Windfall

'Is there room?'

'It's empty apart from a few butane bottles and the burner,' said Hunt. 'I left the envelope and the basket at Ol Njorowa when I took the burner in for repair this morning. God, but that seems a long time ago.'

'Aren't you stopped at the gate?' queried Hardin.

'I never have been. Staff members can move freely.'

'Yes, they'd have to,' said Stafford. 'There's a limit to Brice's bloody security. It would look pretty queer if the staff of an agricultural college were searched every time they went in. That reinforces my contention that whatever there is to be found will be in the animal migration laboratory. All right; let's go.'

'I'll put you right outside the door of the lab,' said Hunt. 'But I can't promise it will be unlocked.'

Hardin said, 'Just deliver us; we'll see to the rest.'

Hunt opened the trailer and Stafford, Curtis and Hardin climbed in. Hunt hesitated. 'I usually keep it locked,' he said. 'There's a deal of petty pilfering.'

'Do as you do normally,' said Stafford, so Hunt locked them in, walked around the Land-Rover and drove off slowly.

Nair's police warrant card had secured him a telephone and the privacy of the manager's office. But when he spoke to Chip he had his back to the window and so did not see Francis Yongo cycle past somewhat unsteadily on his way to the dock.

Hunt stopped at the gate of Ol Njorowa, gave a blast on the horn, and waved to the guard. The gate opened and he drove through, keeping his speed down, past the Admin Block and onward to the building surmounted by the dish antenna which lay a little over half a mile further. Ahead there was a car driving equally slowly and, as he watched, it stopped outside the animal migration laboratory. A man got out, unlocked the front door, and went inside. Hunt stopped the Land-Rover and got out.

He looked about him. Everything was calm and peaceful; there were a few distant figures in the experimental plots but no one nearer. He went back to the trailer and tapped on the door. 'Stafford! Can you hear me?'

A muffled voice said, 'Yes. What is it?'

'We're near the lab. Someone just went in.'

'Let us out.'

Hunt unlocked the trailer and Stafford crawled out followed by Hardin and Curtis. They stretched, easing their cramped limbs, and Stafford looked over to the building nearby and noted the parked car. 'Who was it?'

'I don't know,' said Hunt. 'I just got a glimpse of him.'

Hardin looked up at the dish antenna. 'Science!' he said, somewhat disparagingly.

'Let's find out.' Stafford waved and the four of them walked to the front of the building. He put his hand on the handle of the door and tested it. To his surprise the door opened. 'We're in luck,' he said quietly.

He opened the door and was confronted by a blank wall three feet in front of him. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and then went inside to the left along a narrow passage and emerged into a room. His hand was in his pocket resting on the butt of the gun.

There was no one in the room but there were two doors, one in the wall opposite and another to the right. There were tables and chairs and, in one corner a water cooler and a coffee machine together with an assortment of crockery. On the walls were large photographs of animals; wildebeest, hippopotamus, elephant. This he took to be the Common Room where the staff relaxed.

He walked slowly into the room. The polished floor was slick and slippery. He went to the door on the right and motioned to Curtis and Hardin who stationed themselves on either side of it. Gently he opened the door and peered inside. Again, this room was empty so he went in. It was an office complete with all the usual equipment one might expect; a desk and swivel chair, a telephone, a reading lamp, a photocopier on a side desk. Total normality.

There were maps on the wall which were covered with a spiderweb of red lines. He inspected one and could make nothing of the cryptic notations. There were also maps on a large side table which had shallow drawers built into it. Again he could make nothing of those on a cursory inspection.

He left and, on an inquiring look from Hardin, shook his head and pointed to the other door. This, again, was unlocked and again the room was empty. It was a big room with no windows and along one wall, running the whole length, were banks of electronic equipment – control consoles and monitor screens gleaming clinically under the lights of overhead fluorescent tubes. It reminded Stafford of Houston space centre in miniature. He looked about him and saw no other door.

'This is crazy,' said Hardin behind him. 'Where did the guy go?'

Stafford withdrew into the Common Room and said to Hunt, 'Are you sure a man came in here?'

'Of course. You saw the car outside.'

'Three rooms,' said Stafford, 'and one door. There's no back door and no man.' He went to the window and looked out, his shoulder brushing aside curtains. As he turned away his attention was caught by something and he stiffened. 'You know,' he said. 'This place is built like a fortress. A blast wall at the front door, and look here…' He pulled aside the curtain. 'Steel shutters to cover the windows.'

'Ready for a siege,' commented Hardin.

'Certainly not innocent.' Stafford looked at Hunt. 'You know more about this scientific stuff than any of us. Take a look round and see if there's anything odd, anything out of place that shouldn't be here. Anything at all.'

Hunt shrugged. 'I don't know much about the electronic stuff but I'll take a look.'

He went into the back room and Stafford returned to the office where he opened drawers and rummaged about, looking for he didn't know what. Hardin checked the Gammon Room and Curtis stood guard by the front door. Ten minutes later they assembled in the Common Room. 'Nothing in here,' said Hardin.

'All the electronic stuff looks standard to me,' said Hunt. 'But it would take an expert to be sure. I found nothing else out of the ordinary.'

'Same with the office,' said Stafford in a dissatisfied voice. 'But I might have missed something. Take a look at those maps, Alan.'

Hunt went into the office and Hardin said, 'We might have made a big mistake, Max.'

'I'd have sworn on a stack of Bibles six feet high that what we're looking for is in here,' said Stafford savagely.

'So what do we do if it's kosher?' asked Hardin. 'Apologize?'

'It can't be. Not with that damned blast wall and the shutters.'

Hunt came back. 'Standard maps of Kenya,' he reported. 'I'd say the lines are animal movements as recorded by the electronic thingummy on the roof. I told you Brice had shown me papers in a journal. The same stuff.' He saw a strange look on Stafford's face. 'What's the matter?'

Stafford was looking at the door leading into the back room. It was open and a man stood there. Stafford plunged forward and the man slammed the door in his face and it took him a moment to open it as his feet slipped from under him. He yanked it open and then lost his footing completely and fell on his back just as there was the sharp report of a shot.

He rolled over and looked around. The room was empty.

He got up slowly and took Nair's pistol from his pocket. He turned carefully looking at every part of the room and saw nothing. 'It's all right, you can come in.' He picked up one foot and felt the sole of his shoe. 'Damned seeds!' he said, and kicked off the shoes.

Hardin appeared at the door. 'Where did the guy go?'

Stafford pointed with the gun. 'He was standing there when I fell.'

'That prat fall maybe saved your life,' observed Hardin. 'That goddamn bullet nearly hit me.' He fingered a tear in the side of his shirt and looked around warily. 'What's the trick?'

'I caught sight of something,' said Stafford. 'Just before I fell. Something big and square.'

'What was it?'

'I don't know. It doesn't seem to be there now.' Stafford studied the floor which was covered with a plastic composition in a checkerboard pattern. Set into it at his feet was a metal plate about three inches square. He bent down and found he could prise it upwards and that it moved on a spring-loaded hinge. Beneath the plate was a three-pin socket for an electric plug.