Windfall

'If he co-operates and makes no trouble,' said Chip. 'If he does anything foolish there are no guarantees any more.'

'I'll make no trouble,' said Corliss eagerly. 'All I want to do is to get out of this damn country.' He listened to the night noises and shivered, drawing the fatigue jacket closer to him although it was not cold. 'It scares me.'

'There's one more thing,' Stafford said. 'People don't usually get shot for no reason at all. Who'd want to kill you, Corliss? Not Gunnarsson; he wouldn't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Who, then?'

'I don't know,' said Corliss violently. 'No one would want to kill me. I don't know about Hendrix. You guys said it was open season on Hendrix.'

'That was a manner of speaking,' said Stafford.

Corliss shook his head as thought in wonderment at what was happening to him. He said, 'I had an auto accident in Cornwall, but I'm not that bad a driver. The brakes failed on a hill.'

Stafford shrugged. 'It doesn't have to be guns.'

'Cui bono?' said Chip, unexpectedly breaking into Latin. He grinned at Stafford's expression, his teeth gleaming in the firelight. 'This nigger bastard went to university. Who inherits from Hendrix?'

Stafford thought about it, then said slowly, 'The next of kin, I suppose. Corliss, here, says Hendrix had no family but, of course, he had, although he didn't know it. His next of kin would be his cousin, Dirk Hendriks, assuming that Henry Hendrix made no will.'

'I think we can accept that assumption,' said Chip dryly.

Stafford shook his head. 'It's impossible. Dirk went back to England with Farrar. How could he organize a kidnapping into Tanzania? That would take organization on the spot. Anyway, he's inherited three million himself. What's the motive?'

From the darkness on the other side of the fire Nair said, 'Six is better than three. Some people are greedy.'

'I don't see it,' said Stafford. 'Hendriks has no Kenyan connections; he's a South African, damn it. He'd never been in the country until he came with Farrar. How could a man, not knowing either country, organize a kidnapping in Kenya by Tanzanians? I'd say South Africans are a damn sight more unwelcome in Tanzania than they are in Kenya.'

'Yes,' said Chip. 'We're a tolerant people. We don't mind South Africans as long as they behave themselves. The Tanzanians aren't as tolerant.'

They batted it around a bit-more and got nowhere. At last Stafford said, 'Perhaps we're barking up the wrong tree. I know that no tourists have been killed in these Tanzanian raids but it was bound to happen sooner or later when people carry guns. Perhaps this attempt on Corliss was a statistical inevitability – a Tanzanian aberration.'

'No,' said Chip. 'I can understand a gun going off and killing someone. I can understand one man going round the bend and killing someone. But two men deliberately took Corliss and, as you said, it was the nearest thing to an execution I've witnessed. It was deliberate,'

'Jesus!' said Corliss.

'But why?' Stafford asked. No one could tell him.

***

The fire had to be kept going all night so one man stood" watch while the others slept and Stafford stood first watch. By unspoken agreement Corliss did not stand a watch; no one was going to sleep having him loose with two rifles and a submachine-gun. When his time was up Stafford stretched out on the ground not expecting to sleep, but the next thing he knew Nair was shaking him awake. 'Dawn,' he said.

When Stafford stood up he was stiff and his bones creaked. In his time in the army and in the Sahara he had slept on the ground in the open air many times, but it is a game for a young man and as he grew older he found that it ceased to be fun. He looked around, and asked, 'Where's Chip?'

'He left at first light – ten minutes ago. He said he'll be back in an hour, maybe two.' Nair nodded towards Corliss. 'We have to make arrangements about him. He can't be seen by anyone, including the police.'

Stafford stretched. 'I know that you pair display an amazing efficiency but I'd like to know how Chip is going to fix that. The KPU must still have a lot of pull.'

Nair raised his eyebrows. 'The Kenya People's Union no longer exists. How can it have influence?'

'All right, Nair; have it your own way.'

'Max,' he said, 'a word of warning. It would be most unwise of you to talk openly about the KPU. Loose talk of that nature could put you in prison. It is still a touchy subject in Kenya.'

Stafford held up his hands placatingly. 'Not another word shall pass my lips.' Nair nodded gravely.

It was two and a half hours before Chip came back and he brought with him two men whom he introduced as Daniel Wekesa and Osano Gichure. 'Good friends,' he said.

'Just good friends?' Stafford said sardonically. 'Not brothers-in-law?'

Chip ignored that. 'They'll look after Corliss and get him out of the Mara.'

'Where will they take him?'