Page 60 of Marcellus: House of Drakos
But when the two men eyed each other again, they both broke free and was about to attack again. But this time Alex didn’t hesitate. He jumped in between both men and pushed first Oz and then Marcellus to keep them apart. “Sit,” he ordered them. “You act like dogs, I’ll treat you like dogs. Now sit!”
Marcellus and Oz stared at each other again, angry that their sneak attacks were thwarted, but they did as they were told.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Although both men were reluctant to do anything, they heeded Alex’s order as Marcellus and Savannah sat back down on one of the two sofas in the room. Alex and Kari sat on the other one. Oz went to sit in the chair, but as soon as his butt touched down, he popped back up like a jack-in-the-box because of the pain in his ass. He walked behind the chair, leaned his elbows on the back of the chair with his butt pushed out to give it some air, and stood instead.
Kari and Savannah looked at each other. And both of them had to fight back grins. And in that moment just that look Kari gave her made Savannah feel as if she had an ally. As if, should those warring families ever were to come together, she would be welcomed at least by the wife.
Savannah also noticed that as soon as Marcellus sat down and Alex Drakos sat down, they both crossed their legs and relaxed their hands on their laps at the exact same time and in the exact same manner. Although Long Hair didn’t seem as if he was any kin to even Alex Drakos, she could see some kind of kindred spirit floating between Marcellus and Alex. They were related there was no doubt about it. They even favored each other if you looked at them a certain way. And although she was certain neither man would ever admit it, there was a connection there.
“You said you had some business you wish to discuss with me,” Alex said to Marcellus.
“That is correct.”
Alex made a weep with his hand. “You have the floor.”
Marcellus seemed hesitant. But then he spoke. “I know we don’t know each other,” he said, “but what I’m about to say will need to be held in strictest confidence. Can I be assured that such will be the case?” He looked from Alex to Oz.
Alex could see the stress in Marcellus’s eyes. A proud man like him didn’t grovel. He would not have been here had he had another way. “You can be assured,” Alex said.
Marcellus and Savannah looked at Oz. “Keep talking,” Oz said. “Your ass don’t deserve it, but it’ll go no further than this room.”
Marcellus nodded. “Thank you.”
Then he uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “You heard about the various accidents involving my aircraft?” he asked the two brothers.
“Yes of course,” said Alex. “There’s been too many to ignore.”
Oz snorted.
“But why would airplane crashes be of interest to me?” Alex added.
“My son Nikolas has been involved with some unsavory characters. He has been running ammo for Russian and Greek mobsters, along with some mercenary groups.”
Savannah could tell that as soon as Marcellus mentioned mobsters, Long Hair’s interest piqued. “Okay,” Alex said.
“I know your background. I know that your father, thatourfather was involved in mob activity and so were you and your brother.”
Alex didn’t respond to that. Oz didn’t either. It was deny everything when it came to such a sore subject. And by someone they didn’t know. “Go on,” Alex said.
“Do you know of anybody in the Greek Mafia specifically that may have any ties to aviation? Or you may have heard someone in that orbit mention my name or my children’s namesor my company name? Do you know of anyone that would just have aviation interests or skills?”
“When I left Greece,” said Alex without hesitation, “I left that world behind. On that, I cannot help you.” Then he looked at his brother, who kept his involvement undercover but Alex knew he was still heavily involved in that life. What Alex didn’t realize was that Oz was now, in fact, the undisputed head of the Greek Mafia. “Odysseus?”
“No,” Oz said without hesitation either. “I don’t know anything about that.”
Marcellus had his people run deep background on both of his brothers. He knew Oz was lying. Alex knew it too, but his loyalty was with his brother so he didn’t say a word.
But Marcellus understood the stakes. He needed answers. “I need to know anything you can recall so that I can prevent any more innocent people from losing their lives. It’s that critical.”
“But why would you automatically believe those air disasters are because of you or your children?” asked Alex.
“All of my children, except for one of them, work for me. The only one that doesn’t, my son Niko, was kidnapped.”
Alex and Oz were shocked. So was Kari. “Kidnapped?” she asked.
“They still have him?” asked a now concerned Oz.
