The Diamond Chain

by Patrick Slaney

  I had to rely on the quayside lights to make my way to the Royal Cape Yacht Club marina. The lighting was so poor that I couldn’t see further than twenty meters. If I was to find the yacht I would have to walk along the pontoons. The fingers of the pontoons stuck out at right angles into the harbour, and there was only a light at the shore end of each pontoon. This made the whole place very sinister and dark. I hoped that the crew would have come ashore as they had been cooped up for more than forty days on a small yacht. They should be using the facilities offered by the club house and having a beer and a meal ashore. I was well concealed in the gloom of the marina and should be safe.

  I drew a blank on the first pontoon; however, I was able to look across at the next pontoon from a vacant berth near the end, and I spotted what looked like a well weathered yacht, about the size I was looking for, in a berth on the next pontoon.

  I retraced my steps to the main jetty and then went down the next finger, making sure that I kept to the shadows and trod as lightly as possible. There she was, the Belle Diamant, looking like a boat that had just done a long sea voyage. She was very weather beaten and stained. I moved back into the shadow of a boat, out of sight from the main jetty, and studied the yacht.

  Crash! Somebody jumped down on the pontoon right beside me. In my enthusiasm, I had completely forgotten that they would leave someone guarding the boat.

  He grabbed me round the neck, and I felt a prod in my back from what I presumed was the barrel of a gun.

  ‘Don’t move whoever you are,’ a voice ordered.

  Moving wasn’t an option the way he was holding me.

  ‘Why are you looking at that yacht?’ he barked at me.

  ‘I saw it come in through the harbour mouth today, and I was interested in seeing where it had come from,’ I said as confidently as I could manage. I was still a bit shocked by the man’s sudden appearance and his threats.

  ‘I don’t believe you. We have been expecting someone to come snooping around. I bet you’re that English bloke that has been told to find us.’ I felt him push the gun further into my back.

  ‘No, I’m just here on holiday and have no idea what you are talking about.’

  ‘Well I don’t care who you are I am going to have to call my boss.’ I felt him relax his grip slightly as he went for his phone and I moved into action.

  I grabbed his gun arm with both my hands and swung, nearly wrenching his arms out of their sockets. The gun flew in an arc into the harbour. At the same time, I connected with his midriff and swung him over my shoulder into the harbour. As he flew through the air, he collided with the bow of the boat he had jumped down from. This seemed to stun him.

  It would take him a bit of time to come to and get out of the water. By that time, I would be gone.

  My army training with the SAS had equipped me to deal with an attack of this sort, and this had been relatively easy compared to some of the attacks my colleagues had tested me with in training. The gym work that I had done over the last few weeks had also brought me back into reasonably good physical condition.

  I hurried back down the pontoon to the main jetty as fast as my legs and my limp would allow. I then headed towards the Yacht Club so as I could try and get to the main gate and safety. Looking to my left I just caught a glimpse of a man whom I was fairly sure was Caas Teifel. He was coming from the car park blocking my way to the gate. I turned and headed towards the other end of the Yacht Club to find somewhere to hide until the dust settled.

  I found the perfect spot, the sail locker, which was full of labelled sail bags. At this time of the year, when there were a lot of the yachts decommissioned for the winter, the locker was full. I quickly arranged a number of sail bags at the back, close to the wall, and climbed into the nest that I had created. Looking from the entrance and passageway of the store all they would see was a wall of sail bags and with a bit of luck they wouldn’t look too hard.

  After about half an hour, I heard some voices, which proved to be my pursuers.

  ‘Are you sure that he ran towards the Yacht Club Torben?’

  ‘Yes, he must have. By the time that I got out of the water and got to the jetty he was well ahead of me. I think that I saw him heading to the Yacht Club.’ This must have been Torben speaking, and he was obviously the man that I had thrown into the marina.

  ‘Well I was coming from the car park, and I didn’t see anybody run past me, so he must be still around somewhere.’

  ‘He is not in here, and we have searched the rest of the Yacht Club so he must be outside somewhere. Do you have a torch Caas?’

  ‘No. Why don’t you go back and get a torch from Belle Diamant and meet me outside at the dingy park? I’ll get Wayne to wait in the shadows between the Yacht Club and the gate in case he tries to go that way.’

  I breathed a sigh of relief as they left the sail locker and moved out into the changing rooms which were connected by a door. Clearly they thought that I was hiding somewhere outside and would concentrate their efforts there. I would have to stay put until I was sure that they had called off their search, however long that took. Lying there, with nothing to do, I started to feel extremely hungry. I hadn’t eaten before I came searching for the yacht. I would have to stay hungry as there was no way that I could go looking for food, and I couldn’t order a takeaway to be brought to me in the sail locker.

  The next event took care of my being able to do anything about my hunger. Somebody came into the sail locker, whistling and jangling a bunch of keys. I heard the bolts shoot across on the doors that led from the outside into the sail locker, and the sound of a padlock being closed. Finally, the lights went out. The door to the changing rooms was also closed with the distinctive noise of a key being turned and the lock being activated. I was now locked in until the next time the locker would be opened, which of course would be the following morning. There would be no problem sleeping as I had already prepared a remarkably comfortable bed on the sail bags, but I would be extremely hungry by the morning. On the plus side, it was unlikely that my friends from the yacht would think that I would still be around in the morning. On the negative side, they now knew that I was in Cape Town and had found their yacht.

  I was awoken by the sound of somebody singing above the noise of a vacuum cleaner or a polisher, I couldn’t quite tell which one through the closed door. Looking at my watch I saw that it was 6:20 a.m. The cleaners must be preparing the club for the new day. Finally, the member of the cleaning staff unlocked and opened the door that led from the changing rooms to the sail locker. I was a free man again.

  I waited until I heard the cleaner and his associated noise move off, and then I ventured out into the changing rooms. Being a sailing club, the changing rooms led directly to the boatyard outside, so I was able to slip out the door and survey the yard to see if I could make it to the gate and freedom.

  It was still dark, and, as far as I could make out, there was nobody between the Yacht Club and the gate. Keeping close in to the main wall of the harbour and now holding my Glock at the ready, I slowly made my way back to the gate encountering nothing more than a screeching cat on my journey. I nipped out and made my way back to the guest house a hugely relieved man.

  As I went into the guest house, I met Mrs Cronje who gave me a knowing look.

  ‘It’s not as it looks Mrs Cronje, I haven’t been out on the tiles all night, and I haven’t been with a lady friend, so you don’t have to look at me like that. My car broke down, and I have been waiting all night to get it going again.’

  ‘You poor thing Mr Hamilton. I suppose you are hungry now and would like some breakfast.’

  ‘I am so hungry; I could eat a double portion. I haven’t eaten since yesterday lunchtime.’

  ‘Take a seat and I will bring your breakfast as fast as I can.’ Mrs Cronje headed towards the kitchen.

  Rather than sit
there as instructed I headed to my room to take a quick shower before returning to eat a large and extremely welcome breakfast.

  Mrs Cronje was fussing around me like a mother hen as I ate my breakfast, so I had no opportunity to work out what my next step was going to be. For the past two months, the direction of my inquiries was easy. All my efforts were directed towards being in Cape Town when the Belle Diamant arrived. It had now arrived, so what next?

  A monster breakfast devoured, I went back to my room to consider my options.

  After last night, there was an added complication to be considered. They were now aware that I was in Cape Town and that I knew where the yacht was berthed. They would be on the lookout for me. Great care would be required if I needed to go near the marina. They would have a member of the crew guarding the boat or keeping watch twenty four hours a day. There wasn’t much cover in the marina so it would be extremely difficult to stay hidden.

  Caas Teifel would be continuing to stay at the Fortuins’ residence in Camps Bay, so maybe I could pick up more information with my listening device by spending time in my hiding place there. The advantage of Camps Bay was that there was good cover, and I could remain hidden away from any prying eyes.

  The crew would be staying at the Hermanus house, but there were no trees or parked cars in front of the house, and I didn’t know whether I could hear anything from the laneway at the back. The only way that I could find out was by going and giving it a try.

  There was one other solution that was worth trying. If I could find a way of getting on one of the other boats moored in the Marina, then I would be able to keep an eye on the Belle Diamant without having to be out in the open. The problem would be finding a boat owner who would be willing to let me stay on board their yacht. I would put that idea into storage until a later date.

  Having considered all my options, I decided to go and scout out the Hermanus property that evening. It would get dark around six o’clock, so if I left Cape Town around 4:30 p.m, I would be in Hermanus just as the sun was setting. In fact, it was a cloudy day so by the time I got to Hermanus it was pitch black.

  I had dug my ladder out of the shed at the guest house, where I had left it on my last visit, and that was now safely in the back of the 4 x 4. Walking along the road in front of the house, I was relieved to see a lot of lights on and also a lot of activity. They were arranging a barbecue on a patio at the side of the garage, so there was a good chance that I would pick up their conversation by listening from the top of the wall where I had gained entrance on my previous trip.

  I carried the ladder along the laneway and rested it against the wall at the spot that I had used before. I then went back for my listening device, making sure that the sound was off. The disadvantage of having the sound switched off was that I wouldn’t be able to determine if they were saying anything of interest.

  Positioning myself as comfortable as possible on top of the ladder, I pointed the listening device at the group of men around the barbecue and pressed the record button. I was about 20 meters away from the group and couldn’t make out what they were saying with my own ears. They could have been speaking in a foreign language for all I knew.

  The listening device became heavier and heavier as time passed. My gammy leg also went asleep. I was in danger of falling off the ladder as the cold night air numbed my senses. I tried to move around to keep the blood flowing but after about an hour I had to descend the ladder and walk around. Feeling refreshed I started up the ladder again, and then I made a careless mistake. I touched the listening device against the electric fence. The alarm went off.

  Jumping down from the ladder, I ran for my car leaving the ladder behind me. I held on to the listening device like grim death. It was imperative that I kept the device to find out what they had been talking about and also because it was now an essential tool in my armoury.

  I jumped in my car throwing the listening device on the passenger seat and took off back to Cape Town.

  While I was doing my listening, I noticed that there were two similar 4 x 4’s to mine parked beside the house. It was likely they would give chase in at least one of those. By the time that they got the keys and opened the gates I would have a reasonable head start.

  I pressed the accelerator as far down as I dared, making the 4 x 4 rocket along the dark roads. Keeping to the speed limit was the lowest of my list of priorities. There were still some cars about as it wasn’t that late and I wasn’t able to keep up a fast enough speed to prevent them closing on me.

  I had gone about 6 kilometres when I saw car lights coming at speed in my rear view mirror. They were still about 500 meters behind, but they were closing on me due to the slow traffic that I had to manoeuvre around. If I stayed on the main road, then they were going to catch me. I saw a sign to a place called Grabouw, so I slithered left off the main road and onto the side road. The road surface was exceptionally poor, but I was able to keep up a better speed as there were no other cars to bother about. If something did come in the other direction, I would probably hit it. There was only room for one car on the road, and there were limited passing points. It was no time to be careful, and I would deal with whatever came my way as and when it arrived.

  As I twisted and turned I could see the lights of my pursuers on the same road, and they were still gaining ever so slightly. I had hoped that they would have missed the turn off, but no such luck; they were still on my tail.

  The road I was now on ran across sand dunes. Sand spilled onto the road from every direction and the narrow road undulated up and down dramatically over the dunes. Bamboos and other dense vegetation were also encroaching on the road in places. I decided on an action plan.

  I would be caught if I just kept driving as I am not a particularly good driver. So far they had demonstrated that they were faster and they would soon catch me. My strength lay in my military training and not in speed. I was an excellent shot having represented my regiment in shooting competitions. Whatever hope I had of getting out of this would require guile and not just sheer speed.

  I just got a glimpse of a very ancient, badly weathered, road sign, indicating that there was a right turn coming up. I decided to take it. After about two hundred meters, there was a slight gap in the vegetation to the left of the road. I braked hard, switched off the lights and turned off the road, bringing the car to a slithering but sudden stop. I was hidden in the vegetation and couldn’t be seen by a car travelling fast on the road behind me. I jumped out with my Glock at the ready. My pursuers followed me onto the road and were now accelerating, unaware that I was concealed in the bushes. As they flashed past I fired a burst at their tyres. The ones on the side nearest me burst, and the car went out of control, turning over a number of times before it came to rest one hundred meters down the road on its roof. I didn’t wait for them to sort themselves out but slammed my 4 x 4 into reverse and returned to the road to Grabouw. If they were injured or even killed then somebody else would have to act the Good Samaritan. It was a very relieved, but still shaking Vince that reached the multistorey car park and regained the sanctuary of his room in the guest house, minus a ladder but otherwise still all in one piece.

  Chapter 30

  I was like a wound up spring and needed to talk to someone to relieve the tension. The only person who would understand how I was feeling was Willem.

  He answered, gabbling in Dutch to me.

  ‘Willem, it is Vince,’ I said loudly trying to over-ride the Dutch.

  ‘Ah Vince, I was expecting a call from one of my friends in Rotterdam and didn’t look to see who the caller was. Anyway, you never phone me in the evening.’

  ‘That’s OK Willem. I apologise for phoning you so late,’ I said.

  ‘What’s up Vince? You sound in a bit of a state?’

  ‘I was involved in a car chase tonight, and the adrenaline is still pumping. My heart is running much faster
than usual, and I felt that I had to talk to someone.’

  ‘Who was doing the chasing Vince, you or the baddies?’

  I told Willem the story of what had happened, reliving in my mind the thought processes that had gone through my head during the event. The chase must have lasted between thirty and forty minutes, but was now condensed into a memory that spanned a few seconds.

  ‘You were extremely lucky Vince that you had borrowed the gun. It sounds as if you wouldn’t have got away from them if you hadn’t shot out their tyres,’ Willem said comfortingly. ‘What are you going to do now?’

  ‘I am still very shaken after the experience tonight, and even more so when I add it to what took place in the marina last night. I will have to think hard before I decide on my next step.’

  ‘What happened last night Vince?’ Willem asked. With the latest drama so fresh in my mind, I had forgotten that I hadn’t told him about the events in the marina. He was unaware that I had spent a night in the sail locker.

  I filled Willem in on the details of my previous night’s activities.

  ‘I wish that I was over there in Cape Town to help you Vince. It sounds as if you have bitten off more than you can chew this time. For goodness sake be careful.’

  ‘I plan on trying to get on board one of the other yachts in the marina tomorrow. Any other option appears to be too dangerous. I may have to break in, but I will try and find an owner as my first option.’

  ‘That sounds more sensible Vince, but as I have said before, be exceedingly careful, you are up against dangerous men.’

  ‘I promise you Willem, I will be careful. I have had enough scares in the last day to last me a lifetime.’

  ‘Do you think they might advance the departure of the yacht? On the other hand, perhaps the damage you did to the crew tonight will prevent that.’