CHAPTER NINETEEN
“I can’t believe this. We’re stuck until this storm blows over,” said Frank.
“Poseidon is angry,” said Marguerite. The men gave her a grin and she glared at them. “You don’t believe in our god of the sea?”
“Oh, no ma’am. Some of us were Navy SEALs, we definitely believe the power of Poseidon. No sailor in his right mind would discount him,” said Ian. “We just thought it was legend.”
“I suppose it’s part legend and part history,” said Marguerite. “How do you separate the two? We weren’t here. We didn’t see him. Does that make him any less real? Your own country has had heroes whose exploits have been, shall we say exaggerated over the years.
“Were all of George Washington’s conquests as colorful and brave as we’ve heard? Did he really chop down a cherry tree? And Abraham Lincoln. Did he do all the things we read about in books? Even your first citizens. Did they really have a turkey and potatoes with the natives?”
“That might have been a bit of a stretch,” smirked Bodhi. “We know they ate together but that’s all we really know for sure.”
“And yet you celebrate a holiday every year for it. There are stories such as ours in every country. Part fact, part fiction. It doesn’t make them any less real to the reader or the listener.” She stared out her window at the sea beyond, the waves crashing against their shores, the sky an ugly, frightening shade of gray and purple.
“You’re right, Marguerite,” said Devin. “We wait until Poseidon’s temper has settled and then we’ll venture out to the ship. Until then, why don’t you tell us some more stories of the legends. I’ve always been curious about the Minotaur.”
“I suspect you’ve only heard stories of the half man- half bull. But there is an island in Crete where the Minoans lived. They disappeared around 1450 BCE and we don’t know why. The archaeological finds show evidence that they worshipped bulls, maybe even wrestled them.
“My father believed that a visitor saw the fighting one day and thought the man was half man-half bull. They wore headdresses with horns. But we have no way of knowing if they were related to bulls or if in fact they were somehow this hybrid human/animal.”
“I’d like to visit those ruins one day,” said Ian. “It sounds amazing.”
Marguerite nodded seeing two guards coming up the road draped in rain gear. She waved at the team behind her back and they swiftly moved into her small bedroom. She didn’t move, just staring at the sea.
“What are you doing old woman?” asked one of the guards.
“Just watching Poseidon show his anger,” she said calmly.
“Poseidon,” laughed the man. “You old fools and your belief in legends and gods. Get the internet and learn a few things.”
“I’ve learned more in my lifetime than you ever could,” she said calmly. “You don’t know the value of trust, friendship, love, and community. You know force, fear, and power.”
“And look who’s holding the power,” grinned the man as he walked toward her. He shoved his way through the door and stared at her, his partner right behind him.
Around the corner in her bedroom, she heard nothing and was grateful they hadn’t shown themselves. But Frank and the other men were not willing to stand by if she were harmed.
Signally their plan in sign language they waited for the inevitable.
“You have a mouth old woman. It would serve you well to keep it shut.” He reared back and slapped Marguerite hard across the cheek. She stumbled to the floor, the two men hovering above her.
“You’ve only proven how weak you really are,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“I’ll show you weak,” he said raising the butt of his rifle. Before he could bring it down, it was wrenched from his hands, broken in half and tossed across the room.
“Try that on someone bigger,” said Devin in flawless Greek.
The guard stared at him then at his partner, praying for help. Unfortunately, his partner was now in a choke hold by a man twice their size. Bodhi just stared at him, enjoying the fear in his face.
“You won’t get off this island,” said the man. Frank smirked at the two men, shaking his head.
“Neither will you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Eric, Cam, Luke, and Hex sat outside the office of the Greek Prime Minister, waiting to be seen. No one seemed bothered by their presence, nor did they ask why they were there. A simple phone call from Michael Bodwick and the Prime Minister was happy to see them.
The doors to his office were covered in ancient Greek carvings of mythology and legend. Any man who’d ever served in the military knew that they owed much of what they know, to what the ancient Greeks learned.
