Apparently, the hotel employee at the desk wasn’t a geography maven, because he didn’t even blink at my passport. I had already made up a “legend,” a cover for why I don’t speak Dutch, or why I was so much lighter than my supposed countrymen, not looking like the citizens of Dutch Guiana-now Suriname-who have much darker skin than mine. If asked, I could simply say that my father was a doctor, an eye specialist in tropical ailments, and I was born in Dutch Guiana when he was sent by the UN to help fight eye disease. Nationality? I don’t really have one. At the age of four we moved to Switzerland. I studied in South Africa and Canada. My father was born in Germany to a Swedish father and a Czech mother; my mother was born in Hungary. Her father was Romanian and her mother Greek. My parents escaped their countries just when World War II started. That legend usually does it and has always satisfied people’s curiosity.
I also knew that being born in Dutch Guiana didn’t by it-self confer citizenship. You needed one parent or grandparent with citizenship through whom you could claim it. If pressed, I’d have come up with a Dutch grandparent for the purpose. But I’d never needed to. In my wallet I also carried a Dutch Guiana driver’s license and a genuine Visa credit card issued to Peter Helmut van Laufer by one of those offshore banks that don’t ask too many questions about your true identity or the source of the money you’re caching away, as long as you don’t ask them why they charge an annual fee of $750 for the card. I also had another camouflage passport of another non ex is tent country carrying my real name, as well as my genuine official U.S. government and tourist passports, just in case a suspicious banker called the local police.
If that happened, I could say, Oops, sorry, wrong passport. It’s my old name, legally changed. Here’s my other passport. I’d choose whether to flash my other camouflage passport, or, if push came to shove, and only as a last resort, my U.S. tourist passport, hoping I’d be allowed one phone call to the U.S. consul. The amount of explanation I’d have to offer the consul would probably exceed the amount of money suggested by a local policeman as contribution to shore up his personal finances and smooth things up. Never would I show my official passport. That could guarantee a free ride to jail in any country that regarded intelligence as the exclusive prerogative of that country’s government. Violators go to jail, and the guaranteed result would be the size of the scandal, not whether it had actually erupted.
The hotel’s lobby was half empty. I leafed through the local Yellow Pages and called Peninsula Bank, using my mobile phone.
“I’m the business manager of Wild Nature and Adventure magazine, based in South Africa,” I said. “We plan to establish a small office in Islamabad. I’d like to open an account with your bank.”
“Of course, sir. Please come to our branch. We’ll be happy to assist you.”
I took a cab and landed at the manager’s desk in thirty minutes.
“I’m very pleased to meet you,” said the manager, a heavy-set, middle-aged man with jumbo ears and piercing black eyes. He wore a three-piece wool suit with a chained gold watch tucked in the vest’s pocket. Hell, I thought, this isn’t London circa 1930, it’s Islamabad in 2004, and it’s hot in here.
He shook my hand. “My name is Rashid Khan.” I looked at him thinking that for him, the happy hour is a nap.
I gave him my business card-Peter Helmut van Laufer, with an address in Amsterdam.
“This is our temporary European office, which we are closing next week. There isn’t too much wildlife in Europe anymore,” I said with a smile. “So, for the time being let me give you my number in Islamabad: 051 991 6687.” He wrote it down on my business card. “We intend to open in Pakistan our regional office for Asia. Until I have Pakistani incorporation papers for our local company, perhaps I should open a temporary personal account.”
“No need to wait, sir,” said Rashid. “I can open an account for the magazine immediately. When you receive the certificate of incorporation, please send me a copy.”
An hour later I had a bank account for Wild Nature and Adventure Magazine. I deposited $500 in cash.
It was time to chat. “I need a recommendation for a lawyer who can help us with our local Pakistani needs. Do you happen to know any lawyer who handles business and intellectual-property matters, and whom you can recommend?”
His eyes lit up. “Certainly, sir, you should call Ahmed Khan,” he said, and pulled a business card out of a drawer. “He’s very good,” he said, and began praising the attorney’s services.
The recommendation was too enthusiastic, I thought.
“Thank you, that’s very helpful. By the way, we once employed a photographer in Islamabad, but have lost contact with him. How do you think I can trace him here? I may have a job for him.”
“Ask Ahmed Khan. He’ll arrange everything for you.” “Thanks,” I said. As I got up to leave I added, “If you happen to hear the photographer’s name, or, even better, meet him, give him my number.”
“What is his name?”
“Albert C. Ward III.”
“The name rings a bell,” said Rashid. “Maybe he’s a customer.”
“Think so?” I said innocently. “Well, if so, I’m sure he’d be grateful if you gave me his address or phone number.”
A few clicks and gazes into his computer monitor later, he said, “We did have him as a customer, but although the account is still open, there has been no activity for many years. We locked his credit balance in an interest-bearing account.”
“Was it a big amount?” I tried my luck.
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t tell you that. But what I can say is that under our bank’s rules we move inactive accounts to a long-term interest-bearing savings account only if the balance exceeds $500.”
“Oh,” I said. “So you believe he’s no longer in Islamabad?” “I’ve no idea, sir.”
“OK. Just in case, can I have his address?”
“It will do you no good. Our mail to that address was returned.”
There was no point in pressuring him for the address. It would only have aroused suspicion. Why would I be interested in searching for a person who no longer lived in Islamabad and hadn’t for many years, just to offer him a job? Far more bothersome was the fact that Ward had left an amount of money in excess of $500 in his bank account, and never returned to claim it. He was a young man with limited resources. For him it was a substantial amount, so why had he abandoned it? I suggested all sorts of theories, some improbable, and some gruesome. But I let them rest until I could breathe some life into them.
I returned to my hotel, ignoring peddlers who tried to interest me in everything from souvenirs to dried food. I had dinner at the hotel’s Thai restaurant, the Royal Elephant. I made sure to ask the waiter for mild food. Although I like spicy food, the Thai and Indian version of spicy is way out of my league. If you ask for spicy, they give you their version of spicy food, which burns you on the inside for days. I once ventured to ask for spicy food in India. Three days later, the doctor finally let me crawl out of bed.
I called Ahmed Khan. It was past seven p.m., but I hoped he was still working. His phone answered after two rings. When he heard my name, he became very interested, or rather eager. “Yes, Rashid told me about you. I’ll be glad to be of service.”
I invited him to have a drink with me at the hotel.
“No alcohol, sir, I’m sorry. I’d be delighted to have tea, though.”
An hour later, a fat man dressed in a beige suit that was about six months late for dry cleaning walked to my table at the lobby lounge. “Hello, sir, I’m Ahmed Khan.” He looked to be about forty-five and was even heavier up close.