'OK Private; you stay where you are and keep an eye on who comes and goes,' I instructed him. 'I'll buy you a beer and you can stay here for a while, when you finish it you can then find another place to observe from. I'll leave Private Wood with you to keep you company and make you less conspicuous.'
Leaving the two of them in the Bar, the Corporal, and I headed further up the hill.
We found another of his men on a deserted building site that had a perfect view into the villa's courtyard.
'How is it going?' I asked him.
'I have counted two men and also there appear to be two women,' he replied.
'Have you seen anybody who looks as if they are a wife or any other family members?'
'No, the women look like servants, and I haven't seen any children.'
'That makes things a bit simpler for us when we have to go in tonight,' I added. 'Make sure you keep moving around or stay out of sight if you can. We don't want you looking suspicious.'
'I'll be extra careful Sir.'
I took the Corporal aside.
'You seem to have all the angles covered. You can take most of the men off their watching brief at around 6.00pm this evening. Just leave one man on duty. Meet me in the car park with the rest of the men, and we will draw up a plan for the attack.'
'I'll do that Sir and meet you at around six.'
I left him to it and walked back down to where my car was parked behind the small hotel. On the way, I had to take evasive action by stepping through an open gate when I saw the black Mercedes coming up the hill towards me. I still couldn’t see who was inside.
I picked up Private Wood from the bar, and we did the rest of the walk down the hill to the harbour together.
It was now 5.00pm Saturday, and the culmination of months of investigation was very close to fruition. In the next eight hours, events would determine whether there was a successful conclusion to the investigation or whether it would turn out to be a disaster. I didn't think that there was any middle ground as so much was at stake. The one missing piece in the jigsaw had now been found. We knew where the 'Heist Boss' lived. If all went well, we had a plan that would ensure that all aspects of the operation being run by the Mafia syndicate would be destroyed in one fell swoop.
The first part of the action in Marmaris would be the capture of Habibi. The motor yacht Golden Spirit was already in our hands and would be the instrument used to capture Habibi.
Captain Thompson would then lead the assault on the derelict buildings in Green Sea Bay using the two motor yachts. The attack was planned to go in at midnight.
At exactly midnight, I would commence the attack on the villa and grab hold of the Heist Boss.
Sergeant Jones was in position to ensure that nobody escaped over the mountain.
In addition to all this local activity, a parallel operation would be carried out by Interpol right across Europe removing all the other facets of the operation. Chief Superintendent Tedding was the man responsible for co-ordinating that.
If it was successful and went off without any lives being lost, it would be a miracle.
To pass some more time I decided to take a walk along the road from Icmeler to Green Sea Bay. Our attempt at a Trojan Horse style of operation was due to take place between five and six. A delivery of alcoholic drink and cigarettes was to be made to the policeman guarding the entrance. A substantial bribe was also being offered to the police guard to make sure the goods were delivered to the men working in the complex.
Right on time a delivery van passed us heading for the guard house. We were just in time to see the driver offload a crate containing a range of alcoholic drink plus some cartons of cigarettes. The van then turned around and returned the way it had come. The policeman went into his house and came out a little later. We then heard a car coming from the direction of the Mafia's complex. It stopped just short of the barrier and a man got out and went to talk to the policeman. He took a bottle out of the crate plus a packet of cigarettes and gave them to the policeman. Picking up the crate he then went back to his car, loaded it and drove back down the track.
Our simple plan had worked, and, with a bit of luck, by the time we mounted our attack at midnight the enemy would be drunk and, hopefully, taking plenty of smoke breaks. We certainly didn’t want them to get so drunk that they were incapable of having their smoke breaks!
Very pleased with ourselves we went back to the car and waited for Corporal Cooper and his troop.
Chapter 39
It was just after 6.00pm when the 4 x 4 carrying Corporal Cooper and his men entered the harbour car park. He got out and came over to where I was sitting in my car.
'Is everything under control Corporal?' I asked him.
'Yes Sir; I have left two of my men keeping an eye on the villa, one above it and one below. They have a radio but will only break radio silence if there is an emergency.'
'The Heist Boss is still there and showing no signs of moving?' I asked.
'Yes Sir. In fact, the Mercedes has been put into the garage. That probably means that he is not going out again.'
'Have you come up with a strategy for attacking the place when we go in at midnight?'
'Yes, subject to your approval Sir, I think that I have a workable plan.'
'Get in my car, and we will go up the hill and find a place where we can see the villa, and you can explain to me what you are planning.'
We found a spot on the road where we had an excellent view of the villa.
'What have you in mind Corporal?' I asked him.
'Because of the steepness all the houses on the side of the hill are fed by a chain link conveyor system. They obviously deliver heavy objects to the houses using the conveyor. Large delivery trucks cannot get up the steep hill. There are thick plastic flexible swing doors set into the walls at the top and the bottom of the properties to allow items on the conveyor to pass through. We will have no problem in forcing open these doors to gain access to the villa.'
It sounded too good to be true.
'Are these doors alarmed in any way?' I asked.
'No, they can't be; because the houses above and below the villa we are interested in, might want to use the conveyor at any time. If there were alarms, they would have to go to all the other houses above and below and tell them that they were going to use the conveyor.'
'Are there CCTV cameras in operation and focused on the two doors?'
'There are Sir, but we have a plan to deal with those,' the Corporal replied.
'Sounds good Corporal; I can't believe that there is such a major weakness in their defences.'
'Looking at the attitude of the people in the villa, they are like people who are not expecting any threat. They are very casual in everything that they do. I think that they have been here for so long without any problems that they have a false sense of security.'
'I hope that you are right Corporal. I like your plan, now let's get back to the men at the harbour.'
We drove back down the hill to the car park to re-join the others.
'What do you want us to do now Sir?' the Corporal asked me.
'We don't need to be back here until twenty-three hundred hours, so I suggest that we leave Icmeler and go into Marmaris to get something to eat. It is better if we are not seen hanging around the locality, and we don't really need to hang around here. You can return and change the two guys who are on observation duty at twenty hundred hours. That will give all your men a chance to eat.'
'What time do you want to meet back in Icmeler Major?'
'Let's meet here at 10.30pm and that will give us plenty of time to prepare for the attack on the villa.'
'Will do Sir,' the Corporal replied.
'I won't have any need for Private Wood in the meantime, so he should probably go with you.'
The Private transferred from my car to the Corporal's. I headed back to Marmaris to find a quiet place for dinner.
I would use the peace and quiet, and the luxury of being on m
y own, to go over what was going to happen when the operation started at midnight.
I dumped the car and walked to the Longbeach esplanade to see if I could find the restaurant I had eaten at with the Inspector on my last visit to Marmaris. As I was getting close, I was hailed by the Manager of the restaurant. Amazingly enough he recognized me and as he brought me to a table he was chatting away.
The place was quite full, and I ended up talking to a number of the English tourists who were frequenting the restaurant. Before I knew it, the evening had gone, and it was time for me to head back to Icmeler.
If Golden Spirit was on time, and there was no reason why it shouldn't be, they would be currently arriving in Marmaris Bay. They then had to capture Habibi and make all the preparations for the attack on the complex at Green Sea Bay. I was very tempted to use my radio to contact Captain Moffatt, but decided against breaking radio silence as I had been given strict instructions to only use it in an extreme emergency. I would just have to be patient and hope for the best.
Captain Thompson would start the attack using the two motor yachts at midnight. At the same time, we would launch our attack on the villa, and the police guard and dogs on the road from Icmeler to the complex would be temporarily silenced.
To notify all parties when to start the attacks, a laser beam would be flashed onto the old coastguard building opposite Green Sea Bay. This location was where they had shot the Inspector. The plan was good so let’s hope it worked.
All the various units involved in the operation were able to see the coastguard building from their starting positions; this included the Sergeant on the summit of the mountain. If there had been fog or cloud, we would have had a problem, but it was, fortunately, a beautiful clear night.
I met the Corporal and his men in Icmeler as arranged. We drove up the hill and parked our vehicles. We left them about fifty meters apart and facing in a direction where we would be able to make a fast getaway.
We dressed in black, put on our bullet proof vests and fitted silencers to our guns.
Walking towards the villa we came across the first of our lookouts.
'Any developments we should know about?' I asked him.
'Yes Sir, there is one,' he replied. 'A car arrived about two hours ago and a lady got out and went inside. She hasn't reappeared, so she must be spending the night there.'
'That's excellent news Sir,' the Corporal said. 'The boss certainly won't be thinking about security issues if he is shacked up with a bird in his bed.'
'OK Corporal; you take two of the men and enter through the top set of doors, and I will enter through the bottom set. Just make sure that you don't shoot any of us.'
'I'll try not to Sir.' The Corporal smiled.
'And don't forget about those CCTV cameras. You have a laser light to stop them functioning. Shine the beam onto the lens of the camera until you can disable it.'
'Will do Sir.'
'You can get in position, but don't go in until we get the signal from the boats.'
We all took up our positions for the attack.
We couldn't see the coastguard station from our new positions, so I positioned one of the men further up the hill, where there was a better view. He could also keep watch to make sure that we were not surprised by any other members of the gang arriving.
Bang on midnight we got the signal from our man. The attack was starting.
I went first, pushing back the heavy plastic door and sneaking in under the conveyor. I was a bit worried that there might be a dog although we hadn't seen any during our watch in daylight hours. I was relieved when I didn't hear any barking.
I held back the door and the others were able to enter the grounds.
'Watch out for any trip wires or alarms,' I warned.
A few meters into the garden we did spot some trip wires, however, by keeping to the bed of the conveyor we managed to bypass them.
There was a light shining out of the side of the house at ground floor level. I managed to have a look inside. There were three men sitting around a table with beers and a bottle of wine in the middle. Each man had a glass and a plate of food in front of them. They were obviously eating a late supper. There were also plenty of empty bottles, indicating that they had been imbibing for some considerable time.
The Corporal joined me with his men.
'There are three of the men here, but I don't see the man who was driving the Mercedes. He is either monitoring the CCTV system or is in bed,' I said.
'If you go in after these three men,' the Corporal pointed to the three men drinking the wine. 'I will go after the driver.'
'I don't want to go after the Heist Boss until we have put all his guards out of action,' I added.
We started to move again.
Surprisingly none of the doors were locked, and we were able to get inside the building without any problems.
The Corporal didn't have too far to look for the driver as we heard loud snores coming from one of the bedrooms as soon as we entered the villa.
We decided to rush the men sitting in the kitchen. There were two doors, one at the rear and one at the side. We shut the doors between the kitchen area and the rest of the house to avoid the Boss hearing what was going on.
In fact, the occupants were totally bewildered by our sudden arrival, and it was all over in seconds. The sudden appearance of five black-clad figures holding guns with silencers fitted made the men freeze. They didn't even shout or make any noise.
Within a matter of minutes, they were all trussed up and gagged.
Corporal Jones brought the driver into the kitchen, and he was dealt with in a similar manner. I told the men we had captured that if they stayed quiet nothing would happen to them. I explained that they were not the reason for our midnight visit.
In fact, they were all devout cowards and not one of them wanted to give us a reason to harm them.
We located the bedroom where the Boss was sleeping with his girlfriend.
I switched the light on, and he woke up with a surprised look on his face. He made a move to grab his gun, which was on the bedside table next to him.
I fired into the headboard above his bed. His lady friend started to scream.
'Madam, we are not interested in you and have no intention of harming you. Please keep quiet, and we will treat you a lot better than we will if you continue to scream.'
Thankfully she must have understood English as she stopped. She pulled the sheet up around her bare breasts.
'Wood, can you please go and get the 4 x 4 so as we can take this man to the harbour. I didn't want to use the term Corporal to give away the fact that we were military.
Corporal Wood didn't answer but just left us to go and get the vehicle.
We tied up the Boss and put a gag on him. We did the same for the lady although she fought like a cat.
I heard the 4 x 4 arrive outside, so we dragged our prisoner to the front door and bundled him in the back. As I left his room, I grabbed some of his clothes as he wasn't wearing much when we surprised him in bed.
The whole operation was over in about ten minutes.
Since the attack was now well under way, I contacted Captain Moffatt on the radio letting him know that we had achieved our objective and had captured the Boss. We were now on our way to Icmeler harbour. He told me that he would pick me up in twenty minutes.
I was feeling pleased with myself. My part of the operation had gone much better than I could have expected, and we now had one of the brains of the Heist operation under arrest.
Chapter 40
We parked the vehicles beside the harbour while we waited for one of the motor yachts to come and pick up our prisoner. The plan was for the men and the Heist Boss to be picked up in Icmeler harbour. The vehicles hired from Avis would have to be returned back to Marmaris, the keys dumped, and then the drivers picked up from the main quay by either Habibi or Golden Spirit.
The army personnel involved in the action, plus the prisoners taken and the s
tolen goods, such as the paintings, would be transferred to the motor yachts at Green Sea Bay.
While I was waiting, I heard the snarl of the exhaust of a powerful sports car and saw a Maserati being driven past in the direction of Marmaris. It was shortly followed in quick succession by two Aston Martins and a Ferrari.
The sight of the prestige cars confirmed to me that the attack on the complex must have been successful. A number of drivers from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, (REME), had been included in the assault party. Their job was to drive any stolen cars, recovered at the site, to the Turkish port of Bodrum. There they would catch a ferry the following morning to Kos, one of the Greek islands. From Kos, they would board the Blue Star Line ferry to Athens. Clive Newsome had been asked to supply drivers to meet the ferry at the port of Piraeus. They would take over from the REME drivers and drive the cars back to the UK.
Sergeant Jones was due to meet us at the harbour in Icmeler, but there was no sign of him. I hadn't seen him for quite a few hours; in fact, the last time I had seen him was when he had left for the top of the mountain when we first arrived in Icmeler. I tried to raise him on the radio but got no answer.
I went over to speak to the Corporal.
'Have you heard from the Sergeant, Corporal?'
'No, I haven't heard a dickey bird all day.'
'I wonder where he is. Should we go and have a look in case something has happened to him,' I asked.
'We don't know for definite where he is, and he literally could be anywhere,' the Corporal commented, obviously not keen to go on a wild goose chase.
‘I think that we should go and have a look for him. He could be in trouble,' I suggested. 'I'll let Captain Moffatt know where we are going, and tell him to pick our men up as planned. I will also tell him that we will meet him at the pick-up point in Marmaris.'
I passed the information on to the Captain, and we set off up the hill in the 4 x 4.
The road out of the town wound its way up the side of the mountain. We kept going until the road levelled out on the top. A bit further on we spotted the vehicle that the Sergeant had been driving.
Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation Page 26