Limassol, Cyprus
Present day
Katerina and Aristo landed at Larnaca International Airport at four in the afternoon on the same day. A car was waiting for them outside. They had called Giorgos on his mobile on their way to Limassol. They arranged to meet at Elli’s house, so that she could be there as well. An hour later they were sitting in the library of Elli’s house.
‘I can see from the bruises you are both sporting that it wasn’t straightforward.’ Elli said, looking at Katerina and Aristo. Her cool exterior belied her shock at their appearance. Aristo sensed his mother’s worry.
‘No, it wasn’t. It looks worse than it actually is. We had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of one of the Ruinand helpers, a Muftir. We dispatched him with only a slight difficulty. Mother, we are very closely watched. We have to increase our security measures. We took extreme precautions and still they were there at the exact time that the inscription began to appear. They knew. Mother, I suspect we may have a spy, an insider.’
‘Surely, you are not suspecting anyone who attended the meeting at Ariana’s.’
‘No, but there must be someone else who has access to us and the company, someone working for us, perhaps. We need to have our offices and homes checked for bugs and from now on we need to be careful what we say and where.’
‘Aristo, let’s adjourn for a while and have the house checked. If it is bugged and they are listening right now, they will probably know we are onto them. But we cannot change that now.’ Elli picked up her secure mobile and called her security chief.
‘Andreas, I’ve got a job for you. I want the following checked for bugs: the Valchern building and my home, the homes of Aristo, Iraklios, Katerina, Ariana, that’s Katerina’s grandmother, the home of Katerina’s parents and Vasilis’. I want it to be done today, as soon as possible. I’ll call them and tell them to expect you. I want you to do it discreetly and I want you to start from my house. Shall I expect you in the next half hour?’
‘Yes, Mrs Symitzis. No problem.’
‘Excellent. See you then.’ Elli hung up. She turned to the assembled group.
‘Let me arrange for some coffee, tea and a snack. Whatever rubbish you’ve had on the plane you must be famished. Mrs Manto.’ Mrs Manto was at the door within five seconds.
‘Could you please arrange for coffee, tea and snacks?’
‘Of course, it will be a pleasure.’
‘Could you please leave them outside on the veranda? We’ll be in the garden for a short stroll. Thanks, Mrs Manto.’
Mrs Manto took a look at Aristo and Katerina. ‘My goodness you must have not eaten a single thing for the last two days. You seem to have lost weight. You need fattening up. I’ll see what I can do.’ With that she was off to the kitchen. Aristo started to laugh.
‘We know what snack means to Mrs Manto. Thank God you didn’t say a meal, mother. That would’ve been scary, like something out of the kitchens of Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace.’
Elli decided to round them all up to continue their discussion outside. ‘Come on everybody. Let’s continue our discussion in the garden until the house has been checked. I’m be fairly sure there will be no bugs there, especially next to the fountains and my little weir.’
They all got up and went together into the garden. Once they reached the safe spot, Elli stopped and the others did, too.
Within the hour the house had been checked for bugs and given the all-clear. Elli led them all back inside and into the library.
‘Aristo, what have you got?’ Elli pressed a button and the blinds came down bathing them in almost total darkness apart from a few of subtle lights on the walls.
Aristo connected Katerina’s mobile to the projector and pressed play. The wall opposite them came to life with the video clip from Ayia Sophia. After it ended, Aristo turned to Giorgos.
‘Giorgos we need your help here. It clearly refers to a place. Any ideas?’
Giorgos was silent for a while, deep in thought.
‘I was thinking about that as I was watching it. I would guess that the place referred to is Athens. You see during the time of Pericles, only in name was Athens a democracy. In reality it was the rule of one man, Pericles.’
Elli was reading from the Book of the Pallanians and she looked up. ‘I believe Giorgos is right. It makes sense. In this book it says that the next test will be a philosophical one, a series of dialogues.’
Giorgos, excited, started to speak. ‘Yes, it must be Athens then. And it says in the passage “where the three philosophers meet”. The only place I can think of that fits that description is the ancient cemetery of Keramikos where the tombs of Plato, Aristotle and Socrates are located next to one another. These must be the three philosophers it refers to.’
Katerina, silent till now, looked at her brother. ‘You are a genius. We should go there now. What are we waiting for?’
Giorgos raised a quizzical brow. ‘We?’
‘Yes, we. I’m coming with you.’
‘I think you are getting a taste for adventures.’
Katerina smiled. ‘I certainly am.’
They all looked at Elli.
Yes. Aristo and Giorgos, you should go there and see where that leads us.’
‘Katerina interrupted. ‘Not me? Elli, please.’
‘No, I want you to stay here. I’ve got something else in mind for you. Aristo, I know your bag is packed, but you’ll need to refresh its contents. Giorgos, go and pack. I’ll arrange for tickets for you both on tomorrow morning’s flight to Athens. We’ll discuss the second part of the inscription another time. Think about it and we’ll meet later. I want to hear your thoughts on it. But first let’s go and enjoy Mrs Manto’s spread. She will be offended if we don’t. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a bite. I haven’t eaten anything all day.’