by Tony Park
‘How so?’ Julianne asked. She declined the offer of wine, as did Sonja, but Nikola took a glass of champagne before dismissing the waiter. His man did not sit at the table but rather in an armchair on the edge of the gathering, his AK-47 on his lap, his hand on the pistol grip.
‘You say you have nothing to hide from Sonja,’ Peves said. ‘But I think you would not want her to know how you used your anti-poaching operations as a business tool, to protect some areas, yours in particular, but also your allies’, and to leave your takeover targets vulnerable to poaching.’
‘Rubbish,’ Julianne said. ‘I did no such thing.’
Sonja looked at her, and wondered if she was telling the truth. Sonja and Hudson had been coming to the same conclusion, but Julianne looked genuinely surprised and shocked at the allegation. Perhaps she was a good actor.
‘And you, Sonja, you do not “work” for Julianne, you were trying to undermine her. You believe that Julianne, here, has been running a hit squad, as the Americans would call it. You resent the fact that you were set up to be a hired assassin and that your young protégé, Tema, was corrupted in the process.’
Sonja shifted her glare back to the man at the head of the table. Tema really had told him everything.
‘Don’t blame poor Tema, Sonja,’ Peves said, reading her thoughts. ‘I knew from Julianne’s tough talk in the media that she was gunning for us, for me. And a run of operations against my vassals in Hazyview, Zimbabwe and here in Tanzania told me your operation was getting closer and closer to my headquarters. I’ve been expecting a mission of the type you tried and failed to execute here.’
Peves paused and all was silent except for the gentle slap of the swell against the hull. Nikola took up a pair of silver salad servers. ‘May I serve for us all?’
Julianne and Sonja eyed each other.
He passed the plates around and when he was finished he raised his glass again. ‘To honesty, and a new beginning.’
Neither woman raised her glass, but Peves smiled and took a sip. ‘Bon appétit.’
Through a mouthful of food he carried on, punctuating his speech with his fork. ‘Julianne, you know that what Tema revealed on the video was said under duress, but it was also true. You have been fighting poaching the way it should be fought, like a war. The enemy’s commanders are as legitimate a target as the foot-soldiers in the bush. You are, as the Americans said in Iraq, cutting off the head of the snake. Except the snake is still alive. I am still alive.’
‘But you haven’t won,’ Julianne said. ‘We have enough to get you arrested, charged, and put away in any number of jurisdictions.’
Nikola swallowed his mouthful of food and nodded. ‘Ditto.’
‘You have nothing on me, just, as you say, the word of a woman who would have said anything to stop you from killing her.’
‘Yes, enough to have investigations opened in any number of jurisdictions – almost as good as having you put away, and certainly enough to have a number of African governments cancel your safari concessions. Sonja, the South African police are already gunning for you over the shooting of that poor retarded young man who you and Tema filled full of bullets. He was no poacher, he was framed.’
‘How do you know?’ Sonja asked.
‘Because they were my men in the Sabi Sand that night, who ambushed you and your Leopards, Sonja, your all-female anti-poaching patrol, and that boy was not one of them.’
Sonja thought about Hudson’s question to her, the information he’d wanted from James, before he’d left in a huff. ‘What about the boots he was wearing?’
Nikola nodded again, deep and slow, as if he had been expecting the question. ‘Oh, they were worn by the killer all right, but that man was Shadrack’s cousin, the other man shot that day. Those boots, in a wonderful piece of irony, were owned by James Paterson. Paterson, knowing that the sole of one of the boots had been split, gave them to Shadrack, who worked as a labourer on the same estate where your friend Hudson Brand lives. Shadrack’s cousin took the boots from his simple relative because they were better than his, but he was not a smart operator; he didn’t realise the fatal error of taking boots with such a distinctive tread pattern. After the ambush, when it became clear the damaged boots had been worn by the killer of your operatives, the cousin gave the footwear back to Shadrack and paid a local gangster to attack Shadrack, and to slash his back to make it look like he had been injured while scrambling under the razor wire perimeter fence of the game reserve. His plan was to leave town in a stolen vehicle, with his dimwitted cousin in tow, and to abandon the young man, the murder weapon and the vehicle just before the police caught him. As it happened, you people in Julianne’s helicopter caught up with them first, and the rest is history.’
‘How do you know all this?’ Sonja asked.
‘The real killer reported to me, after the debacle in the bush, and told me what he was planning to do to save his own skin. I take my hat off to you and your lady leopards – you were worthy opponents to my foot-soldiers.’
Sonja felt the bile rise up but swallowed back the bitterness. The story had the ring of truth about it. She and Tema had killed the man who had murdered their colleagues, but in the process they had also slaughtered an innocent boy.
Julianne reached out a hand and put it on hers. ‘You couldn’t have known.’
Sonja snatched her hand away. ‘Don’t touch me.’
‘Ladies, please. It’s unfortunate an innocent was caught up in all of this, but you exacted your revenge for the loss of the lives of Sonja’s shield maidens.’
‘So what exactly do you want in exchange for Tema and James?’ Julianne asked.
Nikola put down his fork, dabbed his mouth with a linen serviette, put it on the table and spread his hands wide. ‘I have to be honest with you, I think James Paterson deserves to die.’
‘Why?’
‘He has been responsible for the deaths of too many of my business partners, my franchisees, if you will. You know you very nearly put me out of business?’
‘I can’t say I’m sorry. You’re vermin, Peves.’
‘Paterson and that homicidal maniac of yours, Machado, were doing you more harm than good. If I hadn’t stopped you then some law enforcement agency somewhere on this corrupt, lawless continent would have finally put two and two together and worked out what you were up to. My foot-soldiers kill wildlife to make me money; your people killed human beings to further your business interests and generate positive PR. You tell me who is more like vermin?’
‘I gave no such orders,’ Julianne insisted. ‘We were only targeting poachers and their leaders.’
‘You have a helicopter to transfer your well-heeled guests to your camp in the Kuria Hills, and to assist with anti-poaching when required,’ Nikola said.
Julianne stuck her chin out. ‘What of it?’
Nikola looked to Sonja. ‘Julianne’s helicopter was “undergoing maintenance” or too busy to respond to six calls for air support by TANAPA and Helen Mills over her concession on the outskirts of the Serengeti. However, by miraculous good fortune, just a week after Mills agreed to sell her lease to Julianne, her chopper is tracking down and executing my men on Julianne’s newest piece of Africa. Coincidence?’
Sonja looked to Julianne. The story tallied with what Helen had told them at Maramboi lodge. Peves was remarkably well informed about the goings on in Julianne’s camp; Sonja wondered if he had a source.
‘Preposterous.’ Julianne pointed a finger at Peves. ‘You’re a butcher of wildlife and a murderer.’
Nikola sighed. ‘There is something you don’t understand about me, Julianne, nor you, Sonja. I actually do care about Africa’s wildlife.’
It was Julianne’s turn to laugh now.
Sonja eyed the man with the AK-47. He was getting bored, perhaps not following all of the conversation. The man looked out the window over th
e lake, but given the close proximity it was too risky for her to try anything. Sonja didn’t know what to believe in the conversation playing out in front of her.
‘You’re joking,’ Julianne said to Peves.
‘Oh, it’s no laughing matter at all. Tanzania’s elephants are on the brink of disappearing and that is not good for anyone, not for me, not for you, not for the government. By my order, there is now a moratorium on organised elephant poaching in this country. There will still be the odd rogue operator, but what I am proposing to you is that with my help you will be able to direct the national parks and police to where those poachers are, and you will be able to ensure they are quickly located and brought to justice.’
‘With my help?’ Julianne said. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Oh, I think you do, Julianne. You see, I have put the “organised” into the crime of poaching. I want to protect Africa’s elephants to ensure a supply of ivory, and the best way I can do that is by killing them – in a controlled manner.’
‘You’re crazy,’ Sonja said.
‘Not really, no. Julianne?’
‘Yes?’
‘You don’t have any lodges in Botswana. Do you have plans to spread into Chobe National Park or set up something on its borders?’
‘No. I’m looking at property in the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta, maybe the neighbouring Khwai Conservancy, but not Chobe.’
‘What about Hwange, in Zimbabwe?’
‘Not at the moment, no.’
Nikola smiled. ‘Perfect. Nearly half of Africa’s remaining elephants are concentrated in Chobe National Park and Hwange National Park just across the border in Zimbabwe, perhaps some 300,000 animals in total, moving from one country to the other. In fact, there are too many of them. Their overeating has had a disastrous impact on the natural vegetation and there are constant conflicts between elephants and farmers and villagers along the Chobe River.’
Julianne was open-mouthed. ‘Are you saying you’re going to contribute to conservation by poaching elephants in Chobe and Hwange?’
He leaned forward, hands clasped, elbows on the table, closing the distance between them. ‘Let’s call it an unauthorised but much needed elephant cull. What I’m saying is that you will have nothing to fear from ivory poachers in or around the Okavango Delta where you might set up a lodge.’
Sonja understood. ‘You and your Scorpions want to monopolise the ivory trade. Tanzania’s tapped out, so you’re going after elephants where they’re still plentiful, and you’ll take out any small-time operators, competitors, in that area, or around the delta.’
‘No comment. What I will tell you, Ms Kurtz, and this is a fact, is that my employees have killed more poachers, rival operators, than you or any of Julianne’s people or, for that matter, probably the entire South African National Defence Force in the past year.’
Julianne looked to Sonja. ‘James passed on the same information, that the Scorpions were expanding their operations by either absorbing existing small-time poaching groups or, if they resisted, wiping them out.’
‘It is possible to sustainably harvest ivory, albeit illegally, without wiping elephants off the face of the earth,’ Nikola said.
‘And rhinos?’ Sonja asked.
He turned his attention to her. ‘Haven’t you read that there has been a decrease in the number of rhinos killed in South Africa? The year 2015 saw the first decrease in rhinos poached in eight years. Do you think that was solely due to the efforts of soldiers, police and rangers?’
Sonja narrowed her eyes. ‘You took enough rhino horn to meet demand, but you took out a bunch of small players at the same time, is that what you’re saying?’
He shrugged.
‘Enough.’ Julianne pushed away her plate of untouched food. ‘Tell me what you want.’
Peves took another mouthful of salad and munched away. ‘For you to disband this special unit of yours and stop going after the Scorpions. I never used that name myself in any case.’
‘How did you get it then?’ Julianne asked.
‘There was a man in Mozambique, fancied himself a player. He found himself bound, hands and feet, in a coffin. A dozen highly venomous scorpions were dropped into the box with him to convince him it might be a good idea to cooperate with the organisation that wanted him to join their fold. The shrieking was hard to take, and in the end he had a heart attack and died. That’s where the name originated.’
‘Are you trying to scare me?’
‘I don’t think you’re easily frightened, Julianne, but I just want to let you know that even if you can’t be reached, people close to you can.’
‘I’ve told the press I’m going after the Scorpions.’
He set down his fork and took a sip of wine. ‘Then tell the media that you found them and defeated them. The name will not be mentioned again – it was becoming a liability in any case. The figures will show a drop in elephant poaching, very soon, in Tanzania, and in the north of the Kruger Park and the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park across the border in Mozambique. I’ve put a stop to elephant poaching in that area as it was starting to get out of hand. The last thing I want is the South African Army and its helicopters, drones, and recce-commandos moving north when rhinos can quietly, selectively be taken when they wander across the border.’
‘And you give me your word you will stay away from my lodges and concessions and Tanzania’s elephants.’
‘Yes, and I give you my word the few rhino in the Okavango Delta will face no threat from my people.’
Sonja leaned back in her chair, taking in this surreal conversation. Here were two businesspeople carving up a large chunk of Africa like a couple of colonial-era monarchs, caring nothing for the lives, animal and human, that their manoeuvring would cost. Julianne may have been negotiating to protect her reserves, people and wildlife, but she was knowingly passing the problem on to someone else.
‘And if I agree, what happens to Tema and James?’
Sonja noticed that in front of Peves she was always mentioning Tema first, whereas when she had arrived her first concern had been for the handsome former army officer.
‘You can have the girl as soon as we are done here, but Paterson must pay the price for decimating my business.’
‘That’s unacceptable.’
‘No, that’s life,’ Peves said. ‘I’ve seen how Paterson operates. He may be the quiet, backroom manipulator, but if I let him live he will be thirsting for revenge.’
Julianne pushed back her chair and stood. ‘Then we have no deal.’
The man with the AK-47 looked up, instantly alert.
‘I can’t just let you leave, Julianne, without a deal,’ Peves said.
‘Then you may as well kill me.’ Julianne looked to Sonja. ‘Sorry. Take a few of them with you, if you can. I’m not leaving without James and Tema, and if they die, then so do I.’
‘Great,’ Sonja said to Julianne. ‘Are you fucking crazy?’
‘What do you mean, Sonja?’
‘What do you think you’re doing?’
‘I was negotiating to ensure the safety of two of our people.’
Peves held up his hands. ‘Ladies, please. Sonja, do I take it from your words that you don’t wish to go out in a blaze of gunfire?’
Sonja didn’t know who of the two she detested more; Peves for his twisted rationalisations of his crimes, or Julianne, who had been happy to turn a blind eye to a hit squad on one hand, and seemed open to getting into bed with the most serious poaching kingpin in Africa on the other.
‘I’m finished with both of you. I want off this boat.’ She stood. ‘Nikola, you can kill Julianne if you like.’
The man in the cabin with the AK-47 was on his feet now, alert and pointing his rifle at her.
‘Please, please,’ Peves said. ‘Sonja, you may leave when Julianne does, ju
st as soon as she has seen James.’
‘You’re bringing him here?’
Julianne had spoken too quickly, too keenly, Sonja thought, betraying, or rather confirming, her particularly personal concern over Paterson’s fate.
‘Of course, Julianne. As I said, I am not a monster. I know that as your head of security and anti-poaching James must be very important to you. I am willing to reconsider executing him.’
‘Tema is as important,’ Julianne said, but it was obvious the young woman was still little more than an afterthought.
Sonja could understand someone doing something foolish for love; she had almost done the same herself when she’d considered chasing after Hudson instead of staying to finish the mission. Now she wished she’d gone with her heart and hitched out of Kipili, got on the first plane back to South Africa so she could meet Hudson when he returned to Hippo Rock. Julianne was in love, and it was clouding her judgement. If she wanted to do a deal with the devil then she could. Sonja wanted off this boat, but she also wanted to see what Paterson made of the deal that Peves and Clyde-Smith had hatched or, rather, what Julianne had just sold her soul for.
Peves spoke to the guard in Swahili and the man, after giving Sonja a wary look, took a handheld radio from his pocket and walked out onto the deck.
‘He’s getting Tema and calling my other men to bring the fishing boat with James on board. Fear not, ladies,’ Peves said. ‘This will all be over soon.’
Somehow, Sonja doubted that.
Chapter 29
Mario swam underwater towards the fishing boat.
With all of Nikola Pesev’s staff involved in guarding Paterson or escorting Sonja and Julianne, it had been easy for him to slip unnoticed into the storeroom by the boathouse that contained the diving gear Peves rented to lodge customers who wanted to explore the clear waters of Lake Tanganyika.
After suiting up Mario had found a wickedly long dive knife, which was now strapped to his right leg. He’d also carried a spear gun in one hand as he waded into the lake.