Scorpion

1- The gang. . .

Ten miles north of Cameroon. . Five miles from the border and close to it are Africa's greatest diamond mines. . And in the world!

Among the vast desert and thorn bushes, a man stood fidgeting, his arms crossed over his head. . He remained in this condition for about two hours. .

At last he heard the sound of an airplane engine, so he left his place and advanced forward into the open, where he clearly saw the incoming plane. .

Under the moonlight, he rubbed his palms at the dust that filled that desolate place. . Then he went to his motorbike, from which he picked up four lamps. . A small and heavy roll. He held a lamp in his hand, after lighting the remaining three lamps in the corners of a shallow pit, in a semi-accurate geometric system. .

And the helicopter was moving slowly toward him, and about a hundred feet above the ground, making a raucous noise, until it came to a halt at the three lamps lit in the hole, near the man. . Whoever saw a lamp lit up in front of her in a special gesture, the man greeted her and understood her immediately. . He replied with a similar signal from his flashlight. .

Minutes later, the plane's propellers stopped working, and its annoying motor idled, and after a moment, the plane's door opened, and the pilot came out of it and stood next to the engine, until the other man picked up the three lights from the hole and turned them off with his own lamp as well. :

- Welcome . . Is everything okay?

The man said indignantly:

- This is what I hope.

Confused, the pilot said:

- what do you mean?

The man replied angrily:

- You are late again!

The pilot murmured in embarrassment:

- It's simple. . We all have our problems, man. .

Then he said seriously:

- And now. . Do you have diamonds?

The man nodded in the affirmative. The pilot said:

- To me then. . So I go right back.

Immediately the man put his hand in his jacket pocket, took out the small scroll, and extended it to the pilot, who took it quietly and put it in a side pocket, and turned around:

- Good . . See you soon .

He headed towards his plane , but the other man stopped him:

- Just a moment . .

The pilot turned:

- What? . . What is the matter?

The man said in distress:

- Things are here. . in the mine. . Not going as it should. . That man . . The intelligence man coming from London.

The pilot asked him:

- (Hebron)?

The man nodded his head before saying:

- Yes it is. . You must have read the news. . He says that the Diamond Authority appointed him here, and because of that, deterrent penalties and warnings were issued, and fear began to creep into the junior staff.

The pilot asked him in confusion:

- What you mean?

The man did not care about the pilot's question and continued his words:

- I had to be strict. . A man fell into a machine that breaks stones and rocks. . Which made it worse. . I had to pay extra, more than ten percent, and yet the workers were not convinced and it seemed that the men. . Security men, they're going to shoot one of my clients. . And you know those cowards who can't resist violence. . I am sure that none of us will withstand torture. . Me too .

The pilot asked him for the third time:

- And what do you want from me? . . Do you want me to pass that on to the Big Man? . . You are the most important then!

shouted man:

- I don't threaten anyone. . All I want is for them to know what's really going on here, in the diamond mines. . And everything about this (Hebron)?

The pilot said in despondency:

- And what do you want?

The man replied:

- The Chairman of the Board of Directors said in his last assessment that the smuggling of diamonds must be stopped, and this means that they stop me. .

The pilot said calmly:

- You are not alone. . me too . . Almost everyone in the operation. . So what do you want? More money?

The man nodded:

- yes!

- How much do you want?

- Twenty percent or more.

The pilot said quietly:

- OK . . But it has nothing to do with me at all. . If I were you, I would not have exhausted these workers. . Perhaps they were tougher than (Hebron) himself!

A moment of silence passed, after which the man said:

- Good . Tell them that I am working hard and need more money and they will understand what I mean.

The pilot said:

- Good . . See you after one month.

He said it and headed towards the helicopter, so he got on it, and took off with it. The second man covered his eyes from the dust that had accumulated around him, and the plane headed east. . The man got on his motorbike and drove down the narrow path towards the border hills of Sierra Leone. .

His mind was full of thoughts and ideas about what was happening. . This was part of one of the largest smuggling operations in the whole world. .

Smuggling those bloody sparkling stones. .

Diamond!

***

Sonya murmured, a deep thought appeared on her face.

- Perhaps I would have found the courage to expel my son, Daniel, if I had found him, as he described himself: (the bastard who has no morals). .

Then she shook her head sadly.

- But I did not see on his face the evidence of these signs; I realized that he became a man other than the man. .

He interrupted her, saying:

- I don't think so. .

I interrupted him in turn:

- I admit that you helped him and removed him from his disgraceful manners, and even noticed an improvement in his general appearance as well. I noticed that a remnant of the goodness latent in the depths of his soul was trying to float up and appear on the surface. On that day he was cheerful and happy and did not care about anything, and he was talking to me about you and what he had for you. Of love and appreciation.

I nod gratefully:

- I have met him many times after that.

I believed what he said:

- He would come in wickedness to visit me, or I would go to meet him and we were hiking in the countryside, and so I was led to tell him our story from her god. I told him everything, so he panicked first, then he became angry and insisted in turn that he avenge his father by stealing the crystal plug and to avenge himself for what happened to him at the hands of Colbright, and his first concern after that was to agree with you.

Maxim clicked his forehead and muttered:

But he should have told me first. .

interrupted him:

Yes, I share your opinion. Unfortunately, Daniel was weak and under the influence of one of his companions.

asked her:

- You mean (Korpov)?!

She shook her head affirmatively.

- Yes . . (Korpov). . That mean, deceitful wolf, who lives in the dark, has been able to control my son, and Daniel erred in the trust he placed in him, and (Korbov) succeeded in convincing him, and convincing me as well that it is good for us to work on our own account, so he studied the matter and took it upon himself to implement it. In the end, I carry out, with your guidance, the campaign of robbery of the villa of "Marie Tabriz", which "Urjuwan" and his companions could not search further because of the intense supervision of the servant (Leonard) and (Daniel) had to either surrender to your experience or leave you away from the conspiracy to avoid a misunderstanding It was catastrophic, but Korpov was in control of us.

She paused for a moment, gasping for breath, and then continued:

- So I accepted to go with Colbright to the theatre, and in the meantime you robbed the villa, and when I returned to my house about midnight, I reported the news of Leonard's death and the arrest of my son. To be sentenced to death and hanged. . And I pushed him to the abyss. . I'm his mother?!

He said in a tadda:

We will save him, so rest assured. .

Then he asks her:

- But I must know all the details, so tell me, how did you learn that night about Engin's accidents?

She answered:

- I learned about it from two of your comrades, or rather from the comrades of (Korpov), and he had chosen them to lead the two boats.

He laughed and asked her:

- You mean "Grunyar" and "Lobalo" who are now waiting for you outside this house?

She shook her head :

- yes . (Korbov) was interested in knowing the places to which they differ, and in this way he knew all the houses in which they resided.

exclaimed :

- God damn it!

I continued explaining:

- He was prepared for the conflict that must erupt between him and you one day, so he removed the boxes from the doors of your house. And he did the same in Bobrick's house, and he was using a man of dwarves who was very thin. Those small holes were enough. . It occurred to me at once, in order to save my eldest son, that I should use his younger brother Jack, who is, as you see, thin and of great intelligence and courage, so we went at night, in the light of the instructions of Groniard and Lobalo, and found in Daniel's private house the key to your apartment on Rue Matignon. I was at that time less willing to ask you for help than to rob you of the crystal plug which I thought you had. I was not mistaken in my thinking, as my son Jack managed to enter your room, and after a few minutes he was brought to the stopper, so I went dancing with joy and hope flying over me, feeling that I had become the owner of the secret talisman. And I decided to keep it to myself without telling Purple to be the only one in possession of Colbright. I could harness it to save my son, but unfortunately there was nothing in this crystal. . No paper, no list, no cavity, nothing. . Engin's adventure, then, was for nothing. . It only resulted in the killing of Leonard, and the capture of my son! . . And so all my efforts went in vain!

He asked her sharply:

- But . . Why?

***