'I am extremely grateful,' I said. 'That will save us a lot of legwork and speed up the process considerably.'
I glanced at my watch and saw that it was after 3.00pm. I must return to the hotel in case Reggie wanted to get hold of me.
I said my goodbyes and left, having arranged for Dale to meet me on Monday morning to act as my chauffeur for driving me around the Midrand area.
Driving back to the hotel, I was able to reflect that things were going better than I could have expected. Let's hope that Reggie and John were having similar good fortune in Mombasa.
I stayed around the hotel for the rest of the day. The restaurant was perfectly adequate, so there was no need for me to go anywhere else. Sleep didn't come easily to me as I was in a strange bed and I was worried about what might be happening in Kenya and Uganda.
The following morning the phone beside my bed rang at 8.00am. A very breathless Reggie was on the other end.
'Vince we have had a disaster.' He sounded in a total panic.
'What's happened?'
'We went into a restaurant near the docks to get something to eat as we had been up most of the night. When we came out all four wheels on each Landcruiser had been let down. We can't go anywhere.'
'Reg, why on earth did both of you go to eat at the same time?'
'We didn't think that there was any danger as we hadn't seen anyone hanging around or watching us.'
'I don't bloody believe it Reg, especially after Bulgaria. If you remember, the Georgian Mafia had observed us without either of us seeing anything.'
'I am sorry Vince, we were very stupid.'
'So what is happening there now?'
'I left John with the vehicles to get them sorted out while I came to 'phone you.'
'Reg, are the containers still in the yard?'
'No, they have left. One truck was carrying two of the containers and another truck had the third.'
'OK Reg, listen very carefully. I am going to tell you what I want you to do.' I took a deep breath to release the tension and to prevent me shouting at him.
'I want you to study your map with John, and establish the most likely route out of Mombasa that the trucks will travel on. If I remember rightly, from looking at a map of the area when I was in London, there are only two ways they can go. Check out of your hotel and then start following the containers. You and John need to stay together as long as possible to keep an eye on one another. Remember, somebody has spotted you and your vehicles, so you may be in danger. Make sure that you have your guns handy in case you need them.'
'Do you want us to stop the trucks, Vince?'
'No Reg, keep your distance especially when you get to any border or a truck-stop.'
'I had better get going Vince as we need to catch the trucks before they have gone too far.'
'OK Reg, but be very careful. You can tell John that I will contact his boss and let him know what's happening.'
'Bye Vince.' Reggie terminated the call.
I was feeling very frustrated and not a little annoyed. How stupid they were to go for breakfast at the same time. What was, even more worrying, was the fact that somebody was watching them, and they were now in danger. On the other hand, I felt that as long as they stayed together they were safe. If they had to split up for any reason, they could be picked off one by one. I was worried.
I telephoned Inspector Baird to bring him up to date on the disaster that was currently taking place in Kenya. He was as upset as I was when he heard what they had done, but he was also concerned about what the next few days might bring. I thought about getting a flight to Nairobi to help them out but decided that it was more important for me to find the brains behind the operation here in South Africa. Reggie and John would have to sort out their own mess.
Dale turned up at 9.30am, and we went for a drive towards Midrand. While he drove, I filled him in on what was currently happening in Mombasa. I stressed that we also had to be very watchful as there might be unknown eyes keeping an eye on us. I think that it brought home to him the seriousness of the job that he was doing. It was for real and not just a game.
With Dale driving, I was able to take a good look at the area that was called Midrand. The region got its name because it was halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria. I had stayed in the area in a hotel beside the Motorway on a previous visit to Johannesburg, so I had a fair idea of the area. I could see why it was the most likely place for a container depot to be located as all the buildings and factories were on large plots and were dotted over a vast area.
We spotted some small collections of containers, but none of them had the name Natal Shipping Agents anywhere in sight. We spent roughly two hours driving around the area but without an address, it was a pretty fruitless search. I reckoned that it was about twelve square kilometres in area and roads went in every direction.
'Let's head back to the hotel Dale,' I suggested. 'I had better get back in case Reggie has hit further problems and is trying to get hold of me.'
In Kenya:
Reggie was feeling decidedly stupid. How could they have allowed somebody access to their vehicles so as they could let the air out of their tyres? To have had to tell Vince what had happened had been highly embarrassing.
He took a taxi back down to the docks area to rejoin John and the two 4 x 4's. Thankfully both the vehicles were in the process of having their tyres inflated. Hertz had sent a tyre company’s truck with a compressor on board, and they were pumping up the tyres.
'Are we ready to go John?' Reggie inquired.
'Yes, we are nearly ready to go. Did you talk to Vince?'
'Yes, I told him our news. From the tone of his voice, he didn't sound too impressed. Let’s have a look at the map and see which direction the trucks are likely to have gone.'
‘They must have gone that way.’ John drew a line on the map with his finger. The only route inland is the A109 towards the border and Nairobi; the other roads go along the coast.’
'They won't be able to go that fast so we should close up on them by around halfway, Reggie said.
‘It is around six hundred kilometres to Nairobi.' John measured the distance on the map.
'We have plenty of time so we won't have to rush,' Reggie added. ‘The trucks are bound to stop for a rest on the way so we should have no problem catching them up.’
'Which one do you want me to follow?' John asked.
'If they go off in different directions at any stage, I'll follow the truck with the two containers on it while you go after the remaining one,' Reggie proposed. 'Make sure that you maintain a look out for anybody following you. If they let our tyres down, that must mean they know we are a danger to them or, at the very least, are interested in them.'
'I wonder how they know that we are following them,' John commented.
'It could have something to do with the colour of our faces. We are white, and everybody else at the docks is a lot darker. It wouldn't take a genius to work out that we were visitors.' Reggie smiled.
They both got into their Landcruisers and left the car park. Reggie was in front, so he had the task of following the road signs on the A109 to Nairobi. Once through Mombasa and on the open road, Reggie was able to speed up, determined to try and catch the two trucks as soon as possible.
After around fifty kilometres they came to a small town called Mariakani where they spotted the bright blue containers sitting in a truck park beside a roadhouse. The drivers had apparently stopped for a meal. Rather than park in the vicinity of the roadhouse, where they would stand out like a sore thumb, Reggie decided to keep going along the A109. About twenty-five kilometres further on, they reached a crossroads where they were able to park the two 4 x 4's out of sight of anybody travelling on the main road. Although they were hidden from the view of a passing truck, they were still able to see any trucks travelling along the road. It was an ideal spot to lie in wait. Reggie went over to John's vehicle.
'I was wondering how long you were going to stay on
the main road Reg.' John was the first to speak. ‘You certainly have found a brilliant spot, as we are hidden from the road but yet can see the trucks when they go past.'
'Just be on your guard and keep your gun ready for use,' Reggie said. 'We don't want to be caught off guard again. I'm also going to park a bit further away from you just to be on the safe side.'
Once the cars were re-parked, with twenty meters between them, they sat back to wait for the trucks to pass by on the main road.
About half-an-hour later Reggie heard the noise of a helicopter. It appeared that its flight path was following the road. Neither Reggie or John took much notice of it.
Having passed over where they were parked, it turned and backtracked over the place where the two vehicles were sitting. It hovered about twenty meters off the ground, and the side door slid back. At the same time as the barrel of a gun appeared, firing commenced. The gunman strafed both the vehicles with rapid fire with devastating effect. A hand grenade was also lobbed towards the ground landing closer to John’s vehicle.
Reggie luckily had been sitting in the passenger seat of the Landcruiser so as he could stretch his legs. A hail of bullets hit the driver's side of the 4 x 4 and shrapnel also peppered the driver’s door. He opened the passenger door and slid out of the vehicle putting the Landcruiser between him and the helicopter. At the same time, he started firing at the chopper with his Glock. Its job complete, the helicopter flew off in the direction of Mombasa.
‘I’ve been hit,’ John called out from his position.
With the helicopter out of the picture, Reggie ran over to John’s Landcruiser dreading what he might find. He found him lying across the seat in great pain having been shot in his right leg and received some wounds from flying shrapnel. A bullet had gone through the fleshy part of his upper leg. He had been very lucky to be still alive as the driver’s side was in a mess.
The whole attack had only lasted about fifteen seconds, but a lot of damage had been done in that time.
Reggie took a quick decision that following the trucks was now out of the question. The primary task was to get John to a place where he could get adequate treatment and that presumably was Mombasa. He put a tourniquet on John's thigh to stem the building, transferred him to the back seat of his Landcruiser, and headed back to Mombasa.
His 4 x 4 was in a right mess. None of the windows on the driver's side, including the windscreen, remained intact. The wind whistled around his head as he drove, limiting the speed that he could travel at. He got a few strange looks from passing motorists when they saw the battle damaged side and the missing windows.
As he entered Mombasa, Reggie spotted a large sign advertising a private hospital called Jocham Hospital. Five minutes later he pulled up at the A&E department. A security guard came over to tell him to move out of the way; however, when he saw the state of John, he changed his tune and went off to organise a gurney to take him inside.
While John was being cared for in the Emergency unit, Reggie filled out the extensive paperwork. It was a private hospital, and they wouldn't admit John unless a deposit was paid and payment was guaranteed. That sorted out; Reggie decided it might be a good idea to contact the police and report what had happened. He remembered John saying that the Commonwealth police forces had an arrangement where they would work together on cases of mutual interest. John was a police officer from the UK and had been shot in Kenya, so presumably that would get their attention.
The police arrived with sirens blaring and Reggie filled them in on what had happened. They were a little upset that John had been operating on their patch without informing them. The state of the Landcruiser was all the evidence that was required to prove to them that an act of extreme aggression had taken place. Of course, there was also John's injuries as further proof. He was about to go into the operating theatre so wouldn't be available to be interviewed for quite a while.
Having being notified about the damage to their vehicle, Hertz came and exchanged the Landcruiser without any problem. Mind you, they were a bit upset when they were also given the keys to a second badly damaged vehicle to pick up. They were even less pleased when Reggie told them that it was also missing a few windows and had a few extra holes in its bodywork.
There was nothing further that Reggie could do at the hospital, so he got a Taxi to the hotel he had stayed in last night to telephone Vince.
It had been quite a day and, unfortunately, he had to report another disaster to his boss.
Vince wasn't there, so he left a message for him to return the call as soon as he got in.
Chapter 21
Back in South Africa:
As we were getting close to Sandton and the hotel, Dale's Mobile sounded. He handed me the 'phone. 'You answer it he suggested, it might be my Dad.'
I pressed the green button.
'Hi, Vince here. Dale can't answer at the moment as he is driving.'
'Vince, it is you I want to talk to.' It was indeed Dougie, Dale's father. 'I am meeting Hansie Joubert later this morning and it might be a good idea to have lunch together, I can then tell you what I discover.'
'Sounds like a good idea. Can you meet us at the Holiday Inn in Sandton; it should be close to Joubert's office as his address is around here somewhere.'
'No problem; I should be with you around one o'clock. Bye.'
'Has my Dad had his meeting with the shipping agent already?' Dale asked.
'No, he is on his way there now and he will then meet us for lunch at the hotel and tell us all about it.'
Once we had arrived at the Holiday Inn, I checked for any messages. I was handed a piece of paper asking me to 'phone Reggie immediately in Mombasa.
'Dale why don't you come up with me to my room. Reggie wants me to call him urgently and it’s easier to use the ‘phone in my room. I have a horrible feeling in my gut that something is wrong.'
As soon as we reached the room, I called Reggie at his hotel. Once the call was put through to his room, he answered immediately and started to talk at a rate of knots.
'Calm down Reg, I can't understand a word you are saying. Please start again.'
I heard him take a deep breath at the far end and he then started again.
'Vince, we were attacked from a helicopter and John has been wounded.'
'Where are you now Reg?'
'I drove back to Mombasa to bring John to a hospital and I am back at the hotel we stayed in last night.'
'How severe is the injury to John?'
'He doesn't appear to be too bad although he has lost a lot of blood. They were preparing him for the operating theatre when I left the hospital. I will go back and check on him later.'
'Have you telephoned the Inspector in London?'
'No, I haven't had a chance. Anyway, I reckoned it would be better coming from you.'
'Thanks for that Reg. Tell me exactly what happened so as I have the details to give Inspector Baird.'
Reggie spent the next ten minutes giving me a blow by blow account of what happened.
'It sounds as if you were both very lucky,' I said when he had finished.
'You should have seen the two Landcruisers. Looking at the damage to them, I couldn't believe that we had got out of them alive, and survived the attack. The shooting was bad enough but most of the damage was done by the hand grenade.'
'What are you planning on doing now?' I asked him.
'To be honest, Vince, I don't fancy chasing after the trucks as I am now on my own and we are up against dangerous men.'
'I agree with you. I suggest that you forget about what is happening in Kenya and catch a flight from Mombasa to East London here in South Africa. Dale and I are travelling by road to East London tomorrow and will be staying at the Holiday Inn. So if you can get there catch a taxi from the airport to the Holiday Inn and wait for us to arrive.'
'Who is Dale?'
'He is the person who I have asked to help me in South Africa. I know him from a previous case.'
'I w
ill go and organise my travel arrangements now and, if possible, I will see you in East London tomorrow evening. Will John be alright on his own here?'
'I'll let Inspector Baird know what has happened and he can sort him out. The local police will also look after one of their own.'
'See you tomorrow Vince.'
'Looking forward to that Reg. In the meantime, please be very careful and stay in your hotel. I also suggest that you give the hire car back today so as, anybody watching your movements, can see that you don't intend going anywhere.'
'Hertz already took the car back, and, I promise you that I'll be careful.'
I ended the call.
'They don't seem to have had much fun in Kenya,' Dale commented.
'It sounds as if they were very lucky to escape alive. I’ll draw a line through the operation in Kenya and Uganda now as I don't want to stir things up more than they are at the moment. The last thing I need is for events in Kenya to disturb the equilibrium in South Africa. We will focus all our attention down here now and pretend that we have lost interest in the three containers in Mombasa.'
I called Inspector Baird on his mobile.
'Hi Vince, I suppose that you are phoning to tell me about John Griffiths getting shot.'
'How did you hear about that?' I was genuinely surprised.
'A senior officer in the Kenya police got in touch with me. He is not too pleased that I sent one of my officers onto his territory without clearing it with the Kenyan police first.'
'Did he tell you how John is?'
'Yes, he has come through surgery well and is recovering.'
'That's a relief,' I said. 'Let's hope he makes a full recovery.'
'Is Reggie OK?' the Inspector asked me.
'Yes, he is fine. A bit shook up, but he will be alright. I have asked him to join us in East London as he can't operate on his own where he is at the moment.'
'I have asked the Kenyan police to follow the containers for us and see where they go. We, unfortunately, can’t track the containers any longer from our Tracking Centre here in Hampstead as they are now in the Southern Hemisphere.'
An African Adventure (Vince Hamilton Private Investigator Book 4) Page 19
