Parker nodded back at him, then looked at Gonor again. “So you went from Hoskins to Karns,” he said.
“Our searching in the underworld brought us to Mr Karns’s attention,” Gonor said. “He sent emissaries to question us, then met with me himself, and finally suggested you. He said we could trust you but that we might have difficulty persuading you to work for us. Particularly if you had worked recently and didn’t need the money.”
“I don’t need the money,” Parker said.
Gonor pursed his lips. “Unfortunate,” he said. “Still, we can only try to persuade you.”
Parker turned to Claire. “Do you want to hear this?”
“I don’t mind,” she said. “Mr Gonor’s different.”
He knew she meant that Gonor didn’t smell to her of violence. Violence was what frightened her, violence and the possibility of violence, which was why she didn’t want to be around when Parker was planning or working on a caper, didn’t want to hear about the details, didn’t want to know where Parker was going when he left on a job. Gonor wasn’t the kind of man Parker usually worked with so she didn’t think of him in connection with violence, but Parker knew she was wrong. Gonor might not be the right type for it, but now he was involved in something with the sharp metallic taste of violence all over it and he wanted Parker to get involved in it too.
But it wasn’t up to him to talk her into leaving. He shrugged and said to Gonor, “All right, go ahead.”
“Fine,” said Gonor. But then, instead of talking, he turned away and began to pace, looking down at his feet as they touched the carpet. Pacing, looking down, he said, “Have you ever heard of Dhaba?”
“No.”
Gonor nodded as he paced, as though it was the answer he’d expected. “Dhaba,” he said, “is a nation. On the continent of Africa. Thirty-four months old on the first of April.”
“I never heard of it,” Parker said.
Formutesca, with that sardonic smile on his face again, said, “The world is full of little countries, Mr Parker. Togo, for instance. Upper Volta. Mauritania. Gabon. Mali. You don’t hear of them unless they’re involved in a war or a revolution. Like Yemen, or Nigeria.”
Gonor said, “So far, Dhaba has had a peaceful life and has not appeared on the front pages of the world’s newspapers. Unfortunately, that is soon to change.”
Parker glanced at Claire, but she was watching Gonor with interest. So far it didn’t mean anything to her.
Gonor said, “I have the honor to represent my country at the United Nations. Mr Formutesca here, and the other two you met, are part of the mission staff. Our nation is led by Colonel Joseph Lubudi.”
“Uh huh,” said Parker.
Gonor glanced at him. “You have heard of the Colonel?”
Parker said, “Hoskins mentioned a colonel. He didn’t give the name.”
“What did he say about the Colonel?”
“That he wouldn’t leave with less than a million.”
Gonor looked displeased, but Formutesca laughed, saying, “Hoskins has an inflated view of our economy.”
Parker said, “Every once in a while I read in the paper where the head of some little country raids the country’s treasury and takes off to the Riviera. Is that what we’ve got here?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Gonor nodded and started his pacing again. “The Colonel has already made his raid,” he said, “but he has not as yet joined his money overseas.”
“The money’s out of the country?”
Formutesca, his smile grim, said, “It’s in New York.”
“And where’s the Colonel?”
“Still in Tchidanga,” Gonor said, and explained, “our capital. He is not entirely trusted, and if he were to attempt abruptly to leave the country he would probably be hung from a handy lamppost.”
“We have lampposts in Tchidanga,” Formutesca said. “We’re very proud of them.”
Gonor said something to him in that other language, quick and quiet, and Formutesca suddenly looked sheepish. In English Gonor said, “Happily, we learned about our Colonel’s plans in time. Dhaba will be three years old on the first of June, and ostensibly in celebration of that fact Colonel Lubudi intends to travel to New York and address the United Nations.”
“They’ll let him out of the country then?”
“He won’t be traveling alone,” Gonor said dryly. “And you can be assured his luggage will be thoroughly searched, perhaps several times.”
Claire said, “Would the Colonel put up with something like that?”
Formutesca told her, “None of it will be happening out in the open.”
“On the surface,” Gonor explained, “we are all very happy and trusting toward one another.”
Claire said, “Why?”
“Foreign investment,” said Formutesca.
“European and American business concerns,” Gonor said, “tend to pull out of African nations at the first hint of trouble. Which is only natural.”
“Not only is insurrection hard on factory buildings and equipment,” Formutesca added, “but revolutionary governments tend to nationalize everything they can get their hands on.
“Whatever we do,” Gonor said, “must therefore be done with utmost discretion. None of us dares hint in public that we mistrust our president. None of us dares make a public move to stop his preparations for retirement at national expense. We can only try to learn his plans and keep them from happening.”
Parker said, “His money’s in New York. If I’m the specialist you’re looking for, you want someone to steal the money back for you.”
“Not exactly,” Gonor said, “but very close. We didn’t merely want a thief; we wouldn’t ask a thief to take the risks of safeguarding our national honor for us.”
Parker nodded. “Besides, he might not turn it over to you when he got it.”
“Also a possibility,” Gonor said. “So what we have been looking for is a planner, the sort of individual who organizes large-scale robberies.”
Parker said, “You want me to plan the job?”
“Yes.”
“And who does it, once I plan it?”
Gonor gestured at himself and at Formutesca. “We do. Four of us from the mission.”
“Have you ever done anything like it before? Any of you?”
Gonor shook his head. “No. But we are willing to learn.”
“You’re amateurs who”
There was a knock at the door. Parker saw Gonor and Formutesca tense. He turned and opened the door, and it was the other two. They came in quickly and one of them spoke to Gonor, who shook his head.
Parker said, “Gone?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“He scares easy,” Parker said. “That’s the second time today.”
“Hoskins is a cautious man,” Gonor said.
“So am I,” said Parker. “And so far I don’t like what you’re up to.”
Gonor frowned. “Why not?”
“You want me to train you to do something you don’t have any experience at. You’ve gone around talking loose talk to a lot of wrong people, telling bees all about this pot of honey you know about. So there’s Hoskins buzzing around, there’s this other bunch buzzing around who are they, anyway?”
“I’m not sure,” Gonor said. “They trouble me, in fact. Three white men? Unless they are from Karns
but I don’t believe Karns would have sent me to you and then sent others to tell you not to help me.”
“They had accents,” Parker said. “Faint accents, maybe something like yours.”
Formutesca said something, very fast. The other two looked excited and said things. Gonor shook his head, looking angry, and snapped something back at them. Then he turned away, saying, “I don’t like his being involved.”
“Who?” Parker said.
“General Goma,” said Formutesca.
“Yes,” said Gonor. He turned back to Parker. “You see,” he said, “Dhaba was formed from parts of two former colonies. There were certain white factions who wanted to retain control through front men, primarily through General Goma, who was the other candidate in our first election. But Goma’s connection with the whites became known and he was defeated.”