Cashback

by Duncan James

  ***

  Robin and Marian walked back to their bed and breakfast lodgings near the centre of Nairobi in silence. They knew one another well enough now to know that each was thinking the same. How far, if at all, could they trust Will and Bwonqa?

  Eventually, Marian broke the silence.

  "They seem nice enough chaps, those two," she said. "I really quite enjoyed their company."

  "So did I," replied Robin, "but they seem to have had a rough time in Zimbabwe."

  "Quite awful," agreed Marian. "It would be nice to be able to help them in some way."

  "I agree," said Robin thoughtfully, "and I know what you were thinking, my dear. But at the moment we could only help them in a very small and insignificant way, and then only if we conclude that we can really trust them."

  "If we do help, and they let us down, we shall be in bigger trouble than they are."

  "Especially in a foreign country," agreed Robin.

  "It's a pity, really, that you haven't completed the next stage of your work on bank computer security," said Marian.

  "Why?" asked Robin.

  "Well," argued Marian, "if you were at the stage where you could get into the banking computer system, but before you'd developed the counter-measure, we could perhaps take money from the accounts of those who have 'stolen' it from the white farmers, and somehow transfer it back to them. Then we might really be able to do some good at the expense of those who have committed so much evil."

  "That hadn't occurred to me," admitted Robin. "But if we could do it, it would be very risky, as I'm sure you realise. And we're nowhere near ready enough yet."

  "Would it take you long, do you think?" asked Marian.

  "No way of telling, really," replied Robin. "But I don't intend to rush at things just to help two complete strangers."

  "I wonder if Jim Farlow has made any further progress?" mused Marian.

  "Yes, I wonder. Perhaps I could get hold of him on the mobile. Of course, the chap to really help us crack the banks' security codes is the chap who invented the system."

  "You mean 'Grudge'?" asked Marian.

  "Exactly," replied Robin. "If he can't find the weaknesses in his own system, then nobody can."

  "And then he could help you develop an even more sophisticated security system to prevent further fraud!" exclaimed Marian.

  "And reap the rewards, this time," added Robin. "We could make sure it was properly registered before we offered it up for sale."

  "That would be wonderful, if we could do that as well. I wonder where Grudge is, now. It would be interesting to know what he's doing, and Jim, too," said Marian. "Jim just hadn't made up his mind when we left Uni."

  "Could be anywhere, doing anything, by now. Odd chap, really. I still can't understand why he didn't take a gap year break, like us."

  "Too much of a loner, I suppose," said Marian. "He seemed quite happy to get back home in London and look for work until we got back."

  "I hope he hasn't found anything too good," said Robin. "I'm still keen that we should set up our own company together, when I get back."

  "With 'Grudge'?" asked Marian.

  "Now there's another odd chap," commented Robin.

  "There were plenty about at Oxford," laughed Marian.

  "Yes, but he wasn't at Oxford. It was daughter Valya we knew, at your college."

  "I never thought we'd go to Oxford and end up befriending Russians!"

  "And now we're in Africa, we seem to have befriended Zimbabweans," commented Robin. "In Kenya!"

  "Which brings us back to whether or not we can help them," said Marian.

  "You know, I think they were holding something back from us, too," said Robin. "They seemed very cagey when you asked them about the contacts they claimed to have within government and the banks. I'd like to know more about that, because if we are to help them, then decent contacts in the right places are almost essential."

  "Yes, you're right. I saw them exchange glances as if to decide whether they could trust us with the facts."

  "As we did."

  "We must press them further about that, when the opportunity arises."

  "I've been thinking," said Robin thoughtfully, "and I'm quite sure Jim and the 'Grudge' and I could crack this if we really put our minds to it. They are both superb mathematicians."

  "Couldn't you do it on your own?" asked Marian.

  "Not even with inside help - it would take far too long."

  "But you were clever enough to develop your token things," she insisted.

  "Yes, but that was much easier in the end."

  "I remember how hard you worked on that in our little flat," she said. "Night after night, and with all your studying to do as well."

  "I think I'll give Jim a ring on his mobile, just to keep in touch and find out what he's doing," said Robin. "He just might also know what Grudge is doing, as well"

  "If not, I've got Valya's mobile number somewhere," said Marian, "although I don't know if we would be able to get through to Moscow from here."

  "Clever girl!" said Robin. "We'll have a go!"

  "You could get your team together now, if you can contact them both, and we could go home early so that you could start work on the project," suggested Marian.

  "No way!" exclaimed her partner. "I'm not rushing off on a whim just to help two complete strangers, or even all the white farmers of Zimbabwe. We'll enjoy our holiday to the full."

  "You'd be helping Sergei and his colleagues as well, don't forget," Marian reminded him. "And there could well be other just causes we could help as well, if we thought about it."

  "All in good time - you're getting ahead of yourself at the moment," exclaimed Robin. "We don't even know if my next project will succeed, so let's take one thing at a time! And the first thing is our holiday."

  Marian nodded her agreement.

  "But I will just try to get hold of Jim and Grudge," he added. "It will do no harm to keep in touch and find out what they're up to."

  As it happened, Robin got through to Valya quite easily, and she was thrilled to hear from them both. It transpired that, thanks largely to Robin's initiative, Grudge was due to meet the University authorities in Oxford in a couple of months to discuss the possibility of working there.

  Jim also seemed pleased to hear from the couple, and proudly announced that he had got himself a job at the Bank of England.

  "What are you doing there?" asked Robin.

  "I'm in the section of the Bank that deals with international banking transactions, helping to run the computers," replied Jim.

  Robin couldn't believe it!

  "Well, you just stay there!" said Robin. "You could be perfectly placed for the next stage of our little business enterprise."?

  8. THE AFRICAN INCENTIVE?

  Robin and Marian didn't just meet Will and Bonkers the next day for a couple of beers - they met almost every day after their first encounter. They managed to do a good deal of sightseeing as well, in Robin's hired car, and found time to visit most of the popular tourist attractions in and around Nairobi.

  One day, on the drive back from the Ngong Hills, Marian said, "Do you realise, Robin, that we are due to move on in a couple of weeks?"

  "To Livingstone?" asked Bonkers.

  "We shall go via Lusaka," replied Robin. "We thought we'd have a couple of days there, just to look round and perhaps visit Kariba."

  "And how will you get there?" asked Will. "By air, I suppose."

  "We shall certainly fly to Lusaka," replied Marian. "Then we shall fly on to Harare, where an old friend of Robin's father lives at the moment, and we have been invited to pay him a visit. After that, we had thought we'd go on to Bulawayo by train, and on from there to the falls - there's an overnight service every day, I believe. But we shall probably end up flying direct from Harare to Livingstone, as it's such a short flight, and we shall save time."

  "You wouldn't see much from the overnight trains, anyway," said Will. "What would be good, is if we cou
ld meet you somewhere and show you a bit of Zimbabwe. Believe it or not, I've got a car down there we could use - my father left his old Volvo specially, in case I ever needed it."

  "The trouble is," said Bonkers, "we wouldn't be able to afford the air fares at the moment. We'd need to hitch-hike, or go by bus, and that would take for ever."

  "It would certainly be a lovely idea if we could meet up again somewhere on our travels," agreed Robin. "Do you need to stay here any longer?" he asked.

  "Not really," said Will. "We've almost come to the conclusion that we're on 'mission impossible'. I can't see any way at the moment to get at Mawimbi's cash, given that you can't crack the computer system."

  "You were our only hope of doing anything worthwhile, really," added Bonkers.

  "What about the contacts you said you had within the banks and the civil service?" asked Marian. "Can't they be of any help?"

  "Not really," said Will again. "As I said before, they're just a few chaps we know."

  "Oh," said Robin. "From what you said, we had thought it was a bit more organised than that."

  Bonkers turned to his friend. "Will, I think we know these two good people well enough now to be able to trust them. I'm sure if they could help us, they would. Why don't you tell them?"

  Will thought for a moment, looking closely at both Robin and Marian.

  "Very well, then," replied Will with a nod towards Bonkers. He turned to Robin and Marian. "None of this must go any further, but if you give us your solemn word that you will treat what we tell you in total confidence, then I will let you in on the background to a small but highly motivated organisation which has been formed."

  "You can trust us," replied Marian.

  "You have our word for that," confirmed Robin.

  Will paused to gather his thoughts.

  "Our network of contacts is loosely drawn, but widely spread," he began. "A few here, a couple in Zambia and South Africa, but mostly in Zimbabwe. Like us, they are all totally opposed to what is happening in that country, and have sworn to take action if, at any time, something worthwhile presents itself."

  "Do you mean organising a coup, or something like that?" asked Robin.

  "No, nothing quite like that, although they would all be heartily glad to see the back of the present regime," continued Will. "But we are not a military organisation, although we do have a good spread of individuals who provide an excellent intelligence service. We either know, or can find out, exactly what's going on within the Government and official organisations like the civil service and the military, as well as major businesses like the banks. We have contacts in all those places. There are a few in the President' office and in the offices of other Ministries, some in quite senior positions. They risk a lot, but are fantastic sources of information about what's going on, both officially and in the private lives of top people. One works in the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, our equivalent of the Bank of England, and is in quite a senior management job. Among other things, he has contacts with the International Monetary Fund and our own Finance Ministry, where we also have a well-placed contact. That's why we were hoping that, with your skills and our knowledge, we might just be able to right a few wrongs."

  "How do you keep in touch with them all?" asked Marian.

  "We don't, on a regular basis," replied Will. "There's nothing formal about our structure at all, but we all know who is with us and who isn't, and we can make contact when we need to. I don't know, for instance, if there's a member in the railways, but I could ask around to find out, and if there was, contact him direct."

  "In fact, there are certainly many more members than we know about," said Bonkers.

  "The simple fact is that it's the 'old boy network' with a vengeance," said Will.

  "For instance," said Bonkers. "If you had been able to get into the banking system, we would have been able to find out the account details of all the major beneficiaries of the redistribution of the land stolen from the white farmers. We could then have taken the money back, and returned it to the people who have suffered so much - like Will's parents."

  "How could you have possibly got all that money to each of the thousands of farmers who have had their land seized?" asked Marian.

  "Quite easily, really," replied Will. "There's an organisation called Justice for Farmers, which is a lobby group acting on behalf of all the white farmers in Zimbabwe, but specially those who have been evicted."

  "All those who have survived," interrupted Bonkers.

  "Quite so," agreed Will. "Many were tortured and killed by the so-called 'war veterans', but Justice for Farmers has details of all the others who survived, and the next-of-kin of those who didn't - where they are, how much compensation they should have been paid, and everything else."

  "Is this Justice for Farmers organisation part of your network?" asked Marian.

  "No, it isn't. So far as I know, they have no idea we exist. We haven't even given ourselves a name, like they have, because we are a small enough group to know virtually everyone in the network personally, so we don't need a name," explained Will.

  "But if we ever needed to contact any of the farmers, they would be able to put us in touch," added Bonkers.

  They were approaching the up-market suburb of Karen, and decided to visit the Butterfly Centre while they were in the area. "What actually does Justice for Farmers do?" asked Marian, as they sat over a coffee in the small outside restaurant after their tour round.

  "I don't think it achieves much at all," replied Will. "It tries to lobby various organisations, including the Government, either to get the farms back or get proper compensation for the deposed farmers, which is a bit like trying to push water up-hill with a fork, as you can imagine. But it does provide a sense of community for them all, and they like to think that at least someone is trying to help them."

  "I just wish we could," said Bonkers, not for the first time.

  "Even my father is a member, in spite of being in South Africa," continued Will. "And he's by no means as badly off as some of them, especially the black workers who were evicted from the farms at the time they were taken over. They had nothing, and nowhere to go."

  "Most of the people I was at school with in Chasimu now have no work, and are going hungry, with no land or proper homes," added Bonkers.

  "If only we could get to Zimbabwe while you're there," said Will, "we could show you around so that you could see for yourself the state of the country. Visiting the tourist bits will give you no real idea of what it's like."

  "We really should get back home soon, anyway," said Bonkers. "There's nothing else we can do here, and the sooner we start out the sooner we shall get there. You know how long it took us to get here."

  The foursome agreed to meet again the next evening, after Robin had given his final lecture at the Technical College.?

  But as soon as they had parted after their day out, Robin turned to Marian and announced, "I'm going to use the card."

  "Why?" asked Marian, astonished.

  "So that they can fly home - at Dickson Mawimbi's expense. His wife goes to the bank every Thursday, and that's tomorrow. So if we follow her to the cash machine, we can take out the maximum allowed and give it to Will. We can do the same next week, and then they'll have enough for the airfare - it's only about $309, I think."

  "What a great idea!" agreed Marian. "And I'm sure we can trust them. After all, they've told us about their little organisation."

  "It will be really satisfying to give them some of their own money back," said Robin, "and good to have their company in Zimbabwe, as well."

  "I hope Mawimbi's wife doesn't go shopping too early," said Marian. "I would hate to miss her."

  "She won't be late - the banks open at nine and close at two-thirty. I'll ring Will straight away, to arrange an early rendezvous, but not tell him exactly why."

  Will was surprised at the sudden change of plans, but asked no questions. Robin explained everything to him when they met the next morning, as they
were heading for the Standard Chartered Bank. Will was astonished and delighted to think that, at last, he might be able to take back some of the Ambassador's ill gotten wealth.

  "It will be simply great to be able to keep up with you on your travels," he told Robin, "but I shall feel a bit guilty about spending the money on our tickets, rather than returning it to my father."

  "I told you he was a genius with computers, didn't I," commented Bonkers.? "What a brilliant piece of work, Robin."

  "Let's hope it works as well in Kenya as it does in England," replied Robin. "I can think of no real reason why it shouldn't."

  It did. Will pointed out Mawimbi's wife, as she headed for the cash point, and Robin managed to stand behind her at the machine while she took out her money. As she left, intent on putting the cash into her purse, Robin put his doctored card into the machine, and from the menu that appeared, selected to take out the maximum sum permitted. He retrieved his card, and handed the wad of notes to Will.

  "There," he said triumphantly. "Direct from the lady's account! We'll do the same again next week, and that should give you enough for your tickets. But remember, not a single word or hint to anyone."

  Bonkers had the widest possible grin on his face as Will took the money in disbelief.

  "Now we must dash," said Robin, "or I'll be late for my lecture. See you again this evening, as planned."

  "I'm coming with you," said Bonkers. "I wouldn't miss your lecture for the world."

  "Drinks on me tonight," said Will, as they parted.