Right Place At The Right Time

Right Place At The Right Time
Author’s Note
Chapter 12 takes us somewhere we haven’t spent much time before.
We get to see a little more of what’s happening behind the scenes, and perhaps more importantly, we get to see what happens when someone starts asking questions they probably shouldn’t be asking.
Chuck may not realize it yet, but his conversation with Stavros has changed things.
And Stavros is about to discover that sometimes the consequences of your mistakes don’t come from the people you expect.
There are a few pieces moving into place in this chapter. Some may seem important now, while others might not make much sense until later.
That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Enjoy the chapter, and as always, thank you for reading, reviewing, and following along with the story. It really does mean a lot.
Chapter 12
Father and Son
Unknown to Stavros, the conversation was being watched from a concealed position farther down the warehouse wall. Agent Wagner had been observing the meeting from the moment this Bartowski approached Stavros, although at first he wasn’t certain who the young man was. Then the recognition came. He had seen him before in connection with the young blonde woman, Sarah Walker. Wagner still had no idea what the connection between Chuck Bartowski and Stavros was, but he knew enough to understand that the meeting was worth watching. At first, it appeared to be nothing more than two men having a conversation, but that impression didn’t last long. Stavros’s body language gradually changed, his irritation becoming more obvious as his voice began to rise.
Wagner listened carefully as Stavros started talking about the break-in at his father’s house. He heard references to information stolen from the computers, then Sarah’s name entered the conversation. Stavros was telling the young man that he believed Sarah was his girlfriend, accusing her of being involved in the robbery and making pointed references to the four people who had been murdered outside Los Angeles earlier in the week. Stavros never actually admitted that he or his family had been involved in the killings, but Wagner didn’t need an admission. The two men standing behind Stavros clearly knew what he was talking about, and their expressions told Wagner that the subject was far more serious than Stavros seemed to understand.
Wagner’s attention shifted away from Stavros and toward the young man. That was when he began to realize that the young man wasn’t simply standing there answering questions. He was working Stavros. He asked something, waited for Stavros to react, and then followed with another question that pushed just a little harder. He never appeared openly aggressive, yet somehow he kept getting Stavros to reveal more information. Wagner watched the process with growing interest, recognizing the technique for what it was. This Chuck Bartowski was manipulating the conversation, and Stavros was too arrogant to realize he was being led exactly where Bartowski wanted him to go.
Before long, Stavros was saying far more than the son of a powerful criminal organization should ever have revealed to someone he barely knew. He talked about the photographs, admitted to questioning Lou, and continued trying to find out where Sarah was being held. What disturbed Wagner most was that Stavros had allowed the young man to understand that the photographs had somehow been obtained from inside an FBI facility. Wagner stared at him in disbelief. What the hell are you doing? He had spent months maintaining the uneasy arrangement that kept him alive and out of prison, carefully protecting his position while working under Yari Demetrios’s control. The last thing he needed was Stavros exposing sensitive information because he couldn’t control his mouth.
For a moment, Wagner almost wished someone would put a bullet in Stavros’s head simply for being this reckless. The thought passed quickly, but the frustration behind it remained. Stavros wasn’t merely making mistakes anymore. He was creating problems that could eventually threaten everyone connected to the Demetrios organization, including people who had worked very hard to keep their involvement hidden.
Wagner continued watching the young man. As the conversation progressed, he became increasingly impressed by the young man’s ability to ask exactly the right question at exactly the right moment. Chuck seemed to be taking everything Stavros said, sorting through it, and fitting each piece into a larger picture. Wagner could almost see the process taking place behind his eyes. Then one of the men standing several feet behind Stavros leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. Wagner couldn’t hear the words, but he knew what the warning meant. The bodyguard was telling Stavros to stop talking.
Apparently, someone had finally realized how much information he was giving away.
It was already too late.
Bartowski had heard enough to start connecting the pieces, and Wagner knew it. The young man still didn’t understand the entire picture, but he was much closer than he had any right to be. More troubling was the fact that Bartowski had recognized something Wagner had hoped would remain buried. Those photographs of Sarah could only have been taken from inside an FBI facility. If Chuck continued asking questions, it would only be a matter of time before someone else started wondering where the photographs had come from, who had access to the building, and who had passed that information to the Demetrios family.
That possibility sent a chill through Wagner. The situation was beginning to move beyond Wagner’s ability to control it, and that was dangerous. Yari’s organization depended on layers of protection, carefully maintained relationships, and people knowing when to keep their mouths shut. Stavros was doing the exact opposite. His need to prove himself, combined with his impulsive nature, was creating a trail of mistakes that threatened everyone involved. Showing the surveillance photographs to Lou had already been reckless. Allowing the Bartowski kid to realize they had been taken inside an FBI building was considerably worse.
Wagner reached another conclusion as he watched the young man finally turn away from Stavros.
Stavros Demetrios was becoming a liability.
The young man named Chuck Bartowski was another problem entirely. Wagner still couldn’t figure out exactly who he was. The name hadn’t appeared in any of the reports he’d received, yet somehow this young man had already connected pieces of the investigation that he shouldn’t have known existed. As far as Wagner could determine, the kid was a friend of the deli girl and apparently Sarah Walker’s boyfriend. That was all he knew, and after what he had just witnessed, Wagner wasn’t sure that was enough.
He waited until Bartowski had walked away before leaving his concealed position. There was no reason to confront Stavros about what had happened. Stavros wasn’t the person Wagner needed to speak with, and warning him would accomplish nothing. If anything, the younger Demetrios would probably make matters worse trying to prove that he still had everything under control.
Wagner turned toward the warehouse and headed inside, his mind already working through what he was going to tell Yari. The situation had changed, and Yari needed to know exactly how much Stavros had revealed and how close Chuck Bartowski had come to discovering something he was never supposed to see.
His destination wasn’t Stavros.
It was Yari Demetrios.
Wagner needed Yari to understand exactly how badly his son had mishandled the situation. Stavros had exposed information that should never have left the hands of the few people authorized to know it, and worse, he had allowed Chuck Bartowski to recognize that the photographs of Sarah had come from inside an FBI facility. That realization alone could create questions that eventually led investigators straight back to the source of the photographs, putting Wagner’s position at considerable risk.
He had no intention of allowing Stavros’s arrogance to jeopardize the uneasy arrangement that had kept him alive and out of prison for the past few months. The Demetrios family might have him on their payroll through a steady stream of bribes and favours, but Wagner’s loyalty only extended as far as his own survival. He had no desire to spend the next several years behind bars because Stavros couldn’t control his mouth.
If Stavros’s stupidity threatened to bring the FBI crashing down on all of them, Yari needed to know before the situation became impossible to contain. Wagner waited until Stavros was out of earshot, then made his way toward Yari Demetrios. There were some conversations that couldn’t be trusted to a telephone, and this was one of them.
Agent Wagner needed Yari to understand exactly how badly his son had mishandled the situation. Stavros had exposed information that should never have left the hands of the few people authorized to know it. Worse, there was now a very real possibility that Wagner’s cover had been compromised. He had no intention of allowing Stavros’s arrogance to jeopardize the uneasy arrangement that had kept him alive and out of prison for the past few months. If Stavros’s stupidity threatened to bring the FBI crashing down on all of them, Yari needed to rein him in before it was too late.
Wagner waited until Stavros was out of earshot before approaching Yari’s office. He stopped at the doorway and rapped lightly against the frame with the back of his knuckles.
“Mr. Demetrios, may I have a word?”
Yari looked up from the paperwork spread across his desk. After studying Wagner for a moment, he gave the men around him a small wave of his hand. They immediately gathered their things and left the office, closing the door behind them. Once they were alone, Yari leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure you’re aware of this, but your son has decided to conduct an investigation of his own. He’s questioning civilians and showing people photographs that were entrusted to you and you alone.”
Yari’s expression hardened. “Go on.”
“The young woman and her friend who just left. Your son showed the woman a photograph of the Walker girl and the young man together inside the FBI building in San Diego. She told Bartowski, who immediately figured out that the photographs had been taken inside an FBI building. He’s already asking questions about where they came from.”
Wagner allowed that information to settle for a moment before continuing. “I’ve already established that Sarah Walker is under FBI protective custody. There was no reason for Stavros to involve himself in the matter. Every question he asks and every photograph he shows creates another loose end for someone else to follow, and eventually somebody is going to start pulling on one of those threads.”
Yari remained silent.
“I’ve also obtained a list of several safe houses the FBI uses throughout the San Diego region. I couldn’t determine the exact location where they’re holding Walker, but if she’s still in the area, there’s a good chance she’s being kept at one of them. That narrows the search considerably, but it also means we need to be careful about how we proceed.”
Yari’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.
“As for this Bartowski kid, I don’t know what to make of him yet. The photographs I gave you don’t tell me enough. I’m going to find out who he is, what his connection to Walker really is, and how much he already knows. Once I understand that, I’ll know whether he’s a problem or simply a civilian who happened to stumble into something he doesn’t understand.”
Wagner paused, his expression becoming noticeably colder.
“If he does become a problem, I’ll deal with it before it becomes a larger one.”
Yari continued watching him without responding.
“There is something else,” Wagner said. “I’m still trying to clean up the mess created when those four thieves were killed before they could be properly questioned. This isn’t some kind of mafia war where people are murdered in the street to send a message. There was no message to send. We needed information from those men.”
His voice remained calm, but the frustration beneath it was unmistakable.
“Instead, your people eliminated all four of them before we could find out what they knew. Then one of them used a firearm without a suppressor. That’s the kind of mistake that attracts attention we don’t need. Four bodies are difficult enough to explain. Four bodies connected to a break-in we’re already investigating, followed by evidence that someone inside this organization was involved, makes the situation considerably worse.”
Wagner stepped closer to the desk.
“We cannot afford more mistakes like that. And right now, your son’s ego is becoming another problem. He’s trying to prove himself, he’s asking questions he has no business asking, and he’s showing photographs that could expose where those photographs came from. If he keeps going, eventually someone is going to notice.”
He held Yari’s gaze.
“For your own sake, Mr. Demetrios, I suggest you put a stop to the killing. If we locate Walker at one of those safe houses, nobody starts shooting FBI agents just to get to her. We don’t need dead agents. We need the girl. That’s all.”
Wagner let the silence stretch between them before adding, “Carelessness is what brings everything down. Not one major mistake, but a dozen small ones that eventually lead investigators straight back to the people responsible.”
He looked Yari squarely in the eyes.
“I can handle my side of this, but you need to keep your family and your hired mercenaries under control. Otherwise, we may all find ourselves answering questions none of us want to answer.”
Yari didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he slowly clasped his hands behind his back and stared toward the warehouse entrance where Chuck and Lou had disappeared only minutes earlier. His eyes remained fixed on the empty space for several seconds before drifting farther across the warehouse floor. There, he spotted Stavros giving one of his security men a hard time, apparently still angry over the confrontation with Chuck. Yari recognized the man immediately. He was the same guard who had quietly tried to rein Stavros in when he had begun saying too much.
Yari watched his son for a moment, his expression unreadable. He wasn’t sure when he had lost control of Stavros. He had never given his son authority over his men, nor had he ever allowed him to make decisions concerning the family business. Stavros had always been too impulsive, too emotional, and far too eager to prove himself. Yari had considered those weaknesses manageable as long as his son remained on the outside of the important decisions. What Wagner had just told him confirmed what he had been reluctant to admit. Stavros was becoming a liability.
Yari finally turned toward the man standing behind him.
“Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I understand.”
His voice was calm, almost emotionless, which made the words more unsettling than anger would have been.
“I’ll deal with my son. He’s always allowed his ego to make decisions his brain should have made. Perhaps it’s time I found something far away to occupy his attention.”
Yari turned back toward the warehouse floor and watched Stavros pull out his phone, apparently sending another message to someone. The sight only strengthened his resolve. He had to regain control before his son’s recklessness developed into a problem that couldn’t be contained.
Without turning around, Yari spoke to Wagner.
“You concern yourself with Bartowski. Learn everything you can about him. I want to know who he is, where he comes from, and why he’s suddenly asking questions about my family. More importantly, find Sarah Walker. That is now your highest priority.”
He paused, his gaze remaining fixed on his son.
“If the safe houses don’t pan out, I want another plan in place immediately. I want that girl in my custody by the end of the weekend.”
Yari’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t tolerate failure, Agent Wagner. Don’t make me prove it to you. Keep me informed, and from this point forward, use the burner phones for any communication directed to me. I don’t want anything traced back to either of us.”
“Understood.”
Wagner gave a single nod, even though Yari’s back remained turned toward him.
“I’ll get everything I can on this Bartowski kid. I’ll let you know what I find before any action is taken against him.”
“Good. I expect to know something by this evening. Now go.”
Wagner turned and walked away, leaving Yari standing alone as he continued watching his son across the warehouse. The agent crossed the building, stepped outside, and made his way across the parking lot toward his vehicle. He kept his expression neutral until he was safely away from the warehouse and out of Yari’s immediate presence.
Then one thought returned again and again.
If that arrogant Greek prick ever jeopardizes my cover again, I’ll put a bullet between his eyes myself.
Yari continued staring across the warehouse floor, his eyes fixed on his son. Stavros was still standing near one of the security men, his attention focused on the phone in his hand. For several seconds, Yari simply watched him. Then his voice cut across the warehouse.
“Stavros.”
His son glanced up.
“Stavros. Come here. I want to talk to you in my office. Now.”
“I’ll be there in a moment, Papa. Let me finish this text.”
Yari turned toward him.
“Stavros, I said now. Let’s go.”
The change in his father’s voice stopped Stavros cold. His hand dropped to his side, the phone still open in the middle of the message he had been typing. He watched as Yari turned and walked toward his office without another word.
A sudden knot formed in Stavros’s stomach.
He didn’t like that tone.
Since his confrontation with Chuck, the confidence he’d been carrying began to disappear. Had his father already heard about everything he’d been doing? The photographs. Lou. The boyfriend. The questions he’d been asking without his father’s permission. There were too many possibilities running through his mind, and none of them ended well. Whatever his father wanted, Stavros knew one thing with absolute certainty.
It wasn’t good.
He slipped the phone into his back pocket and started toward the office. As he crossed the warehouse, he could feel employees and security personnel watching him. He tried to ignore them. They worked for his father, not him, and he knew better than to give them any reason to think he cared what they thought.
When he reached the open office door, Stavros stopped just inside.
Yari stood with his back to him, his hands clasped behind him as he stared through the large window overlooking the yard. Beyond the glass, rows of cargo containers stretched across the property, stacked so high that they seemed to run endlessly toward the horizon, with only narrow gaps between them where small pieces of the blue sky could still be seen.
Yari knew his son was standing behind him. He waited several seconds before finally turning.
“Close the door, Stavros. Then sit down.”
Stavros complied, quietly closing the door before taking the chair in front of his father’s desk. Yari remained standing, his hands still clasped behind his back.
“I need you to explain something to me,” Yari said. “I’ve just received some very distressing information about the way you’ve been conducting yourself today.”
Stavros shifted uneasily in the chair.
“I understand you’ve somehow obtained photographs showing the woman who helped rob our house and the man associated with her. Wagner gave those photographs to me. They were taken inside the FBI building in San Diego. If I’m wrong about any part of that, correct me.”
Stavros opened his mouth, but Yari raised one hand.
“I also understand that you’ve been showing those photographs to people who have no business seeing them. Specifically, you’ve involved Lou Palone.”
Stavros lowered his eyes.
“Lou of all people,” Yari continued. “Do you remember who her father is? Do you understand what would happen if she decided to involve him in our affairs? The Palone family has no place in our business, and I refuse to have them brought any further into it because of your mistakes.”
Yari stepped closer.
“From this moment forward, you are finished with Lou Palone. No meetings. No messages. No favours. Nothing. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Papa.”
Yari stared at him for another moment before continuing.
“Then there is the other problem. The civilian who was standing outside talking to you a few minutes ago. Chuck Bartowski. What do we know about him?”
Stavros hesitated.
“Let me tell you what we know,” Yari said. “Nothing.”
He leaned forward slightly.
“And yet you allowed him to stand there and ask questions about our business while you answered them. You showed him information that should never have left this organization. You opened your mouth and handed a complete stranger pieces of information that could bring law enforcement straight to our door.”
“But Father, I was doing it for us.”
“For us?”
Yari’s voice remained quiet, but the anger behind it was unmistakable.
“You thought I would be impressed? You thought I would look at what you’ve done and say, Good job, son. Welcome to the family?”
Stavros stared at him.
“You have always been a disappointment to me, Stavros. That is the reason you have been kept away from the important parts of this family. You are impulsive. You let your ego make decisions your brain should be making. We are the ones who ask questions. We are not the ones who get questioned.”
“But I can fix it,” Stavros said quickly. “Whatever happened, I’ll clean it up. I’ll make it right. You won’t have to worry about any of this. I don’t know where you got your information, but some of it isn’t true. They’re lying. I would never knowingly put this family in danger.”
“Unfortunately, Stavros, I don’t believe you.”
Yari’s expression hardened.
“And I don’t want excuses. What you’ve done is done, and as far as I’m concerned, it is unforgivable.”
Stavros went completely still.
“You will walk away from the nightclub. You will pack your belongings tonight and take a flight back to Greece. You will remain there until I tell you to return. I will have a flight arranged for you today, and Yannick will travel with you. From this point forward, you will follow his instructions without question. If Yannick tells you to do something, you will understand that the order came directly from me.”
“Papa, please—”
“Enough.”
Yari stepped around the desk and approached his son. Stavros remained seated, unsure whether to speak again. Yari reached down and took him firmly by the sides of the head, pulling him closer until their foreheads touched. His voice dropped almost to a whisper.
“Don’t disappoint me again, son.”
For a moment, neither man moved.
Yari kissed his son once on the forehead, then released him and stepped back.
“Now go. And make sure you say goodbye to your mother before you leave.”
Stavros slowly rose from the chair. He looked as though he wanted to say something else, but one glance at his father’s expression convinced him otherwise. He turned and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.
Yari watched the door for several seconds before turning back toward his desk. He walked around it, lowered himself into his chair, and leaned back.
The matter of Stavros was finished.
Now he needed good news about Sarah Walker.
If everything went according to plan, he would have her by tomorrow, along with whatever information she had taken from his house. The ball was already moving. Wagner had provided him with the list of FBI safe houses, and men were already being positioned to begin checking them.
Yari picked up his phone and began making arrangements for the next several days. Stavros might have created a problem, but Yari had already begun preparing an alibi for his absence.
He had no intention of allowing one careless son to interfere with the real objective.
Sarah Walker was still out there.
And by tomorrow, he intended to have her.