The Greek Key

'Thanks, Nick. You have warned me. You've done all you can.'

'Then stay away from that old silver mine. Please.'

'Of course, The idea never entered my head.'

Christina bit her knuckles to stop herself protesting. Newman was going into Devil's Valley with the sole idea of locating the silver mine. He had concealed his plan from Marler as well as from Nick. At first she demurred at his suggestion to act as his guide into the Valley. But he had the map she had marked when they had dinner at the Hilton two weeks ago.

'Stop the car round the next bend,' she called out. 'You can park it well off the road on a flat area. It is part of Florakis' land but farmers go to bed early because they rise at dawn.'

Newman pulled in, turned the car in a wide half-circle so it faced the way they had come. He switched off the engine. A brooding silence fell over the mountains which rose close to the road. In the back Christina shivered at the lack of sound. A moon was rising, casting a pale illumination over the arid mountain slopes, the still, endless sea.

'Nick,' Newman told him, 'I think the car would be concealed much better if you drove it back to that building site.' He looked at Christina who had climbed out and was standing alongside him. 'We could find that on the way back easily with the moon up, I assume?'

'Yes. It would be a good landmark…'

'And exactly where do we go to find the entrance to Devil's Valley?'

'Straight up that gulch. It's on Florakis' land but only for a short distance. I can show you on the map.'

Newman slipped on his sports jacket, took a pencil torch attached to the breast pocket, shielded it with his hand and opened the map. Christina traced the route up the gulch, showed where it led to the entrance to Devil's Valley Newman held his hand so Nick couldn't see the cross which marked the silver mine.

'We'd better get moving,' he said. He checked his watch. Well after ten o'clock. He opened the glove compartment, took out Nick's revolver, slid it inside his hip holster, pocketed spare ammo. 'You won't fall asleep?' he asked Nick. 'We'll be away for some time.'

'Not me. I can stay awake all night. And I'll drive back to the hotel development and wait for you there.'

'See you. The rifle is in the back – just in case.'

'It will be in my hands until you return,' Nick promised.

Parked in the shadows of the steel framework, Nick was careful. He smoked the cigarette inside his cupped hand. The headlights of the car approaching from the Athens direction appeared only five minutes after he had arrived. He stubbed out the cigarette. It was the first vehicle he had seen for over an hour.

The headlights swung over the building site as the ear slowed. They swept over his Mercedes. He opened the door, took a firmer grip on the rifle, the muzzle aimed through the gap. The car was stopping.

It backed slowly, very slowly. For the second time the headlights played over the Mercedes, for a longer period, Nick sat very still, raised the muzzle slightly, slipped off the safety catch. The car had stopped now. The headlights stayed on, beamed at an angle beyond his own vehicle, glaring on the building site, which took on a surrealist quality in the dazzle.

Nick had acute hearing. He listened in the heavy silence -for the opening of a car door, the crunch of feet on the loose stones covering the ground. Nothing. The silence grew heavier. Sweat began trickling down his neck. He sat immobile as a Greek statue. Nothing. The driver couldn't be a ghost…

'Hello, Nick. I could have shot you rather dead.'

Matter's voice, speaking through the open passenger seat window. How the hell could a man move so silently?

'Come on, Nick, where have they gone? Newman and Christina? I followed you from Athens, so where are they? Exploring Devil's Valley?'

Nick reached for the bottle of mineral water, took a long swig. He was in a state of shock. And couldn't decide whether to tell Marler the truth. Marler seemed to read his mind as he leant an elbow on the open window.

'Loyalty is a virtue. Especially for a Greek. I know that. I also know you wouldn't want something to happen to Newman-something fatal. The last man who made friends with Christina ended up at the bottom of a cliff. She's all Gavalas. So, tell me – Newman needs back-up. Desperately. We're talking about Devil's Valley.'

'Christina is guiding him to the entrance to the Valley. He is going to find the old silver mine. I know it. He said he wasn't but I know he was. They went up a gulch two bends further down the road.'

'Show me. And mark the location of that silver mine.'

Marler dropped a large-scale map of the area into Nick's lap. 'I don't know the exact location of the mine…' Nick protested.

'Do the best you can. Hurry. I'm driving my car alongside yours. Back in a minute…'

He parked his vehicle a few feet away from Nick's, doused the lights and walked to the boot. He appeared at Nick's, window and the Greek stared. Marler wore mountaineer boots, had a long loop of rope coiled over one shoulder, an Armalite rifle over the other.

'You came equipped?' Nick said.

'I saw Newman and Christina buying boots in a shop. I guessed the rest. I'm a good guesser. Marked the map yet?'

He studied the map Nick had marked by the overhead light. He nodded, took the map. refolded it, shoved it inside his pocket.

'I'm off on my travels now. See you.'

'It could be dangerous…'

'I agree. For anyone I meet up there.'

****

Newman led the way up the gulch with Christina close behind. The moonlight helped. He was careful where he placed his feet: the gulch was littered with loose rocks. Sound carried a long way at night. He was relieved to hear no sound from Christina as she plodded up behind him. Which is why he heard the faint tumble of stones slithering.

He stopped, turned, grasped Christina by the arm, raised one finger to his lips. Unlike some women she didn't ask questions: she simply raised one thick eyebrow. He crouched down behind a boulder, pressing her down, and her shoulder rested against his.

'Someone else on the mountain,' he whispered.

'I didn't hear anything – and I have good hearing…'

Another slither of stones. One came over the side of the gulch and touched Newman's right boot. Christina nodded. Newman had been right. Someone was approaching and very close.

They were crouched behind the large boulder at a point where the gulch began to turn sharply above them to the left. Whoever was on the prowl couldn't be descending the gulch, thank God, Newman thought. For the stone to have slithered from immediately above them the intruder had to be moving higher up the slope. Could he see down inside the gulch? Newman slipped the revolver out of the holster and Christina gripped his other arm. He looked up and froze. He hardly dared breathe. He held his body tense -for fear of dislodging even a pebble.

Along the crest of the ridge above, the silhouette of a man was moving. In the moonlight Newman could clearly see the bony profile, the prominent nose, the sunken cheeks beneath prominent cheekbones, the curve of the mouth. Over one shoulder was looped a rifle. He was carrying something in the other hand – something heavy. Newman frowned and then felt his right leg begin to cramp. He gritted his teeth.

Christina, hunched beside him, kept perfectly still.

Newman was staring at the heavy bag the man was carrying as he climbed the mountain – he knew it was heavy from the way the figure sagged to one side. But it wasn't a bag. It was rectangular-shaped, like a metal box. Newman was certain it was a high-powered transceiver – and that size meant it was capable of transmitting over long distance. The silhouette disappeared behind the ridge.