African Dragon Read Free Page A

where they fit into this unusual briefing.
    Darren continued, “So…your new fish export company is going to get set up in a small village on the lake. Our Africa desk chief was kind enough to have one of his men purchase an existing fish farm down there. Everything you need is down there already, including a few workers who stayed on after the old owner sold out to us. He actually was Canadian, so it makes the sale look routine. The workers will keep things running until you get there, then split. You will live and work right there in the small compound. You will collect enough fish to look like a real business while you snoop around and see who the players are. I ’ d also like to know what happened to our assets down there. They either changed teams, took off scared, or they ’ re feeding the fish from the bottom of the lake.
    “Starting tomorrow, you ’ ll spend some time with the Assistant Africa Desk Chief, Deirdre Gourlie. She will catch you up on the DRC ’ s history, which is a bloody mess, and the local customs and languages. We have a fish guy lined up from the aquarium next week to give you a crash course on African cichlids and fish collecting in the wild, and our doc will start taking care of your shots tomorrow.”
    They all looked at Theresa, a navy corpsman, who had once made them all drop their pants for shots that she later admitted could have been administered in their arms. She smiled and feigned innocence at the looks from the men. “ What ?” she asked as naively as possible.
    Davis missed the joke and continued. “Shots for malaria, typhus, a few exotic fevers, and some other crap you never heard of will be started over the next few weeks to build up in your systems before you go. Trust me, you don ’ t want to get sick in the DRC. Their idea of hygiene is spitting on the knife before they hold you down and cut you open. Occasionally, their patients live.”
    “Nice,” said Theresa, thinking back to conditions she had experienced in Iraq out in the field.
    “Okay, that ’ s a start for now. There are some other details that we are still working out, but you need to head down to ‘the shop ’ on the fifth floor and get your headshots done for your new Canadian passports and driver ’ s licenses. After your paperwork is done, go out and get drunk or do something entertaining, because starting tomorrow at noon, you are all going to be very busy.”
    Vinny “Ripper” Colgan, the team ’ s catcher when playing baseball, and Moose ’ s dive buddy when doing SEAL operations, smiled and asked, “Did you say noon ?” When Darren gave him a yes, he high-fived Al “ Moose ” Carlogio, the team ’ s pitcher.
    “First round is on me,” said Ripper. “We get to stay up with the grownups tonight!” The team was used to hitting the rack early and being up working out by oh-five hundred. Showing up late was a special treat that would be utilized to the maximum of their livers.
    Julia pressed her leg against Chris ’ s under the table, with her own ideas of how she wanted to spend the extra few hours. Across the table, Moose was doing the same thing to Theresa, who was trying her best to look serious.

3.
     
    The team reassembled in the conference room, showing up in dribs and drabs starting around quarter to twelve. A “noon start’ seemed like such a late hour at the time it was announced, but “boys will be boys,” and as usual, when they were together for a night off, they went way overboard. Even starting six or seven hours later than a usual day, they were all hung over and tired, except for Chris, Julia, Moose and Theresa, who were a little tired, but not hung over—just very content.
    They sat sipping strong coffee, quietly trying to wake up. At noon, exactly, Darren Davis walked in with Assistant African Desk Director Deirdre Gourlie. She was about as Irish looking as a woman could be, which made her assignment to the Africa department somewhat comical. Her skin was creamy