Rogue Assault by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2013-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

9

Headquarters of the Forces Armées de

Guinée-Bissau, Bairro Militar

“You have something for me?” General Ismael Diallo asked his caller.

“I do,” Pascal Kinte replied, “although I’m not sure if it helps you.”

“I will be the judge of that,” Diallo said.

“Of course.” Kinte cleared his throat, then said, “The man you’re looking for, I’ve learned, was working under cover for the Ministry of Justice. More specifically, the Judicial Police.”

Diallo clenched his teeth, squeezing the telephone receiver in a death grip. “You are certain?”

“There’s no doubt,” Kinte said.

“How long?”

“I have no date, precisely, but if he attached himself to the Camara Family, we may assume it was a plan to infiltrate the operation.”

Diallo snarled a curse. “Who does Barbosa think he’s trifling with?”

“Don’t jump to any rash conclusions, General,” Kinte said. “Nothing I’ve learned so far suggests the Minister of Justice authorized this plan, or even knew of its existence.”

“He’s supposed to be in charge, goddamn it!”

“As are you,” Kinte said. “Does that mean you’re aware of everything your sergeants do, around the clock?”

“It’s not the same!” Diallo snapped. “If he attacks Camara, he’s attacking me!”

“Which leads me to believe that he was kept in ignorance by one or more of his subordinates.”

Diallo thought about that for a moment, then said, “Very well. I need to know who authorized the infiltration.”

“I know that, as well,” Kinte replied, stretching it out. “A captain of the Judicial Police, one Joseph Mansaré.”

“He’s assigned to headquarters, I take it?” Diallo asked.

“I assume so,” Kinte said.

“All right, then. I’ll take care of it.”

“With circumspection, eh?” the Minister of the Interior suggested. “We already have the world’s eyes watching us. The last thing that we need is the appearance of another coup.”

“I don’t need a coup to deal with one police captain,” Diallo said. “Much less his sneaking stooge.”

“The bad publicity—”

“Is my concern,” Diallo said, cutting him off. “I’ve noted your opinion. Don’t belabor it.”

“In that case,” Kinte answered stiffly, “if there’s nothing else?”

“Nothing,” Diallo said. “Goodbye.”

Diallo would have slammed the old-style telephone receiver into its cradle, but he had been working on his self-control of late, aware that blinding rage wasn’t productive. Later, if he still was in a mood, Diallo reckoned he could slap around one of his wives as a release of pent-up tension. Or perhaps he’d simply take the youngest pair of them to bed, if the distractions of this endless day allowed him to perform.

Meanwhile, he had the names of two men who had plotted to destroy him, and he meant to punish both of them. The captain should be easily locatable. As for his agent who had dropped from sight, perhaps Joseph Mansaré had some means of reaching out to him.

If so, the captain would reveal it. General Diallo had no doubt of that. His men were most persuasive when they put their minds to it, and in the present case they would apply themselves with special zeal. If need be, they could make a stone recite the Lord’s Prayer.

Diallo thought he might enjoy watching them work this time.

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