Elmore Leonard - Djibouti

"He isn't on the ship now," Dara said. "Idris and Harry grabbed him, and the other one, Qasim, and right now are on their way to Djibouti. Five SUVs, black ones, with armed guards. They'll be there in two days."

"They don't run into a warlord," Billy said, "with SAMs."

"The chances are," Dara said, "Idris will know the warlord and give him a Toyota."

Billy looked out at the gas ship. "Those two al Qaedas can be replaced in a day, put two other guys aboard. Where's the Aphrodite suppose to be heading? I'd like to know that."

"A port in the U.S.," Dara said.

"Maybe," Billy said, staring at the gas ship. "Run into it and those five tanks blow up. The ship's so obviously a bomb it must be a decoy. Bin Laden knows we'll see it that way. So he does use the ship as a bomb. Well, it is or it isn't. The only way to find out is keep it in sight. Trail her till I have to call the navy or sink her myself."

Dara said, "You're not worried about the two al Qaedas?"

"If Harry and Idris have them, they're looking to get that Rewards for Justice handout. Only State will hem and haw, want proof of who they've got. The Gold Dust Twins will lose what patience they started with and refuse to give 'em up till they see some green. State in the meantime's keeping an eye on the Twins. They have local police poking through this rat's nest looking for the two Qaedas. After a while the Twins say fuck it, take the two out in the desert and shoot them."

Dara said, "If the State Department takes too long, the Twins lose patience, why wouldn't they let the Qaeda guys go?"

"Because, my dear, for the rest of their lives Jama and Qasim would be gunning for them. The Twins know that."

Xavier said, "Jama and Qasim might even get away, escape from the Twins."

"What do we care?" Billy said. "They won't be coming after us. They're unemployed Mohammedan terrorists. If State wants them, they'll go after them. But I can tell you right now, whatever happens, the Twins won't make a dime on this deal. Even if State agrees to question the two al Qaedas and they find out, Jesus Christ, these guys are terrorists, I can't imagine them paying a reward."

"What if I help Idris and Harry?" Dara said. "I identify Jama and Qasim, tell State what I know about them."

"They'll believe you," Billy said, "before they make a deal with these two Mohammedans. That is, once they look you up, see you haven't been arrested for demonstrating left-wing causes." Billy said, "Have you?"

"What Dara's sayin," Xavier said, "she wants to head off another 9/11."

"I do too," Billy said, "the reason I'm gonna tail the gas ship. Listen, the feds could refuse to take it seriously because the Twins piss them off. Remember, we're talking about a federal system of people with semi-one-track minds. You make a mistake you spend the rest of your career in a third-world country. So they sit on this till the Twins go away. If they're lucky they pick up the Mohammedans."

Billy thought of something else.

"Or what if the Twins we find out are working for bin Laden? They fake the Rewards program out of six mil and it's used to buy rusted-out freighters they load with explosives. Greek commandos stopped a ship that had seven hundred tons of TNT aboard, and eight thousand detonators."

Billy stopped again.

"The question is, are Jama and Qasim willing to spend the rest of their lives, twenty-three hours a day, in a federal prison cell? Qasim al Salah's a live wire-I don't know about Jama-but Qasim's been setting off explosions since the early eighties. Who's watching him, Somali pirates? I'll bet he ducks out."

"Before that happens," Dara said, "I'll get the Twins in to see the Diplomatic Security people."

Billy said, "I'll bet you ten bucks you don't."

I'VE GOT TWO HOURS of Somali pirates in the can," Dara said, "and it's no longer about them."

They were at the Kempinski dining table again, her MacBook Pro and a fifth of cognac in front of them. They'd had supper away from the hotel and now they were at work.

Xavier said, "You still got the main one, Idris Mohammed, and you got his buddy Harry the Sheikh. You don't need any more pirates. The picture takes a turn here to bigger stuff."

"We don't have a transition," Dara said. "We don't see Harry and Idris forcing the two al Qaedas into the SUVs."

"We got the khat-chewer," Xavier said, "wad in his cheek, telling me what happened that morning, the Qaedas trussed up and blindfolded. Cut back and forth between the khat-chewer telling it in his English-and that's good stuff-and some black Toyotas ready to go."

"I'm not going to fake shots," Dara said.

"The khat-chewer says somebody was shootin what was goin on. He thought it was me at first, 'cause it was a Somali had my same color, the one shootin the pictures."

"We did look for him," Dara said, "and came up empty." She sipped her cognac. "I need a transition."

"It's turnin into a Hollywood movie," Xavier said, and saw Dara, tired of it, shaking her head. "Or the treatment of a picture," Xavier said, "you could sell to a studio for a pile of money, since you don't want to shoot it with movie stars. Cut your two hours down to twenty minutes of pirates doin their number. See 'em at the party wearin their new shoes. See the hijacked ships layin at anchor-mood shots, the party music from up the hill over the ships sittin in the dark. Idris and Harry watchin the news-Somalis take their first American ship and they love it, both of 'em, and we get our first peek at who these boys are. Second act, you follow 'em to Djibouti."

"Hollywood's way ahead of us," Dara said. "Pirate movies are already in preproduction, Samuel Jackson doing one."

"His might be all right. Sam'll have the accent down."

"We've seen the Alabama hijacked."

"The one Discovery did? You kiddin me? They mix up a tiny bit of actual footage with quick shots of nothing. Grown men pretending to be Somali boys."

"You're right," Dara said, "it was awful. Discovery ought to be ashamed of themselves."

Xavier said, "That big sailin yacht gets hijacked in a movie coming up. Only the crew aboard. The girls come out of hidin after a couple of days drinkin wine and eatin peanuts. The pirates don't get it. Say why you hidin? You think we gonna jump you? That's what happen, nothin. Hollywood makes it, they have the pirates look 'em over, leerin at them, jihad boners in their pants. You gonna do this movie you don't have to change nothin. You already in it and you sense where it's goin. You say the pirate movie about pirates is over. By Sunday they showin a sign they want to kill us. Mr. Billy Wynn comes along with his elephant gun and saves our ass from their ire. Mr. Billy Wynn knows what he's doin. Keep him in sight and you have your movie."

"If I'd been there," Dara said, "when they drove off with the al Qaedas, I'd be with them. You wouldn't see me till you got to Djibouti."

"Run off in your little shorts and T-shirt?"

"Wouldn't matter, I'd have my secret camera."

"Same underwear the whole trip."

"I'd borrow a pair from Harry."

"Not Idris?"

"Harry's daintier, he'd have a few extra pair. What we don't want to forget," Dara said, "Harry sells guns. Isn't as clean as he looks."

"Well, you didn't get to go with the boys," Xavier said. "So where you are then in your movie, you see yourself on a boat goin six miles an hour for close on seven hundred miles full speed all day, all night?" Xavier paused to sip his cognac. "Took us twelve days to get to Eyl lookin at ships. Take us seven to get back to Djibouti, the sea behaves, we don't take on a monsoon, and the engine don't quit on us. Remember lookin at another week on the Buster?"

"Talking about it while we're tied alongside Pegaso," Dara said. "I had a feeling I could use Idris and Harry, but we'd have to get to them soon, in a couple of days."