Chapter 45- D A R I O
When we pulled up to the airstrip it was dark. My heart sank when I didn’t see a plane and Radamanthos was sitting on the hood of his car with a few men, and no Hera. I parked the Audi on the empty airstrip next to Radamanthos and Linus and I got out of the car. I tried not to blame myself when I asked in our native tongue,
“Mas éleipsan?”
*“Did we miss them?”*
Radamanthos shook his head with sympathy and replied,
“Den ítan poté edó.”
*“They were never here.”*
Radamanthos picked something up off the hood of his car and hung it in the air: Hera’s purse. I retrieved it from his hands and opened it as he explained one of his men found it on the airstrip when they arrived. I found Hera’s phone and became angry *he* had gotten away with *my* Hera.
I closed the purse back up and asked firmly,
“Poú páme tóra? Poú eínai to plisiéstero aerodrómio?”
*“Where do we go now? Where is the nearest airport?”*
Radamanthos shook his head again and said,
“Lypámai, allá échoun ídi fýgei.”
*“I’m sorry, but they’re already gone.”*
The anger burned in my veins, I thought my skin was going to melt off.
“Metá páme ekeí!”
*“Then we go there!”*
I barked. Radamanthos shook his head for the third time and I thought I was going to explode.
“Den échoume plíroma ekeí.Den boroúme na analávoume mia olókliri oikogéneia móno me tous treis mas,”
*“We don’t have a crew there. We can’t take on an entire family with just the three of us,”*
He explained.
“Boroúme na chrisimopoiísoume to plíromá mou stin Elláda,”
*“We can use my crew in Greece,”*
I suggested. I made up my mind, we were going to rescue Hera using my crew. Radamanthos started shaking his fucking head again and I put my hand up to stop him. He took a deep breath and said,
“Den boroúme na páme mazí sas, prépei na meínoume me ti despoinís Sófi.”
*“We cannot go with you, we must stay with Miss Sophie.”*
I shook my head and exclaimed,
“Fine! I’ll go by myself!”
I opened the driver side door and looked at Linus, he looked back at me then looked at Radamanthos and said,
“You can stay with Miss Sophie, I am going with Dario to rescue my goddaughter.”
My eyes widened at the new piece of information before Linus and I got back in the car. Linus queued up the gps and I peeled out of the airstrip and hauled ass to the airport.
When we arrived at the airport, Linus mentioned I should call Ambrosio while he went to get us tickets to the first flight out to Greece. He seemed a little excited to be heading back to the MotherLand.
When Linus was out of earshot, I pulled out my phone and dialed Ambrosio. He answered after the third ring,
“Geia sou Ntário! Pós páei?”
*“Hey Dario! How is it going?”*
“Vasiliá Amvrósio, lypámai allá o den einai kalo. Káti kakó échei symveí. Aimiliáno írthe edó kai píre tin Íra,”
*“King Ambrose, I'm sorry but it’s not good. Something bad has happened. Emiliano came here and took Hera,”*
I replied. It was silent for a moment and I grew nervous. Finally Ambrosio lost it,
“Fuck, Dario! You had one fucking job! Why didn’t you kill him like we discussed?”
I couldn’t bite my tongue,
“He ambushed us in public! I couldn’t kill him in a crowded restaurant!”
It was quiet again and I nervously started rambling,
“I’m at the airport getting a ticket to head out there to get her back-”
Ambrosio cut me off,
“Don’t bother Dario. I’ll take care of it myself.”
He hung up on me and I shoved my phone in my pocket to stop myself from throwing it across the room. Linus walked up to me, two tickets in hand trying to hide his smile. He asked me,
“What did the King say?”
I didn’t know if I could tell Linus the truth. I replied,
“He didn’t answer his phone.”
Linus didn’t hide his smile when he said,
“So he was very mad.”
Linus’ reaction made me feel at ease and I nodded my head. He shrugged his shoulders and said,
“I’m sure he’ll get over it. But let’s get going, our flight leaves in an hour.”
After we got through security, we walked through the gates looking for our terminal. We found our gate and had 15 minutes to spare. I took a seat while Linus trotted off to get something to eat.
I noticed the people around me were all families, with luggage, prepared for a long flight with their neck pillows and blankets. I realized they were all looking back at me, no luggage, in a suit, about to board a 15 hour flight. I probably looked like Mafia.
Linus returned with two neck pillows, two sandwiches and two bottles of water. He handed me one of each item and I thanked him for his kindness. He sat next to me and started eating his sandwich, he nudged me to do the same and I followed. I took a few bites of my sandwich then asked Linus,
“So you’re Hera’s godfather?”
Linus smiled and quickly finished his bite before saying,
“Yes I am.”
I furrowed my brow and asked,
“Are you related to her?”
Linus laughed and shook his head and said,
“No, I was her father’s best friend. We grew up together. Our fathers were best friends as well, so we were always together.”
I could see a twinkle in Linus’ eye as he thought about Hera’s dad. He continued,
“We graduated university together, I was the best man at his wedding, he was the best man at mine. Our wives got along well. Greta still misses Hera’s mother deeply. In fact, I was at the hospital when Hera was born.”
He chuckled as he set the scene of entering the hospital room,
“Ambrosio- the real Ambrosio, Ambrosio Senior- was so proud of Hera. He presented her to me as the queen of the family, of course Daliah- Hera’s mom- didn’t like that one bit, she was the queen. Oh but Daliah was the best mother to those kids. She loved them more than anything.”
Linus wiped a tear from his eye with his jacket sleeve and said,
“God rest her soul.”
Linus opened his water bottle and took a drink of it. As I thought of the stories Linus told me I grew curious and asked,
“I’m sorry if this seems crude, but were you at the meeting that killed King Ambrosio and almost Hera?”
Linus looked at me and I saw tears fill his eyes and he whispered,
“I was running late. I wasn’t there in time to save my best friend. But I did save Hera.”
A tear escaped one of his eyes and he used his jacket to wipe it away. I put my hand on his shoulder for sympathy. I wanted to ask him more about that day but a woman came on the intercom and announced our impending departure and Linus and I stood in line for the plane.
As we creeped closer and closer to the gate of the plane I quickly retrieved my phone from my pocket and dialed Ioannis.
“Ntário? Ágie skatá, poú ísoun?”
*“Dario?! Holy shit dude where have you been?”*
It was nice to hear a familiar voice but I didn’t have time,
“Ioannis, den écho chróno na exigíso. Thélo na mazépseis to plíroma kai na me synantíseis ávrio gia mesimerianó gévma. To katálaves aftó?”
“Ioannis, I don't have time to explain. I want you to gather the crew and meet me tomorrow for lunch. Do you understand that?”
“Málista kýrie,”
“Yes sir,”
Ioannis replied. I hung up the phone and put it back in my pocket as we boarded the plane.