by Tony Park
‘Try me. Go on, tell me your big strategy. How is getting into bed with a criminal going to save a single rhino?’
Sarah lowered her voice. ‘All right. Costa’s as crooked as they come,’ she said. ‘You know that, and I know that. But that doesn’t mean he can’t change.’
‘Hah!’
‘Hear me out,’ Sarah said. ‘Everything else has failed. Eli and his anti-poaching rangers – hell, half the South African Army as well – can’t catch or kill every rhino poacher. Costa’s a major player, and if we can convert him to the side of good and show him a way to make money – legally and quasi-legally – from a de facto rhino farm, then I’ll probably stop more poachers than the entire US military could.’
‘Quasi-legally? Are you listening to yourself, Sarah?’
‘You’re a stuffed-shirt lawyer. We’re talking about Africa. Hell, anyone who lives in Africa and says they’ve never broken a law is a liar. I used to work at a resort on an island off the coast of Mozambique that was renovated with the proceeds of crime. These days it’s a national success story. The owner, an ex-boyfriend of mine, and his wife – another frigging lawyer – put a share of their profits back into marine conservation and preventing illegal fishing. The thing is, the whole place was funded by dirty money.’
‘Two wrongs don’t make a right,’ Kerry said.
‘No, but in Africa if you never did business with someone who had done something wrong or illegal there would be no business. Haven’t you heard of those stories where ex-poachers are recruited to work as anti-poaching rangers, using their knowledge of tracking and hunting wildlife for good?’
Kerry wasn’t sure how much longer she could control her temper. ‘Fidel Costa is not some dirt-poor Mozambican who turned to poaching rhinos to try and feed his family; he’s a brutal gangster and a career criminal.’
‘Settle down. He’s also an elected politician, and like all those slimy buggers, or at least the ones who last more than one term, he’s learned how to read the mood of the electorate and the times. He’s getting on board with this project because it will help cement his hold on the town of Massingir. He’s got his sights set on higher office, maybe all the way to the top, and if I can persuade him to support the cause of conservation now, he’ll be a powerful ally to our organisation in the future. So, yes, I’ll do a deal with the devil if it will ensure the future of the rhino and Mozambique’s elephants. Hell, yes, I’ll do that deal.’
At first Kerry had thought Sarah had been duped into this deal, but it was now clear she knew just what sort of a man Costa was and had no qualms about getting into bed with him. Kerry wondered if someone like Costa really could change sides as easily as that, and go straight.
‘He’s a murderer, Sarah. He tried to kill us.’
Sarah said nothing.
‘I’m going,’ Kerry said, ‘and I’m going to do whatever I can to bring your deal crashing down.’
‘Nice knowing you,’ Sarah said.
Kerry ended the call and her phone rang straight after. She took a deep breath to calm herself. ‘Kerry Maxwell.’
‘Kerry, it’s Eli.’
So much for calm. ‘What the hell were you playing at, Eli? Are you in prison making your one phone call?’
‘Relax, Kerry. I’m not in prison and I haven’t been charged with anything. I wanted to call you to explain what happened. Can I see you in person?’
‘I don’t know. I’m in a car, heading back to Cape Town.’ She could see Table Mountain ahead through the windscreen. The view was crystal clear and the sky a lustrous blue, but she knew that could change in a minute. ‘I should go to my hotel and get changed, but if I run into Sarah Hoyland I might kill her.’
‘Then how about we meet in town. Please.’
‘OK, where? I’ll get the driver to drop me, but I must warn you, I look a mess.’
‘Doesn’t worry me. Do you like Asian food?’
‘Love it,’ she said.
‘There’s a restaurant called Haiku, in Burg Street, close to the big craft market.’
‘I’ll find it, or rather I’m sure my driver will.’
‘OK, see you there in half an hour or so, yes?’
‘Cool,’ she said.
Kerry ended the call, then tried Graham again.
‘Hello?’
‘Graham, it’s Kerry. Where are you? Back at the Table Bay?’
‘No.’
‘Then where? Did you get my message?’
‘Yes, I got it,’ he said.
‘And were you going to call me back?’
There was a pause, then Graham said, ‘No, Kerry, I wasn’t.’
She was surprised. ‘How come?’
‘I’m at Cape Town Airport.’
‘But our flight doesn’t leave until tomorrow.’
‘Change of plans. I’m flying this afternoon. I’m going to Joburg, picking up the honey badger and taking it out to the Kruger Park.’
‘Why? I thought Sarah’s plan was to release the badger at a media event at Skukuza later this week, after all the veterinary checks had been done on him.’
‘Yes, well, I’m a vet, I can check a badger and I don’t give a fuck about Sarah’s PR plans.’
‘Nor about me, so it seems.’ Kerry was taken aback, and slightly offended. They had been making love one minute and now he was leaving her ahead of schedule without even bothering to call her. ‘Have I done something wrong?’
Graham sighed. ‘No, not at all. But I’m afraid I have to end your stay with me as a volunteer.’
‘Why, Graham?’
There was silence on the other end of the call.
‘Say something, Graham.’
‘I’ve got unfinished business to attend to.’
‘Like what? What is so bloody important that you can just walk out on me without even having the courtesy to return my phone message, let alone give me a proper explanation?’
‘Kerry.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘Kerry, listen to me.’
She wiped her eyes. ‘What?’
‘You need to be careful, OK?’
‘What do you mean? Costa?’
‘I’m convinced he’s still out to get you, and Eli, as payback for what happened in Mozambique. I’m the cause of it, all because I killed his brother. He’s not going to let up. Where are you now?’
Kerry sniffed. ‘I’m on my way to Cape Town, to meet Eli. He’s out of prison.’
‘Good for him.’
‘It sounds like he’s in the clear.’
‘He might be out of prison,’ Graham said, ‘but he’s not in the clear, and neither are you. Get him to stay with you.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Hold your horses,’ he said. ‘I just mean he’s a good man, and he’ll keep you safe, no matter what else he was up to. You’re not out of danger yet, either of you, but hopefully you will be soon.’
She was puzzled. ‘How?’
‘Just keep your head low, and tell your father to watch out as well. Also, tell him, please, that even though he didn’t like me, I liked him, and respected him. He made you, and for that alone he deserves thanks. Goodbye, Kerry.’
Kerry felt anxious about the strange turn the conversation had taken. ‘What are you planning, Graham?’
‘Costa wants me, but you and Eli and your father are still on his radar. This is some kind of blood feud, but I’m going to put an end to it.’
‘How?’ she asked again.
‘Let me worry about that. I’m sorry for what I put you through, Kerry.’
Her heart lurched again. ‘Graham, you can’t just walk out on me like this.’
But Graham had ended the call. Kerry put her phone back in her bag and wiped her eyes. She was hurt, afraid and angry. What on earth was Graham doing?
Chapter 27
Kerry arrived at Haiku before Eli and took her seat at a table for two. Haiku was a moodily lit restaurant about half-full with businesspeople eating lunch. As
ian and African chefs were wreathed in steam and there was the shush of metal on metal as aromatic herbs were tossed with other ingredients in woks.
Kerry spotted Eli immediately when he made his way into the restaurant. His clothes were dirty, as if he’d come straight from prison, and he looked a little self-conscious about it as the waitress led him over to her.
Kerry waved when he saw her.
Eli went to her and took her hand.
‘Sorry I’m a mess,’ he said.
‘No, you look fine,’ she said. ‘I’m the one who looks like she spent the night babysitting a drugged rhino.’
‘About that . . .’ he began.
A waiter came to them and Eli ordered a sparkling water, the same as Kerry.
‘You don’t want a beer after your time in prison?’
They both laughed when they saw the waiter’s raised eyebrow.
‘Sure.’
‘Two Windhoek Lagers,’ Kerry said to the waitress. Eli sat down.
‘How are you doing?’
‘Oh, I’ve been better. Why did you drug that rhino?’
He exhaled. ‘Long story, but I’ll give you the condensed version.’
‘Please. Though I’ve got no volunteer position to rush back to in Hoedspruit and I’m not flying until tomorrow in any case, so you can take your time if you like.’
‘I went to Kwangela, with a drone and a bag of apples, and my task was to illegally fly the drone over the place and drop a few apples into the black rhino enclosures and to film the whole thing from the drone’s camera.’
Kerry widened her eyes. ‘But why? You could have been arrested. I mean, you were arrested.’
He held up his hands. ‘The whole thing was approved by the Kwangela’s head of security, Michael Collins. I heard that you heard, at Sarah’s fundraiser, that Michael was killed in a carjacking.’
‘Yes, that was terrible news. Did you know him well?’
Eli nodded. ‘I met him years ago, in Afghanistan, where we both worked as PMCs – private military contractors. Michael was an ex–South African Recce Commando. When he found out I was coming to Cape Town for the fundraiser he asked me if I would help him test the security of Kwangela, by doing a flyover. He knew all about what I was doing. He was also going to call the local cops on the evening of my mission to let them know what we were up to, but I guess he planned on doing that from the road and he never made it. Like a lot of ex–special forces guys, he was big on keeping secrets – no one else at the reserve knew, not even his own security officers. I explained all this to the cops and eventually they sent someone to his office and their IT people opened his email accounts and they found the email chain from him.’
‘You didn’t have your emails on your phone?’
‘I did, but my phone was stolen some time after my talk at that Cape Town convention centre. I left it charging in my dressing room while I went out to sign T-shirts and caps and stuff for some of my supporters who’d been at the concert. I bought a cheap replacement phone and had a meeting with Michael Collins in the afternoon, before he died, where I gave him my number verbally, so there was no record on my new phone of me calling him.’
‘Bizarre. So who tipped off the cops that you would be flying the drone?’
‘Beats me,’ said Eli. Their beers arrived and they clinked. ‘The operation was hush-hush; there was supposed to be no publicity about it. If I was successful in breaching their security, there was no way Kwangela wanted that kind of information going public.’ Kerry mulled this over. ‘Well, at least the world will know that your intentions were good.’
Eli shrugged and she saw the worry in his face. ‘I’m not so sure. I’ve been unfriended and unfollowed by hundreds of people on Facebook and Twitter already and there are plenty of rumours flying around, along with accusations that I’m a rhino poacher. I’ve also had several big-spending donors email me telling me they’re reconsidering their funding. The fact that the police went public right after they arrested me, before they even interviewed me, has cost me dearly. There’s so much hype in the media about rhino poaching the cops wanted to be seen to have caught an evil poacher before checking the facts. This is a body blow for me, Kerry.’
She could see his point. ‘What will you do?’
‘I don’t know. Get back up on the horse, I guess. I can’t hide from the fact that even with the truth out there, this doesn’t look good. The operation was never meant to go public, and if that had been Michael’s idea I wouldn’t have gone along with it. He wanted more money for upgraded security for Kwangela and was going to use my report on my incursion to help justify his budget plans. That was supposed to be as far as it went. People are already saying on social media that I was irresponsible to even get involved in a stunt like this in the first place and I must say that with the benefit of some Monday morning quarterbacking I tend to agree with them.’
Kerry was quiet for a moment. It made a sort of sense, she supposed, but a couple of things still didn’t add up.
‘Do you think the rhino you were flying the drone over was ever in any danger from what you were doing?’
‘None,’ he replied, his eyes meeting hers. ‘There was nothing in the apple I dropped that could have killed him, just a sedative.’
‘Just? Graham was angry. He told me that any time an animal is drugged there is a risk. The rhino could have rolled over at a bad angle, stopping blood flow to its heart.’
‘Yes, but it didn’t. And I was watching it through the camera. If it had gone down badly or been in trouble I would have called someone. Collins wanted a video of the rhino being sedated so he could show to the Kwangela management and shock them into beefing up security. Of course, it was all in vain.’
He looked away then, only briefly, but it was enough to make Kerry think that there was more to this, something he wasn’t telling her. She’d seen it before, occasionally, when she was asking clients about their business dealings and tax affairs and she could tell they were obfuscating. She was wondering how to ask him about it when he said, ‘What about you, what are you going to do now?’
‘Graham told me to be careful. He said I should stick with you, but I guess you’re heading back to Mozambique.’
‘I am – heading back that is – tomorrow. He must be worried about Costa.’
‘You think he’ll try to get at us again?’
Eli shrugged. ‘I think he was behind my getting arrested, and maybe even had a hand in killing Collins.’
‘But why go to all that trouble?’ Kerry asked.
‘Yeah, good question. I was alone out there in the dark, and if someone knew I was going to be there, they could have just snuck up on me and shot me. Costa might want me dead, but first he wants me shamed. He wanted all my supporters and followers to think I was guilty of the worst crime I could be accused of – poaching.’
Kerry frowned and said nothing for a few seconds. ‘He did the same thing to Graham in South Africa. Costa’s guy came for him but it wasn’t enough just to kill him. Graham was in the process of being set up at Ukuphila, and Costa was going to make it look like Graham had been killed while trying to take a rhino horn. He did the same thing to you.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. Some twisted form of payback, I guess.’
The waitress came back to them and they ordered a selection of dumplings; meat and seafood for Eli and vegetarian for Kerry.
‘You know, this plan of Sarah’s to move Kwangela’s rhinos to Mozambique is ludicrous,’ said Eli.
Kerry nodded. ‘Yes. She’s dealing with a criminal in order to meet her fundraising target.’
‘More than that,’ Eli said, ‘this whole business of moving animals from one country to another or to another continent is a waste of money.’
‘Plenty of experts and good, generous people would argue that with you, Eli. History could very well show that the decision to move black rhinos from Zimbabwe to Australia in the 1980s saved the last of that country’s rhinos. Als
o, another charity has done great work bringing antelope and rhinos from Europe back to Africa. What do you think is needed?’
‘More boots on the ground and more money.’
‘Is it as simple as that?’ she asked him.
‘No, it’s not simple, but it’s winnable. The trade in rhino horn is finite, it’s not endless, and not necessarily growing. If we had a surge we could cover more ground, gather more intelligence, and interdict more poachers coming into the Kruger Park and its surrounding reserves, which are home to the largest number of remaining wild rhinos.’
‘Sounds like a military solution, the kind of thing your American generals pitched to successive presidents in the Middle East.’
‘It is, kind of, but it’s not just about guns and bullets. We need more for PR, strategic communications they call it these days, to take the fight to the enemy in their home countries, to change their behaviour. Warfare’s not just about guns and bullets and tanks and bombs and fighter planes, it’s asymmetrical. We fight for control of the minds of the enemy and their supporters, as well as targeting their troops on the ground.’
‘I’m pleased to hear you say that,’ she said, ‘that it’s not just about the war in the bush.’
‘I’m not some crazy Rambo,’ Eli said, holding her gaze. His intense look gave Kerry the feeling that he wanted her to be as passionate about his mission as he was. He wanted to enlist her.
‘I don’t think you’re crazy.’ She looked away from him.
‘Something on your mind?’
‘It’s just . . . these past couple of weeks have been unbelievable. I was nearly killed, twice, but I can’t get this place, this continent out of my head. And then Graham, well . . .’
‘Graham’s flaky.’
‘That’s one way of putting it.’
‘Is there something going on between him and Sarah?’ Eli asked.
Kerry shrugged. ‘Something in the past, I gather, but he won’t forgive her for going into business with Costa.’
‘That Sarah knows what she wants and she’ll do anything she can to get it.’
Kerry raised her eyebrows. ‘Anything? Like what?’
‘Well, a gentleman wouldn’t tell, but she’s a woman who’s not afraid to use any means, if you catch my drift.’