was that of the biggest of the bunch, a 190 centimetre heavyweight named John Kelo, who seemed somehow to be in charge. Sangster looked worried, I thought. Harkness was in his element, shaking hands, turning on the rough charm for the woman who was evidently a nurse.
We trooped up a staircase, Harkness in front with the nurse, then Sangster and me, then Kelo and his pals.
‘What’s wrong?’ I hissed in Sangster’s ear.
He shook his head and didn’t reply.
Along a corridor, Harkness talking animatedly, snatches of pidgin, laughter. One of the Bougainvilleans moved swiftly past, opened a door and stood aside. The room was brightly lit; there was a small desk, several pieces of overhead equipment that could be swung into place and a chair something like the kind dentists use. A man got up from the chair and extended his hand to Harkness, ignoring everybody else. He was built along the same lines as the doctor, but bullet-headed, bald and his skin was the colour of tar.
‘Good evening, professor,’ Jonas Buckawa said.
‘Gidday, Jonas. Go easy with the grip, son, I’m going to need those fingers to fix your peepers. Sit down and let’s take a look at you.’ He gave Buckawa a gentle shove towards the chair.
One of the attendants stepped forward and grabbed Harkness’ upper arm. ‘Be more respectful of the leader,’ he said.
Harkness shook the hand off and looked furiously at Buckawa who was sitting in an upright, regal posture in the chair. “What the fuck’s this, Jonas?’
The same man spoke again. ‘Do not use foul language.’
I was turning towards Sangster for an explanation when I was gripped in an expert choke-hold. John Kelo opened my jacket and slipped the. 38 out of its shoulder harness.
‘Examine your patient, please, doctor,’ Kelo said. “You will be performing the operation tonight.’
Harkness laughed. ‘You’re off your head. And I won’t touch him until I hear what you bastards are on about. Jonas?’
The man whose task it seemed to be to handle Harkness raised his fist. Buckawa froze him with a look. ‘Don’t be foolish, Leo. You must not damage the doctor.’
Leo backed off. ‘Yes, sir.’
Kelo hadn’t taken his eyes off me. He nodded and the choke-hold was released. I rubbed my neck and thought about turning round to do some nose-breaking. I could feel Sangster twitching beside me. The nurse opened a door and I could see through into an operating theatre-harsh lighting, gleaming chrome, an antiseptic smell.
Harkness folded his arms. ‘Forget it. I’m not operating tonight and maybe not at all unless I get an explanation for all this crap.’
‘Things have changed, professor,’ Buckawa said smoothly. ‘I have had visitations… visions… dreams. I am called to do great things, but my enemies are all around and I cannot stay here long.’
Buckawa’s body appeared to be relaxed but there was tension in his voice and something unnatural about his unwavering stare. I remembered Harkness saying that he approved of Buckawa because he wasn’t corrupt and he wasn’t religious. I could only guess at what he was feeling now. He moved forward, taking a device from his pocket, and shone it into each of the seated man’s eyes in turn. He snapped his fingers at the nurse and she handed him another gizmo with a headband attached to it. He slipped it on and fiddled with a control before leaning down and looking into Buckawa’s eyes again through the lens.
He straightened up and sniffed, felt for his pipe.
‘No,’ Leo said.
‘Get stuffed.’ Harkness took the pipe and tobacco tin out and began to go through his ritual. “No slicing tonight, children. Pressures’d have to be monitored for three days, minimum. Have to do measurements for the intra-ocular lenses. We need an anaesthetist…’
‘Much of that data is on hand,’ Buckawa said. ‘We have anticipated you. The implants and lenses are available. Sister Pali and Nurse Kwaisulia are highly competent theatre personnel. Dr Sangster can act as anaesthetist.’
Ian Sangster said, ‘No.’
Harkness said, ‘Fuck you.’
I swung hard at Nurse Kwaisulia and got him on the right cheekbone. I felt my knuckle crumple and it didn’t seem to bother him much at all. Harkness dropped his pipe and tin, went into a crouch and bullocked Kelo back against the wall, driving back a man who outweighed him by twenty kilos by sheer force of will and anger. I went for Kwaisulia again but Leo stepped in and the two men grabbed my arms and held me easily. Harkness got in one good shot at Kelo’s ribs but then the bigger man’s strength told-he pushed the doctor away and grabbed both his fists. Harkness’ hands were swallowed by those big black fingers and Kelo forced his arms down to his sides. I realised what he was doing-protecting Harkness’ hands and limbs from damage.
Harkness glared at Buckawa, who had sat impassively in his chair throughout the action. ‘You can’t make me operate on you. That’s not the way it works.’
‘Things are going to work differently,’ Buckawa said, ‘I have already told you that. I have discovered something interesting about the concept of a free press.’
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’
‘Press statements have been prepared in which you announce your support for the Buka oilfield project, and your belief that the income generated will do great things for eye health in Melanesia.’
‘Who’ll believe that crap?’
Buckawa smiled. ‘Some plants do not have to grow to full size, it is enough that they take root.’
‘You’re mad. What’s happened to you, Jonas?’
I stared at Buckawa and noticed for the first time the Rolex, the heavy gold ring, the silk shirt and the suit. ‘I can tell you what’s happened, Frank,’ I said. ‘He’s switched sides.’
Harkness bent to retrieve his smoking gear. He tucked it away in his pocket and shrugged his shoulders. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘Let’s get on with it. The sooner the stink of you’s out of my nose the happier I’ll be.’
Kwaisulia rumbled angrily but the others seemed unconcerned. Buckawa said, ‘I hope you don’t have any ideas of… disabling me.’
Harkness grinned at him. Thirty years of pipe smoking had worn down the tops of two of his teeth, giving him a tough, don’t-mess-with-me look. ‘You’ll just have to take your chances, won’t you, sunshine? Now which eye is the bad one? I hope I can remember to get that right.’
Kelo gestured to Leo and Kwaisulia to let me go. He took a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at me. ‘You and I, Mr Hardy, though professionals, can be of no use here.’
Sister Pali opened the door and Kelo gestured for me to go out. Harkness was looking grim. He gave me a sharp nod. The only satisfactory thing I could see in the room was the swelling on Kwaisulia’s face. Kelo shepherded me down the passage and into an office. I sat in one of the easy chairs and he wheeled the chair out from behind the desk and took that. Smart man; it looked uncomfortable, which is what you want to be when you’re guarding a man who doesn’t like you.
‘Your boss is nuts,’ I said.
Kelo shrugged his massive shoulders. ‘Possibly. Who cares?’
‘You’re in it for what you can get?’
He nodded. ‘There is a lot to get.’
‘Why the rush? And the heavy stuff? Harkness would have done the job under the original terms. What difference does a few days make?’
Kelo didn’t answer and I was left to make my own conclusions. Somehow, a few days did matter. Why? We sat in silence while an hour crawled past. I could have done with a drink, but Kelo didn’t look like the flask-carrying, hospitable type. A tap came on the door and Leo put his head in. He and Kelo exchanged nods. Leo took the pistol and the upright chair and Kelo left the room. Leo was young and nervous. He handled the pistol awkwardly. I slumped down in my chair, wondering if I could reach his knee with a long kick, or if I could get to the heavy glass ashtray on the desk before he shot me. Doubtful on both counts.
It was the right line of thinking though because I was ready when the shots boomed outside and the glass shattered. Surprise stalled Leo for an instant but set me off: I was out of the chair, hammering down on the hand
