The Grecian Manifesto (16 page)

Marek’s expression changed instantly, becoming one of deep
concern. “Yes. I have heard of him. He is one of the most powerful men in
Greece, very wealthy, very ambitious. One of his men contacted me several
months ago, a man I had done business with in the past. He asked me if I could
connect him to a volume dealer. Said he had a big order to fill. I guess he
thought I would know someone because of my business. To be honest, I try to
keep out of the underground these days. Every now and then I hear something,
though.”

“And what have you heard lately?”

Their host glanced around as if to make sure no one else
was listening. “Dimtris Gikas is planning something big.”

“Like a government takeover?” Tommy asked.

Something clearly wasn’t right. Sean could see it in the
big Czech’s face.

“Bigger,” he said. “I don’t have as many ears as I used
to, but the ones I do have are hearing that Gikas has big aspirations.”

Sean and Tommy waited with heightened anticipation.

“He wants to establish a new Greek empire. Gikas believes
he is some kind of great leader like Alexander the Great, and that he will
return Greece to its former might.”

Eyebrows on both the Americans furrowed.
 

“You mean he plans to invade other countries?” Tommy
asked, still trying to wrap his head around it.

“I’m not sure,” Marek answered, crossing his arms. “But it
certainly sounds like he intends to overthrow the current government, which in
its current state, would not be a difficult thing to do if someone had the
resources.”

“And with a powerful device like the antikythera, he could
foresee every move an enemy would make. He would know everything before it
happened.”

Marek’s face curled in confusion. “An…ti…ky…what?”

Sean turned to leave. “I’ll tell you all about it some
other time, my friend. We have to go.”
 

Chapter 31

Corfu, Greece

Adriana peeked around the
corner of the kitchen and into the wide-open living room area. Several sofas
and seats had been placed in the thousand-square-foot room. She slid two of the
knives into her belt, one on each hip, and kept the third in her left hand, the
gun in her right. She and the boy moved stealthily across the span of the giant
living space, reaching the front door within a few seconds. Just outside the
front door, two guards stood on the landing, staring out at the grounds. They
seemed to be on alert, no doubt from the information relayed by the guard she’d
killed in the cellar.

She pulled Niki close and
glanced at the other side of the room. A pair of French doors led out onto a
deck overlooking the sea. She could see there was a guard out there as well,
but only one. Those odds were a little more in her favor. Careful not to make a
sound, she made her way back around the room, staying close to the wall to keep
out of sight in case one of the men on the front porch happened to look back into
the mansion. She reached the back of the house and stopped at the door. The
guard still had his back to them, but as soon as she turned the latch he would
look back to see who was coming out. There would be only a split second to make
her move and take the man down.

A plan quickly formulated in
her head. She would open the door, leap at the guy and shove the knife into his
chest, letting her momentum knock him over the railing to the ground below. The
fall was only a few feet and wouldn’t kill him, but the tip of the knife in his
heart would.

She reached out, clasped the handle,
and started to pull it when a voice from across the room stopped her cold.
“Don’t move!”

Adriana froze in place and
risked a glance out of the corner of her eye. A guard had entered the room from
a hallway near the front of the house, on the other side of the living room. He
must have been walking around to check the place. Stupid luck had led him to
catching the escapees.

“Put the gun down,” he ordered,
aiming his own weapon at her.

“Okay,” she said. “Please, just
don’t hurt the boy. This was my decision. It isn’t his fault.”

“Shut up!” the man shouted. He
reached up to his earpiece and spoke into his radio. “I found them. They’re in
the house, in the great room. She has the boy with her.”

The man on the back porch
turned around. Shock washed over his face as he realized how close he was to
being killed.

“Put the gun down, or I will
shoot the boy,” the guard said from across the room.

“I’m putting it down. Please,
just relax. See? I’m putting it down?” She bent over and started to lay the gun
on the floor. As she did, her head disappeared from the man’s view behind the
sofa closest to her position. She turned her head to Niki and whispered, “Get
on your belly.”

The door opened behind her,
disrupting the silence as the guard from the back porch entered the room.

“Now,” she ordered Niki. The
boy obeyed and dropped to his stomach in a quick move.

Adriana reached up and grabbed
the guard’s hand from the door latch. She twisted it to an unnatural position
and used the man’s weight to spin him around in front of her as a human shield.
The other guard opened fire, squeezing off four rounds, all thudding into her
captive’s chest. The man struggled for a moment, and then began to go limp as
the bullets found vital organs.

“Cover your ears, Niki!” she
shouted. The boy had already done so as the sound of the initial gunfire rang
out through the room, louder than anything he’d ever heard before.

She poked her gun around her
human shield and unleashed a volley of six shots. Two pinged off a stone column
near her target; two others went through the window. One found the man in the
gut and the other in his shoulder, sufficiently removing him as a threat.

Adriana dropped the dying man
and reached down for Niki’s hand. “Come on! We have to go!” He shook his head
in defiance, with his hands still covering his ears. “Niki, please,” she pleaded
with him. “You want to win the game, don’t you? You’re a fast runner, right?”
The boy nodded and seemed he might be willing to get up.

Suddenly, the front door to the
mansion opened and one of the two guards on the front landing opened fire. She
dropped behind the sofa as bullets zipped through the air over her head,
shattering the windows behind her while others thudded into the doorframe.

She pulled herself along the
hard floor to the other side of the sofa and slid around the corner. Her hands
guided the sights of the weapon directly at the man’s chest. She forced herself
to breathe slowly, calmly, and pulled the trigger twice. The two rounds sunk
into the guard’s chest and knocked him back through the door. She crawled back
over to where the frightened boy still lay on his belly with his hands on his
ears.

“Time to go, Niki. Stay low and
follow me. When you get to the road, remember: keep running as fast as you
can.”

The boy nodded reluctantly.
There was no more time for her to coddle him. She reached down and grabbed him
with one hand and the dead man’s gun with the other. That should give her a further
twelve shots. The remaining guard on the front porch was speaking frantically
into his radio, calling for backup. She fired another shot in his direction,
narrowly missing his neck. The guard ducked out of sight below one of the large
windowpanes. She fired two more shots through the glass to keep him down and
then darted through the back door and onto the deck.

Dragging the young boy along
like a ball and chain, Adriana made her way down the south side of the deck.
The porch ended at a small embankment, filled with landscaping grass, flowers,
and various shrubs. Just beyond it, she made out the pool area and patio where
Gikas had entertained her on a previous night.

She looked around the corner of
the house and saw two men rushing toward the front porch. Hopefully they would
assume she and the boy were still tucked behind the sofa. As soon as the men
disappeared from view, she hopped over the railing and grabbed Niki under his
armpits.

“We’re almost there, okay? We
just need to go around this little mound and you’ll be on the road. Remember,
you have to beat me to the church in town. I will be chasing you,” she made
herself smile to keep the boy calm.

He nodded and smiled back at
her.

She led him around the mound
and stopped on the other side. Adriana stared at the front of the house. Three
men were on the porch. One of them stepped into the doorway and fired three
shots, then quickly ducked back behind the wall in case of return fire. Good,
she thought. They still believed the two escapees were inside the house.

Niki let out a sudden yelp, and
Adriana whirled around to find a guard holding the boy by the back of the neck.
The guard’s strong, broad face showed no intention of mercy. His physique bulged
through the tight clothes, neck muscles like a rugby player.

Adriana waited for a second,
not sure what to do.

“Put the gun down, or I will
break the boy’s neck,” the guard said. He shook Niki hard to emphasize his
point. She leaned over to do as she was told, setting the weapon on the ground
next to the guard’s feet.

He let go of the boy and pushed
him aside, taking a cautious step toward the dangerous Spaniard. She still held
the knife in her hand, something the guard had already noticed. He motioned to
the blade by waving the barrel of his gun. “Drop the knife as well.”

She hesitated for a second.

“Do it, or I will shoot the boy
in the gut.”

The man suddenly yelled out in
pain. His arm lurched back, pointing the gun into the air as he leaned back in
a quick, jerky motion. Adriana saw Niki on all fours behind the big guard,
sinking his teeth hard into the guy’s calf. It was all she needed.

Adriana took the knife and
slashed out with it, jerking the sharp edge across the man’s throat and then
kicking him in the chest. The giant stumbled back, grabbing in vain at the
gaping wound on his neck. She swiveled back around and crouched down in a quick
movement. Her hand grabbed the gun from the ground and brought it up instantly,
ticking off three shots at the guard. Two of the bullets found nothing but air,
the other plunged into the man’s head, toppling him into the weeds just off the
path.

She smiled down at the boy and
reached out her hand. “Good job, Niki. Quickly. You have to run now.”

The two took off down the
driveway. The three remaining men on the porch had heard the shot from the side
of the mansion and were closing in. Adriana fired a few warning shots at them,
effectively halting their advance and sending them sprawling for cover. The boy
sprinted down the gravel driveway, running as fast as his little legs would
carry him. She stopped and kept her eyes on the men on the porch. Her finger
pulled the trigger again, sending another volley of rounds harmlessly into the
side of the house, but effectively keeping the men down. One of them tried to hide
behind a post and fired blindly into the air, using a spray-and-pray method.

Adriana turned her head and
looked down the road. The boy had covered sixty yards and was almost out of
sight. They were going to make it.

Then something struck her hard
in the middle of her back, sending a crunching, dull pain through her body. The
momentum of whatever had hit her carried her to the ground, smashing her face
onto the gravel. Two giant arms wrapped around her for a second, then let go as
a guard she’d not seen stood over her. The world spun around in her eyes as she
tried desperately to regain her bearings. The silhouette of the big man was
outlined by the waning afternoon sunlight. He was raising one of his arms in
the direction Niki ran. She made out the image of a gun in his hand and
realized what he was about to do.

Adriana kicked out with all her
might, sending her heel into the side of the man’s knee. Ligaments and
cartilage gave way behind the force of her attack, and the guard screamed out
in agony. He stumbled for a moment but never fell. She looked down the road,
her vision still blurred from hitting the ground. Niki disappeared around the
bend behind a thick stand of trees. Adriana smiled feebly, knowing that the boy
had made it. The smile was wiped away as the guard brought the tip of his boot
into her ribs. The power of the kick sent her rolling onto her other side. He
kicked her again and again, finally grabbing her by the shirt and lifting her
off the ground.

She coughed violently but
stared defiantly into the man’s cold eyes. His head was shaved, and he had a
full goatee of black facial hair. Anger flamed in the man’s eyes, no doubt from
the injury she’d inflicted on his knee. Adriana quivered as the man stared into
her eyes and drew back his massive fist. It was the last thing she saw before
everything went black.

Chapter 32

Apennine
Mountains, Central Italy

Darkness had fallen across the
Apennine Mountains by the time Sean and Tommy reached the park area at Mount
Fumaiolo. The drive had taken close to three hours, a little longer than Sean
had been led to believe. A few last dying rays of sunlight peeked over the
horizon far to the west, casting a pale-orange glow across the sky until it met
with the coming darkness.

Along the way, Tommy had interrogated
Sean about the backstory with Marek. “So what’s the deal with that guy giving
us these guns for nothing? What did you do for him?”

Sean laughed at the reminder.
He’d not thought about the sequence of events for a long time. Truthfully, he
rarely thought about it. Marek had been going through some tough times. He owed
the wrong people a ton of money from a gambling debt. Sean had gone to Marek’s
place to ask some questions about a potentially huge arms deal that he’d gotten
wind of. From what he’d heard, some Russian mobsters were trying to ship a load
of military-grade weapons to a terrorist camp just inside the Pakistani border.

He hoped Marek knew where the
deal was going down and who the major players were. When he’d arrived, however,
Sean found Marek in a bit of a pickle. The Czech had been tied to a chair, and
his home had been doused in gasoline.

“Fortunately,” Sean explained,
“I was able to take the men out before they set the whole place on fire. It was
pure luck that I arrived when I did. Marek believes that it was some kind of
divine providence or something.”

“Well, that explains why he
treats you like his own personal savior,” Tommy said.

“I guess,” Sean let out an
uncomfortable chuckle.

Tommy tried not to get into the
details of Sean’s previous life when he worked for Axis. His friend didn’t talk
about those days much, and the last thing Tommy wanted to do was pry. But in this
case, he let his curiosity get the better of him. “I assume you stopped the
weapons deal?”

“I’m sorry, buddy. That is
classified information.” Sean left him hanging for a minute as he steered the
car through the tightening curves of the mountains. “But yeah,” he glanced to
the side for a brief second, “we definitely took them down. Marek happened to
know someone who was directly involved with the operation. He was more than
happy to fill me in on the details. We had an international all-star team there
waiting to take down the whole thing.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“It was for about thirty
seconds. Then the rest of it was just a ton of paperwork. Fortunately, we Axis
guys are usually just shipped somewhere else and the paperwork is taken care of
back home at HQ.”

The rest of the trip had been
mostly quiet. Sean tried to distract his mind from thoughts of Adriana. He
didn’t want to worry, but bad men sometimes did horrible things to women. He
pushed the thought as far out of his brain as he could, instead focusing on the
road ahead. At one point, Sean gave his phone to Tommy and asked that he text
Emily, thanking her for getting them out of trouble earlier. He knew that she
wouldn’t hold it against him. Emily wanted Sean back in Axis in a bad way. He
had been her top agent. Truthfully, he could have been the heir to the
director’s position when their former boss had stepped down. She’d believed
that Sean would get the job, and was surprised when the Secretary of State
called her to make the announcement. What Emily didn’t know was that Sean had
recommended her for the position. He was never much of a desk jockey. His soul
called him to be active, doing things, not just filling out paperwork. One of
the reasons he’d taken the job at the IAA was because Tommy promised him all
the field work he could handle. The job certainly had delivered that, but no
matter what he did Sean couldn’t seem to get away from international intrigue.
He was beginning to resign himself to the fact that he was good at it and that
was why he seemed to keep being brought back in to things like the current
situation.

Sean shook his head, trying to refocus.
This situation was different. Some wealthy Greek businessman had kidnapped
Adriana to find some ancient relic. The guy was clearly insane, or at the very
least some kind of high-level narcissist. Sean wished he could just be back at
his beach shop, soaking up some sun and watching the waves crash in on the
sand. He’d saved up a ton of money over the years to set up his little
business. And his cabin in the mountains provided an excellent retreat from the
crazy world. No matter where he went, though, it seemed like he would never be
able to escape those who wanted or needed to find him.

Upon arriving at the top of
Mount Fumaiolo, Sean found a designated parking area and pulled the car into a
space near a wooden fence. A sign next to the trailhead indicated that the park
was closed after dark. Fortunately for the two Americans, there was no sign of
a park ranger to tell them to leave. Sean assumed whoever had been working the
park earlier had probably left right after sunset. He wondered how many people
came to the historic site on a daily basis. The isolated location made for a
long drive from most Italian cities. He and Tommy had been fortunate and had not
hit much traffic on the way out of Rome. Although not hitting traffic was a
relative term. There always seemed to be a ton of traffic in the old city.
Spending much of their lives in Atlanta, Sean and Tommy were both familiar with
what huge traffic problems looked like.

A cool breeze blew through the
trees as the men exited the car. Tommy shivered for a second and zipped up the
jacket he’d thrown on earlier. “Glad I brought this,” he said.

The temperature on the
mountain’s peak was at least twelve degrees cooler than down in the valley.
Fortunately, the two friends knew that ahead of time and had planned
accordingly.

“Kind of eerie up here with no
one around,” Tommy added, moving toward the trail beyond the wooden railing.

Sean looked around in the
darkness for a moment. He agreed internally. It was kind of creepy. He tried to
imagine what kind of people had come to this place throughout history. Knowing
that Julius Caesar had come here to hide a precious clue was a sobering
thought. “Just keep an eye out,” he said. “I don’t know much about this area.
There could be gypsies or something hanging around.”

Tommy raised an eyebrow and
snorted. “Gypsies?” He laughed out loud a second time.

“Just be on your toes. You
never know.” Sean gripped the gun Marek had given him. He’d seen too many
things, been caught off guard enough to know that just when things seemed the
least threatening they could get bad fast.

The two pulled their
flashlights out of jacket pockets and flipped them on. A bright, nearly full
moon cast a ghostly glow through the perfectly clear sky. On the drive up the mountain
there had been several pull offs that provided outstanding views of the
countryside below. It was yet another place Sean wished he could come visit
again when his life wasn’t in turmoil. The moon’s light shone through openings
in the forest canopy, giving a little illumination to scattered areas in the
woods.

Their flashlights were still a
necessity, though, as darkness permeated the majority of the area. Neither man
wanted to trip over an unseen rock, or worse, twist an ankle. A severe sprain
sounded like nothing serious, except for the fact that it would slow them down
immensely. Fortunately, the path had been well maintained by the Italian parks
service, and there were only a few big roots jutting out of the ground here and
there. The path itself rose steeply at first, winding its way through the
woods. A sign on a tree told the Americans that they were headed in the right
direction, and that the source of the river was just up ahead, only a few
hundred meters away.

Tommy spoke up, apparently
never comfortable with silence. Maybe the strange feeling in the air made him
want to strike up a conversation. “We miss having you around, Sean,” he said,
his voice cutting through the trees. “Not the same without you.”

Sean smiled, keeping his eyes
on the trail in front of them. “I miss working with you too, buddy. But you
know I had to do it.”

“I know.” Tommy kept his eyes
ahead as well. “I know. But I also know a part of you misses it. The thrill of
discovery, adventure, unraveling a piece of history with every artifact we find,
you have to admit it is a pretty good gig.”

He was right about that part.
Sean had loved his job, until it started to feel more like his work for the
government than as an artifact recovery agent. “I haven’t really had a chance
to miss it yet, buddy. I just got my shop going a few weeks ago. I’m sure that
when things die down I’ll think about some of the good times we had, but for
right now I’m good. Well, except for the fact that my girlfriend has been
kidnapped by an insane person who may or may not have intentions of
overthrowing a major European government.”

Tommy laughed at the last
comment, though there was a sense of worry buried within his friend’s sarcasm.

Both of them had been avid
campers throughout their friendship, having spent many a weekend in the
mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. Despite the extensive
amount of time they spent in the woods, there was something different about
being in a foreign country, stalking through a forest at night.

“It’s creepy out here,” Tommy
said, changing the subject of the conversation. “I never did like being in the
woods at night. Just something about it that unnerves me.”

“I’m the same way. I never
liked being in the woods after dark. Especially alone.” He didn’t say anything
for a few seconds as they continued up the trail. “I am glad you’re here,
though. Not sure if I ever told you, but you really had me worried after that
bombing in Cairo. I didn’t know if you were going to make it or not.”

Tommy smiled in the darkness.
“Yeah, well, I don’t really remember much about it. I just remember waking up
in a hospital in Athens. But thanks for worrying about me. It’s kind of strange
that if we find this antikythera thing that I’ll be headed back to Greece. I’ve
only been there a few times, now twice in a couple of months.”

The trail began to level off
and bent to the left around a thick clump of trees. The sound of trickling
water began to fill the air. They followed the path to where the mountain began
to rise again, its shadow jutting into the sky and blocking out a giant section
of the starry blanket to the north. Sean flashed his beam in the direction he
thought the sound was coming from and saw a wooden railing much like the one
near where they’d parked. Just beyond the fence, a spring flowed from an
opening in the mountain. Two flat stones on either side, and one on top,
surrounded the water’s source. They were so strategically placed that Sean
assumed they were put there by human hands. Whichever way the heavy rocks had
arrived in the location, they’d certainly been there for several centuries. An
opening in the forest canopy allowed the moon’s pale light to illuminate the
area, as if the heavens themselves were honoring the ancient site.

“Looks like that’s our spot,”
Tommy said, overstating the obvious. “Strange to think that this is the start
of one of the most famous and historic rivers on the planet.”

“Yeah, it’s funny to think of
it that way, but you’re right. That river has played a key role in the
development of civilizations, waging wars, and the rise and fall of kingdoms.
And it all starts right here with this little spring.”

The two paused for a minute to
contemplate the significance of where they were standing before Tommy spoke up
again. “So what are you thinking? The riddle says that this thing will be in
the mouth of the river, right?”

Sean nodded. “That’s what it
says. I assume that means in the hole where the water is coming out. That’s the
literal mouth, I suppose.”

“Makes sense.”

They turned their flashlight
beams to the shallow pool of water that collected around the spring’s source.
The water brimmed at a point before beginning its long descent down the
mountain. The two noticed several stepping stones in the pool, large enough for
a person to stand on comfortably with both feet. The flat rocks appeared to
lead all the way from the bank to where the water trickled out of the hole in the
earth.

Sean stepped over to the
embankment and reached out his right foot. Placing it on the first stone, he
tested its stability, pressing his weight upon it and trying to move the object
around. The rock didn’t budge, and he brought his other foot over to join the
first. He took another step to the next rock, testing it out as he had the
first. Sean wasn’t worried about the water’s depth; it was only six to ten
inches at best. The temperature, however, was another issue. The last thing he
wanted to do was drive back to Rome with wet socks, or bare feet, as the case
would probably be if he fell in.

After a slow few minutes of
carefully making his way across the stepping stones, Sean finally reached the
river’s source. He crouched down on one knee next to where the water splashed
into the pool.

“See anything?” Tommy asked loudly.
His voice carried through the shadowy tree trunks of the forest, sending back a
strange echo.

“Not yet,” Sean answered,
shining his light around in the crevasse. He bent over a little farther, trying
to get a better view into the dark recess. With his left hand, he braced
himself against one of the stones and stuck the light into the hole, just above
where the water streamed out. “Looks like there’s some kind of lip inside
here.”

He took the flashlight and
jammed the end of it into his mouth, clutching it with his teeth so that he
could use both hands to investigate further. Sean reached his right hand into
the cavity, tilting his head to the side to make sure the light was where he
needed it. “I hope there aren’t any snakes in this thing,” he yelled back to
his friend on the bank.