Old Lovers Don't Die (22 page)
“You come highly recommended.”
“Thank you. I enjoy my work,” Kim said, grateful that Zhang Liu had not added ‘for a woman’ to the end of his sentence.
“We have something more challenging that we think you might be suited to.”
“Prof Jin had mentioned something.”
“And that you managed to survive his overtures without laying a complaint to the party has also been noted.”
“Thank you.”
“China’s Institute of Contemporary International Relations was formed to further Chinese ambitions internationally. You may be aware that China has never really been known for its humanitarian aid. We have come to realise that in developing countries, where there are resources, offering some kind of humanitarian aid would allow us greater control of those resources. We are therefore looking for ways to expand our influence while not attracting international criticism for hegemonic activity. Rwanda provides a stable environment. We have set up an orphanage which we support and which you will manage. The objective is to take control of the resources in the northern Congo. Chinese industry desperately needs the ore/copper/tin and especially their tantalum, which is essential in all microchips. Sanwan, our largest electronics company, is creating a factory there. We will also take over a South African managed smelter by making it unmanageable. We have managed, in conjunction with our Rwandan friends, to interrupt its electricity to the point where it no longer works. You will help reinstitute that and be fully supported by our embassy in Kigali. You will be given background lessons of history and culture in the next week and then be fully briefed on whom you deal with by Lee Kaiping, your controller at the embassy in Kigali.”
“Do you have any questions?”
“What kind of technological assistance will I have?”
“You will have access to secure communications at the embassy. You will report to me by live link once a month. I cannot emphasise enough to you that need to secure the resources by any means possible, without coming to international attention or by creating an international incident. We expect you to use ruthless determination to succeed.”
“When do I leave?”
“We will create a profile for you, and delete all reference to you being associated with the People’s Liberation Army, then you will fly out in six weeks and be met by Lee Kaiping. He will complete your briefing. You may go now.”
Lee Kaiping did not meet her at Kigali airport, rather just a driver from the embassy who carried her name on a sign. He did not speak to her, picking up her bags and expecting her to follow him. The first thing that she noticed was the quality of the roads. She remembered reading in her briefing notes that China had supplied large amounts of equipment to Rwanda, to ensure an efficient connection between the resources of the Congo and the ports in Tanzania. A preparation ultimately for, the briefing papers stated, China’s exclusive control of the Congo’s vital industrial resources.
The driver circumnavigated the central roundabout, weaving between the sea of motorcycles, before driving up the Boulevard de la Revolution. The Chinese embassy had walls twelve feet high covered by razor wire with multiple video cameras. Opposite the embassy was a nine hundred bedroom luxury hotel. She knew it was being built by a Chinese construction company, in anticipation of future business. The driver parked in front of a giant reinforced steel doorway, in front of the embassy. A small camera on a retractable arm descended and peered in through both windows, which the driver had lowered. A green light appeared on the camera indicating that they had both been positively identified. The doors then slowly opened, steel spikes in the ground retracted, and they were able to drive into a large cobbled courtyard.
Kim’s driver got out and opened her door before leading her up the steps to a reception area. Twenty feet high portraits of Mao adorned two of the courtyard walls, alongside and lower down the wall were smaller paintings of Premier Xi. The remaining wall had a giant portrait of a golden peacock, elaborately painted. The head of the peacock was almost as high as Mao’s portrait and had been crafted with gold filaments. Rubies and emeralds had been implanted into the painting, creating a spectacular and colourful plumage. The peacock in China, Kim knew, was revered for many of its characteristics: a clear voice, a careful walk, appropriate behaviour, moderation in eating and drinking, knowing how to be content, existing together, not being obscene, and always returning. In addition, she remembered, the larger the portrait, the greater the implication of authority. Admiring the portrait, she heard footsteps descending stairs behind.
“Good morning.” The greeting was in Mandarin.
Turning around she saw a man dressed all in black. Slightly taller than her, he had dyed black hair neatly parted on the left-hand side. A small scar under his right eye distorted his lower eyelid.
“I am Lee Kaiping,” he said. “Welcome to Rwanda and may you be as successful as we expect. Maising, the driver who brought you here, will show you to your room. You will stay here for three days for briefings and then we will take you to the orphanage. You will report every week here in the embassy. I expect all those reports to be positive. Here are your briefing papers and the secure briefcase. The code is 78931.” Lee then turned and made his way back up the steps.
Kim watched as he walked up the stairs. He was typical ex Chinese army. Well-trained, well prepared, ruthless when needed, and expecting the same standards from anyone who worked with him. Failure, clearly, was not tolerated. She looked at the briefcase that she had been handed; it was all metal with no distinguishing Chinese insignia. From experience, she knew it was designed to destroy all documents if the wrong code was entered in attempting to open it. In addition, it would be bullet and bombproof. The understanding was that the code was never written down, it was always spoken, and if you didn’t remember it, you were reassigned. The code that Lee had given to her she repeated, 78931, silently to herself.
The orphanage was, Maising had told her, a three-hour drive from Kigali. He loaded her bags into the black SUV and handed her sandwiches from the kitchen. Once they were out of the city, she opened the briefcase and went over her briefing papers.
The instructions were simple; she was to set up a meeting with Rwandan and Chinese executives within six weeks. That meeting would be chaired by Lee Kaiping and would require Bosco Bunarama, or Brutal Bosco, the leader of M 23 - the armed gang which they supported, to attend. Bosco needed more arms which China would facilitate the delivery to Kigali, and the Rwandans would coordinate the transport of the arms to Bosco’s base on the Congolese border. In addition, a warehouse in Kigali would be supplied by the Rwandan executives, with Chinese finance, and they would repackage all arms disguising their Chinese origin. In the interim, she was also to come up with a strategy to deal with the warlord Kariba.
The orphanage was spread over six grassy acres, manicured to impress all who visited. Gardens beds were bright with colourful flowers, a few concrete Chinese dragons discreetly sculpted, juxtaposed alongside elephants and giraffes. Granite stones, chiselled into small squares, surrounded all the grass beds forming neat borders. Slides and swings confirmed the appearance of a well-funded humanitarian project. The driveway of grey granite chips weaved eight hundred metres through the gardens to the main entrance. As Maising pulled up, a Rwandan woman approached the car and opened the door.
“Welcome,” she said with a large friendly smile. “I am Ruby and I will show you to your room.”
Kim’s quarters were separated from the main dormitory by an enclosed walkway. At each end were solid security doors made out of steel, imposing and secure. Ruby waited at the second door and knocked three times. Within minutes, the door opened to reveal a Chinese woman in a dark blue tracksuit, who introduced herself as Cusang. She explained that she would be Kim’s assistant. Kim liked the look of her; her short boyish haircut and athletic build suggesting she would be a veritable challenge to any man, African or Chinese.
In the first few weeks, Cusang introduced Kim to the routine at the orphanage. Breakfast for the boys was at 7 AM sharp and finished on time at 8 AM, at which stage they could either shower or do schoolwork. School was between 9 AM and 3 PM, with a lunch break from 12 PM to 1 PM. Dinner in the evening was from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Depending on the number of volunteers available, there was supervised homework and lights out at 8:30 PM.
The orphanage had ten volunteer teachers, six from China, and four from America and Australia. Cusang explained that it was policy to always have more Chinese volunteers than other nationalities. Six weeks passed quickly and Kim felt that she was rapidly adapting to life in Africa. The weekly meetings with Lee Kaiping had been professional and respectful. She had detailed the discussions that she had had with Bosco, and presented his list of armament requests, including more Chinese RPGs to deal with Kariba. The week before the meeting at the orphanage to coordinate a strategy to take over the resources in North Kivu, Kim had made a special trip to the embassy to assure Lee Kaiping that security was in order and to get agreement on the agenda. Lee had told her the Secretary for Commerce was arriving, the military attaché, the vice president of the electronic company Sanwong, as well as Zhang Liu. There would be six Rwandan politicians and executives. Lee indicated that the embassy would supply six extra staff for security. They would arrive early in the afternoon and thoroughly inspect the site; one would then remain at either doorway with four inside the meeting room. Details of China’s offer would be on an iPad in Chinese, French, Kinyarwanda, and English to avoid any misinterpretation. The iPads would be collected at the end of the meeting by security, supervised by Kim.
On the day of the meeting, Bosco Bundarungu arrived in a large grey four-wheel-drive with black tinted windows. Stopping in front of administration, the front doors of the SUV opened; two large bodyguards got out. Both were well over six feet tall and very muscular, which Kim thought would make them Tutsis like Bundarungu. After a few seconds the back door opened, a small cloud of cigar smoke wafted out followed a few seconds later by Bundarungu. Dressed in army fatigues with a Marine style cap, he stood in the sunlight looking around the grounds like a general surveying his battleground. Kim stood back, the Chinese custom being to wait for him to approach her. He ignored her for another few minutes puffing on the cigar, creating another small smoke cloud which temporarily lingered on his right shoulder. Kim motioned to Cusang to take his briefcase; however, that was quickly waved away. Bosco, she then realised, was not standing and enjoying the view, or the sunshine; as someone military trained, he was scrutinising each section for any potential threat. With that kind of approach, he would be good to work with, thought Kim.
Lee Kaiping led the meeting with the efficiency she had come to expect from him. There was no joviality, but a discussion simply on what the Chinese could supply in terms of light arms/mortars and explosive devices. Kim had been instructed to watch carefully for Bosco’s reaction. Lee wanted Bosco to feel indebted but did not want him to be the controlling force. Bundarungu, during the entire discussion, kept a poker face making it difficult for him to ascertain whether he was pleased with the Chinese offer or not. During the discussion, he also kept smoking his cigar, until one of the Rwandans got up and opened a window, looking disapprovingly at Bundarungu. Control of the meeting clearly resided with Bundarungu. When Lee stopped speaking, Bundarungu put the cigar on the table edge and stood up.
“There are no handheld surface-to-air missiles that we requested. We need handheld surface-to-air missiles if we are going to put Kariba out of business. If he can no longer bring the Antonovs in, he cannot get his ore out and that will dry up his money source. That is the head of the snake that we need to cut off. We also need boy soldiers from the orphanage; Kariba killed ten of ours last week and we have abducted all eligible boys within a 30 km radius of our camp. If we are going to attack him at the Goma airport next week, they need to be delivered to our Rumangabo training camp in the next few days. The fuel tanker that we ordered to resupply our trucks will need to be at Goma airport.”
Lee looked at him for a few minutes before replying, clearly irritated at the commanding tone of his request. Kim knew it would be highly embarrassing for Lee to be spoken to in that manner in front of his Chinese visitors.
“Your request was considered by the Ministry. There is too much chance of an international incident if you shoot down an aircraft as large as the Antonov. We will provide more rocket-propelled grenades to destroy the planes on the ground. The fuel tanker that you requested will be there at the border in three days. Miss Yao will organise six boys to be delivered within twenty-four hours.”
Bosco picked up a cigar and took a long drag, then again blew smoke in the direction of the businessman who had opened the window.
“The rocket propelled grenades are difficult for boy soldiers to carry. Unless we can interrupt Kariba’s air supply, the snake will continue to survive. We have also heard rumours that he is also attempting to get chemical weapons through one of his suppliers, Raoul Assad. Do you have any information on that?”
Kim watched as Lee conferred with two of his assistants.
“Our information is that Assad will not supply chemical weapons. We will give the additional information to the Ministry about surface-to-air missiles and communicate their response to you shortly.”
