Ayia Galini, Southern Crete, Greece
Present day
The old man would give nothing away about who he was and where he had come from. He had always worked this barren land like his parents before him and his ancestors before then. But he had lived in a crazier world in what seemed like another lifetime now. He was trying to forget.
A rickety old car was descending along the narrow road dropping into what looked like a village set for a play on a stage straight out of a Greek theatre. Now, is there a more idyllic and peaceful place in the world? At least there wasn’t one for the people who lived there and those that came to visit.
Katerina and Aristo stopped and asked for directions. They found the house and parked outside. They got out of the car. Aristo stayed by the car. Katerina tentatively knocked on the front door.
When the door was pulled open, she was trans-fixed and frozen to the spot. This was not what she had expected. Facing her was a pair of bright blue eyes with a piercing gaze set on an angelic face. This man could not have been more than somewhere in his twenties. She had been expecting an old man.
‘I am sorry to have disturbed you. I must have made a mistake. I should go. Goodbye.’
Katerina turned to leave, but hesitated, as she did not hear the door close. She sensed that the man was still standing there watching her. She had already decided to turn and go back when she heard the man’s voice.
‘Please, wait.’
Katerina was startled by the strength of that deep voice. She turned to face the man, but did not move, and refrained from uttering a word. That deep voice was still echoing in her ears.
‘Who are you?’ he asked softly. He could not believe his luck. What was this divine creature doing on his doorstep? Where had she come from? It was clear she was not from these parts. She must have lost her way, he decided, hoping that she had not.
‘My name’s Katerina. Is this the house of Konstantinos Palantis?’
‘Yes, but he’s not here right now.’
‘Do you know when he will be back?’
‘I’m not sure, but it would not be long.’
‘I think I’d better go and come back later.’
The man stared deep into her eyes.
‘You know, we have met before.’
Katerina tried to trigger and retrieve the memory, but failed. Maybe he had seen her in a magazine or something and was trying to be friendly.
‘I’m sorry, but I cannot remember you. Can you tell me more about it?’
‘It was all a long time ago.’ He shook his head as if clearing his mind from the memory and coming back to the present. ‘You must have had a long drive.’ He paused and looked towards the car. Aristo was out of sight at that moment. ‘Have you come alone?’
For some reason she could not understand she decided to pretend that she had come alone. ‘Yes.’ As soon as she said it she realised that her instinct, a voice inside her, was warning her not to trust the man standing before her, in spite of appearances to the contrary, his angelic face, literally, coming to mind.
‘Did you drive all the way from Heraklion today?’
‘Yes, but…’ Katerina had to be sure. ‘How do you know Konstantinos Palantis? Do you live here?’ She asked reluctantly, half-embarrassed that she may have offended this young man.
Iakovos smiled a sweet smile and there was no blushing, not the slightest sign of shadiness, absolutely nothing to fuel her suspicions, but only warmth on his face and gentleness in his voice and those startlingly blue eyes, pools brimming with a warm liquid invitation to his heart, but only he knew that.
‘He’s my father. My name’s Iakovos.’ He paused. ‘You can wait for my father inside.’ He stood to one side and held the door open for her. ‘Please, come in.’
Katerina hesitated for a moment. She could not explain it, but she had now come round to the effect of his charm and felt that she could almost trust this man. She didn’t look back for Aristo, so as not to give a hint to his presence. She still wanted to keep that safety net and not raise suspicion, just in case things did not turn out as expected.
If things turned nasty, someone would certainly get one hell of a shock. And besides, at this point she would have been revealed as having lied earlier about being alone.
‘Thank you.’ Without letting her guard down she allowed herself to relax enough so as not to give her suspicions away and followed Iakovos inside.
The house was spacious and full of light streaming in through the numerous windows. The rooms were simply but beautifully furnished with selected valuable pieces, strategically and tastefully placed, and Katerina could see that there was wealth here that tried to disguise itself and present the house as a humble abode.
Iakovos led her into the garden and the most breathtaking view. She was mesmerised and speechless. Iakovos remained silent allowing her to recover her composure. He had seen this reaction before in everybody that came here to this spot and he expected it. He did not want to break the spell.
The garden blended with the horizon and the sea and the sky and it was as paradise would be imagined. But it wasn’t just the beauty of the garden that overwhelmed her. She was surprised to see that this garden reminded her of something she had seen before.
It was like having a feeling of deja vu. And then she remembered some old photos of her grandmother’s from Smyrna. This garden was an exact replica of Antonios Symitzis’ glorious and precious garden in Smyrna, which the family had to leave in 1922.
‘Would you like some coffee?’ Iakovos interrupted her thoughts and brought her back to the present.
She wanted to stay there longer to admire the view. ‘I’d love some, thank you.’
Iakovos went back inside. After a while and as Iakovos was busy in the kitchen, she heard a muffled sound. She thought she had imagined it and held her breath. She tried to pinpoint where it had come from. There was nothing. Her imagination was playing games with her. It must have been tension or was it some sixth sense telling her that something was not quite right there?
But then she heard it again and it seemed to be coming from the side of the house. She went closer. There it was again. She saw the half-open basement window and stood by it. She looked through the window, but she could see nothing. She tried to open the window, but it would not budge.
Katerina retraced her steps and went inside the house. She remembered having seen a small door when she came in earlier. She went and stood by the door. There it was that muffled sound again. She tried the handle and it yielded to her touch. Behind the door, a series of steps led down to the basement. She saw a light switch by the door and flicked it on. A faint light from a lonely bulb on the ceiling shed some light to show her the way.
She started to walk down the stairs. She reached the bottom of the stairs and found herself in a space lit by a couple of small windows. She saw the half-open window she had seen earlier. It was impossible to tell the size of the space in the almost pitch-black she was engulfed in.
Her eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom. She saw she was in a very well equipped cellar. She went closer to the racks and looked at the bottles. She could just about read the labels. The man living in this house was clearly a connoisseur and no doubt very wealthy to afford this kind of exceptional-looking wine.
Then she heard the same sound and turning she peeked into the gloom. Her eyes were not fooling her. There was someone there. She approached cautiously. A man was in front of her tied up on some pipe. She immediately removed the muffle from his mouth. ‘Who are you?’
‘I am Iakovos.’
‘But…’ She was about to say that Iakovos was upstairs, but then she realised it was no coincidence. She could feel there was something not quite right with the man upstairs. She remembered that feeling of uneasiness she had when she first saw him, even though he greeted her warmly.
It was not just sensible caution on her part nor was it paranoia. She looked at this man closely and saw that his resemblance to the man upstairs was uncanny. She suddenly had no doubt that in front of her was the real Iakovos tied up. She began to untie him her hands moving adeptly.
‘Whoever you are, just leave me here. Run. Get out of here. That man upstairs calling himself Iakovos is a very dangerous man. I’ve seen what he’s capable of.’
‘I’m not leaving without you.’
What’s your name?’
‘Katerina.’
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
‘Likewise. I would have preferred it under different circumstances, though.’
The rope was too expertly tied. After a while she got her faithful companion, her Swiss Army knife, out of her handbag and cut him loose. He tried to stand up, but he felt weak and his legs that had been immovable for quite some time would not obey the instructions of his brain and gave way. He fell down onto the chair again. He looked exhausted and thirsty.
‘Just give me a minute.’ He gathered all his strength and pushed himself to stand. It clearly used almost all his strength, because he was still quite shaky on his feet. Katerina held his arm to steady him. ‘Thanks.’ He was suddenly determined. ‘OK, let’s go. We cannot afford to stay here any longer. How were you able to go on a tour of the house and come here? What is he doing upstairs?’
‘He’s making coffee.’
‘That won’t take long. He will be alert for what you are doing. He will get suspicious. He will be wondering where you are. In fact he may be coming down here right now.’ Katerina moved for the stairs out of the cellar. Iakovos grabbed her arm.
‘This way. There’s another way out. It’s my house, remember? And he doesn’t know this house the way I do.’
‘How long have you been tied up here like this?’
‘It was soon after my father left this morning that this guy appeared. He is very well trained in physical combat. I did not stand a chance. He incapacitated me in seconds. What’s the time now?’
Katerina looked at her watch. ‘It’s 3.25 in the afternoon.’
‘So I’ve been like this for about eight hours.’
‘Have you seen him before?’
‘No.’
‘But what does he want? What did he ask you? Have you seen him take anything?’
‘I don’t know. Nothing. And no. To answer all your questions.’
‘I wonder whether I was the target, whether he knew I was coming here to see you.’ Then Katerina had another thought. ‘Or your father. He may be in danger. Where has he gone?’
‘To visit a friend in the next village.’
‘We must get out first and go and find him.’ It was then that she thought of Aristo and she got out her mobile phone to warn him.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I haven’t come alone. My boyfriend Aristo is out-side. I’m going to call him and warn him and maybe he can help.’
In the meantime, Aristo was becoming concerned that too long a time had lapsed without him having heard from Katerina. They had agreed that she would call him after the introductions and once she started to get a feel for the man they had come here to visit. He cautiously approached the house. He gently tried the handle of the front door. It yielded and he pushed the door slowly open. It was at that exact time that his mobile went off.
The fake Iakovos was just coming out of the kitchen and he turned at the sound towards the front door. Their eyes met. Aristo saw the cold-blooded look in the other man’s eyes and knew immediately this was no friend and that something was terribly wrong.
The man put down the tray and glanced quickly out of the window close by into the garden, but could not see the woman anywhere. He started to approach Aristo, his stance menacing. This man was very dangerous. He looked extremely fit and muscled and his posture indicated that he was most probably expertly trained.
Aristo himself was no slouch. He was very fit himself, a physique and level of fitness borne out of his love for extreme activities and sports and plenty of exercise. He was also well trained in martial arts. He had no doubt he could match the other man in whatever he had to throw at him. Unless the man had a gun. He didn’t know how much of a chance he stood against that.
They sized up each other and began to slowly walk towards each other. Meanwhile, Katerina and Iakovos had got out of the house and were coming around to the front of the house and the car. There was nobody there.
Katerina was surprised and initially felt annoyed that Aristo was nowhere to be seen. ‘Where on earth is he?’ Within seconds, though, she became concerned. She knew Aristo must have thought he had waited long enough, and, suspecting that something had gone wrong, had gone to investigate and find her.
She was about to turn and walk back to the house when she heard horrible noises of a fight coming from the house. There was a lot of smashing and crushing. Katerina knew what was happening and jumped into action. She spoke to Iakovos with a commanding urgency in her voice, even as she grabbed his arm and began walking towards the house, pulling him with her. ‘He must be inside fighting our crazy and lethal friend. Come on, let’s go and help.’
Iakovos pulled back and forced Katerina to stop dead in her tracks. She released his arm and turned to look at him, anxiety and purpose battling on her face.
‘This way.’
He led her by the side of the house and a small door. Once inside they found themselves in a playroom. Along one wall was a glass case housing antique-looking guns and rifles. Katerina thought he was heading for that case. But he went to the desk and opened the middle draw. The gun his father kept there was gone.
‘He’s got a gun. We need to hurry.’
Iakovos put his finger on a bronze award sitting on the desk and pressed a button. The glass case slid away revealing a small room behind. He went inside and pressed another button. The walls were opening revealing shelf after shelf of sophisticated-looking weaponry Katerina had never seen before. To her it seemed as a veritable feast of what she assumed to be a Special Forces arsenal staring back at her.
Iakovos chose a small handgun and ammunition and gave Katerina another small handgun. He did not even ask her whether she had handled a gun like that before. Her eyes quizzed his, but she understood and nodded.
He made sure both guns were loaded and he led Katerina out, the compartments and the glass case sliding back into position behind them. They hurried to the entrance hall where, looking through into the wrecked living room, they saw the two men really beating the hell out of each other. They approached without being heard.
‘Katerina stay here and at my signal make noise with this to distract them.’ Iakovos indicated a silver tipped stick. ‘I’m going to get close from behind and hopefully take advantage of the distraction.’
Iakovos went through another way into the living room and crept up on the man, his namesake. He signalled to Katerina. She hit the stick on the marble floor that vibrated and sent the sound echoing throughout the house. The distraction was enough for their purposes.
The man, who was at that moment trying to get out the gun he had taken earlier, turned. Iakovos moved forward and went for the man’s throat. But the man had seen him and with a clever manoeuvre got him in front of him, one of the man’s arms around Iakovos’ neck, the other holding the gun and pointing it at his head.
Aristo stood still. Katerina thought about going to stand beside Aristo, but then decided to stay where she was and tried to create another opportunity. With the man holding a gun to Iakovos head, it was harder now. The gun was most likely loaded, and they couldn’t take the chance that it might not be.
For a few seconds there was an impasse with nobody daring to move and inflame the situation. If they were hoping that the man would start to get stressed and slip, they were mistaken. He was as calm as if he did this all the time. He was clearly a cold-blooded killer; there was no doubt about that.
It was not difficult to tell the two men calling themselves Iakovos apart. They knew the man would not hesitate to carry out the death sentence to his hostage; spared earlier, condemned now.
Katerina remembered something she had seen in the secret gunroom. She retraced her steps. She stood inside the room and looked around. And then she saw it. The stun gun. It was one of the few things she had recognised. She picked it up, removed her shoes and ran.
The scene had not changed in the living room in those three minutes she was away. They hadn’t seen her return. She saw the open garden door behind the man. She went round and out of a side door and emerged on the veranda at the back of the house.
She approached the open garden door slowly, held her breath and crept in behind the man. She directed the stun gun at his neck and fired. He didn’t stand a chance. He collapsed in a heap to the floor, almost crushing Iakovos under him. Iakovos was struggling to get free.
On the way down the man’s finger pressed the trigger and the gun fired. The bullet hit Iakovos on the side of the ribcage and blood began to rush out. Aristo and Katerina moved the man off Iakovos and on the floor next to him.
Katerina was relieved it was finally all over. She went close to Iakovos lying on the floor, copious blood seeping into the carpet. She took off her scarf and, bending down, held it to the wound. Iakovos was still breathing but fast on his way out of this world. Katerina turned to Aristo.
‘Aristo, I saw some rope in a secret room off the study. I’ll go get it. Here, hold this tight to the wound.’
She came back with the rope and gave it to Aristo. They exchanged places beside Iakovos. Aristo tied up the man’s legs and feet and arms to his side and left him cross-legged on the floor. He stood up and turned to Katerina.
Her bloodshot eyes were now turning into pools of iridescent hues of aquamarine and turquoise, and she could not hold them in. Wet tears started running down her cheeks and she lowered her head that her long slender swan-like neck looked strained to hold. Then with all the effort her neck could master she looked up, her eyes boring deep holes into Aristo.
‘I think I’ve stopped the bleeding but he’s lost a lot of blood already. We need to get him to a hospital.’ Iakovos was losing consciousness. ‘Iakovos, where’s the closest hospital?’
Iakovos struggled to shake his head and to speak through the haze clouding his mind. ‘It’s just over two hours away. I don’t have that long.’
Aristo thought hard. ‘There’s a military base twenty minutes from here. And it has a hospital. Just give me a minute.’
He got out his mobile and dialled a number a very selected few people had access to. A few hundred miles away in Athens, the private line of General Tomasakis rang. He ignored the man sitting opposite him and picked it up.
Within minutes, a military helicopter was landing on the lawn outside the house. A pair of paramedics emerged with a stretcher and moved quickly towards the house. Aristo was at the door.
‘In here. Hurry.’
Iakovos was given first aid, put on the stretcher and rushed to the helicopter.
‘Katerina go with them. I’ll stay here to interrogate our friend and find out who he is and what the hell he’s doing here. And we need to find and warn Iakovos’ father. I hope he’s still alright. He could have been followed as well.’
‘OK. I’ll ask Iakovos when he regains consciousness and I’ll call you.’ They kissed and hugged and she turned to walk towards the helicopter. Aristo remembered something and turned.
‘Katerina, make sure you get DNA samples from Iakovos for the comparison with ours.’
‘Will do. I’ll talk to you later.’
She walked to the helicopter, which had kept its blades turning. Aristo waited while the helicopter lifted off and flew away and then he went inside the house. He walked straight to the sitting room, but the man was not there.
How the hell did he manage to untie himself? Was there another intruder previously hidden or, perhaps, someone who arrived here in the last few minutes that they had been busy dealing with Iakovos? Was it that that person had decided that their mission had failed and he was biding his time to intervene and help his associate to get out to fight for another day? Yet they could still be here.
He had decided to go on a search of the house when he heard a car outside and a door opening. That should be Iakovos’ father and, if the man or men were still there, he might be in danger. Aristo ran to open the front door and without a thought for introductions shouted at the man standing by the car.
‘Take cover. There are some people after you.’
The man stared at him white as a sheet. Aristo could see no fear but defiance in the man’s eyes that were darting in different directions around him. He knew the other man was checking for more unknown attackers or intruders, trying to make sense of the situation and was perhaps looking for a way out.
Konstantinos Palantis, Iakovos’ father, cursed himself for not having his gun with him. But how could he have known? He had had nothing but peace and tranquillity so far in his life. Those happy days were now, no doubt, behind him.
‘What are you talking about? Who are you?’
‘Are you Konstantinos Palantis, Iakovos’ father?’
‘Yes. Where is my son?’
‘We were attacked. He’s in hospital.’
‘Where? I have to go to him.’
‘Don’t worry. He’s at the nearby military base. He’s well looked after.’
‘Military base? But how? Who are you?’
‘I’m Aristo Symitzis. I’m a friend.’
‘What are you doing here?’
‘I came to talk to you about something important.’
About what? What could we possibly have to talk about? I don’t know you. I’ve never seen you before in my life.’
‘Look it’s a long story. Not now. Just get here close to me. I’ll cover you. Or on second thought just get back into your car and drive off. Go to somewhere safe.’
‘I’m not going anywhere. This is my home. This is unbelievable. I still cannot understand what the hell is going on. I leave for a few hours, I come back and a stranger is giving me this amazing story and tells me to drive off. What would you have done in my place? Would you have believed him? How do I know you are not the one who’s here to harm me? You say you came here to talk to me. But how do I know? Look, just get out of here. You are not welcome here. This is private property. If you are not out of here in two minutes, I’ll call the police.’
‘And they won’t be here for at least twenty minutes. And by that time you may be dead and there would be nothing for them to find. And if I am lying and I want to harm you, you don’t have enough time to do anything and the police won’t be here soon enough to do anything about it. And, besides, I would have harmed you by now. So you have no choice but to trust me.’
Konstantinos Palantis thought about what this man was saying and realised the sense in it. His expression changed and his demeanour indicated to Aristo that he had got through to the man.
Aristo relaxed but only briefly. They were still in danger. ‘Come on let’s get inside.’
This was no time to be polite and Aristo went in first with Palantis following behind. At the moment Aristo entered the entrance hall he heard a shot and he turned to see Palantis collapsing to the floor with half of his head torn off and Aristo found himself staring straight into the eyes of the man he had tied and straight into the barrel of the gun he held in his hand. And there was another man behind him.
Aristo was holding a gun as well, but he knew he did not have enough time to use it. He knew he was a dead man walking.