Алистер Маклин - Time of the Assassins

‘Twelve years now. Matthew Okoye’s my brother-in-law. That’s why we come down here so often. We’ve always been close. After all, there weren’t many of us who could stand up to Alphonse Mobuto and get away with it. Jamel, Remy and Matthew were his staunchest critics, Joseph Moredi and I to a lesser degree because we didn’t have the same clout that they did. That’s what brought us all together in the first place: our revulsion at Alphonse Mobuto and his puppets like Ngune and his deputy, Thomas Massenga. We were determined to bring peace to Zimbala in our lifetime.’

‘And you have,’ Graham said.

‘I certainly hope so,’ Tambese replied thoughtfully.

‘Any news of Massenga?’ Graham asked.

‘Nothing yet. There’s a reward out for his capture. It shouldn’t be long before he’s apprehended.’

‘You still haven’t told me what happened after you got caught in Branco,’ Sabrina said to Graham.

Graham recounted the events up to the time Ngune was executed in the street.

‘Have you found the officer who shot him?’ she asked, looking at Tambese.

‘I’m not looking for him,’ Tambese replied. ‘I know who it was but I’m not taking any further action. These things happen in the heat of the moment.’

‘So you’re condoning murder?’ she shot back. ‘That’s lowering yourself to Ngune’s level.’

‘I’d have to sink a lot lower to reach Ngune’s level.’ Tambese moved to the railing and looked down at the outline of the body underneath the tarpaulin. He turned back to her. ‘Ngune’s dead; the coup d’état failed. For the first time in forty-five years there’s peace in Zimbala. The officer concerned only did what twelve million other Zimbalans would have done in the same situation. The country would be up in arms if I persecuted him for that. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not condoning what happened, but at the same time I’m not prepared to jeopardize this new-found peace just to see that Ngune’s death is avenged. This is Africa, Sabrina, not America. It’s a continent in turmoil. Coup d’état are a regular occurrence. One corrupt government replaces another. And it’s always the people who suffer. If it’s not the adults being massacred because they happen to belong to a different tribe to the one in power, or to the one seeking power, then it’s the children dying of malnutrition because their parents can’t cultivate barren fields. The African has come to accept death as part of his everyday life. We put different values on life to, say, the Americans or the Europeans. In Europe and America, you’d say life is for living. In Africa, we say life is for surviving. And if the death of a butcher like Ngune means the chances of survival are increased, then the people will welcome it. I know it sounds cynical, but that’s become the way of life in Africa.’

‘I guess values are different,’ she replied, glancing across at the tarpaulin. ‘But I take your point anyway.’

‘You still haven’t told how you masterminded the attack on Kondese,’ Graham said. ‘How did your troops manage to neutralize all those patrols without any gunfire?’

‘There was gunfire, but it was minimal. We didn’t hear it because we were down in the sewer at the time. All the government troops were armed with silenced weapons. They used a pincer movement to close in on the city and all had orders to shoot to kill. The radio frequencies were jammed just before the troops moved in and opened again when they had recaptured the city. That way the troops in Branco couldn’t be contacted and warned of the attack. Had they known Ngune may have fled. That was our main worry. Ngune was their mastermind and with him on the loose the threat of another coup d’état could never have been ruled out. We had to get him, dead or alive.’

‘And the garrison?’ Sabrina asked.

‘Ngune had a radar scanner installed at Branco but not one at the garrison. That was his mistake. He reasoned that any air attack would have to be launched from Habane and his spies would tell him as soon as the jets were scrambled, then they could counter the attack with the jets they had in Chad. But what he couldn’t know was that Jamel had come to an agreement with the Niger government while he was in New York. They agreed to let us use two of their jets on the condition that we put our own markings on them before they left Niger. They didn’t want to be seen to be involved if we failed to stop Ngune from seizing power. They’ve always had close links with Zimbala and they wanted to keep it that way, irrespective of who came to power. Again we jammed the radio frequencies just before the jets were scrambled and the garrison was levelled to the ground within a matter of minutes. We had a division on standby to go in afterwards and capture any surviving rebels. Then, when the garrison was destroyed, we opened the radio frequencies again.’

‘How many rebels survived?’ Sabrina asked.

‘Seventeen out of a squad of nearly four hundred. They’ll be put on trial when they’ve recovered from their injuries.’ Tambese looked at Sabrina. ‘They’ll be given a fair trial, that I assure you. And if found guilty, they’ll be locked up for the rest of their lives. And I mean that quite literally. We’re determined to stamp out the past. The dictatorship is dead. It must never be allowed to return.’

‘When exactly was this plan agreed?’ Graham asked.

‘Jamel thrashed it out with his entourage in New York and we finalized the details over the phone two days ago.’

‘Were we part of the plan?’ Sabrina asked.

Tambese smiled. ‘Only when we knew you were coming to Zimbala. That’s why I had Joseph tail you from the airport. We needed to make contact, only we didn’t know how you’d react. It’s just as well he did tail you, otherwise you wouldn’t be here now. Massenga doesn’t miss from that distance.’

‘So he wasn’t following Massenga. He was following me.’

‘We’d been watching Massenga ever since he arrived in Habane. No, Joseph was at the airport waiting for you. We just didn’t know when you’d arrive.’

‘How did you know we were coming to Zimbala?’ Graham asked suspiciously.

‘We have our sources.’

‘Meaning?’ Graham pressed.

‘We’ve been monitoring all communications between Ngune and the outside since he retook Branco. The two of you were a regular topic of conversation when Massenga contacted him. You see, Massenga was Ngune’s link to Bernard, so everything Bernard said to Massenga was passed on to Ngune. Bernard holds you in great esteem, Mike. It’s almost a grudging admiration.’

‘I’m not flattered,’ Graham retorted.

‘You’ve used us from the start,’ Sabrina said, shaking her head.

‘No,’ Tambese shot back, the anger evident in his voice. ‘I respect you both too much for that. We’ve been working on the same case only from different angles. That’s why I thought we could achieve a lot more by putting our heads together. And I was right. I know I held out on you, and for that I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you what was going on but Jamel wouldn’t hear of it. What could I do? I know I could have trusted you but I would never do anything behind Jamel’s back. We’ve been friends for too long. I suppose it’s a bit like the two of you working together. You keep each other informed and don’t do anything without letting the other one know.’

‘You must be joking,’ Sabrina replied then looked across at Graham who was trying to hide the smile that was threatening the corners of his mouth. She grinned and wagged an accusing finger at him.

Tambese looked from Sabrina to Graham and smiled. ‘OK, I get the point. But you still make a damn good team.’

‘We have our moments,’ Graham replied with a half-smile.