But then she heard it again and it seemed to be coming from the side of the house. She went closer. There it was again. She saw the half-open basement window and stood by it. She looked through the window, but she could see nothing. She tried to open the window, but it would not budge.
Katerina retraced her steps and went inside the house. She remembered having seen a small door when she came in earlier. She went and stood by the door. There it was that muffled sound again. She tried the handle and it yielded to her touch. Behind the door, a series of steps led down to the basement. She saw a light switch by the door and flicked it on. A faint light from a lonely bulb on the ceiling shed some light to show her the way.
She started to walk down the stairs. She reached the bottom of the stairs and found herself in a space lit by a couple of small windows. She saw the half-open window she had seen earlier. It was impossible to tell the size of the space in the almost pitch-black she was engulfed in.
Her eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom. She saw she was in a very well equipped cellar. She went closer to the racks and looked at the bottles. She could just about read the labels. The man living in this house was clearly a connoisseur and no doubt very wealthy to afford this kind of exceptional-looking wine.
Then she heard the same sound and turning she peeked into the gloom. Her eyes were not fooling her. There was someone there. She approached cautiously. A man was in front of her tied up on some pipe. She immediately removed the muffle from his mouth. ‘Who are you?’
‘I am Iakovos.’
‘But…’ She was about to say that Iakovos was upstairs, but then she realised it was no coincidence. She could feel there was something not quite right with the man upstairs. She remembered that feeling of uneasiness she had when she first saw him, even though he greeted her warmly.
It was not just sensible caution on her part nor was it paranoia. She looked at this man closely and saw that his resemblance to the man upstairs was uncanny. She suddenly had no doubt that in front of her was the real Iakovos tied up. She began to untie him her hands moving adeptly.
‘Whoever you are, just leave me here. Run. Get out of here. That man upstairs calling himself Iakovos is a very dangerous man. I’ve seen what he’s capable of.’
‘I’m not leaving without you.’
What’s your name?’
‘Katerina.’
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
‘Likewise. I would have preferred it under different circumstances, though.’
The rope was too expertly tied. After a while she got her faithful companion, her Swiss Army knife, out of her handbag and cut him loose. He tried to stand up, but he felt weak and his legs that had been immovable for quite some time would not obey the instructions of his brain and gave way. He fell down onto the chair again. He looked exhausted and thirsty.
‘Just give me a minute.’ He gathered all his strength and pushed himself to stand. It clearly used almost all his strength, because he was still quite shaky on his feet. Katerina held his arm to steady him. ‘Thanks.’ He was suddenly determined. ‘OK, let’s go. We cannot afford to stay here any longer. How were you able to go on a tour of the house and come here? What is he doing upstairs?’
‘He’s making coffee.’
‘That won’t take long. He will be alert for what you are doing. He will get suspicious. He will be wondering where you are. In fact he may be coming down here right now.’ Katerina moved for the stairs out of the cellar. Iakovos grabbed her arm.
‘This way. There’s another way out. It’s my house, remember? And he doesn’t know this house the way I do.’
‘How long have you been tied up here like this?’
‘It was soon after my father left this morning that this guy appeared. He is very well trained in physical combat. I did not stand a chance. He incapacitated me in seconds. What’s the time now?’
Katerina looked at her watch. ‘It’s 3.25 in the afternoon.’
‘So I’ve been like this for about eight hours.’
‘Have you seen him before?’
‘No.’
‘But what does he want? What did he ask you? Have you seen him take anything?’
‘I don’t know. Nothing. And no. To answer all your questions.’
‘I wonder whether I was the target, whether he knew I was coming here to see you.’ Then Katerina had another thought. ‘Or your father. He may be in danger. Where has he gone?’
‘To visit a friend in the next village.’
‘We must get out first and go and find him.’ It was then that she thought of Aristo and she got out her mobile phone to warn him.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I haven’t come alone. My boyfriend Aristo is out-side. I’m going to call him and warn him and maybe he can help.’
In the meantime, Aristo was becoming concerned that too long a time had lapsed without him having heard from Katerina. They had agreed that she would call him after the introductions and once she started to get a feel for the man they had come here to visit. He cautiously approached the house. He gently tried the handle of the front door. It yielded and he pushed the door slowly open. It was at that exact time that his mobile went off.
The fake Iakovos was just coming out of the kitchen and he turned at the sound towards the front door. Their eyes met. Aristo saw the cold-blooded look in the other man’s eyes and knew immediately this was no friend and that something was terribly wrong.
The man put down the tray and glanced quickly out of the window close by into the garden, but could not see the woman anywhere. He started to approach Aristo, his stance menacing. This man was very dangerous. He looked extremely fit and muscled and his posture indicated that he was most probably expertly trained.
Aristo himself was no slouch. He was very fit himself, a physique and level of fitness borne out of his love for extreme activities and sports and plenty of exercise. He was also well trained in martial arts. He had no doubt he could match the other man in whatever he had to throw at him. Unless the man had a gun. He didn’t know how much of a chance he stood against that.
They sized up each other and began to slowly walk towards each other. Meanwhile, Katerina and Iakovos had got out of the house and were coming around to the front of the house and the car. There was nobody there.
Katerina was surprised and initially felt annoyed that Aristo was nowhere to be seen. ‘Where on earth is he?’ Within seconds, though, she became concerned. She knew Aristo must have thought he had waited long enough, and, suspecting that something had gone wrong, had gone to investigate and find her.
She was about to turn and walk back to the house when she heard horrible noises of a fight coming from the house. There was a lot of smashing and crushing. Katerina knew what was happening and jumped into action. She spoke to Iakovos with a commanding urgency in her voice, even as she grabbed his arm and began walking towards the house, pulling him with her. ‘He must be inside fighting our crazy and lethal friend. Come on, let’s go and help.’
Iakovos pulled back and forced Katerina to stop dead in her tracks. She released his arm and turned to look at him, anxiety and purpose battling on her face.
‘This way.’
He led her by the side of the house and a small door. Once inside they found themselves in a playroom. Along one wall was a glass case housing antique-looking guns and rifles. Katerina thought he was heading for that case. But he went to the desk and opened the middle draw. The gun his father kept there was gone.
‘He’s got a gun. We need to hurry.’
Iakovos put his finger on a bronze award sitting on the desk and pressed a button. The glass case slid away revealing a small room behind. He went inside and pressed another button. The walls were opening revealing shelf after shelf of sophisticated-looking weaponry Katerina had never seen before. To her it seemed as a veritable feast of what she assumed to be a Special Forces arsenal staring back at her.