"Anybody else?" I asked.
Kriezotou sighed. "Yes. The attacks have also been directed against the men who generally vote with Kotsikas — Colonels Plotarchou and Glavani. In fact, the man who poses as your secretary, Nikkor, came to me recently with the information that all three of these men are to be — murdered."
Erika and I exchanged looks. Stavros was getting down to his business. His kind of business.
"Do you know anything specific?" I asked Kriezotou.
"Well, a little. I was asked to arrange for a meeting of these three men with yourself, Nikkor. But then the man I thought was your secretary called. He said that they were arranging the meeting for the penthouse. I believe it is at this meeting that an attempt will be made on the lives of the three colonels."
"We have to find out exactly what Stavros has planned and when," I said.
"Yes," Kriezotou agreed. "I have been absolutely frantic about this. I could not believe that you wanted this."
"It will all be well," Minourkos assured him.
I wished I could agree with him. It appeared Stavros was on the verge of a bloody takeover, and we had to stop him before it happened. "Call the junta leader Kotsikas and try to find out whether the Stavros people have contacted him," I said to Kriezotou. "Don't mention the possibility of assassination yet."
"Very well," Kriezotou replied. "Kotsikas may talk to me. I will certainly try."
"And you, Mr. Minourkos," I said, "are going to be able to help, too. You can get in touch with the leaders of the two bases where Stavros' military groups are being kept. I suspect that if the Athenians were to give Stavros any trouble when this multiple assassination is supposed to occur, Stavros would try to move these special troops to Athens very quickly to quell any reaction. I would like you to tell the leaders at these camps to stay there and not to move their troops unless they hear from you personally."
"Very well, Mr. Carter," Minourkos agreed.
"It's pretty clear that Stavros cannot just kill these men without some subterfuge." I looked over at Kriezotou. "Do you think he might try to make the whole thing appear an accident or the work of some radical political group?"
Kriezotou arched his graying brows. "Either that, Mr. Carter, or he will try to throw some dirt on them in the way of propaganda just before he kills them so that they will have lost the sympathy of the people."
Seven
The three of us returned to the hotel. Minourkos had wanted to stay with Kriezotou, but I had been afraid that would be too dangerous. If for any reason Stavros distrusted Kriezotou, he might storm into the general's residence without warning. I didn't want him to find Minourkos there if he did.
We had a meal sent to Minourkos' room and afterwards Erika and I went to her room. We soon got around to discussing Stavros.
"I just can't sit here and wait to see what Stavros has in mind for the junta leaders," I said as we sat on a small sofa sipping brandy that Erika had ordered.
Erika moved against me. She kissed me gently on my cheek. "You can't just storm into the penthouse, as you yourself said," she commented. Her long hair glinted in the dim light.
"No," I said, moving a hand onto her thigh. I turned to her, and we kissed lightly. "But I can go to the penthouse and try to get inside. I might be able to get a look at their defensive set-up."
She kissed my cheek and neck, and a small chill, a pleasant one, inched along my flesh.
"How would we manage that?" she asked in that throaty voice while her hand started unbuttoning my shirt.
"We wouldn't," I corrected her. The hand was becoming very distracting. "I would go up there alone on some ruse."
A long, white thigh slid over my lap, and her dress hiked up exposing the beginning of a rich curve of buttocks. Her hips moved against me. "But I would like — to go with you."
The warm lips touched mine again. Her tongue moved delicately to my mouth, probing and seeking. Her right hand had moved much lower and found what it was after, and I couldn't think of Adrian Stavros anymore.
"I'm going alone," I whispered. "Tomorrow."
I reached into her dress and caressed her breasts. The sweeping curves were soft yet firm, pressing eagerly against my touch.
"All right, darling," Erika breathed into my ear.
"Good," I said softly. "No more arguments."
"Would I argue with you," she said, pressing her mouth to mine.
The kiss was a long one, and Erika was ready. When it was over, she began undressing me. I took over, and she got up and walked to the big double bed across the room. She pulled the dress off, then the bra and pink bikini panties. She was vibrant and beautiful. Every curve of her body was perfect She flung herself onto the soft bed and lay there waiting for me. I didn't delay. In another moment I was beside her on the bed, reaching and grasping and touching her body, feeling it melt against mine as the passion built in both of us.
"Oh, Nick," she said, touching me, her breath coming unevenly.
My hands found her roughly, and I moved over her. A few seconds later there were lovely sounds coming from her. She became a clawing, raging, primitive woman, losing all control as she thrust to accept fulfillment deep inside her.
Later, after Erika had fallen asleep, I left her bed and quietly went to my own room. She didn't awaken.
The next morning I left Erika and Minourkos at the hotel and went to the Apollo building. I had obtained a uniform from a local crew of window washers who worked regularly in the building and who were allowed access to the penthouse with a pass. Minourkos had helped me forge a pass and I had also blackened my hair at the hotel and pasted on a dark mustache so I would appear to be Greek. I lied to the guard outside, a uniformed building employee, saying that Madoupas had ordered the penthouse windows to be cleaned.
I couldn't even get on the special elevator until I had identified myself. The elevator operator was obviously one of Stavros' men. A gun bulged under his blue uniform. He eyed me and my pail suspiciously as we rose to the penthouse. No other elevator went up there and, according to Minourkos, the one stairway leading down from the top floor was blocked off and guarded.
When I got off the elevator, I found myself in a plush corridor that ran from the front to the rear of the building. It had thick pile carpeting and planters and fancy chandeliers hanging from a high ceiling. Two guards sat at a desk at the entrance to the penthouse. They were Stavros' hired thugs, part of his personal army. Minourkos' own guards, who had been few, had to have been dismissed shortly after the secret takeover of the penthouse.
One of the two men, the taller, came to meet me in the middle of the corridor. He was anything but friendly.
"What is your business?" he demanded.
I responded in my best Greek. "Is my business not obvious?" I asked. "I come to wash windows."
"Who sent you?"
I pointed to a cloth patch on the uniform that bore the name of the small window washing business."
"Did your employer have orders from the penthouse?"
"If they didn't, I would not be here," I answered. I took a big gamble. "I heard Madoupas' name mentioned."
The other man scowled darkly from the table. He had light hair and a very tough look, and I figured him to be one of the men Stavros had brought with him from Brazil As he studied my face, I felt that he was seeing right through my disguise.
"Hmmph," the man beside me grunted. "Turn to the wall and place your hands against it."