“When should we retrieve them?” Siegfried asked.

“As soon as possible,” Bertram said. “I can have a team of security-cleared animal handlers ready by dawn tomorrow. We’ll begin by darting the splinter group. Once we have all the animals caged, which should take no more than two or three days, we’ll move them at night to a section of the animal center that I will prepare.”

“I suppose I’d better recall that contingent of soldiers out by the bridge,” Siegfried said. “The last thing we need is for them to shoot the animal handlers.”

“I didn’t like having them out there in the first place,” Bertram said. “I was afraid they might have shot one of the animals for sport or soup.”

“When should we inform our respective bosses at GenSys?” Siegfried asked.

“Not until it is done,” Bertram said. “Only then will we know how many animals have been killed. Maybe we’ll also have a better idea of the best ultimate disposition. My guess is we’ll have to build a separate, new facility.”

“For that, we’d need authorization,” Siegfried said.

“Obviously,” Bertram said. He stood up. “All I can say is that it is a damn good thing I had the foresight to move all those cages out there.”

New York City

Raymond felt better than he had in days. Things seemed to have gone well from the moment he’d gotten up. Just after nine he’d called Dr. Waller Anderson, and not only was the doctor going to join, he already had two clients ready to plunk down their deposits and head out to the Bahamas for the bone marrow aspirations.

Then around noon Raymond had gotten a call from Dr. Alice Norwood, whose office was on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. She’d called to say that she’d recruited three physicians with large private practices who were eager to come on board. One was in Century City, another in Brentwood, and the last was in Bel-Air. She was convinced that these doctors would soon provide a flood of clients because the market on the West Coast for the service Raymond was offering was nothing short of phenomenal.

But what had pleased Raymond the most during the day was whom he didn’t hear from. There were no calls from either Vinnie Dominick or Dr. Daniel Levitz. Raymond took this silence to mean that the Franconi business had finally been put to bed.

At three-thirty, the door buzzer went off. Darlene answered it and with a tearful voice told Raymond that his car was waiting.

Raymond took his girlfriend in his arms and patted her on the back. “Next time maybe you can go,” Raymond said consolingly.

“Really?” she asked.

“I can’t guarantee it,” Raymond said. “But we’ll try.” Raymond had no control over the GenSys flights. Darlene had been able to go on only one of the trips to Cogo. On all the other occasions, the plane had been full on one of the segments. As standard procedure, the plane flew from the States to Europe and then on to Bata. On the return trip the same general itinerary was followed, although it was always a different European city.