“You didn’t like it?” Jack questioned. “Now I’m pissed.”

“What’s plan B?” Warren asked.

Jack explained about his idea of approaching Cogo by boat from Acalayong. He had Warren look at the map. Given how long it had taken them to get where they were, he asked Warren to estimate how long it would take to get to Acalayong.

“I’d say three hours,” Warren said. “As long as the road stays good. The problem is we have to backtrack quite a way before heading south.”

Jack glanced at his watch. It was almost nine A.M. “That means we’d get there about noon. I’d judged we could get from Acalayong to Cogo in an hour, even in the world’s slowest boat. Say we stay in Cogo for a couple hours. I think we’d still get back at a reasonable hour. What do you guys say?”

“I’m cool,” Warren said.

Jack looked in the rearview mirror. “I could take you ladies back to Bata and come back tomorrow.”

“My only reservation about any of us going is those soldiers with the assault rifles,” Laurie said.

“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Jack said. “If they have soldiers at the gate then they don’t need them in the town. Of course there’s always the chance they patrol the waterfront, which would mean I’d be forced to use plan C.”

“What’s plan C?” Warren asked.

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “I haven’t come up with it yet.”

“What about you, Natalie?” Jack asked.

“I’m finding it all interesting,” Natalie said. “I’ll go along with the crowd.”

It took almost an hour to get to the point where a decision had to be made. Jack pulled to the side of the road.

“What’s it going to be, gang?” he asked. He wanted to be absolutely sure. “Back to Bata or on to Acalayong?”

“I think I’ll be more worried if you go by yourself,” Laurie said. “Count me in.”

“Natalie?” Jack said. “Don’t be influenced by these other crazies. What do you want to do?”

“I’ll go,” Natalie said.

“Okay,” Jack said. He put the car in gear and turned left toward Acalayong.

• • •

Siegfried got up from his desk with his coffee mug in hand and walked to the window overlooking the square. He was mystified. The Cogo operation had been up and running for six years and never had they had someone come to the gate house and request entrance. Equatorial Guinea was not a place people visited casually.

Siegfried took a swig of his coffee and wondered if there could be any connection between this abnormal event and the arrival of Taylor Cabot, the CEO of GenSys. Both were unanticipated, and both were particularly unwelcome since they came just when there was a major problem with the bonobo project. Until that unfortunate situation was taken care of, Siegfried didn’t want any stray people around, and he put the CEO in that category.

Aurielo poked his head in the door and said that Dr. Raymond Lyons was there and wished to see him.