van.
‘I don’t like this,’ Warren said. ‘These guys look like kids.’
‘Stay cool,’ Jack said. He rolled his window down. ‘Hi, guys. Nice day,
huh?’
The soldiers didn’t move. Their blank expressions didn’t change.
Jack was about to ask them kindly to open the gate, when a fourth man
stepped out into the sunlight. To Jack’s surprise, this man was pulling
on a black suit jacket over a white shirt and tie. In the middle of the
steaming jungle it was absurd. The other surprising thing was that the
man wasn’t black. He was Arab.
‘Can I help you?’ the Arab asked. His tone was not friendly.
‘I hope so,’ Jack said. ‘We’re here to visit Cogo.’
The Arab glanced at the windshield of the vehicle, presumably looking
for some identification. Not seeing it, he asked Jack if he had a pass.
‘No pass,’ Jack admitted. ‘We’re just a couple of doctors interested in
the work that’s going on here.’
‘What is your name?’ the Arab asked.
‘Dr. Jack Stapleton. I’ve come all the way from New York City.’
‘Just a minute,’ the Arab said before disappearing back into the gate
house.
‘This doesn’t look good,’ Jack said to Warren out of the corner of his
mouth. He smiled at the soldiers. ‘How much should I offer him? I’m not
good at this bribing stuff.’
‘Money must mean a lot more here than it does in New York,’ Warren said.
‘Why don’t you overwhelm him with a hundred dollars. I mean, if it’s
worth it to you.’
Jack mentally converted a hundred dollars into French francs, then
extracted the bills from his money belt. A few minutes later, the Arab
returned.
‘The manager says that he does not know you and that you are not
welcome,’ the Arab said.
‘Shucks,’ Jack said. Then he extended his left hand with the French
francs casually stuck between his index finger and his ring finger. ‘We
sure do appreciate your help.’
The Arab eyed the money for a moment before reaching out and taking it.
It disappeared into his pocket in the blink of an eye.
Jack stared at him for a moment, but the man didn’t move. Jack found it
difficult to read his expression because the man’s mustache obscured his
mouth.
Jack turned to Warren. ‘Didn’t I give him enough?’
Warren shook his head. ‘I don’t think it’s going to happen.’
‘You mean he just took my money and that’s that?’ Jack asked.
‘Be my guess,’ Warren said.
Jack turned his attention back to the man in the black suit. Jack
estimated he was about a hundred and fifty pounds, definitely on the
thin side. For a moment Jack entertained the idea of getting out of the
car and asking for his money back, but a glance at the soldiers made him
think otherwise.
With a sigh of resignation Jack did a three-point turn and headed back
the way they’d come.
‘Phew!’ Laurie said from the backseat. ‘I did not like that one bit.’
‘You didn’t like it?’ Jack questioned. ‘Now I’m pissed.’
‘What’s plan B?’ Warren asked.
Jack explained about his idea of approaching Cogo by boat from
Acalayong. He had Warren look at the map. Given how long it had taken
them to get where they were, he asked Warren to estimate how long it
would take to get to Acalayong.
‘I’d say three hours,’ Warren said. ‘As long as the road stays good. The
problem is we have to backtrack quite a way before heading south.’
Jack glanced at his watch. It was almost nine a.m. ‘That means we’d get
there about noon. I’d judged we could get from Acalayong to Cogo in an
hour, even in the world’s slowest boat. Say we stay in Cogo for a couple
hours. I think we’d still get back at a reasonable hour. What do you
guys say?’
‘I’m cool,’ Warren said.
Jack looked in the rearview mirror. ‘I could take you ladies back to
Bata and come back tomorrow.’
‘My only reservation about any of us going is those soldiers with the
assault rifles,’ Laurie said.
‘I don’t think that’s a problem,’ Jack said. ‘If they have soldiers at
the gate then they don’t need them in the town. Of course there’s always