Solo

gestured at the crowded bar and the veranda beyond. ‘You see all these white men?’
    ‘Yes,’ Bond said.
    ‘Who do you think they are?’ Felix didn’t wait for an answer. ‘They’re oil company executives.’
    ‘Flies round the Zanzarim honey pot,’ Bond said.
    ‘Indeed. The Adeka family have been important chiefs in the Fakassa tribe for hundreds of years. The Zanza River Delta is their tribal homeland. Solomon Adeka is the sovereign chief.’
    ‘No he’s not,’ Bond said. ‘He couldn’t be. His older brother is – Gabriel Adeka. I’ll explain when you finish.’
    ‘Anyway, the price Hulbert Linck demanded for his military aid was a twenty-five-year lease on the oil rights in the Fakassa tribal homelands. Profits to be split fifty-fifty. Solomon Adeka granted him the lease – anything to save Dahum.’
    ‘So Linck owned the land where the oil was.’
    ‘In fact it’s owned by a company in Luxembourg called Zanza Petroleum SA. It’s Linck’s company. He had all the leases. Signed and sealed.’
    Bond was thinking – pieces were fitting together, fast. Signed and sealed – but by the wrong Adeka brother.
    ‘And Linck certainly tried hard,’ Bond said. ‘I give that to him. For him a free independent Dahum was the best option. I saw what he did, what he spent.’
    ‘But it was never going to work,’ Felix said. ‘Dahum was never going to win this civil war, was never going to be an independent state. Too many powerful countries had other plans.’
    ‘And Linck was no fool. He could see the writing on the wall, eventually. His leases weren’t going to be worth a penny when Zanzarim was reunited. And that’s when the conspiracy started,’ Bond said. ‘Plan B began when they saw that the war was going to be lost.’ He sipped at his drink. ‘And I suspect another factor was when Linck discovered that the leases weren’t Solomon Adeka’s to sell. With the war over and the older brother, Gabriel, on the scene Zanza Petroleum would be no more.’
    ‘Go on,’ Felix said, leaning forward. ‘This is where it gets confusing for me. Remember I thought Gabriel Adeka was alive and well and living in Washington DC.’
    ‘The only way for Linck to keep the integrity of his oil leases going was to have them “authorised” by the older brother – the paramount chief of the Fakassa. How was that to be achieved? Solomon Adeka had to “die” and become Gabriel . . .’ Bond felt more clarity arriving as he articulated the plan to Felix. ‘I think Linck contacted Gabriel Adeka in London right at the end of the war. Spun him some sort of story about aid to Dahum. That’s why the two Constellations I saw suddenly had AfricaKIN painted on them. Even that last night as everyone was fleeing. Linck knew about Gabriel and that he was the older brother – that proves it.’ Bond thought further. Gabriel Adeka must have been found and located, agreed to ‘partner’ Linck in the airlift to Dahum. Perhaps it was just a ruse to gain his confidence. He might even have been dead already when that last Constellation touched down at Janjaville.
    ‘From Linck and Solomon Adeka’s point of view the key thing was to have Gabriel Adeka dead,’ Bond said, adding – ‘not only dead but “disappeared”. There would be no body. As far as anyone in London was concerned Gabriel had gone to America to set up the new charity – AfricaKIN Inc.’ Bond remembered his encounter with Peter Kunle at the Bayswater offices. How Kunle had been surprised at Gabriel’s untypical complacency about his borrowed typewriter, not living up to his usual impeccable behaviour patterns.
    ‘You’re saying Adeka and Linck planned all this,’ Felix said, frowning. ‘To kill Gabriel.’
    ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. The rewards were immense. Fratricide has a long history – starting with Cain and Abel.’ Bond added more ice to his glass. ‘Solomon Adeka feigned his terminal illness and his death. By the way – you might want to interrogate an Indian doctor called Dr Masind. He was in Rowanoak as well. He must have done the drugging, written the death certificate. It was very effective. Solomon “dies”, the war ends and enter the CIA. Gabriel Adeka, meanwhile, has been invited to set up AfricaKIN in Washington DC.’ Bond smiled. ‘The timing was perfect. Gabriel Adeka apparently leaves London – suddenly he’s not there – and another “Gabriel Adeka” arrives in Washington. Meanwhile Solomon Adeka has been