Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation

by Patricki Slaney

  When I had finished, he sat there for a few minutes digesting what I had told him.

  'How sure are you Vince that you have found the operating base for the syndicate that is behind all the robberies?'

  'I was ninety percent certain when I left Marmaris that we had found their base, but, after the shooting of the Inspector, I now am one hundred percent sure.'

  'I was hoping that you would have come to that conclusion. I don't think that the Inspector would have wasted his time by going out there unless he was reasonably confident that he was on to something big. He has one of the best noses in the force, and when he asked for permission to travel to Greece and Turkey, he informed me that he was close to cracking the case.'

  'Where do we go from here then Sir?'

  'Can you come to a meeting here on Monday Vince?'

  'I am afraid that Monday is totally out as my wife's father died while I was in Turkey, and his funeral is on Monday. I obviously cannot miss that.'

  'Would first thing on Tuesday be suitable for you?'

  'Yes, that would be fine. Have you any idea what should happen next?'

  'All I know at this stage is that we will need to widen our circle of expertise. I will try and get hold of an expert in Eastern Mediterranean affairs and have him attend our meeting on Tuesday. We can then see what he has to suggest.'

  'What time do you want me to come here on Tuesday?'

  'I'll phone you to give you the time, or, if you give me your mobile number, I will text you the time.'

  'Thank you; I look forward to hearing from you.' I stood up, shook his hand and left for home, where I arrived in time for lunch.

  With the funeral the following day and people arriving and needing lifts, I decided to hire a large car from Hertz. The following morning I met the South African Airways flight from Johannesburg at Heathrow. Daphne's Aunt and Uncle were flying in for the funeral. I brought the two of them home where they freshened up, and then the six of us headed for Maidstone and the funeral. I had suggested to Michael and Victoria that they might want to stay at home for the day, but, surprisingly, they had insisted on going with us to the funeral

  It was a very sad day for all concerned but nice in one way as we hadn't met a lot of the family for a number of years. We were able to catch up on all the news. It was only when everybody had gone home, and we were left on our own that the full impact hit us. Daphne had been great all day, but, going home in the car tears were shed quietly in the back of the car. Once we had dropped off her Uncle and Aunt at a local guest house, a strange emptiness invaded the house.

  There was a text message for me on Monday evening informing me that the meeting on Tuesday would be at 2.00pm at New Scotland Yard. The message also said that the Inspector was still recovering well, and the plan was that he would be flown back to the UK on Wednesday, all being well.

  We were back to normal on Tuesday morning after the previous day being occupied with the funeral. Michael asked me if I would accompany him to school as he hadn't seen me for so long. With the meeting with the Superintendent, not till after lunch, I agreed to go with him as it was an opportunity to spend time together. He didn't stop talking the entire journey, and I felt that I had done the right thing by agreeing to go with him. We got off the tube at the station closest to his school, and he walked the rest of the way without me as he had met some of his mates on the tube. I went to the eastbound platform and got the next tube home. I was in good form and feeling ready for whatever the world would throw against me.

  First thing I did on reaching home was to phone Willem in Holland.

  'There has been movement Vince.' He told me after our introductions.

  'Which vessel has moved?' I asked.

  'Splendiferous, or should I say Habibi, has left Lindos and is now in Marmaris bay.'

  'As far as we know that is the first of the luxury motor yachts that has arrived at the syndicate's base,' I added.

  'Well, it is certainly the first boat that we have been tracking that has arrived there,' Willem commented. ‘I imagine that Sea Office has been there at some stage but it is long gone by now.’

  'I have some bad news about Inspector Baird, who, as you are aware, was with me in Marmaris and, in fact, stayed on there after I left.'

  'What happened to him Vince?'

  'He was shot and is in the ICU section of a Turkish hospital.'

  'Do you know who shot him?'

  'The Police Superintendent that I met on Sunday didn't have the details, but I should hear more at a meeting I am attending later on today.'

  'I think that it proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are searching in the right place and are getting close to them,’ Willem said. ‘You were attacked in Rhodes, and now the Inspector has been attacked in Marmaris.'

  'On top of the two attacks we have proof that a car vanished in Icmeler and the Habibi has arrived in Marmaris bay.' Even as I talked it over with Willem I was becoming more convinced that we were on the right track regarding the headquarters of the syndicate.

  'What is the next step Vince?'

  'I am meeting Chief Superintendent Tedding at New Scotland Yard at 2.00pm today, and I am expecting that a firm action plan will emerge from that meeting.'

  'You will keep in contact with me, won't you, as I am interested to hear how all this develops?'

  'I will do Willem. You have been a great help in solving the mystery.'

  'Have a good day then Vince.' He terminated the call.

  The conversation with Willem had given me a new headache. How was I going to stop the Splendiferous from being moved to a new destination? I had lost it once before and the owner, Peter Brown, had not been very happy about that. It was now in my sights again so I must do something to try and get it back.

  The problem was that if I did take action to recover the boat, I would let the enemy know that we knew where they were. Mind you, the fact that the Inspector had been spotted spying on them might be all they needed to make them very suspicious. Time was obviously of the essence, and we would need to act quickly. My meeting with the Superintendent was taking on more importance by the minute. A workable plan would have to be arrived at, and the sooner, the better.

  Chapter 30

  My previous meeting at New Scotland Yard had been on a Sunday, and there had been very few people around. When I arrived this time the reception area was a hive of activity. I announced my arrival at the reception desk and was told to wait until called.

  At 2.15pm, I heard my name and, on approaching the desk, I was directed to another of the meeting rooms that surrounded the entrance lobby. As I sat down in the room to await the Superintendent, I was joined by a naval captain resplendent in his uniform.

  'Hi, am I in the correct place?’ he asked me. ‘I am here to meet Chief Superintendent Tedding.'

  'Yes, I think you are as I am also here to meet the Superintendent,' I replied.

  'Pleased to meet you; my name is Captain Stuart Moffatt.'

  'I am Major Vince Hamilton,' I announced. I stood up, and we shook hands.

  'I gather that you have been working on a case with Inspector Baird, Major.'

  'Yes I know him very well. I was very upset to hear that he had been wounded quite severely.'

  'I was able to visit him yesterday in the hospital in Marmaris, and you will be relieved to know that he has regained consciousness and is out of danger.'

  'Did you go there especially to see him?' I asked. I was puzzled as to how the Captain could have been there yesterday and be back in London by today.

  'I am based in the eastern Med., and was flown back by the RAF from Cyprus this morning.'

  The door opened, and the Superintendent entered.

  He saw that we had introduced ourselves to each other and shook both of our hands.

  'Sorry, I am late, but I had an important call that I had to take, and it went on a bit.'

  We both muttered that we didn't mind.

  'Vince, I have asked Captain Moffatt to c
ome and meet us here today because he is currently operating in the eastern Mediterranean area and can supply us with all the detail we need to formulate a plan of action. The powers that be feel that a major input from the services will be required if we are going to eliminate this syndicate. I am talking about the mob who has been organizing all the thefts that have been taking place around Europe for the past nine months.'

  'Can we involve the services even if we are operating in Turkey?' I asked.

  ‘Fortunately Turkey is a member NATO, and there are many joint bases dotted around the country. We have already talked about seeing if we can mount some form of operation under cover of our participation in a combined NATO exercise,' the Superintendent explained.

  'It is obviously essential that we know for certain that the buildings in Green Sea Bay are, in fact, being used as cover for the syndicate's operation before we go in against them,' I suggested.

  'Perhaps Captain it is time that you tell the Major here what Inspector Baird told you when you visited him in the hospital yesterday.'

  'He reported that he had seen six men at the base, but they were only to be seen moving around outside when there were no tourist boats in the vicinity. He also saw them cleaning their weapons in the sun, and they possessed some serious armaments. They also moved the Maserati from the cave in the rock face into the open and were cleaning it. The Inspector gave me his camera that has a lot of photographs backing up what he saw.'

  'Did he tell you how and when he was shot?' I asked.

  'He reckons that there must have been a reflection of the sun off the binoculars that he was using. This flash gave away his position. He was hit in his right shoulder.'

  'How did he escape from the island and come to be in the inflatable in the main shipping channel?'

  'He crawled down to where the dinghy was, climbed in, and untied the mooring rope. He then must have passed out, because the next thing he knew was when he woke up in the hospital. He was a very lucky man.'

  The Superintendent then took over the meeting.

  'What is now absolutely vital is that we move quickly. I have got clearance from the powers that be to use help from the Navy, the RAF and the army. With this in mind, the base for the operation will be Cyprus. It will be code named Operation Heist.'

  'Does that mean that you want me to travel to Cyprus, Superintendent?'

  'Yes, and you will have to travel there today if you can. Captain Moffatt has already organized the flight and has also obtained all the clearances that you need to be part of the task force. Your rank and your previous career in the army made it much easier to get you accepted.'

  'Where does the flight leave from and at what time?'

  'It leaves from the RAF base at Brize Norton,’ the Superintendent replied. ‘I will organize transport for you both from Victoria station at 7.00pm. It is now 3.15pm so you will just have time to get to your home and pack a bag before returning to Victoria. I am sorry it is such a rush, but we need to move quickly. I suggest that you meet the Captain in front of the station at 6.45, so you are waiting together when the car comes to pick you up.'

  'I had better get going then. Is the meeting finished? Can I leave?'

  'Yes you can. I will travel to Cyprus on Thursday to see how you are getting on,' the Superintendent said.

  'I'll see you later then Captain. Just in case I miss you at the station, do you have a mobile number?'

  The Captain gave me a card with his details on it. I shook hands, left the building and hurried to St James's Park tube station to get the District Line home.

  I was back at Victoria Station by 6.40pm and met up with the Captain without any problems as he was already waiting for me.

  'Well done Major, you made it back in time. It must have been quite a rush for you.'

  ‘I would prefer if you didn’t call me Major. I have retired from the army. Just use my Christian name which is Vince.'

  'OK, Vince and you can also use my Christian name which is Stuart. When we arrive at the base in Cyprus, and we are amongst service personnel it might be better if we address each other by our ranks.'

  'That's fine. I agree with you on that.'

  'What were you doing in the army prior to your injury?' Stuart asked me.

  'I was in the SAS and was stationed in Iraq. Unfortunately, I was too close to an IED that exploded, and I ended up being severely injured.'

  'Did you take up the role of a Private Investigator as soon as you left the army?'

  'I took six months to recover from my injuries and then took on my new role.'

  A black Jaguar pulled up in front of us, and the driver got out.

  'Major Hamilton and Captain Moffatt?' the driver inquired.

  'Yes, that is us,' I replied.

  He put our bags into the boot of the car, and we got in.

  Two hours later we were pulling up at the security gates that controlled admission to Brize Norton airport. We supplied our passports, and the driver gave details of the flight that we were due to leave on. We were allowed through and were dropped off at the passenger terminal. I hadn't expected there to be a terminal building; it was just like any other civil airport. There appeared to be quite a few flights arriving and going. Ours was due to leave at 10.30pm, so we were in plenty of time.

  There was even a bar where we were able to get ourselves a beer. Once we were settled and relaxed I thought it was a good time to find out what the plan was.

  'Stuart, are you able to tell me what the plan is for the next few days?'

  'Everything has to be confirmed, but I can tell you what I have in mind. It is now Tuesday evening, and I would like to dismantle the Mafia operation on this coming Friday or at the latest Saturday.'

  'That is very soon. Are we going to have enough information by then?' I asked.

  'We have the photographs that the Inspector took, and I plan on mounting a reconnaissance operation tomorrow night. Do you think that you will be fit enough to go in with us?'

  'I am fine unless I have to run. If you tell me how you plan to get in and out of the area, I can then tell you whether I will be able to do it. I don't want to slow things up or put people in danger.'

  'The recce team will be headed up by Captain Chris Thompson, who you probably know as he is another SAS man.'

  'Yes I know him, but he was only a Lieutenant when he was in Iraq, he must have been promoted.

  'We have been very fortunate because there are NATO manoeuvres scheduled for this week, and we can put our flight paths down as part of these exercises. Nobody will pass any comment on the fact that we will be landing near Icmeler or in Marmaris bay.'

  'So just to recap on what the plan is,' I wanted to make sure that I understood what was about to happen. 'A team under Chris Thompson will go in on Wednesday night and do a full recce of the area. A plan of attack will then be drawn up, and the main attack will take place on either Friday or Saturday of this week.'

  'You've got it. The plan obviously has to get the approval of the GOC Western Mediterranean, but that's the guts of it.'

  'There are obviously a lot of links in the chain in other parts of Europe which will have to be tackled at the same time; who is going to look after all that.' I was starting to get worried about the magnitude of what was going to have to be co-ordinated.

  'Chief Superintendent Tedding is coming out to Cyprus on Thursday, and he will be putting in place the rest of the plan. I gather that he has already been in touch with the French, Italian and Greek police forces, and they will all be involved.'

  'It sounds as if the Superintendent has a lot of influence and knows all the right people,' I commented.

  'Well, it turns out that Inspector Baird’s brother is a General and is a key figure in the Ministry of Defence. I would think that probably has something to do with how we can mount an operation of this magnitude.' The Captain smiled.

  'It will certainly make it easier to get the permissions that we require if we are to proceed in a hurry.'

 
; Three and a half hours later we landed at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The local time was 4.00am. During my days in the army, I had been to Cyprus on a few occasions, but never for more than a few days, so I didn't know the base that well. We were not going to stay on the base as captain Moffatt was billeted in a hotel in Limassol, and I was going to stay in the same location. It was 5.30am before I was climbing into my bed, totally exhausted.

  As the driver was dropping us off at the hotel, he made our night by telling us that he would be back to pick us up at 9.30am. I would only be able to get around three hours sleep at the most.

  Chapter 31

  I had booked a wake-up call for 8.45am and was duly woken from a deep sleep by the phone ringing. It took me some time to realise where I was, what was happening and getting my brain in gear for the day ahead. I forced myself to leave my bed, shaved, showered, and, still in a sleepy state, was waiting for the driver in the reception area at 9.20am. Stuart Moffatt joined me on the dot of half past nine, looking a good deal fresher than I felt.

  'Good morning Vince, how are you feeling this morning?'

  'I have felt better and could have done with a few more hours in bed,' I replied.

  'We may get a chance to have a few more hours shut eye later in the day as we are unlikely to leave on any recce mission until around ten o'clock tonight.'

  'If we are going to be on the go for the whole of tonight then, I need to get some more sleep sometime today. Otherwise, I won't be much use,' I said. During my days in the army, I was used to going for days with only minimal sleep, but now I had got out of practise as I lived a civilian lifestyle.

  'We'll include sleep as part of the operation plan then.' Stuart smiled at me in a knowing way.

  Thankfully there was air conditioning in the car as the outside temperature was in the high thirties despite it being only 9.30am. The sun was beating down on the arid countryside.

  Twenty minutes later we were pulling up at the entrance to the base. The driver showed his pass, and we were allowed in.

  'We just have time for breakfast if you would like some,' Stuart suggested.