Free Santorini Caesars by Jeffrey Siger Page B

attitude when it comes to distrusting anyone who washes the family’s dirty laundry outside the house.”
    â€œThe Brigadier’s style has me wondering how much he actually knew in advance of what the minister had in mind for our little get-together this morning.”
    â€œDo you think his standing up for you and tossing Prada across the desk was an act?”
    â€œCan’t say, but what he did in there made me feel I owed him big-time. So much so that, one cup of coffee later, here I am committed to going after his Caesars. If they’re truly as right wing and fanatic an organization as the Brigadier suggests, they’re obviously also a serious threat to the current government. And Prada likely knows that too. Prada also undoubtedly knows that for his leftist government to take the Caesars on openly would only more deeply divide our seriously polarized population along left-right lines.”
    Andreas shook his head. “Wouldn’t it be nice for the government if it could get me, a one-time minister in the former conservative government, to spearhead an investigation that brings down the Caesars, or at least fatally brands the group as terrorist?”
    â€œSounds rather devious, don’t you think?”
    â€œOn all levels, by everyone involved. Prada and the Brigadier could be playing together or have separate games all aimed at getting us to focus on the Caesars. I know it sounds crazy, but from his performance back in Babis’ office, Prada might have been betting that the Brigadier wouldn’t bury me and that he could push him into doing something that made me feel indebted to him. After all, no one tried to stop us from leaving the ministry, and Prada and Babis had to know going into the meeting there wasn’t the slightest possibility of my standing up before the press and taking the blame for their screw-up.”
    Yianni glanced at Andreas. “And you say I’m the one who’s hooked on conspiracy theories.”
    Andreas smiled. “With what we’ve been through over the last couple of years, is there anyone left in Greece who doesn’t think that way?”
    â€œSure,” said Yianni. “But I wouldn’t trust them. They’ve sold out.”
    Andreas stared at the side of Yianni’s face. “Just drive.”

Chapter Seven
    For centuries after its hellfire volcanic eruption in the mid-sixteenth century BCE, Santorini remained deserted, but its critical location, fertile soil, and awe-inspiring beauty ultimately drew new settlers and conquerors. Phoenicians, Franks, rulers from other parts of Greece, Persians, Romans, Venetians, and Turks laid claim, virtually all enduring earthquakes or volcanic eruptions of varying degrees during their occupation.
    Today, the main island of Santorini constitutes the eastern crescent—and by far largest—of five volcanic islands comprising a small circular archipelago. Three of those islands, Santorini (or Thera), Thirasia, and Aspronisi, are all that remain of the original island of Atlantis legend, with Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni born as new islands out of that and other eruptions, including more than two dozen in the Common Era alone.
    It seemed only fitting that an archipelago born out of ancient cataclysmic events, would be transformed by a modern catastrophe into the tourist paradise it is today, rivaled in reputation only by its Cycladic cousin Mykonos. On July 9, 1956, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Santorini in what was recorded as the largest to hit Greece in the twentieth century, severely damaging if not collapsing practically every building on the island. But much as with the mythical Phoenix, out of its destruction Santorini rose to what today is a place of fifteen thousand year-round residents drawing 1.7 million tourists annually—nine hundred thousand to its hotels and rooms, eight hundred thousand more from cruise ships.
    With forty-three miles of coastline, an