Elmore Leonard - Djibouti

The Somali stared at Billy, his mates jabbing Arabic words at him until he said, "You sink one of my boats, you leave the other one with no use in it. I believe you should pay me for their destruction."

Helene saw Harry and Idris coming in their white suits. New York, they'd start a trend, guys in white suits with different color scarves. She waited for Billy to make a thing out of the Somali's demand so he could talk for a while.

Billy said to the pirate, "What's your name, amigo?"

The Somali said, "My name is Booyah."

Billy said, "You putting me on?"

Idris stepped in. "No, Booyah Abdulahi is his name. Booyah's an honorable man."

"Well, I want to pay him what I owe," Billy said. "I hit his boats with six-hundred-caliber Nitro Express rounds. Firing the gun will knock a normal person on his or her ass. I've been trying to get my companion to fire the rifle, a Holland amp; Holland, but she won't take my dare."

Helene rolled her eyes looking at Dara.

"I put one of the boats under," Billy said, "and the other's beached for good. I'll pay what they're worth."

"And the motors?" Idris said.

"Yeah, and any personal effects."

"The weapons they lost," Idris said, "and the gasoline, in five-gallon containers, several of them in each boat?" He turned to Harry Bakar. "What is petrol selling for now, eight dollars?"

"Look," Billy said, "I'll pay for all that. I'm curious about those ships anchored out there"-talking to the table now-"that tanker especially. You weren't afraid to board it?"

"No smoking," Booyah said. "No lighter, no matches."

Harry said, "Excuse me," to Billy, "but this afternoon the owners of the Sirius Star agreed to pay Mr. Abdulahi three million dollars for its release. I believe within the next few days."

"Three million, huh, that's all?" Billy said. "How much you asking for that LNG tanker? I wouldn't touch it you paid me ten million dollars. I bet you could get that much too. Ten mil or you'll blow her up. I understand you have to keep the gas cool once you convert it to liquid. I read if any leaks out and turns to vapor and becomes a cloud and you ignite it…?"

Helene looked at Harry listening to every word.

"The heat will melt steel at twelve hundred feet. I read that if terrorists had a gas tanker and blew it up, you'd have thousands dead and injured on your hands."

Helene said, "I'm going to the loo, okay?"

Idris watched Dara say something to Xavier and follow after Helene. He thought it was curious how women always go to latrines together. He heard Billy say:

"Anybody ever ask the crew if they worry about getting blown up?" HELENE SAID AT THE mirror, "With my tan I could lose three pounds and do bikinis."

Dara said, "What's it like being a companion?"

"It's the same as 'lady.' Or, 'the lady.' Once in a while 'old lady.' He tries so hard to impress me."

"You're a possession."

"Yeah, but he's in love with me. He tells me whenever he's high. That's when he's the nicest, if you've ever heard of that. He's never mean, he's just so fucking boring."

"I'll bet you don't marry him," Dara said, "if he ever asks you. You decide the money isn't worth it."

"He promised to put ten mil in my account the day of the wedding."

"He's buying you."

"So what, he loves me. He grins when I say 'fuck.'"

"How do you say it?"

"Like, 'This fucking boat is driving me out of my fucking mind.' The regular way, but I wouldn't say that."

"Why's he so interested in the gas tanker?"

"You heard him, he thinks bin Laden's gonna blow it up."

"Where?"

"He's trying to figure that out. Or they'll run a ship into it."

"The crew's part of it?"

"Billy says not the gooks. He says if they don't change the crew again, like at Djibouti, then it's the two Saudis will blow it up at some American port."

Helene was using a comb now trying to untangle her hair, saying to Dara, "You went on board to talk to the crew?"

"Tried to communicate. We didn't get much."

"Billy wonders if you have pictures of the Saudis."

Dara said, "Tell him I got them aboard the gas ship and this evening, a little earlier."

"Billy said if you have the Saudis on film"-Helene working on her hair-"he can tell if they're terrorists or not. He has head shots of all the bad guys."

THE PARTY COMING TO an end reminded Xavier of a stage once the show was over and the houselights were turned up, the pirate chiefs walking off in their new shoes with leftover dinner wrapped in newspaper, for the women who had to stay home. Xavier was waiting for Dara to finish talking to Idris and Harry Bakar, Dara still digging for information.

Telling them she read that the people running the pirate business were wealthy Somalis living other places now, in England and Saudi Arabia. Harry said he heard gangsters were running the show, the Italian Mafia telling the pirates what ships to look for coming through Djibouti on their way everywhere, information they got from secret agents, spies. Harry smiling, saying to Dara, "Did you know you were making a thriller?"

Dara said she wasn't sure what she was making.

Xavier said to her, "You ready?"

And Idris said, "Harry doesn't know what he's talking about. Do you think I work for criminals?" He took time to name the seven pirate clans boarding ships for the honor of the Somali people, making it sound as if they were Arab Robin Hoods.

Dara seemed to have eyes for Harry Baker, the reason they stood there thinking up things to say, Harry and Idris too polite to end it.

Xavier said, "We gonna make our train, we better get movin."

No smiles or chuckles, only Dara got it. She said, "Well, it was quite a party."

Sitting in the hotel suite with her, Xavier said, "You had trouble tearin yourself from their company."

"I was trying to think of a way to mention the gas tanker," Dara said. "Tell them why Billy thought it was a bomb. But if I was serious about it they'd say I was imagining things."

"And if you made fun of Billy's idea-"

"We'd all be grinning and I'd feel stupid. I wouldn't have learned anything."

"You coulda asked what happen to the Saudis at the party? They disappeared on us. They go back to that gas ship? Then you in it, you wonderin about it."

"Why didn't you ask them?"

"I just thought of it," Xavier said. "You know at that time, hijackin an American ship was the best thing they'd done, the Somalis still proud of theirselves but tired of talkin about it, tired watchin Al Jazeera, nothin new happenin. That was Thursday, the night of the party. The SEALs didn't shoot the three pirates till Sunday. After that it was death to Americans, but we didn't know about it yet."

"I've got a lot of that I can use," Dara said, "if it goes with my story. 'Somali Pirates Threaten to Target Americans,' in the news. 'Pirates want revenge, not ransom.'"

"That time, it was gettin hot, wasn't it?"

"It was turning into a movie," Dara said, "a real one." IDRIS AND HARRY WALKED across the front of Idris's California ranch toward rooms off the four-car garage, Harry saying, "You tell them you don't work for criminals. What difference does it make? Dara leaves and we never see her again. You like her," Harry said, "because you aren't used to a woman being herself, and also intelligent."

"I like her and would like to know her better," Idris said and looked at Harry. "Are you ready?" Opened the door and walked ahead of Harry into a room without furniture, the walls and floor unpainted concrete. Harry followed bringing a Walther PPK from inside his white suit.

The three Saudis were on the floor, backs against a wall, the first officer in his uniform slumped, his chin resting on his chest.

"Bored," Harry said, and then in a louder voice, "Duad Dahir Suliman, are you bored?"