Читать книгу The Song of Mawu - Jeff Edwards - Страница 12

6

It was decided that Brian would represent The Fund in its discussions while the other Directors listened in, and after much effort the call was placed through.

‘Good morning Mr President, my name is Brian Reynolds and I’m the legal representative of The Fund which is operating a rehabilitation camp for refugees in Ashloko.’

‘A very good morning to you Mr Reynolds. How may I help you?’ asked a cheery Joseph Lattua.

‘Well, Mr President it seems that members of your army have taken possession of our camp.’

‘Really Mr Reynolds? And why would members of the Grand Army of Namola want to take over a refugee rehabilitation camp? You haven’t been hiding insurgents there have you?’

‘Most assuredly not Mr President!’

‘Well then Mr Reynolds, perhaps it’s a more mundane problem.’

‘Like what Mr President?’

‘Taxes Mr Reynolds,’ responded Joseph Lattua cheerfully as he warmed to his task. ‘Has your organisation paid all its taxes?’

‘We’re a charity helping penniless refugees. What sort of taxes would a group like ours be lible for?’

There was a soft chuckle over the line, ‘Why Mr Reynolds how naïve you are. Surely you realise that there are import duties to be paid on the supplies you have imported, land taxes on the amount of land that your people have brought under cultivation, water taxes for the volume of that most precious commodity that you are consuming, income tax on the wages you are paying your workers, road taxes. Need I go on?’

‘I’m sure we weren’t aware of our obligations in this regard. Perhaps Governor Trong could have mentioned this when he visited us and we could have come to some sort of an arrangement at that time.’

‘Yes. It seems my Provisional Governor was most lax in that regard. I shall have some strong words with him.’

‘Thank you Mr President,’ said Brian, trying not to show his disgust at the man’s utter greed show in his voice, ‘Perhaps we can now come to some agreement to pay the arrears.’

President Lattua smiled across the desk at his brother, who was leaning back in his chair with his highly polished boots propped up before him. Joseph pretended to shuffle through some papers while he envisioned himself climbing aboard his new private jet. ‘Ah, here we are Mr Reynolds. It seems that the total of your taxes to date comes to just over three million dollars, United States dollars that is.’

Eliza shot out of her seat and Nori had to grab her before she could scream an insult at the President.

Brian made sure that Eliza had settled down before calmly replying to Lattua. ‘I don’t like to question your figures Mr President but they do seem to be somewhat excessive.’

‘Excessive Mr Reynolds? Not at all. They are quite in line with our current rates, and of course there will also be the matter of interest.’

‘Interest?’

‘Naturally. All unpaid debts accrue interest at a rate of one percent per day. A very minor rate you’ll agree.’

Brian did not agree at all. It was pure usury and he had no intention of agreeing to these piratical demands.

‘Mr President, I must object. We are a charity. We are in your country to assist the refugees from Sonateria. In helping them, we ensure that they do not become a burden to you and your countrymen. Surely these taxes and the interest accrued can be waived in our case?’

‘I’m sorry, but if we were to exempt you then everyone would simply declare themselves to be a charity as well and no one would pay their taxes. Where would our country be if no one paid their taxes Mr Reynolds?’ asked President Lattua with feigned innocence. His brother was enjoying the President’s performance and encouraged him with hand gestures and a wide grin.

Brian looked around at his fellow directors, their eyes narrowed in disgust. Toby Brown mouthed the word ‘bastard’, while Eliza sat weeping silently in frustration.

‘If we were to pay your taxes, when would the military withdraw?’

‘Well now Mr Reynolds I’m sure that General Lattua would be delighted to withdraw if all the taxes were paid, and the interest of course, plus a prepayment on future taxes. As an act of good faith on your behalf of course.’

Brian spoke slowly, trying to contain his disgust, ‘And how much would this come to?’

President Lattua was enjoying himself immensely. He shrugged his shoulders at his brother, who grinned broadly and held up both hands with fingers fully extended.

‘Oh I should think ten million dollars US should do nicely,’ said President Lattua in an offhand manner.

Brian looked around at his stunned board members, ‘Thank you Mr President. I’ll take your offer to my board of directors.’

‘Off course you will Mr Reynolds. I look forward to hearing from you soon. But remember, the interest is accumulating daily so your early attention to the payment will be to your advantage.’

Brian was so disgusted with the man that he had barely pushed the button breaking the connection before swearing loudly.

In Namola, President Lattua was slower in placing the receiver into its cradle because he was laughing so loudly.

His brother had also been enjoying the discomfort in Brian Reynolds’ voice and was himself laughing with delight. ‘Will they pay?’ he grinned.

‘Who cares? I’ve been speaking to the lately deposed President Bollan from Sonateria. He’s stripped the Sonaterian treasury of every last dollar and has it hidden in a French bank. Bollan is now looking for a place to use as a base of operations where he can organise his return to power. I’m sure he’d be delighted with the camp in Ashloko, especially as it comes with its own air-strip.’

‘I’d rather keep it for my own use,’ said his brother, ‘That way I can keep one regiment in our camp in Lobacra and install the other in Ashloko. It will help me keep the country under a tight rein.’

‘No reason you can’t share it with him.’

‘I suppose not,’ General Lattua shrugged, ‘So we don’t really want the English to come up with the money?’

‘I’d be delighted if they could come up with the money. But that doesn’t mean that they’ll get their camp back. As head of the Namolan Treasury I can foresee a sudden increase in the country’s interest rate and its exchange rate,’ he laughed, ‘We can’t lose!’

***

Following Brian’s outburst there was a corresponding outpouring of righteous indignation from his fellow board members, especially Eliza.

Finally, Justine had enough and brought them all back to earth with a bang of her fist on the heavy table. ‘Alright people. We know we’re being screwed over by this thief so let’s settle down and work out a measured response. If we start flying off at the handle, we’ll only stuff things up and that will play right into his hands.’

The board of The Fund sat grim-faced around their board table as they considered their next actions.

‘How soon can we have the money ready?’ asked Eliza, ‘I have to get back there and make sure that our friends are all right.’

Brain looked at her, ‘We can have the money for you in hours but I’m afraid that even if we did pay the ransom it would only be the start. How many more times will he do the same thing? If he wins now we’ll be paying him over and over again until we are forced to abandon the project.’

Toby spoke up from his end of the table. ‘I’d rather we paid the money he’s demanding to one of the other charities working in the refugee camp. At least then we’d know that our money was doing some good.’

Eliza was distraught, ‘But I must do something for my people out there. We’ve worked so hard to give them a start. We can’t allow them to be forced back into the squalor and disease of the refugee camp.’

Nori reached out and took Eliza’s trembling hand, ‘None of us want that Eliza but we can’t give in to this tyrant. There’s no way of telling if he would allow us back into the country even if we did pay the amount he says we owe. From what little we know and what we just heard from him I doubt if he would ever allow us back to the town we created. What we made out there is valuable and will become even more valuable when the crops we planted begin to ripen.’

‘And if they don’t allow their goats to strip the saplings, the trees we planted will make it an even more habitable and valuable a property,’ added Ali.

‘Well what do we do?’ wailed Eliza.

Toby Brown, ever practical, spoke up, ‘I think Justine put her finger on it a minute ago. We don’t know enough about the situation out there. We saw a drama unfolding on the television news, knew that people were suffering and realised that something had to be done to help them. Eliza made plans to help, and with Nori and Ali’s help she was able to perform a miracle, but in our enthusiasm and because this was one of our first projects, we made the mistake of not doing enough research. We should have studied the political and economic situation of the country were working in. It’s an error that we can’t afford to repeat in the future.’

His wife Suzie nodded, ‘We didn’t have Rod Taylor and his people working for us then.’

‘As soon as our meeting is over we’ll have Rod get to work collecting whatever information he can on Namola,’ said Justine.

‘It’ll be all too late, and it’s all my fault,’ sobbed Eliza.

‘It’s never too late, and it’s no one’s fault,’ said Ali quietly, ‘We’re all new to this and it’s inevitable that some aspects would be overlooked. We’ll all learn from this.’

‘I still want to go back to Namola and try to help,’ said Eliza.

Justine looked over at her friend, ‘Normally I’d agree and you’d be on the next flight out of here but I think we need you here for the next little while.’

‘Why?’ asked Eliza, ‘What can I achieve from here? I need to be out there.’

Justine looked around the table. ‘It’s the primary reason that I wanted to move the meeting down here to the War Room. I want to discuss things that we can’t talk about anywhere else.’

‘What’s that?’ asked Lana Reynolds.

‘When I saw the message for the first time I knew that we had to do something, but realised that to go against an armed force of unknown size and shape requires an armed force of our own, and that it would have to be of a greater size than Lattua’s to ensure victory. However, we have no army and I can’t imagine us supporting any such scheme.’

‘We’re a charity. We’re here to save lives not take them,’ agreed Toby.

‘So, if we can’t fight them, then we have to overcome the enemy some other way,’ nodded Justine.

‘The tapes!’ said Lana, looking up at the portrait of Jade Green behind Justine’s head. For a second she thought the woman in the painting actually smiled.

‘I thought you and Eliza didn’t have a high opinion of the tapes as a bargaining tool.’ said Toby.

‘I don’t,’ replied Justine. ‘And I still think they have less and less relevance with every day that passes, but we’re not looking at gaining some small advantage in a commercial venture here, we’re talking about going up against an entire government and that’s a completely different scenario. If we’re going to take on something that big then I want us to possess every advantage thatwe can.’

‘So you think that someone to do with the government of Namola may have visited Jade Green at The Garden of Eros?’ asked Brian, ‘It’s not a large country but a very poor one. I think we may be clutching at straws to establish such a link.’

‘There may not be anything on the tapes that will be a direct link, but we don’t necessarily need a direct link. Anyway we can get help from anyone we can ‘convince’ to help us in our battle.

‘All very well, but I want to go back to our people in Namola,’ said Eliza.

‘No Eliza we need you here,’ explained Justine. ‘As soon as we recover the tapes they will have to be downloaded.’

‘But I have to go back to Ashloko! Anyone can download the tapes!’

‘No, we can’t just let anyone do that. Only two other people outside of those people present here know for sure that the tapes still exist. That’s why we’re down here now. No one else can ever know that they still exist. That’s why it has to be one of us that does the work and you’re the one with the expertise.’

Crestfallen, Eliza had to conceed that she was correct.

Justine put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll make sure that someone is out there watching over the project and your people.’

‘Who?’

‘There are a number of other charities still working in the refugee camp. We’ll make sure they’re supplied with ample funds and supplies to look after our interests. If need be we can send for Sam Tait and Bree Lake. They’re currently in Singapore helping Wendy Chung set up our Asian office, but I’m sure they’d jump at the chance if we need them,’ said Brian.

Reluctantly Eliza had to agree with Justine and Brian’s assessment of the situation. She nodded, ‘But I want to be kept up to date with what’s happening. If they need any help out there, I’m going to be on the first flight.’

‘Of course,’ agreed Justine, with the rest of the board nodding as one.

‘That brings us to the topic of retrieving the tapes,’ said Brian. It seemed strange to be able to talk out loud about a subject of which they were all aware, but had been unable to discuss between themselves in public.

They all knew that the government was still searching for the prized tapes which acknowledged their worth to the holder of such explosive information. Every one of the board members was aware that their homes and offices could be bugged, no matter how often they were swept by Teddy Strang’s security staff. Each was aware that their trusted employees Sam Tait and Bree Lake were still on the payroll of the government’s Department of Inland Security and under orders of it’s head, John Thorpe, to seek out the tapes. The agents’ discreet questioning of fellow staff members and their midnight snooping in The Fund’s offices, was why the board had made sure they had been sent to assist Wendy Chung in her new Singapore office. Luckily the agents had formed a deep friendship with Wendy and happily accepted the assignment.

It had become a game, that both sides knew the rules to, and agreed to play by as long as no one was hurt.

That was why they had created the War Room as well as the secret floors above it.

‘How will we get the tapes down here?’ asked Eliza.

‘Certainly not by the front door,’ replied Brian. ‘I thought we were spending all this money and taking all these precautions in case they were ever needed. I never imagined that we’d actually be using them and certainly not this soon. We haven’t even finished moving into the building.’

‘The passage?’ asked Eliza.

‘It’s the only reasonable way.’

‘When?’ asked Lana.

‘As soon as possible. I’ll pay a quiet visit to Mark and Ellen as soon as we finish this meeting. We definitely want it completed before Sam and Bree return. I know they’ve done wonderful work on our behalf but their first allegiance is still to the government.’

Eliza sighed, ‘I’ll get my computer from the basement in London. I don’t think it’ll attract any unwanted attention if I bring it in with all the other equipment that’s being moved.’

‘I’ll drive Eliza up to London and help her,’ offered Justine.

‘I hope your driving has improved since I’ve been away,’ said Eliza with a small grin.

‘While you’re doing that, Ali and I will have to get together and make a list,’ said Toby, ‘We’re going to need a few things and if we buy them all at the same place it may attract attention. All of you will have to make a tour of the countryside, buying bits and pieces from different places, and make sure you use cash. We don’t want to leave any sort of a trail for someone to follow.’

‘Well it looks as though we all have jobs to do. I propose we meet at Mark and Ellen’s place at ten o’clock tonight,’ said Justine.

Brian nodded, ‘We’ve got a long night ahead of us. It’ll take a lot more effort to raise the old lady than it did when we lowered her.’