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As if on cue, Ace’s cell phone chirped. He fished it from his pocket along with the burner phone Jasmine had given him before they’d boarded the plane. He handed her the burner phone and glanced at the screen on his cell phone, a slow smile pulling at his lips before fading again. His gut knotted.
“What?” Jasmine’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Ace.
“Swede ran your guys through several facial recognition databases.”
“And?”
“He got some hits.” Ace shook his head. “Your guys are Boris Sokolov and Artyom Petrov.”
Her brow twisted more. “Russians?”
He nodded. “But they’re not working for a Russian. “They’ve been seen in connection with one of the most powerful Greek mafia bosses.”
Jasmine’s face paled. “Demopoulos.”
Ace’s eyebrow cocked. “You know your mafia bosses?”
“It pays to know who’s who among the rich across the Mediterranean,” she said softly, glancing around as if expecting bad guys to leap out of nowhere. “Athanasios Demopoulos took over the Greek criminal underworld after Vangelis Zambounis was gunned down in Athens. Rumor has it that he was behind the killing and answers only to the Ndrangheta.”
Ace frowned. “Isn’t the Ndrangheta mafia organization the most powerful in the world?”
She nodded, her lips pressing into a tight line.
“Do you think this Demopoulos dude stole the scroll for Ndrangheta? Or could he be working on his own?”
She shook her head. “The only way to find out is to ask Demopoulos.”
“And where do we find him?”
She nodded toward the taxis. “Here in Athens. Only it won’t be easy getting to him, especially after he had Zambounis murdered.”
“We need a plan,” Ace said.
Jasmine shook her head. “We have—” she looked down at her wristwatch, “forty-two hours to recover that scroll. We don’t have time for a plan.”
Having been a Navy SEAL, Ace was used to moving on limited information, getting into tight situations fast and hitting hard. He texted Swede.
Ace: Need everything you can find on Demopoulos, his address, his personal connections, preferences and anything else that will lead us to him. We have a less than forty-eight hours to recover the scroll, or a man dies.
Swede: On it. Will pass on anything I find, as I find it. Do you want backup?
Ace glanced at Jasmine. “Do you want me to call in for backup?”
She bit down on her bottom lip, her brow twisting. “I’m afraid that if we get too many people involved, it’ll raise a red flag for those who are holding Eli. I don’t want them to know I don’t have the scroll.” She lifted her chin. “And Americans are too easy to spot in Europe.”
Ace nodded and sent a text in response to Swede’s question.
Ace: Only if we could get people who aren’t so obviously from the US.
Swede: Will see what we can do.
Ace cast a glance at Jasmine.
They were next in line at the taxi stand. She raised a hand to wave for the next taxi.
While her back was to him, Ace sent another text to Swede.
Ace: Also, run an identity check on a guy named Eli, connected to Jasmine Nassar from Israel, former Sayeret Matkal.
