The Medusa stone

by Jack Du Brul

  "You want to eat?" Having been born in Israel, English for Moshe was a second language and a particularly difficult one at that.

  "Fucking camel jockey. Yes, I want to eat." Harry sat up. He had taken off his prosthetic leg and Moshe stared morbidly at the empty trouser cuff that dangled off the bed. "And how about some hooch while you're at it? My hand is killing me."

  Again Moshe stared without comprehension.

  "You know, booze, swill, liquor, alcohol. Nectar of the gods, man! Bourbon, gin, vodka, scotch. Hell, I'd give anything for a Pink Lady right now." Harry was getting nowhere and knew it. He lay back onto the bed, cradling his head in the cup of his hands for there was no pillow. "Ah, forget it. I may not know much, but I know Allah forbids you bastards from enjoying life's last pleasure so just piss off."

  Moshe turned to go, but Harry stopped him with a shout. "But don't forget some food, you stupid son of a bitch."

  Once again Harry was alone. There was a finality to the bolt slamming home that echoed. He heaved himself back up again, recovering his fake leg from under the bed and strapping it back into place under his pants.

  They had drugged him late that night--that he did remember. Three men held him down while a woman slid a hypodermic needle into his arm. Of the trip to this new place, he recalled nothing. The room wasn't any better or worse than his last cell except for the blessed relief that the DTs had not followed him. He had wakened, slowly, fearfully, but after twenty minutes realized that the flying monkeys weren't going to bother him again. What a nightmare that had been.

  As far as Harry was concerned, they could take detox and shove it up their collective camel-riding asses. He had spent the best part of forty years avoiding sobriety, and he wasn't appreciative when it was forced down his throat. Apart from getting over the DTs, he was thankful they had left him his clothes.

  Even to him, the sight of a naked, eighty-year-old man with one leg was pretty depressing, especially trying to piss into the little pot they had given him. His hands shook more than he ever realized, throwing off an already notoriously bad aim. God, will Tiny get a kick out of this story when I tell him.

  For ten minutes he lay still, thinking. He had an advantage, two really, that his kidnapers didn't know. One was that he didn't fear death. He was too old for that. If they expected him to remain submissive, they'd made a big mistake. Thirty years ago, he knew, he'd be blubbering like a baby, but not now. That, he thought, was the one great thing about age. No one could hold death over you any longer. The fear just wasn't there. His second e else on earth.

  The last minutes of the flight seemed to be a battle between gravity and the pilot's desire to see his plane land where he intended. Even as the Boeing recovered from a last whimsical twist of wind, the aircraft lined up for its approach. The plane landed right-side heavy, stripping rubber from the starboard tires in a rancid puff of smoke before it settled onto an even keel, slamming the remaining tires to the earth with enough force to ensure they stayed.

  Knowing he wouldn't be able to enjoy ice until leaving Africa because it carried the same microbes as the water tourists were invariably told to avoid, Mercer swallowed the last cubes from his drink. He tucked the empty glass in the expandable magazine pouch on the seat in front of him and stood with the rest of the passengers to await his turn to deplane.

  Because of the gunfire in Rome the day before, da Vinci Airport had been temporarily closed, canceling last night's flight. Good to her word, the ticket agent had secured him a first-class seat on this morning's, which was the next available. He carried only the two matching briefcases. The remainder of his clothes and nearly four hundred pounds of essential equipment had been express-shipped to Asmara and was waiting for him at his hotel. He was through customs in a few minutes.

  Mercer noticed security in the terminal was high. No less than ten soldiers watched those stepping through customs and the people waiting to greet them. He hadn't expected Habte Makkonen to meet him because of the delay, but a dusky youth leaning against one of the few cars outside the building approached as soon as Mercer exited.

  "Dr. Mercer?"

  "Yes." There was a wary edge to his voice. "Are you Habte?"

  The boy grinned. "Habte's cousin. Habte wait for you at hotel. Much trouble yesterday. He tell you."

  On guard but with little option, Mercer shrugged. "Let's go, then, Habte's cousin."

  Three miles separated the airport from downtown, and the road was lined with a sprawling, ill-kept housing project built by the Chinese during the Ethiopian occupation. The air blowing into the car's open windows was dry and pleasantly cool, spiced with the desert scent and the cleanliness of a city without industry. Asmara itself, a city of half a million, was not what Mercer had expected.

  It was spotless. Old women meandered the hilly streets with brooms and rickety wheelbarrows, cleaning any rubbish from the gutters. The architecture was mostly Italianesque and because the capital had been spared during the war, the buildings were in excellent repair. Few were over four stories. The tallest structure was the brick bell tower of the Catholic church. If he could ignore the distinctive dome of a mosque nearby and the darker skin of the people, Mercer felt as if he had been transported to a Tuscan village rather than the capital of one of Africa's poorest nations. Because there was little vehicular traffic, the roads had been turned over to a great many donkey carts.

  Mercer kept one eye out for possible tails, but they made it to his hotel without incident. Mercer had images of a classical colonial structure with columns and gardens, much like the British had left dotted all over the globe. The Ambasoira, however, was only four stories tall and located in a residential neighborhood. The "best" hotel in Asmara was boxy and uninspiringd arrived. Then the young man led Mercer to the small bar in a back of the lobby, tucked behind the curving stairs leading up to the rooms. The alcove could seat no more than a dozen people, and Mercer counted only eight different types of liquor behind the bartender. A couple of European businessmen conferred at one table, and a lone Eritrean was seated at another. The local watched Mercer critically, as if weighing a decision, before he stood.

  "Dr. Mercer, I am Habte Makkonen." Habte's handshake was brief but firm. "Welcome to Eritrea. I am sorry I could not meet you at the airport, but there was trouble yesterday and I could not risk being recognized."

  "Your cousin mentioned something." Mercer noticed the young man had vanished. "Do you mind telling me what happened?"

  Mercer had already decided to trust Habte. If the Eritrean wanted him dead, he could have easily been killed on his way to town and left for the wild dogs. The fact that they were having a conversation lent credibility to Habte's intentions. And on a deeper level, Mercer recognized a world-weary competence in the slim African that seemed to elevate him above the political machinations and dangers that Mercer had faced in Washington and Rome.

  Habte Makkonen smoked through several cigarettes while recounting the fight at the airport. He had already learned that Claude Quesnel, a medical supply salesman from Paris, had left Asmara, taking the first flight out of the country early this morning. When Habte had finished, Mercer told him about the gunman in Rome and the kidnapping of Harry White.

  "I think if they wanted you dead in Rome, you would not be here today," Habte deduced. "You did not see who shot the man in Italy, but I am sure that he was part of the same group responsible for the attempted kidnapping here in Asmara. They apparently are opposed to the people who captured your friend."

  "I agree." Mercer rubbed the rough beard he hadn't had the chance to shave. "Who are they and what do they want?"

  "They were no ordinary Sudanese rebels. They were too well dressed, too far out of their element, even for Asmara. And to operate like they did in Rome, they must have outside contacts and help. Perhaps they have been bought to act as mercenaries."

  "Then, who's paying them?"

  "That is something we will have to find out for ourselves."

  "We don't have the ti
me to play detective." There was an urgency to Mercer's voice. "If I'm to get Harry back, I need to be in the bush no later than Monday. That gives us only five weeks to find the kimberlite pipe."

  "There is nothing I can add to what you know of the region in terms of its geology. I know of no diamonds ever found there. But I do know the area. I have buried many friends in those desert mountains during the war." A dark shadow passed behind Habte's eyes.

  "We'll get to that in a minute." Mercer changed the subject. "Do you know Selome Nagast?"

  "I know of her family. But I do not know her," Habte admitted. "They are wealthy by Eritrean standards, an old and honored family from here in Asmara. I only spoke with her on the phone when she hired me to be your guide."

  "She's not who she appears to be. You should watch her carefully."

  "Why is that?"

  Mercer told the former freedom fighter about Selome's connection to Israel and Prescott Hyde and how she'd lied to him from the beginning."I'm still concerned about Ibriham's true assassin," Yosef said with hatred. White hadn't been harmed, but he liked to hear the pain in Mercer's voice thinking that he had.

  "We'll find him," the other man replied, filled with the confidence of youth.

  "That's not my concern. The gunman wasn't acting alone, and we don't know who was behind the murder. We also don't know their connection to Mercer and our own plans." Yosef sat back on his bed, his eyes focusing into middle distance. "It's inconceivable that anyone knows about us, our security is too tight. Yet Ibriham is dead, and we have a threat we've yet to identify."

  "Is it possible we've been betrayed by our own people?" Yosef knew what the younger man was intimating, but he shook his head quickly. "No, it's too soon for Shin Bet or Mossad to learn that much of our operation. Informants have reported on Selome Nagast's meeting with her control in Israel. She hasn't made any move that leads me to believe she knows who we are."

  His companion said nothing.

  "She'll be here tomorrow anyway, totally cut off from her superiors. On her own, she can't pose a serious threat to us."

  "She'll be with Mercer."

  "As long as we hold Harry White, he's not a threat either." Yosef accepted one of the Desert Eagles from his partner, slipping it under his pillow for the night.

  It was well past midnight when Mercer awoke. The room was cool and dark, but his body was bathed in sweat, his blankets and sheets twisted around him as if he'd been in the throes of a nightmare. In fact, for the first time since Harry had been taken, his sleep had been dream-free. And in the depths of unconsciousness an inconsistency that had been nagging him for days came clear. The realization jerked his mind so sharply he swung himself out of bed, his chest heaving.

  Since the time he had been first approached by Prescott Hyde, Mercer had felt there were diamonds in Eritrea. Hyde had spoken of, and indeed the Medusa photographs showed, a kimberlite pipe in the northern wastelands, naturally formed millions of yeas ago. Selome, too, had talked about what the pipe's discovery would mean to her people. But not the kidnappers. The men who'd taken Harry talked about Mercer's search for a mine, something built by human hands, not the earth's fiery heart. On three separate occasions--the original tape of Harry left in his house, the call in Rome's airport, and tonight's call--they spoke as if they knew the pipe had once been discovered, opened, and actively worked. They weren't after an unknown kimberlite pipe; they wanted a long-forgotten mine. They knew the diamonds were there, and now so did Mercer.

  The game had changed once again, he thought. He was still at a severe disadvantage, but knowing he was looking for an old excavation gave him his first spark of something he'd lost the moment he saw Harry's image on his VCR. Hope. He pushed aside his self-doubt, buried his self-recriminations. He was ready to face whatever might come.

  Khartoum, Sudan

  In Arabic, the name Sudan means "black," but those in control of the country were not black Africans but people of more Arabian descent. Millions had been slaughtered through warfare, disease, and famine to maintain the subjugation of Sudan's more ethnically African citizens in the south by their northern govern looking f/font>

  Sudan was thus a perfect arena for Giancarlo Gianelli to add to his wealth by preying on the misfortunes of others.

  People with the kind of money Gianelli had existed in a supra-national elite class who travelled on private jets, stayed in opulent villas or exclusive hotels, and rarely bothered with the formality of customs when abroad. Only moments after landing in Khartoum, he was whisked to a house he owned in the hills overlooking the city, an enclave reserved for Sudan's few wealthy citizens and the rulers of the military government. Though it was his least favorite city in the world, Gianelli did enough business in Khartoum to warrant the expense of a twenty-room house and a full-time staff of eighteen.

  Gianelli's majordomo in Venice had alerted his African counterpart to prepare for the visit. The staff was lined up when the limo eased through the gate and up the long drive. The headlights flashed into their faces as the car swept under the covered portico, stopping so that the head butler could simply bend at the waist to open Gianelli's door.

  "Grazie, Ali," Gianelli said to the majordomo. "How have you been?"

  "Very well, sir," the elderly Sudanese replied gravely in Italian. "I was not told how long you would be here, sir. Should we prepare for an extended stay?"

  "No, Ali, I won't be here long at all." Gianelli eyed his staff. Not recognizing two girls dressed neatly as maids, he asked Ali about them.

  "I bought them about a month ago from a slaver selling off the last of his stock. They were expensive, but they have already been well trained," Ali said proudly.

  Sudan was one of a handful of countries that maintained a slave trade. The practice was illegal but more than tolerated by the government. Slaves, usually young girls, were routinely captured during raids in the south by either the army or regular slavers and brought to Khartoum for the pleasures of the city's elite or sold off to Arab countries across the Red Sea. Ever open to possible business opportunities, Gianelli had considered entering the trade, but the big markets had already been exploited and he found it wouldn't be worth his time or effort to open up a new conduit to move girls from Sudan to the Middle East.

  He turned his gaze away from the girls and addressed Ali again. "Has he arrived yet?"

  "Your guest arrived an hour ago." Ali couldn't keep the contempt out of his voice. "He is in your study. There is a guard waiting with him to make sure he does not move."

  Giancarlo chuckled at his man's foresight. He himself wouldn't leave Mahdi alone for a second. Gianelli entered the house, enjoying the sweet coolness provided by the air conditioners. The house was stucco on the outside, but much of the interior was marble, built in the Mediterranean style with a large open foyer. He hadn't dared to bring any of his European artwork to Khartoum, so the decorations were all native pieces bought for him from all over the continent by a professional collector. Ashante masks and Ndebele shields mixed with woven Dinka wall hangings and displays of ancient gold jewelry from every corner of Africa.

  The study was at the end of one wing of the great house. Gianelli strode in, ignoring the shelves of books and the tall elephant tusks that flanked the native stone fireplace, their butter patina glowing in the room's subdued lighting. Instead, he kept his eyes on the young Sudanese lying on one of the leather couches, his feet indolently resting on the glass topys of a to attention. "Leave us," Gianelli barked at the guard, then stared at his guest.

  "Make yourself at home," he sneered, switching to fluent Arabic.

  Mahdi wore Western clothes, black jeans and a baggy T-shirt under a loose-fitting leather jacket. His head was covered with a brightly colored keffleye like a Palestinian freedom fighter, though he was a Christian and a member of Sudan's rebel movement. "Have I offended you in some way, effendi?"

  "Yes." Gianelli lowered himself into his chair and slid the video cassette from the outside pocket of his suit coat.
"That fool you sent to Rome nearly got Philip Mercer killed. He was ordered to tell me if anyone approached Mercer, not open fire with an automatic weapon in the international departure area. You'd better pray the carabinieri never learn of my involvement with this."

  "Why did he start shooting?"

  "How should I know?" Gianelli's face darkened with anger. "He killed four people."

  "He must have had a good reason. Abdula's my cousin, I trust him completely," Mahdi said. "He was with me when we tracked and killed that European scientist a few months ago. Remember, he was exploring near where you thought your mine might be. You questioned Abdula afterward, yes?"

  Giancarlo laughed. "I wouldn't call it questioning exactly." He slid the tape into the VCR sitting on a credenza behind him and turned on the attached television.

  He watched Mahdi's expression change when he recognized his cousin pinioned between the forklifts. The Sudanese couldn't tear his eyes from the gruesome scene as it played out.

  Gianelli shut off the machine when the recording ended. "That is the price of disobeying me," he said mildly. "Your cousin made a mistake that you can learn from, Mahdi, and I think now you see how serious I am."

  He stood and went to the small bar near the fireplace, filling two crystal goblets with a fortified wine. He had no way of knowing how Mahdi would react, so one hand didn't stray from the small Beretta automatic in his coat pocket. Mahdi took the offered glass and knocked it back with a quick swallow. Gianelli took a seat opposite the killer, his drink dangling from his long fingers. He filled Mahdi's shocked silence with words.

  "Our association has been very profitable in the past. There is no need for this unfortunate incident"--he waved his free hand at the darkened television--"to interfere with that. I've given your cause billions of lire over the years, and I've asked for very little in return. I simply want your continued friendship when you eventually succeed in splitting the Sudan into two separate countries.