Demeter’s Dream. Tony Thistlewood

Mr. President, I mean "guess". Our guess is that the perpetrators headed straight for Dulles International and are now long gone. We’re checking, but we don’t know what the perpetrators look like other than that two of them are big and of Mediterranean appearance – or at least one of them is from a description provided by the EnAg staff. If the perps have any sense, they wouldn’t be traveling together now.’

      ‘That’s right, sir,’ Adam Themison agreed. ‘These people are well organized and ruthless. Paul Dias upset their plans by deciding to walk to the White House. Why he did that we may never know unless he remembers when he comes out of his coma.’

      ‘What is the basis for your “guess”?’ Posey suddenly asked Kratos.

      Themison was surprised by Posey’s surly attitude towards the director of the FBI. It seemed to the AG that the president was so suspicious of Kratos that he, Posey, thought that the FBI man was making everything up, even though his knowledge was little enough. Themison had known Posey a long time and knew that he wasn’t the sort of man to shoot the messenger.

      ‘It’s based on what the old lady in the Diner, Emerald Elpis, mother of one of the victims, told us. For some reason, they didn’t think it was necessary to kill her,’ Kratos replied rather callously.

      ‘Okay, thank you, Mr. Director. Don’t stop looking,’ Posey said gruffly.

      Ari Kratos took the hint and left the attorney general alone with the president.

      The way Posey had addressed Ari Kratos further disturbed Themison who thought it was not only unfair but also uncharacteristic of the president.

      ‘Take a seat, Adam,’ Posey said, when they were alone. ‘I think our priority now should be to find out who leaked details of Operation Olympus before the Cabinet meeting, and I don’t think that Kratos is the man to do that.’

      ‘Assuming there was a leak…’

      ‘Of course, there was!’ Posey snapped. ‘Why attack Paul Dias if not to stop him making his presentation?’

      ‘Mr. President, I don’t think that Operation Olympus is as closely guarded a secret as we would like to think,’ Adam Themison said, and then told the president what he had heard about the Cabinet Wives’ Good-works Committee.

      ‘Oh, my God, those bloody women!’ Posey yelled, irreverently thumping the famous desk with his fist. ‘Well, that clearly points the finger at Haden Ploutonos, doesn’t it?’

      ‘Yeah, maybe, but what do we do? Confront him face-to-face?’ Adam Themison suggested.

      ‘Hell, no! We’ve no evidence. He would just laugh at us. I think we have to be far subtler than that.’

      ‘If Paul Dias pulls through and makes his presentation, this problem goes away, of course.’

      ‘Maybe…Adam, we must double the guards at the hospital. And use Secret Service guys, not FBI.’

      ‘You don’t trust Kratos?’ Adam queried.

      ‘Haven’t you noticed his Mediterranean appearance?’

      ‘Mr. President, that description probably fits fifty percent of the population of this country.’

      ‘No, Adam, it does not. You are confusing European appearance with Mediterranean, although it is part of Europe. Recently, we have been getting twelve times more people emigrating to this country from the UK than from Greece, for example. Even the numbers from Australia are three times that from Greece.’

      ‘Interesting, sir, but I don’t see the relevance.’

      ‘Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes…’

      ‘I’m afraid my Latin is a little rusty, sir,’ Adam Themison said, annoyed at what he recognized was a deliberate ploy to put him off guard.

      ‘It’s from Virgil’s Aeneid: I fear the Greeks, even when they bear gifts. You see, Adam, although he was born in this country, Haden Ploutonos has Greek ancestry…’

      ‘Yeah, I realize that, sir, but…’

      ‘…and the Secret Service told me that Ari Kratos was at Princeton with a close relative of Ploutonos. Strange Kratos didn’t mention that, don’t you think? I gave him every opportunity,’ Posey snapped, not taking kindly to being interrupted. ‘Look, Adam,’ he continued more affably, ‘I’m just saying that we should not overlook the fact that the Greeks are a very close-knit little community within our walls. Perhaps we have a Trojan horse in our midst?’

      ‘But why would Haden Ploutonos be so violently opposed to Operation Olympus…it can’t be that he doesn’t like the name,’ Adam Themison said, trying to lighten the mood. Posey didn’t bite.

      ‘Greece is currently in an economically disastrous position, as you know. Even so, the country does have some enormously wealthy individuals, particularly in the shipping industry. And most of them just happen to be related to our Haden Ploutonos. According to my sources, he and they have plans to take over Greece, lock-stock-and-barrel. And our friend Ploutonos is worried that Operation Olympus is the US Government’s grand plan to save Greece, become a hero in Europe, and thereby, unwittingly, spoil his evil intentions.’

      ‘But Operation Olympus has absolutely nothing to do with Greece’s economic problems!’ Adam exclaimed.

      ‘We know it hasn’t, but Ploutonos assumes that it has.’

      ‘How do you know all this, Mr. President?’

      Posey smiled, tapped the side of his nose with his index finger but said nothing.

      **

      The official residence of the Vice President of the United States of America is an attractive Queen Anne style house built on ten acres of US Naval Observatory land at One Observatory Circle. Renowned as one of the quietest and most secure backwaters of Washington, DC, it had quickly become Vice President Peta Hopeit’s favorite place.

      She sat on a padded wicker chair at the front of the house, overlooking the formal gardens. In one hand she held a glass of Californian sparkling wine, while the other pressed an unofficial, prepay cell phone to her ear. Wearing dark glasses, black slacks, and a figure-hugging white silk blouse, Peta looked more like a film star resting between takes than the number two politician in the country.

      ‘What do you mean, you have absolutely no idea where he is?’ she snarled into the cell phone. ‘Don’t you dare play games with me. And don’t think for one minute that you can ignore me because I’ve slept with you. You still are, and always will be, expendable. I suggest you remember that if you want any sort of career.’