Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation

by Patricki Slaney

  We were allowed to board at 5.40pm, but there was no sign of the ferry leaving at its designated departure time. In fact, it eventually got under way just after six thirty.

  I stayed on deck as we moved out of the harbour. We passed a number of cruise ships, which rose out of the water, and towered over the buildings of the city. There were large numbers of small boats moving backwards and forwards as they bustled around the canals and waterways. I stood there mesmerised by the sight as we inched out into the Mediterranean. I made a mental note to bring the family here on holiday at some future date. I had never seen such an enchanting spectacle.

  I had a look around me at my fellow passengers to see if I could see the driver. He was nowhere to be seen. There were a lot of backpackers, and they had already marked out their territories on the deck where they would be sleeping and living for the next day. There also seemed to be a group of truckers who seemed to know each other as they were chatting away. The rest of the passengers looked like families or students on holiday.

  I found the bar and bought myself a beer resigned to spending the next day and a half on board this rather dilapidated vessel.

  Chapter 22

  I had a meal in the restaurant and then retired to my cabin but with no intention of sleeping.

  Just after midnight, I quietly opened my door and looked outside. There was nobody around, so I made my way to the car deck where the Maserati was parked. As I moved to the lower decks, the lighting decreased, and I was barely able to see where I was going. It was quite spooky as the throbbing of the engines increased the lower in the vessel I went. At least I didn’t have to step over horizontal backpacker bodies as they preferred the upper decks. I finally came to a door close to the stern of the ferry. There was a notice on it in a number of languages one of which was English - NO ENTRANCE TO VEHICLE DECK WHILE SHIP AT SEA.

  The door was open, so at least I could gain entry to where the Maserati was.

  The car deck was illuminated by one dim light. I waited for a minute as my eyes adjusted to the dark before I proceeded. There were lots of large trucks that made the place look remarkably sinister. A strong smell of diesel pervaded the air overpowering the other vehicle smells.

  I checked to see if there were any CCTV cameras, but there didn't seem to be any other than two at the rear of the deck pointing towards the loading area. I started to inch my way along the lines of vehicles looking for the Maserati.

  Fairly close to the front I found what I was looking for.

  Taking the master key and fob that Clive Newsome had given me, I switched the car alarm off and opened the boot.

  There were three oil paintings wrapped up in blankets sitting on the floor of the boot. I took each one out in turn and photographed them using the camera that I had brought along for just such a purpose. Not being an art connoisseur I had no idea who the artists were or what their value was.

  With the paintings out of the boot, I rummaged around looking for the jewellery. I couldn't find any.

  I replaced the paintings in the boot and closed it quietly using the key to lock it. I then opened the driver's door to have a look inside. The glove pocket on the passenger side was locked. Luckily the master key opened the compartment. Inside was a treasure trove of very expensive looking necklaces and brooches.

  So all our hunches were correct; they were stealing expensive cars in the UK and then using them to transport stolen jewellery and paintings to the Eastern Mediterranean. It obviously was a massive operation and highly organized.

  The other task that I had been given if I found the car was to replace the battery in the tracking device. They had told me where to find the transponder and how to change the battery.

  I had a quick look around me to check that I was still on my own, and, seeing that I was still OK, I un-clamped the device. I flipped off the cover and slid the battery out. The new battery slotted in easily. I put the cover back on the device and replaced it in its original position.

  My tasks completed I pressed the remote and relocked the car. I started my return journey to the door that I had entered by.

  Half way back to the door I froze, somebody was entering. A dark figure came through the door onto the car deck. I pulled the beany I was wearing down over my ears and forehead and headed for the door, keeping low to the floor.

  As I went along, I stepped on a piece of metal that must have been lying on the floor. It made a loud clang. I stopped and listened, and there was no noise. I didn’t move for at least five minutes. I froze and listened. I heard nothing. With a bit of luck, it had only been a crew member doing a regular check of the vehicles and he had now left the area.

  I recommenced my journey to the exit door.

  Some inner instinct made me stop. A large piece of timber flashed by my face and crashed onto the floor; missing me by millimetres. If he had connected, I would now be seriously injured.

  Before my attacker could recover his balance, I grabbed hold of him. My training in the SAS then took over. I threw him over my shoulder against the side of a truck. The action knocked all the wind out of him, and he collapsed, out cold.

  Before he could recover, I ran to the exit, and then went as fast as I could back to my cabin. Once inside I locked the door. It had been an extremely lucky escape, and I was unharmed. If I hadn't stopped when I did, I would be over the side by now. I was pretty certain that my attacker wouldn’t be able to recognize me if he met me again. To be on the safe side, I would stay out of the way until the ship docked. I was also reasonably confident that whoever had attacked me wouldn't report the event to the Captain. I had just had a very lucky escape and was lucky to be still operational.

  I stayed in my cabin all the following day, only leaving it to get some food. The ferry finally arrived in Patra at 5.00am on Tuesday morning.

  I kept well out of the way of any prying eyes until all the cars had been offloaded. I then went looking for a mode of transport to Athens. The capital of Greece was my logical next destination before going to the port of Piraeus to catch the ferry for Rhodes.

  I found a train station close by, and was able to book a seat on a train that left at 6.50am. I knew that the Rhodes ferry left at 6.00pm that evening, so I had the whole day to get to Athens and then to the terminal in Piraeus.

  Seated on the train with the hot sun streaming through the window I quickly fell asleep, and four hours later I was in Athens. I located a left luggage office in the station so was able to dump my bag while I went on an exploration of the city. Athens was a bustling busy metropolis dominated by the ancient ruins that towered over it.

  I decided that I couldn't come to Athens without seeing the Parthenon and the Acropolis, and I had a whole day to kill. The number of tourists at both places put me off the idea of being a tourist, so I gave up sightseeing found a well filled restaurant that was obviously popular and ate a very good lunch. A glass of Greek red wine completed the meal.

  Recovering my bags from the station, I took a taxi to Piraeus where I bought a ticket for Rhodes, doing my trick of paying for both berths in a two-berth cabin.

  At 5.30pm, I boarded the Blue Star Lines ferry named Paros, having first made sure that the Maserati was in the queue of cars waiting to board. With great relief, I saw that there was a different driver which meant that he wouldn't have seen me on the previous ferry trip from Venice to Patra.

  Little did I know at this point that they were much smarter than I could have possibly imagined. I had been lulled into a false sense of security.

  I stayed on the deck while the ferry closed its rear loading doors and sailed out of the busy port of Piraeus. There seemed to be all sorts of ferries using the port, from the fast catamarans to the smaller inter-island ferries. It was a busy place. Although it was six o'clock, the sun was still glistening off the water, and the warm temperature made the deck a pleasant place to be. I stayed there amongst the backpackers until the sun started to go down behind the islands when I decided to go to find a bar and have
a drink.

  I bought a beer and found a quiet corner of the bar.

  You can imagine my surprise when I glanced up and saw the former driver of the Maserati, the one who had attacked me on the vehicle deck, come in with the current driver and go up to the bar. I couldn’t leave the bar without passing them. I had no alternative but to stay where I was.

  The driver, who I had encountered on my last ferry trip, had a large bruise and swelling on his head. He commenced a detailed sweep of the bar with his eyes, checking out the passengers. I tried not to look at him and focused my eyes on a porthole on the other side of the room. Would he recognize me?

  My best bet probably was to drink up and leave the bar, hoping that he didn't recognize me.

  As I was pushing the door open, there was the noise of stools being pushed back. It may have been a coincidence, but I wasn't hanging around to find out. I took off. I started to head back to the safety of my cabin, but decided at the last minute that perhaps it wasn't that safe and was more like a trap. Two of them could find me very easily as one could go ahead of me, and the other follow behind. I rushed up onto the top deck, found a lifeboat and climbed inside making sure that the cover was back in place. I was a sitting duck if they decided to look inside. I lay down on the bottom boards of the lifeboat and listened.

  After about ten minutes, I heard two men speaking what sounded to me like Italian. It was probably my pursuers. The ferry trip would take sixteen hours, so they had plenty of time to find me. I needed a better plan if I was to survive. With a silencer on a gun, they could shoot me where I was, and nobody would be any the wiser.

  I took a decision that the best approach was to go and seek help from the Captain of the vessel.

  I waited another half an hour and then had a look out of the lifeboat. Nobody was in sight.

  I climbed out and stealthily moved towards the bridge. As I was half way up the ladder to the bridge, I heard a shout behind me. I raced up the rest of the ladder and ducked. A bullet hit the rail beside me making a twanging sound. I dived through the door onto the bridge.

  The officer on watch looked at me, and one of the deck hands came aggressively towards me, obviously thinking that they were being attacked.

  'Do you speak English?' I blurted out.

  'Yes, all the officers on the ship speak English.'

  'Can I please speak to the Captain?'

  'Why do you want to talk to the Captain? He is busy at the moment.'

  'I am working for the British police, and I have just been attacked. In fact, I was shot at.' The mention of the police and the fact that I had been shot at seemed to galvanize him into action.

  He turned to the deckhand and issued some orders in what I took to be Greek. The deckhand then hurried off the bridge.

  He turned back to me.

  ‘I have asked him to go and get the Captain.’

  About five minutes later the Captain entered the bridge. He looked at me suspiciously and then talked to the Officer who briefly explained what had happened and who I was

  'You had better come with me and tell me what this is all about.' He led the way into the chartroom and closed the door.

  'The first officer told me that you were being shot at and that you took refuge on the bridge. Can you please tell me who you are and what is going on.'

  I explained that my name was Major Vince Hamilton and that I was a Private Investigator working for a number of clients and also the British Police. I had tracked members of a crime syndicate onto his ferry. They were in the process of transporting a stolen car plus stolen paintings and jewellery to Rhodes.

  'Why have you not just gone to the Greek police?' He interrupted me.

  'The thieves are taking a lot of cars each month and also stealing expensive luxury motor yachts. We need to find out where they are taking them so as we can get the brains behind the whole organization and recover the stolen property.' I replied.

  'How can you be sure that there is a stolen car on my ferry?'

  'We placed a tracking device in the car and tracked it to Venice. I then followed it on the ferry to Patra; it then drove to Piraeus, and I saw the car in the line of vehicles waiting to board your ship.'

  'What make and colour of car is it?'

  'It's a dark green Maserati.'

  'How do you know that there are paintings and jewellery in the car?'

  'During the voyage from Venice to Patra I managed to look inside the car, and I saw the stolen items. I know that they are definitely there.'

  'There is one thing that is puzzling me. How did they recognize you? Have you been this way before?'

  'The driver who was travelling with the car from Venice to Athens discovered me searching the Maserati, and he jumped on me. In the scuffle, he received a bang to the head. He must have recognized me from the previous trip.'

  'Let me get one of my officers to go and confirm your story that there is a Maserati on board. I will then decide what to do with you.'

  The Captain called over one of the officers into the chart room and gave him the instruction to go to the car deck and check if there was a green Maserati there.

  Five minutes later the officer returned and told the Captain that the car was where I said it would be.

  'What do you want me to do?' The Captain asked me.

  'I don't know what you can do? All I know is that if they see me again, they will kill me.'

  'I do not have the manpower to be able to arrest them as they sound like pretty violent men. All I can do is keep you out of sight until we get to Rhodes. You can stay in the chartroom here, and we will lock the door. There is a bunk that I use when I have to be close to the helmsman in a storm, but the weather forecast is supposed to be good so I won't need it.'

  'That would be very kind of you, and I am sorry for causing you a problem.'

  'If you give me your cabin number, I will get one of my crew to bring up your bag. I will also have food delivered up here for you, so you don't have to leave the chartroom.'

  'I am most grateful.'

  That had gone much better than I expected, and I was now safe until I got to Rhodes. The door between the bridge and the chart room was exceptionally solid, so there was no way that they could get to me even if they got access to the bridge.

  I slept very well only waking intermittently when we arrived at various ports during the night. At about 6.45am just as we left the island of Kos, they brought me my breakfast. At 9.00am, the Captain came to see me.

  'Good morning; I hope that you slept well and that my men looked after you.'

  'I slept very well, and your crew certainly looked after me better than I could have expected.'

  'That's good. We now have to consider how we are going to get you off this vessel, without you being spotted, and eliminated.'

  'Yes; I have been wondering how I was going to get off the boat without them spotting me.'

  'I have a friend who uses this route all the time, and I have done many favours for him in the past. He is willing to help you.'

  'Does he have a vehicle on board?'

  'Yes; he has a van, and we can manage to unload all the other vehicles without unloading his as we are not too full. When all the passengers have disembarked we will bring you down to his van, and you can then drive off the ship with him.'

  'Where will he take me?'

  'He lives close to a town called Lindos, which is about sixty kilometres from Rhodes town. I suggest that he takes you to a hotel there. You will be far away from the people who are looking for you.'

  'My only problem is that I must be back at the Rhodes Ferry Port as soon as possible as I want to check out what ferries are available for the Maserati. At this stage, I don't know their final destination.'

  'You shouldn't have a problem hiring a car in Lindos, and it is only forty minutes back to Rhodes. Alternatively there is a good bus service and also a daily ferry.'

  'Thank you very much Captain, for being so helpful and making all the arrangements. I am ve
ry grateful.'

  'Major Hamilton if you knew the amount of paperwork that I have to complete if somebody is gunned down and killed on board my vessel, you would understand how much better it is for me if I protect you.' He smiled and shook my hand.

  The evacuation plan worked very well, and I left the boat in the back of an old van packed with dry food goods that my new friend had bought in Athens. Outside the town, he pulled into the side of the road and let me out of the back of the van. For the rest of the journey to Lindos, I travelled in the front with him.

  Thankfully he spoke English quite well. He explained to me that most people on the island spoke English as the biggest earner on the island was tourism.

  'Is there a hotel in Lindos that I can stay in that isn't too expensive and is away from the busy areas,' I asked him.

  'I know somebody who runs a small hotel down the hill and close to the beach,' he announced.

  'I will take you there, and I can guarantee that you will never be found by whoever is trying to kill you. The hotel is well hidden and can only be approached on foot.'

  'That sounds ideal. I am very grateful for what you are doing for me.'

  'There is no problem in me helping you. You seem to be a nice man despite what you are mixed up in.'

  'Thank you for your kind words.'

  We drove on in silence until after forty-five minutes he told me that we had arrived at Lindos. All I could see was a bus stop with a lot of tourist buses parked in a row.

  'I don't see any buildings; where is the town? I asked.

  'You will see the houses as soon as we start to go down the hill.' He turned left and went down a very steep roughly made road. I could now see the white buildings of the town spread out on the hills before us. We travelled very slowly as the road was exceedingly steep, and the van struggled in low gear. I don't think that his brakes were quite up to the gradient. After about a kilometre, he kept to the left and went down a narrow track towards the beach that bordered on a small bay.