Chapter 7: Inconvenience

He'd come to a conclusion. It was unlikely that the tape contained anything incriminating but, even so, he wasn't going to take the chance. Normally he'd have one of his heavies deal with it. The only problem was that they weren't around.

For this auction he had decided about a month ago that he would look after things on his own. In retrospect perhaps that wasn't a good idea. The arrival of the archaeologists was, thought Freddie, bloody inconvenient. And now he had to deal with things himself. That's what comes of trying to save money, he grumbled to himself as he trudged through the darkness towards the tourist apartments at the back of the port. The first thing was to steal a car.

The idea was to burgle the site cabin; to get the video and maybe make a bit of a mess to give the girls the idea that they might not be welcome. The car was to give the impression that whoever had done it had come from some way away.

There were three pale green Fiat Punto's in varying states of rusting deterioration, pulled up outside the Dimetrios Apartments. The first one that he tried had the keys under the driver's floor mat, left there by the last renter. Freddie didn't know why tourists bothered to rent cars on the island. There weren't many places to go and the bus went all round the island anyway. Still, at least this gave him the opportunity he needed. He slid behind the wheel and drove off towards the site of the dig.

He parked and looked at his watch. Half past ten. Late enough around here. He looked around. There was no sign of anyone.

Freddie found that he fell into the routine easily. It made a change, Freddie decided, as he pulled the ski mask from his back pack. It was a long time since he'd done this. That was the worst part of being a criminal master mind; the other guys got to do the fun bits. The only down side of this little project was that the burglary wasn't meant to look too subtle. There wasn't any need to go about things with any finesse. It wouldn't do for it to look like it had been done by someone that knew what they were up to.

He made his way across the valley to the cabin that Bethany's team had brought in. From his visits to the site he knew that they kept their equipment in there overnight. The door was locked with a padlock but Freddie found a shovel leaning beside the cabin and that provided sufficient to break the hasp away from the cabin door. He pulled the door open and slipped inside. It was even darker inside the hut but with the help of the glimmer from a dim torch he soon got his bearings; the desk at one end, a filing cabinet beside it and against the far wall a steel cupboard. Along the back wall of the cabin was a long table with plans laid out along it and piles of crates containing the finds so far beneath it. Copies of the geo-phys and GPR survey results were pinned to the wall. Freddie thought he'd find the video in the cupboard. It was locked.

He was searching for a key and had just found a possibility in the drawer of the desk when he saw through the cabin window the light of a torch flickering backwards and forwards across the clearing. It was coming straight towards him. He knew he had no time to get out of the cabin. All he could do was to hope that whoever it was would see the signs of the break in and run off for help. Hoping for the best, he crouched down between the back of the door and the steel cupboard. He could see the light of the torch getting closer.

Then there was the sound of Judy's voice. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed. She'd obviously seen the shattered padlock hasp and come to the right conclusion. Her response, however, was entirely the wrong one. She pushed open the door and came inside.

Clegg didn't really need to decide what to do. His body remembered skills he had thought that he had forgotten as he uncurled from his hiding place stretching one gloved hand around to clamp across Judy's mouth while grabbing her around the waist with the other to pull her back against him.

Judy squealed and tried to bite into the hand that gagged her. She kicked out with her feet but, although she made contact against her attacker's shins with the heel of her trainers, she didn't manage to break free. She tried to gasp for breath as her attacker pulled her back, her nose filled with the smell of the man's leather gloves. As she struggled she succeeded in swinging the heavy torch down and behind her to slam it into Freddie's side. The shock made him loosen his grip for an instant and Judy tried to break free. Freddie, determined that she shouldn't, reached out, grabbed at her arm, and pulled. Judy swung back, tripping over Freddie's leg and slamming herself against the steel cupboard. She slid to the floor stunned by the impact.