Dawn of the Epoch

Chapter LII - Game Plan

Hunter put down the phone.

“Who was it honey?” Tiyana asked.

“Chivambo.”

“Chivambo!” She said, surprised. “What does he want?”

“To meet.”

“Really? What could he know today that he didn’t know yesterday?” She said skeptically.

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

“Well did he say anything?”

“Yeah, something about cargo that I should look at. When I pressed him on it, he got cagey.”

“Sounds dicey.” She said. “Let’s get Hongo in here. Oh, and Virgil too.”

They called Virgil and Hongo up to their room for a conference.

“We have to look into it.” Virgil was saying. “We may not get a second chance.”

“But if Chivambo is in bed with Ghaelvord, it could be a trap.” Tiyana replied.

“True. Where does he want to meet?” Virgil asked.

“At the office. He talked about inspecting one of the shipments that they took in, something about contaminated fruit. He got vague after we got that far.” Hunter responded.

Virgil plotted, “We have to meet on our terms. Hongo will call the office and tell him that you are running late and you will meet him at the container storage yard instead. If you are supposed to inspect containers, then that is where they will be. Meanwhile, we’ll stake the place out in advance. We’ll also have a getaway speedboat and a car ready in case it is a trap. This will give us at least two escape routes.”

“Hell, we can do better than that.” Said Tiyana. “I’m a licensed helicopter pilot. Hunter and I have been on some pretty remote digs you know.”

“Ah.” Virgil said. “Three escape routes, land, air, and sea. Perfect. Can we find a helicopter here?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” Tiyana said. “I’ll just try the Nacala Airport. Who knows what they’ll have to say.”

“I would not expect much out of that airport.” Hongo added. He went on, “What will we do if they insist on meeting at the office?”

Virgil answered, “Tell them you cannot reach Hunter, I mean Doctor Sudbø, and that he is waiting there. If they don’t come, then they don’t come. We haven’t lost anything. We are merely right back where we started.”

Virgil took a deep breath. They all looked at each other as if waiting for more comments.

Finally, Virgil said, “Okay, we have a general plan. Let’s talk details.”