Devil of Delphi: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery by Jeffrey Siger Page A

came highly recommended, too much so to ignore. More than she needed his help, she knew that it would be bad business for him to end up working for one of her competitors.
    Too many mad religious zealots, preaching terrorism as the primary reason for existence in this life, wanted her dead. She and they appealed to the same recruits, for she also saw terrorism as a tool; but as one to better the lives of her followers in this life rather than simply as a means for transporting believers to the next.
    She drew in and let out a deep breath. The young man had demonstrated the necessary physical skills and courage, and was clever too. He could be a sociopath, a trait common to his line of work. The question was, would he follow orders or look to run his own game? Children forced to raise themselves could go either way.
    She knew that all too well. She’d had parents. Just never knew them. At the thought, memories came at her in rapid, flip-book fashion. Instinctively, she focused on the anonymous girl’s photograph to fend them off, but some other instinct made her pause, and she let them come:
    An Eastern European child, stolen away so young that her first memory was of her hands making knots for carpets and her body serving the much larger hands of faceless men. She’d survived as a trafficked slave by learning to obey orders in whatever language they were given, and emerging as the unquestioned ruler of her fellow captives’ tiny universe by adopting the cardinal principle of her enslavers: Do as I say or die .
    When her enslavers found more profit to be made from her as a full-time whore, she’d used her beauty to escape the life of those forced to take on all comers on a shantytown cot, and ultimately her wits to escape slavery by marrying the police protector of her captors.
    She shook her head as if to stop her thoughts, but they rolled on. Now came the memories of her two fine sons, a kind husband who encouraged her education, and the day she found all three slaughtered in their home by a still unknown enemy.
    On that day she became a nameless refugee fleeing to a foreign land, abandoning all connections to her past. In time she no longer feared death, and with that newly discovered liberty, took absolute control over her life for the very first time.
    She made friends among the many like her that she met in shelters and on the streets. She’d lived their lives; she spoke their languages, and they had bonded. She taught them how to overcome and unite, weaned their fears into strength and their innocence into power. She used the skills she’d developed as a trafficked child to harness their rage at society’s empty promises and focused them in violent attacks on those she presented as symbols of their oppression. She offered them a simple satisfaction for otherwise belittled lives: revenge. And in return they called her Teacher.
    It did not take long before prospective targets saw the wisdom in paying Teacher for protection from her followers’ ire. That’s when money started rolling in and Teacher’s life became infinitely more complicated. It led to bankers, lawyers, and investment advisers. Teacher had become part of the very system her followers despised.
    But they saw her as different, for she brought them a better life, something no government had ever done. In exchange, they ruthlessly spread her methods of doing business across Eastern Europe, taking advantage of power vacuums that accompanied distracted, corrupt governments. And those who went to prison found new followers for her inside. No opportunity was missed. Teacher had become the quintessential, multi-national corporate leader.
    She’d achieved far more than she’d ever dreamed. And none of it had been about the money. For her it was all about protecting the marginalized and oppressed; a mission that today made it all about the money. Today she faced off against fanatics possessing seemingly unlimited resources, recruiting the gullible from