‘You mean, his bitch.’
Arlen looked pained.
‘Hey, you let the anti-PC cat out of the bag, pal.’
The look didn’t waver.
‘So who’s the lucky girl this week?’ I continued.
‘Leila.’
‘The Leila?’
‘The one and only.’
Leila was the star of the moment. You couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing her, the radio without hearing her, or go to a newsstand without her pouting back at you from half a dozen magazine covers. I gathered she was originally from Cuba and of mixed parentage — a black Cuban father and Argentine mother. Or maybe it was the other way round. She was the color of honey and very tall and, unless it was all done with retouching, had eyes that burned like fire opals under lights. I’d read somewhere that Twenny Fo and Leila had met in the singles bar for celebrities — rehab. I caught a few of her music videos from time to time, and they seemed to focus on the fact that her ass was double-jointed.
I wanted to ask what she was doing with a deadhead like Twenny Fo, aside from the usual reason: that he had money. He also had a cabinet full of awards and one of them was bloodstained. Instead I asked, ‘So what’s the mission? And who’s heading it up?
‘The officer in charge will be a lieutenant colonel by the name of Blair Travis, from Africa Command out of Stuttgart, Germany. His background is Air Force public relations. He’s on the AFRICOM Major Command team. His role will purely be liaison — shake hands, smooth the way, remove the red M&Ms. Security issues will be deferred to you. Those issues will, of course, take priority over all others. As for the mission profile, it’s perfectly straightforward. You’ll meet everyone in Kigali, brief them on the security arrangements at the airport and—’
‘And what are the security arrangements?’ I asked, interrupting him.
‘I was getting to those. By security arrangements, I mean the way you like to do things. There’ll be helicopter transport at Kigali provided by the UN. It’ll take you to Cyangugu, which is on the Rwandan side of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Everything’s arranged. The entertainers will entertain, and then you’ll fly back home the following morning. Easy.’
‘Long way to go for a single concert.’
Arlen shrugged. ‘Ours is not to reason why…’
‘Cyana-what-what? Never heard of it,’ I said.
‘Cyangugu. It’s an AFRICOM base. One of those nice Kornfak & Greene communities we love so much.’
K&G was a preferred DoD contractor. They didn’t ask questions and charged extra for it. K&G mostly built stuff where a lot of killing took place, or very soon would. Mercenary ops with deniability were another specialty.
‘Who are we training there?’ I asked.
‘Remnants of the CNDP, otherwise known as the National Congress for the Defense of the People.’
‘With a name like that, I bet the only thing they defend is their own interests.’
‘They’re our allies.’
‘I rest my case.’
‘A lot of the fighters in the CNDP are renegades from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s armed forces — the DRC is Rwanda’s neighbor. We’re doing what we can to stop the violence and reintegrate members of the CNDP back into the Congo’s army.’
‘Who’s on the team?’ I asked. ‘Anyone I know?’
‘Special Agent Ryder and—’
‘Lieutenant Duke Ryder?’
‘Captain. Just pinned on his bars.’
‘Captain Ryder, eh? Nice to see you’re putting our best people on this.’
I knew Ryder and what I knew about him was that Mr and Mrs Glutt, his parents, named him Duane Junior, and that on his twenty-first birthday he went down to city hall and changed his name to Duke Ryder ‘ ’cause it sounded like a po-leece show’. His words. Next stop was a desk at the USAF recruitment center. I had nothing against Ryder personally but the word on the street wasn’t exactly glowing.
Arlen sighed wearily. ‘Don’t give me any grief. Duke went to college with Leila’s makeup artist.’
‘And here I was thinking the guy was just ballast.’
‘You’re being difficult,’ Arlen yawned, reaching for another look at Miss July.
‘You’re making difficult easy.’
‘I promise you this’ll be a milk run.’
I gave an internal shrug. I could think of worse things to do, and most of them were in Afghanistan, which I seemed to be leaving behind for a while at least.
‘Two experienced US Army PSOs from SOCOM will be joining you. They’ll be on the aircraft with the principals.’ Arlen leaned forward and flicked through some paperwork. ‘Their names are Cy Cassidy, a sergeant major, and Sergeant First Class Michael West. You’re also getting a Brit Special Air Service sergeant by the name of Lex Rutherford who has been working with SOCOM. Those names ring any bells?’
I shook my head. I didn’t know them personally though I’d had some prior contact with the British Special Air Service and I’d worked with SOCOM — Special Operations Command — serving in Kosovo and Afghanistan with their people. Both were tough, well-trained outfits. I wondered how they’d feel about taking orders from an ‘Air Force puke’.
Arlen must have seen something of this in my face. ‘Don’t worry, Duke will keep ’em in line.’
‘I’m sure he will,’ I said drily. ‘Who else is in the party besides the principals?’
‘Well, Leila apparently doesn’t travel without her makeup artist.’
‘Who does?’
‘She’s also bringing her stylist and fitness trainer. Twenny Fo has his three “bloods” — his words. Apparently they can handle themselves.’
‘Let’s hope in private.’
‘Both stars want to bring their personal assistants, and Twenny Fo has hired a film crew to capture the event for his fans. There are also four dancers and half a dozen sound and light technicians, who stage the show.’
‘Who’s bringing the kitchen sink?’
‘Yeah. We’ve asked both stars to keep it to the bare essentials. The principal doesn’t know it yet, but the movie has bitten the dust; the people at AFRICOM don’t want cameras rolling down there. And, as we speak, the PAs are having their visas denied by the Rwandan government. We’ve also had them cut back on the number of dancers and technicians.’
‘That’s still a lot of folks to protect for four PSOs and one Duke Ryder.’
‘More resources will be made available to you at Cyangugu.’
‘What’s the security situation like in Rwanda? Weren’t they all killing each other not so long ago?’
‘That was back in the mid-nineties, when the Hutu majority decided the world would be a better place without the Tutsis, their traditional enemy. The Tutsis convinced the Hutus otherwise and today Rwanda is in reasonable shape. There are echoes of this conflict across the border in the DRC — the Congo’s the problem child these days. Too much wealth there for its own good.’
I yawned.
‘I’m not feeling the love, Vin. You’ve got to admit this beats the crap out of getting shot up by the Taliban.’
‘Okay, I’ll admit it, but it sounds thrown together.’
‘The concerts have been in development for a while. The call to have you lead the PSO team is the only thrown-together detail. You can thank your snap-happy pal Fallon for that.’
‘So I’m meeting everyone in Kigali,’ I said, going with the flow.
‘Kigali airport.’
‘And when does this happen?’
‘You’re taking the C-17 I came in on. Go get your toothbrush. It’s leaving in about…’ Arlen checked his wristwatch and gave himself a surprise. ‘Shit! You need to hurry — forty-five minutes from now. A car is waiting for you outside.’