Chapter Twenty Two
It was a very short drive from the helipad to the docks, and in that time we hadn’t even been able to put our seatbelts on, let alone come up with a plan.
It was a tight squeeze in the huge off-road vehicle, but we managed to fit in it. Ife stayed at the helipad, but Captain Harris insisted on accompanying us. It was his job, after all, to make sure we were all safe. He was such a caring, considerate man.
It was great to see the sights and sounds of the city first hand, even if we were cooped up in a car. There were huge brick buildings painted white that shot up several stories high, but the best sight I caught a glimpse of was a church spire that had a beautiful ornate clock in the centre of it.
The security guards who manned the docks let us in after Captain Harris spoke to them in appalling Spanish. Once the barriers were lifted, we zoomed into the car park, where a huge long limousine sat. It was silver, and looked entirely out of place sitting between small cars and other off-road vehicles. Just as our car was about to drive into a space and park, a man I instantly recognised clambered into the backseat of the limo, and as the driver shut the door behind him and made his way towards the front of the vehicle, I realised who it was.
As soon as the car stopped I pushed my way through everyone else in the car, determined to be out first. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to speak to Mr ‘Chewy’ Chuck Price. Gamba and Shasa moaned as I elbowed past them, and Sefarina squealed as I squashed the folding chair onto her so that I could get out of the back and into the dull twilight.
Just as my feet touched the ground, the limousine began to pull forward, so I waved my hands and began screaming at it. The limousine clearly paid no attention to me, and as it drifted away, I decided that there was only one thing I could do.
As I jogged towards it, I clasped my hands together and began to push my palms toward and then away from one another, allowing air and water particles to rush in and form a large bubble. I made sure that it was rock solid, and then just as the limousine was about to drive through the barriers, I hurled my bubble straight at it.
The loud smack of my creation on to the roof of the vehicle was louder than I had intended, and left a huge dent. Instantly, the driver of the limousine slammed onto the brakes and then hopped out to see what was going on. Within seconds I threw my hands into the air in surrender, because the armed security guards from the dock entrance and some from within the limousine quickly surrounded me.
“What on earth is going on?” Captain Harris screamed over the sound of five men shouting at me in Spanish and thrusting guns towards me threateningly.
“I just want to speak to Mr Price!” I repeated over and over again in my native tongue, but they didn’t seem to listen to me.
Very quickly, I knew that the rest of the Elementals were behind me, because the security guards were staring at them. I imagined what Gamba, Niyol, Shasa and Aura looked like if they tried their hardest to be intimidating. I also knew what Sefarina could do, and wasn’t too worried about my predicament.
“What are you doing?” Madz bellowed as the security guards began to command me to lie on my stomach on the floor and place my hands behind my back.
Just as I was about to do what they were instructing me to, I saw the back door of the limousine thrown open, and a thick fat leg wearing cowboy boots and a pristine business suit fall out onto the gravel. His second leg followed his first, and within seconds ‘Chewy’ Chuck Price was facing me, straightening his bright yellow tie. He looked me up and down, and I used my eyes to plead with him for help.
His meaty arms fell to his sides, and as he strolled towards me in his light brown suit, his big fat belly jiggled up and down. His bright white teeth made an appearance as he grinned at me, and under the brim of his cowboy hat sat his dark brown eyes, which were studying me carefully. He patted his security guards on the back and then defensively threw his arms up.
“Fellas, fellas! There’s no need for the threats! She’s just a little girl!”
Although I wanted to sneer at him for belittling me, I pretended that I was delighted about his intervention, and turned on my feminine charms. I batted my eyelids lovingly at him, and sucked my lips in. I also pushed out my chest.
“I’m not a girl.”
Once again his eyes scanned over me, and he smirked in appreciation. The security guards stopped their commotion, and everything seemed to die down. Mr Price pushed his index and middle finger together and flicked them towards the security guard’s station at the front of the car park.
“You have nothing to worry about here,” he indirectly ordered them, and after a small head bow, the three of them left and returned to their position, leaving Mr Price’s own two bodyguards by themselves, who stood at either side of him defensively.
“Now what was the meaning of throwing a rock at my brand new limousine?”
He had such a strange accent. It was very different from the Ventus’.
“I’m so sorry, Mr Price, I just wanted to get your attention.”
“Well you got it,” he told me, “and please, call me Chuck.”
I giggled playfully, and heard Gamba sigh in disapproval. He hated it when I acted ‘like a woman’. It was probably because he saw me as his little brother, and not as his sister.
“Well then, Chuck,” I began, edging towards him slowly as I scrambled my brain into action trying to think of something intelligent to say, “me and my friends here just arrived in Malabo to see the docks.”
“And what’d’yer think?”
“They’re wonderful!”
“And why, might I ask, are you and your friends sniffing around the Port?”
“School trip,” I lied, “We’ve just finished studying the economy of the Equatorial Guinea, in particular the trade that takes place between us and other countries.”
“Your friends over there don’t at all look like they belong here.”
I turned to see that he was indicating towards Aura, Sefarina and Niyol. I caught Aura’s gaze and glared at her instructively. She realised what I was indicating, and then rushed towards us. The security guards were about to lift their weapons, but Chuck signalled for them not to.
“We’re not from here,” Aura backed me up; “we’re from England. We’re doing a foreign exchange visit between Universities. My… friends and I had just studied certain emerging African countries, and so we came here to see them first hand.”
Aura bumped into me, and then wriggled seductively at the fat American.
“And we’ve heard all about you Mr Price.”
“I’m sure you have lil’ darling,” he replied, eyeing Aura hungrily.
“We spent a whole term on you…” I told him.
“Did you now?” The corner of his mouth raised his fat cheek upwards.
“I mean we spent a whole term learning about you,” I corrected and then giggled cheekily.
“Is that your tutor?” He asked, pointing towards Captain Harris.
Aura and I looked at one another, and then both nodded in unison.
“Yes,” I responded convincingly. “Before becoming a teacher, he used to work in South Africa in, you know, ‘special projects’ if you get what I mean, so he’s prepared for anything the continent has to offer.”
“I’d like to think that I am too,” Mr Price confirmed, darkening, “but I was very surprised when you threw a rock at my vehicle.”
His eyes squinted as if he was reading my thoughts, and his head bobbed towards me. Perhaps he was onto us. I kept my composure and continued the charade.
“How else is a girl going to get noticed by a millionaire?”
“A billionaire,” he flirted.
“Oh sorry, a billionaire,” I looked at Aura and we both tittered excitedly, as if we were actually attracted to this huge lump of lard.
He backed away from me and then once again straightened his tie.
“I have to say that in all my travels, no one
has ever done what you’ve just done and gotten away with it.”
“I’m sorry about your limousine; it’s just that I was so overwhelmed when I saw you I wasn’t thinking straight. We actually came here to see your container ship, because we have been studying about your recent business dealings with the Equatorial Guinea.”
“You’ve read all about my recent acquisition then?”
I didn’t know what he was referring to, but I continued to play along, hoping to get something else out of him.
“Uh-huh.”
“Have you seen it yet?”
I shook my head.
“Well, I can’t let you on the boat, but if you come to my hotel tomorrow morning, I might give you and your friend here a ride in my personal helicopter to see the oil rig for yourself.”
“Oil rig?” Madzimoyo questioned stupidly behind us.
I leaned in towards Mr Price.
“He’s a little slow,” I whispered, “he’s here because he’s ‘special’.” I winked at Mr Price, and he winked back. He then stepped towards the group behind us, his bodyguards never leaving his side.
“An oil rig,” Mr Price explained in a slow, patronising voice, “or an offshore platform as they are usually called, is a huge structure that drills into oil wells in the ocean. It extracts oil and gas and then keeps those products until they can be taken to a refinery to be processed.”
Madzimoyo nodded slowly, as if he was struggling to understand. Now everyone was in on the act.
“I recently purchased one of the oil wells around here. This country’s full of them. So I thought that it would be a wise move to invest over here, where the prices are, shall we say, more ‘competitive’ than other countries’.”
“Oh okay,” Madz responded, as if he was stupid.
“In fact, it’s just over there,” Mr Price told us, pointing out into the ocean. “It’s about a mile in that direction. You can see it on a clear day. It’s beautiful. Now you lovely ladies have kept me for long enough…”
Mr Price turned and made his way back to his limousine.
“So you aren’t going to let us go onto your container ship?” I asked innocently.
He turned and looked down at me. He shook his head. “There’s really nothing very interesting on board. But as I said before, if you and your friend here want to come out to the oil rig tomorrow, just stop by my hotel, any time.”
He clicked his fingers, and one of his bodyguards whipped a card out of his pocket and handed it to me. I gazed down at it. It was a card for a local five star hotel, and it had Mr Price’s personal details on, including his room and phone number.
“I’m just staying down the road. It’s a lovely place. I’d love to see you there.”
“Why thank you Mr Price,” I flirted enthusiastically.
“I told you: call me ‘Chewy’.” He winked sleazily at me and then quickly got back into his limousine. A few moments later, he had left, and the group of us were alone in the port car park.
“What the hell was that about?” Gamba snapped at me furiously.
“I thought we could get aboard his boat!” I defended.
“That was… quite something,” Shasa told me gingerly.
“Listen, sometimes you’ve got to use what you’ve got to get what you want!”
“That was pretty weird,” Madz suggested.
“I saw an opportunity and I took it. I wasn’t going to let him drive away. I thought he might let us on the boat! At least now we know that Mr Price is here, and owns an oil rig…”
“She’s right,” Captain Harris agreed, to everyone’s horror, “she did the right thing. She got information out of Price that we would never have known otherwise. If our little ‘inspection’ of his ship doesn’t pan out, then I think you and Aura should consider his offer.”
Now I was the one who was horrified.
“Are you serious?” Aura bawled at him.
“People’s lives are at stake here. If flirting with him prevents deaths, then it’s worth it.”
“But you’re not the one doing it!” Shasa added. “She’s my little sister! She’s only seventeen! I won’t allow it!”
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable with it either,” Niyol chimed in, looking down at the floor sheepishly.
“Yes Sir,” Captain Harris replied, and then everything went silent.
“Do you really think those security guards are going to let us sneak onto the boat?” Madzimoyo asked thoughtfully.
“No,” Gamba replied, “we’ve brought too much attention to ourselves. We’re going to have to come back later, when it’s dark, and find another way in…”
“We don’t have to find another way in,” Sefarina announced, “because we can stop them in their tracks.”
She was right. We could easily defeat them, and then climb aboard the boat without anyone stopping us.
“Okay then,” Shasa explained, “let’s go back to the helipad and get ready to come back here, on foot, later on this evening. At least we know the boat is still here. We can sneak aboard, check for waste, and then leave, and no one will know what we were doing here. Your cover story of us being students was genius, Vee!”
I shrugged modestly. Just as I was about to thank her for her compliment, a huge bellowing siren rang out through the quiet car park.
I threw my hands to my ears in shock, and scanned the vicinity to see what was going on.
“There they are!” I heard a man scream out in Spanish, “There are the terrorists!”