but more in surprise—Gee, did I act that way?—than in anger.
“Who is she?”
“Ostensibly, the CIA station chief’s secretary in Dar es Salaam,” Jack said.
“And actually?” Marjorie asked.
“The CIA station chief,” Jack said.
“Well, so much for keeping that little secret,” Father said. “I hate to stop this delightful chitchat, but . . . I read that to mean Guevara and the others are taking boats at midnight from Kigoma. Am I right?”
“It looks to me as if she has somebody in Kigoma,” Jack said. “Maybe she even went there. It said ’landline.’ ”
“Thomas?”
“That’s how I read it,” Thomas replied.
“Geoff?”
“Yeah. That’s how I would read it.”
“We’re all set up at the field and the outposts?”
“The bad news there is that there’s sometimes morning fog,” Jack said. “Which maybe Guevara knows about, and is counting on to keep him invisible.”
“ ‘Take not counsel of your fears,’ ” Lunsford quoted. “General George S. Patton. The question was ‘we’re all set up at the field and the outposts?’ ”
“Aunt Jemima is at Item,” Craig said. “You want me to run this by you again, right?”
Lunsford nodded.
“Aunt Jemima is at Item,” Craig repeated. “He’ll fly up the middle from there. I’ll fly down the middle from here. Jack will fly back and forth in a fifteen-mile pattern on the middle right out from Kigoma.”
“Keep in mind that middle you keep talking about is the border of Tanganyika. We can’t cross it.”
Jack and Geoff nodded.
Colonel Jean-Baptiste Supo, trailed by Lieutenant Colonel Henri Coizi and Major Alain George Totse, came out of the hotel.
All the American men stood up. Supo and Totse kissed the hands of the women.
“Please be seated,” Supo said.
Everyone sat down.
“We have some word, I gather?” Supo said.
“We have reliable information that they will take boats from Kigoma at midnight, sir,” Lunsford said. He did not show him the satellite message,
“The question then is where will they land?” Supo replied.
“If we can find them on the water, we can follow them,” Lunsford said.
“There is sometimes morning fog in the area,” Supo said.
Lunsford flashed a look at Jack.
“Let’s have the map, please, Thomas,” Lunsford said.
When the beer and lemonade glasses had been pushed aside, and the map laid in place, Major Totse stood over it.
“My colonel,” he said. “This is what Colonel Dahdi and I propose for your approval. Now that we know when the boats will leave Kigoma, things are made somewhat more simple for us.
“Colonel Dahdi and I have made the following assumptions. The boats they will use will be small launches, for any number of reasons, starting with availability, and the probability that they are going to have to land on the shore. For planning purposes, we believe there will be two launches. Launches have a top speed, depending on water conditions, of fifteen knots.
“It is approximately thirty-five miles across Lake Tanganyika from Kigoma. So the absolute minimum travel time would be just a little over two hours. We further presume that they will wish to make the journey in darkness, which means, given sunrise at 0605 tomorrow, they can travel no farther, under optimum conditions, than six hours at fifteen miles per hour, or ninety miles. They have to consider that for any number of reasons— primarily their detection—they may have to return to Tanganyika. That reduces their practical area of operation to a forty-five-mile arc from Kigoma.
“That arc would extend from Kalamba in the north to Kunanwa in the south. While there are no truck-capable roads in the bush between Kalamba and Kunanwa and National Route Five, there are paths, and both villages are closer to Route Five than any other village with paths in between.
“Colonel Dahdi and I have therefore concluded the launches will have either—or perhaps both—villages as their destination. I have therefore ordered reaction forces to move near both villages on Route Five. They will have orders not to engage, simply to observe.
“To ensure compliance with that order, we recommend that Colonel Coizi command the reaction force at Kunanwa and Major Tomas command—excuse me, advise—the reaction force at Kalamba. The Kalamba reaction force was used at Outpost George, and the men are aware of the confidence Colonel Coizi places in Major Tomas.”
He paused.
“That’s about it, sir,” he said.
“The only question I have is the aircraft; they will be operating at night.” He looked at Jack Portet. “You can land for refueling, et cetera, at night on those primitive strips?”
“We have radio communication with them, Colonel,” Jack said. “When we call, they will send a radio signal, on which