our yard. Never disturb a hornet’s nest, I say.”
“Hornets? Oh, come on, mate.”
“I’m serious, Jack. Like you said, I’ve been mucking about in this business for a long time, and I will tell you there are people who can smell a wonky deal at thirty paces. Coppers, officials, governmental types, and even some do-gooder U.N. people worried about the wars up north. They are all over the lot looking for just this sort of dodge. It’s uncanny, but I’ve seen it up close. Some of those people’ve been in the intercession business for years.”
“Now, surely those blokes you can deal with if you have to.”
“Maybe. Worst case, they shut us down. It’s the others, the stone cold chaps with eyes like ice, lads who’d kill you as quick as look at you if they thought you had something of value in your kit.”
“Harvey we’re covered here. Whether they can smell them or have super powers and can see through walls, dodge bullets, and drink river water, the scam here is they won’t tumble to us because they’ll think we’re a pair of nutters flogging orgonite all over the place. If they object at all, it will be because we get in their way while they’re out in the park doing truly dark deeds.”
“You’d better hope so, Jack. Okay, I will go through my contacts and work up a list of possible customers. Some are easy, low risk, some are the other way about.”
“We’ll start with the low risk. Who would that be?”
“There are a few companies that can’t compete in the global market, and many who would be middle men in the market. They’ve got financing problems, or have been elbowed out of the way by the big guns in Asia, mostly. The government will not be happy if we start moving this stuff into the wrong places. There is a market in place for coltan. I just need a name or two and we’re in.”
“The government. This is the strangest country I’ve ever had to work a grift. These people are determinedly honest. They seem incapable of straying. They say they will not allow corruption to seep into their affairs.”
“That is true now. Give them time and a healthy dose of Western civilization and then see how straight they stay. I’ll give them ten years, tops. Progress under capitalism always has a price, and that price is the corruption that always follows greed.”
“You are a terrible cynic, Harvey. But, I hope you’re right. I like working here. Who are the high risk customers?”
“The usual—the greedy, the slightly bent, the dealers who are low on the supply chain. There are always people ready to broker anything that’s hard to come by. You realize, of course, that we will need to have the stuff analyzed. That is a specialty skill. We will have to find someone who can do that for us and keep his mouth shut.”
“No worries. I have some people in mind that can handle that.”
“Can you get the coltan? And if so, how much?”
“My man in the north says they just opened a new pit and it looks big. Sky’s the limit, he says.”
“I still think it’s risky.”
“Life is risky and listen, he says there might be gorillas in the area where the pit is located. Nice secondary market. He’ll sell the bush meat and we’ll distribute the interesting bits.”
“Jack, I’m drawing the line here. If we get caught moving coltan we have a minor felony on our sheet. If this government catches us with endangered species products they will lock us up and throw away the key. No gorillas. Period.”
***
Leo Painter allowed as how he could manage for a few days without him. Greshenko guessed Leo didn’t buy his excuses entirely, though. He knew something was up, but hadn’t said anything—yet.
“But while you are in South Africa, drop in on the shippers in Cape Town and double check their capacity to get those modules up here on time. Oh, and see if you can scrounge…finagle…” Greshenko had a puzzled expression on his face, “Okay, how do you say in Russian, something like
“Hornets? Oh, come on, mate.”
“I’m serious, Jack. Like you said, I’ve been mucking about in this business for a long time, and I will tell you there are people who can smell a wonky deal at thirty paces. Coppers, officials, governmental types, and even some do-gooder U.N. people worried about the wars up north. They are all over the lot looking for just this sort of dodge. It’s uncanny, but I’ve seen it up close. Some of those people’ve been in the intercession business for years.”
“Now, surely those blokes you can deal with if you have to.”
“Maybe. Worst case, they shut us down. It’s the others, the stone cold chaps with eyes like ice, lads who’d kill you as quick as look at you if they thought you had something of value in your kit.”
“Harvey we’re covered here. Whether they can smell them or have super powers and can see through walls, dodge bullets, and drink river water, the scam here is they won’t tumble to us because they’ll think we’re a pair of nutters flogging orgonite all over the place. If they object at all, it will be because we get in their way while they’re out in the park doing truly dark deeds.”
“You’d better hope so, Jack. Okay, I will go through my contacts and work up a list of possible customers. Some are easy, low risk, some are the other way about.”
“We’ll start with the low risk. Who would that be?”
“There are a few companies that can’t compete in the global market, and many who would be middle men in the market. They’ve got financing problems, or have been elbowed out of the way by the big guns in Asia, mostly. The government will not be happy if we start moving this stuff into the wrong places. There is a market in place for coltan. I just need a name or two and we’re in.”
“The government. This is the strangest country I’ve ever had to work a grift. These people are determinedly honest. They seem incapable of straying. They say they will not allow corruption to seep into their affairs.”
“That is true now. Give them time and a healthy dose of Western civilization and then see how straight they stay. I’ll give them ten years, tops. Progress under capitalism always has a price, and that price is the corruption that always follows greed.”
“You are a terrible cynic, Harvey. But, I hope you’re right. I like working here. Who are the high risk customers?”
“The usual—the greedy, the slightly bent, the dealers who are low on the supply chain. There are always people ready to broker anything that’s hard to come by. You realize, of course, that we will need to have the stuff analyzed. That is a specialty skill. We will have to find someone who can do that for us and keep his mouth shut.”
“No worries. I have some people in mind that can handle that.”
“Can you get the coltan? And if so, how much?”
“My man in the north says they just opened a new pit and it looks big. Sky’s the limit, he says.”
“I still think it’s risky.”
“Life is risky and listen, he says there might be gorillas in the area where the pit is located. Nice secondary market. He’ll sell the bush meat and we’ll distribute the interesting bits.”
“Jack, I’m drawing the line here. If we get caught moving coltan we have a minor felony on our sheet. If this government catches us with endangered species products they will lock us up and throw away the key. No gorillas. Period.”
***
Leo Painter allowed as how he could manage for a few days without him. Greshenko guessed Leo didn’t buy his excuses entirely, though. He knew something was up, but hadn’t said anything—yet.
“But while you are in South Africa, drop in on the shippers in Cape Town and double check their capacity to get those modules up here on time. Oh, and see if you can scrounge…finagle…” Greshenko had a puzzled expression on his face, “Okay, how do you say in Russian, something like
Similar Books
