The African Diamond Trilogy Box Set

by Christopher Lowery

  Before they left for the hearing, Leo had asked him for his mobile, so he could call Emma, but Hatim didn’t have it. ‘I had to leave it at the entrance,’ he’d explained. ‘Everyone does, they’re not allowed in here.’

  Now he said, ‘Is anyone allowed to visit me now?’

  ‘Not until after the trial. I’m the only person allowed to communicate with you.’

  ‘What about my mother? Has anyone called her?’

  ‘I’m going to get hold of Tom now, to tell him what transpired here, and he’ll call her straight away. He wanted to wait until the hearing to tell her everything he could, it’s still only midday in the UK. It’s good news, so I hope your mother won’t be too worried.’

  Leo was astounded at the lawyer’s lack of understanding of a mother-son relationship. He couldn’t bear to think how Emma would react when she heard the news. He said, ‘You must get a phone to me, so I can speak to her myself. You’ll have to smuggle one in. Bring one tomorrow and shove it in your shoe or your underpants or something. Just get me a phone so I can call her. She’ll be going crazy not hearing from me.’

  ‘I’ll do what I can, but I can’t promise. They’re not as stupid as they seem here, they’re used to all kinds of tricks.’

  As they re-entered the cell block, a huge black man in handcuffs being escorted by two officers came towards them in the corridor. He was struggling with them, and didn’t seem to even notice that they were both beating him mercilessly. His eyes focused on Leo, and he shouted out, ‘Hey bitch. You like to fuck? Come and get some here.’ They came closer and he tried to grab Leo, licking his tongue around his lips. The guards smashed their clubs into him and yanked him away, almost tearing the skin off his hands with the manacles.

  ‘I’m busy right now with these fucking Arabs. See ya’ tomorrow, bitch. Don’t fuck around with nobody else. Just you save ya’ ass fa’ Razza.’

  The guards pulled him past them along the corridor, and Hatim said, ‘That’s the kind of fight you don’t want to get into. Stay away from crazy prisoners like that, they really do rape people, anyone they can.’

  ‘I’ll be fine.’ Leo tried to sound relaxed, but he was counting the number of bad options that surrounded him. He knew he’d be lucky to get out without having to protect himself from someone like that guy, and that might cause more harm than good.

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Tom Connor ended his call with Hatim. He was relieved to hear that Leo would be held in Bur Dubai, but it wasn’t going to make his call to Ms Stewart much easier. He thought back to the Fitzgeralds, Scotty’s parents, who had come to collect their son’s body. It seemed like it was only yesterday. He was trying to make sense of the situation, wondering why this was happening to him. From what he knew of Leo, his work ethic, his sense of respect, responsibility and dedication, he couldn’t believe the man was capable of such a foul crime. But if he wasn’t, why has Angela da Sousa accused him? What motivation could she have to put a man’s life in danger if it isn’t true? It can only be jealousy, revenge or blackmail.

  Ed had described Leo and Angela’s first meeting, and he doubted there could be any element of revenge or jealousy from a Brazilian woman he’d just met in a place he’d never been before. It didn’t make any sense. That leaves blackmail. She must know he’s an important executive with XPC, she may even know the new products launch depends very much on him. Is this a stratagem to get money out of us to withdraw her accusation, just a honey-money trap?

  Clearly, nothing could be achieved via the legal process in Bur Dubai. The only possible way to a solution was through the woman. Shen has to find out if that’s what’s going on and work out a financial solution with her, before it’s too late.

  Tom was making notes as he worked through his thought processes. He went back over them, adding further ideas and ‘To Do’ items. Tomorrow he was going to have to tell Shanghai that they might not meet the deadline, and he had to make an announcement to the staff. There were already rumours circulating around the building again, just as they had in Scotty’s case, and he didn’t know how he was going to explain another inexplicable catastrophe. If Shen manages to sort something out with the woman, maybe I’ll know more by tomorrow.

  He sat back in his chair and pushed the problem away, to think constructively about the September 1st upgrades launch. From what Sharif and Ed had told him, he wasn’t sure they were out of the woods with the remote activation of the connectivity module. And Leo had asked him and Sharif about this single cell, S470C887,999, he still had the scribbled number, and he’d said it was a source of concern. At this late stage of the project, with just three weeks to deliver the final prototype so Shanghai could meet the launch date, they couldn’t afford to have any concerns. Everything had to be one hundred and fifty per cent right.

  Strange, Tom thought. Both these men, Scotty and Leo, were inextricably linked to the new product’s launch, and both very difficult to replace. It’s a miracle I got to persuade Leo to come in at short notice and was lucky enough to pick the right guy for the job. And now I’ve lost him too. It’s as if they were targeted, as if someone didn’t want the product to be developed. Unknowingly, the same word came into his mind as had come to Leo the day before. Sabotage. He could think of a dozen competitors who would probably kill to destroy or acquire the Mark VII technology with ACRE. Is that what’s happening?

  He forced himself to put aside this line of thinking, it was self-destructive and would take him nowhere. I have to call Leo’s mother. It’s time to give her the dreadful news. At least I can tell her he’ll be in Bur Dubai until the trial, that’s some small comfort in the whole disastrous business. I just hope she can handle it, because I’m having a hell of a time myself.

  Bur Dubai Police Station

  ‘How did it go?’ Oskar Novak made space for Leo to sit on the end of his bunk.

  ‘Pretty much what you told me to expect. Remanded here until the trial.’

  ‘That’s better than going to Port Rashid. I hear a lot of people don’t come out of there vertical. Plus, you get to keep me company for a while.’

  Leo couldn’t tell the Pole he had a lawyer who was trying to speed up the process. It didn’t fit with his story about being arrested for fighting. He said, ‘I guess there are worse ways to spend a few weeks of my life. I can’t think of any for the moment, but I’ll work on it.’

  Novak laughed. ‘Not high up on your bucket list, right?’

  ‘Wrong. It’s right up there with having all my teeth pulled out.’

  ‘What are you doing here anyway, are you working somewhere in Dubai?’

  Leo hesitated, the less he said the better until he knew what would happen next. Oskar seemed like a harmless guy, but it wasn’t worth taking the risk. ‘I’m travelling on a student discount ticket from London to Mumbai, and I had an option to stop over here. It was free, so I took it. Seemed like a good decision at the time.’

  ‘Student discount ticket? Hmm, bad luck.’ Novak didn’t sound convinced, but he said nothing further about it. Leo figured he was probably used to being discreet, it came with the territory.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Friday, 9 July 2017

  Tom Connor’s call to Emma Stewart was as bad as he expected, in fact worse. Naturally, she couldn’t believe that her son had been accused of such a heinous crime, and it took him a while to convince her it was true. Then she became hysterical at the thought of him being mistreated in a prison, especially in a Middle East country. Bursting into tears, she cried, ‘Oh, no. Not again. Dear God, not again.’

  His natural reaction was to ask, ‘Has he been in jail previously?’

  ‘Of course not,’ she replied angrily. ‘Don’t ask such stupid questions. He’s never done anything remotely illegal in his whole life and he’s certainly not guilty of attacking anyone, especially a woman. This is a pure fabrication and she should be locked up for perjury instead of him. I’m going to call hi
m now, I have to help him to sort this out, hire a lawyer and get him out of that prison. The whole thing is a monstrous mistake and I’m his mother, I need to speak to him and tell him I’m at his side and taking action.’

  ‘He doesn’t have his phone, Ms Stewart. They took it away from him, but he was smart enough to get a message to us immediately. Our company lawyer has been to see him and he’s unhurt and in good spirits. No one believes Leo’s guilty of the accusation, but that doesn’t change the situation. He knows everything possible is being done to get him freed, and we will, but I’m afraid it won’t be a fast process.’

  At this, she started weeping again. ‘Why not? How long can it take to get this woman to tell the truth? Or to prove she’s lying? Leo’s stuck in some filthy prison and you’re telling me it won’t be a fast process. You have to get him out of there, immediately.’

  He explained as patiently as he could that unless Angela da Sousa withdrew her accusation, the case would go to trial, and that could take several weeks. ‘Leo’s immediate boss knows the woman and he’s trying to get her to back off. Believe me, we need Leo here at XPC as a matter of urgency. I’m concerned that without him our new product launch could be jeopardised. That’s how much it means to us to get Leo back.

  ‘And please don’t worry about publicity or damage to Leo’s reputation. We’re keeping this whole business very quiet, only a few key people know about it and that’s the way it will stay. Our lawyer is doing everything possible and he’s very optimistic. I can imagine how you must feel about this Ms Stewart, and I feel terribly responsible, but I’m just as helpless as you. As soon as there’s any more news I’ll call you straight away.’

  Finally, Emma seemed to calm down a little, and he ended the call with the usual useless placations, ‘Please try not to worry too much. I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of this and I’ll keep you informed at all times.’ He called Shen in, to urge him to contact Angela da Sousa as soon as possible.

  Ipswich, England

  It was not yet midday, but already pleasantly hot, and Jenny Bishop was watering her garden before she lost the shade from the trees. She enjoyed looking after the small square of lawn surrounded by flowers and bushes. Hosing down the paths, she almost didn’t hear the house phone ring, and quickly turned off the tap to run inside before the answering machine kicked in.

  She saw Emma’s number come up. ‘Hello, darling sister, how are you on this beautiful day?’ she joked. Then she listened for a moment and sat down, her face gradually drawing into a concentrated frown.

  The memory of her dream flashed through her mind. It’s happened, she realised. Now we have to stay calm and fix it. ‘Right, Emma. Please take a deep breath and hang on for a moment so I can get my iPad. I need to take notes, don’t go away.’ She fetched her tablet. ‘I’ll put you on speaker, so I can type.’ She started noting down points from Emma’s tearful and erratic explanation.

  Her sister finally drew breath, and she said, ‘Right, I understand. In fact, although Leo has obviously been framed in a despicable manner in a dangerous place, it’s actually a very simple situation. A woman who had sex with Leo says he raped her and he’s been arrested. Nobody believes he’s capable of such an act, and I’m certain that’s the case. That means the woman is lying for some reason we don’t yet know, but the chances of him being acquitted are zero unless she recants. XPC need him back to get their new products launched. Their lawyer has managed to keep him in a jail which is better than the alternatives, but Dubai prisons are violent, and we have to get him out quickly before something happens to him. The legal process is not a viable option, so we have to find a way to make this Angela da Sousa recant quickly, and that’s what we’ll do.’

  She paused, deciding how to tell Emma what she had in mind, what she’d decided after her dream and the reason for the phone call she’d made afterwards.

  ‘Emma, you know how I sometimes get these premonitions, like Mum did? Well, I had one last week about Leo. Somehow, I knew something was going to happen to him, something involving a woman. I had no idea he’d be attacked in such a vile fashion, but I did take action to prepare the ground, to make sure we’d be ready. Please let me take charge of this problem and I’m sure we can get it solved very quickly.’

  She heard her sister cry, ‘Can you Jenny? Can you do something? I have no idea what to do. I just can’t believe it’s happened to him again. After his abduction in South Africa I thought nothing could be as bad as that experience, we’d all suffered enough, but I couldn’t have imagined this in my wildest dreams. It’s just dreadful.’

  ‘Emma, this is nothing like South Africa, nothing at all. Leo’s working for a prestigious company which has a local lawyer, we have the resources to take whatever action is necessary and I know just the person to sort this out in double-quick time. Please stop crying and don’t worry, it’s not going to help. We’ve been through worse situations than this and we’re still here to tell the tale. Take a deep breath and calm down. Leave it to me, and I’ll get things moving right away.’

  They talked for a few minutes more, Emma thanking her repeatedly. Finally, she reluctantly put the phone down. Now Jenny could concentrate on what she had to do. She found the name in her Contact list and called immediately. When the number answered, she said, ‘It’s happened. We need your help.’

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  It was eight in the evening, and Tom Connor was ready to call it a day. He switched off the lights and was about to leave when his office line rang. It might be news about Leo, he thought, and picked up the phone. ‘Tom Connor here.’

  The operator said, ‘There’s a call for you from the US, Mr Connor,’ then a man’s voice, ‘Please hold for General Chillicott.’

  Tom had no idea who was calling, and he was exhausted and short-tempered after the day’s disasters. He’d hardly had time to say good morning to his family before he’d been called out by ED and all he wanted was to get home, have a whisky and share his problems with his wife.

  ‘Tom Connor?’

  ‘Who is this please? It’s late and I was just leaving the office.’

  ‘My name is General William Chillicott. I’m calling from Homeland Security in Washington. I’m sorry to trouble you Tom, but I’d like your assistance.’

  Tom Connor almost stood up to attention. He was a proud American and had the utmost respect for members of the armed forces, especially a senior officer. ‘I’m at your service, General. What can I do for you?’

  ‘Thanks, I appreciate it. You have a kid called Leo Stewart working for you, right?’

  This was almost too much for Tom. Leo Stewart had been arrested for rape this morning and now Homeland Security were calling about him. What the hell was going on? ‘That’s right, sir. Is there a problem?’

  ‘It’s no big deal, Tom. I know Leo, spent an evening with him couple months ago, great kid, smart. You’re lucky you talked him into joining you. Anyways, I need to speak to him and he’s not answering his mobile, so I figured you’d be able to get me in touch with him.’

  Now Tom’s brain was spinning. Leo was a friend of this US general, was he the answer to their problem? But Leo’s case was still sub judice until the trial, how much could he tell the officer? Then another thought occurred to him, How do I know he’s actually a US general?

  ‘General, the reason you couldn’t get hold of Leo is very complicated, and I’m afraid I can’t discuss it in a public manner. Since I don’t know you, I’d be acting inappropriately to give you any details. Is there a way you could prove to me who you are, because I think you might be of great help in resolving a problem we have down here, if I can speak frankly with you?’ He waited anxiously, expecting an earful from the general.

  ‘This sounds plenty bad. You’d better tell me all about it. My PA will send you an email now with proof of what I told you, and a number you can call me back on. It’s an encrypted line, so you can spill the beans on what’s going on down there. I’ll wait for your ca
ll. Thanks.’

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Tom had related the day’s events to Billy Chillicott, ending with his conviction that Leo was innocent of the accusation and that they needed him back to ensure the successful new product launch.

  ‘That’s quite a story, especially after what happened to the previous guy, right?’

  ‘You know about that?’

  ‘Listen, Tom. When I met Leo you’d just offered him the job, and he wasn’t sure about taking it. We talked and he decided to come down to meet you. Sounds like he was the right guy for the job, but I sure didn’t expect it to turn out like this. Makes me feel kinda guilty.’

  ‘So, you think the two events are connected?’

  ‘If they’re not, it’s one hell of a coincidence. Two guys are doing very confidential, high-security work developing valuable technology, and in three months they both get whacked out of their jobs. One dead, the other in prison. Go figure.’

  There was silence at the other end of the line. Chillicott knew he had struck a raw nerve and his antennae were aroused. There must be something going on at XPC. Ilona Tymoshenko had dug up the suspicious history of Shen Fu Liáng and here he was, a senior executive at XPC where it seemed probable that two key brains had been savagely supressed. But why, what the hell are they doing down there?

  ‘What exactly were they working on, Leo and the other guy?’

  Tom recovered his composure. ‘It has to do with our new processor model and encryption-transmission system, but I can’t disclose more than that. I’m sorry, but it’s proprietary development work and we have strict confidentiality rules. All I can say is that we have an upcoming launch date for new products and Leo’s contribution has been vital in meeting the deadline. Without him, I’m not sure we can make it.’