  Andreas noticed Dana sitting on the edge of the stone patio, her head down and tears running down her cheeks. He gestured for Yianni to join her with him. They sat beside her.

  “You were very brave,” said Andreas.

  “I was scared to death.”

  “We all were.”

  “And now Aleka and Ali will die.” She buried her face in her hands.

  “Let’s take a ride.” Andreas stood up.

  Dana didn’t move.

  “We might have a lead on your friends,” said Yianni.

  “But don’t get your hopes up,” said Andreas.

  She jumped up. “The way my life has been going, that’s the only direction my hopes can go.”

  Andreas smiled. “Glad to help out.”

  As they left the monastery, the crowd’s chanting continued undiminished: “Thank you for blessing us with your protection, Taxiarchis.”

  Don’t thank him just yet, thought Andreas, as they left to join the search for Ali and Aleka.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  By the time Andreas, Yianni, and Dana reached the goat-herder’s hut, the commander had found and freed Aleka and Ali and canceled the ambulance. Tears and hugs continued, as Dana immediately added hers to the mix.

  Andreas and Yianni stood off to the side, watching.

  “We’ve got some serious loose ends here,” said Andreas.

  “Starting with who was the other guy up on the roof?” said Yianni.

  “Likely the same one who sent you the map coordinates.”

  “But how did he get my phone number?”

  “And why did he come out of nowhere to blow Aryan away?” said Andreas.

  “He wasn’t there by accident,” said Yianni. “He knew he’d be there. I even heard him yell, ‘Aryan.’”

  Andreas nodded. “I heard it too.”

  Yianni’s mouth dropped open and he smacked his hands together. “‘Aryan.’ That’s it.”

  “What is?”

  “I stayed with Dana on the balcony, so I never saw the guy on the roof, but I heard him call Aryan ‘Alban Kennel.’ He knew his real name. I need to see a photograph of that guy.”

  “I’m sure the press has loads of pictures. They’re probably all over the Internet by now.”

  Yianni pulled out his phone and began typing. “Keep your fingers crossed. I think I know our mystery man.”

  “So who is he?”

  “Someone I gave my business card to. It had my mobile number on it.” Yianni turned his phone toward Andreas. A close-up of the face of a man wearing a mask covering all but his eyes, mouth, and chin filled the screen. “The same man who gave me Aryan’s real name.”

  “Kharon?”

  Yianni nodded. “He disguised himself pretty well. There’s no way I could swear in court that I recognized him, but it was Kharon.”

  “Why would he be here?”

  “I know he didn’t like Aryan, but beyond that I haven’t a clue.”

  “He didn’t lift a finger to stop Aryan from trying to kill Dana, but he sends you a text message that saves Ali and Aleka. What’s he thinking?”

  “Maybe he thought we could protect Dana without his help,” said Yianni.

  “More likely he didn’t think we could handle Aryan on our own. I don’t think he gave a damn about anything other than killing Aryan, and only after he’d done that on camera did he think it might be a good idea to stay in our good graces by saving the other two. Pure self-preservation.”

  Yianni shrugged. “Could be. But don’t forget, he already has two big favors out there to call in on us.”

  Andreas watched the commander lead his daughter, Dana, and Ali toward his car. “I doubt we’ll ever know what motivated Kharon to do what he did, but he did get rid of Aryan, and no matter what the truth might be, I think it’s safe to assume those four folks over there would say we owe him three favors.”

  “At least.”

  Andreas patted Yianni on the shoulder. “Time to head back home.”

  l l l l l

  Maggie charged into Tassos’ hospital room holding her mobile phone in her hand. “I just heard from Andreas.”

  “How nice,” deadpanned Tassos. “How’s he doing?”

  “From his message, I’d say a lot better than when you two spoke earlier.”

  Tassos blinked, trying hard to look as innocent as a baby. “Spoke? Earlier?”

  Maggie shook her finger at him. “I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re right back in the thick of things.”

  Tassos shrugged. “Not really. I just took a message and passed it along to Andreas.”

  “Don’t you get it?” She waved her arms around the room. “You’re supposed to take it easy and…and…” Maggie shook her head and flopped into a chair next to Tassos’ bed, tears welling up in her eyes.

  Tassos rolled over on his side and reached out with one hand to caress the side of her face. “I’m sorry, my love. It’s just my nature. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Maggie shook her head. “I know you didn’t, but if by your nature you mean you’ll keep doing whatever you please, even if it means I might lose you…” she shook her head again.

  “But my friend needed me.”

  “We all do. That’s why we don’t want you dying on us.”

  Tassos sighed. “I sense I’m in a losing argument.”

  “Damn straight you are, and while we’re on the subject of losing, once we get home tomorrow, don’t you even think of cheating on that diet the doctor put you on.”

  “I’m sure none of this is why Andreas called you.”

  “No, he called me because your phone was off, and he didn’t want you worrying
about having missed a message about tonight’s rendezvous at sea.”

  “Oh.”

  “Apparently, Volandes’ killer won’t be able to make it, due to an unexpected interaction with a shotgun blast to his head.”

  “Ouch, that must have hurt.”

  “I think that’s a good vision for you to keep in mind if you don’t start following orders.”

  “Whose orders?”

  She patted his hand. “Just think of it as my shotgun, and things should work out fine.”

  l l l l l

  The next day, Andreas called his police colleague in Turkey to inform him he no longer needed to worry about looking for Aryan, a/k/a Alban Kennel. The Turkish inspector didn’t sound surprised at learning Aryan was dead, so Andreas asked why he wasn’t. The inspector said a lot of things had happened last night in Turkey to fit with that scenario. Andreas pressed him for details, and after reaching an off-the-record understanding, the inspector told him of the events of the night before.

  “A smuggler waiting to pick up Aryan after midnight off the coast of Lesvos was monitoring Greek police and Coast Guard radio channels when he picked up chatter about a Greek shipowner’s murderer getting killed that afternoon in a monastery near the pickup location. The smuggler later spoke to Malik’s brother-in-law back in Turkey, who’d paid the smuggler to give him Aryan’s pickup details as soon as he had them. The smuggler told him that Aryan was a no-show, and he wasn’t going to wait around any longer for him. The brother-in-law insisted he stay, and that’s when the smuggler told him what he’d heard over the radio.

  “The brother-in-law told him to wait for further instructions if he wanted to keep what he’d been paid. The smuggler never heard back from him, but hung around until close to dawn before returning to Turkey.

  “Right after hanging up on the smuggler, the brother-in-law tried calling Malik––who I now understand was Aryan’s partner, not hostage––to tell him what the smuggler had heard on the radio, but he never got an answer, so he drove over to Malik’s house. That’s when he found him dead in his bed, shot to death by his wife.”

  “How do you know all this?” said Andreas.

  “Malik’s wife called me after her brother told her what had happened to Aryan. She made him tell her everything at gunpoint.”

  “Gunpoint?”

  “Yes, she seemed almost as afraid of her brother as she was of her late husband.”

  “But why’d she call you?”

  “We’d been out to the house several times, and she said I was the only cop she knew. She said that her husband had beaten and raped her in a drunken rage, and kept at it for hours until passing out. She was convinced he’d kill her the moment he woke up. That’s when she found a handgun, one I suspect belonged to Aryan, and used it to kill her husband.”

  “Do you believe her?”

  “I saw the bruises…and worse. And I went back up the chain confirming what she’d told me with her brother-in-law and the smuggler––in exchange for promising not to prosecute them for anything tied into last night.”

  “Sounds like self-defense.”

  The commander paused. “Here many see the beating of a wife as acceptable. I will make my recommendations, but it is out of my hands.”

  “How’s she now?”

  “Considering all she’d been through, I’d say she seemed strangely at peace. When I interviewed her, she wouldn’t let go of her children and kept repeating, ‘Thank you, God.’”

  “I have an angle for you on her brother,” said Andreas, “one that at least might help keep her at peace from him, by putting him away for a very long time. If you look hard, you’ll likely find that he was involved in the murder of that Greek family ten days ago.”

  “I figured he might be, from his connection to the guy we found beheaded in a stolen car that same night. We found some yet unidentified prints along with that dead guy’s in a van tied to those killings. I’m not sure how the politics will play out. Too many want this put behind us, with Aryan taking the blame for everything.”

  Andreas sighed. “I find myself wondering more and more these days, how the decent are expected to survive among all the disgusting types out there running our world.”

  “You and me both.”

  They said good-bye.

  Andreas stared out the window for a moment. “Maggie, get me the Mytilini police commander, please.”

  He paused. He’d forgotten. Maggie still wasn’t there. They’d spoken that morning after she’d brought Tassos home from the hospital. Her exact words were, “I’m staying home to keep a close eye on the patient and make sure things continue to go well.”

  Andreas picked up his phone and dialed. He heard, “Mytilini Police.”

  Andreas identified himself and asked to speak to the commander. A minute passed.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, I’m just calling to see how your daughter’s doing.”

  “A lot better, thanks. Especially after I told her of my early morning meeting with the prosecutor.”

  “How did that go?”

  “I followed your suggestion, and told him he had a very simple choice. Either cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of his friend the forensic supervisor for his crimes and corrupt practices, or himself be the target of an investigation spearheaded by GADA’s Special Crimes Unit.”

  “Glad to have been of service. I assume it worked.”

  “He’s already obtained an order barring the supervisor and his secretary from access to their office, its files, and computers. He’s also assigned an assistant to work full time combing through the bastard’s files searching for areas of potential prosecution.”

  “Sounds promising.”

  “Knowing the prosecutor as I do, I’d say the forensic supervisor has quite a few years in prison to look forward to.”

  “I’m curious, with budgets being what they are these days, where did he find the funds to assign an assistant full time to one case?”

  “He didn’t. I volunteered Aleka.”

  Andreas laughed. “No wonder she’s feeling better. Payback’s great.”

  “Sure is.” He paused. “The one I’m worried about is Dana.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “She strikes me as depressed.”

  Andreas’ voice dropped. “Hard to imagine how she wouldn’t be, considering all she’s been through and the nature of her work. Refugees keep coming, smugglers keep preying on them as if they’re less than human. Babies, siblings, and parents keep drowning, or survive only to live concentration-camp existences, while our allegedly civilized world does not much more than spout empty promises and platitudes.”

  “That pretty well sums up the views of my Coast Guard buddies who go out every day looking and hoping to rescue more poor souls from the sea.”

  “Sounds like Dana could use a break from the insanity of our times.”

  “Couldn’t we all?” said the commander. “She told Aleka she has friends on Mykonos she met over Easter who she thinks could help her clear her head. She plans on visiting them in a week or so.”

  “Amen to that. How’s Ali?”

  “Still smiling, but not sure if he’ll stay here much longer. Lesvos hasn’t exactly welcomed him with open arms.”

  “He’s a resilient, good kid. I hope things work out for him, wherever he ends up.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Well, like I said, I was just calling to check in. Stay safe, and be well.”

  “Same to you, my friend.”

  They hung up.

  Andreas rubbed the side of his face. Two phone calls, two less-than-encouraging views of the state of the world.

  He stood, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door. “Bye, Maggie. I’m taking the rest of the day off to hug my wife and kids.”

  Maggie didn�
�t answer, but he knew she’d approve.

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