Page 7 of Aleko
Alex stared into the man’s dark eyes and felt himself growl in fury and frustration. Instead of cowering away, the man took another step forward.
“Alex,” said Sebastian, “this is not the way.” Alex could feel his teeth coming in and tried not to lift his lips in a snarl. “Come on. Let’s go.” Sebastian grabbed Alex by the arm and forcefully moved him back toward the tree.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sebastian demanded as they reached the car. “We are days, if not hours, from figuring out what happened on theStrumwolke. We’ve got warlocks in Greece for the first time in a decade. And you are worrying about this girl. What the hell is going on?”
“I think the girl took something from the warlocks,” said Alex, trying to justify himself. “Some sort of stick. Maybe if we can find out what that was, we can find out why they’re here.”
“OK,” said Sebastian. “But we don’t need to scare the shit out of a bunch of refugees to find her.”
Alex growled in fury and tried not to unload his pent-up frustration on Sebastian. “We need to find her,” he snarled.
“OK,” said Sebastian slowly. “Let’s go to the warehouse. Pellos is there. He hires guys from the encampments periodically. He’ll know who we should talk to.”
Alex took a deep breath. That was a better plan. “That little girl was wearing her sweater.”
“And Pellos will know who to talk to,” Sebastian reiterated. “We can find out who that woman is and get to her that way. She was scared. She won’t talk to us like this. Let Pellos set it up.”
Alex shook himself, belatedly realizing that his ears were pointed and furry. “Yeah,” he said, feeling stupid. “Yeah. We’ll do that.”
“OK,” said Sebastian, giving him a look that Alex couldn’t decipher. Alex decided it was probably better if he didn’t ask and got back in the car. With one last look at the refugee tents, Sebastian did the same, and Alex pointed the vehicle toward the warehouse.
Episode 6
Sergio and Eizo
Eliandra
Lia ignored the gnawing hunger in her stomach, choosing to focus on adjusting the straps on her backpack to distract herself as she walked along the dusty road. She now knew that if she waited a little bit, the hunger would go away. She’d eaten the previous afternoon, so it wasn’t an immediate concern. It was only if she went a second day without food that she would get light-headed. And even then, as long she stayed hydrated, she would be OK. She had slipped out of the museum when the cleaning staff had turned up for work. They unlocked the back gate and then went inside the building. It only took a bit of courage to slip out while their backs were turned. She had taken the bus back to her hostel and quickly changed in the bathroom before any staff could see her. The hostel staff always threatened to give away her bunk if she was absent too often. But now she looked neat, tidy, presentable for work, and only a little tired.
Her cheap plastic sandals kicked up dust from the gravel on the side of the port road. She was almost to her spot. The familiar shade of the olive tree was welcoming. She’d had to work hard to claim the place under the olive tree. She let some of the other women use it when she wasn’t there. She had learned quickly that those women would never be her friends—she was the wrong background, color, and religion—but an ally was something they could all use. They helped her protect the tree.
She knew it was dangerous to be here this morning. The tree was barely a half mile from one of the Ash warehouses, but she was running low on cell minutes, and she didn’t want to burn through them to arrange another pick-up location with Eizo. Shewas almost to the tree when she saw Alma waving to her and hurrying across the field.
She stared nervously down the road toward the Ash warehouse, where she could see the peaked room in the hazy distance and the water just beyond. Why had he kissed her? What did he want with her?
“Lia,” gasped Alma in Arabic, clutching at her faded black burka. “Lia, what did you do?”
“What do you mean?” asked Lia, her heart seizing in fear.
“Alekos Ash was here this morning. He wanted to know where you were. He offered money.”
Lia drew a ragged breath. “Shit.”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything! I took a job last night with Galatas.”
Alma made a displeased noise.
“It was a hundred euros! And then the damn Russians andkolduny, whoever they are, started going after each other, and Alekos Ash showed up. I just ran! I didn’t do anything!”
“He wants you,” said Alma. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Eizo’s picking me up in twenty minutes,” said Lia. He couldn’t want her. He must want something else. The wand thing. Or information. Nobody wanted her. It was a mistake.
“Well, keep an eye on the warehouses,” said Alma. “That’s where he went after Rami ran him off.”
“Rami did what?” Lia glanced at Rami’s ragged burgundy tent. Nothing moved. It could have been empty.
