Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation

by Patricki Slaney

  I got my gun out, making sure that it was loaded, and the safety catch was off. I then put on the night goggles. The Corporal did the same. We were ready for our mission.

  When I had visited the area with Inspector Baird, we had found a large door set into the cliff face. I wanted to check if there were more doors blocking off other rooms.

  'Will you stay here and cover me?' I whispered to the Corporal.

  'No problem Sir. Be careful,' he replied.

  I gave him the thumbs up signal and moved towards the back of the complex.

  There were no lights showing at this end of the development, but I did hear an air-conditioning unit purring away.

  I stealthily moved along the narrow strip of ground between the old concrete buildings and the rock face. After about fifty meters I saw the outline of another door. It was painted the same colour as the rocks so was very hard to see.

  I was just passing this door when I saw another door open about twenty meters away. I dropped to the ground and froze. Two men came out and lit up. I saw the flare of a lighter and then the glow of the cigarettes. They had switched out the lights inside before they came out. If I hadn't been as close as I was, I would have missed them.

  I stayed there about ten minutes while they finished their cigarettes. I was close enough to hear that they were speaking Italian. They went back inside and closed the door.

  I travelled down the full length of the buildings and found a further four doors set into the cliff face. They had obviously created quite a number of rooms inside the base of the mountain, and, chances were, they all linked up inside.

  The Inspector had spotted six people when he had been doing his observation from the old coastguard station, but there could be considerably more and we had no way of finding out exactly how many were in residence.

  When I had reached the end of the buildings, I decided to see if I could go along the road that linked the site to Icmeler. Sergeant Jones would be obtaining details of the road as far as the police post and the dogs, so if I could move along it from this end it might complete the picture.

  In fact, there was not much to see. It was a narrow road, about two meters wide which had been recently resurfaced. From around the headland, I could see the barrier and the dogs, but I didn't move too close in case the dogs started barking.

  I retraced my steps as far as the buildings and then returned to where I had left Corporal Cooper, using the buildings as cover.

  'Everything OK Sir,' he asked me when I had rejoined him.

  'Yes, I saw as much as I need to see. I would like to get into one of the rooms that are inside the mountain, but there are people inside, and it is too dangerous.'

  'There doesn't appear to be any guards or patrols,' the Corporal added.

  'No, I didn't see any either.'

  'Do you mind if I go and see if I can find anything you may have missed Sir?'

  'No Corporal you go and have a look. I'll try and locate the best place for a landing should we decide to come in from the sea.'

  'I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes Sir.'

  He headed off towards doors.

  The beach that the tourist boats visited was about three hundred meters away from where I was standing. I decided to have a look in the opposite direction. If they were looking for intruders, they would be more likely to have the tourist beach under observation and not the opposite end of the site.

  About forty meters away I came across an ideal place. The rocks went right down to the water's edge, but there was a flat rock that would act as a perfect landing stage.

  Having found my landing site, I then just had time to go back and have another look at the beach where the tourist boats moored.

  I nearly made a terrible mistake. By a bit of good fortune, I spotted a CCTV camera which was pointed at the beach. It would capture anybody who arrived in this area and relay the image to our friends inside. I also spotted sensor activated lighting. It was a place to stay well away from.

  As I turned to head back to meet the Corporal, I heard the dogs barking madly at the entrance. Sergeant Jones must have got too close.

  Corporal Cooper was waiting for me when I returned to where we had agreed to meet. We found our flippers, re-entered the water, and swam to the pick-up point.

  About half-an-hour later we heard the sound of the outboard engine, and a few minutes later, we were helping them get the inflatable ashore. By the time the helicopter touched down at 4.30am sharp we were ready to load everything on board and shortly afterwards we were flying back to Cyprus.

  Twenty minutes into our flight, the pilot informed us that the other helicopter had picked up Captain Thompson and his team, and they were also on their way back to Cyprus.

  We had achieved all our objectives without having to break radio silence and without any mishaps.

  Very relieved that all had gone well, and, despite all the noise and vibration, I fell asleep.

  Chapter 33

  I awoke to find someone shaking my shoulder. The member of the helicopter crew put his head down close to mine.

  'Sir, we will be landing in ten minutes. We had a tail wind and are about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.'

  'Thanks Sergeant.'

  I was amazed. I had slept through the whole of the flight. I looked at my watch; it was 8.05am.

  The helicopter landed and taxied over to the hanger where we had departed from, ten and a half hours previously. We all slowly extricated ourselves from the helicopter and joined the group from the first helicopter who were already in the hanger.

  'Leave all your equipment, less your firearms, here and I will get it picked up later,' Captain Moffatt ordered. 'You just have time to have some breakfast in your respective messes before we meet for our debriefing at 9.00am. You can bring the firearms to the meeting room.'

  The three officers, including myself, headed for the officer's mess. Forty minutes later we were all back together again, ready to commence the debriefing. As we were about to start, the Wing Commander entered.

  'Well done men. By all accounts, you had a successful night and didn't have any mishaps. I just wanted to congratulate you all on your achievement, and I look forward to receiving a full report from Captain Moffatt this afternoon. I'll leave you to it now.' With that, the Wing Commander went out the door, leaving us to it.

  'Perhaps Captain Thompson you could commence the proceedings by giving us your report,' Captain Moffatt requested.

  'I am afraid that we did not have a very profitable time. We had no problems descending the mountain until we were about fifty meters above the level of the beach. We then encountered an electrified fence that was also alarmed. If we had cut it to gain access to the buildings below, then the alarm would have gone off, and we didn’t have the equipment to bridge it. We went to both ends of this fence but found that it ended at sheer rock faces. We could have possibly abseiled down at that point, but we were afraid of setting off the alarms and giving our position away.'

  'Were there any signs of patrols, CCTV cameras or other defences?'

  'No, the only thing that we saw was a hut on the top of the mountain, but it was unoccupied. They are obviously happy that the electric fence will give them all the protection that they require.'

  'Captain, will you complete your written report and give it to me by lunchtime today.'

  'No problem Sir.'

  'Sergeant Jones, can you please tell us what you found.' Captain Moffatt switched his attention to the Sergeant.

  'We put Major Hamilton and Corporal Cooper into the water about two hundred meters off Green Sea Bay and made our way around the island via the main channel. We then motored into one of the piers in Icmeler Harbour where we tied the inflatable up. Next we set out on foot for the road. We passed a couple of people who were out for a walk, but they took no notice of us. Thankfully you had suggested that we dressed in casual clothes, and we weren’t wearing our army fatigues. We looked just like any tourists.'

  'You
are sure that they didn't take any notice of you?' Captain Moffatt asked the Sergeant.

  'They were a young couple and had other things on their mind.' The Sergeant smiled.

  'Did you find anything of interest while you were investigating the road?'

  'There are a number of derelict buildings that are situated above the road. I had a good look at them but didn't see any signs of life or any observation posts despite it being an ideal location for one.'

  'Did you investigate further?'

  'No, I didn't as I was afraid of letting them know that we were scouting the place out.'

  'Anything else?'

  'There is an enormous rock overhanging the road close to where the road is blocked by the police checkpoint and the dogs. It would not take much explosive to cause the overhang to collapse on the road, which would close it to traffic if such a step was required.'

  'Did you go any further along the road?'

  'No, the dogs started to bark, so we had to turn around and go back to Icmeler. We retrieved the inflatable and returned to our meeting place without any further incidents.'

  'Well done, that is very useful information. Major Hamilton would you like to give us your report.'

  'After we were dropped off by the Sergeant, we swam to the northern end of the development that is the other end to the small bay that the tourist boats visit. Of note was the fact that there were no strong currents.'

  'Are you sure about there not being any currents?' Captain Moffatt questioned.

  'Yes I am certain. In fact, I was surprised as we were in the channel between the mainland and the island and I would have expected a current. We were able to land without any emergencies.'

  'You didn't have any problems getting out of the water and onto the land?'

  'No, it was easy as the rocks are not much above sea level. We then hid our flippers and explored on foot.'

  'Did you see any CCTV cameras or lights where you landed?'

  'There were none there, but later we did find cameras and lights at the area where the tourist boats visit.'

  'Sorry, for interrupting you. Tell us what else you found.'

  'There are five large doors set into the rock face and presumably there is a network of passageways and rooms behind those doors. All these doors are painted a dark grey, so they are hard to see against the rock face.'

  'Are you sure that there are only five?' the Captain asked.

  'The Corporal and I did separate counts and we both agree on the number five.'

  'If they are closed, is it possible to open them from the outside?'

  'I would think that we would have to use explosives as they look very thick. Of interest is the fact that the two times I have been at the site, the doors have been left open while some of the men working on the site have a smoke break. They are obviously not allowed to smoke inside so they come out for about ten minutes to have a fag. They leave the door open while they have their break.'

  'That's very useful information and may be the key to us gaining access,' the captain said. 'Is there anything else Major?'

  'We found a place, which is out of sight of all the buildings, where men could be landed. There is room for two large inflatables, and nobody need get wet in the landing.'

  'That is handy to know considering the problems that Captain Thompson found on the access from the mountain. It looks as if we will have to go in from the bay,' Captain Moffatt added.

  'After the shooting of Inspector Baird I expected them to be much more on their guard,’ I said. ‘We didn’t observe any sentries, and external surveillance is at a minimum. My impression is that they feel that they are secure behind the defences that they have put in place.'

  'You are all very experienced soldiers, which is the reason that you were selected for this mission in the first place. I want you now to give your honest opinion as to whether you think that we can obliterate this base without causing a major international incident with the Turks.'

  'If we had to access the site via the mountain, I would be against it; however, based on what the other parties found, I think that it is definitely on,' Captain Thompson spoke up first.

  'Sergeant Jones, what is your verdict?'

  'It would be very simple to go in by the road, but, obviously, the noise created would give them a warning. It sounds as if a landing from the bay is perfectly feasible Sir.'

  'Major what is your opinion?'

  'Simply, we have the element of surprise, and it is going to be easy to get in and achieve our objectives. The problem is going to be how we get the cars out and get everybody away before the Turkish authorities arrive on the scene,' I said.

  'The most obvious way of getting inside the network of rooms would be to blast the doors off, but the blasts would be heard all around Marmaris bay,’ Captain Moffatt added. ‘We are going to have to gain entry in a more subtle fashion. Perhaps the 'smokers' are the weak link in their defence system,'

  'I wonder if we could do a Trojan Horse trick on them sir,’ Captain Thompson suggested. ‘In ancient times the Greeks had the same problem as us in trying to get access inside the walls of Troy. They came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse,'

  'Let's leave the ideas till this afternoon as I am sure that you all need some rest. I must emphasise that I do want the reports from the three leaders before you retire to your beds. You are all dismissed and thank you for your efforts last night.'

  'Let's go and grab a cup of coffee and write our reports Major,' Chris Thompson suggested to me as we left the room.

  'Good idea Chris, I could murder a cup.'

  We had both finished compiling our reports by 10.45am, so we got hold of our driver and he took us to the hotel. At 11.30am I was climbing into bed, totally exhausted from the long night of intense activity. Needless to say, I slept the sleep of the dead.

  I was woken by the phone ringing. I forced myself awake and saw from the clock that it was 4.00pm.

  'Major, I am sorry to disturb you but the Wing Commander insists that you attend a meeting in one hour's time in his office. I will meet you in the reception area of our hotel at 4.30pm.' It was Chris Thompson on the phone.

  'See you then,' I grunted, not very enthusiastically.

  Chapter 34

  'Good afternoon Major.' The first person to greet me as I entered the Wing Commander's office was Chief Superintendent Tedding.

  'Good afternoon Superintendent, when did you get in?'

  'I landed about two hours ago after leaving Brize Norton this morning,' the Superintendent replied. 'I gather that all went well in your recce last night and the brains assembled here have come up with a plan.'

  'We were fortunate that the recce of Marmaris went off without any mishaps, but we have not developed a plan yet that I know of,' I said, a bit surprised he had suggested that the plan had already been developed.

  'Please be seated gentlemen so as we can get the meeting underway,' the Wing Commander ordered in not too gentle a tone. 'Let me introduce you to the various people who are here Superintendent. In fact, even better, I'll get each of them to introduce themselves. We'll start with you Captain Moffatt.'

  'Captain Stuart Moffatt, Royal Navy, presently seconded to NATO and stationed here in Cyprus. I cover the Eastern end of the Mediterranean, which includes Greece and Turkey.'

  'I am Captain Chris Thompson and am an SAS officer based here in Cyprus. I have been selected to lead the attack on the Mafia base in Green Sea Bay.'

  'I am Major Vince Hamilton, and I have been involved in this investigation as a Private Investigator since the start. I was demobbed from the SAS just over a year ago after a serious injury in Iraq.'

  'Nice to meet you all,' the Superintendent said. 'My name is Chief Superintendent Monty Tedding of the London Police force and I am based at New Scotland Yard. From my Christian name, you can see that my parents wanted me to have a career in the army as they named me after Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein. Contrary to their wishes I ended up in the police where I hav
e been for the past thirty years.'

  'I have Sergeant Jones and Corporal Patterson on standby in case we need them, but I wanted to keep the group as small as possible to speed things up,' Captain Moffatt added. 'I have taken the liberty of writing down a rough plan so as we have a framework on which to hang the detail.'

  The Captain walked across the front of the room to where there was a flipchart. He lifted up the front cover sheet.

  'I would like you all to read the points that I have written down,' the Captain said as he pointed to the bullet points. 'I will then elaborate on each one.'

  I read down the list with increasing interest. It was scheduled to be a three-day operation.

  1. Use Dasher to travel to Rhodes - Friday - Navy

  2. Monitor the road that leads from Icmeler to Green Sea Bay - Saturday - Major Hamilton

  3. Need to appropriate the two luxury motor yachts Splendiferous and Whispering Legend

  4. Need crew to handle the yachts - Navy

  5. Attack the enemy base Saturday night - SAS

  6. Drive cars out of site - REME drivers

  7. Try and find headquarters of the leader

  8. Recover stolen property from the site

  9. Put Police post out of action including dogs - SAS

  10. Blow up site on leaving - SAS

  11. Capture enemy and remove them SAS/Navy

  12. Look at possibility of Trojan Horse.

  13. Put all other facets of the syndicate’s operation in England, France, etc. out of action and arrest people involved - Superintendent Tedding

  Captain Moffatt then expanded on each of the points.

  Dasher turned out to be one of two P2000-class patrol ships based at the Akrotiri mole in Cyprus. It was capable of taking up to fifteen men at a speed of forty kilometres per hour so was ideal for what was required.

  It would be essential to have somebody on the ground in Icmeler for as much of Saturday as possible to make sure that the enemy didn't make any significant changes prior to the attack going in on Saturday night. I was asked to take on this role together with Corporal Cooper.