“Well, if he keeps shooting, I don’t know that we’ll have to do much of anything. Maybe we get the hell out of here and let the police find them?”
“Then we’d better hustle,” Dani said, climbing off him and offering her hand to help him up.
Right as they turned to flee, however, a group of uniformed men came running up the path shining flashlights on them.
“Ψηλ? τα χ?ρια! Hands up!”
Theo and Dani raised their hands in the air as the men circled them, pointing guns at them. The ΕΛ.ΑΣ., the Hellenic Police force.
“Μην κινε?στε!” one of the men yelled at them to stay put.
As if they had any intention of trying to flee when surrounded by a dozen armed men.
Theo called out they were innocent, speaking in Greek. As quickly as he could, he blurted out that he was Dr. Theo Galanis, the Greek American archaeologist who’d gone missing, but that he’d been captured by the notorious smuggler Pierre Vautour, who was down in the hole below them.
When an officer peered over the edge and Maurice fired a shot, the officers all swarmed the hole. While the men yelled back and forth with Maurice, Louis, and Vautour in Greek and French—clearly not being paid on the side by Vautour—a police sergeant approached Theo and Dani.
“Eλληνικ??” the sergeant asked.
“No, English, please,” Theo said.
“I’m Sergeant Diakos. This man here alerted us to some unusual activity at the Acropolis,” he said, motioning to Harold at his side. “Said he saw some people sneaking around with flashlights after closing time.”
“Yep, saw some rather suspicious-looking gentlemen who were up to no good,” Harold said. “I suspect the ones down in that hole there.” He pointed to the opening. When Sergeant Diakos turned his head to look, Harold gave Dani a wink, and she reached for his hand and squeezed it quickly, letting go before the sergeant saw them.
“And who did you say you were?” Sergeant Diakos asked, turning his attention back to them.
“Dr. Theo Galanis and Daniela Guiterrez. We were abducted by Pierre Vautour and forced to search for artifacts,” Theo explained.
“What sort of artifacts?”
“Would you believe me if I told you the eye of the Minotaur?”
Sergeant Diakos laughed. “You mean the eye of the mythological bull at Knossos?”
But Theo and Dani didn’t laugh.
“You’re serious?” Sergeant Diakos said, his face turning solemn. “Did you find it?”
“We did,” Theo said. “We need to call Dr. Andreas Demetrious from the National Museum as soon as possible. Once those men are removed from down below, this area needs to be cordoned off and fully excavated by professionals. No one else should go down there until Dr. Demetrious arrives.”
Sergeant Diakos stared at them for a few moments, and then he took a phone out of his pocket. “We have a situation here at the Acropolis.”
Theo and Dani stood there, waiting while the sergeant explained what was going on to whoever was on the other end of the call. Once he was off the phone, he turned back to them and said, “You will need to stay here until this gets sorted out.”
“We understand,” Theo said.
Sergeant Diakos nodded, and then joined the officers arguing at the cave opening with Vautour, Louis, and Maurice. Dani then turned to Harold.
“I’m sorry I called the police, but I saw those men creeping around and it seemed like you might be in some trouble,” Harold explained. “And if any of what you said is true, seems like I was right.”
“No, it’s a good thing you did,” Dani said. “Those men have been holding Theo captive for the last year. That’s why he went missing.”
“Thank you,” Theo said, shaking Harold’s hand. “You have no idea how incredibly grateful we are.”
“Well, I may have only known Daniela for a few days,” Harold explained, “but I could tell she was a special person the minute I met her.”
Theo wrapped his arm around Dani’s waist and looked down at her. “Yeah, she is.”
