Philip Kerr - Esau

Jack glanced at his watch.

‘Somewhere between five and ten thousand years ago the sea rose rapidly, in response to the disappearance of global ice sheets. Then it slowed considerably. Currently we estimate that the sea level is rising by as much as two millimetres per annum.’

‘Well this is fascinating, Mister Boyd,’ said Jack, stifling a yawn. ‘But I don’t see what it has to do with me.’

‘It has everything to do with all of us,’ said Boyd.

‘What I mean to say is—’

Boyd held up his hand and added quickly, ‘It’s likely that the melting of mountain glaciers may account for some of this.’

Jack’s ears pricked up. Mountains. Now the man was making sense.

‘The question is, how much? How much of the increase in sea level relates to melting mountain glaciers, and how much to floating ice sheets. And that’s why I want to go to the highest mountain range in the world. To undertake some urgent research on the Himalayan glaciers.’

‘At last,’ said Jack. ‘We connect.’

‘Washington’s a small place, Mister Furness. When I heard you had applied for a grant to fund an expedition to the Himalayas, I had hoped that I might persuade you to take me along as a paving guest. Share some expenses, y’know? Not to climb. No sir, I have no head for heights. No, it’s so that I might conduct my own geological experiments. Specifically, drilling holes in the ice, taking core samples from the glacier, that kind of thing. Frankly the political situation in the Indian subcontinent means that there are not many people Like yourself going to that part of the world.’

Jack tried to cut in with his own news, but Boyd was not to be interrupted.

‘There’s certainly no one who knows the Himalayas as well as you, Mister Furness. No one knows how to put an outfit like this together. That’s why—’

‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mister Boyd, but I’m afraid our grant proposal got turned down.’ He shrugged. ‘We just heard.’

‘No.’ Boyd sounded genuinely outraged. ‘I don’t believe it. Why would they turn you down? You’re the country’s leading mountaineer.’

‘It’s kind of you to say so. But this time it’s not exactly a climbing expedition I’m putting together. We’re going to look for some fossils. Either way, it doesn’t really seem to matter right now.’

‘What can I say? I guess I’ll be going on my own then. I’m really sorry. I felt sure—’

‘Forget it. And good luck with your work.’

The two men stood and shook hands as Swift appeared in the Jefferson lounge. She looked excited about something. Jack glanced irritably at his watch.

‘You’ll never guess what’s happened,’ she said, ignoring Boyd.

‘I figured something must have, the time you’ve been.’ He started to introduce Boyd, but Swift was too high on her news to listen.

‘The phone rang just as I was leaving the room. It was Brad Schaffer. From the Research and Exploration Committee? He was calling from the National Geographic offices.’

‘They’re still there? At this time of night?’

‘In view of the three-month cooling-off period agreed by the Indians and Pakistanis, some of them wanted to reconsider their earlier decision. And guess what? It looks like they’ve decided to give us a grant after all.’

‘That’s great.’

He grinned awkwardly and then glanced at Boyd.

‘Swift, this is Jon Boyd. Mister Boyd, this is Dr. Stella Swift. Only don’t ever call her Stella.’

Boyd handed her another business card.

‘Mister Boyd is a geologist and climatologist. He had hoped to be a paying guest on our expedition.’

While Jack was speaking. Swift read Boyd’s card, turned it over in her fingers as if threatening to make it disappear, and then tossed it onto the table like so much wastepaper. Easily attracting the eye of the waiter, she ordered a bottle of champagne.

‘I’m in a mood to celebrate,’ she said simply, and sat down.

Jack nodded. ‘What changed their minds? Did they say?’

‘They found some more money. One of the committee members, Joel Beinart, was more impressed with our grant proposal than he’d felt able to say at the meeting. And when this cooling-off period was negotiated, he felt that it must be some kind of sign. Anyway, he’s found the money himself, from his own company. The Semath Corporation. Oh, yes, there’s one tiny condition. Something to do with the tax year? It’s a condition of the grant that the money has to be used sooner rather than later so his company can treat the grant money as part of this year’s deductible charities and donations.’

‘How much sooner?’ said Jack.

‘End of the month.’

‘The end of the month?’ Jack guffawed. ‘That’s less than two weeks, Swift. It takes time to put an expedition like this together. A lot of time. Two weeks? It simply can’t be done.’

‘Oh, come on. Jack. Where there’s a will?’

Jack looked around the room with bewilderment and caught sight of Thomas Jefferson’s portrait.

‘Like the man said,’ he sighed. ‘Delay is preferable to error. What’s the goddamn hurry anyway?’

Swift shrugged.

‘The bean counters have their financial year to consider. They’re even prepared to give us more money than we’ve asked for. A million dollars, Jack. Not to mention a lot of new equipment they want us to test. Besides, there’s the diplomatic window to think of now. It would be a lot easier persuading other scientists to come with us if we could take full advantage of what’s been negotiated between India and Pakistan.’

The waiter arrived with champagne. Swift toasted the good news.

‘Speaking for myself,’ Boyd said cautiously. ‘If, that is, you decided that you were able to take me along. And I’d be paying my way. Not to mention bringing along a lot of new equipment that we’ve already tested in the Antarctic. well, sooner would also suit me better too. You see there’s an Intergovernmental Summit on Climate Control in London, in twelve weeks. Now, I don’t know how you people feel about fossil fuels, but my company opposes any moves on the part of the international community to force through more reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases. At least until people like me have had a chance to predict how much CO 2the atmosphere can absorb before it triggers catastrophic climate change.’

‘And you can do that in the Himalayas?’ asked Swift.

Boyd described his interest in taking core samples from mountain glaciers.

‘It’s vital that we have as clear a set of data as possible, otherwise we may end up committing ourselves to unnecessary targets that will almost certainly have an effect on American economic development.’

‘What if your data doesn’t support your institute’s point of view?’ asked Jack. ‘Then what?’

‘To be honest with you, that’s not for me to say. I’m just a scientist. Jack. Governments will have to call a halt to CO 2emissions sometime. It’s bound to be unpopular when it does happen. Very unpopular. No politician wants to make an unpopular decision until the last possible moment.’

‘I guess so,’ said Jack. ‘But two weeks? Have either of you any idea what the weather out there is like right now?’

He drained his champagne glass at the thought of it.

‘Quite apart from the effects of high altitude, we’ll have to cope with very high winds, temperatures so low they’re almost off the scale, and less than seven hours of light per day. These are hardly ideal conditions for any scientific expedition.’

Boyd shrugged.

‘I apologize if this sounds like mine’s bigger than yours, but Antarctica wasn’t exactly a Sunday school picnic. And like I say, my institute will be sending some of the latest equipment. Some of the gear we used at the pole was developed by NASA. I mean state of the art.’