Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation

by Patricki Slaney

  There was a new moon so once we switched off the headlamps it was pretty dark. We both fitted our night vision goggles so at least we were able to see where we were going.

  We walked along the edge of the escarpment with our guns in our hands, moving towards a point where I reckoned we would be directly above the complex on the beach far below.

  We spotted a small cabin set back in the trees. It would have been invisible without our special goggles.

  We stopped.

  Both of us ducked down low, not that we were visible to anybody in the cabin as the shutters were closed.

  It was possible to hear voices, although we couldn't pick out what they were saying.

  I indicated to the Corporal to stay where he was, and I did a tour around the outside of the cabin.

  I heard somebody groaning. Obviously there was a wounded man in the cabin. Was it one of ours or one of theirs?

  We obviously had to do something, but how were we to get access to the cabin? It was small, so there was obviously only one room. There were heavy shutters over the window, and the door was shut, so there was no easy way in.

  By sign language, I notified the Corporal that we should move away a short distance from the cabin.

  When we were out of earshot, I said to him; 'I think that there's a fair chance that the Sergeant and Private Ferguson have been captured and are in that cabin.'

  'Yes Sir, it seems like that.'

  'Have you any suggestions as to how we can get them out?'

  'We need to create a diversion that will confuse them while we are breaking in,' the Corporal suggested.

  'Perhaps we can create a diversion out the front. At the same time we can force the shutters at the back and smash the window,' I added.

  'Have we got anything to force the shutters as they look to be quite secure?' the Corporal asked.

  'I will go and look in the 4 x 4 to see if I can find anything.' I returned to the vehicle and had a rummage inside and under the seat. I was fortunate and found a large tyre lever.

  I returned to where the Corporal was.

  'I want you to set off a stun grenade in front of the building, in fact, set off two a few seconds apart. When the explosions occur, I will jemmy open the shutters at the back and smash the window.'

  'What do you want me to do when you go in the back?' the Corporal asked.

  'Hopefully, the explosions will have damaged the door, so you can try and gain access there. Shoot out the lock if you have to. We will have a surprise factor for a few seconds, so we want to make best use of that time.'

  'Do we shoot to kill or just to disable, Sir?'

  'Initially shoot to disable, but if that doesn’t work shoot to kill. Don't put our lives at risk. By the way, if I have to, I will throw a stun grenade into the room.'

  We both took up our positions. The Corporal went to the front of the cabin, and I took up a position at the rear of the cabin, ready to attack the shutters.

  There was a colossal bang, followed shortly afterwards by a second explosion. I jumped into action after the first and had the shutters open in a matter of seconds.

  I smashed the glass with my Glock and fired a shot at the legs of the first of the guards that I saw.

  The Sergeant, although tied up, hurled himself at the second man. The front door opened, and the Corporal was pointing his gun at the prone second guard before he could recover from the impact of the Sergeant.

  We had achieved our objective before they knew what hit them.

  The man who we had heard moaning turned out to be Private Ferguson. He had evidently been shot when the two of them had been surprised by the two Italians.

  I took the decision not to bring either of the two new captives with us. We would need to get medical treatment for Private Ferguson and wouldn't have room in the 4 x 4 for everybody.

  We released the Sergeant from his bonds, and he set about staunching the flow of blood in the wounded Italian using a field dressing. The Corporal and I got some rope from the vehicle and tied both the guards up. We had to cut the rope that had been binding the Sergeant and Private Ferguson and couldn’t re-use it.

  We used the camp bed that Private Ferguson had been lying on as a stretcher to transfer him from the cabin to the 4 x 4.

  Turning both the cars, we headed back down the road to the harbour.

  All the men had been picked up, and there was only my car sitting in the car park. We stopped; I got into my hire car, and the four of us headed back into Marmaris.

  The Sergeant and I left our cars and keys at the Avis office and walked to the pick-up point while the Corporal drove the 4 x 4 containing the wounded Private to the quayside. I left a note in my hire car telling the Avis officials that the 4 x 4 plus its keys had been left at the ferry port end of the quay beside the pier.

  I radioed Captain Moffatt to tell him that we were waiting to be picked up, and we had an injured man.

  Ten minutes later Golden Spirit glided slowly into the quay. We loaded the wounded soldier on board and headed off across Marmaris Bay towards the open sea. How nice it was to be back amongst friendly faces.

  'Have a drink Major.' Captain Moffatt said, handing me a liberal measure of Scotch in a glass. 'I am sure that you need it.'

  'I am still high on adrenaline. It's been quite a night,' I replied. 'Are you going to fill me in on the details of what went on?'

  'We are very fortunate that we only suffered one casualty, and that was Private Ferguson who you already know about. When we mounted the main attack on the complex, we found that the Trojan Horse had worked better than we could have expected. All the occupants were drunk, and the heavy security doors were all open.'

  'Where are the captives now?'

  'The Heist Boss is on board this boat, as you are aware, while the four Italians we captured at the complex are on Habibi.'

  'When I was in Icmeler I saw four luxury cars pass by heading for Marmaris, did you manage to pick up any other stolen items?' I asked very interested to hear how successful the operation had been.

  'If you look in the stern cabin, you will see a right treasure trove,' the Captain continued. 'There are numerous paintings by artists such as Paul Klee, Henri Matisse and Picasso, to name but a few. Plus there is jewellery worth millions. There are more paintings on Habibi.'

  'It's all been worthwhile then,' I concluded.

  'Yes I think that you could say it has been a very successful night. We have placed charges in the caves that they have been using to hide and store the stolen items. These are set to go off at 6.00am when we will be well away from the area.'

  As soon as we got out of the confines of Marmaris Bay the helmsman opened up the engines, and we scudded along at nearly thirty knots.

  I went down to see if Private Ferguson was doing OK, being relieved to find that he was comfortable having been heavily sedated. I didn't think it wise to wake him up just to see how he was feeling.

  I went to the stern cabin to have a look at the loot and was amazed at the number of paintings that had been recovered. The jewellery had been placed in some locked containers which had been brought along for the purpose.

  Other than the guards responsible for keeping the Heist Boss under guard the rest of the men on board had found a place to put their heads down and were fast asleep.

  I went back on deck into the cool night air to clear my head. I made my way to the foredeck so as I could see the lights of Rhodes Port approaching and found the Sergeant sitting there.

  I sat down beside him.

  'Thanks for coming to rescue me Major. I was a bloody idiot to get caught by those two goons,' the Sergeant said with a sincere tone in his voice.

  'I thought that something had happened to you when you didn't appear at the harbour, and we couldn't raise you on your radio.'

  'I never should have parked the car so close to the road as it gave away our position. They spotted us, fired, and wounded Private Ferguson. I couldn't leave him to them so had to give myself up.' />
  'How long were you there in the cabin before we arrived?'

  'Not that long. They were trying to get onto their base but couldn't get a reply. We must have been in control of the complex by then.'

  'The stun grenades worked well and took them by surprise,' the Sergeant commented.

  'You going after the second man also helped as it gave us a few more seconds to bring them under control,' I added.

  'Anyway Major, we were very lucky to get away with only the one injury and he seems to be recovering well. I am very grateful to you for rescuing us. At one stage, I thought that we were a goner.'

  We both sat there for the next half-an-hour reflecting on a successful operation and watching the lights of Rhodes town as we passed them on our starboard side. Dawn was just breaking as we tied up at the pier in Faliraki harbour.

  'Major, I have organized transport to take us to Maritsa airport. I think that we should get rid of all the evidence and the prisoner before the police or customs arrive,' Captain Moffatt suggested to me.

  'Where is Habibi?' I asked.

  'She has already offloaded her cargo here and should be close to Rhodes Port by now. When the job here is finished, I will send two of my ratings with you to take this boat back to Rhodes. I gather that you have arranged to hand the two motor yachts back to their owners later today.'

  'That's right. I have made an arrangement to hand over the two boats at around 11.00am this morning.'

  'I'll offload everything as quickly as possible. We have a Hercules transport plane coming to Maritsa airport at fifteen hundred hours today. It will be capable of taking the prisoners and everything else back to Cyprus. No doubt we will catch up on how you get on later. You can send your two ratings, plus the two off Habibi, to Maritsa airport as soon as their job with you is finished,' the Captain instructed.

  'Are the ratings armed in case there are members of the Mafia on the lookout in Rhodes port?' I asked.

  'Yes they are, and I told them to be on their guard in case they are attacked,' Captain Moffatt replied.

  'As soon as the owners refuel the vessels they will leave Rhodes and head for Heraklion in Crete. I will get them to check that all the tracking devices are disabled. I take it that your men will go to the airport to travel back with you to Cyprus?'

  'Yes, the boats should be safe enough by then.'

  'I'll leave the radio with you. If you need any assistance, just call me. You can send the radio

  to me with one of the men.'

  'Thanks, I appreciate all the help and support you have given me. I am also very thankful that everything went so well. Let's hope that the Superintendent had similar success with his part of the operation.' I shook his hand, and he went off to check the loading.

  Twenty minutes later the transfer was complete, and they departed. We in turn reversed out into the channel and headed for Rhodes town and Kolona harbour where I had arranged to meet the owners. I didn't want to arrive in Kolona harbour much before our arranged meeting time. I didn't expect trouble, but there was always the chance that we would be spotted.

  Chapter 41

  We took our time travelling the fifteen kilometres from the port at Faliraki to Rhodes town as we didn't want to get there too early, and we were still unwinding after a very active night. One of the crew was a good cook, and he managed to find enough ingredients on board to make us all a very adequate breakfast.

  There were still two naval personnel on each of the boats, and I had given them instructions to be extremely vigilant as I was convinced that were still members of the Mafia gang on the loose in Rhodes town.

  I had also told them to have their firearms close by just in case they were attacked. They were not to leave their posts until I gave them permission. I didn't think that the enemy were mad enough to attack the vessels in a public harbour with lots of tourists about, but you never knew, and I wanted to be extra careful.

  As we came into the harbour, just before eleven, I saw that Habibi was already tied up stern first to the quay alongside a number of other luxury motor yachts. In this part of the world, stern mooring was the mode of mooring adopted to ensure that the greatest number of craft could be fitted in the limited space available.

  There was a gap in the vessels two boats away from where Habibi was moored. The helmsman very expertly reversed Golden Spirit into the available slot. Peter Brown and Geoff Kemp were waiting on the quayside, with their crew members around them. Freddie Shuttleworth was also with them.

  My crew put the gangway in place, and I was preparing to disembark via the stern when I heard the noise of screeching tyres and a fast racing engine.

  My survival instincts went into overdrive. I shouted out to everybody to scatter and get down. The car stopped with a squeal of brakes; two men jumped out and started firing automatic weapons.

  Bullets started hitting the superstructure of the boat and bits of plastic went everywhere.

  The naval crewmen on each boat returned fire and hit both the hostile gunmen. They collapsed on the ground and the firing stopped. The driver seeing that both his men had been killed drove off at great speed.

  A beautiful quiet, sunny morning had been changed in an instant into one of mayhem and carnage.

  The two naval guys on my boat came over to see if I had been hit. One of them had blood pouring from a wound in his face where a shard of plastic had hit him. The other one was unhurt.

  'Well done, for naval men you shot very well,' I said. 'I am very glad that I asked you to remain behind and be on a high state of vigilance.'

  'I didn't imagine that something like this could happen in broad daylight,' one of the men said. He was already starting to treat his colleague.

  'Are you OK up there,' one of the naval men off the other boat was on the quayside shouting up at us.

  'Are both of you safe and unharmed,' I shouted back.

  'We are fine but there are two people on the quay here who are badly injured.'

  I made my way down to the stern deck and went ashore.

  Freddie Shuttleworth was lying on the quayside having been hit by the gunmen. The second person to have been shot was one of the young crew who had come to man one of the motor yachts.

  One of the naval crew had descended from the boat still carrying his automatic. I told him and the other naval personnel to go back on board and conceal their guns as the police would be arriving any minute.

  No sooner had I given those instructions than three police cars and a number of ambulances arrived. The ambulance men and women went over to tend to the injured and remove the dead bodies. The police stood looking on at the scene of the recent battle in total amazement. They were used to dealing with tourist problems such as theft of cameras or pick-pocketing; major gun battles were not on their usual list of events.

  An officer approached us.

  'Who is in charge here?' he asked in excellent English.

  'I am,' I said, stepping towards him.

  'Can you please explain to me what is going on here?'

  'We were attacked by two armed men. They are over there.' I pointed to where the two bodies were lying still holding their guns.

  'Why did they attack you?'

  This was the question that I was hoping that he wouldn't ask as I didn't know what I should reveal.

  I decided to tell him the truth as the Greek police had been involved in certain aspects of the operation last night.

  'We were involved in an operation last night against a major crime syndicate and the gunmen are part of that gang. The Greek police were involved in the exercise which was controlled by Interpol.'

  'I don't know anything about that. You will have to come with me to police headquarters, and we can sort things out there,' he said. 'I will leave some of my men here to guard the boats that were attacked, while I decide what to do.'

  'I have booked a fuel bowser to fill up both boats with fuel. Can that proceed,' I asked.

  'I don't have a problem with them refuelling,' he rep
lied. 'How many people were injured in the attack?'

  'Just the two you see being attended by the medics. Can I talk to the two owners and explain where I am going.'

  'I'll give you two minutes and then we must leave.'

  I went over to two very shaken owners, Peter Brown and Geoff Kemp.

  'Are you two OK?' I asked.

  'We're fine, but Freddie and Tommy don't look too good.'

  'I'm sorry for exposing you to such danger, but I had no idea this could happen in the middle of Rhodes harbour.'

  'If you hadn't had the navy guys on board it would have been a lot worse and the whole lot of us would have been wiped out. The boats can be repaired as it is only superficial damage,' Peter Brown said.

  'I have ordered the fuel bowser for 11.15am, and you should fill your vessels with fuel so as you are ready to leave. I am going with the Police chief now to try and get your boats released. The police will guard them until you leave.'

  When I had been on the Turkish Gulet going from Faliraki to Marmaris last Saturday, I had asked the skipper to arrange a fuel bowser for me.

  'We will need to go in convoy as I will be short a crew member as a result of Tommy getting shot,' Geoff Kemp said.

  'You can have Nick Knowles as a replacement as he was with me and is available for the return trip.'

  'Will you make sure that Tommy is alright as I can't hang around to take care of him?' Geoff said.

  'Yes I'll make sure that he is well looked after.'

  The police officer indicated that we had to leave.

  'I'll be back as soon as I can gentlemen, in the meantime, be on your guard, and get your vessels ready for your voyage.'

  I got into the police car, and we headed off with the siren wailing.

  I had resigned myself to spending the rest of the day in the police station; however, once I had given the details of what had happened in Marmaris to the police chief and he in turn had checked with his superiors, I was told that I could go. He also said that the two boats must leave the port of Rhodes immediately.

  It was exactly 1.00pm when I made my escape.