Right up until the moment he recognised Stratton. He almost let go of the glass he was so astonished. He looked hard at Stratton, from his boots to his face. His eyes locked on to Stratton’s cold eyes for a long time. But then his qualities as an old fighter came through and he regained control of himself.
Stratton looked from the Somali to his companion.
It was the Chinese girl.
Her smile faded as she looked up at the Englishman. She didn’t have quite the same control as Lotto and lost the liquid in the fine crystal glass she was holding.
All three remained silent for what seemed a long time.
Lotto’s eyes went to his pistol, within arm’s reach on a side table next to the single lamp that illuminated the room and the open bottle of whisky beside it. Then he looked at Stratton. The operative kept looking at the girl but was way ahead of the Somali.
Lotto sat back and took a breath, like he had an amount of respect for Stratton’s ability to outmanoeuvre him. Like he had first-hand experience and didn’t doubt for a second that if he chose the wrong moment to reach for the weapon, he would never live to touch it. ‘Well, well, Mr Stratton,’ he said in his deep voice, sounding confident. ‘You are always full of surprises.’
‘No more than you,’ Stratton said, his comment aimed at the girl whose expression was coated in guilt. ‘So who
It took several seconds for her expression to change. As though she could no longer see the point in playing games. She looked at Stratton, his pistol, his fatigues and they seemed to signal an end to something. She said, ‘The Triads.’ She looked matter-of-fact about it.
Stratton smiled inwardly. He was not expecting that answer. ‘Would that explain the drugs?’
She nodded. ‘Jimlen and I never sailed to Somalia. We got dropped off by a Chinese cargo ship. I was making the delivery.’
‘What delivery?
‘The quarterly supply.’
‘We’ve been in business a long time,’ Lotto cut in.
‘A long time? You two?’ Stratton said. The girl didn’t look old enough.
‘Not her,’ Lotto said. ‘This was her first trip. The Chinese have been dealing through Somalia since before you were born.’
Stratton knew the Triads were international organisations but he knew nothing about a Somali drug connection. He thought again how drugs and arms smugglers used similar routes and techniques. And since nearly every terrorist organisation smuggled weapons, it didn’t take a genius to work out that providing their smuggling services to drug dealers could be a very lucrative source of funding.
‘What came first?’ Stratton asked, curious about the set-up.
‘Hijacking is not new to Somalia,’ Lotto said. ‘We’ve been doing it for hundreds of years. A couple of decades ago the Triads saw an opportunity and came to my predecessor with a business plan. In the early days we did not hijack many ships a year, only enough to transport the smaller amounts of drugs. I was a fisherman then, working for my father. When I was old enough, I joined the pirates and I watched the demand for drugs increase. That meant the need to hijack more ships. I knew that, even then. But my boss didn’t see it. He was afraid to increase the hijackings. I decided to set up my own business. That old weakling said I would bring down the wrath of the international countries on all of us. So I took over all of the piracy on this coastline. You want to know something? We always made more money from the drugs. The hijacking has always been a sideline.’
Stratton found it an interesting history lesson. ‘When did the jihadists get involved?’
‘They first showed up five or six years ago. They wanted to get involved in the drug smuggling to fund their jihad and offered me product from Afghanistan. So we began to do business. I could make you a very rich man, Mr Stratton,’ Lotto said. He took a deep pull of his drink. ‘I have bank accounts all over the world. I could set one up for you by tomorrow morning. How much do your people pay you?’ He smiled. ‘How does five million dollars sound to you?’
Stratton eyed the man with contempt. ‘When did you begin smuggling weapons for terrorists?’
‘There’s no money in that. I do it to keep them happy.’
‘Was it your idea, combining their weapons with the drugs?’ Stratton asked.
Lotto grinned. ‘Of course. It is just politics, my friend.’
Stratton looked at the girl again. ‘So how did you end up in his jailhouse along with the rest of us?’
‘The Triads didn’t like Lotto using the same system he used to move the drugs to smuggle weapons. They sent me to tell him not to do it any more.’
‘I don’t like being told what to do by anyone,’ Lotto grumbled. ‘So I punished her.’
‘Why did you go aboard the cargo ship?’ he said to the girl.
‘I heard about the hand-held missiles when I got here. I knew it would lead to problems. Your kind of problem. I got a message to my people to confirm Lotto was putting the missiles on the ships with the drugs. That was when Lotto put me in his jail.’
‘I put you in the jail because you accused me of cheating your Triad bosses.’
‘I was also ordered to check the amount of drugs you were putting on board. You
‘Cheating. A stupid word in our business. As long as everyone makes money, what is the problem?’
‘If you went to China and told them that, you wouldn’t live very long,’ she said.
‘And so let them come here,’ he said. ‘They would not because they are afraid to. Why do you think I keep Al-Shabaab happy? The Triads could not take on those guys. Not here in Somalia. And that’s why I had to punish you some more. I wanted to send them a message. I’m sure you enjoyed it just a little. Isn’t that why you came back?’ Lotto asked.
She turned to Stratton. ‘You’ve come for the jihadists, haven’t you?’ she said.
‘That’s all over,’ he said. ‘The camp and the missiles have been destroyed. We have the ships and the hostages will be free by now.’
Lotto opened his mouth slightly in horror at the news. His world was crumbling around him and it was all this man’s fault.
‘You avenged your friend?’ she said.
Stratton didn’t answer, he simply stared coldly at her. But she read a hint of satisfaction behind the veil of pain.
‘I’m glad for you,’ she said.
Stratton knew he should regard her with the same cold contempt he had for Lotto but still he could not. He suspected there was more to her story. ‘You don’t seem like the Triad type,’ he said.
‘I’m not a Triad. My father was.’
‘I liked working with your father,’ the Somali cut in.
‘Too much unfortunately,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘The Triads found out that Lotto and my father were cheating them. That’s how I ended up here. If I did not deliver the drugs and report on the weapons, they would kill all of my family. My mother, my sister and brother. Even my brother’s wife and children. I had no choice.’
‘I am feeling very bad about all of this,’ Lotto said. ‘There’s a lot I have been blind to. I am going to give you a lot of money too.’
Stratton wondered if the man really expected anyone to take him seriously. And did he really believe that after this little talk he was simply going to walk out of here? Stratton hadn’t decided what to do with the pair of them. He would take them down to the beach and introduce them to Downs. London could decide.
‘When you beat her, did she tell you I’d been on the ship and seen the weapons?’ he said.
‘I don’t think so,’ Lotto replied.
‘He’s lying,’ the girl said. ‘He asked me where I had been. I didn’t tell him at first. But the pain was too great and I thought he would stop. So I told him. He didn’t stop. He asked me where you had been. I told him the truth. And he continued with me.’
Lotto looked like a cornered animal.
‘So my next trip would’ve been to the Al-Shabaab camp?’ Stratton said.
‘In business terms, that was a long time ago,’ Lotto said and shrugged. ‘Now we can start again. I’ll give you twenty million dollars US. I have money here. Lots of it.’
