With a look of confusion, Jack cracked the book. “What the hell!” he commented. “What’s an atlas for?”

“Because you’re going to need it,” Lou said. “I can’t tell you how long it took me to scrounge one up here at police headquarters.”

“I don’t get it,” Jack said.

“My contact at the FAA was able to call someone who knew someone who works in a European organization that doles out landing and takeoff times all over Europe,” Lou explained. “They also get the flight plans and store them for over sixty days. Franconi’s G4 came to France from Equatorial Guinea.”

“Where?” Jack questioned as his eyebrows collided in an expression of total confusion. “I never even heard of Equatorial Guinea. Is it a country?”

“Check out page one hundred fifty-two!” Lou said.

“What’s this about a Franconi and a G4?” Laurie asked.

“A G4 is a private jet,” Lou explained. “I was able to find out for Jack that Franconi had been out of the country. We thought he’d been in France until I got this new information.”

Jack got to page 152 in the atlas. It was a map labeled “the Western Congo Basin,” covering a huge portion of western Africa.

“All right, give me a hint,” Jack said.

Lou pointed over Jack’s shoulder. “It’s this little tiny country between Cameroon and Gabon. The city that the plane flew out of is Bata, on the coast.” He pointed to the appropriate dot. The atlas depicted the country as mostly uninterrupted green.

Laurie got up from her chair and looked over Jack’s other shoulder. “I think I remember hearing about that country one time. I think that’s where the writer Frederick Forsyth went to write Dogs of War.”

Lou slapped the top of his head in utter amazement. “How do you remember stuff like that? I can’t remember where I had lunch last Tuesday.”

Laurie shrugged. “I read a lot of novels,” she said. “Writers interest me.”

“This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” Jack complained. “This is an undeveloped part of Africa. This country must be covered with nothing but jungle. In fact, this whole part of Africa is nothing but jungle. Franconi couldn’t have gotten a liver transplant there.”

“That was my reaction, too,” Lou said. “But the other information makes a little more sense. I tracked Alpha Aviation through its Nevada management corporation to its real owner. It’s GenSys Corp in Cambridge, Massachusetts.”

“I’ve heard of GenSys,” Laurie said. “It’s a biotech firm that’s big in vaccines and lymphokines. I remember because a girlfriend of mine who’s a broker in Chicago recommended the stock. She’s forever giving me tips, thinking I’ve got tons of money to invest.”

“A biotech company!” Jack mused. “Hmmm. That’s a new twist. It must be significant, although I don’t quite know how. Nor do I know what a biotech firm would be doing in Equatorial Guinea.”

“What’s the meaning of this indirect corporate trail in Nevada?” Laurie asked. “Is GenSys trying to hide the fact that they own an aircraft?”