Target: Tinos

Chapter Twenty-six

Andreas slid along the wall until he was between Kouros’ head and the shooter. He couldn’t see Kouros’ wound. All he saw was blood. He brought his flashlight close to Kouros’ head and, blocking the reflected light as best he could with his body, gently ran his fingers along his friend’s head until he found the wound: an ugly jagged cut high above the right temple. Andreas pressed his fingers against Kouros’ neck and felt for a pulse. He tore open the front of Kouros shirt. The bullet was caught in the vest.

Andreas dropped his head and said a prayer. That’s when he sensed the pain in his own side. It felt like a broken rib. He ran his right fingers along his vest and found a second bullet.

He wanted to look over the wall to see if Trelos was still there, but didn’t dare. The shooter was too good.

“Trelos, are you there?”

Nothing.

“ I said, ‘are you there?’”

Andreas heard a very weak, “Yes.”

“Who’s shooting at us?”

Andreas heard something, but couldn’t make it out.

“What?”

“He’s coming,” said Trelos.

Andreas spun around and crawled along the wall toward Trelos’ voice. Whoever was coming probably was focused on where Kouros went down. If he moved away from that spot he might be able to get off a shot before the shooter could target him again. It was his only choice. He couldn’t just sit there waiting. Instinctively Andreas drew in a deep breath to calm himself, but a sharp pain at the broken rib stopped him. Instead, he closed and opened his eyes, crossed himself, and prepared to shoot at the first human sound he heard.

They were footsteps, but erratic, of a person moving quickly from one place to another, as if stopping to hide or listen. Andreas waited until the sounds were directly in front of him before jerking his gun and head together above the wall to fire.

He didn’t.

“ Tassos! ”

Tassos slid over the wall and dropped down next to Andreas. He was out of breath. “Thank God you’re okay? Where’s Yianni?”

“Over there.” Andreas nodded toward Kouros. “He probably has a concussion from hitting his head on the wall. But his pulse is good. The vest likely saved his life.”

Tassos drew in and let out a deep breath. “I was up near the top of the mound where I could keep an eye on what was happening down by the cave. I watched you come back up and around to where you saw Trelos. We saw him at the same time so I didn’t need to warn you.”

“I tried to reach you on the two-way after I heard the pistol shot,” said Andreas.

“I couldn’t tell for sure where the first rifle shot came from but I knew it was below me and to the left. That’s when I turned off the two-way, so it wouldn’t give me away.”

Tassos paused to catch another breath. “I got as close as I could to where I thought the shooter was. When I saw the muzzle flash on the second shot, I knew where to go. It came from inside a cluster of boulders. The pistol shot you heard was mine.”

“You took out the shooter?”

Trelos sat down on the wall above them and stared up the hill.

“Not sure, I heard a scream but when I got there the shooter was gone. The rifle too. I found blood but no telling how bad the wound. My guess is the shooter is still out there. That’s why I didn’t try you on the two-way. Didn’t want to risk giving away your position.”

A groan came from Andreas’ side of the wall.

“Watch him,” said Andreas pointing at Trelos. He crawled over to Kouros.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I rammed my head into a concrete wall.”

“Close. It was stone. Someone took a shot at me but the bullet missed when I leaned in toward Trelos. You caught it in the middle of your chest and it knocked you back to where you fell and hit your head on the wall.”

Kouros pushed himself up on his elbows. “Where’s Trelos?”

“Over there, sitting on the wall like he’s at a picnic watching butterflies.”

Kouros tried to get up.

“Hold on there, fella, you’ve taken quite a hit.”

“I’ve had worse.” Kouros stood up and stared at Trelos. “And given a lot worse.”

Andreas pulled Kouros back to the ground. “Careful, we haven’t found the shooter yet.”

Andreas looked at Trelos staring up the hill. “Who’s shooting at us?”

Trelos didn’t move.

“Did you hear me?”

Trelos nodded but said nothing.

“Asshole.” Kouros tried to lunge for him, but Andreas held him down.

Trelos shrugged. “I don’t care what you do to me. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Yianni, forget about him for now. We need better cover. Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“How about that building down there?” Tassos pointed at a small concrete shed at the bottom of the hill, adjacent to the eastern edge of the mound and across the road from Trelos’ house.

“It’s windowless,” said Trelos without turning to look. “You’ll be trapped inside with no way out but the door. We built it on top of a streambed running out of the mound to bring power and ventilation into the Vriokastro.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” said Andreas.

“My sister and I.”

“What about your brother?” said Tassos.

“No, Petros never comes here anymore. Not since our parents died. He lives up on the mountain. He has no idea what we’ve done here.”

“Does he know how to get inside the mound?” said Tassos.

“Some of the ways, not all of them.”

“Like through the cave?” said Kouros.

“That’s one, but we rarely use it. Tourists kept coming there trying to find a way inside the mound. A few years ago a young American couple almost found the entrance.”

“What happened to them?” said Kouros.

“A storm came up and they drowned in the cave. That’s when I decided to seal off anything suggesting there might be something more than the front of the cave. I also mounted a camera so we could see whoever came inside. It looks like part of the stone roof. And I put in a sensor that sets off an alarm if something heavier than a goat stands in the alcove inside the cave.”

“Guess that’s how the shooter made us,” said Kouros.

“But that means the shooter had to be inside the mound when we were in the cave.” Andreas looked at Trelos. “Who else knows how to get inside?”

“No one but my brother and sister.”

“And anyone interested enough in your activities to have followed you,” said Andreas. “Sort of the same way you found the Foundation’s secret hiding places. By trailing Foundation employees.”

Trelos shrugged. “It’s all over now.”

“What I can’t figure out is how you managed to find your way inside all those places once you located them?” said Andreas.

“It wasn’t very difficult. Much of what I needed was in old records, mainly in the Archeological Museum just down Megalochari Avenue from Panagia Evangelistria. Those records were my roadmaps into most of the places. Getting into the others was like solving elaborate puzzles, and I like puzzles.”

“Weren’t you worried about getting caught?”

Trelos gestured no. “I was careful. I never went to the same location more than twice a month, and I always took only what I could carry in the pack around my waist. Did you notice that I always carry my iPod in my hand, even though I have a waist pack?” He shook his head. “No one ever noticed that.”

“How did you handle electronic security?” said Tassos.

“It was a challenge at times, but they never installed anything sophisticated and I had all the equipment I needed to get around whatever they tried.”

“Where’s your equipment?” said Tassos.

Trelos pointed at the ground. “Here.”

“Speaking of ‘here,’ I think it’s time we get away from here.” Andreas pointed up the hill to the boulders where Tassos last saw the shooter. “My guess is there’s a way inside the mound from there.” Andreas looked at Trelos. “Am I right?”

Trelos nodded. “But I don’t think you’ll find anything. Anyone who knows how to get inside the Vriokastro could be anywhere by now.”

“Wounded and with a gun,” said Tassos.

Andreas nodded. “More of a reason to get moving. I’d rather be the hunter than the hunted.”

For those who believed in ghosts the evening was theirs. The figure that emerged from the very top of the ancient site was shrouded in black and moved like a cat. It held a broomstick in one hand, or at least something long, and found a perch on the east side of the peak. It watched four others making their way up the hill. The figure didn’t budge, just sat quietly holding the broomstick.

“Up there, to the right,” said Tassos.

The spot was a group of boulders about sixty feet from the peak. “They look like a coven of witches,” said Kouros.

“Just worry if one starts to move,” said Andreas. “Trelos, where’s the entrance?”

Trelos pointed to a dark oval about the size of a front door and ringed by the boulders.

“That’s where the shooter was, inside that hole,” said Tassos.

The four men made their way to the opening.

“Yianni, stay out here with Trelos. Tassos come with me.”

“You’ll never find the entrance without me,” said Trelos.

“He’s right,” said Tassos. “I couldn’t find it when I was looking around inside and it’s a rather obvious spot for tourists to explore.”

Andreas took Trelos by the arm and pushed him through the opening. “Fine. But don’t even think of pulling something.”

“I have no reason to. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“How about killing five people?”

“I know nothing about any of that.”

“What about robbing a church. Does that count as ‘wrong’ to you?”

“I didn’t do it for the money, my family is very rich. I was recovering what my parents had given away to strangers, so that I could do God’s work in a better way and, in the process, redeem my parents’ souls for all the grievous harm they’d done to me. And to my sister.”

“Yeah, I heard all about her broken engagement,” said Andreas.

“That is only part of what they did to her. She suffered much more difficult and tragic pain than that.”

“Frankly, I’m more worried about the pain the shooter’s causing us.” Andreas turned on his flashlight. “Just get me inside your mound.”

Five paces in Trelos stopped at two abutting boulders. To the left was an alcove filled with goat crap, candy wrappers, and empty water bottles.

“The leavings of visitors, I see.” Andreas shone his light on the ground in front of the two boulders. “Blood stains. And they end here.”

Trelos reached up, pressed his hand into an opening between the boulders, and fidgeted with something for a moment. He shook his head. “The release won’t work. It’s locked down from the inside. We can’t get in from here.”

“Where’s the next nearest entrance?”

“It won’t matter. If one’s locked down they’re likely all locked down.”

“How do we get in?”

Trelos shook his head. “We don’t. Unless whoever’s inside wants to let us in.”

“Terrific, a siege.”

“We could get in if we found the entrance used by the last one to get out.”

“Then there’d be no one left in there to catch?” Andreas pointed toward the outside with his flashlight. “You first. I wouldn’t want you getting lost on the way out.”

Outside, it was Yianni and Tassos who’d disappeared.

Andreas whispered, “Yianni? Tassos?”

“Above you, behind the boulders,” said Tassos.

Andreas pushed Trelos ahead of him toward Tassos’ voice.

“What are you doing up here?” said Andreas.

“The boulders give us cover on the east from a shooter below. And those,” Tassos pointed at stonewalls to the left and right, “give us at least some to the north and south.”

Andreas looked up the hill. “What if the shooter’s up there?”

“Then we’ve got a problem,” said Tassos.

“Add it to the list,” said Andreas. “We can’t get into the mound, everything is sealed from the inside, and whoever’s still in there could pop up anywhere. I better check out the peak, just to be safe.”

Andreas pointed at a boulder and said to Trelos, “Sit over there.”

“Be careful, Andreas,” said Tassos. “But don’t worry, if anybody shoots you, I shoot Trelos. ” Tassos said the last words loudly and pointed his gun at Trelos. “ Just in case anyone up there is listening.”

Andreas shook his head and started up the hill. It wasn’t as easy a climb as it looked. The path was off to the left but Andreas headed straight up toward the peak and the last twenty-five feet was on solid slippery rock. Twice he stumbled, once almost losing his gun.

Just before reaching the top he thought he heard a sound. Like fabric brushing against stone. He froze as his eyes darted about for the source of the sound. A pebble tumbled down the hill on the other side of the peak. It could be a goat or a lizard or a bird. Or the shooter. Andreas took a deep breath, winced at the pain in his rib, and charged the last few feet to the top.

There was nothing waiting for him. Thank God.

He did a three-hundred-sixty-degree scan down the mound. There wasn’t a living creature to be seen. Damnit.

The way back was easier. He took the path down the hill.

“Nothing up there that I could see,” said Andreas.

“Maybe the shooter is holed up inside the Vriokastro, bleeding to death from my bullet.”

“Aside from praying that you’re right, what do we do until then?” said Kouros.

Andreas sat down on a footstool-size rock at Trelos’ feet. “I think it’s time you give us some answers. Let’s start with why you killed the Carausii brothers?”

“I already told you. I don’t know anything about that.”

“My friend over here is very upset with you. You almost got him killed. So, unless you want things to get very nasty for you very quickly, I suggest you tell us everything you know about the Carausii brothers.”

“He doesn’t know.” The voice seemed more to mimic than be human speech.

Andreas swung his head around in the direction of the voice. Thirty feet to his left a shrouded face stared at him from behind a stonewall. And a rifle barrel pointed at his eyes.

Andreas swallowed. His gun was on his lap, but he didn’t dare go for it. “I guess if you wanted to kill me you’d have already pulled the trigger. Is there something you want to say?”

The shooter’s focus did not stray from the riflescope. Nor finger from the trigger.

“I guess you’re the executioner part of Trelos’ secret society,” said Andreas.

“He would do honor to Greece in a way no one has in a very long time. He would make life better for many, and bring change not just to Tinos, but to places all over the world desperate to make immigrants a productive part of their societies.”

“And what part were you supposed to play in all this? A Manto Mavrogenous sort of heroine?”

“She was never appreciated during her life and deserved a far better end than she received.”

“Is that why you learned to shoot? To be like her, a warrior for your brother’s cause?”

Trelos spoke before his sister could answer. “Meerna mastered her Olympic skills long before any of this.”

“What do pole vaulting and hurdling have to do with shooting?” said Tassos. He and Kouros sat frozen in place about ten feet up the hill from Andreas.

“You’re thinking of the decathlon. Her event was the pentathlon.”

“So?” said Tassos.

“The pentathlon covers five sports, swimming, cross-country running, an equestrian event, fencing, and…” Trelos paused. “Pistol shooting.”

“The skills of war.” Andreas swallowed again. “Strange training for a woman, don’t you think?” He hoped the more they talked the better the chance of working something out before Meerna pulled the trigger.

“Our parents did not think that way,” said Trelos. “Our family’s ancestors were military heroes and there is history on Tinos tied back to Manto Mavrogenous. Meerna’s skills were a source of great pride to mother and father, but when our parents prevented her from marrying the man she loved she refused to compete again. She did that to hurt them, but I think her decision harmed her much more than it did our parents.”

“How did your sister feel about your parents’ death?” Andreas held his breath.

Meerna kept staring straight down the barrel at Andreas’ head. Her only movement was a slight flick of her trigger finger.

“It was an accident,” said Trelos still sitting on the ground.

Andreas looked up at the moon. “It’s a beautiful night to be outside. I know you love being out in the dark, Trelos. Bet it doesn’t even matter if there’s moonlight. You’ve come here so often I’m sure you could find your way blindfolded.

“Sort of makes me think of your father driving along a road he must have taken thousands of times, not having had a drop to drink, suddenly falling asleep at the wheel. And your poor mother. Hard to imagine she wouldn’t sense when her husband of more than forty years was getting sleepy, and wouldn’t do whatever it took to make sure he stayed awake for the rest of their brief trip home. Or make him pull over.

“Then again, maybe your mother fell asleep first? But she didn’t have anything to drink either, and somehow I think your parents had a lot to talk about on their trip back home. For instance, how concerned they must have been that their only daughter was so sick she couldn’t even lay down in the back seat for the short trip home. Can’t you just imagine what they must have been saying about her?”

Trelos leaned forward. “They wouldn’t have been talking about Meerna. They would have been talking about me. They considered themselves pillars of Tinos’ society, protectors of island traditions, and they insisted on us being nothing less than perfect children. But perfect to them did not include a daughter who disobeyed traditional practices or a son whose vision was broader than their own myopic ways.”

Trelos got to his feet. “They were going to send me back to that clinic in Switzerland. She was afraid for me. She cried for weeks after I came back from there the first time. She promised me she’d never let anyone hurt me again.”

“Are you saying your sister killed your parents to keep them from sending you away?” said Tassos. “What did she do, drug them?”

“I have no idea what happened. At their funeral she made me promise that each of us would always protect the other, because there was no one else in the world we could trust to keep us safe.”

Trelos looked at his sister. “But not like this, Meerna. Not like this.”

Trelos stepped between Andreas and Meerna. “Put down the gun or kill me.” He walked toward her and reached for the rifle.

The shot came from another direction.

Tassos’ left hand had been holding his gun by his side from the moment he heard Meerna’s voice. But he couldn’t attempt a shot at the tiny target she offered while her rifle was fixed on Andreas. When Trelos reached for her rifle Tassos brought up his gun and began firing one-handed up and down in line with Meerna’s head. She flinched at the spray of stone and splattering lead, and swung her rifle in Tassos’ direction, but by then Andreas had grabbed his gun and was firing at her too. She ducked down behind the wall.

“ No!” shouted Trelos and he flung himself over the wall onto his sister.

Andreas was right behind him and stepped on the rifle barrel, pinning it to the ground. Meerna struggled to pull it free but Andreas pointed his gun at her head. “Like your brother said, ‘ It’s over.’”

Trelos sat on the ground by his sister, holding his hands over his eyes, shaking his head, and repeating, “What have you done…”

“Handcuff her, Yianni,” said Andreas.

Kouros cuffed Meerna’s hands behind her back. She didn’t struggle.

Andreas reached down, took Trelos by the arm, and pulled him to his feet. “Turn around.” Andreas handcuffed him and led him back to the spot where a moment before Andreas had been his sister’s target. “Sit here, with your back to the boulder.” But before Trelos could sit Andreas whispered in his ear, “Thanks for what you did.”

Andreas looked at Kouros. “Put her over here, next to her brother.” He whispered no words to her.