‘Who?’
‘Arnold Kimbela? Local warlord. I checked up on him later, too. He was originally the leader of a Mobutuist rebel faction, but then he went on to gain control of this huge mineral-rich territory in the east, which he now runs as a sort of de facto state. All mining contracts and land sales there have to go through him. He also has an iron grip on the local population. Torture, rape, mutilation, whatever. At its best it’s a form of indentured labour, and at its worst… I don’t know. When First Continental was running the mine there, at Buenke, it wasn’t anything like that, it was a proper mine, so…’
Jimmy swallows. What?
‘So. I don’t know,’ Conway goes on. ‘Apparently he’s a very smart guy, from a rich background, educated in Belgium and all of that. What can I say?’ He shrugs it off. ‘But look, the point is, Bonacci seemed to get more and more puzzled at the idea of a company like BRX wanting to buy a copper mine, and in that particular location. BRX is a private company, he said, and very secretive, so that sort of information doesn’t usually get out. Which is when I realised I should have kept my mouth shut. I toyed with the idea of letting Clark Rundle know what I’d done, but I decided against it. I chickened out, basically. I should have told him, though.’ He pauses. ‘Because that might have…’ He looks away, shaking his head.
Jimmy glances down, and sees the notebook in his hand. He isn’t taking any notes. Should he be? Where’s his pen? How’s he going to remember all of this?
Shut up.
Conway looks back. ‘Anyway, at that point Bonacci’s attention was very much divided between me and Susie, and of course Susie won out, especially as she started flirting with him, and pretty outrageously. The reason for this was because her ex-fiancé, Gary Lynch, who she was more or less stalking, had appeared in the bar and she was trying to get his attention. She even left with Bonacci, though no one seems to know how far that went. One thing is certain, though, she was doing a lot of coke. What’s also undisputed is that Bonacci spent most of the next day trailing along behind her like a lovesick puppy. Now I didn’t see any of this. I was off in a conference room with my solicitor poring over the contract. But what also must have happened during the day, at some point, and which nobody saw, was that Susie and Bonacci broke into – or somehow inveigled their way into – Clark Rundle’s room and went through his papers. Rundle said later on that his stuff had been disturbed, that certain things had been moved. No one can know now, but what seems likely or at least possible is that Bonacci shot his mouth off to Susie about BRX and the mine, maybe trying to impress her, maybe genuinely concerned about it, and that Susie, crazy bitch that she was, suggested they both go and find out more. Sneak into Rundle’s room. It’d be a hoot. Come on. Carpe fucking diem.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘Now this probably isn’t the sort of thing Bonacci would have done in a million years, but there he is, who knows, maybe coked out of it himself, and with this gorgeous woman egging him on, going, have you no balls? I have. Come on.’
Conway stops, stares ahead, seems to be considering what he’s just said, trying it out for size. He looks back at Jimmy. ‘Maybe that’s not how it was, not exactly, but it fits. It explains what happened later.’
Jimmy nods. He’s reluctant to open his mouth, in case this stops.
He nods again, hoping it will act as a prompt.
‘In the meantime,’ Conway says after a while, ‘I was still locked away with my solicitor, but I had this great idea. I decided to get on the phone to Larry Bolger and persuade him to come down to the conference, swing by for an hour or two, show his face. It was a Saturday, he was due in Cork anyway for a thing that evening, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. I’d done a lot of favours for Larry over the years, and this wasn’t asking much. I figured if I could be seen hanging out with the prime minister, introducing him around, it’d strengthen my negotiating position with BRX. So after a bit of cajoling Larry agrees. He shows up around six o’clock and before you know it we’re all sitting at a table in the main dining room – me, Larry, Clark Rundle, James Vaughan and this other character, Don Ribcoff. There’s minimal security, just a couple of guys on the door, and the atmosphere is very relaxed, very congenial. Larry and Vaughan, it transpires, have met before and have plenty to talk about. I’m going over some figures with Rundle, and for those few moments, sitting there at that table, I feel brilliant. I mean, think about it, with James Vaughan beside me I’m one degree of separation from John F. Kennedy. It’s amazing. I feel like I’m a player, like I’ve arrived or something, and this is just the beginning.’ He exhales loudly. ‘What a joke.’ He looks away again.
Jimmy waits. Then can’t wait any longer. ‘What happened?’
‘What happened? We’re all there, in the middle of our various conversations, when Gianni Bonacci arrives into the dining room and walks right up to our table. He says his name, that he’s with the UN Corporate Affairs Commission and then he slaps a piece of paper down in front of Clark Rundle and in the space of time it takes for the two guys on the door to get over and grab him he says, Thanaxite? You’ve found thanaxite in eastern Congo? And you’re going to be extracting it? Does anyone know about this? Then he bangs his fist on the table and says, We need to talk. And that’s it. They drag him off.’ Conway clears his throat. ‘Was Susie there in the background, hovering outside? I don’t know, maybe she was, I can’t remember, I didn’t see, but what I do remember is the shockwave of panic around that table, Jesus Christ, it was palpable. Rundle was as white as a ghost. He grabbed the piece of paper, looked at it and then flung it at Ribcoff. From what I could see it was a printout of a photo, probably taken on a mobile phone – a photo of a document. I didn’t see what was on it, but I didn’t need to, we’d all heard what Bonacci said. Anyway, it was the strangest thing, over the next minute or two, no more, Larry and I just sat there, frozen, not even daring to look at each other, as this desperate, whispered conversation took place between Rundle, Vaughan and Ribcoff. I don’t know if it was blind panic on their part, or… or contempt for us, but it was as if we weren’t even there. Vaughan asked how Bonacci had gotten a hold of this information, and Rundle said that didn’t matter now, Jesus, because the situation had to be contained, and immediately. Ribcoff started to say he’d look into it, but Rundle said no, looking into it was for later, right now this little fucker, whoever he was, had to be stopped, he had to be prevented from causing any further damage. Ribcoff put his hands up and said, fine, tell me what to do, and Rundle said, whatever you have to… clean him out first, bleach him, and then… whatever, but don’t make it obvious, don’t make it about him, he’s UN for Christ’s sake, I don’t know, cause a diversion, some sort of distraction. There was a silence and then Ribcoff said right, and left the table. After another tense pause, Rundle looked at both me and Larry and said, Gentlemen, listen, I’m really sorry about this… but before he could get any further, more security arrived and there was a bit of a flurry and Larry was whisked away and then Vaughan got up and left as well…’