Drugs to Forget
Page 23
Nathalie could feel the tension. She glanced up at Mike who was now glued to his lens and then at Farai who was sitting to one side pointing his muffler-covered microphone at their two interviewees. In other circumstances, the crew would be in charge telling the participants how to sit and when to talk. In this situation it seemed that the roles were reversed. These men were very much in control. One with a weapon on his lap, the other with a self-assured air.
‘Let me give you an example,’ said Middleman, idly poking the fire. ‘When the World Bank and IMF began offering loans they forced us to privatise our economies. This allowed Western corporations free access to our raw materials and markets. It was a debt trap that Africa didn’t realise until it was too late. Take Zambia. They pressurised them to privatise their copper industry. Zambia has the third largest copper reserves in the world, yet more than sixty per cent of Zambians live below the poverty line. Eighty per cent of the people live on less than two dollars a day. That’s what we mean by exploitation.’
These protests were eloquent but Nathalie was desperate to get on to the topic of what these guys were going to do about their anger. She knew that she had to gain their trust to get that material. She mustn’t rush it. She decided to go with another question.
‘That sounds all very well but the West would say that Africa is its own worst enemy. Look at the corruption here.’
Rolex put up his hand to his colleague to indicate that he would field this question.
‘It’s true. Corruption gets most of the blame for why African countries have struggling economies, but tax evasion of the multinationals does more to cheat Africa of its wealth than its corrupt leaders. This money, wrongfully stolen from African countries, ends up in rich Western nations or is protected in their tax havens. Don’t talk to us about corruption.’
Rolex was becoming heated again and Nathalie decided it was now time to strike.
‘You say that the West isn’t listening to you. Your arguments are very strong but I can’t really see these organisations you’re talking about changing their practices. What are you going to do about it?’
Outside the hut the sky had become blood red. The shadows from the trees were running against the burned earth. It would soon be completely dark. A few hundred metres away the immunisation outreach team were packing their remaining supplies into the cool box. The families had dissolved into the bush and Nurse Jones, Joseph and Tom were left on their own. Tom looked anxiously around for any signs of Nathalie. Surely she should be finished by now. He tried to distract Joseph by asking to help dismantle the weighing scales. This worked for a while but there was only so much equipment to pack up. All was nearly in the jeep when Tom remembered Nathalie’s ruse.
‘Nurse Jones?’ Tom hoped that he wasn’t betraying the anxiety in his voice. ‘I wonder if you and Joseph could spare me a few minutes, because of my scientific background, I’ve been asked to write some of the script for your video.’
Nurse Jones was packing away the final sharps’ bin into the back of the jeep. ‘Of course Tom, but wouldn’t it be better to do that back at the hospital, it’s getting dark and we ought to be moving.’
‘I’m afraid we’ve got to go back to London soon and may not get the chance. Besides if we sit in the front of the jeep we could have the light from the cab.’
‘Right, I suppose if it doesn’t take too long. Okay by you Joseph?’
Joseph heaved the collapsible table into the back of the jeep. ‘Fine by me, but I’m sure you can give Tom all the information he needs. I’ll go over to the kraal to see how the crew are getting on. I expect they are being held up by some village elder telling the stories of his ancestors. I’ll help them get away without offending anyone.’
Tom started to panic. ‘Oh I’m sure they’ll be all right, in fact you might interrupt some important filming; won’t you stay and…’
But Joseph was striding purposely across the grassland towards the village and didn’t hear the rest of what Tom was trying to say.
Tom frantically searched for the phone in his pocket. He pulled it out but there was no signal. Nurse Jones was looking at him strangely.
‘Is there a problem Tom? I thought you wanted to ask me some questions about the project.’
Tom was in a quandary. If he followed Joseph then Nurse Jones might follow too. He decided to stay. With a bit of luck Nathalie might talk her way out of this one.
‘Yes, I mean no, no problem. Let’s sit in the cab and I’ll take some notes.’
By the time Tom had started to ask questions Joseph had reached the headman’s hut. He saw the warm glow coming from the small entrance and bent down to enter.
‘Ah Nathalie,’ he said, ‘I see you have met my friends.’
Twenty-four
There was a stunned silence in the hut. Nathalie looked first at Joseph Karasa and then at the two disguised men. Nobody else moved. After what seemed an age Rolex stood up. He slowly and deliberately placed his rifle against the mud wall, approached Joseph and held out his arms. Joseph responded and they hugged each other like brothers. After some seconds Rolex stood back and held his outstretched arms against Joseph’s shoulders.
‘You’ve arrived just in time,’ he said. ‘We were about to get to the interesting bit.’ He looked over his shoulder at Nathalie. ‘Aren’t we Nathalie King, or should I call you Thompson.’
Nathalie’s mind was racing. King was a name that Lloyd had seeded on her militant websites. She hadn’t mentioned that name since but Rolex had obviously been doing some checking. And Joseph, what in the hell was he doing here. Hugging and kissing this activist like a long lost relative. Yet there was no imminent threat at the moment; the gun was in the corner, Farai was next to her and Mike was a pretty big guy. No need for immediate panic. She decided the best thing to do was to say nothing.
Joseph broke the hiatus. ‘Yes, good cover don’t you think. The model Imunaid worker.’
Rolex’s eyes looked questioning.
Joseph smiled and nodded. ‘Not a word about you to the outreach team. I also checked with the hotel. She was really beaten by the police, but they got nothing from her.’ He nodded towards the crew. ‘These guys seem legit too, professionals, not known for toeing the political line. If we want our message out there this is the best chance we’ve got.’
Nathalie’s heart rate was returning to normal, but on the mention of the crew she thought about her sparks. He was meant to be outside minding the generator.
‘Where’s Chris?’ she asked.
‘Oh, outside doing his job. Don’t worry, I didn’t whack him or anything. I just approached from the other side of the hut.’
‘And Tom and Nurse Jones?’
‘Planning your little video in the jeep. They are fine, but we shouldn’t leave them too long.’
Reassured that Tom and Chris were safe Nathalie decided to put her cards on the table.
‘So you’re a member of this group Joseph.’
‘Are you shocked by that?’
‘No, not shocked, a little surprised perhaps. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?’
‘I would have thought that was obvious. We can’t be too careful. You could have been someone from Western intelligence trying to infiltrate our network. My friends here thought that we should take a look at you when you were off your guard. I’m pleased to say that you have passed with, what would you call it, flying colours? And, as I said, Tom won’t keep Nurse Jones talking forever so I think that you should continue with your filming.’
Mike and Farai, who hadn’t said a word during this confrontation, resumed their places behind the equipment. Nathalie asked her two interviewees to resume their places and stood with Joseph behind the camera. She was just about to tell the camera to turn over when her film sixth sense kicked in.
‘Role…’ she was about to say Rolex, and had to stop herself. ‘The gentleman on the left had a gun on his lap during the last take. I think we should put it back there for continuity.’
Joseph gingerly reach for the gun, holding it as if he hadn’t touched such an instrument before, and passed it to Rolex who took it and replaced it casually on his lap.
‘And so Miss Thompson, if I can call you that now, shall we resume where we left off. You were asking me what we would do if the West didn’t listen to some of the grievances in our last remarks. Well if you turn on your camera we’ll tell you.’
The tension in the hut was palpable. With Joseph Karasa now by her side, Nathalie directed the camera and asked her questions. What action would they take? What methods would they use? Would they give any warning? The answers from the two men were pretty comprehensive and quite worrying. They had no qualms about using explosives. Their plans were not to kill but to draw attention to the campaign. That’s why they had agreed to be filmed. To show that they were serious and to publicise their cause and intent. Nathalie next asked them what they would do if these warnings were not heeded.
Middleman looked to his partner for approval before giving an answer. It sounded rehearsed but, despite that, it still put a chill in the air.
‘We have a plan. One that may unfortunately endanger lives. And so it’s an idea that we hope we will not have to put into action.’
Nathalie looked first at Joseph, who was standing impassively, and then back towards her interviewee.
‘And what will trigger this?’
Rolex intervened. ‘If we see no movement on any of our concerns. The cancellation of aid debt, the renationalisation of mining industries, the exposure of multinational tax evasion. Just one of these actions would stay our hand.’
Nathalie leaned forward and mimed silently to Mike that he should creep into a tight shot. ‘From what?’ she asked quietly.
She imagined the image as seen through the lens. The skein of smoke from the fire drifting across a face, ominous eyes peering through the scarf.
‘They will find out.’
‘But if I’m going to transmit this threat, no one is going to listen unless they know the consequences,’ said Nathalie, a slight tinge of exasperation in her voice. ‘That’s if the threat isn’t an idle one,’ she added provocatively.
The response came like a firecracker
‘This is no idle threat! We have already prepared the ground. This plan will involve more than explosives. We plan to give the West a dose of African disease. An ironic weapon considering that much of the disease here could be treated by the West if the pharmaceutical companies thought they could make profits from us.’
‘A biological weapon, a terrifying prospect,’ said Nathalie coldly. ‘Also quite devastating. How do you propose to control it?’
‘We are not monsters. Our aim is to frighten not kill thousands of people. Our blueprint is to spread the disease amongst a restricted population.’ Rolex laughed sardonically. ‘They may even find an antidote more quickly. One that we could use in Africa.’
Nathalie felt that she was now getting to the nub of her interview.
‘An antidote to what?’
‘Ebola of course, a virulent virus, causing slow and painful death. Also transmissible but eventually containable. The perfect weapon of fear.’
‘So how do you propose to obtain the virus?’
‘We have methods, trials have already taken place. I told you, this is no idle threat.’
‘And how do you intend to spread it?’
Rolex suddenly got to his feet and placed his hand in front of the camera’s lens.
‘Enough, switch off your equipment, this interview is over. You have all that’s necessary to persuade people to meet our demands. We have no intention of disclosing our methods. Even to you Miss Thompson.’
Nathalie glanced at Farai, to see if he had got the audio of that, and then turned calmly to Mike.
‘You can switch the camera off now Mike, the gentleman is right, we have plenty of material to warn people of what could be done.’
At that moment Chris put his head through the door.
‘Hey you guys, I think there’s some movement from the jeep, looks like the nurse and Tom are making their way towards the village.’
‘Shit,’ snapped Nathalie. ‘Joseph, can you intercept them, tell them that we’re just wrapping here and we’ll join them by the truck.’
Joseph nodded and made his way into the night. The crew hurriedly coiled the cables and packed the recording gear into the boxes. Nathalie stood to one side, debating with herself about her next move. It was a difficult one, this was a great opportunity to raise the issue of a meeting with Temba. The idea, to infiltrate this organisation even further and to gain further evidence of them obtaining Ebola and an antidote for its couriers. She was unsure of the legality of this entrapment. Also, although Temba had agreed to go to Morocco, he still had to be persuaded to take part in the sting. She turned to the two men who were now stamping out the fire.
‘As you can see we’ve got to go. The interview, great stuff, I’m sure it will work. I’ll be in touch through our normal contact. You know we are on your side, and to prove this, we may have something for you.’
‘For the cause?’
‘Of course, something to do with the safe handling of bio weapons. Have to check it out but let’s say it looks promising.’
‘You are full of surprises Miss Thompson, but you are right, that would be very useful to us. We will wait to hear.’
The journey back to Harare would take them all night. The outreach jeep was returning to the district medical centre near Gweru but, now that the road behind was out and Farai had no idea where they were, Joseph agreed to drive the long way round and lead them to the main Gweru-Harare highway. The crew truck followed the jeep’s red tail lights through the dusty tracks. Either side of them it was pitch black, not a rock or a blade of grass to be seen. Nathalie soon fell asleep as their vehicle lurched rhythmically from side to side.
She was woken by a splinter of light reflecting from the rear-view mirror. She blinked to clear the mist from her eyes.
‘Harare?’
‘I wish,’ said a drowsy voice from the driver’s seat.’ Farai handed her a crumpled roadmap. ‘Useless, none of the side tracks on it at all. Even Joseph in front there has made a few wrong turnings. Now that the sun is coming up, should be a bit easier.’
Nathalie looked out of the window. They were still on dirt roads, the blue Toyota in front of them slowly navigating the ruts and potholes. Either side, the yellow grass was beginning to glow in the early dawn light. No trees, no houses, just miles and miles of flat featureless scrubland.
‘You want me to drive?’
‘No. Company rules, no insurance, as if that matters out here. You could wake Chris up though. He’s a crap driver but it’s better than me falling asleep at the wheel. I’ll flash my lights to see if we can get creepy Joseph there to stop.’
‘Creepy?’
‘Yeah, springing that surprise on us in the hut, I nearly had a heart attack. Thought we were going to be abducted for a minute.’
Nathalie laughed. ‘Must admit it surprised me too. Imagine what would have happened if he’d overheard us talking about the real purpose of the shoot.’
As it happened, Farai had no need to flash his lights. The jeep ahead slowed and pulled up at a major junction. A tarmac road stretched at right angles into the distance.
‘At last,’ sighed Farai. ‘Must be the A5, the main Gweru-Harare road. They’ll be turning south from here.’
Nathalie reached for the door handle. ‘Let me out, I’ll thank them and say our goodbyes. You wake up the guys in the back and swap places with Chris. I won’t be long.’
Nathalie ran over to the jeep. Joseph wound down the window and she shook his hand.
‘I want to thank you and Nurse Jones for the trip. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results of the video. Flying back to London
tomorrow so will keep in touch by e-mail.’
‘No problem,’ said Joseph. ‘And thank you for the filming, I’m sure the publicity will work.’ He handed her a scrap of paper. ‘Here’s my number. Any further help your organisation can give us, you can call that without having to go through the hospital bureaucracy.’
Nathalie folded the paper and put it in her jeans’ back pocket. ‘I’ll keep it safe, thanks for going out of your way and leading us out of the bush.’
‘It was either this or repairing that wadi road, and I didn’t think Nurse Jones would be up to laying tarmac in the middle of the night.’
Nathalie looked over at the passenger seat but now she saw that Sue Jones was fast asleep. ‘I suppose not but thanks all the same, we’d still be driving round in circles if we hadn’t followed you. Also thank Nurse Jones and the chief medical officer for us. Despite our sideshow, I really hope that the immunisation video will help.’
‘Me too,’ said Joseph, putting the Toyota into gear and pulling out into the highway.
It was after nine in the morning by the time the film unit vehicle pulled up outside the Harare Holiday Inn. Nathalie and Tom said their goodbyes to the crew and took the media drives into the hotel.
‘Breakfast for two in the coffee shop please Manny, we’re both starving,’ said Nathalie as she passed the reception desk.
The coffee shop was empty, and they chose a table by the window. Tom pulled up a chair opposite and folded his arms.
‘So?’
‘So why didn’t you stop him coming to the village,’ Nathalie fired back.
‘Was it that bad? I thought by your attitude when we left that you’d either finished filming or managed to fudge it somehow.’
Nathalie fingered the menu, keeping Tom in suspense a little longer. ‘Do you want waffles with your scrambled eggs?’
‘Look I’m sorry Nathalie, it was either him or Nurse Jones. I didn’t have an option. I’ve been waiting all night to know what happened. Are you going to tell me or not?’