The Babylon Idol

Chapter 30

The next morning heralded another day of icy rain as Ben and Anna hurried through a simple and silent breakfast of coffee and toast in the empty restaurant, sitting at the same table they’d had dinner at the night before, with what little luggage they had packed and ready at their feet. Anna was all buttoned up in her coat, but still looked cold and miserable. ‘I have to get new clothes. These are ruined. A hobo wouldn’t wear trousers this filthy.’

‘No army surplus store in town,’ he said.

‘Maybe a Versace boutique, do you think?’

‘You Italians. It’s like a disease.’

‘Careful.’

At 8.30 a relic of a Lada Niva taxicab rattled and wheezed to a halt in the street outside, and a younger, less ursine version of Kris Christakos jumped out, left the engine running and came bursting enthusiastically inside his brother’s joint.

‘I am Nick,’ he announced brightly, striding up to their table like the ninth cavalry coming to the rescue of these poor, helpless, stranded tourists who so badly needed his services. He threw himself down in the empty seat next to Anna and showed her all his teeth in a wide grin. ‘I am mechanic. I take you to your van and fix her up, okay? Is no problem.’

Ben looked at him. ‘You say you can fix up the van?’

Nick grinned. ‘Sure, sure. Price is two hundred euros.’

‘Sounds a little steep,’ Ben said.

‘Hey. You know how it is. Parts are expensive. You give me the money now, we go fix her up, then you go on your way to Messini. Okay?’

‘Change of plan,’ Ben said. ‘We’re not going to Messini any longer. We need to get to Thessaloniki instead. Can you take us there?’

Anna was staring at Ben, bewildered. Nick was staring, too. ‘Thessaloniki is the other side of the country.’

‘I’m well aware of that,’ Ben said. ‘We’ll pay you for your trouble.’

‘What about your van?’

‘We’ll come back for it,’ Ben said. ‘Some other time.’

‘You are crazy. Three days, it will be gone. These kids now, they steal anything.’

‘They’re welcome to it. So will you drive us to Thessaloniki or not?’

Nick chewed his lip and looked doubtful. ‘Is too far, take too long. I have much mechanic work to do, you know? This time of year, it is most of my business.’

‘Tell you what, I’ll give you five hundred euros for the ride,’ Ben said, reaching into his bag and showing Nick a bundle of banknotes from his stash. ‘That’s better than two hundred for the repair job.’

Nick boggled at the sight of the money and swallowed hard. ‘I would love it, but then, my customers…’

‘Thessaloniki is what, four hours away?’ Ben said. ‘You’ll be gone eight. I doubt whether your customers will even know you’re gone.’

Nick’s face was busy for a moment as he churned it over. ‘Okay. I do it. Give me the money first.’

‘Half now, half when we get there,’ Ben said.

Nick pulled a grimace, then nodded. ‘Okay, okay.’ He grabbed the two-fifty from Ben’s hand and stuffed it in his pocket. He glanced at their bags. ‘You ready? We go right now. Let me go to toilet. I come right back.’

‘See you in a minute,’ Ben said, finishing his coffee. He watched as Nick stood up and hurried off in the direction of the toilets. The instant the mechanic was out of sight, Ben snatched up their bags and said to Anna, ‘Let’s go. Quickly.’

Before she could reply, he was whisking her outside towards the idling taxi. He tossed the bags on the back seat and clambered in behind the wheel. ‘Anna, come on.’

‘What are we doing?’ she asked, getting in.

‘Getting out of here as fast as we can,’ he said.

‘But he’s supposed to drive us. You gave him money.’

‘No, I bought something from him.’

‘What?’

‘His life.’ Ben slammed the Lada into gear and they took off.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’m sure Kris is an honest guy,’ Ben said, skidding around the corner. ‘Decent and hardworking, like his wife and daughter. But I’m not so sure the brother is as trustworthy. Or, for that matter, very intelligent.’

‘How did you figure all this out?’

‘He gave himself away in the first three sentences,’ Ben said. ‘When we talked to his brother last night, we told him our car had broken down. I never said anything to anyone about a van, did you? And yet Nick offered straight off to fix our van. Not our car.’

‘Oh,’ Anna said, realising.

‘That was his first mistake. After that, the next test he failed was turning down five hundred euros for a few hours’ drive.’

‘Why would he do that?’

They were heading out of town now, as fast as the old taxi would go. ‘Only one possible reason,’ Ben said. ‘Because he was desperate to lead us into an ambush in the woods.’

‘It was a trap?’

‘It’s probably all over the local news by now that the desperadoes who shot up Olympia are running loose about the countryside. My guess is that our friend Nick found the van up there in the forest, saw the bullet holes, put two and two together and figured out a way to get some money out of this. He’s probably got an even stupider buddy waiting behind a tree with a shotgun. The minute we rolled up they were aiming to nab us, rob us blind and then turn us in to the police for whatever extra reward they could get. He’s calling his mate right this minute, telling him there’s been a change of plan so they can rendezvous somewhere else along the road. Except it wouldn’t work out the way they expected, because I’d have had to kill them both. And I’d rather lose two hundred and fifty euros than kill anyone, even if they are brainless idiots.’

‘But when he realises we took his car, he’ll call the police.’

‘And he’ll tell them we’re headed north-east, for Thessaloniki,’ Ben said. ‘Why else would I have mentioned it?’

‘We’re not going to Thessaloniki?’ Anna asked, confused. She glanced out of the window. Andritsaina was out of sight behind them and they were winding further down the woody mountain road, veering through one hairpin bend after another with all the agility Ben could coax from a worn-out Lada taxi.

‘Nowhere near,’ Ben said. ‘We’re going the other way, south-east to Athens, and from there to see your guy in Ankara.’

‘We’ll never make it to Athens in this car. The police will be searching for it.’

Ben nodded. ‘And when they find it, we’ll be long gone. Relax.’

Anna said, ‘Relax? We’re escaping in a stolen car and we’re being hunted by the police and a gang of professional killers who want to kidnap me, and everywhere we go the locals are trying to trap us and rob us at gunpoint, and you say relax?’

‘Don’t exaggerate.’

‘What if the police arrest us at the airport?’

‘What occupation does your passport say?’

‘Author.’

‘If they’re looking for anyone specific at all, the only lead they have right now is for some unnamed history professor. As long as none of the cops have read any of your books and twig the connection — and I seriously doubt these guys read much other than comic books — we’ll be fine. For now, at any rate.’

‘This is how you live all the time, isn’t it?’ she asked him, arching an eyebrow. ‘This is just a normal day for you.’

‘You’ll get used to it,’ Ben replied. ‘In the meantime, let’s concentrate on getting out of Greece as fast as possible.’

‘This isn’t exactly what I would call fast,’ she said, eyeing the speedometer. The old Lada was struggling to reach a hundred kilometres an hour as they roared along a straight section of the mountain road.

‘The moment we spot a nice Ferrari, we’ll do a switch. What colour would you like?’

The chance for a switch came unexpectedly as they were winding down through the hills before hitting the motorway. It wasn’t a Ferrari, and there was little choice of colour. Their new vehicle was a mud-brown, rust-speckled Ford Granada that Ben spotted in the backyard of a row of rundown cottages outside a village. Nobody was about, and a barking dog was the only witness to their presence. Moments later, Ben was inside the Granada and hotwiring it, to Anna’s consternation.

‘I don’t know if I’m comfortable with this, Ben. I’ve never stolen a car before.’

‘You’re not doing anything.’

‘I’m a witness to a criminal act.’

‘Then close your eyes. In any case, we’re not stealing it, we’re buying it.’

The Ford fired up and seemed to run well enough, so true to his word he left a generous roll of cash, more than the thing was worth, on the cottage’s kitchen table. Which meant he first had to get inside the house, a quick and easy job.

Anna was shaking her head. ‘Let me get this right. You break into someone’s home to pay them for the car you just stole?’

‘Where else can I leave the money? Someone might steal it.’