Syndicate Games

PRELUDE (2)The Major checked his third step then went limp. Joe twisted the knife, to make sure, and then pulled it out. He then pushed the limp body into the room below. He quickly searched the dead body and found what he wanted. He was looking for the emeralds. They were contained in a rectangular box inside the dead man’s jacket. He opened the box and whistled quietly to himself. Joe was no precious stones expert but, even to him, at only seven hundred and fifty U.S dollars, the Major had been robbing himself blind. One and a half million dollars would have come close to the mark.Putting the box in his hip pocket, he closed the door and went back to the bar where Judy was waiting with barely concealed anxiety. ‘’How did it go?’’ she asked anxiously.‘’How else could it have gone? The poor man stood no chance – he never even knew what hit him,’’ he said sarcastically. He threw the box c

Richard Nyangu was the newspaperman who was giving Mr. Pyramus his current spate of nightmares. He was the man that was asking too many awkward questions.On this bright and hot, summer afternoon, he was dining at the Paramount Hotel in Kuomboka.The Kuomboka restaurant, situated on the fourteenth floor of the hotel, offers a panoramic view of the city of Lusaka. This is one of its biggest attractions.The scenery and view were, however, lost on the couple occupying the corner table. Richard Nyangu and Beatrice had been the early arrivals for lunch, and still showed no sign of leaving. In the meantime Richie was saying; "...but still, wouldn't you agree Beatrice that there is some truth in the rumor going around that there is a lot of emeralds, cannabis, and mandrax smuggling going on in town?""Well, I have heard the rumor, just like anyone else," she replied indifferently. "Don't YOU think that there is an element of truth in i