Windfall

Stafford shrugged. 'You will have to ask Mr Chipende about that."

So he did, and Chip switched into fast Swahili. Eventually Ukiru shrugged his acceptance, the photographers took their pictures, and they all went away. Stafford said, 'They got here damned quickly. How?'

'The manager will have telephoned his head office who will have notified the police in Nairobi. Plenty of room for leaks to the press there. They'll have chartered aircraft. There's an airstrip here.'

'Yes, I've seen the airstrip,' said Stafford. 'But I didn't know about the telephone. I've seen no wires.'

Chip smiled. 'It's a radio-phone in the manager's office. And we can't have wires because the elephants knock down the telegraph poles. Let's have that swim.'

Stafford wanted to put himself next to Gu

Stafford talked with Kosters and Michele Roche and got their account with no great difficulty, then said with an air of puzzlement. 'But what about Hendrix? What happened to him?'

The euphoric gaiety disappeared fast. 'I don't know,' said Kosters soberly. 'They took him away and there was shooting.'

'You think he's dead?'

Michele's voice was sombre. 'He hasn't come back. We didn't see him again.'

Stafford looked across at Gu

Gu

'We didn't get very far,' Stafford said ruefully. 'We just got lost and made bloody fools of ourselves.'

'Let me top up your drink.' Stafford sat down. 'I'm John Gu

'Gin and tonic.'

Gu

'They tell me it's happened before,' Stafford said casually.

'Yeah. These damned half-ass Kenyans ought to beef up their border force. You know what was the worst? There's nothing takes the steam out of a guy faster than to strip him ballock naked.' He gave a small snort. 'Well, not quite; they let us keep our underpants.' He brooded. 'It was bad coming back what with the sun and the thorns. My feet feel the size of footballs. And there was the goddamn hyena…'

'A hyena?'

'A big son of a bitch. It trotted parallel with us about a hundred yards off, I guess. Waiting for someone to lag or drop out. If it wasn't for the nig… the black guy, Adam Somebody, I don't think we'd have made it. He was good.'

'I hear somebody didn't make it,' Stafford said.

'Oh, Jesus!' Gu

'What happened to him? Enderby, wasn't it?'

'Hendrix.' Gu

Stafford shook his head. 'Things like that don't come my way.'

'You're lucky. They're Russian-made automatic rifles. We couldn't do a goddamn thing. Helpless.' He made a fist in his frustration. 'Then a couple of them took Hendrix away and later there was firing and the four black guys with us burst out laughing. Imagine that.'

'I can't,' Stafford said soberly. 'Were these men in uniform?'

'Yeah. Camouflage gear. A real military set-up. Jesus, but there's going to be trouble when I get back to Nairobi. Nobody's going to get away with doing this to an American citizen.'

'What are you going to do?' Stafford asked interestedly.

'Do! I'm going to raise hell with the American Ambassador, that's what I'm going to do. Hendrix was a real nice young guy and I want him found, dead or alive. And if he's dead I want blood if I have to take it all the way to the United Nations.'

Stafford contemplated that statement. If Gu

'Had you known him long? Hendrix, I mean.'

'A while – not long.' said Gu

Yes, it was his only chance if Hendrix/Corliss was still alive and in the hands of the Tanzanians. Only strong diplomatic pressure put on Tanzania by Kenya and the United States could get back Gu

'I wish you well,' Stafford said. 'Let me buy you a drink.' So he bought Gu

Chapter 17

They left for Nairobi next morning and so did a lot of others but for different reasons. After seeing the condition in which the tour group had come back from their unwanted, brief sojourn in Tanzania the front desk was busy as the fearful paid their bills. The manager was gloomy but resigned.

Again they drove that spine-jolting, back-breaking road to Narok and then sat back with relief as they hit the asphalt which led all the way to Nairobi, and pulled into a parking slot in front of the Norfolk Hotel in comfortable time for lunch. There Stafford received a surprise. On opening the door of his room he found an envelope on the floor just inside. It contained the briefest of messages: 'I'm back. Come see me. Room 14. Ben.'

He dumped his bags, went to room 14, and knocked. A guarded voice said, 'Yeah; who is it?'

'Stafford.'

There was the snap of a lock and the door opened and swung wide. He went in and Hardin said, 'Where the hell have you been? I've been telephoning every two hours for the last two days and getting no answer. So I jump a plane and what do I find? No one.' He was aggrieved.

'Calm down, Ben,' Stafford said. 'We had to go away but it had good results.' He paused and examined that statement, then added, 'If I knew what they were.'

Hardin examined Stafford closely. 'Your face is scratched. Been with a dame?'

Stafford sat down. 'When you've stopped being fu

Hardin said, 'I've just ordered from room service. I didn't want to eat in public before I knew where Gu

'No, I'll join you,' said Stafford. 'Duplicate the order.'

'Okay.' Hardin telephoned the order before opening the refrigerator and taking out a couple of bottles of beer. 'Jan-Willem Hendrykxx – an old guy and a travelling man. I've been spending a lot of your money, Max; ran up a hell of a phone bill. And I had to go to Belgium.' He held up his hand. 'Don't worry; I flew economy.'