Free Devil of Delphi: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery by Jeffrey Siger

you would be dead if I wanted you that way.”
    “Wrong on the last point. You’d be dead by now, and still may be if you don’t put that thing down.”
    “Foolish and brazen,” said the person in the backseat. “Some might say arrogant.”
    “Panos, take a look at my left hand and tell your friend what you see.”
    Panos slowly lowered his head to where he could see Kharon’s left hand. “He’s got a pistol grip sawed-off shotgun sticking out of a messenger bag pointed at you through the seat.”
    “You forgot to mention it’s a twelve gauge.”
    “Well done,” said the one in the backseat. “My compliments.”
    “Spare me and drop the Uzi, butt-first, onto the front seat where I can see it.”
    The gun dropped on the seat between Kharon and Panos.
    “Thank you.”
    “Young man, I think it might be a good idea if we got out of here. Your cycling colleagues have fled, perhaps to get the police. Why don’t you come back here with me? Bring your toys with you, and Panos, switch with your unconscious friend and get us out of here before Athens’ finest shows up.”
    Kharon took the gun from Panos’ hip, another from the driver, and put them, the knife, and the Uzi in the messenger bag. He slid over the front seat into the backseat on the driver’s side, still holding the shotgun. “So, is our interview finished, madame?”
    The trim woman adjusted the jacket of her black pantsuit and brushed a stray strand of dark hair away from her sunglasses back toward the tight bun that held the rest of her hair in place. “How did you ever get the derelict to perform precisely at two?”
    “I gave him fifty euros and an alarm clock set to go off at two to remind him that if he danced and held up the sign when the alarm went off, he’d get another hundred.”
    The woman nodded. “You’re very good.”
    Kharon showed no expression. “You knew all you wanted to know about me before you set this up. Why am I here?”
    “Not ‘all.’”
    The SUV pulled away and turned right at the first street off the promenade.
    The woman leaned toward the front seat. “Take us back to the plane.”
    “Whoa, I’m not going anywhere on a plane.”
    She sat back and turned her head to face Kharon. “I understand, but I must leave, and by the time we reach the airport you and I will have concluded our business, one way or the other.”
    He met her look, though he couldn’t see her eyes through her sunglasses. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
    She shrugged. “Nothing more than what it seems. Either we shall reach a deal or decide to go our separate ways. A talent such as yours is too precious to waste, and I assume I’ll have your word as a gentleman that if we cannot reach an agreement you will not divulge what we’ve talked about.”
    “Why do I think that won’t be enough of a guarantee for you?”
    “Because you’re cautious. But once you know who I am and what I have in mind you’ll realize that if you talk about what I am about to tell you, it won’t hurt me. It will just show me that I cannot trust your discretion, and that would be a dangerous mistake for you to make.”
    “You’ve not yet made me a believer.”
    “But you have all the guns.” She pointed at his shotgun and messenger bag. “What do I have to match them?”
    “How about what Helen used to launch a thousand ships?”
    She smiled. “Why, Kharon, you’re a charmer, too.”
    “But is it enough to keep the cobra from striking the charmer? That’s all I want to know.”
    She leaned forward, pressed a button, and a dark plexiglass screen rose up out of the back of the front seat to the ceiling. “There. That gives us both privacy to talk and a sign to you of my good faith.”
    “What sign?” said Kharon.
    She smiled again. “That divider screen is made of bulletproof plexiglass. Had you blasted away with your shotgun when it was down, the shot wouldn’t have penetrated beyond the back of the front seats. If I’d wanted, I could