Free Target: Tinos by Jeffrey Siger Page B

assistance and stay with the bodies.”
    Angelo ran toward Ermou, looking for something, anything. He ran into buildings, tried doors, grabbed anyone who looked suspicious, and did whatever else he could think of to make himself believe he had a snowball’s chance in hell of catching the shooter. But he knew it was a waste of time.
    Just then his phone rang. It was Kouros.
    ***
    “Busy night.” Andreas’ elbows were on his desk, his head in his hands, and his fingers rubbing his forehead. He dropped his hands and stared at Kouros and Tassos sitting across the desk from him. The three of them had just spent two hours with Angelo and Christina going over what happened in Syntagma.
    “That was no mugging,” said Tassos. “No matter what the guy with the stiletto might have hoped to make it look like.”
    “And not a sign anywhere that a shooter was ever there, except for the bullet through stiletto guy’s forehead,” said Andreas.
    “Can’t wait to see how the papers play this one,” said Kouros. “‘Today in Syntagma a target under surveillance by the Greek police was the victim of a professional hit and, although the killer was immediately apprehended on the scene without a fight by police, in a matter of seconds after his capture he was taken out by an unknown sniper.’”
    “So far, the only good news tonight was that we didn’t get whacked,” said Tassos.
    Andreas rubbed his eyes. “Don’t forget the call I got from our distinguished minister screaming about doing something to stop ‘foreign criminal elements’ from ‘slaughtering’ each other in ‘the heart of our beloved Athens.’”
    “Is that supposed to be more good news or bad?” said Kouros.
    “I wasn’t quite sure if he was upset about the ‘slaughtering’ or the fact it was done in Syntagma instead of somewhere else,” said Tassos.
    “That may be a bit harsh,” said Andreas. “I think that’s just Spiros’ way of spinning things to minimize heat from the press. Bad guys killing bad guys always seem to work. The good news was that he didn’t make the connection to the Tinos murders. And with any luck nor will the press.”
    “Yeah, dead tsigani are all alike,” said Tassos.
    Andreas starred at Tassos. “You’re incorrigible.”
    “Thank you,” said Tassos. “As a matter of fact, a member of Parliament once told me that if you wanted to understand the Greeks, think one word. ‘Incorrigible.’”
    Tassos stretched his arms out over his head and yawned. “Whoever arranged this had to know we were interested in Punka. It’s just too much of a coincidence. He was never in hiding, so if he were a threat to someone before we were on to him, he’d have been taken out long ago.”
    “Where’s our leak?” said Andreas.
    “Maybe it was Tassos’ tsigani contact, the one who hooked you up with Punka?” said Kouros.
    “Stefan is capable of anything. But that would be a very risky play for him. He knows that if I even thought he double-crossed me…” Tassos waved a hand in the air.
    “Maybe when the boys from our meeting tonight realized we were pressing the investigation into Punka’s murdered brothers they decided to take him out, too?” said Kouros.
    “And us along with him,” said Tassos.
    “Or it could be that Punka said something about the two of you busting his balls and it got back to someone who decided he was better off dead,” said Kouros.
    Andreas leaned across the desk and stared at Kouros. “You just gave me another candidate. When I was playing hardball with Punka in that taverna, if someone overheard me telling him I was a cop who wanted to talk to him about his brothers’ murders it would have made headlines on the tsigani gossip network.” Andreas slammed his right hand on the desk. “ Damnit. ”
    “That might mean whoever whacked Punka knows who you are,” said Tassos.
    “I never said my name.”
    “Punka might have told someone who you were after we dropped him at the taverna,” said