The Killing Grounds
Page 18
‘Oh for God’s sake, Maddie, have you heard yourself? Not everyone cares what they look like and I’m sure he doesn’t need you judging him. You did enough of that with me.’
‘Are you serious? How do you do it, Tom?’
‘Do what?’
‘Go from manicures to talking about you. I gotta give it to you, you’re good. And FYI, Tom. I didn’t judge you. Not nearly enough, and maybe if I had we wouldn’t be in this mess now, and I would’ve saved myself a hell of a lot of heartache… ’ She trailed off and they stood in that awkward silence. The one where Cooper knew he should apologize for being a jackass. But couldn’t… Wouldn’t.
*
Charles waited with Rosedale by several large water tanks, looking at Cooper and Maddie who’d dropped quite far behind. He called over. ‘Everything alright?’
Cooper gave a tight smile.
Maddie a tighter one.
Then in a unison born out of familiarity they said, ‘Yeah, fine. Sorry. Please carry on.’
‘Well these contain sand filter beds which catch most of the bits, and it’s here where clean water is pumped out into the bottom and into a fresh water reservoir which supplies the town. Our pledge is to provide proper sanitation, so we test the water on its way out of the plant, taking samples and testing in the lab facility over there, making it easier to raise or lower the various chemicals needed for the best water we can supply.’
Cooper looked around and couldn’t help but to be impressed by the set up. ‘What’s that building over there?’
‘Oh, nothing interesting. Dry storage for chlorine but mainly a lot of spare parts for pumps. As you can imagine this whole place depends on pumps, which for some reason tend to go wrong all the time. I trained as a chemist but I seem to spend half my time dealing with pipework and pump machinery.’ Charles stopped. Looked at his watch. ‘I’m sorry to have to say this guys, but our tour has come to an end, and as I’m late for a conference call, I have to run. If you follow this path round, you’ll get back to the lobby. And if you’re ever in the area again, drop in… Oh, and make sure you sign out.’ He winked adding, ‘All comments are most welcome – as long as they’re good!’
42
‘What’s on your mind, Thomas? It’s unlike you not to be moaning like a girl about the heat.’
Cooper stayed silent, prompting Maddie to join in the conversation, making him feel worse than he did already about the way he’d behaved. Though that wasn’t entirely the reason why he’d been quiet.
‘You alright Tom? You haven’t said anything since we left the plant… Tom?’
Without warning, Cooper pulled the Toyota up. Hard. He leant on the steering wheel before banging and shaking it and speaking out loud to himself. ‘That’s it.’
‘What’s it, Thomas?’
Turning to look at Rosedale but staring through him rather than at him, Cooper’s thoughts stayed elsewhere. Without answering Rosedale’s question he jumped out of the car. Raced round to the back to open the trunk.
He pulled out the heavy green canvas bag, stuffed with radio and phone equipment. Pulled out Maddie’s suitcase as well as his own. He flicked the locks on the luggage. Opened hurriedly. Dragged out clothes to the sound of Maddie’s exasperated proclamations.
‘Tom, what the hell are you doing? Can you not throw my clean stuff on the ground… You’ve got mud all over my pants. Tom! Stop!’
Ignoring her plea, Cooper continued to rummage through the case which was heaving to capacity. ‘Jesus, who packed this?’
‘You did…Tom, just tell me what you’re looking for…? Tom!’
Giving up with a loud sigh, she stood back on the sludgy side of the road. Watching and glaring and staring with folded arms as Cooper hauled both clean and dirty clothes out of all their cases. Rosedale said nothing and Cooper suspected his curiosity was stronger than the want for laundered clothes.
*
A couple of silent minutes passed. Then a couple more. And having searched through the bags with passionate intensity, Cooper’s words surfed off his wave of excitement, though it did nothing to alleviate the look on Maddie’s face. ‘Yes! Got them! Here… Guys, did you notice the names in the visitors’ book?’
Maddie shook her head but Rosedale nodded. Lit a cigar as if he was standing in the Carnegie Club in New York. He looked at Cooper with interest. ‘I did, and they were a whole heap of names I didn’t recognize.’
‘Exactly… But did you notice the last two people’s names written in the book? The ones who came on the same day in May this year? Edward Wynne and Phillip Holt?’
‘Okay.’
‘It was obvious those two names were written by two different people.’
Rosedale squinted through the chamber of smoke around him. ‘Yeah, so? That’s what usually happens but go on.’
‘Well the person who wrote the name Edward Wynne had identical handwriting to the previous visitor who came in January, but back in January they’d used a different name, Roger Stevenson… People don’t have the same handwriting, especially when it’s so distinct. It’s got to be the same person.’
Maddie shrugged. ‘Maybe the receptionist signed them in and it’s her writing. Anyway how can you be so sure it’s the same? And what’s the big deal anyway?’
‘Look at this.’
He handed Maddie and Rosedale the documents he’d recovered from the luggage.
‘They’re Emmanuel’s loan papers from the bank for the plane. Look at the writing…’
‘...then look at the names in the visitor’s book…’
Cooper paused for a moment, flicking out his phone. Showed her a photo of the handwriting in the visitors’ book he’d taken when he’d signed out of Lemon water plant.
‘Here… The writing’s the same.’
Rosedale gave a surprised raise of his eyebrows whilst taking a deep, long drag on his cigar. ‘How did you remember what his writing looked like?’
‘I didn’t. It wasn’t the writing which struck me, it was the letter, E, and the way it’s written. Remember the backwards E that Granger was bitching about? Moaning he couldn’t read the signature, and I had to read it for him? Well there it is. The backward E on both the document and in the visitor’s book…’
… and
Rosedale took the phone from Cooper. He nodded. Then nodded some more. Compared the writing and said, ‘I’m impressed, I think you may be right. Though I must say I’m a bit disappointed, Thomas, I would’ve thought you’d have taken the photo with your hidden tie camera.’
Maddie laughed, turning her gaze away from the photo to look at Cooper. Her face was a picture of delight. He had to admit, she looked real pretty. ‘A tie camera! As in a camera hidden in a tie? Tell me he’s kidding.’
Cooper didn’t know why the hell he blushed. He didn’t even know he had it in him anymore to blush. But he did. One big red ass of a flaming blush. ‘No… well, sort of. Granger gave Levi and I one, but you may as well have worn a sleuth sign round your neck. That would’ve been less obvious. I don’t know what Granger was thinking. I should’ve brought it home. Cora would’ve loved it. It’s hanging up in my closet at the ranch. I’ll show it you next time you’re over.’
‘I’d like that.’ Maddie’s reply was warm and sensual. Like a static shock to Cooper, making him back off and refocus on the photo of the handwriting.
‘So anyway, you can see for yourself the writing’s identical.’
Maddie could feel Cooper’s emotional retreat, and she answered coolly.
‘Maybe. In fact, I don’t think it looks the same at all.’
Cooper sighed. Making damn sure Maddie heard it. ‘Okay, well for the time being let’s just say it is Emmanuel’s handwriting. So the question is why is Emmanuel visiting the water treatment plant using two different names? Both of which aren’t his own.’
Rosedale sucked on the end of his cigar. ‘I have no idea, but I do know that from what very little we know of Emmanuel, I have a strong suspicion
he couldn’t possibly afford to take out a loan on a plane by himself. So someone else was bankrolling him, allowing him to be able to get that kind of credit. But why? And it also makes me ask the question: why would a man need to give false names to visit a water company but have a plane registered in his own name?’
Maddie nodded. Smiled at Rosedale. Scowled at Cooper. ‘Well Tom, what do you think? Because you seem to have all the answers.’
Kneeling down, and feeling it was best to ignore Maddie right now, Cooper somewhat obsessively begun to place various pieces of plants and tiny stones into one of his collecting bags. ‘No Maddie, I think the one with all the answers is Papa Bemba. And that’s who we need to go and find.’
43
‘As we know Mr. President the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed by Obama in response to the financial crisis and great recession of 2008 and it was also, as you know, one of the most significant changes to financial regulation since the Great Depression.’
John Woods sat in the winged armchair listening to Donald Parker whilst trying to stop himself fiddling and playing and pulling and tugging at the loose piece of cotton sticking out from the cushion next to him which Teddy was leaning on in between scribbling down numerous notes.
‘… And amongst the many and varied provisions of Dodd-Frank, Mr. President, was section 1502, relating to conflict minerals.’
Woods’s instinct was to stop Parker giving him a lecture on something he’d helped the Obama administration work on. But he guessed this was Parker’s chance to put over to him what exactly he wanted. A sales pitch. A presentation. Call it what you will, the man had stated he’d help get the necessary votes for the gun reforms. And for that, he’d be willing to sit through anything. Even this. However, that didn’t stop him hoping Parker would cut to the chase, or at least realize he didn’t need to explain certain things because he damned near help write them.
‘Human rights groups, Mr. President, have been campaigning for a long time to ensure mandatory labelling of conflict minerals which would then allow consumers as well as investors to avoid being part of funding these conflicts, through the buying of products. The 1502 section of the Dodd-Frank reform required the auditing of the minerals, with companies having to trace their supply chains. Then as you know they had to report back to the Securities and Exchanges Commission with their report on what due diligence they’d put in place to find out if their products were financing the conflict before publicly disclosing their findings. The SEC originally said in 2010 that the rules required any company for which conflict minerals were necessary, for the production of a product manufactured, or contracted to be manufactured, by that company, to disclose in its yearly report whether its conflict minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or a bordering country.’
Parker handed Woods a piece of paper which he skim read. He hid his smile. He’d been at one of the meetings. ‘You play golf?’
Puzzled, Parker said, ‘A little bit. I think it’s a prerequisite of being in Washington.’
‘Come with me.’
Woods opened the glass Oval Office door and stepped out into the fresh air and onto a blended natural sandstone path which led past a number of Secret Service men and down to the White House’s 2,000 square foot putting green which was under the shade of the Hoover oak tree.
Woods handed a Callaway putting iron to Parker from the small metal club stand. ‘Coming out here helps me clear my head… You know a long time ago I played here with Clinton, he was the one who had the putting green moved to this location. He was on his second term and that day he had a lot on his mind. 11 February 1999. He didn’t know it then but the next day he’d be acquitted by the Senate on both articles of impeachment. Though even with all the worry of not knowing what was going to happen, he still managed to put some excellent strokes in… Let’s see what you’ve got.’
Focusing on the ball, bending his legs slightly before rocking himself into the golfer’s stance, Parker gripped the club lightly in the palm and fingers of his hands. ‘The extraction and sale of minerals from the DRC have always been hampered by chaotic and corrupt systems. We all know companies have been shipping minerals out of the country for years to other places, trying to dissociate the minerals from the DRC by pretending the place they shipped the minerals to, is the country of origin. Groups like Amnesty are forever trying to highlight the problems, but it’s difficult with large companies who put smoke screens up so consumers don’t know what they’re buying. It becomes a minefield of corruption. And it’s tragic and, quite frankly, I’m ashamed.’
Woods watched Parker’s ball trickle past the hole. Lined his own club up. ‘But that’s why the conflict mineral section was created. That’s why it was important to try to force the companies to do due diligence and publicly disclose.’
‘Try, Mr. President. That’s what you did. You tried, but it hasn’t happened has it?’
‘I admit, it’s an ongoing struggle. Foreign policy is a complex beast… Dammit look at that. I hit it on the completely wrong angle.’
Parker looked at Woods with what he could only describe as scorn, which, the president had to admit, he didn’t appreciate.
‘Don’t kid yourself. It’s a stalemate. Since 2010 this section of the Dodd-Frank reform has been challenged and appealed on a repeat loop. Why? Because like always the companies felt like someone was squeezing their balls. And as a consequence claimed that the regulation violated their free speech rights under the first amendment by claiming they were essentially being forced to condemn their own products.’
Teddy Adleman, who’d just re-joined them, said, ‘You don’t think they had a point?’
‘No,’ said Parker. ‘Do you? What makes it harder to swallow is the fact that we don’t know exactly who these companies are. As usual the lawsuits were brought by a group of business lobby associations that include the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. So, it makes it hard to pinpoint who’s challenging the law. But by God, they’re hiding, Mr. President. They’re hiding. And it makes you think. Why?’
‘I’m just playing devil’s advocate here,’ said Woods. ‘But maybe they genuinely feel their rights are being violated.’
Donald Parker brushed back his head of full gray hair. ‘You don’t believe that any more than I do. Rather than face the challenges of trying to mine in an ethical way they brought legal procedures by talking about their rights, the constitution and the first amendment.’
Woods shook his head. Gave a wry smile. ‘Amendment isn’t my favorite word at the moment.’
‘Right. Because the same is happening to you. People are saying you’re challenging the amendment on the right to bear arms, instead of seeing it as you trying to change things. And that’s what section 1502 was trying to do. Not stop people’s freedom of speech, but stop violence, death, murder, rape and the use of children in the mines. Most mines are run by different militia groups and the people, including children, who work there do so under violence and sheer brutality. The decision for the reform was supposed to be about democracy and transparency. And what we have is clever attorneys turning the first amendment on its head, allowing multinationals to use it as something to undermine. The first amendment was supposed to protect the free speech rights of the American people, of individuals, and not giant companies. In the DRC there’s no centralized taxation system, nothing to help the people who’ve seen and lived through decades of violence. And there’s no-one to stop the armed groups making the Congolese miners do the hard labor and then making them surrender the minerals they’ve mined. The miners work under a reign of terror, and the militia give them nearly nothing, whilst they make a massive profit on the back of them. And all around the world consumers know very little or nothing about this.’
Woods nodded. ‘It’s a difficult situation. And my administration stands by the original 2010 reform.’
Donald Parker hit the golf ball with passio
n, sending it right off the green. ‘It’s no good you standing by it if it doesn’t hold up in court. And for plaintiffs to argue that Congress had provided no evidence that public disclosures concerning whether a product is conflict free would lead to the advancement of amity in the DRC, well that’s downright outrageous. If we don’t try, nothing will change.’
John Woods found himself agreeing. ‘It’s the same with the gun reforms. People are saying there’s no proof it’ll make a difference. But I say, let’s try first and then let’s see.’
Parker became animated, waving his hands round and his hair falling once again over his eyes. ‘Exactly. That’s why I want to support you in this. We have the same vision. You’ll have your reforms and I, Mr. President, can have peace of mind. Why wait for another court case, another appeal? When right here right now the consumer can have what they really want. Blood-free products. Everyone remembers the stuff about blood diamonds, but do they realize that their cell phones, laptops and motherboards could be and most likely are part of a bloody conflict? No, sir, I don’t think they do. Tell me how many people, apart from those who watch C-Span, know what the companies are trying to do and withhold? There’s going to be more appeals but this, as we both know, will go on for years, whilst innocent people are dying. My company, Nadbury, own mines in the DRC which are not controlled by armed groups. All the mines we own are conflict free. We’ve had the audits. We have the certificates. We don’t need to argue that our first amendments are being violated. Do you know what one judge said regarding the freedom of speech in regards to this matter?’
‘Remind me.’
Parker cleared his throat as he walked across to pick up his ball. ‘The court of appeal basically determined that the regulations requiring public disclosure of the DRC conflict status of minerals did not qualify for rational basis review. I quote, products and minerals do not fight conflicts. The label conflict free is a metaphor that conveys moral responsibility. By compelling an issuer to confess blood on his hands, the statute interferes with the exercise of the freedom of speech under the first amendment.’ Parker paused. ‘Are you telling me this is right, Mr. President?’