‘Don’t draw any attention to us,’ said Zane as the Delta passed the entrance and continued along the rising road.
‘I wasn’t going to fucking lean out and take a picture,’ Eddie shot back. He did, however, pay close attention to their surroundings. ‘He’s not short of cameras himself, though. I see three — no, four, at least.’
‘Those are just the ones we’re supposed to see,’ Zane said ominously. ‘According to our information, he has thermal detectors and motion trackers as well as CCTV.’
Eddie looked back as the road curved around a headland, giving him a slightly better view of the villa. From what he could see through the high metal fence, the house was built directly into the rock of a small promontory overlooking the sea. He also spotted more cameras. ‘Okay, so going in from the road’s out. Did you say there was a dock down below?’
Zane nodded. ‘I’ll pull over so we can see.’
That turned out to be easier said than done, but eventually he found a space. Zane collected a pair of binoculars, then the two men went to the low wall along the edge of the road to get their first clear view back at Leitz’s villa.
Eddie immediately saw that it was worth the money the Luxembourger had paid for it, and probably more. The large three-storey building was painted a soft sandy orange. Several windows on the upper floors had balconies overlooking the ocean, and a patio ran the width of the lowest level, chairs and shaded tables set out along it — enough seats for at least a dozen people. ‘Is he planning a barbie?’ he wondered aloud.
Zane was more interested in the flight of steps that zig-zagged down the cliff from the patio to a jetty at sea level. A suited man in sunglasses stood at the bottom, looking for all the world like a doorman expecting guests. ‘Down there: one of his guards. If there’s one at the dock, that only leaves two watching the house.’
‘Think you might need to check your intel.’ Eddie could see another two figures at the top of the drive… and a third had just emerged from the house on to the patio. None were Leitz. ‘Your man’s got visitors,’ he added as the gate opened again. A large black Mercedes with dark windows negotiated the tight turn from the road.
The two guards watched as it descended the steep slope, the gate sliding closed behind. A figure in white stepped into the sunlight. ‘There’s Leitz,’ said Zane. The broker waited on the villa’s pink marble steps for the new arrival. The Mercedes pulled up, its uniformed driver getting out to open the rear door.
The passenger emerged. From this distance, Eddie couldn’t see much beyond that he was male, grey-haired and somewhat overweight — but Zane had a much better view through his field glasses. ‘Szőko!’
‘Bless you,’ said the Englishman.
The Mossad agent was too fixated on the scene to acknowledge the joke. ‘No, Zoltan Szőko — he is one of Leitz’s clients. He is Hungarian, a businessman with connections to the country’s biggest anti-Semitic party. He is openly anti-Israeli; we have been watching him.’ The young man lowered the binoculars. ‘Why is he here?’
‘Maybe he wants to work on his tan.’
‘That’s not what I mean. People like this do all their business at a distance; they never meet in person.’
Szőko and Leitz shook hands, then the Luxembourger guided his guest into the villa. ‘Well they are now,’ said Eddie. ‘Must be a special occasion.’
‘The Mossad has nightmares about the occasions these people think are special.’ Zane noticed something at sea level. ‘Szőko isn’t the only visitor.’
The guard below advanced to the end of the jetty. Numerous pleasure craft were cruising along the coast in both directions, but one was heading towards the private dock. Zane locked the binoculars on to it. ‘It’s Takis Metaxes!’
‘I’m guessing he’s on Mossad’s shit-list too?’
Zane nodded. ‘Another rich businessman who likes to put his spare cash into neo-Nazi organisations. Only he’s Greek, not Hungarian.’
‘There must be more coming — he’s got plenty of chairs set out.’ The Englishman watched as the motor launch came alongside the jetty, one of its crew tossing a mooring line to the waiting man. ‘Maybe Leitz is hosting a Klaus barbie.’
‘Something big is going on,’ said Zane. He regarded the house thoughtfully. ‘We have to get inside.’
‘Well, that was kind of why we came here. But it might be better to wait until things quieten down.’
‘No, they’ve come here to discuss something major. I need to find out what. It’s the only reason they would meet like this — Leitz is the host, but he would never organise something on his own. He always acts on behalf of a client.’
‘And you think those arseholes from Egypt are the clients?’
‘Maybe they intended to sell the statue they were trying to steal from the tomb.’
‘The buyers’ll be disappointed, then.’ The mention of the statue made Eddie think of Nina. He now felt somewhat guilty about his abrupt and ill-tempered departure. She would be in Cairo by now; he considered phoning her to make peace overtures, but the sight of a second arriving car distracted him. ‘Another one’s just turned up.’
‘We have to get in there,’ Zane insisted. ‘But how?’ He surveyed the upper fence through the binoculars. ‘There’s no way in from the road without being seen. And the dock is guarded.’
Eddie leaned over the wall, looking at the cliffs below. They were steep — extremely so, in places — but for the most part not actually sheer. From where he and Zane were standing, he could see past the promontory on which the villa had been built to the coastline beyond.
He could also see that unless an observer was at the very end of the jetty, the other side of the rocky outcrop would be blocked from their sight…
‘Think I might have found a way,’ he announced, catching Zane’s attention. ‘You ever been free-climbing?’
The Israeli’s satchel contained more than hacking gear. Amongst its contents were several wads of high-value euro banknotes — one of which had been given to a surprised but delighted man in Amalfi harbour for the no-questions-asked charter of his small motorboat. Eddie and Zane then set out back along the coast for Leitz’s villa, the journey rather quicker by sea than by road.
‘Okay, over there,’ said Eddie, pointing at the cliffs. They were on the promontory’s eastern flank, one side of the orange house overlooking them about eighty feet above — but crucially, the guard on the jetty was out of view on its far side.
Their pilot regarded the base of the outcrop unhappily. ‘Is too rough, we hit rocks.’ Even though it was a calm day, waves were still churning noisily against the ragged shore.
Zane produced another wad of euros. ‘If your boat gets scratched, that should cover it.’
‘Hell, that’ll buy you a whole new boat,’ said Eddie.
‘I maybe need a new boat!’ the man protested. But he took the money anyway. ‘Okay, you better be fast.’
‘All right.’ Eddie tensed as the boat edged towards the shore, the swell of the waves kicking it up and down. He put both hands on the gunwale, the hull’s edge, to steady himself. ‘I’ll go first, then you—’
Before he could finish, Zane stood — and used the gunwale as a springboard to leap across the eight-foot gap. He barely made it, his feet catching the rocks just inches above the water.
His exit set the boat rocking violently. ‘Jesus!’ Eddie yelped, crouching to lower the craft’s centre of gravity. ‘Patience, young lion!’
Zane glared at him. ‘Don’t call me that. Only Benjamin called me that.’
‘Then don’t go fucking jumping out of boats before anyone else is ready.’
‘You should have been ready. And why aren’t you ready now? Hurry up.’ The Israeli started his climb.