Commander Mimis Bondopoulos,
Agent 007-Up of the Greek secret service, looked skeptically at his superior, Alpha-Beta, a man of few words who was often mistaken for a supermarket.
“A plot to kill the premier? I don’t believe it,” Bondopoulos said. “I mean, why bother?”
Alpha-Beta shrugged and pushed a note across his desk for Bondopoulos to see. The lettering had been cut out of newspaper headlines and the message read: “Make your peace with your Maker because you are doomed! – 29th February.”
“Oh, if they’re going to kill him on 29 February, we’ve got plenty of time.
It doesn’t come round until 1992,” Bondopoulos said, rather pleased with himself for having calculated the advent of the next leap year so quickly “29th February is the name of the secret organization that signed the note, dummo. We don’t know when they’re going to strike.”
“Why do they call themselves 29th February?”
Alpha-Beta shrugged again and said: “We’ve never heard of them before . The note was mailed to the premier’s current residence at Ekali. Both he and his lady are very upset about it and they want us to trace-down these people and nab them as soon as possible. All we’ve got so far is that it was sent from a post office on 3 September Street and the envelope has a grease stain that was traced to a souvlaki stand on 28th October Street whose owner has disappeared from his house on 3rd November Street in Nea Liossia and who was last seen at his sister’s house on 23rd March Street in Peristeri. The sister’s car was once stolen for a job and then abandoned by the 17th November organization. Her name -“
“Wait, wait,” Bondopoulos interrupted.
“You’re making me dizzy with all these dates.” He sat with his head in his hands for a few moments, then banged his forehead with his fist a couple of times before saying: “It’s okay now. I’ve got it all. Please go on, sir.”
Alpha-Beta gave a little sigh and went on:
“The sister’s name is Bebeka Boubi and she sings in a third-rate bouzouki joint in Drapetsona. The police have questioned her about her brother but she says he just came to borrow some money off her and she doesn’t know where he’s gone. This is where you come in. We want you to get friendly with her, win her confidence and find out if she’s lying about not knowing the whereabouts of her brother. And you’ve got to act fast, because there’s no time to lose, “I know,” Bondopoulos nodded.
“We’ve got to crack this case open before the 25th of March.”
“Why the 25th of March?”
“Because it’s the only date that hasn’t cropped up so far and it’s the day which the premier will be most exposed as he sits on the review stand during the Independence Day military parade.”
“Good thinking,” Alpha-Beta said.
“You’ll need some money. Here’s a voucher for 10,000 drachmas. Tsingounis in Accounts will cash it for you.”
“Ten thousand!” Bondopoulos exclaimed.
“That’ll barely cover the tip to the hat check girl in the bouzouki joint,” he protested.
“Don’t wear a hat,” Alpha-Beta said dryly.
“You can’t have more because all our money was deposited with the Bank of Crete and we can’t touch it for the moment. If it’s still there, that is.”
