Diamond Legacy. Monica McCabe

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СКАЧАТЬ strange feeling settled in the pit of Miranda’s stomach. Diamond smuggling, corrupt employees, huge cash deposits, and an event of international proportions. No matter how one looked at it, the future of Katanga appeared grim.

      Chapter 9

      The next morning Miranda rose full of determined ambition. By afternoon, her optimism had been beaten flat. A series of dead ends and brick walls made it all but impossible to find traces of smuggling.

      She’d spent the bulk of the day with Dr. Mulrufa, a friendly and outgoing man who knew just enough English to get by. Together, they ran routine health and dental check-ups on a variety of animals destined for zoo life. All rescues from poaching, the exotic pet trade, or the biggest threat of all, expanding civilization.

      When it came to snooping, though, luck wasn’t in her favor. Once she had managed to access veterinary records, but Dr. Mulrufa had interrupted, and she’d scrambled up a plausible excuse to be digging into sensitive files. Hours passed without another chance, and then visiting students from the University of Botswana arrived, and she had to give an impromptu class on dentistry.

      In a last ditch effort, she volunteered to log the day’s paperwork. It was pushing five o’clock and Mulrufa heartily accepted the offer, leading her to an available computer.

      After a few false starts, she finally got the hang of pulling up digitized medical charts and soon whizzed through the day’s details, diligently translating her notes and others into the computer.

      That’s where Jason found her. “Letta and a couple interns are going into Gaborone for some fun. Dinner, drinks, and wild women. What do you say we join them?”

      She looked up from her notes to find him grinning in excitement. Letta stood right behind him shaking her head. “I’m fairly certain wild women weren’t mentioned,” Letta said. “But it’s possible we’ll find some dancing.”

      Miranda had no intention of blowing her chance to snoop. With an excuse to work late, and alone, there’d be free time to dig at random. She had to take it. “That sounds like fun, but I’ve too many transcripts to log,” she said. “You guys go ahead. I’ll keep working and catch a bite to eat back at the lodge.”

      “No, no, no,” Jason argued. “Here’s an opportunity to experience African nightlife. A little boogie action and local booze. You can’t pass this up.”

      “We can wait until you finish,” Letta offered.

      She smiled and shook her head. “Next time guys, I promise.”

      “You seriously need to work on balancing job time and play time.” Jason dug the Jeep keys out of his pocket and handed them over. “Remember what they said. To the lodge and back. Two miles. No detours.”

      “Yessir!”

      “And don’t wait up for me. I plan to be late.”

      Miranda waved them off and got back to work on her notes. Just shy of an hour later she finished and hit print for the results. That’s when Dr. Mulrufa returned.

      “File paper tomorrow,” he said. “Time for home.”

      “Good idea. I’ll just finish tidying up a little and head out.”

      He nodded in agreement and wished her goodnight.

      At long last, she was completely alone.

      Two more hours slipped by as she pulled one digital record after another, looking for any similarity, any discrepancy, or the just plain weird.

      What she found only confirmed what she already knew. Katanga ran an organized and detailed system. In fact, their record keeping bordered on phenomenal. She found nothing remotely suspicious. Instead, she grew impressed with their meticulous documentation.

      Keeping detailed records wasn’t unusual, but the extent exhibited here went above and beyond. She found supply orders, distribution lists, and government permit lists. She had become excited when she stumbled into a section holding research grants, demographic maps, and customs information for twenty-five or thirty countries, but again, nothing telling.

      She tried the accounting sections, but that particular drive came up password protected and computer hacking wasn’t on her list of skills.

      Despite an overload of information, nowhere did she find an indication of foul play, no dubious invoices, not even a minor typo for heaven’s sake. How crazy was that? She glanced at her watch and sighed with disappointment. What did she expect, really? Anything illegal wasn’t going to be logged in their system.

      Deciding to give it up and head for the lodge, she signed off the computer, grabbed her keys, and made for the back door in the veterinary garage.

      * * * *

      Matt wheeled into Katanga’s parking lot and aimed for employee parking in the rear. Using night shift vehicles as camouflage, he backed his Land Rover into a parking spot at the edge of the streetlight’s reach and killed the engine.

      Twilight settled around him. It was his favorite hour, a shadowy balance between day and night when the world tossed out a protective blanket of darkness and hid many a sin. It’s when the bad guys came out to play. Not the last several nights, but patience was a technique he perfected long ago. It usually paid off.

      Katanga kept a tight rein on the staff. Not surprising given the amount of money involved, and discovering the diamond pipeline wouldn’t be easy. Not that he expected it to be. He’d enough to bust Graham and Keyes right now, at the very least haul them in for questioning. But he was trolling for bigger fish and intended to follow the flow to its source.

      Matt rolled down the window, then reached into the back seat for a cooler filled with dinner and cold beer. A storm brewed in the distance, and the wind carried the musty scent of rain, a perfect setting for clandestine activity. Maybe he’d get lucky and something would happen tonight.

      He took a bite out of a ham and cheese sandwich, then popped the top on a cold one. He had spent the past few nights like this and, though he believed the drop wouldn’t happen this soon, he wasn’t taking chances. Besides, there was a lot to learn by watching the stables, the parking lot, and the comings and goings of the staff.

      Halfway through his sandwich, he noticed a woman exit the veterinary back door. He took a swig of beer to wash down the ham and cheese and glanced at his watch. Eight-thirty-five.

      The lone figure drew closer and walked beneath a street lamp.

      “Well, I’ll be damned,” he whispered.

      The little zoo dentist was burning the midnight oil. Where was the tagalong assistant? He waited for him to exit the building, but Miranda kept walking across the parking lot alone. And she aimed straight in his direction.

       Why did he have to park two doors down from her Jeep? Now he’d have some serious explaining to do. Again.

      She froze when she spotted someone sitting in the vehicle near hers. She appeared tense and glanced back to the building. She was nervous. Aw, hell.

      “It’s me, Miranda,” he called out. “Get over here before someone sees you standing in the middle of the parking lot.”

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