Sergey shrugged. “What of it? Lefteris is like you. He knows nothing of my plans. He has nothing to tell him.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
“What was that all about?” said Lefteris sitting down and waving for a waiter.
“We were just discussing mutual acquaintances,” said Andreas.
“If they’re ‘mutual’ with Wacki, my guess is they’re guys you put away.” He waved again at the waiter. “Or ought to.”
“We’ll see what we can do about that,” said Andreas. “But for now I just want to talk about the hotel.”
“What about it?”
The waiter came running. Andreas waited until Lefteris ordered for everyone and the waiter had left.
“Why do you think Sergey is buying it?”
“Because he wants to be in the hotel business. Why else?”
“That’s my question.”
“But what other reason could there be? He can’t sell the property. All he’s permitted to do is what the lease allows.”
“Does it make sense to you that a foreigner like Sergey is willing to pay so much just to operate a hotel?”
“I’m not interested in making sense out of what’s going through someone’s mind who wants to give me a lot of money.”
“Indulge my curiosity. We both know that no matter what you’re actually making running this place as a hotel, on and off the books, the price he’s paying can’t be justified.”
“I pay every cent of my taxes.”
“Yes, I’m sure. Then if I were you I’d be straining my brain for justification to the tax authorities as to why a stranger to the hotel business is buying a lease on a hotel whose total profit over the past five years is less than a single year’s bank interest on the purchase price.”
“You seem to know a lot about the deal.”
“I’m a national hero, remember. People tell me things. Besides, that memorandum of understanding you signed with Sergey and submitted to the ministry of tourism disclosed the purchase price and the bank accounts of your friend Sergey that will make you a very rich man.”
“So what do you want me to do, guess?”
“Go for it.”
Lefteris shrugged. “Fine, I’m always up for party games. How about turning it into a house of prostitution? The lease doesn’t permit it, but at times it seems that way anyway. Then again, on this island the paying clientele would be limited.” He smiled.
“Maybe a high-end house?” said Kouros.
“You guys are serious about this, aren’t you? Okay, from my experience here’s my bottom line opinion on a high-end prostitution operation. Classy hookers working this kind of high-roller destination would end up turning it into a wedding chapel for old farts and young tarts.”
Andreas laughed. “Catchy phrase.”
“Mottos for businesses. It’s my gift. My favorite was, ‘Don’t fret, get wet, lay a bet.’”
“What level of whorehouse was that supposed to be?” said Kouros.
“No, wise-ass, it was my motto for turning this place into a seaside casino.”
“A casino?” said Andreas.
“Yeah, I had the idea twenty years ago, when the ministry of finance was still giving out casino licenses. I even negotiated a modification to the lease with the ministry of tourism that would allow the place to operate as a casino if I ever got the license.”
“What happened?”
“The ministry of finance stopped issuing licenses. All you can do these days is buy an existing one, but you can’t move it to a different location. Once you have the license it’s regulated by the ministry of tourism, but my friends there can’t help me with getting one for Mykonos. That’s all in the hands of the ministry of finance and brutal politics.”
“What sort of politics?”
“Many kinds, but the most obvious is that the nine casinos already out there don’t want more competition. And certainly not of the sort Mykonos could bring to the table. Can you imagine what a casino would do for Mykonos? It would turn the place into the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean.”
“And that’s a good thing?” said Kouros.
Andreas rubbed his forehead. “Don’t you think the island has gone about as far off in the ‘nightlife direction’ as the Mykonians can take?”
“Maybe, but it has only profited the handful of locals who control it. Look, I love this place as much as any Mykonian. I grew up here and raised my family here. But I’m a realist. There is no going back to the old days. None. All we can do is try to protect the future, make things fairer so that no longer will one man get rich and another go to jail for doing exactly the same thing just because one has connections and the other does not.
“If we’d commit as a community to turning our island into a worldwide entertainment destination, a Las Vegas on the sea, it would become a year-round tourist attraction, and not just a place for partying kids in the summer.”
Lefteris turned his hands palms up and shrugged. “But none of that is ever going to happen. Even an ex-prime minister couldn’t get a license for a casino on Mykonos. The big boys here have all the juice and the big boys elsewhere don’t want Mykonos to have a casino. And you don’t have to look very hard to see how nasty some of them are willing to play.”
“You mean like casino employees jumping out of windows in what are called ‘suicides’?” said Kouros.
“You got it. Those boys play for keeps. So, unless you’re prepared to play by their rules, stay away.”
“Sounds like good advice,” said Kouros.
“It’s the same advice as I gave Christos.”
Andreas leaned in. “Christos Vasilakis?”
Lefteris nodded. “He came to me about a year ago. He remembered that I’d negotiated a lease modification to operate the hotel as a casino and wanted to know if I’d be willing to go partners with him if he could get a license from the ministry of finance.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. I said no. I’m not a fool. Christos and I were friends since he came to the island. The only way he’d be able to pull that off would be by squeezing some very serious balls. I wanted no part of that sort of aggravation at this point in my life. Besides, I took it more as a big show for his putana girlfriend.”
Andreas cleared his throat. “She was with Christos when he talked to you about getting a license to turn the hotel into a casino?”
Lefteris nodded. “Tits and all.”
Don’t fret, get wet, lay a bet.
***
Andreas and Kouros walked along the harborfront. It was filled with tourists speaking every language but Greek. Still, the two men spoke quietly, just in case Greek might be a second language for some.
“Son of a bitch. He’s planning to go into the casino business,” said Kouros.
Andreas nodded. “It all fits. Ties everything together. Christos planned on using his files to extort a license for a casino on Mykonos. The girlfriend passed the idea on to Sergey, he went to Teacher for financing, and here we are. Two bodies later and Sergey’s on the verge of bringing Russian gangsterism to Mykonos.”
“As tough as Greek bad boys like to think they are, the Russians will chew them up. Wholly different rules. No one, not a child, mother, you name it, is off limits.”
“And once here, they’ll want a piece of everything they can get their hands on,” said Andreas. “Those big clubs with bullet-proof rooms for protecting all that cash they generate each night will need tanks to hold off the Russians.”
“Las Vegas may not be a bad comparison for the way Mykonos could end up. I hear it’s surrounded by desert filled with never-to-be-discovered bodies. Mykonos has the Aegean.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t go that way.”
“What’s to stop it? If all it takes is money to do whatever you want, those with the most get to call the shots,” said Kouros.
Andreas put his arm around Kouros’ shoulder. “If you’re right, there’s nothing you or I can do to affect the end of that story; it’s all up to the Mykonians. But there is something you and I can do about one miserable motherfucker named Sergey.”
“What do you have in mind?”