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  Chapter Five

  It was nearly midnight, and for most civilized people past their bedtime. But for many Greeks it was just the beginning of their evening. Andreas was lying on top of the bed covers watching the news. Lila sat at her dressing table looking through some sort of chart for the wedding. Andreas couldn’t believe that in four days they’d be married. It was almost Wednesday.

  Andreas’ cell phone rang.

  “Who would be calling at this hour?” said Lila.

  Andreas looked at his phone. “Tassos. Hopefully with good news.” He pressed to answer.

  “I told Lila you’d only be calling at this hour with good news. If not, please hang up and call back tomorrow.”

  “All I can say is that it’s news. Whether it’s good or bad depends on your view of things,” said Tassos.

  “What are you into, Zen or something? Just tell me.”

  “I was able to set up a meeting with the Albanians. But they’ll only see us tonight. It’s now or never.”

  “You’re kidding.” He instinctively looked at his watch.

  And Lila looked at him.

  “It looks like our only chance to meet.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll pick you up in front of your building in fifteen minutes. Bye.”

  Andreas put down his phone.

  “Honey…”

  “Try not to stay out too late.”

  “I don’t want to go but there’s no choice. It’s very important.”

  “I’m sure. Just remember. Sunday.”

  Andreas kissed her on the cheek and left the room to get dressed to meet Tassos. He didn’t want her to see him putting on his ballistic vest.

  Tassos pulled up alone in front of Andreas’ building in a blue and white police cruiser.

  Andreas got in next to him. “We’re taking a marked car to this?”

  “The ones we’re meeting know we’re cops. I want to make sure everyone else in the neighborhood knows it, too, and that we’re there on official business.”

  Andreas shrugged. “It’s your call, but I wouldn’t think the Albanians would appreciate the idea of other bad guys in their neighborhood knowing they’re entertaining cops. Might start too many rumors.”

  “Not a problem tonight. They picked a place in Athens, outside their neighborhood. A club in Gazi. The cruiser will get us a parking space.” Tassos grinned.

  “Which place?”

  “Dionysios’ Sin. How do they come up with those names?”

  “I never knew that place was connected to the mob?” said Andreas.

  “It isn’t, that’s why they picked it. And at this hour it’s just getting busy. We’ll be lost in the crowd.”

  Andreas stared out the window. Any meeting with that sort was dangerous, but picking a club in the heart of Athens’ busiest nightlife district was about as safe a place as he could have hoped for them to choose. And it was quantum levels safer than a meeting on their home turf in Menidi. Cops rarely went there, and rarer still in a marked car. Andreas let his mind wander to other things, not pouncing on any one thought in particular.

  “Here we are,” said Tassos. It was a narrow street jammed with cars parked on both sides. Tassos pulled into a space cleared for the entrance to the club. An attendant held his hand out for the key.

  “Get serious,” said Tassos as he locked the doors and pocketed the key.

  Andreas scanned the street to see if anyone was watching them. Everyone was. No wonder, with that grand entrance.

  “Where are we supposed to meet them?”

  Tassos shook his head. “Don’t know. We’re supposed to find some guy named Robert and ask for the ‘White party.’”

  The place was mobbed, the music loud, and the decor classic French bordello from that country’s glory days of its greatest decadence. Not bad if you liked that sort of thing. Tassos whispered something in a waiter’s ear. The waiter turned and pointed to a man by the end of the bar studying the room. He had to be at least seven feet tall and as broad as the back of a truck.

  “That’s our Robert,” said Tassos.

  “Oh boy. They win, I quit,” said Andreas.

  “He’s probably quite gentle.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t get the chance to hear him say, ‘I’ll be gentle.’”

  Tassos laughed.

  Andreas patted his crotch. His nine-millimeter was right where it should be. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Tassos walked over to the giant and motioned for him to lower his head. Tassos whispered in his ear and Robert’s face lit up in a broad smile. He waved one of his huge hands at Andreas to follow and began moving through the sea of people. It was like two caiques following the Queen Mary. He led them to a doorway at the rear, opened it, and pointed down the stairs.

  “Down there, they’re waiting for you.” He smiled, patted Tassos and Andreas on their backs as they passed, and closed the door behind them.

  “Christ, it’s like a tomb in here,” said Andreas. “Can’t hear a thing from outside or downstairs.”

  “And vice-versa I’m sure. Probably not even a gun shot,” said Tassos.

  “Stop making me feel better.” Andreas touched his holster again. “Just how sure are you of the guy who set up this meeting?”

  “He’s a friend of a friend.”

  “Great. Like I said, stop making me feel better.”

  At the bottom of the stairs stood two bulky guys, obviously Albanian. They didn’t smile, just stared at the new arrivals.

  Tassos stared back. “We’re here for the White party.”

  The two men pointed to a door at the end of the hall.

  As they walked toward the door Tassos whispered, “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.”

  Andreas smiled, but braced for the worst. Just then the door swung open and a tremendous shout came roaring out of the room.

  “SURPRISE!”

  It took about an hour of hugged congratulations, gotchas, backslapping, and svenaki shots of vodka from what seemed every guy he’d ever known before Andreas could corner Tassos. “You son-of-a-bitch, this was supposed to be tomorrow night.”

  “You mean your ‘surprise’ bachelor party.” Tassos was smiling from ear to ear. “We knew you’d be expecting some sort of party so it was Lila’s idea to misdirect you into thinking it was tomorrow.”

  “I guess I should take that as a warning of what life will be like after Sunday.”

  “Yeah, someone always caring that you have a good time.”

  “If you want me to have a really good time you’ll tell me that your bit about being able to set up a meeting with the Albanians was all part of an elaborate ruse to get me here and that there’s absolutely no truth to it.”

  “Sorry, wish I could. But that part’s all real, though it did give me the idea for making sure you’d be surprised when the door opened.”

  “Remind me of that tomorrow, when I’m sober. What about the two Albanians at the door? Nice touch.”

  “Hey, not all Albanians are bad guys. They’re cops from the western suburbs. It was Yianni’s idea. He thought they would lend authenticity.”

  Andreas felt a sharp slap on his back. “Andreas, Andreas.” It was Spiros, the minister of public order.

  “ Yiasou, Spiros.”

  “I am so glad to be here. After all we’ve been through together I feel as if we’re brothers.”

  “Thank you, I’ve had similar thoughts at times,” said Andreas thinking of certain well-known biblical siblings.

  “I’ve arranged a little surprise to commemorate the end of your bachelorhood. Enjoy.” Spiros winked at Tassos and walked away.

  Andreas stared after him. “Why does the thought of a surprise from Spiros not make me happy?”

  Tassos waved to Kouros to join them. “Forget about him. At least he didn’t ask you for a report on what’s happening with the Tinos murders.” He put his arm around Kouros. “Yianni, we pulled it off. Congratulations.”

  A
ndreas stared at Kouros. “Bastard.”

  “I love you too, Chief.”

  Andreas smiled and hugged him.

  The food, music, and drink had been running non-stop since they got there, all in a mix of modern and old Greek styles. Now the lights flickered, a disco ball hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room began to turn, and splashes of colored light darted about in pace with the music. Spotlights splashed about the room before abruptly fixing on three figures shrouded in black beneath the disco ball. Every eye was drawn to the objects caught in the lights. At that instant the music gained a sudden intensity and from beneath each cloak a bare white arm shot straight into the air followed a moment later by a second bare arm.

  Andreas had a pretty good idea of what was coming and was certain it did not involve any dancers approved by Lila.

  First one then another dancer dropped her cloak, followed by her dress and bra, while the deejay did his masterful job of pumping up the music and virtually every man in the room. It wasn’t that hard to do. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, big-busted young women, undoubtedly Eastern bloc, dancing naked down to their g-strings before two hundred drunken men generally did the trick every time.

  One woman danced over to Andreas, teasing him to join her in the middle of the floor. He smiled, but refused. She tried pulling him onto the dance floor. He kept smiling, but refused again. His second refusal met with friendly shouts from around the room of “ pusti,” and other names questioning his manhood. Andreas laughed and smiled but did not budge. When the practically naked woman again tried pulling him onto the dance floor, Kouros smoothly lifted her off her feet and carried her back to beneath the disco ball, smiling all the time, amid a barrage of men yelling offers to take Andreas’ place. Everyone seemed to be having a terrific time.

  Kouros walked back to where Andreas and Tassos were standing.

  “Thanks, Yianni,” said Andreas. “I can’t believe this.”

  “My guess is that this is our distinguished minister’s surprise,” said Tassos.

  “What planet is he on?” said Andreas. “Doesn’t he realize these girls are part of the sex trafficking trade? The man is an idiot.”

  “A complete idiot,” said Kouros.

  Tassos shook his head. “No, my friends, I’m afraid he’s just a man. Look around you. The place is filled with cops. They know what’s going on. How many do you think even care? They’ll say ‘Hey, it’s not child porn, it’s dancers at a bachelor party. Chill out. What’s the harm?’”

  What’s the harm? Oh yes, the unofficial mantra of Greece for all the corrupt practices that had brought his great country to its knees.

  “Yeah, ‘what’s the harm?’”

  “I guess I don’t have to ask if you had a good time last night.”

  Andreas heard the words through the pillow pulled tightly over his head. “I don’t remember,” he mumbled into the pillow.

  “You could have slept in our bedroom, or a guest room. You didn’t have to sleep on the sofa in the elevator foyer.”

  “It was the only room I could find.”

  Lila laughed. “Well, my love, it’s one in the afternoon. When exactly did you get in?”

  “It was light out, that’s all I remember. And someone putting me into the elevator.”

  “That was Tassos. Maggie called a few hours ago. She said he wasn’t in much better shape but at least he could walk. What I want to know is who drove?”

  “A sober Albanian cop. Who now has lifetime job security. As long as he doesn’t talk.”

  “About what?”

  “I don’t remember. And that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

  Lila laughed again. “That reminds me, Maggie said for you to call Tassos when you’re up. Something about a meeting with Albanians.”

  Andreas pulled the pillow off his face. “Oh no, not that again. I was hoping it would pass, along with the spinning of the room.” He sat up and looked at his feet. “At least I took off my shoes.”

  “Nope, Marietta did that. Come, darling, time for the shower.”

  He lay back down on the sofa. “Not yet. Please not yet.”

  Lila grabbed his hand and tugged. “Sorry, big boy. When you play you pay. Time to get up and get to work. Our country needs you.”

  “In other words, you don’t want me hanging around.”

  “Good, your mind is functioning again.”

  Lila tugged again at his arm. This time Andreas let her pull him up, but swung his other arm around her waist as he stood. “That’s not all that’s functioning again.” Andreas pulled loose of her grip, slid that now free arm behind her knees and lifted Lila off the floor. “Now, where is that bedroom?”

  Lila smiled, put her arms around his neck, and whispered in his ear. “Follow the bed crumbs.”

  Andreas laughed all the way home.

  It was after three when Andreas reached Tassos at Maggie’s.

  “Thanks for getting me home. Lila would have been very unhappy had I been misplaced so close to our wedding day.”

  “No problem, but there’s still time.”

  “Why do I think that means you’ve set up a meeting?”

  “I had to call in some serious favors but the one who set it up ‘guaranteed’ our safety.”

  “Meaning?”

  “It’s a better than fifty-fifty chance no one with a grudge against you or me will take the opportunity to whack us. At least inside the room.”

  “And where would that room be located?”

  “Menidi.”

  “Fantastic, great, couldn’t pick a better place. Greece has the lowest violent crime rate in all of Europe and we get to do the equivalent of running through the streets of wartime Baghdad waving an American flag shouting ‘Bush is great.’” Andreas drew in and let out a breath. “What if we don’t go?”

  “To me that’s the smart move. Let it go. These bad guys won’t budge. They’re only comfortable in their own neighborhood. Don’t trust us. Like I said, they know your reputation and worry we might be setting them up for a major bust, what with the new government clamoring for a crackdown on organized crime.”

  “They believe all that bullshit?” said Andreas.

  “They’re not as cynical as we are on the topic of reform. The exact message was, ‘Menidi or fuck off.’”

  “Well, glad to hear that we’re at least getting off on the right foot.”

  “So, what do we do?” said Tassos.

  Andreas paused. “Wear vests.”

  “Thick ones.”

  Chapter Six

  Of the three cops in the unmarked, beat-up van only Kouros was familiar with Menidi. That’s what made him the designated driver. He had an aunt who lived north of Menidi in Thrakomakedones, a lovely area with large villas winding up Mount Parnitha’s hillsides. It was as different from Menidi as night was to day, but Menidi was where anyone from his aunt’s village with government business had to travel. His aunt, like many of her neighbors, kept a beat-up second hand car and nondescript, well-worn clothing for just that purpose; but not all had a bull of a nephew to accompany them on their adventures.

  “Do you think we look seedy enough?” asked Tassos.

  “I thought you were going to ask if the Kevlar vest made you look fat.” Kouros smiled.

  Tassos reached over from the passenger’s seat with his left hand and popped his middle finger in front of Kouros’ face.

  Andreas leaned forward from the back seat. “How much longer?”

  “About ten minutes, I think. Amazing how much traffic there is. Wouldn’t expect it at this hour,” said Kouros.

  “It’s nine o’clock, when all the gremlins start coming out of their hiding places,” said Tassos.

  “I’d have liked it better if we could have set this up for a daytime meeting,” said Andreas.

  “Like I said, they wouldn’t budge. They wanted every advantage.” Tassos tugged at his vest.

  “How do you want to handle this, Chief?” said Kouros.
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br />   “Play it by ear and pray for inspiration.”

  “I get it, like always.”

  “I just want to make sure we come out of this alive. That’s the ‘prime directive,’” said Andreas.

  “Wasn’t that a line from a movie?” said Kouros.

  Tassos gestured no. “Television. ‘Star Trek.’”

  “Did they all die in the end?” said Kouros.

  “Just drive,” said Andreas.

  The streets turned to gravel and the van slowed to less than fifteen miles per hour. Beggars appeared from everywhere. Kouros kept pressing forward, ignoring the tapping on the windows, and forcing those who tried to block his way to jump aside.

  “I see you’ve done this before,” said Andreas.

  “If I slow down too much we’ll have to stop to identify bodies.”

  The building they were looking for was in the middle of the block on a busy street for Menidi. That seemed to the cops’ advantage, but not really; for in this neighborhood a busy street was about the same as walking down a dark alley. If someone wanted to whack you they just started shooting. It was up to everyone else to duck.

  Kouros circled the block twice before parking directly across the street from the building. It was a run down, four-story, post-World War II apartment building in the ubiquitous concrete-slab-balcony style that had forever tarnished Athens’ beauty.

  “No telling how many creeps hanging around here might be waiting for us,” said Kouros.

  “Let’s assume all of them,” said Tassos.

  Andreas cleared is throat. “One more rule. No matter what happens we never give up our guns. If this is a set-up, no way we make it easy for them.”

  Kouros nodded. “No argument from me. I’ve got three.”

  “So, which door do we choose?” said Tassos. There were two, one on either side of a central concrete pillar.

  Kouros said, “The one on the right looks like it’s for the upstairs apartments, the other for whatever’s on the first floor.” The first floor windows were painted black. “No way to tell what’s inside.”

  “My guess would be the storefront. Ready?” said Andreas.

  The others nodded. Three van doors opened, three men got out and headed directly for the central pillar. They were five feet away from it when the storefront door swung open. A man the size of Kouros stood in the doorway staring at them. “In here.”