A vehicle drove past the gas station. Li Han watched as the bodyguards took cover behind their truck. They’d be dead meat if someone in the car fired a grenade.
No one did. The car sped past, continuing around to the eastern side of the city.
The Russian had stepped into the shadows as it approached. He moved out of them now, going toward the northern edge of the small property.
Li Han decided he would come from the south on foot.
“Go,” he told Amara. “Drive as I told you. I will meet you there.”
The Brother nodded.
Melissa nearly jumped when her phone rang. She took it from her pocket, telling herself to relax and move slowly. She crouched at the side of the road as she answered.
“Yes?” she whispered.
“Where are you?” asked Nuri.
“On the road where we were going to meet.”
“Wait.”
She could see shadows up the road ahead. She’d assumed it was Danny and Nuri’s car, but now she wasn’t sure.
“Danny is about ten yards on your left, on the east side of the road,” Nuri told her. “Put one hand up. When you do, he’s going to get up.”
This is a bit much, she thought, but she did it anyway, turning in Danny’s direction. A shadow emerged from the field.
“Hey,” yelled Danny.
“Hey.”
“The truck you spotted is parked near a building at the southern edge of town,” said Danny, running to her. “Come on. We should have a pretty good view of the proceedings in a few minutes.”
Kimko saw the pickup approaching and hissed at the gunmen back by the car to get ready. Just as he ducked down, he realized someone was walking up from behind the service building. He turned around and saw the outline of a man with a pistol pointing at him.
His heart fell toward the ground; his lungs clutched.
“It’s me,” barked Li Han.
It took several seconds before Kimko could breathe again. Those seconds were filled with an incredible thirst.
“Why are you playing games?” asked Kimko in English.
“Why did you bring so many people with you?”
“Bodyguards. There’s fighting in the city. Two factions. Did you bring the photos?”
“I brought some things.”
“Show me.”
Kimko led him over to his truck. Meanwhile, the vehicle that had been approaching pulled into the gas station, stopping a few yards from the truck.
The guards are useless, thought Kimko. They were too used to intimidating people simply by flashing their weapons around. In a real fight, they’d be so much chum in the water.
Kimko got into the truck. Li Han got in on the other side, then took a cell phone from his pocket and turned it on.
“It has no SIM chip,” said the Asian. “It can’t be tracked. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” said Kimko.
“Here,” said Li Han, handing over the phone.
There was a small melange of colors on the tiny screen. At first glance the image seemed to be nothing — indiscriminate shapes. Slowly, Kimko recognized a black triangle and a round sphere — the blurry outline of an aircraft.
He paged to the next image, and then the next. These were sharper. The object was definitely an aircraft, but it looked like no UAV he’d ever seen. Assuming it was a UAV, it would certainly be of interest back home.
“This looks like a model,” said Kimko harshly. “A prop for a movie.”
“It’s not.”
“How do I know?” Kimko started to hand the phone back.
“You can keep that,” said Li Han. “Show it to your experts. Here. This is from the aircraft, the interior of the wing. Notice that it has writing.”
He took a thin, long piece of metal from his pocket. Only a little larger than a fountain pen, it looked like a miniature shock absorber. It had a series of tiny numbers and letters stenciled on the bottom.
“It is an actuator,” said Li Han. “It moved a piece of the wing that acted as a flap. The material is still attached. You can see it’s a metallized glass. Very rare.”
Kimko turned it over in his hand.
“How do I know this came from the aircraft?”
Li Han reached for the phone. He paged back through the images, stopping on a dark rectangular blur.
“It is the item on the right,” said Li Han, handing the cell phone back. “Do you see?”
Kimko really didn’t see, but others would. Even if the Chinaman was a fraud, this whole enterprise was certainly worth talking to Moscow about. It was definitely a ticket out of Africa.
But if he was a fraud, it could backfire.
“One million euros,” said Li Han.
Kimko chuckled. “A million euros? For a broken piece of metal?”
Li Han didn’t respond.
“I don’t think this is worth a million euros,” said Kimko. “A million euros would not be appropriate.”
Kimko started to hand the phone back. Li Han wouldn’t take it.
If it were a UAV, and if Moscow didn’t know anything about it, then certainly it would be worth a million euros.
Maybe, maybe not. The best thing to do would be to let someone else make the call. In that case, if it were a fraud, then there would be no blame on him.
“I think one million euros is too much,” said Kimko. He sighed, as if making a deep concession. “But if perhaps I could have one of my people inspect it, then we could negotiate seriously. People who know about these things,” added Kimko. “I don’t. I’m not an expert.”
“No one sees it until I’m paid.”
“Well that’s impossible, then. This could all be a fraud.” Kimko started to reach for the door handle, then remembered this was his truck — he shouldn’t be the one to leave. They sat for a few moments in silence.
“Maybe an inspection could be arranged,” said Li Han finally. “If you made a down payment.”
Kimko snorted. “Impossible.”
“I will give you something else. You’ll pay for that.”
Kimko made a face. Now he knew the man was a con artist. Whether it was his truck or not, he was getting out. He reached for the door.
“Here is a CIA bug,” said Li Han, reaching into his pocket.
Once more Kimko’s lungs seized. Li Han was worse than a con man — he was a plant, an agent.
“It’s inactive,” said Li Han, opening his palm. A small insect was inside. “Take it and I’ll show you.”
Unsure what else to do, Kimko reached for the insect. He picked it up gingerly. It felt real.
Men would be shooting at them any moment, he was sure. This was all a setup.
Li Han reached into his pocket again. He took out a small radiolike device and flipped it on.
“See?” said Li Han. “No radio signal. You see my needle. The bug doesn’t work, but you can examine it and see how they do it.”
“I’m sure we have millions of these,” said Kimko.
