The Malthus Pandemic
Page 63
CHAPTER 60
Jimmy was explaining the layout of the Shah Medicals site to me as I drew a rough plan on a sheet of paper. He was also explaining each of the six different keys he had obtained from Luther Jasman.
"That's it, David - I mean Dan. We use that key to open the main gate. The light here comes on. We use this key to unlock the rear entrance there. Inside we'll probably find a fork lift truck and a van. This key then unlocks the cupboard where Lucky kept his brushes and mops. It is not interesting and I know it very well. This key opens the door leading into the big room with the boxes of medicines and machinery which I found. It is where I found the boxes marked 'Malthus A Respiratory Virus.'
"This key opens the office where Luther and the Pakistani men worked - the room I cleaned. I think this key opens the second office where the Frenchman works. I've not been in there."
"OK," I said, "You go home, Jimmy. Come back to fetch me at 2am. Let's see what we can find."
"Uh, can I suggest something very important?" Jimmy sounded a little embarrassed.
"Of course, what is it?"
"Wear some black clothes. There is no moon tonight but white people make everything shine."
I lay on the bed and phoned Anna.
When we had been together in Thailand and Singapore I had found myself constantly looking at her - the way she dressed, the way she walked, the way she would glance over her shoulder and smile when she knew I was looking at her Now it was the sound of her voice and accent that was affecting me. Something had clearly happened to me. But it was her final words on the phone that caused me to choke a little. "Don't worry, I have many friends already, Daniel. Too many Thai people live here. I talk all day long. But please come home soon. It is not good for a new husband and wife to be separated for too long."
Lying on the bed and knowing I needed to be up again at two, I couldn't sleep. But around midnight, just as I was dropping off, the phone rang. It was Jimmy.
"Daniel?" Jimmy whispered.
"Yes, Jimmy. What's up?"
"Shhh! I am already outside Shah Medicals. I couldn't sleep so I came here to check. The lights were still on. Then I saw three people working outside. They are using the forklift truck and putting boxes into the van. But that's not all, Daniel. There are three other men here as well. They arrived in a big Mercedes. Two were white and one was not - I think he is Arab. One of the white men is the Frenchman, Dominique Lunneau but I don't know the other one."
I got off the bed.
"OK, stay right there, Jimmy. I'll get a taxi and join you. If any problems I'll let you speak to the taxi driver by phone and you can direct him to where you are. OK? I'll get the taxi to drop me somewhere close but not so close to attract attention."
Twenty minutes later, my late night taxi stopped with its lights still on, beneath a lamppost on the outskirts of the Shah Medicals industrial estate. A minute later Jimmy was tapping on the car window. I got out, paid the driver and followed Jimmy down a dark side street and through even darker gaps between other small business units.
"I told you to wear something black, Daniel. I can still see you and there's no light here."
"Sorry, Jimmy. Live and learn," I said trying to follow Jimmy through a pile of wooden pallets.
"There," Jimmy suddenly stopped and pointed, "See the lights? Shah Medicals. Come."
As we headed towards the lights through gaps between two other buildings, Jimmy stopped again and pointed at a dark shadow. "My car," he said. "As you can see it's a black car." He opened the door and we both got in. It needed no further explanation but Jimmy then pointed towards the lights on a building behind a high wire fence. "Shah Medicals," he explained. I nodded. The building was lit by three lights fixed high up on the outside walls. Windows along the side wall were brightly lit by strip lights from inside. A big Mercedes was parked outside the front entrance. Alongside it a smaller car that looked like a Toyota.
"Whose car is the Toyota, Jimmy?"
"Lunneau's. See the van at the back and the fork lift? It must be full, Daniel. I think it's the boxes I saw. They've been working for an hour. There are only three of the Pakistani men left here. The others have gone."
"Are you sure they're from Pakistan, Jimmy?"
"Oh yes, it's the white trousers and waistcoat."
The driver's door was opened and a man got in. Two men closed the rear door of the building, walked around the van and got in on the passenger's side. The van's engine fired and it moved slowly around to the front entrance and stopped again. The driver got out and went up to the front entrance. A light came on inside.
"Binoculars." Jimmy said and handed me a pair that had been lying on the floor.
"Thanks," I said and trained them on the building. Jimmy may have been right about the nationality of the men but shadows were not making it easy to see detail.
"Camera." Jimmy said and put a cheap Sony digital camera on my lap. "Keys," he added. "Do we go in later?"
"Not sure, Jimmy. Let's hang around a bit. What time is it?"
"Twelve forty-seven."
"Describe the Arab looking guy, Jimmy."
"Medium. And he was on the other side of the other two. I was really focussing on the white man."
"So, not much to go on there then Jimmy."
"Sorry, Daniel. But he was medium, not big not small."
"Wearing a suit? A dishdasha? A kameez? A Hat? Swimming trunks?"
"Suit, Daniel."
"The other white guy, Jimmy. Describe him. Was he wearing sensible black?"
"Looked like a light suit - the sort they used to wear on safari."
"He's another one who didn't take your advice then, Jimmy. Do you think he's on holiday?"
"No. he didn't have the matching hat. But white head, black hair - bald I'd say."
"Tall, short, fat, thin?"
"Tall - like you and me."
"But fat, thin?"
"Big man, bigger than you, Daniel. Taller and bigger than Lunneau."
"Did you watch him through these?" I pointed at the binoculars.
"Yes, but he was moving around."
I fished in my pocket for my mobile phone. As usual I'd downloaded a few essential photos onto it from the laptop. Experience often pays a few dividends. "Change the dark blue suit for a light one. Could this be him?" I held the phone up in the pitch blackness for Jimmy to see.
"Could be," said Jimmy.
"How about this one?" I pulled up another shot of the back of the same man.
"Yes. That's his shiny, white head. If the moon had been out there would have been no need for the security lights."
I had to smile at Jimmy's use of words. He was often very funny but never laughed at his own humour.
"I last saw this guy in Bangkok, Jimmy. Unless I'm badly mistaken this is one of the top two guys - Greg O'Brian - come to inspect his warehouse stock at one in the morning. Nasty piece of work, Jimmy. Just as well you weren't inside when he turned up. If there was a garden fork handy you might have got it straight through your chest."
"There is a gun in there, though, Daniel. I saw it when I looked through the keyhole of Lunneau's office. It was lying on the floor underneath his desk. I forgot to tell Colin that."
"So perhaps they are planning to go on safari after all, then Jimmy."
In the darkness, I saw Jimmy grinning. Perhaps he liked my jokes better than his own. "But what do we do, Daniel? Wait till they've gone?"
"Are we going to learn any more by going inside, Jimmy? You've already found enough."
"Yes and I also forgot to tell Colin I'd photographed the boxes."
"Good man. Are the photos on this camera?"
"Yes."
"Can I borrow the camera to transfer the photos?"
"Uh," Jimmy suddenly looked embarrassed. ""Yes, but let me delete some first." He grabbed the camera and as I watched he flicked through a backlog. The camera bleeped about twenty times and he then handed it back. "My aunty in Mombasa."
"Instead of goin
g inside again I think we'll follow them, Jimmy. Find out where they're staying and get some more photos. Build ourselves a photo album about Shah Medicals, Nairobi. What do you think?"