34
‘I peeked through the bathroom window,’ said the young man. ‘I couldn’t help it. I just had to see.’ The voice was slow and steady, coming from somewhere far behind the closed eyelids, a place that only someone with the skills of Dr Zulma Pei could reach.
She turned with a satisfied smirk to Collins, who was a fascinated onlooker in the doorway. ‘Calibration is complete. That was just a taste.’ She carefully lifted a glass beaker from the table and shook up the cloudy liquid within. ‘This is the full dose right here. Do we have our target?’
Collins nodded.
Pei held up a hand for him to wait and went back to her subject. ‘Tony,’ she said in a low, calm voice, ‘your secret is now free and you’ll awake feeling fresh. But first you must walk into the jungle and sleep. You must walk far so that you can’t see anyone. And no one can see you. Do you understand?’
The young man nodded from within his trance.
‘Good,’ said Pei. ‘One night in the jungle and you will awaken feeling as fresh as can be. But you will not remember how you came to be there. Nod again to show me you understand perfectly.
The young man named Tony complied.
‘Good,’ said Pei. ‘Now go find a comfortable spot in this jungle and don’t talk to anyone on the way.’
Tony got up from his loose-jointed metal office chair and strode for the door with an eerily blank stare.
‘Have a nice trip,’ Collins murmured, stepping out of his way.
Tony did not acknowledge him in any shape or form and with a steady stride he was out the door and heading down the three flights of stairs that would take him into the hotel foyer and away.
Collins nodded his approval to Pei. ‘Impressive. I wonder though if you have considered the tigers and pythons that lurk in the jungle at night.’
Pei shrugged flippantly. What do you want me to do about that, hypnotise them into not eating him?’
‘I suppose not.‘Collins went to the chair vacated by Tony and sat down.
Pei gazed impatiently across the table at him. ‘I assume I don’t have to take control of your mind to get the answers I want.’
‘Fortunately, no.’
‘Where is the good Dr Franz Flant?
‘He is leading a small expedition in the remote upper reaches of the Gunung Mulu National Park. My source tells me it is an area well known for its variety of pitcher plants and orchards.’
‘Sounds about right. How do we get at him?’
‘The area he is in can only be accessed by river, which compels predictability upon his travel movements. If we miss him there, however, we can be sure the city of Mirio will be his destination. It is only a hundred kilometres from the national park and has the closest airport in the area.’
‘Did your source nominate a day to expect them?’
‘No, Flant is running security tight.No communications out in the field, no traceable devices in the kit and no locals on crew, not even a local guide.’
‘The Australian Foreign Legion,’ said Pei ruefully. ‘They may prove a handful.’
‘Well, I’ve got the hand,’ replied Collins, ‘but it will cost. The kind gift of a brick of cocaine has only paid for an aircraft hangar. To put the boys out on a river will take something more substantial. You say you have a cash flow problem?’
Pei pulled a face. ‘I have the proceeds of crime at drop-off points all around Melbourne – only trouble is the man I had arranged to collect it all up has disappeared. I’m worried about him.’
‘You sure he hasn’t simply made the pickups and then taken a flight of his own?’
‘I doubt it. I’m a good judge of character.'
‘Manipulator of character, you mean?’
‘On this occasion, no manipulation was required. A true zealot.’
‘Can you be so sure? Double crosses are a fact of life.’
‘I’m certain he hasn’t double crossed me. But I’m less certain what has become of him. You see, my man was the brother of the wounded scientist. I fear Military Intelligence may have taken him.’
‘Isn’t there anything of value in those bags of yours?’
‘Not of a value to fund a private army. But I’ll arrange something.’
‘What, you’ll talk to your bank manager?’
‘Already have. The poor man came to my practice suffering nightmares. After one month of intensive treatment, he is doing well.’ She smirked coldly. ‘So, how much are we going to need?’
‘I don’t know. I’ll have to ask. For eyes on the ground, ten or twenty grand should cover it. If you want those eyes to get busy against the Australian Foreign Legion, it will cost a whole lot more.’
‘A fifty thousand dollar bounty on Flant. Will that get their attention?'
‘It just may. Life is cheap in the jungle. The real question is can you come up with the fifty? It’s particularly unhealthy in this part of the world to make a promise you can’t keep.’
‘Don’t worry about that. My bank manager is very reliable, very thorough, and my hypnotherapy went particularly deep.’ Pei left her chair and walked to the window with its impressive view of a distant heavily jungled mountain range – she always paid for the view, for there was nothing else about a hotel that could interest her. She considered the situation she found herself in a moment and turned back to Collins with a steely resolve. ‘Make the offer,’ she said. ‘
Directive RIP Page 48