Sons of Sparta: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery by Jeffrey Siger

and early seventies, and been making friends on both sides of the bars since his first day on the job at a Junta prison for political dissidents. To Andreas, Tassos was not just a best friend, he was a national treasure.
    “I’ve got to talk with him.”
    “He’s coming back to my place tonight.”
    “Have you two finally moved in together?” It was Andreas who’d unwittingly introduced his friend and longtime widower to Maggie, not knowing he’d rekindled an old romance.
    “Only when he’s in Athens. He still considers Syros his home.”
    “Islanders are like that. Please, get him on the phone.”
    “Will do.” Maggie disappeared behind the closing door.
    A couple of minutes passed before Maggie yelled, “He’s on.”
    Andreas picked up the phone. “How are you feeling, my friend?”
    “Why is it that everyone asks me the same question?”
    “Maybe because they care for you?”
    “Yeah, sure.”
    “Good point. It’s probably because you look as old as the Acropolis.”
    “That’s more like it.” Tassos laughed. “So what’s up? My love said you had to talk to me right away. She pulled me out of a very important meeting.”
    “Is it already lunchtime on Syros?”
    “No, coffee in the harbor.”
    “I’ve got a problem developing here that’s touchy. How secure is your phone?”
    “My cell phone I wouldn’t trust as far as I can drop it. Too many people want to know what I know and have connections at the carriers to listen in. But I’m using a landline at the taverna. Maggie thought it might be a ‘touchy’ subject.”
    “How does she know these things?”
    “I hope that’s not what this call is all about because that’s a subject only the gods at Delphi might be able to answer.”
    “No, my problem is with someone who just thinks he’s a god.” Andreas told him of his meeting with Spiros, run-in with Orestes, and thoughts on what Orestes had in mind.
    “Orestes is a chip off the old block. The only time you knew for sure that you could trust what his old man or grandfather had to say was when their lips weren’t moving. Orestes is running the same routines as those two did in hustling foreign companies to do business through them in Greece. They didn’t really need the influence they claimed as long as they got the mark thinking that they did. Once they had the deal with the company, any Greeks they actually needed to make it work fell into line because by then they had money available to spread around.”
    “Wonderful system.”
    “It’s not just Greece that’s like that.”
    “No, but it’s a Greek bastard who’s trying to make me look corrupt.”
    “I suggest you tell him to go fuck himself,” said Tassos.
    “Frankly, I’d rather do it to him.”
    “Sounds personal.”
    Andreas didn’t want to mention Orestes’ old interest in Lila. It would sound stupid. “No, I just don’t like the guy.”
    “Hell, if we spent our time trying to get back at everyone we didn’t like, we wouldn’t have time to breathe.”
    “Since when have you become so Zen?” said Andreas.
    “It comes with age. Besides, it’s really a waste of time looking into that Crete thing. The fix has been in for years on the gas. Now it’s just a matter of reshuffling a few chairs at the dinner table to accommodate the late arrivals.”
    “Late arrivals?”
    “New ones in power who could create problems.”
    “You’re one hell of a cynic.”
    “You mean a realist born of experience. The louder a politician screams for the rights of the people, the more he wants for himself.”
    “Spare me the civics lesson. What can you tell me about what Orestes might have in mind?”
    “My guess is he’s selling himself to the Russians. The Europeans already have their connections here and the Americans seem more interested in their own gas reserves. It’s the new boys on the block who need influence.”
    “What about the Chinese? They’re buying up our port operations.”
    “And making them