The Malthus Pandemic

by Terry Morgan

CHAPTER 52

  "So, Ian, can you tell me the name of one of the companies you are interested in?" Nagi asked me.

  I resorted to the tried and tested strategy of nothing ventured, nothing gained. I had to start somewhere. "Shah Medicals," I said. "Have you heard of them?"

  "No," said Nagi.

  "You see, Nagi? But what would you say if I told you there were links here with other small, and not so small, companies in USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kenya, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jordan, Syria, Turkey - I can go on."

  "A network?"

  "Precisely. It's certainly a viable distribution network and probably under the direct control of one or two key men with one or two key scientists running the technical side of things. Once they give the instruction, the distribution network starts distributing."

  "What about the business records of the two men?" asked Nagi.

  "In one case it's fraud, corruption, embezzlement. He's wealthy and he's not afraid of removing people from the scene if they get in his way. So far, he's been untouchable"

  "Yah," said Nagi, "And the other?"

  "Ambitious, wealthy and he enjoys power and influence. And he hates crowded places like Cairo. In fact, he seems to dislike crowds so much that his hobby is researching population control methods."

  "Hmmm," said Nagi, and got up again.

  I had forgotten how calm Nagi can stay. I'd noticed it before and put it down to his army days. Neither Colin or I had been able to work out Nagi's full background history but we both knew he was shrewd and had risen quite high - high enough to know when it was time to pull back and pull out."

  The second pot of tea had arrived and he came over, poured each of us two more cupfuls and sat down again.

  "Who is this second guy who hates Cairo so much?"

  "An Egyptian by birth," said Daniel

  "Hmmm," said Nagi again. "Name?"

  "Mohamed Kader," I said and Nagi shrugged. I knew the name would mean nothing without the link with Kader's company, Al Zafar.

  "And the murderous, untouchable embezzler?"

  "An Irish American."

  We sipped tea. Then I said, "I need to find out where they are operating from. It could be anywhere. It may well be a company operating under a completely different name to Shah Medicals."

  I knew I needed a lead, names, anything and I thought for a moment. The temptation was there to say far more but I still did not want to divulge too much just yet. I needed to draw Nagi in slowly. "They are importing pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment into Egypt via Jordan." I said. "The Arab Bank is acting as consignee. Any help?"

  "Can you get a copy of a Bill of Lading or something?"

  "Not quickly," I said and kicked myself for not having thought of that one earlier. Clive might have been the answer. But too much had been happening.

  "Who is the exporter?"

  I knew Nagi was now pushing for details. Instead I said, "If you can get me some information either from the bank or any other source, I'll then point to a name."

  Nagi stood up once more. "OK. Anything else you want? Whatever it is I'll be putting it on your invoice." He laughed.

  "Yes," I said, "Someone I can work with for a few days - run around with me, not scared to get their hands dirty - good with locked filing cabinets - you know the sort, Nagi." It was my turn to laugh although I knew and so did Nagi that I was being deadly serious.

  It was evening when Nagi phoned me with details of my helper.

  "She is the daughter of a doctor from Alexandria and a graduate in pharmacy and business studies - well qualified technically and commercially, if that's what you want."

  "She, Nagi? What does she normally do when not acting as deputy to a foreign sleuth?"

  "Sleuth?" Nagi’s excellent English suddenly failed him.

  "An investigator."

  "Ah, yes. She works in a pharmacy but wants to do something more interesting. She is thinking of joining the police but would also like to work abroad. What do you think?" Nagi also sounded less than enthusiastic. Perhaps she was all he could find.

  "I thought you might have more of a professional on your books - someone like Khaled who helped me once before," I said.

  "They seem too nervous of working with foreigners and you need someone who's not known."

  That was undoubtedly true. "So, what is her name?"

  "Maria Tawfiq. Her mother is Spanish, her father Egyptian."

  My new assistant, it turned out, was the opposite of Jimmy.

  Jimmy is tall, thin, athletic in his appearance. Maria was a short, plump girl in a long, brown-patterned skirt and white cotton top. Her hair was short and covered by a beige scarf. It was early evening, the day after my meeting with Nagi and we were sat in the hotel foyer. I was trying to get to know her.

  "I am Maria Tawfiq. I am twenty five years old. My father is a urologist. My mother is a nurse."

  Nagi was right about one thing. Maria was bored, bored with her life and bored with her prospects in Cairo. But a bright spark shone somewhere beneath the surface and I saw it. And she was a pharmacist. We talked a bit more but I still hadn't mentioned the job. It was deliberate. I wanted Maria to get impatient with my questions and ask me to get to the point. She did, more quickly than I thought.

  "So, what can I do, Mr McCann?"

  "I want to find an Egyptian company, Maria."

  Then, nothing ventured, nothing gained, I told her about as much as I had told Nagi. Maria's eyes widened at every new revelation. What was more she understood drugs, medicine, vaccines, bacteria and viruses. I suddenly found myself defending my technical shortcomings.

  Maria and I were still talking when my phone rang. It was Nagi.

  "Shah Medical Centre," Nagi said and gave an address. "It's a small private clinic in Cairo owned, apparently, by a Doctor Ramses El Khoury. He ran a private clinic in Alexandria for a while, moved to Jordan and returned to Cairo a year ago."

  I listened, unsure whether this was the Shah Medicals I was looking for. It didn't sound right and Nagi had been surprisingly quick. "And," Nagi then added, "He runs a regular family planning clinic."

  I was still unsure where all this was leading.

  "But hardly anyone attends any longer. According to information or rumour - I have never attended the clinic as you can imagine - the clinic strongly advocates a one family one child policy - Chinese style. The views are, what do you say in English, unconventional?"

  I was not over excited. There are a lot of people with opinions like that. But then Nagi revealed the key bit. "And," he said, "The Shah Medical Centre is the one importing the equipment from Jordan."

  This was better. "How do you know that, Nagi?"

  "Contacts, Ian, contacts. I still have friends in the banks."

  "So what's he doing with the equipment?" I wondered out loud

  "Well, once the bank releases the goods with documents from Shah Medical Centre, someone else takes delivery. The consignments disappear somewhere."

  "So, how to find out where, Nagi?"

  "No idea, not unless you want heavy handed - like police involvement. But I thought you should know first."

  I was well aware that I now needed to put even more trust in Nagi - a man I still didn't know as well as I should. I was asking Nagi - someone with obvious close links to some powerful Egyptian people - to please say nothing to anyone while I, Daniel Cappelli, a foreigner on Egyptian soil, delved into an Egyptian problem with potentially devastating consequences if things went wrong. It was not only a risk for me but a risk for Nagi.

  "I need more time, Nagi?" I said. "I've got an idea but it will take a few days."

  I then turned to Maria. "I think we've found your first job, Maria,"

  It was midnight when my phone rang again.

  I had not spoken to Jimmy since Bangkok. Neither had I been able to contact Jimmy from London. But Jimmy had called Colin and Colin was now phoning me.

  "Looks like Jimmy has got himself a part-time job
at Shah Medicals in Nairobi, Dan. Did you know?"

  "Yes, he was saying something but it was a bad phone link. Tell me. I guessed something was up."

  "He's the new cleaner," said Colin. "Not only did he know Jomo the salesman but Lucky the cleaner."

  "Go on."

  "You want it word for word? I recorded it - I do sometimes."

  "Yes, please, I've not heard Jimmy's happy voice for several days." There was a clicking sound.

  "“Tell Mr Franklin that the cleaner’s name is Lucky." said the recorded voice of Jimmy. There was a pause and Colin is heard to say, "Yes, anything more?"

  “I went to see Lucky at his house and asked him if he felt ill. I said, 'Do you feel sick, Lucky?' Lucky said no. Then I said, 'How would you like to fall ill with pains in your belly?' Lucky said no - he was tired but he felt OK. But then I told him I wanted his cleaning job for a few days. Lucky was very surprised but said he could not afford to take time off. But I said he could easily afford it because I would pay him double to stay away from work for a few days. All he had to do, I said, was to phone and say he was sick with pains in his belly, but that his brother would do the cleaning. Lucky thought it was his lucky day - no work and double-pay. And guess what? ”

  “What, Jimmy?” Colin's recorded voice said.

  “He agreed. But I would have to pay him four days double-pay in advance. So, you see my expenses are mounting."

  "No problem, Jimmy. Anything else?"

  "Yes, the Pakistanis are leaving. Jomo says they are going to work in Egypt. I watched them leave. All except one that is. I was sitting in my car. They wear white trousers, narrow at the ankles and long, white shirts hanging outside. Two of them wore small, white prayer hats and grey waistcoats over their shirts

  In London, Colin switched the recording off.

  "Another piece of your jigsaw, Dan?"

  "Looks like it," I said. "A lot going on, Colin."

  "There's not much more on the tape but Jimmy has only worked one evening. I hope his floor cleaning is as good as his ferreting. But it looks as if Cairo is the place to be, Dan. I thought you'd like to know. And there's one more thing, Daniel."

  In London, I had asked Colin to check out the Dutchman, Jan de Jonge who had disappeared from Virex.

  "We traced De Jonge's family," Colin went on. "His parents knew of his disappearance from the Dutch police. He is unmarried. His folks, mother and father that is, live in Utrecht. Mr and Mrs De Jonge are very concerned. He had run up a lot of debt in Holland for some reason. They wouldn't say what. He went to the States to escape the worry and to make some money. He had been back to Holland three times - once a year. Everything seemed OK on his last visit, which was at Christmas and New Year but he was still struggling to pay off the money. It sounds as though the money side was a real problem for the man. His parents did not want to talk about it. Finally, Dan, his parents said that he had told them he might one day join two British friends from another company who had also gone abroad."

  It was just as I thought. I still believed they were all together somewhere. But where? Egypt?

  Jimmy was not the only one with a new job. In Cairo, Maria had started hers.