Chapter 18

“What I am about to tell you will probably be a shock to your system, and you will be the second person outside of Interpol to get the case details,” Joe said. Don sat unmoving, his pipe dead between his fingers.

“Who was the first to get the info, I mean?” Don asked.

“The Angels. First, Mai-Loan, then she activated the other Angels: Leah, Olivia, Darya, and Nadia,” Joe said. “The Angels are my ace up my sleeve.”

“I’ll get us more coffee,” Mai-Loan said, got up, and walked into the house.

“Let me begin by introducing you to a guy called Joseph Rao Kony,” Joe said, and shifted in his chair, getting more comfortable. “Joseph Kony, estimated to be about fifty-eight years old, born somewhere north of 1961, is known as a Ugandan insurgent. He was born as a member of the Acholi tribe. He never finished elementary school. Thus, you can gauge his intelligence.”

“During the 1970s and 80s, the Ugandan Government seriously abused the Acholi tribe. Oppressed them, you could say. Joseph hated this and wanted to sort of save the Acholi from this oppression. He became an opposer to the government and tried to oppose them in any way he could. He formed the Lord’s Resistance Army, which was about 3000 men strong at some stage,” Joe took out another cigarette and lit it.

Placing the lighter back in his pocket, Joe continued, “Kony and his gang, army, whatever, started a reign of terror in the northern district of Kitgum of Uganda. That was a sort of safe haven for them, with no interference from the Ugandan government. The region was under Sudanese control, as Sudan claimed that corner of Uganda.” Joe blew out smoke while Don just sat there looking at him. “He went ahead unchecked, murdering, plundering, and raping the girls in the region. Soon he came into possession of some ivory tusks.”

“So, to finance his operations against the Ugandan government, he needed funds, plenty of funds. He soon realized that by aiding the ivory smuggling out of Africa, he could make enough money to finance his operations.”

“So this guy is the main peanut in the packet?” Don asked.

“No, not by a long shot. He is only one of the players on the field. Let me explain it to you. The ivory trade has got a few little things that make it work. You have source hubs, consolidation hubs, transit hubs, export hubs, and consumer hubs.” Joe explained.

“Sounds like you want to make it into a commercial enterprise,” Don said, relighting his pipe.

Just then Mai-Loan came back to the patio, holding a tray with coffee mugs. “I’ll just place it here, you can help yourselves,” she said, placing the tray on the low coffee table and sitting down on the couch next to Don.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Don said, and Mai-Loan then knew that Don was not mad at her for keeping the arrangement between her and Joe a secret. She placed a hand on Don’s knee and smiled up at him.

“Where was I?” Joe asked.” Oh, yes. You are correct, Don; this whole thing is a commercial enterprise. There’s big money to be made. Okay, your consumption countries, are the likes of China, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. These are the ones that pay the top dollar for the ivory.”

“The ivory is exported through a few ports on the African continent. You’ll be surprised, but those ports are Cape Town, Durban, Maputo, Beira, Pemba, and Zanzibar. Those ports export to the Middle East, Asia, China or Japan, and those are only the eastern export hubs. There are still the western export hubs, that export via Luanda, Kinshasa, and Cape Town. They export mainly to Europe and the USA. With the USA now closed to Ivory, the Europe hub is more of a transit station in Spain, the ivory ending up mainly in Asia and the East.”

“So the ivory always ends up in Asia, China, Japan, and the Middle East?” Don asked.

“Yes,” Joe said.

“God, how many elephants do they kill?” Don asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Mai-Loan said. “It’s a wonder there are still elephants left in Africa.”

“And you say this ... what’s his name ... Joseph guy, is the main mac of the bunch?”

“No. He’s the only one known to us, now at this stage. There are plenty more. If you look at the routes this ivory takes, you’ll be surprised at whom all are involved. Kony is only the tip of the iceberg.”

“So? What are we doing, and how does the place in Botswana tie into it all?” Don asked.

“I am glad you said, ‘WE,’ because I can make use of you and your crew,” Joe said. “I even have the blessing of my general. He thinks you are an asset. A deniable asset.”

“Oh, thank you for the vote of confidence. If we help, I think my ‘crew’ would like to be paid.” Don said. Mai-Loan smirked.

“Oh Don, where’s your sense of patriotism, your sense of caring for the elephants?” Joe asked.

“My Buccaneer and Dave’s Impala don’t run on patriotism, but on A1-Jet,” Don retorted, “and that stuff is expensive!”

“The place in Botswana was the consolidation and transit hub for South African, Botswana, and Zimbabwe ivory. Your little ‘air show’ took that hub out, vaporizing it before we could get any useful information.” Joe said.

“Okay, now WE, Dave and I, are the pigs in the fairy tale?” Don said. “Remember, Dave got shot and nearly lost his helicopter. Mai-Loan and I nearly got taken out by a fifty-year-old missile. And we are the pigs, while we only responded to a call of help from the Botswana government.”

“No, not at all. A little setback, but not a problem. That place in Botswana was just the only consolidation and transit hub near our border.” Joe said. “That’s why I decided to come clean and tell you. So, next time you get a ‘Security Task’ somewhere in Africa, we can be on the same page and coordinate things.”

“So you were alerted that something was up when I came and asked for satellite coverage?”

“Yes,” Joe said. “And Mai-Loan pulled a mushroom on me too; gave me nothing, just her ‘I don’t know yet.’ crap.”

Mai-Loan giggled.

“Joe, don’t you think that Dave needs to know all this? Don asked.

“Yes, I suppose we could tell him. But no hero stuff until we get all the information and stuff together and verified.” Joe directed. “To tell the truth, all this is all over the internet. Even some hero bragging about making a fake ivory tusk with a hidden GPS inside!”

“That was like a one-off thing. The fake tusk was so good that it fooled everyone. He himself got arrested with it; that’s how good it was. Now he blurted it out to the world, and there goes our chance to use that same technology to stop a few more criminals.”

“Men and their egos,” Mai-Loan said softly.

“I’ll tell Dave to contact you. You can give him the dope, as you know much more than you told me.” Don said.

“Yes, good idea. I’ll tell Dave. Maybe he won’t treat me like trash, like last time.”

“You just caught him at a bad time. He is a really nice guy, good to have as a friend.” Don said. “I’ll smooth things over with him, and you two can meet.”

“Good. Let’s talk about Tracy’s birthday party and what would she like as a present.” Joe requested.

“Shush! Keep it down, Joe”, Mai-Loan interrupted, “It’s a surprise. Just now little Miss Muffet can hear you.”

“The last thing,” Joe said. “The stuff we had followed was to go to Japan. Well, it turned out to be going to China instead. We suspect a certain Japanese businessman to be involved. His son is in our country at the moment. He and four other Japanese guys are staying at a hotel in Johannesburg.”

“Jo’burg, but there is no ivory or elephants there, except maybe the ones in the zoo,” Don said.

Mai-Loan, unobserved by either Joe or Don, went slightly pale. It looks like the Japanese have found a lead back to them. It could be nothing, but coincidence or not, the Angels need to be on their toes.

(Dave’s Place, a short hop from Don’s.)

With the sun just peeking out over the far hills, I sat at my desk in my study catching up with some outstanding emails. Pete was still running the show out at Wonderboom, so I had some downtime at hand.

The girls were up and around, exploring. Lucy was giving them the tour of the yard. Not much to explore; not like Don’s place, with horses and stuff. They were pleased to find a half Olympic-sized pool out in back of the house.

All kinds of plans were made to fully utilize the pool, and a lot of giggling and laughter filtered in through my open window. It was good to see Lisa behaving like a schoolgirl with the other two younger girls. The bond between them was growing stronger by the day. Maybe it did not predict anything good for my health and sanity, but who cares? The three girls have brought life back to this otherwise dull place. Even Lydia, my housekeeper, approved of the girls.

“Thought you got ONE to make my life miserable, now you added TWO more! Do they come in pairs up north?” But she said it with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.

I was about to close my laptop when a mail dinged in. I opened the mail and read:

“Misters Granger and Lambert.

I sat back in my chair. Well, seems like Don has started the ball rolling. I saw that mail also, the one Don sent to them. I called Don.

“Hey there, Dave. You’ve seen the mail?” Don asked in greeting.

“Sure as hell, I did. What are you getting us into?”

“Getting us a Hercules. You want one, don’t you?”

“Gee buddy, you seem to be eager to get a heart attack. That thing is like Nadia and Tracy rolled into one, with Darya as a sidekick, urging them on!” I said, and Don laughed.

“Fun, ain’t it? Let’s go for it!”

“When?” I asked.

“Now is a good time. I’ll call him and make an appointment, then we fly over and go look-see.”

“Fly into ORT! You’re crazy. Let’s drive over,” I said.

“You wanna sit in traffic for two hours? No, we’ll fly.” He responded.

“You wanna make an entrance! PC-12, PC-24, or Buccaneer?” I asked.

“Nah, the five-thirty will do, but now that you mention it...”

“And I am the hopeless comedian,” I sighed.

“Life’s a journey, enjoy the ride!”

“Yeah, and throw in a few barrel rolls and a loop or two...”

“FUN!” Don said and disconnected.

Just then Nadia walked into my study, dressed in a mini skirt and tank top! The Mona Lisa pales in comparison.

“Looks like you saw a ghost! What’s troubling my friend?” She asked, placing her arm over my shoulder. “Come, let me soothe you some. I see you’ve got ice cream in the freezer and there’s that green fizzy cool drink in the fridge.”

I looked at this redhead vision before me. Life is going at a thousand kilometres an hour. A roller coaster ride, and I can’t get off! Well, I’ll just have to stick with it.

“Yeah, ice cream floats. Let’s get ice cream floats.” I said as I stood up.

“Good! It’ll do for now. But tonight, it’s MY snuggle time...” Nadia smiled, fluttered her eyelashes, taking my hand she pulled me towards the kitchen. “Now! Ice cream soda floats.” Giggle.

Catch me, catch me if you can ... Looks like I caught three! Tonight, Nadia wants to snuggle. The girls are taking turns. First Lisa, sweet, innocent, Doctor Lisa proved to be NOT so innocent.

Then Lucy, sweet innocent sixteen-year-old Lucy, who’s still innocent, sweet Lucy. Smooches and kisses to start a forest fire. Washing her back, now that was fun with a giggling, wiggling, soapy teen. Giggles and laughter while I washed those small, cony, A-cup bumps, that would soon become some beautiful titties. The snuggling was fun too. Kissing those red lips and the roaming hands ... But that was all.

Now Nadia wants to snuggle. Oh, Boy! Where is this going? What’s that stuff called, the stuff made by Pfizer? Should I ask Doctor Lisa, or ... not?

What do they say? It never rains but pours. Yeah, looked like Nadia and I were not the only ones that wanted soda floats. Lisa and Lucy, upon seeing the floats being prepared, pitched in as well. A lot of giggling and laughter going on.

“I want to go into town if you don’t mind,” Lisa announced while slurping the last morsel of ice cream float out her glass. “Hey! This stuff calls for slurping,” she said as we all looked at her.

“Well, she just tried what those little baby elephants did with their built-in straws!” Lucy giggled.

I snorted and Nadia laughed. Lisa just smiled.

“You need me? Going to town, that is.” I asked Lisa. “Don and I would like to pop over to OR Tambo International, to look at that Hercules we want to purchase. We’ll fly with Don’s five-thirty and be back around two, or two-thirty.

“Always need you along, but I’m a big girl, and you can go on with what you planned. Lucy and Nadia can come with me.”

“Yeah, okay, but go to the Kolonnade Mall, in Montana. Stay out of Pretoria-north. I don’t like that place,” I said.

“A little further, but yes, good idea. There’s more variety under one roof.” Lisa said. “Besides, parking this new monster of mine is still a little dicey.”

“Oh, come off it, Lisa. That bakkie of yours drives like a dream. Light on the steering.” I said.

“Yes, it’s true, very light on the steering. The old one did not have power steering, this one does. I’m still thinking of turning in somewhere, and it turns as if reading my mind!” Lisa laughed. The girls got up to go, and I gave Lucy a credit card.

“Keep it at a thousand bucks or less, okay?” I whispered into her ear.

“Thanks, Dave. You know I appreciate this. Someday when I have money of my own, I promise to make it up to you.” And she reached up and kissed me on the cheek.

“Aww, how sweet,” Nadia said. Lisa just looked at us and smiled.

“Get going. You have a long drive to do,” I said. “And be good. Look after Nadia.”

“Why? She can look after herself.” Lucy said.

“Well, dressed like that, she’s bound to be kidnapped by a modelling agency,” I said, and got swatted on the head by both Lisa and Lucy. “Ouch!”

But I did collect a hug and a kiss from Nadia. “Thanks, Dave, a nice compliment.”

“You need anything? Something we can get you, while we’re out and about?” Lisa asked.

“Nah, I’m good. But try not to stay away too long. I might get into mischief with you not here,” I said.

“Aww, we’re going to miss you too,” Lisa said, came over, and gave me a kiss that could peel paint off the house walls, followed by catcalls from Lucy and Nadia.

The girls left, and I went back to doing some paper stuff in my study. Yes, all is not emails and fax-to-mail. There are still things to do on paper, like doing a grocery list. There are things needed in the kitchen; food, sweets, coffee, you name it.

Lisa said that she wanted to drive past the Onderstepoort Veterinary Hospital and University of Pretoria Veterinary campus to show Lucy and Nadia where she started her studies. I suppose she will then not take the hi-way, but drive along the secondary road and link up with Lavender Road, the one I use when I go to Wonderboom airport. She’ll be fine; she knows the area.

My cell rang and I looked at the display. Pete. Wonder what’s up.

“Hi there. Are you getting lonesome?” I asked.