Digging Deeper: An Adventure Novel (Sam Harris Series Book 1) (12 page)

The next morning, she waited in the office at six-thirty for an ‘early’ meeting with Black.  When he arrived at midday, he apologised for being late.  She looked so startled to receive an apology that he asked her what was wrong.  She muttered something about women’s problems. 

After procrastinating for an hour and drinking two large mugs of tea each, they set off to Tunde with Sam driving at Black’s request.  It was a long, straight tarmac road with huge potholes, most of which were unavoidable.  There were very few vehicles.  She counted only six on the half-hour drive.  Black was in a good mood, chatting and telling stories.

‘Have you heard the story about the phantom Filipino?’ he asked.

‘No, I’m sure I haven’t,’ said Sam.

‘Well, in 1989, during one of the many cease-fires in the civil war, MARFO rebels launched an attack on Kardo, and a Filipino mechanic disappeared.  Local people said that he had been kidnapped.  Three days later, they found the bottom half of a rotten torso on the riverbank.  A doctor examined it and said that it wasn’t African or white but probably Asian in origin.  The missing man’s colleague said that he himself had helped sew up the wound that caused the scar found on the left calf.  With this confirmation of the death of the poor unfortunate man, Gemsite collected contributions for his widow from his workmates and an insurance pay out from Lloyds and sent the ‘body’ back for burial.  The widow declared the legs to be those of her beloved and accepted the thirty-thousand dollars’ compensation with tears of gratitude.’

‘Wow, that’s a lot of money in the Philippines.’

‘Quite so,’ said Black.  ‘Well, most people assumed that the story ended there.  However, twenty-two months later, the missing Filipino turned up in a Red Cross convoy that arrived in Namibia.  It turns out that MARFO leaders were embarrassed to admit that they had taken a hostage during a cease-fire, so they hid him for two years.  Meanwhile his ‘widow’ had remarried and spent all of the thirty-thousand dollars that she got as compensation in his absence.  She was surprised when he arrived home demanding that she get rid of her new husband.’

‘Oh my, that’s awkward.’

‘The Filipino mechanic moved back into his house and started suing Gemsite for unpaid salary over the two years.  Can you believe it?  Cheeky bastard.’

The story finished there, as Sam did not dare ask who won the case.  She had to admit, it was a good yarn, even if it was not entirely true.  She never could tell with Black.

They got to Tunde in good time.  Black discussed matters with the production manager and the head of metallurgy in a restrained manner before going out to look at the terraces that were being exploited.  The general manger of Tunde was on leave and Sam had not met him yet. 

As usual, Black was full of ideas, hopping back and forth across the mining areas like a demented leprechaun.  At one point, he was unable to go any further, as he had a bad knee, which seized up.  He got stuck halfway across a ditch and had to be helped back out.  He was due to get an operation to fix it. But like many bullies, he was a coward, so he preferred the daily pain.

Sam made sympathetic noises anyway. She knew which side her bread was buttered.  Black sent Sam home by herself.  He had some heavy drinking to do with the Tunde management.  She was relieved not to be stuck there with nowhere to sleep.  Black would be given the best room as a matter of course, and she had a funny feeling that the back of the truck was reserved for lepers like her.

***

Sam got up before dawn the next day to go to the diamond recovery area with Ewen and to do the diamond export for Mondongo.  She was expecting to perform Jim’s job of weighing and checking the diamonds, but Tunde’s chief sorter stood in for her.  It was just as well.  Sam was so tired that she could not get the inner safe to open. Ewen did it for her.  She could feel the disdain of those watching. 

‘That’s your street cred down the drain,’ said Ewen.

The Tunde crew arrived for their weigh up.  Then both exports left on the flight to Mondongo. 

Ewen and Sam went back to the office and had the normal production meeting. 

They arrived back at lunchtime. Sam was starving as usual.  Black was talking to Ewen. 

‘Do you mind if I go and have lunch now?' asked Sam. 

‘Can’t you wait an hour while we drive around the production sites?' asked Black 

Sam knew that she was not going to eat lunch yet again.  She looked miserable, slumping in the backseat of the car as they set out.  However, to her surprise, they stopped outside the mess on their way to the diamond terraces.

‘I suppose you’re still hungry, Sam,’ said Black. 

’Ravenous’

‘Grab something to eat in the canteen.’

Sam went into the mess.  As luck would have it, they had scotch eggs, which were perfectly portable.  She grabbed four eggs and an armful of apples and walked outside, dropping a couple of them at the feet of the two boys begging outside.  She winked at them, eliciting some excited giggles and went back to the car.

‘Those look good,’ said Black, who had not noticed the contraband change hands, as he had been lighting a cigarette. 

Sam smiled to herself and divided the spoils.   She guessed that Black’s indifference to food was caused by living with a girl who ate only lettuce so she could stay stick thin.  She was sure he had a healthy appetite if he was allowed to eat.  His big paunch and flabby jowls were the result of heavy drinking.  She wondered if Marybelle ever tried to swap some of the drink for food.  Probably not.  She would not mourn long after his death with all that money to comfort her. 

Sam and Black spent a couple of hours blundering around the terraces and came back in the failing light.  Night really did crash down like a shutter in Tamazia.  They saw two tawny eagles that drifted along in front of the truck, a large flapping guinea fowl, an iguana and some quail.  The wildlife was extraordinary, especially at sunset.  Black pretended to shoot everything, wishing he had his gun.  Sam did not think that the animals would have been in any danger.  With Black’s shaky hands he could not hit an elephant sitting in a Ford Fiesta.  Black was all hat and no cattle in lots of ways. 

They drove to meet Ewen at the river diversion from which had had the water pumped out.  There was a big crocodile in the drying-out riverbed, thrashing about in the gloom and fishing in the remaining pools of water.  Black insisted on going for a walk in the dark bush growing on the bank of the river diversion.  Crocodile prints were everywhere in the gathering gloom but Sam was more uneasy about the possibility of meeting a hippo on its way to feed.  She knew that hippos killed more people a year than crocodiles, snakes and all African predators put together.

They went back to camp and had drinks with Jorge, Bob and Jean.  It was a pleasant evening.  Jorge’s wife brought out plates of chorizo sausage, cheese, raw onion and bread that the starving entourage wolfed down.  They all had a glass of wine.  Then as suddenly as he had appeared, Black left with Marybelle to catch the plane to Mondongo. 

Sam staggered back to Jim’s house where she reviewed the visit in her mind.  She had without doubt made inroads with her recalcitrant boss.  With patience she could make the job work in her favour and learn everything she required to succeed.  She just needed to get some more of the management working with her. 

She went to her room and fell into a dreamless sleep.

During the days that followed Black’s departure, it was made clear to Sam just how much she was despised at Kardo. But she did not care.  She smiled at everyone no matter what they said to her and made sure not to frequent the bar and cramp their style.  Talk away, boys.

She was plotting a coup. 

Now that she had all the production information from Ewen, she was determined to get another one hundred percent bonus for Kardo for September.  No matter what the management team thought of her as a person, she wanted a tiny bit of respect for her professional abilities.  If she could reach the elusive target of doubling the baseline monthly production without Jim on site, she would show them what she could do. 

It would take a little planning and she might have to adjust Black’s orders a bit.   But who would notice that?  Black changed his orders every other hour and Sam was the only one present at all the meetings, so she was the only one who knew what the final orders were.  She assumed that he would not even remember his own orders after all that change.  She knew what mix of material to use and where to get it from. 

Sam was aware that Black wanted to spread the good material over a couple of months to keep production down and to prevent the government boys from taking an interest.  They might try and change the terms of the agreement if they thought that Gemsite was making too much money.  However, a spike in production was normal from time to time when they hit potholes in the riverbed.

The only person who might have foiled Sam’s plan was Ewen but he had his own agenda.

‘I’m off up to Gali,’ said Ewen, ‘the production levels have dropped and I need to find out what is going on.  Can you keep an eye on things down here?’

‘Sure.  How long will you be there?’

‘Oh, I don’t know, a couple of days at least.  There is a problem with material in one of the terraces and I have to find something with which to substitute it if we are to hit our targets for this month.’

‘No problem.  I’ll drive up and let you know if we need you for anything.’

‘Thank you.  It shouldn’t be too difficult to hit Kardo’s target this month with the diamond grades you are getting.  Maybe I’ll take some of your high-grade gravel for Gali.’

‘Forget it.  That’s ours.’

‘OK tiger, take it easy.  I’m not dumb enough to try and steal your gravel.’

Sam laughed.

When Ewen left, Sam started to adjust Black’s plans by just enough to have the desired effect on production.  She knew that the only person who might notice what she was doing was Jorge. But he did not know what Black’s instructions were, either.  He knew that some terraces were richer than others but he did not know the details.  Since Jorge did not see the production figures, he didn’t what Sam was doing.  He was content to work with Sam on an equal basis.  They had a fine time together organising the mining and production to fit in with the availability of machinery and manpower. 

She managed to have a short talk with Dirk, who approached her when no one else was around.

‘Sam, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about, well, you know.’  Dirk stood staring at his feet as if unable to look up.  ‘I never wanted to take part in the bet.  I’m new too, you know.  I got bullied into it.’

‘I can understand that,’ said Sam.

‘Honestly, I wasn’t pretending.  I like you a lot.’

Sam cringed.  ‘Okay, don’t tell me, please.  I don’t think I could deal with it right now.’

They were interrupted by Bob’s arrival.  He looked surprised to see Dirk consorting with the enemy.  Sam had good news for Bob which she hoped would persuade him that she was on his side.

‘Bob, just the man I wanted to see.’

‘Oh yes?  Why’s that then?’

‘I thought you might be pleased to learn that there is a big consignment of spare parts coming from South Africa for your machinery.’

‘That’s brilliant news.  How do you know that?’

‘Oh, I suggested to Black that we needed to get the diamonds out before the civil war broke out again.  I tried for new machinery but he said that MARFO rebels would only come and steal or sabotage them.’

‘Jesus, that’s pretty great.  Thank you.’

‘No problem.  I get a bonus too you know.’

She had not made any progress with Fred, who still flopped around like an overweight catfish, harrumphing and sighing every time he was asked to do anything.  Sam could not understand how he remained so overweight with the quality of food on site.  She was getting thinner and thinner and had to ask one of the mechanics to use a dowel to make some more holes in her belt. 

She spent a lot of time in the recovery facility monitoring the production, which was relayed to Fred.  He was not happy that Sam had been given access to his precious data.  She had to put up with his grudging compliance and mediocre work rate.

‘I’m not happy about you being given access to the diamond production data,’ he said.

‘I know Fred but Black wants me to get more involved.  I can’t direct production with Ewen if I don’t know what’s going on with the grades.’

‘I still don’t feel comfortable.’

‘I know you are used to being the only one who can access the data but someone else needs to do it when you are away.  What if you leave?’

‘Who said I was leaving?’

‘No-one.  Just saying.’

Fred relied on his ability with computers to lord it over the administration department.  There were very few staff with good computer skills and he was not going to share his knowledge with anyone if he could help it.  After all, if someone else could use the computer, it would soon become apparent that Fred took ten times longer on any minor job than was necessary.  Sam knew this but she also needed access to the data to make her plan work, so she did not comment on his lack of application.

After a couple of weeks of elevated production, the number of carats of diamonds in the safe was again approaching a danger level.  This was a nominal value at which it was thought the camp became too much of a temptation for the MARFO fighters to ignore.  Diamond shipments to Mondongo were always organised at this point to reduce the chance of attack. 

Sam called security on the radio and asked them to arrange an export.  There was a long silence on the other end. 

‘Coming to you. Your location? Over,’ said a voice. 

‘In the office. Over.’

Five minutes later, a red-faced Brian Lynch arrived puffing at the office.  He sat heavily down on one of the desks in the middle of the office.  Sam brought him a glass of water.  He gulped it down so fast that water ran down his chin and dropped on his pristine uniform.

Sam went to get some more water.  She wondered how many rosters Brian had left in him.  He was heart-attack material, a ticking bomb.  She sat opposite him, waiting for him to talk.

Brian composed himself and snarled, ‘Are you fucking mental?  You’ll get us all killed.’  Sam was taken aback.  She tried in vain to work out what he was talking about. Nothing came to mind.

‘I’m sorry, said Sam.  ‘I’ve no idea what you are talking about.  Have I done something wrong?’

‘Something wrong?  Did you hear that, lads?  Sam wants to know if she’s done something wrong.’

The other people in the office, who up until then had not paid much attention to Brian’s arrival, turned around and listened.

‘She’s only gone and talked about the export on the radio, that’s all.’

None of them needed any encouragement to stick the knife in where Sam was concerned.  They laid into her with gusto.

‘For fuck’s sake, how stupid can you be?’

‘Jesus, woman, don’t you know MARFO listen to the radio?  There are dozens of stolen radios out there.’

‘Fucking typical.  Black must have been out of his mind when he put you in charge.  Did you sleep with him, or what?'

‘Well, Sam,’ said Brian, enjoying the effect of his tirade. ‘You’ve put us all in danger now.’

Jorge, who had been making himself a coffee, walked over and stood beside Sam.

She was speechless with panic.  She felt a chill run up her back, which came out in a cold sweat. 

Jorge shook his head. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Brian.  Every village picker who works in the recovery house knows how many diamonds are being put in the safe and what quality they are.  They can all tell MARFO any time they like.  Sam didn’t know the rules because she's only just been issued with a radio and this is the first time that she has been in charge of an export.   I don’t think you can accuse her of putting us in danger.’

‘Why are you taking her side?  Did she sleep with you, too?’ asked Brian.

‘My wife is on site.  I don’t think she’d like that.'  Jorge smiled to try and reduce the tension.

‘I’ll be reporting this to Black,’ said Brian. ‘The bloody woman is a fucking liability.’ He stomped out of the office, leaving Sam and Jorge with a sea of glaring faces.

Jorge took Sam’s arm and pulled her into one of the cubicles.  He shut the door.

Sam was shell-shocked.  No one had told her that she should not mention the exports on the radio but it was something she should have known instinctively.  She had been cocky and over-confident.  What a fool.  She had missed her big chance, and now she had put everyone in danger by breaking a cardinal rule.  She wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.  She felt like crying but was numb with shock.

Jorge had left the cubicle and now returned with a large mug of coffee, which he handed to her.  It was very sweet and strong, and it jolted her back to the present.  Jorge watched her, waiting for her to recover her composure.

‘You okay?’ he asked. ‘It’s not true, you know.  All the locals know how production is going.  It’s not a secret.  Anyway, it’s my fault, not yours. I should’ve told you about the radio codes.  I forgot that you don’t have anyone to guide you.  I’m supposed to be your friend.  I’m sorry I dropped you in it.’

‘I thought Brian was going to have a heart attack,’ said Sam.

‘Ah, you don’t know about Mr Lynch?  He went to Black while he was here on his visit and made it clear that he was horrified that you had come to Kardo to work.  He also complained that you were running production while Jim was away.  Black told him to mind his own business, which didn’t go over very well because he isn’t used to having his advice ignored.’

‘Jesus, no wonder he is pissed off.’

‘He's been looking for his chance to prove that he was right and that you are a liability.  So far he's been disappointed by your grasp of operations and obvious flair for the job.  He was just waiting for this opportunity.’

‘But what has he got against me?’

‘My dear, Lynch is a misogynist.  He hates you.  He was one of the instigators of the betting pool, placing a large bet on Dirk to be the first one in your knickers.  To his chagrin, you weren't taken in by Dirk’s advances, despite spending a lot of time with him.  Brian told the others that you were a lesbian.  What normal woman works in a mining camp after all?' 

Sam managed a smile.

‘I hope you're feeling better because we need to go and inspect the stockpile at the DMS plant.  Come on.’

Sam felt better.  She knew that what Jorge said made a lot of sense.  The MARFO leaders were fed a constant stream of information by the pickers.  She was not going to collapse in a heap when she was so close to success.   They walked back into the main office, where everyone glared at her.

‘I am very sorry about the breach of radio conduct,’ she said.  ‘I had no idea that mention of exports was prohibited.  I feel like an idiot.  It won’t happen again.’

No one responded.  She left with Jorge following behind.

***

After the incident with the radio, Sam felt as if all her hard work on making better relationships on site had been undone.  She had not anticipated giving Brian the upper hand and losing more ground. The heat was oppressive and she struggled to get things done against a tide of indifference and obstruction.

Fred was thrilled to have a weapon.  ‘I heard that you told MARFO when to attack us.  Way to go, Sam.’ He turned a self-satisfied, sweaty back on her. 

Two days later Jorge’s father had a heart attack.  Jorge got Black’s permission to leave the site for a week.  There was plenty of stockpiled material to wash, so Jorge being away would not affect production. Jorge did not want to leave Sam alone, but he had no choice.

Sam fought back her tears as she watched him leave for Mondongo with his wife.  She felt bereft.  How would she survive without any support?  Ewen did not notice that she was being bullied.  He was not very observant at the best of times.  He did not mention the radio incident.  She did not know if he was even aware of it.

She was devastated to lose Jorge but realised that his absence was an excuse for her to high-grade the material going through the plants by using the stockpiles of rich material instead of diluting it with lower grade material dug by Jorge day-to-day.  At least Jim was due back at the end of the week.  She could survive until then and complete her mission before he took over the reins again.

Sam sat out on the steps of the office for a long time after Jorge had left for the airstrip.  She smoked one cigarette after another as she mulled over the events of the last few weeks.  The smell of the red earth and the sound of a million insects competing for a chance at love soothed her.  She looked up at the sky with its carpet of stars and marvelled again at the difference compared to London skies.  The moon was full and yellow and loomed very large through the mango trees.  She could see the man in the moon.  He was laughing at her.