The Angry Hills - Leon Uris [78]
She told him everything. Papa-Panos had convinced Michalis, Thanassis and Dr. Thackery to let Lisa remain alive in the hope that Morrison would contact her in the event of trouble. Papa-Panos was proven right. Axiotis, the aged jailer at Averof, had delivered the note to Lazarus in Chalandri. In an hour the message was in Lisa’s hands.
Then Lisa pulled her coup. Before she would turn over the information to Thanassis and Michalis, she demanded the freedom of her children as ransom for the information on Mike’s whereabouts. Within another hour the raid on Manolis’ home was over and the children were hidden in the pump house in Chalandri.
Mike looked up at the faces of three angry men in the cellar of Gyni’s. They were furious with him because he had permitted emotions to complicate his grave situation. They lashed out at him for forcing them to risk the daylight ambush on the Gestapo. At this point they demanded he turn over the Stergiou list, insisting that he had bungled long enough.
Mike refused, unless Lisa and her sons were permitted to leave Greece with him.
Michalis, Thanassis and Dr. Thackery were faced with the choice of executing both of them and losing the Stergiou list or getting the four of them out of Greece. An impossible task...
The trapdoor opened. The beam of a flashlight pierced the darkness of the wine cellar.
Mike could make out the stocky form of Michalis and the long thin form of Dr. Thackery as they threaded their way through the rows of wine kegs.
Mike pressed Lisa’s hand....
The flashlight found them. The two men stood over them.
“Very well, Morrison,” Dr. Thackery said. “A British submarine will pick you up within forty-eight hours.”
“The children?” Lisa asked.
“They are safe. They will join you once we get you clear of Athens,” Michalis said.
“If we get clear of Athens,” Dr. Thackery added. “Heilser has the city closed tighter than a drum. Nothing can get through the blockade. You have only a fifty-fifty chance, Morrison. You also have forty-eight hours to reconsider turning the list over to us. We will hide you and Lisa in the hills....”
“Not on your life, Dr. Thackery.”
“All right—we try for the submarine. I hope we can clear you out of Athens.”
“Wait a minute,” Mike said. “Wait a minute. I may possibly have an idea....”
Julius Chesney drummed his fingers slowly on the table. He looked at Thanassis dubiously.
“This is risky, very risky...”
“It is risky for me too,” Thanassis said.
“I’ll have to think about it,” Chesney wheezed.
“Yes or no. They are due to leave within forty-eight hours.”
“You make it very difficult, dear fellow. If it wasn’t for the money...”
“That’s why I came to you with this proposition. I’ve heard of your love for drachmas.”
Julius Chesney’s jowls quivered as he emitted his nasty little laugh. “Agreed,” he said.
“And half of what you collect from the Germans belongs to me,” Thanassis said.
“Agreed,” Chesney nodded, “agreed.”
“Here is the information to date, then. Morrison and Lisa Kyriakides are now in Athens. I do not know where, inasmuch as I have not seen Michalis since he made the ambush. A British submarine will be here to get them sometime within forty-eight hours.”
Chesney nodded.
Thanassis continued. “I will give you their route from Athens and contact point with the submarine just as soon as I learn it.”
“Just how do your people expect to get them out of Athens?”
“That is the problem, Mr. Chesney. I will not know until I see Dr. Thackery or Michalis.”
Chesney thought of the drachmas and laughed again. He extended his fat hand over the table. Thanassis eyed him with suspicion for a moment, then shook his hand.
Thanassis arose. “Remember,” he said, “half the money is mine.”
“Tell me, Professor Thanassis, just why are you doing this?”
“Because they don’t have a chance.”
“Do find your own way to the door,” Chesney wheezed. He was clearly wedged into his seat. “Bad