Part 12 (1/2)
Vanderlock shook his head. ”She's not usual. If anyone gets wind of her connection to Darkview, I'm going to be in hot water.”
”She just told you no one knows, except us three. And discretion is my business, so I will never speak of it,” Roducci said.
Emma wanted to strangle Roducci. Even if Vanderlock's price was inflated, it was hundreds of times less than that of the private jet he'd just tried to foist on her. She interrupted the men.
”I'll pay you five hundred,” she told Vanderlock. Roducci took a breath to say something, but she cut him off. ”You tried to bamboozle a Russian's jet on me for fifty grand when you knew not only that khat flights were cheap but even a pilot who flies the route?”
Roducci gave one of his expressive shrugs. ”A lovely woman such as yourself should travel in style.”
Vanderlock laughed. ”You tried to unload Sergei's jet on her, didn't you?”
Roducci's look went sour. ”I simply tried to keep her safe.” He jerked his chin at the Fokker. ”You've kept that thing flying with duct tape and rubber bands.”
”It hasn't let me down yet.” Vanderlock turned to Emma. ”Seven-fifty and it's a deal. But know that I won't be able to fly you back here. Kenya doesn't care who I fly out of the country, but I'm no longer allowed to fly anyone in.”
Roducci snorted. ”That's never stopped you before.”
”Well, it will in her case.” He looked at Emma. ”You'll have to return through normal channels.”
”And Somalia? Do they care who arrives?”
”Not on the route we're taking. And keep your a.s.sociation with Darkview quiet.”
She nodded. ”Can you take me to Berbera?”
”Sorry, but no. After Hargeisa I return here. The khat is driven to Berbera. You might be able to ride with it all the way, but I wouldn't count on it.”
”You go straight to Hargeisa?” Roducci sounded surprised.
”First to K50, then Hargeisa,” Vanderlock said. Roducci gave a small groan.
Emma didn't like the sound of that. ”Where's K50?”
”Mogadishu.” Roducci supplied the information, a grim sound in his voice. ”It's an alternate runway just outside of the capital. The main airport is too dangerous to use.”
Tension curled through her. The immense danger of what she was trying to do hit her.
Roducci touched her arm. ”You should wait to fly to Hargeisa directly. Surely whatever Banner needs you to accomplish can wait for a safer flight.”
Vanderlock took a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. He put one to his lips and held the box out to her. She waved it away without a word. She needed to think. Vanderlock returned the pack to his pocket, extracted a blue plastic lighter, lit the cigarette, inhaled, and watched her. She noted that he neither confirmed Roducci's opinion that she should wait nor disputed it.
”Mr. Vanderlock-”
”Call me Lock. Everyone else does.”
”How long will you stay on the ground in Mogadishu before taking off for Hargeisa?”
Vanderlock blew out a stream of smoke. ”Thirty minutes. Just long enough to offload the first half of the s.h.i.+pment.” He took another drag off the cigarette.
Thirty minutes could be a lifetime in Mogadishu, but Emma thought the UN agent might have it right. She doubted that the insurgents would mess with them when they still had half a planeload of khat to deliver. She offered a hand to Roducci.
”Thank you for your help.” She transferred her travel toothbrush from the side of her duffel to the pocket of her jacket and handed her bag to him. ”Do you mind throwing this away? It's just going to weigh me down.”
Roducci looked at her and frowned. After a short pause, he took her hand between both of his.
”I see that you have made up your mind. Lock will keep you as safe as is possible, given the area to which you travel, but should you need anything, please call me.” He produced a business card. ”My number. Contact me anytime, day or night. I will see to whatever you may need.” Emma took the card. It didn't contain a name, just a series of different phone numbers and two e-mail addresses.
”No name?” Emma said.
Roducci smiled. ”Just numbers. But they all work. And when they don't, they will direct you to another. Do not worry. My business depends on people who need items quicker than can be found through the usual channels. My customers know how responsive I am. And they also know that I can get them anything. But my specialty is arms.”
22.
”I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOUR FATHER,” SUMNER SAID. ”CAN YOU take me to him?”
”Of course,” Marina said. ”But why?”
”I have some questions.” Sumner handed Block the Dragunov.
”Oh, yeah, now, this is what I need!” Block's eyes lit up. ”Those pirates come back and they're history.” Block was like a child with a new toy. He pretended to sight something in the distance. Sumner reached out and gently pulled the scope away from Block's eye. He bent the gun on its side and flipped a small switch near the trigger.
”What did you do?” Block said.
”Switched it from automatic to semiautomatic. I don't have a lot of ammunition. You have to make every shot count.”
”I just switch it back if I need automatic?”
”Don't.”
”But if I need it? The switch will set it back?”
Sumner had a terrifying vision of Block spraying the water with ammunition, all of it falling far short of its mark.
”No. The switch sets it back to auto or semiauto depending on how you depress the trigger. One pull will give you one shot. Hold it down and the gun will continue to fire until you release it.”
”h.e.l.l, put that back. Saves me a step. I promise to use it semi until I need it auto.”
Sumner shook his head. ”Under stress you are far more likely to hold the trigger down out of sheer panic. Kind of like the way a new driver hammers the gas pedal instead of the brake when an accident looms.”
”I'm no new driver.”
Sumner reached out to take the gun.