Whiplash

“Toroque!” exclaimed Nuri, spotting the owner of the stall he’d come to find. He used English, which was the language of commerce here, and second nature to most of the people on the street. “You’re here. Very good.”

Toroque squinted, as if trying to remember the face. He pretended to recognize it and smiled. In truth, Toroque’s memory for faces was as poor as any man’s on the planet. As the local saying went, he might have forgotten his own had he not seen it in a mirror every day.

“And what can I do for you today?” he asked.

“Much, I hope. My friend and I are looking for a vehicle. A special vehicle.”

Toroque frowned, as was his habit when a profitable deal presented itself. “Special vehicle?” He shook his head. “No. Here there are no special vehicles. I know of a motorcycle perhaps.”

“Oh.” Nuri had played this game once before with Toroque. “Well, too bad then.”

“But maybe if you explain to me what you need,” added Toroque quickly, “then maybe I can be of aid if I hear of something.”

“I need something very special to drive, for an important person. Something big. Very unique.”

“No, no.” Torque shook his head. “No. No.”

Nuri nodded and put out his hand to shake. “Thank you,” he said. “Maybe in the future…if you…”

He ended his sentence there, his voice trailing off as he turned to Da

“What sort of thing—my English is not very good,” said Toroque, who had been awarded a medal for his English studies in elementary school. “What are you looking for? An SUV?”

“An SUV might do,” said Nuri.

“Ah, too bad. I know a Land Rover.”

“Too plain,” said Nuri dismissively. He would settle for it if he had to.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Toroque now began to worry. He had already begun counting the profit from this deal, and it was escaping him.

“The SUV is a Mercedes, maybe?” suggested Nuri. “Or for that matter, do you know of a Mercedes sedan? That would be excellent.”

Toroque frowned. There were very few Mercedes in this part of Africa. Not only were they highly impractical, but the recent boom in Russia and China had encouraged the northern Africans who specialized in stealing the cars from Western Europe to ship their wares there. Few made it this far east, and the prices were necessarily exorbitant.

“I know of a sedan,” said Toroque. “I can take you to see it. But it is a Toyota.”

Nuri raised his hand in assent.

“Perhaps some tea first,” suggested Toroque. “And a smoke.”

“We have many things to do today,” said Da

Toroque frowned. It was common here to sit with a salesman for a while. It was considered good ma

Da

The neighborhood changed quickly. On one block, small buildings leaned against each other, as if they were made of wax and had melted under the unrelenting sun. On the next, tall walls tipped with razor wire and pieces of sharpened glass rose along the pavement, protecting the homeowners from the noise and possibility of kidnapping.

And then the area changed again, the walls and houses giving way to tall chain-link fences and steel-sided warehouse buildings.

“We are almost there,” said Toroque. He already knew the Toyota was not going to be acceptable—the fender was bashed and it barely ran—but he hoped an alternative would occur to him. Perhaps they would settle for one of the pickups he had.

“This vehicle, you know, is for sale,” he said. “For a very good price, I could give it to you.”

“It is very nice,” said Nuri. “But not really what we’re looking for.”

“A little paint—I have a brother-in-law who could paint this very nice.”

“Let’s see the Toyota.”

They did, and it was just as Toroque had expected—too old, too undependable, and too small besides. But inspiration struck as they walked through the gravel parking lot toward the Land Rover, which was an even older vehicle. He might not have a suitable vehicle, but a friend of his did: two in fact.

“Land Cruisers,” he offered when Nuri frowned at the beat-up SUV. “Jet black. Purchased by a movie company and left here.”

“Left?” asked Nuri.

“That is the story. Perhaps they did not pay the right bill. In any event, you can have them very cheap.”

“Let’s see them,” said Da

Nuri suspected that the cars were stolen, though the story that Toroque told was in fact true—a movie company had shipped them into Ethiopia about a year before, pla

“I hope it is settled soon,” said the owner of the warehouse where they were stored. “I am owed a fortune in back rent for storage.”

Despite the fact that they had been hidden under tarps for several months, the glossy black surface of the SUVs shone. Da

“Then what do I do?” he asked. “Tell them they are getting a wash?”

“If that works,” said Nuri.

“Perhaps we should have some tea,” suggested Toroque.

They worked out a lease agreement, with Nuri having to post what amounted to a bond in case they failed to return the vehicles. The amount was high enough that Da

Deal done, tea finished, Nuri and Da

“Will we get that deposit back?” asked Da

“Sure,” said Nuri. “As long as we bring the trucks back. They’ll argue us down a little, there’ll be some fee no one mentioned. But in the end they’re more or less honest.”

“Honest? He just leased two trucks he didn’t own.”

“That’s if the story is true.”

“If it’s not, they’re stolen.”

“They’re honest enough,” insisted Nuri.

“And they trust us?”

“Sure.”

Toroque suspected that Nuri was CIA, and if he wasn’t CIA, then surely he was an arms dealer. Either way, he could be expected to hold true to his word.

Their next stop was a veritable arms supermarket, situated at an abandoned railroad station on the north side of the city. No wares were displayed there. The dealers, about a half a dozen middle-aged men, sat at small folding tables, waiting for customers and playing dice. While a demonstration could always be arranged, no merchandise was displayed, and browsers were very much frowned on. The dealers assumed the people who came in knew what they wanted and were prepared to buy. No one would try and steal a customer from another. If a dealer a customer had worked with before was out, the others would tell him he had to return the next day. New customers were assigned according to a rotation worked out among the men themselves. If the first man in the rotation did not have what the buyer was looking for, he would be referred to the next in line, and so on until satisfied.