Elmore Leonard - Djibouti

"I don't think it's possible to turn," Helene said, "or they don't want to. Guys you can tell are gay-ones I'd meet-are always having fun, and they're smart. I don't know about the ones you can't tell if they are or not."

Billy said, "We finally got a lead on something that's bigger than these Mohammedans playing they're pirates. We'll keep tabs on the Aphrodite when she's released, not let her get too far away. I think she'll have to put in at Djibouti to take on stores."

Billy popped open a bottle of champagne.

"I told you I saw Dara and her bearer going out to the ship with Idris. How would she know, without my kind of sources? You know how many paid insiders I have on this now? Six. How could she know Aphrodite's gonna blow up a U.S. port?"

"How do you know?"

"Hon, al Qaeda's got a huge hard-on for the U.S. It's been eight years since 9/11, al Qaeda's thinking up its next move against us. It's got to be a good one, something different but showy. Dara might not suspect what's going down, but something's on her mind. I bet her a bottle of champagne I'd have her luggage in her room inside of five minutes. I intended to come with the bottle, a cool way to meet her. Miss Smarty's already got the flutes out. The girl's aware, has a keen sense of things."

He sounded just like Sterling Hayden.

"Are you gonna tell her what you think?" Helene said.

"I've only thought of one scenario. I may need a couple more people on this. There's an ex-SEAL I hire. I tell Buck what I want to find out and he delivers. Won't take any pay till he does the job, then holds me up. The man has style. Buck Bethards. He could be anywhere, but I'll give him a call. Buck'll drop whatever he's doing to work for me."

Billy was pouring champagne now, telling Helene, "When you're not too busy, google the ports in the U.S. that allow delivery of liquid natural gas. I'll bet there's no more'n a half dozen, all of them inland a ways." He raised his flute to touch Helene's.

"I notice you and Dara seemed to hit it off. Why don't you talk to her girl to girl, see if you can find out what she's up to." Billy said, "Hon, I'd appreciate it." THEY WERE TOPSIDE NOW, early evening, the sun sliding around before falling like a stone behind the hijacked ships. Or it was the fucking wine. Helene said, "You're still looking at them?"

Through his huge binoculars. "I'm trying to locate the three Saudis, one of 'em's first officer."

"What's the captain?"

"Egyptian. His name's Wassef."

"I got what you want. The Times did a story about dreading the day an LNG tanker is used by terrorists. You're not the only one smells a plot. There are five ports in the U.S. for this kind of tanker, all inland. Everett, Mass., near Boston. Cove Point, Maryland. Elba Island, Georgia, and Lake Charles, Louisiana."

"That's four. Where's the fifth one?"

"A hundred and sixteen miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, the Gateway Energy Bridge."

Billy said, "Want to walk on the beach?"

Helene stared at him, the glasses against his face.

"Stretch our legs?"

"Slip the raft over the side, lock the hatch and turn on the Mean Dog tape."

"Idris asked us to stop by. He's throwing a party."

"For his Mohammedan buddies?"

"For Harry, he's still here."

Billy lowered the glasses. "I wouldn't mind talking to Harry. See if I can find out what side he's on."

THE NIGHT OF HIS party Idris presented a bonus to a half dozen of his mates: brown oxfords from Tricker's on Jermyn Street, London. Now they were showing the inscription inside the shoes: By Appointment to His Royal Highness Prince of Wales. R. E. Tricker, Shoe Manufacturers Ltd. Now they were throwing away their sandals.

Dara and Xavier were in her hotel suite watching footage.

"About when we got there, the boys lookin down at their kicks, grinnin," Xavier said, "pokin each other. 'Look at mine.' They all wearin the same brown wingtips. How'd Idris know their sizes?"

"I don't know if he asked them or took a guess. I'm using the spy pen at the party," Dara said, "only the second time for a film, after I shot the guys aboard the gas ship. I still wasn't sure it would give me what I want."

"You said long as you facin what you shootin."

"I know, but I still try to be so casual about it. What I got of the two Saudis looks great."

"They kept duckin out on me. Did not want to be in a movie."

"And I got them at the party."

Xavier said, "Where are they?" looking at the laptop.

"They're coming up."

"You got Idris and Harry in their white suits."

"I've got tons of Idris and Harry."

"I liked those dogs," Xavier said. "They puttin it on 'cause they can do it, spend their lives misbehavin. I ask Idris, 'You get along with the al Shabaabs? Understand where they comin from?' Idris shrugs his shoulders like he don't care, says to me, 'Some like it jihad.' Like it's something cool Arabs say."

"Maybe it's an Arab expression."

"I don't know-it's the first time I thought a Arab said somethin funny."

"Look at the color," Dara said. "High def and you don't even see the camera."

"You like the torches?"

"I love the torches. Exotic lighting and mood in the same prop. A gang of Arab pirates, a goat turning on a spit, the pool lit. Music. Several ass shakers. Here they are, the two Saudis, always together, always smoking Marlboros." Dara lighted a cigarette. "I'm trying to figure out why Idris brought the Saudis and not the rest of the crew. The captain and the first officer stayed in the house most of the party."

"Passed on the roast goat," Xavier said.

"The two we thought were both Saudis ate but didn't drink. I kept shooting with the spy pen as I talked to them. 'Hey, didn't I see you guys on the Aphrodite?' The younger one said, 'You making a movie, uh? Want me to star?' There's no way he's anything but African American."

"Boy visitin his homeland," Xavier said.

"I told Idris and he said, 'Oh, is he?' Idris said Harry invited those two. Harry didn't think the Filipinos would fit in and feel comfortable. Like the captain was having a ball staying in the house."

Dara said, "And there's the guy you gave your gun to, Kwame. Putting on his new shoes."

The pirates lounged on the floor around a cocktail table eating and drinking, were still admiring their new shoes.

"I didn't give him my heat, you did."

"Tell Idris you were showing Kwame the gun and he thought you were giving it to him," Dara said. "Remember?"

"I'm showin my piece to a man was robbin us?"

"I didn't see you had to go into that. You told Idris Kwame took your gun by mistake. Idris got it from him and gave it to you."

"I don't see it in the movie."

"I didn't use it. Too much to explain. I told you we'd get it back, and we did." BILLY BROUGHT HELENE THROUGH the Eyl people squatting in the dark at the edge of the yard, the locals watching the dinner party on the patio: most of the guests eating with their fingers from bowls they shared. The watchers murmured to one another licking their lips.

"Mmmmm, roast goat," Billy said. "You ever have it?"

"Love it," Helene said.

He brought her among the diners in camp chairs and on fat cushions, to the ones lounging on the brick floor around the cocktail table.

"You like the music?"

"Love it."

Billy started toward Dara in the crowd talking to her bearer, Xavier, Billy believed born of Watusi stock. "Eating with his fingers seems natural to him, doesn't it? And look at Dara sucking her fingers, enjoying the Arabian cookout."

Helene thought of "Margaritaville."

Billy was saying, "Mohammedans are a unique people, aren't they? Like to sit on the floor eating goat. We see chickens in the yards, but goat seems to be their dish." He said to the table, the Somali nearest him about to take a drink, "Tell Allah you'll be back on the Islam wagon tomorrow."