Cashback

by Duncan James

  ***

  They were in their room, getting ready for dinner, when Robin's mobile rang. It was Monsieur Gilbert.

  "In the interests of privacy," he began, "I rang on this number rather than through the hotel switchboard. I hope this is convenient?"

  "Yes, of course," replied Robin.

  "I am pleased to say, Mr. Hood, that my Board has agreed to accept your business. Perhaps you would care to pay a further visit to my office soon, so that I can finalise the arrangements with you. It will not take long."

  "I'll certainly do that," said Robin, "and thank you for responding so quickly. I shall ring your secretary in the morning."

  Marian emerged from the bathroom.

  "That's one account sorted," Robin said. "I need to pay a further visit to finalise things - sign papers, agree passwords and that sort of thing, I suppose - and then we're in business."

  "That's good news," said Marian. "I told you the meeting went well, didn't I!"

  "Let's hope the next one goes well, too," he replied. "I'll try to get back to Monsieur Gilbert first thing tomorrow, then we can have the day to ourselves, before going to the second bank."

  "That will be nice. We can plan where to go after dinner. I suppose we should contact Will and Grudge again, too, to see how they're getting on," suggested Marian.

  "I had thought I would do that this evening, too," said Robin. "Will is an hour ahead of us here, so I'll try him first, then Grudge, who's an hour behind."

  "I wonder how Grudge is getting on with the computer thing," pondered Marian.

  "I wish you wouldn't keep calling it a 'thing'," joked Robin. "I just hope he's managed to the get names and addresses and bank details of his colleagues. That's the priority at the moment, now that we're making progress here."

  "What do we do next, then?" asked Marian.

  "We'll have to get Jim to track down the US computer giant's accounts, so that we can try to access them. I would guess that they have deposits worldwide, rather than just in the States."

  "Why?"

  "Because they have offices in most major countries around the world, so they are bound to have local finances in place."

  "That will make our job more difficult, will it?" she asked.

  "It may not," said Robin. "It might be better to take smaller sums from more dispersed accounts, than a large sum from just a few. We'll have to see how Jim gets on, and what sums of money Grudge thinks are realistic in terms of the compensation owing to his team."

  "Let's go and eat," said Marian.

  "I'll take the phone with me, just in case," said Robin. "But I do hope nobody rings while we're in the dining room - it's so embarrassing."

  They had a quick coffee after their meal, and then went back to the balcony outside their room. Marian looked through the tourist leaflets they had collected, while Robin used his phone to get hold of Will.

  He answered almost immediately.

  "Hi, Robin," he greeted his friend. "I was just thinking that if you didn't ring me, I'd ring you."

  "I hope that means that you've got good news, then," Robin responded.

  "You wouldn't believe how busy me and Bonkers have been since you rang, but we've made good progress."

  "That's good," said Robin. "Where are you, by the way?"

  "We're back in Bulawayo," Will replied. "Looking up one or two of our contacts, if you follow me."

  "I'm with you," said Robin. "Tell me what you've discovered."

  "Well, first of all, the Justice for Farmers people have the addresses of about fifteen hundred chaps who have joined. They are nearly all farmers who have been forced out of the country, like my father, or chosen to leave for their own safety. The farmers who haven't joined are mostly people who still work in Zimbabwe, and who don't want to be seen to be causing any trouble. Problem is, the guys running the organisation won't let me have their mailing lists - I suppose you can understand that, really."

  "But we could contact their members, through them, I suppose," asked Robin.

  "Providing it's in their best interests, that shouldn't be a problem, they say."

  "Excellent!" said Robin. "And what about the chums of the bloke who paid your air fare, if you know what I mean?"

  "I'm ahead of you!" responded Will. "My little organisation has all the details I think you'll need relating to about fifty of them - perhaps a few more. But they are the ones with most of the dosh, we think."

  "Don't risk saying too much over an open phone," cautioned Robin.

  "Understood," said Will. "But the monkeys have got it spread around - Bermuda, Switzerland, all over, if you follow me."

  "I'm literally ahead of you," laughed Robin. "I'm in Montreux now, sitting on my hotel balcony, overlooking Lake Geneva."

  "Well I'm damned!" exclaimed Will. "I thought you would be working hard somewhere, not swanning around."

  "We are working hard," said Robin. "Even as we speak, Marian is looking at the brochures to see where we can go tomorrow!" he joked. "But we are having a series of important meetings here as well, which I'll tell you all about when next we meet."

  "When will that be?"

  "Soon, I hope - three or four days, with any luck."

  "That's super. We shall look forward to that."

  "I shall want a full de-brief when we meet," said Robin, "and perhaps you could arrange for me to meet the people who run that farmers' organisation. Where are they based?"

  "Here, in Bulawayo," replied Will.

  "We'll fly down from Nairobi, and see you there. I think we can get to Nairobi more or less direct from here, but probably not to Harare or Bulawayo. I'll let you know soon."

  "Great! Meanwhile, we'll keep working and see what else we can discover."

  "Before you go," said Robin choosing his words carefully, "have you any idea how many air fares your lot could buy - if you see what I mean?"

  "Millions, without a doubt," replied Will. "A few might need to sell a few bits of jewellery first, that's all."

  "Got it," replied Robin. "Be in touch and see you soon. Regards to Bonkers."

  "Love to Marian," said Will, and rang off.

  "Well, that's very interesting and encouraging, if I understand his code right," said Robin to Marian.

  "Where are they?" asked Marian. "I heard you say that we'd probably fly to Nairobi."

  "They're in Bulawayo, still meeting members of their contact group, and I've said we'd meet them there. I can't imagine we'll be able to get a flight from here though, so we'll probably have to go through Nairobi."

  "I can check that out tomorrow, if you like, while you're at the bank. You won't need me there, will you?"

  "No; that shouldn't be necessary," replied Robin. "But from what Will said, he's managed to track down plenty of loot, as he called it, and indicated it was worth millions."

  "I hope he meant pounds and not Zimbabwean dollars," said Marian.

  "Me too," said Robin. "He did say something about a few of them having to sell jewellery, though."

  "That must mean diamonds," suggested Marian. "Someone mentioned that they'd been plundering them from Sierra Leone," she reminded him.

  "Yes, that must be what he meant," agreed Robin. "There's not much we can do about those, I'm afraid, or bonds or stocks and shares. We can only get at cash reserves, more's the pity. The other thing Will said was that the Justice for Farmers people know the whereabouts of some fifteen hundred deposed farmers, but won't part up with the names and addresses."

  "That's a blow," said Marian. "How do we get round that?"

  "I've asked to have a meeting with them to discuss it," replied Robin. "But I have a feeling that Monsieur Gilbert was right after all. It might be best, and certainly easier, if the farmers' people ran the account on behalf of their members, rather than us getting too involved. Once we've raised the cash and got it deposited here, we could transfer the account to them."

  "Otherwise," said Marian thoughtfully, "we could be stuck running it for ever."

&nbs
p; "I was just thinking the same," said Robin.

  "So what can we do about Grudge and his people, then?" she asked.

  "My hope is that the bank will run that for us, if we provide them with the names and addresses and so on. The one we're visiting the day after tomorrow, to open the second account, has a branch in Moscow. That's why I picked them," claimed Robin.

  "Well, why don't you ring Grudge, and see how he's getting on?" suggested Marian.

  Once again, he got through almost at once, and, once again, there was good progress to report.

  "Only this morning," said Sergei Volkov, "I received an email from one of my partners giving me the details of about one hundred and fifty or so colleagues who have been involved with the Americans."

  "Do we have all the information we need?" asked Robin.

  "Everything you asked for," reported Grudge. "Names, addresses and bank details."

  "Good," said Robin. "What I would now like you to do is to work out what you think each of them is honestly owed, without being in the least bit greedy about it. You understand that we are simply endeavouring to put right an injustice, not to make them all a fortune."

  "Yes, I understand that, and I will do my best to estimate a realistic figure."

  "Once we have that," said Robin, "we shall have an idea of how much we are looking for from the Americans. I really need to get hold of Jim Farlow, to get him started on looking for their cash and deposit accounts, which I suspect will be found in every country where they have offices."

  "I can perhaps do that more easily from here," suggested Grudge, "or at least get my little Valya to do it."

  "That would certainly be helpful," agreed Robin.

  "Valya has already been able to contact your friend Rupert," reported Grudge, "and, as I thought, he would very much like to join our little team, but would like to talk to you first."

  "I'll ring him when I get back, unless you think his help would be useful immediately," said Robin. "How are you getting on with the other project?"

  "I think I am making good progress, and I shall be quite happy to press on without Rupert for the time being, unless you are suddenly in a rush for results."

  "No, I'm not," replied Robin. "Now we have the door open, so to speak, we have a good deal of work to do before we close it again."

  "So what are you plans now?" asked Grudge.

  "Things are going well here so far, so we shall probably go back to Africa in a day or so," replied Robin. "I will ring you again from there, but don't hesitate to get in touch if you need to. I am especially keen to know what sort of figure we might need to recompense your people, when you have worked it out."