Деон Мейер - Cobra

He struggled to link a European hit man with an African snake. ‘Mozambique? That’s . . . odd?’

‘Indeed. And that’s where the story gets interesting. The hit man is known as the Cobra, and Interpol think he is Mozambican. Bonfils says the reasons for that are all in the report, but it starts with the first murder, in Portugal.’

‘He’s sending it now?’

‘That’s what he promised.’

‘I’m coming in . . . You should get some sleep, Phil.’

‘I will, as soon as I have read the report.’

Griessel rang off and stood there, cellphone in hand.

A Mozambican. A British professor. On a Cape wine farm belonging to a German.

Where were the days when this land was the polecat of the world, when no one came here? When at least you knew the suspect would be a local fokker ?

Then he grew aware of the musky scent of sex rising along with the warm air from the heater. He looked down at his penis, now small and shrivelled.

Rascal .

In the big dark room he laughed quietly, mockingly at himself.

16

Just past three in the morning, in the perfect silence of his cramped office beside the IMC hall, van Wyk gave Griessel the print-out of the email and said: ‘Read this first . . .’

He took the page and read.

Jean-Luc Bonfils

>

To:philip.vanwyk@saps.gov.z

a

Re:Cobra (Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007

)

Dear Captain van Wy

k

It was a pleasure talking to a fellow law enforcement officer on the graveyard shift, albeit a continent and hemisphere away, and under these circumstances.

Allow me to start with the most important:

1. I am not the Interpol officer assigned to the Cobra dossier. This is Supt. Marie-Caroline Aubert, and she will be very anxious to assist you in any way. I will share all our communications with her later today.

2. May I respectfully request a copy of your investigation records for our database as soon as your schedule allows? If you could please also keep me informed, should you make positive progress (or, of course, an arrest). Interpol is keenly interested in this subject, especially given the fact that this is the first reported homicide committed by the Cobra in the southern hemisphere.

3. Please find attached twenty-one (21) documents, which is the full complement of available material at Interpol, and includes notes on all the known Cobra dossiers.

4. Please allow me one clarification: you will notice that the Légion étrangère (L.E. or French Foreign Legion) photograph is of very low resolution, and that the information supplied by the L.E. is limited. This is not an omission on the part of Interpol. Usually the L.E. does not release any information on their enlistments to law enforcement (not even French authorities). However, they do screen all applicants for serious crimes through an agreement with Interpol before acceptance. It was this connection we leveraged for the little information on Curado that was released (unofficially, as a favour).

Please let me know if we can be of assistance in any way, and best of luck with your investigation.

Jean-Luc Bonfils (Superintendent)

INTERPOL

200, quai Charles de Gaulle

69006 Lyon

France

‘OK,’ said Griessel.

Van Wyk pressed his finger on a bundle of documents. ‘This pile contains summaries of all the relevant murder investigations in the northern hemisphere,’ he said. ‘There isn’t anything new, but the cartridges are there every time. The only interesting thing is that the Cobra began using a new Heckler & Koch MK23 in 2009 and 2011. But it seems as though he acquires the latest model every two years . . .’

Van Wyk pushed more print-outs across to Benny. ‘Read these first. That’s how they put two and two together.’

Griessel picked up the top page.

INTERPOL

General Secretaria

t

200, quai Charles de Gaull

e

69006 Lyo

n

Franc

e

Intelligence report: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/19/03/2009

Report date: 2 May 2010

Report submitted by: Stefano Masini, Procura della Repubblica presso il Tribunale di Milano

Interview by: Stefano Masini, Procura della Repubblica presso il Tribunale di Milano

Interview with: (Name withheld, paid informant, Bari.)

Interview venue: Bari, Italy

(Edited Transcription, translated by M.P. Ross, Interpol, 19 May 2010)

SM: The shell casings found on the scene of the Carnevale killing are engraved with a snake, and the letters N and M. Do you . . .

X: (Expletive.) That’s bad, man

.

SM: Have you ever heard of such markings

?

X:Yes, yes, I’ve heard the rumours, lots of rumours. It’s the Cobra. Ver

y

dangerous guy.

SM: Does he work for ‘ndrangheta?

X: No, (expletive) no, he’s a freelancer, he works for anybody, he’s a gun for hire. Very expensive, hundred thousand euros for a hit, but they say he never misses, he always delivers. If the Cobra takes a contract on you, you’re (expletive) dead, man. For sure.

SM: Do you know who he is?

X: Nobody knows this guy. He’s a ghost. Just bullshit stories . .

.

SM: What stories

?

X: Bullshit, man. Some say he was in the French Foreign Legion, and he lives in Amsterdam, or Madrid, or Marseilles, but they don’t know. Nobody knows. Lots of stories, lots of rumours. The wannabes, they talk about him, they want to be him, man. If you want a clean hit, no comebacks, you get the Cobra. (Expletive) psychopath, man, they say he has the eyes of a snake, you know? He never blinks, cold eyes . . . That type of shit, people make it up. They even say he killed his own father, I mean, you know, there’s a new . . . how do they say? A new . . . twist every time . . .

SM: How did he kill his father?

X: It’s crap, man

.

SM: I’m sure. But let’s not waste a good story

.

X: (Expletive.) Don’t write in that report that this came from me. I need the money, man . . .

SM:Of course . . .

X: OK. So . . . They say, he killed his father, because he needed a reference, you know? To get business. Three, four years ago, in Portugal. His father was this retired Russian Army colonel, worked in Africa most of his life teaching those baboons to shoot each other with an AK, you know? What do they call them? Military advisor? So this Russian colonel (expletive) some black woman in one of those hell-hole countries, got her pregnant. And then he just left, never cared for the kid or the woman. Big suffering. But she knew his name and everything. So this kid grew up and he joined the French Foreign Legion, became a real killer, you know? A badass soldier. No fear. Nobody (expletive) with him. And then he left, and became The (expletive) Cobra, man, they say it was his first hit. He traced his father, the guy had retired to Portugal with all his stolen African money, and that was the Cobra’s first hit with the snake on the bullets. That’s where it all started.

SM: So he’s a mulatto?

X: That’s what they say

.

SM: Who

?

X: You know. The rumours. Just guys talking shit

.

SM: Guys in the trade

?

X: Yes

.

SM: Has anybody actually seen him

?

X: Maybe the bosses

.

SM: Capos