Hannah smiled at Xander, then at Chris. “Sonny and I will let you two exchange Ivy League stories.” She looped her arm through Sonny’s and pulled him along.
“Yes, please, help yourselves,” Xander said.
She bowed her head graciously, and they strolled deeper into the house, where most of the guests were congregated.
Xander turned to Chris, a calm, carefree smile on his face. “Would you like a drink?”
“No, thank you.” His purpose here was to find out about the hostage’s kidnapping, and having a purpose helped him to relax. He didn’t need a drink to do that for him.
“I had a friend in Harvard,” Xander said. “Which dorm were you in?”
“Wigglesworth Hall.”
“Ah. I do not know it. Sadly, I only visited the campus once.”
Chris directed the conversation back to Xander’s own experience. “Yale is an excellent university. And now you own Athens Sustainable Energy. That’s quite the accomplishment.”
Xander nodded. “The earth’s resources are finite, so we must manage them effectively. Our descendants’ survival depends on it. The twin pillars of my company are energy efficiency and renewable energy.”
“Do you see yourself in competition with fossil fuels?” Chris asked.
Xander shook his head. “Not at all. The human race can only survive off dead organisms for so long. We’re living on borrowed time. Whether Athens realizes it or not, she needs me. If not today, tomorrow.”
“Michael Winthrop is living on borrowed time… if he’s still alive,” Chris said, carefully watching the man’s reaction.
But Xander kept his face tranquil and his words even. “Yes, we attended the same embassy party. I first heard about the kidnapping on the news. It is terrible. And today your ambassador called me. Words desert me.”
“I was hoping maybe you could help us.”
“Of course, whatever I can do,” Xander said. “Though I am not sure I will be of much use.”
“What do you know about 21D? The kidnappers?”
“Only what I hear in the news. They are a pro-Marxist terrorist group with a history of attacks here in Greece. And they oppose the EU and NATO. That is about all I know.” A knock sounded at the door, but Xander ignored it. “I did not know Mr. Winthrop personally, but I hope he will be okay.”
“Do you have any idea what 21D stands for?”
Xander shook his head. The knock came again, but no one answered and Xander continued to ignore it.
“Have you ever talked to Michael before?” Chris asked.
“Not that I recall. There were a number of people at the party. It is possible we exchanged words.” The knock turned into a pounding now. “I am sorry. I am short one staff member. If you will excuse me.”
“Yes, of course.”
Xander left and answered the door. More guests poured in, and he chatted leisurely with them. Chris waited a few minutes, but when Xander didn’t return, he mingled with the other guests, keeping an eye on the host at all times.
The first two guests he approached spoke English as a lingua franca, and despite their European accents, their English was excellent.
“…NATO wants to recruit Ukraine as one of its members, so NATO can box Russia in,” said a bespectacled man.
The woman nodded in agreement, her gaze piercing Chris’s as she made eye contact. “Russia has a right to use its military to help Russophones in Ukraine.”
The man took a sip of his drink. “The Russian government just wants to bring legitimacy and stability to the region.”
“Exactly,” the woman said. “They merely want law and order.”
“And peace,” the man added.
“Yes!” she agreed.
Chris listened quietly. Both of them sounded too socialist for his blood, and although he agreed Russia had a right to defend its land and its people, he firmly opposed Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. He politely excused himself and roamed the room looking for someone who might actually be willing to help him find Michael.
He suddenly remembered his recording cell phone, took it out, and pressed Stop. Then he used his phone to upload the recording to a colleague’s website. The colleague, who was also a dear friend, was Young Park, a brilliant Agency tech who’d left the CIA but still did contract work. Then Chris sent an encrypted message requesting a voice-match analysis. Young ran a twenty-four-hour service, so he or one of his assistants would respond soon.
Hannah emerged from behind a group of people.
“Where’s Sonny?” Chris asked.
“Eating,” Hannah said with an eye roll. “Did you learn anything from Xander?”
“He claims he doesn’t know much.”
“With all his connections?” She quirked a brow. “That seems unlikely. Greece is attempting to recover from massive debt, and Xander is living like a king. Look around you. He spends his money freely, but he’s stingy with information.”
“He did invite us here,” Chris said.
Hannah frowned. “So we wouldn’t suspect him of any wrongdoing.”
“And he was kind enough to talk to me,” Chris countered.
“A small sacrifice on his part,” Hannah said. “The cost of retaining information.”
“This might be easier if you try to enjoy it,” Chris said.
Her voice was cold. “For some of us, life has never been easy.”
He frowned. Somehow the topic had changed very quickly. “You mean growing up in East LA?”
“The haves eat the have-nots,” she said. “My mother and I were the have-nots.”
Sonny appeared then, chewing a mouthful of food and tugging on his tie. “I’m tired of this monkey suit, and I’ve lived in better zoos.”
Hannah put her hand on Sonny’s shoulder. “I need you to come help me with something.”
Sonny grinned at Chris, as if to emphasize that Hannah had invited him to go with her rather than Chris.
“We’ll be right back,” Hannah said.
Before Chris could ask where they were going, she and Sonny were gone. Chris was grateful to her for keeping Sonny occupied, though. Operators like him were game changers to have in combat, but when the bullets weren’t flying, they could be difficult to keep out of trouble.
Chris surveyed the room, his gaze landing on a woman in her twenties who was smiling at him. She had an easy-going expression and blond highlights in her light-brown, shoulder-length hair. He returned the smile before he realized who she was. The woman in the video of the embassy party… Xander’s daughter, Evelina.
She disappeared in the crowd; his heartbeat quickened as he searched for her, and it continued to hammer steadily. She could have information about Michael’s disappearance. He spotted her again, and she smiled at him again before exiting the house through a pair of French doors.
As Chris followed her outside, a brief panic grew in his chest. These same people were at the party where Michael was taken. If they were involved…
Will someone try to kidnap me, too?
No. That was silly. And even if they tried, he was well armed and had his team here for support. He took a deep breath and approached Evelina, who now sat in a lounge chair near an infinity pool. The sun had dropped behind the mansion, casting a shadow on the backyard.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked.
She gestured for him to have a seat. “Please.” Her miniskirt exposed most of her legs, and she held a handkerchief in her lap. “I noticed you the moment you walked in.”
He sat down across from her. “Have we met before?” he asked, worried for a second that maybe she knew him from somewhere and his cover as a legal attaché was in danger.
“No, this is the first time.” She pulled her handkerchief farther up her lap, exposing the gap between her miniskirt and her thighs, showing the white triangle of her panties.