Wilbur Smith's Smashing Thrillers

by Wilbur Smith

  Beside him he felt Chetti Singh stiffen and gather himself.

  Stealthily the Sikh reached out for the door handle at his side.

  “Please, Mr. Singh, Daniel said pleasantly. Don’t do it. Blood and guts all over the upholstery will ruin your Caddie’s resale value.” Chetti Singh deflated slowly. One of the police constables was now staring across at them. “Smile at him,” Daniel instructed. Chetti Singh turned his head and snarled like a rabid dog.

  The constable looked away hurriedly. The lights changed and the Landrover pulled forward. “Let them get ahead,” Daniel instructed. At the next intersection the police vehicle turned left.

  “You did that well,” Daniel congratulated him. “I am pleased with you.”

  “Why are you victimising me in such a barbarous fashion, please, Doctor?”

  “Don’t spoil your record by asking facetious questions,” Daniel advised him. “You know why I’m doing this.”

  “The ivory was no concern of yours, surely, Doctor?”

  “The theft of the ivory is the concern of any decent man, but you are correct. That is not the main reason.”

  “The business with Chawe. That was not personal. You brought that upon yourself. You should not blame me for trying to protect myself. I am a very wealthy man, Doctor. I would be glad to make up to you any injury to your dignity or person you might have suffered. Let us discuss a figure. Ten thousand dollars, US, of course,” Chetti Singh babbled.

  “Is that your final offer? I find it miserly,” Mr. Singh.

  “Yes, you are right. Let’s say twenty-five, no, make that fifty. Fifty thousand US.”

  “Johnny Nzou was one of the best friends I ever had,” Daniel said softly. “His wife was a lovely lady, they had three children, two girls and a little boy. They named the boy after me.”

  “Now you have me at a loss.”

  “Never mind.”

  “Who is Johnny Nzou?” Chetti Singh asked. “Let’s say fifty thousand for him, as well. One hundred thousand US dollars. I give it to you, and you walk away. We forget this foolishness. It never happened Am I correct, Doctor?”

  “A little late for that, Mr. Singh. Johnny Nzou was the warden at Chiwewe National Park.”

  Chetti Singh let out his breath softly. “I am terribly sorry about that, Doctor. Those were not my orders…” There was the brittle edge of panic in his voice. “I had nothing to do-with that. It was, it was the Chinaman.”

  “Tell me about the Chinaman.”

  “If I tell you, will you swear not to harm me?”

  Daniel seemed to consider this at length. “Very well, he nodded at last. We will go to your warehouse where we can have a private uninterrupted chat. You will tell me all you know about Ning Cheng Gong, and afterwards I will release you, immediately, unharmed.” Chetti Singh turned to stare at him in the reflected light from the instrument panel.

  “I trust you, Doctor Armstrong. I think you are a man of integrity. I believe you will keep your word.”

  “To the letter, Mr. Singh,” Daniel assured him. “Now just keep heading for the Warehouse.”

  They passed the sawmills. The lumberyard was brightly lit and the teams of sawyers were at work in the long sheds. The squeal of the saw-blades slicing into timber carried clearly even into the air-conditioned interior of the Cadillac.

  “Business must be good, Mr. Singh. You are working nightshift.”

  “I have a large consignment going to Australia at the end of the week.”

  “You will want to survive long enough to enjoy those profits. Just keep cooperating.”

  At the end of the street the warehouse stood in darkness. Chetti Singh stopped at the main gates. The gatehouse was deserted and unlit. “Left-hand drive,” Chetti Singh remarked, indicating the controls of the Cadillac with an apologetic shrug. “You must operate the gate from your side.” He handed Daniel a plastic coated electronic key-card similar to the one retrieved from Chawe’s corpse, and lowered the electric window.

  Daniel leaned out and pressed the card into the slot of the control-box. The gate boom rose and Chetti Singh drove through. Behind them the boom dropped again automatically.

  “Your guard leopard must save you a great deal in the way of wages.” Daniel’s tone was mild and conversational but he kept a firm pressure of the shotgun into Chetti Singh’s ribs. “But I don’t understand how you have made the animal so vicious. In my experience, leopards will not attack a man unless provoked.”

  “That is true.” Chetti Singh was more relaxed since they had struck their bargain. He had stopped sweating and now he chuckled for the first time. “I was advised by the man who sold it to me. Every once in a while it is necessary to give the brute a little gingering up, never mind. I use a hot iron under its tail.” He chuckled again, this time with genuine amusement. “My goodness, it makes the animal very angry indeed. You never heard such a racket.”

  “You deliberately torment it to make it vicious?” Daniel asked, shocked despite himself. His tone made evident his disgust and contempt, and Chetti Singh bridled.

  “You English and your love of animals. It is merely a form of training to make it more efficient. The injuries are superficial and heal readily.” They drew up outside the warehouse and once again Daniel used the electronic key-card to open the roller door. As they drove through, the door tumbled closed behind them.

  “Park over there on the loading ramp,” Daniel ordered.

  The headlights swept powerfully down to the girders and corrugated sheeting of the wall at the far end of the cavernous building. The floor was as cluttered as before with a vast array of trade goods.

  For an instant the leopard was caught in the full beam as the Cadillac drove on to the ramp and the headlights were deflected upwards. The great cat was crouched on the summit of a neatly squared pile of packing-cases. As the light struck it, the leopard crouched, yellow-eyed, and puckered its lips into a snarl. The light glinted on its exposed canine fangs. Then it dropped out of sight behind the pile of cases.

  “Did you notice the injury to its face?” Chetti Singh asked virtuously. “You did that, and yet you accuse me of cruelty, Doctor Armstrong. The brute is extremely aggressive and impossible to control at the moment. I may have to destroy it. It is too dangerous, even to me and my men.”

  “This will do.” Daniel ignored the rebuke. “We can talk here. Switch off the engine and the headlights.” Daniel reached up to the cabin light in the centre of the roof and a soft glow replaced the harsh white glare as the headlights faded.

  They sat in silence for a while longer, and then Daniel asked quietly, “So, Mr. Singh, how and when did you first meet Ning Cheng Gong?”

  “It was about three years ago. A mutual friend told me he was interested in ivory and other commodities which I could supply,” Chetti Singh answered.

  “What were they, these other commodities?” When Chetti Singh hesitated, Daniel jabbed him sharply with the shotgun barrels. “Let us both keep to our side of the bargain,” he suggested mildly.

  “Diamonds…” Chetti Singh wriggled away from the shotgun. “From Namibia and Angola. Emeralds from Sandwana. Rare Tanzanite gemstones from the mines at Arusha in Tanzania, some dagga from Zululand.”

  “You seem to have access to many sources of supply Mr. Singh.”

  “I am a businessman, Doctor. I think I am good, probably the best. That is why Mr. Ning dealt with me.”

  “It was mutually beneficial, then?”

  Chetti Singh shrugged. “He was able to use the diplomatic bag. Absolutely secure shipment…”

  “Except when the products were too bulky,” Daniel pointed out. “As was this last consignment of ivory.”

  “As you say,” Chetti Singh agreed. “But even then his family connections were abundantly useful. Taiwan is a convenient entryport.”

  “Give me the details of your transactions. Dates, commodities, values.”

  “There were many,” Chetti Singh protested, “I cannot remember them all.
”

  “You have just told me that you are a good businessman.” Daniel prodded him again, and Chetti Singh tried to avoid the shotgun barrel but he was already hard up against the door and could move no further. “I’m sure you remember every single transaction.”

  “All right,” he capitulated. “The first was in early February three years ago. Ivory, value five thousand dollars. It was a trial shipment. It went well. At the end of that month there was a second transaction, rhino horn and ivory, sixty-two thousand dollars. In May of the same year, emeralds, four hundred thousand.”

  Daniel had trained his memory over the years as an interviewer. He knew he could retain the details until he had a chance to write them down. The recital went on for almost twenty minutes. Chetti Singh was quick and incisive until suddenly he ended on a home note. “Then this last shipment, the one you know about.”

  “Good.” Daniel nodded. “We come to the Chiwewe raid, at last. Whose idea was that, Mr. Singh?”

  “The ambassador. It was his idea,” Chetti Singh blurted.

  “I think you are lying. It is highly unlikely that he could have known about the ivory godown. Its whereabouts are not public knowledge. I think that it was more likely your area of expertise.”

  “All right,” Chetti Singh agreed. “I have known about it for some years. I was awaiting an opportunity. However, Ning told me he wanted a large coup. His term of office was almost expired. He was returning home and he wanted to impress his family, his father.”

  “But you recruited the raiders, didn’t you? Ning could not have done that. He did not have your contacts.”

  “I didn’t give the orders to kill your friend,” Chetti Singh’s voice trembled. “I didn’t want that to happen.”

  “You were just going to leave them alive to tell their story, to explain to the police about Ning?”

  “Yes, no, no! It was Ning’s idea. I do not believe in killing, Doctor.”

  “Is that why you sent Chawe and me into the mountains together?”

  “No! You gave me no choice, Doctor Armstrong. Please, you must understand. I am a businessman, not a brigand.”

  “All right, let’s leave that for the moment. Now tell me, what was your further arrangement with Ning? Surely you were going to continue such a lucrative partnership, even after he returned to Taiwan?”

  “No!”

  “Please don’t lie to me. That is breaking our agreement.” Daniel jammed the steel muzzles into him so hard that he squealed.

  “Yes, all right, please you are hurting me. I can’t speak if you do that.”

  Daniel relaxed the pressure a little. “I must warn you, Mr. Singh, that I would be delighted if you gave me an opportunity to break our contract. Johnny Nzou’s two daughters were about ten and eight years old. Your men raped them. His son Daniel, my godson, was just four. They beat his brains out against the wall. It was not a pretty sight. I’d enjoy it if you reneged on our bargain. Yes, I would.”

  “I don’t want to hear these things, please, Doctor. I am a family man, myself. You must believe that I didn’t want–”

  “Let’s talk about Ning rather than your delicate sensibilities, Mr. Singh. You and Ning have plans for the future, don’t you?”

  “We have discussed certain possibilities,” Chetti Singh admitted. “The Ning family have vast holdings in Africa. After this last shipment of ivory, Cheng’s status in the family will be absolutely enhanced. Cheng has expectations that his father will place him in charge of the African division of Lucky Dragon, that is the family holding company.”

  “You have a niche in these plans, don’t you? Your expert services will be in demand. Surely you have discussed it with Ning?”

  “No,” Chetti Singh squealed again as the steel eyes of the shotgun barrels burrowed into his flesh. “Please don’t do that, Doctor. I suffer from high blood pressure; this uncivilized behaviour is absolutely prejudicial to my health.”

  “What are your arrangements with Cheng?” Daniel insisted. “Where will you operate next?”

  Chetti Singh squeaked. “Lucky Dragon plans to move into Ubomo.”

  “Ubomo?” There was surprise in Daniel’s tone. “President Omeru?”

  The sovereign state of Ubomo was one of the few success stories of the continent. Like Malawi, it nestled on the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, a country of lakes and mountains, on the eastern flank of Africa, where open savannah and primeval equatorial forest met. Like Hastings Banda, President Omeru was another benevolent despot, ruling in the age-old African fashion. Thanks to him his country was free of debt, and not as yet divided or ravaged by tribal warfare.

  Daniel knew that Omeru lived in a small brick cottage with a corrugated-iron roof and drove his own Landrover. No marble palaces, no stretched black Mercedes, no executive jet for him. He flew to the meetings of the Organization of African Unity in the tourist class cabin of a commercial airline as a deliberate example to his people. He was a beacon of hope, not the type to deal with Lucky Dragon.

  “Omeru? I don’t believe it,” Daniel said emphatically.

  “Omeru is yesterday’s man. He is old, redundant. He resists change and development. Soon he will go. It is being arranged.”

  “Soon there will be a new man in Ubomo, young, dynamic…”

  “And greedy,” Daniel suggested. “What will Cheng; and Lucky Dragon have to do with all this?”

  “I do not know the details. Cheng does not trust me that far. All I know is that he has asked me to deploy my people in Ubomo, to make my dispositions. Ready for the day.”

  “When will it be?”

  “I do not know. I told you. But I think soon.”

  “This year? Next year?”

  “I do not know, you must believe me, Doctor. I have held nothing back from you. I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. Now you must keep yours. I think you are a man of honour, an Englishman, a gentleman. Am I correct, Doctor?”

  “What was our bargain, Mr. Singh? Refresh my memory,” Daniel asked, never relaxing the pressure of the shotgun for a moment.

  “After I told you all I know about Cheng, you promised to release me immediately, unharmed.”

  “Have I harmed you, Mr. Singh?”

  “No, not yet.” But Chetti Singh was sweating again now, more copiously than before. The expression on the white man’s face was murderous.

  Daniel reached across him, and seized the door handle. It was so unexpected, so quick that Chetti Singh had no chance to react. He was hunched against the door, trying to get away from the shotgun. “You are free to go, Mr. Singh,” Daniel said softly. With one hand he wrenched open the driver’s door of the Cadillac and laced his other hand in the centre of Chetti Singh’s chest. With all the strength of his anger and disgust, he shoved.

  The door flew open. Chetti Singh was leaning his full weight against it. The thrust of Daniel’s arm hurled him outwards. He fell on his back on to the cement floor of the warehouse, and rolled over twice. He lay there stunned and paralysed with shock.

  Daniel slammed the door of the Cadillac shut and locked it. He switched on the headlights. For a moment nothing changed. Chetti Singh lay on the floor outside the vehicle and Daniel stared down at him mercilessly through the shatterproof glass.

  Somewhere in the dim depths of the warehouse the leopard sawed hoarsely.

  Chetti Singh bounded to his feet and threw himself against the side of the Cadillac, scrabbling at the window with his bare hands. His face contorted. “You cannot do this to me. The leopard… Please, Doctor.” His voice was muted by the intervening glass, but still the raw panic was shrill in his voice and a dribble of saliva broke from the corner of his mouth.

  Daniel regarded him dispassionately, his arms folded and his jaw clenched. “Anything,” screamed Chetti Singh. “I’ll give you anything.” He glanced over his shoulder, and his expression was wild with terror as he turned back to Daniel. He had glimpsed that deadly shadow, circling silently in the gloom. “Money,” he mouthed impl
oringly, slapping his pink palms on the glass. “Please, I’ll give you as much, a million dollars. I will give you anything. just let me in. Please, please, I beg you, Doctor. Don’t leave me out here.” The leopard coughed, an abrupt explosion of sound filled with infinite menace. Chetti Singh spun round to face the darkness, cowering against the side of the vehicle.

  “Get back, Nandi” His voice was a high-pitched shriek. “Back! Back to your cage!” They both saw the leopard then, crouched in the alley between two walls of packing-cases. Its eyes reflected the headlights, yellow and glittering. Its tail flicked back and forth with a mesmeric rhythm. It was watching Chetti Singh. “No!” screamed Chetti Singh. “No, you can’t leave me to that brute. Please, Doctor. Please I implore you.”

  The leopard raised its lip in a silent snarl of hatred and Chetti Singh urinated in a steady stream down the front of his khaki slacks. It puddled on the cement floor around his sandalled feet. “It’s going to kill me! This is inhuman. Please … You can’t allow this, please let me in.”

  Suddenly Chetti Singh’s nerve snapped. He pushed himself off the side of the Cadillac and ran for the closed main doors of the warehouse, a hundred feet away in the looming darkness. He had not covered half that distance before the cat was on him. It came from behind, snaking low across the bare cement floor, and rose to settle upon Chetti Singh’s shoulders.

  They looked like some grotesque hunchbacked creature with two heads, and then Chetti Singh was thrown forward by the leopard’s weight and borne to the floor. In a kicking clawing tangle they rolled together, Chetti Singh’s screams blending with the rattling growls of the leopard.

  For a moment the man came to his knees, but instantly the leopard was on him again, going for his face. Chetti Singh tried to hold it off with his bare hands, thrusting them into its open jaws and the leopard clamped down on his wrist. Even in the closed sedan Daniel heard the bones of the wrist go, crunching like dry toast, and Chetti Singh screamed on a shriller note.

  Goaded to superhuman effort by the pain he came to his feet with the leopard hanging on his arm. He staggered in an erratic circle, beating at the cat with his fist, trying to break its grip on his other wrist. The leopard’s back legs were slashing down the front of his thighs, ripping the khaki slacks, blood and urine mingling as the hooked yellow claws opened his flesh from groin to knee.