BAMAKO - Aribert Raphael (red queen ebook TXT) 📗

your involvement in this affair.” Maybe the light blue eyes and blonde hair made him look younger than he really was. “The letter contained in the envelope you have in your hand came to me by courier this morning. Apart from your name written on top of the original page, which has been deleted, the content of the letter is a true copy of the message that was found on Mr. Gillman’s person.” His tanned face was stern. “As for the content, I think you should read it first and then, if you judge it is necessary for you to show it to Maitre Sangor, I shall have a copy made for you, sir,” he concluded, turning to Hassan.
Although the man’s outward appearance seemed casual and carefree, his body language wasn’t. He was stiff as a rod.
He reclined in his seat. “As you can appreciate, this document is strictly confidential and will be read only by the persons directly concerned with the death of Richard Gillman.” He waited for Talya to execute his order—to read the letter.
Aaron Broughton was a diplomat, but diplomacy and tact were not an obvious part of his behaviour.
Talya opened the envelope, took out several pages of hand-written paper and began reading:
To whom it may concern:
An Australian born, Canadian based metallurgist, in April.... accepted a contract to work in Senegal. The Senegalese company, Minorex Afrique, met the metallurgist and immediately asked for his passport, presumably to have the correct immigration procedures registered and settled. However, the passport was not returned and the metallurgist thought it was a procedure that had occurred previously, as all the officials seemed to be content. Unfortunately, upon arrival in Dakar, one bag was missing. The company officials of Minorex told the metallurgist that they would continue to seek the luggage and give it to him. With that in mind, they left for the company president’s home, where the metallurgist was shown to a room where he could sleep after the long journey from Canada, the origin of the contact. The Minorex Company president was emphatic in regards to procuring the services of the metallurgist, in order to replace the existing foreigner, a Dutch expert, who was considered to be “too old for the job.” The metallurgist refused, as it was considered unprofessional to accept a job while working under contract. Upon his refusal to accept the offer, the metallurgist had dinner with the company president and was then told he was to leave immediately for the site, some 900 kilometres from the city, close to the Mali and Guinean borders. Upon arrival, some 14 hours after leaving Dakar, the metallurgist inspected the site and found that no equipment (ball mill and crusher) had been delivered for installation. After a period of about 14 days, the ball mill arrived. Inspection found that many parts were missing, as was the delivery and dispatch advice. The metallurgist assumed that either the supplier or receiver had misplaced the parts, e.g. the mill door, bolts and nuts etc. During this time, a Canadian company, Carmine Resources and their president, James Flaubert, who showed interest in the property, visited the site. They spent some hours on site and never again contacted the metallurgist. They were aware of his existence in Senegal but not aware of the following incidents that occurred. The supplier was written a report outlining the missing articles but the Senegalese company did not, for some reason, remit this report to the supplier. The metallurgist therefore had to mount the mill with the length of string and a metric tape. The mills positioning was within 3 mm lengthwise and perfectly level. The quality of the work was confirmed by a French mechanical engineer also working for Minorex. The crusher story was of more interest. Material availability was non-existent. Steel availability amounted to 4mm thick plate. After completion of major works, an agreement was made where the expatriate Dutch expert would complete the finer details of the crusher, the metallurgist made arrangements to leave for Dakar and then on to Toronto. Alas, the Senegalese company had different ideas. The consultant was coerced into staying at the mine site, specifying and installing a gold-fire-assay lab, to satisfy the alleged government’s officials' visit. The lab equipment arrived some weeks after the company’s promised date and the metallurgist installed the lab in 3 hours. Again, the metallurgist endeavoured to leave and send information to his contact in Canada, who supplied the major equipment. Again, the company in Senegal did not remit his faxes unbeknown to the metallurgist. No communication existed from the remote area and the metallurgist had to rely on the company, 900 kilometres away in Dakar.
Due to the absence of the mill door, the metallurgist found an excuse to return to Dakar to make a new door. This he did spending two days in Dakar. The second day, the company representative arrived at the factory stating that the door and other parts were to leave that night and the parts were quickly placed into a Toyota utility without checking, and the metallurgist, together with the parts was quickly dispatched to the site overnight. With over 1.5 tonnes of equipment in a vehicle of 1 tonne capacity, the journey was dangerously quick up till midway, when the metallurgist, fearing for his safety, left the vehicle about 4 hours from Dakar. He spent the night in the town and returned to Dakar’s Terranga hotel in the morning. He immediately contacted Toronto to arrange transport back to Ecuador where the metallurgist lived prior to coming to West Africa. The Toronto Company advised him to stay in his room and they would confirm in two hours his method of return. Unfortunately, they advised the Senegalese agent in Miami, who quickly advised the Senegalese company. Within minutes, the metallurgist was visited by the Minorex people and was taken against his will to the company’s president’s house. Following interrogation, he was forcibly abducted to the site some 900 kilometres away. The Toronto Company had again lost contact with their consultant in Senegal. The overnight trip was fraught with aggressive and forceful attacks on the metallurgist, with threats of drug injection and death threats for the misbehaviour exhibited in the Terranga hotel. It was then the metallurgist realized the extent and dangerous nature of the company’s aggressive approach and the desperate measure they would take to overcome the obvious problems they were having in Senegal. Following arrival at the camp, the metallurgist was assigned to another room, without air conditioning and the normal commodities experienced earlier. Following several weeks of psychological and physical hardship, the metallurgist was told he was to go to Dakar. He was placed in a 4-wheel drive and taken to Tabacounda, some 200 kilometres down the road to Dakar. Late in the night, a female joined the group of four and they proceeded to drive for some 12 hours in various directions at various speeds, finally stopping in the morning in a zone close to Dakar - possibly Rufiske. The female left the vehicle and the metallurgist was taken to a doctor’s surgery, apparently to undergo a physical examination. The metallurgist was given, forcibly and against his will, injections, which, to this day, still cause pain in his left arm. Following a period of unknown time, the metallurgist, with inflamed forearm, was taken back to the site and placed in another room away from the central area, where policies relating to the day to day proceedings were supposedly discussed. The Senegalese company preoccupied with notions of sabotage, spying, from the various mining companies working in the country and the Senegalese government officials (including police). Mineral processing of gold appeared secondary.
With a badly injured foot, possibly broken, caused by a fruitless escape attempt, and severely bruised forearm, the metallurgist realized his problems were severe and knew that eventually his company in Toronto would have, by now, taken action. The lack of adequate food and living condition were affecting his physical condition severely. In fact, the Toronto Company had reported the supposed incident of the Terranga hotel to the embassy and several weeks passed before a missionary group visited the camp and established contact with the metallurgist. It was this group that contacted the embassy and enabled a rescue attempt to be made by the Senegalese government police force. The police took the metallurgist to the Ministry of Interior, where the metallurgist met with the representative of the Canadian government and measures were taken to airlift the subject out of Senegal. Special arrangements were made with the various governments to obtain new passports and visas.
Today this metallurgist does not know if he will survive his trip back to Ecuador. So, he is depositing this letter with the Canadian embassy in Dakar before leaving the city. The threats of murder still linger in the mind of the metallurgist and naturally he is concerned for his safety, as you may possibly understand.
Hoping this report will not be a fruitless exercise,
Sincerely yours,
Richard Gillman.

36
Talya replaced the letter in the envelope. Words eluded her. She had the strange sensation that she had just read something that hadn’t been written but filmed, captured on camera. The fact that it had been written in the third person was probably the reason for her experiencing virtual reality when reading Richard Gillman’s message.
She needed to get out from under the consul’s querying gaze. His scrutiny was bothersome. He moved forward to put his elbows on the desk.
He fiddled with a pen for a moment and then said, “Of course, you know the name of the President of that Senegalese Company?”
“No, I don’t know it, not for a fact.”
“Ms Kartz, don’t play games!” What does he mean by that? “Monsieur Hjamal is the President of Minorex and you’ve met him when he came to see you in Canada.”
Talya didn’t like being called a liar under any circumstance, but to be assaulted in such fashion by her own Consul was a little more than she expected or wanted right at the moment.
She was offended, and let him have it all barrels firing. “Mr. Broughton. I have no intention of playing games, as you put it. I’ve come here in some ignorance of the events, which have occurred during the past 48 hours. Yes, I have met Monsieur Hjamal in Vancouver when he came to visit our company, but no, I didn’t know he was the President of Minorex since he never left any documentation—not even a business card—to prove his connection with this company. The phone number he left with me was a direct line to his office. That’s the extent of my knowledge as far as this Minorex Afrique is concerned.”
“Thank you, Ms Kartz. I’m sorry if I sounded a little abrupt a moment ago”—Abrupt, he says, try offensive—“but the situation is quite unsettling for us. Of course, your comments did clarify a few points.”
Talya could see that he was not completely satisfied with her explanation. Something else bothered him.
“May I ask if you are aware of your President being at the mine site at the time mentioned in the letter and if he met Richard Gillman while on site?” He shifted his bottom from side to side on the seat. The man was definitely uncomfortable with himself.
“Yes, I believe Mr. Flaubert traveled to West Africa at