A Price Above Rubies

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Greece

Leon sits outside Colonel Dario's office and waits to be called in. His stomach hurts with anxiousness and he puts on his most impassive face to hide his inner turmoil. The first step of the plan. If this didn't work the rest of the plan fell apart and he'd likely be shot on sight. 

Vecihi's fake transfer papers had to pass the colonel's inspection if Leon had any hope of joining this man's regiment. 

"Lieutenant Akis, the colonel will see you now," the secretary, a matronly looking smiling woman says from her desk across from the bench on the other side of the hall. 

Leon gets to his feet and takes a deep breath before turning the door knob and entering the colonel's office. 

Colonel Dario is a man in his early 60s with a full head of salt and pepper hair, blue eyes and a thick mustache. 

Leon makes his way into the room and stops at the man's desk, saluting sharply. The act brings back all kinds of memories, good and bad.It's been so long since he's lived as a soldier, it shocks him how quickly his muscles stiffen and his limbs lock in the old remembered rigid posture. 

"At ease," Colonel Dario says. He has Leon's file, specially created by Vecihi, open on his desk. "Lieutenant Andreas Akis, you did some very good work during the war. I remember reading some of your inspiring messages. Perhaps if we had listened to you we would have won."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You're a writer. Why did you decide to change to a military career?"

"I felt I could do more to help Greece rebuild it's sense of pride. Our soldiers are still hurting as is our civilian population. I'd like to be a bridge between the two." 

"You're a soldier," Colonel Dario says. "I know what a man looks like whose seen the hell of war."

Leon holds his breath. He and Vecihi have planned for this eventuality. Stick to the truth as much as possible. 

There's an awareness between soldiers, a recognition of shared suffering and guilt. 

"We wondered during the war who this Andreas Akis was." Colonel Dario says. "Like the Turks with their Halit Ikbal." 

At the reminder of his wife's alias during the war, a hot wave of guilt moves through Leon. Does Hilal hate him for what he's done? Will she be able to forgive him and balance her anger with the joy of having her brother safe and home? 

Dear God, let her forgive me…

"So I'm assuming you used an alias during the war?"

Leon nods.

"Well, I imagine towards the end there we Greeks weren't too worried about the details of who was willing to help us fight." The Colonel clears his throat. "Well then. It says here you want to help with prison transport. Not the safest choice, lieutenant." 

"Safer than battle, Colonel," Leon reminds him. 

Colonel Dario nods somberly. "Truer words, lieutenant. Alright. You'll report to Captain Pachko tomorrow morning." 

Leon meets with Vecihi at their assigned location at a warehouse by the water. "I'm in," Leon says after they shake hands. "Did you see her before you left?" 

Vecihi shook his head quickly. "I value my life too much. As soon as we agreed on this plan I knew the smartest thing I could do was get the hell out of Turkey before your wife could convince me to either bring her with me or kill me for helping you leave." 

"Smart move," Leon says. God, does she hate me? He tries to think of how he would feel if the shoe was on the other foot and she had been the one to leave and the mix of fear and rage he feels frightens him a little. Fear that Hilal will do something stupid, the connection between them too strong for her to not do something stupid. Their love has always felt both blessing and curse because he cannot function without her and she...God, please...He always thought of her as the stronger of the two of them...but when it came to this, to their love, their madness for each other is equal. He can't think about that now. He tells himself their children will be enough to make her stay put and holds on to that thought because he can't do what he needs to do, he can't save his brother if he's worried about Hilal. He's never quite mastered being the cold, unfeeling soldier, much to his father's constant disappointment but he has to try harder now. His brother's life depends on it. 

"I want to see my mother before we get her out of Greece," Leon says and Vecihi nods.

"I thought you might." Vecihi leads him up the stairs to the upper level in the warehouse and calls out. "You can come out, Lady Veronika."

Leon's mother comes out from behind a stack of dirty boxes, a contrast to her finery. Leon can't remember a moment when his mother wasn't dressed in fancy clothes, even just at home. He imagined it was like armor for her, a small measure of protection against the pain of so many unhappy years. He instantly has an image of Hilal, pregnant with their first child, her hair in braids, wearing an old undershirt and pants of his digging around in the backyard garden because she's comfortable and no one would see her wearing such scandalous clothes. 

"My son! Why are you here? How could you?" Veronika rushes to him and throws her arms around Leon. Her perfume is so familiar to him that his eyes instantly well up with the emotion of being in her arms again and he forgets his anger with her for a moment. He's missed her so much. There has been phone calls, pictures and letters but the actual tactile comfort of his mother is something that Leon hasn't realized he's missed as much as he has until this moment. He holds onto her for a long minute and both their faces are damp when they pull back. 

A flare of his old anger returns and he's about to scold his mother for trying to keep the truth about Ali Kemal from him when he realizes his mother isn't alone. A young woman is with her. She's similarly dressed to Veronika, her blonde hair pinned up in the latest style under a grey hat. Leon doesn't recognize her at first. He's never actually seen her in person and it takes him a moment to remember her face from some of the pictures Ali Kemal and his mother has sent them over the years. Clara. Ali Kemal's wife.

She's delicately pretty and... Leon feels a kick of alarm when he looks down her elegant purple coat and notices that she is also visibly pregnant.