For Your Paws Only

Chapter 2 – I Bless the Trains Down in Africa

Conrad stepped down from the bus onto the muddy street.  A sign announced that he was now in the village of Manono-Kitolo.  It was a poor, corporate town named after the nearby lithium mine with very few businesses, according to the in-depth briefing Bill “The Professor" Hanlan had given him. 

It had once been a tin mine, but it had closed in the eighties.  In two-thousand and eighteen deposits of high-grade lithium had been discovered, perhaps as much as a billion and a half tons.   An Australian company and a Chinese battery manufacturer had immediately jumped in and obtained a mining contract from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but another Chinese mining company, claiming prior rights to the area, stepped in and tied up the procedures.

Canada had an interest in this particular mine because a Canadian company had purchased the right to reprocess the tailings from the old tin operation.  The tin had been extracted but the lithium-bearing ore remained, perhaps enough to produce one and a half million tons of pure Lithium.  

Despite being supposedly tied up in court, however, recent satellite imagery revealed that the tailing pile was gone, and that work had resumed in the mine.  Conrad's mission was to find out what was going on and, if possible, who was behind it.

Conrad had brought just a backpack with a few essential items in it.  He had worn the special watch that Joel the lemur had given him but had stopped at the Canadian Embassy in Kinshasa to pick up his Glock, which had come in by Diplomatic pouch.

He was traveling under his cover name, Conrad Renard, under the guise of an out-of-work mining engineer.  His backstory, or legend as it was known in the espionage business, was that he had been fired from every reputable mining company that ever hired him because of excessive drinking and gambling.  Police records, news articles and contacts in the Canadian Mining Association would confirm these details.  The disgraced Renard was rumoured to be looking for a less than legitimate operation that would pay in booze and credit at the local gambling house.  Internal conflicts, disputed areas and a corrupt government made the DRC a perfect place for one with such a reputation to look for work.

Conrad decided to survey the village before contacting the company working the mine, if indeed there was one. 

There were many boarded up storefronts in the village, harkening back to more prosperous days when the tin mine was in full operation.  The only establishment that looked busy at all was a noisy bar full of miners that appeared to have a bordello above it.  The general store, owned by the mining company presumably, was quiet, as was the local groomer and a hotel was all but deserted.  The only other establishment not boarded up was a costume shop advertising a going out of business clearance sale.  Its door was locked and when Conrad peered through the dirty window he could see that there were only a few costumes hung on a rack in the otherwise empty store.

There was a mining office, and it was open.  The building looked like it had been built back in the nineteen-twenties when the tin operation first started, and it had not been painted since.  Even the old company sign was still up. 

It was only mid-afternoon, so Conrad entered the reception area and approached the female Chimpanzee that was seated behind the counter.

“Excuse me."  He said in almost perfect Belgium French.  “I'm looking for work at the mine and I'd like to speak with the Personnel Manager."

“We're not hiring."  The chimp replied, looking him over with a bored expression.

“Are you sure?  I'm very well qualified, and I work cheap."

“I'm certain.  Go away."

“Are you sure?" Conrad slid a fifty-dollar US bill across the counter, a month's salary for most workers in the area. 

The Chimp made the American bill disappear faster than hot wings at a free buffet.  Then she pressed a button that brought two massive gorillas out of the back room to stand behind her.

“I'm sure."  She said with a smirk.  “Now get out."

The gorillas looked like local thugs as opposed to professional fighters and Conrad was sure he could take them; but he did not want to attract attention to himself, so he retreated.

He would have to find another way into the mine.  All the miners he had passed on the street were wearing uniform coveralls, although none of them had an identifiable logo that he could trace.  They also all had access badges with their picture on it.  That could be a problem as there was a noticeable lack of canines in the area, let alone any European coyotes.

Conrad decided to check into the hotel and conduct a more clandestine reconnaissance after dark.

* * * * * * * *

The room in the village's only hotel was as bad as the food in its dining room.  Parasites that Conrad could only suppose were endemic in Manono-Kitolo were assembling on the bed for a feed before he even had a chance to open the window and let some of the stuffy air out. 

Being forewarned by The Professor, Conrad was armed with the most powerful insecticides and fumigants that could be purchased in Kinshasa.  He gave the room and especially the bed a liberal dose before doing the same to the bathroom.  Afterward he changed into dark clothing, slid his Glock into its holster and slipped out the window.  He took all his possessions with him in the backpack, which he hid in an alley, figuring that it was safer there than in a room with locks that a drunken ape could pick with a fork.

He kept to the backstreets, away from the noisy bar and the traffic between the mine and the miners' camp near the trainyard.  Once behind the Mining Company office he stopped in the shadows and studied the building for a good hour.

The exterior had many large windows, to let in the natural light during the day in this region where electricity was scarce and unreliable.  From what he had seen during his short visit earlier the walls of the interior corridors were also mostly glass, making it difficult to move about undetected.  Conrad was hoping that he would have the place to himself after dark, but although the office had closed for the day but there was an interior security guard making the rounds.  He could see the glow from the guard's lantern as it moved from floor to floor and along the corridors.

The guard's patrol did have a set pattern, however, and after noting the timing between rounds Conrad was ready to go in. 

The lower windows were covered with security mesh and locked from the inside.  Forcing one of them would be too noisy, no matter where the guard was.  There were, however, several empty crates of various sizes strewn about behind the building.  They were empty and Conrad was able to move them up against the rear of the building while the guard was in the front.  That allowed him access to the second story windows, which had simple latches Conrad could slip easily.  In short order he found himself in a long office with several desks and a waist-high wall below an opaque glass partition. 

Conrad examined the office but found nothing useful in the way of information or material.  When he saw the glow of the guard's lantern approach he sat down with his back against the interior wall until the guard moved to the next floor.  Then he left the office and checked out the one across the hall.  Finding nothing there either, he moved to the office at the end of the corridor.

The title painted on the pebbled glass door said, 'Mine Manager'.  Conrad picked the lock and slid inside just before the guard came down the stairs on his way to start his patrol again on the first floor.  Conrad had a good ten minutes to look around with the flashlight feature on his watch before ethe guard was due back.

Inside the office there was a desk with a computer and a map of the mine.  Conrad committed the map to memory before looking around again.  There was a closet in the corner.  Inside the closet was a pair of company coveralls and a yellow hard hat.  Conrad held the coveralls against him; they looked like they would be a fairly good fit, maybe a little loose even.  The hard hat was adjustable.  He put them both by the door. 

In the opposite corner there was a stand-alone safe.  It had a touchpad combination.  Conrad took a small vial of powder from his pocket and shook a small amount into his paw.  He blew the powder over the keypad then turned his watch to UV light.  The powder stuck to the body oils left on the buttons marked zero, one, three, six, and nine.  They glowed blue under the UV light, with the nine glowing much brighter because it had much more powder stuck to it.

Great, Conrad mused, even assuming that the nine was used only twice that still leaves about eighty thousand possible combinations.  I'll have to narrow it down a bit.

He felt around the safe for a slip of paper with the combination on it, but he was not so lucky.  He looked in the desk drawers, but they were mostly empty.  He did find a slip of paper stuck to the bottom of the computer keyboard, but it had both letters and digits, and too many for the safe combination in any event.

Conrad had an idea though, and he started up the computer.  When it asked for a password he entered the figures from the paper and was pleased to see the security screen dissolve into a standard desktop. 

Now, he thought, where to look.

Computer forensics was a specialty that he had not studied, but F.O.X. did teach the basics to all its agents.  He quickly checked the files for production and personnel but saw nothing of interest.  A quick review of the cache revealed nothing other than the manager's taste in porn, which involved whips, leather and leeches.  Conrad made a note to pass some of the websites involved on to Joel the Lemur.

There was a message tab, and when Conrad opened it the most recent chat proved useful.  It was a string of conversation between the Manager and his assistant, who was filling in while the Mine Manager was away on sick leave.

Reversing the order of the texts Conrad read:

“The new owners need the production estimates that you keep in the safe.  Can you send me the combination?"

“Not over the message system.  But I can tell you that it is my birthday.  Just enter it as DD/MM/YY."

“What's your Birthday?"

“Idiot!  I can't send that in clear either.  Besides, you should remember, you were at my birthday party last September."

“Oh, yes, I recall now.  You were saying you were born the same year the Americans went to the moon.  Wait one … Got it!  Thanks."

The Guard was due to pass again so Conrad shut off the monitor and sat against the door while he considered the information from the message chain.

September would be entered as zero nine leaving one, three, six and another nine for the day and year.  With the zero already used only one or three made sense for the first digit of the day, but if the day started with three the next digit could only be the one, and September only had thirty days.  That left thirteen, sixteen and nineteen as possibilities for the day.  As for the year, that was fairly easy; even though Conard had not been born then he knew that the Americans had first landed on the moon in the late sixties.

After the guard had passed Conrad went to the safe and pressed the keys one-three-zero-nine-six-nine.  He was rewarded with a 'whirr' and a 'click' as the lock disengaged.

Opening the safe, Conrad discovered that it held only production estimates and personnel files.  He skimmed the production estimates but found that they matched those provided to F.O.X., so there was nothing new there.  The personnel files were also pretty standard, but one folder, marked 'Pending', caught Conrad's eye.

There were three files inside, all for creatures that had been offered positions in the mine but who had not yet arrived for one reason or another.  One file was for a Chimpanzee hired as a mining engineer, another was for a Rhino security guard and the third was for an Elephant labourer.  Each file contained an ID/Access card, ready for the new hire's arrival.

Conrad considered the cards.  He would need one to get inside the mine. He would never be able to pass himself off as a rhino or elephant though, so that left the chimp.  The coveralls and hard hat would cover most of him, but his distinctly canine facial features would be harder to conceal.

Maybe I can find some black fur and a split coconut, he thought before remembering the costume shop.

Slipping out while the guard was on the third floor, Conrad made the costume shop his next stop.

It was easy to break into, and the dirty windows let in enough of the light from the streetlamps for him to make out what stock was left. 

There was a Foxxy Kreuger suit with a rubber mask, felt hat and gloves with plastic knives on them, but Conrad doubted that it would be useful.  There was a clown costume with a rainbow wig, a red nose and oversized shoes, but he felt that was too conspicuous. 

One of the costumes was that of a sexy female gorilla maid.  Not very useful for infiltrating the mine, Conrad thought, but maybe it would be handy for gathering intelligence at the bar.

Conrad thought about what might transpire if he went into the crowded, drunken bar in the ape suit and provocative costume.  He imagined the looks from the rough miners, many of them apes themselves, as he sashayed up to the bar.  He could see them crowding in, large black paws reaching out, groping, picking him up and throwing him down on one of the small tables.  Paws tearing at the skirt of the costume from behind while a half dozen others gathered around his head and fumbled at their belts.  The discovery of his charade as they pulled apart the gorilla suit and exposed his furry coyote ass and tail.  The realization that it didn't matter as they closed in with their stiff …

Conrad put the costume back on the rack somewhat reluctantly.  Despite the temptation he had to concentrate on the mission.

The last costume was from the movie series 'Planet of the Humans', a Sci-fi offering that dealt with a hairless species arriving on the planet and claiming that they were there first.  The costume was of the hero of the tale, Doctor Cornelius, a Chimpanzee scientist who was kidnapped and flown off to a planet dominated by the hairless ones at the end of the second movie. 

With a little adjustment Conrad thought that he could hide his long snout in the prominent mouth parts of the Chimp head that came with the costume, and they certainly had enough chimps around here that no one would notice another one.

Conrad pulled on the head and paws before donning the company coveralls and hard hat he had taken form the Mine Manager's office.  He finished the disguise off by clipping the chimp's access card to the left breast of the coveralls.  Remembering his idea of gathering intelligence in the bar he headed there first.

* * * * * * * *

The bar smelled strongly of blood, puke, piss and cum, enough to make Conrad take a step back at the entrance.  He could not recall anything as pungent even in the worst dives his stint in GROM had taken him to, which was saying a lot considering how much Special Forces troops liked to try to freak their compatriots out.  The SAS mess had been particularly nasty.  He managed to fight back the urge to spew and enter the bar, where his chimp disguise drew only a few bored glances.

Sliding onto a bar stool he ordered the local beer and slouched down to make himself appear less of a threat.  The creatures around paid him no attention as they continued to brag, boast and bitch about work.

“We can't reach the production rates they new owners want."  A gorilla in company coveralls to his right complained. 

“You tell the tiger that."  A bonobo in civilian clothes replied before downing a shot of something that smelled like bananas.  “He'll rip your face off."

“Who the hell does he work for anyway?"

The bonobo, who probably worked at the mine office shrugged.  “No one knows who the new owners are, but they have the cooperation of the governor and the local army units, and the tiger is their representative.  He has wasted no time making everyone fear him.  Don't let him overhear you complaining if you want to have children anytime in the future."

The gorilla looked around the bar quickly.  “Where is he tonight?  Not in town, I hope."

“He's gone down to the lowest level of the mine to talk to the Operations Manager.  They are having problems shoring up the tunnels and a lot of the miners are afraid to work down there."

“Tell me about it.  We lost two good miners last shift.  They are just pushing too hard to get the ore out.  What's the rush?"

The bonobo only shrugged and finished his drink.  Conrad felt that he should check on this tiger to see if he could identify whoever was behind the push to extract lithium with such urgency.

As he stood up to leave he felt a large presence beside him.  Glancing to his left he saw that a drunken gorilla in mine coveralls was staring at him.

Conrad pretended to cough to cover his mouth while he asked, “Can I help you?" in the local variant of Belgique French.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you look like the guy in that movie, 'Planet of the Humans'?"

“Yeah, I get that all the time."  Conrad said as he stepped around the big ape.  He was stopped by a large paw on his arm.

“Seriously though, we have a Drama Club down at the mine that puts on shows for the other miners.  You should join."

“I'll give it some thought, but right now I have to get down to the mine.  The, uhm, tiger is waiting for me.  Something about shoring up the walls."

The gorilla dropped his paw.  “You better hurry.  The last person that kept him waiting is decorating the wall over the bar."

The gorilla jerked a thumb toward the bar, and Conrad saw a large, red, green and blue, irregular stain where a rack of bottles might once have been.

“Damn."

“Yeah."  The gorilla shrugged.  “Reminds me of Jackson Pollock a bit, the way he splattered poor Nick across the wall."

Conrad left while the gorilla contemplated the aesthetics of the tiger's work.  He slipped into the alley to recover his backpack and then returned to the main street to head for the mine.

* * * * * * * *

Conrad kept his head down as he joined the line of miners shuffling past the guards at the mine entrance.  The gorillas at the gate hardly gave him a glance once they saw that he had an ID card that matched his apparent species.  The only indication that they saw him all was that, after he passed, one of the guards commented to the other that he looked like the guy that played Doctor Cornelius in the movies.

Once inside the mine Conrad had to navigate a maze of tunnels, ladders and lifts, relying on his memory of the map in the mining office.  As he descended he could see the miners and the conditions they were working in.

Every local species was represented.  There were elephants and rhinos hauling huge ore carts, monkeys swinging pickaxes, giant pangolins digging out the ore with their bare claws, bush rats gathering the loose ore, and a couple of hyenas laughing at the rest while they slacked off.  The guards were mostly gorillas and lions, and cheetahs were running messages back and forth between the overseers and the managers.  Smaller species and cubs were being used in the smaller tunnels to pull out ore or run explosives in so they could be expanded.

Everything was dusty and dirty and there seemed to be a lack of health and safety equipment.  Conrad didn't know how long it took to contract Black Lung, but he hoped that he would not have to stay down there for long.

It was hot inside the mine, and it got hotter as Conrad descended.  He was sweating and suffocating inside the rubber chimp mask.  Seeing a few wild dogs that he might pass for he removed the mask and gloves, putting the ID card in his pocket like most of the miners did while working so as not to lose it.  He tried to avoid passing too close to the guards though, less they stop him and ask where he was supposed to be working.  Fortunately, they seemed to concentrate on those trying to leave more than those heading deeper into the pit.

He knew when he reached the lowest level by the heat and the miserable looks on the miners' faces.  They did not want to be there, and by the piles of rubble left from cave-ins Conrad could guess why.  The miners were all working half-heartedly as their overseers had gathered around the Operations Manager, a yellow baboon, and a large tiger, who were arguing near one of the recent collapses.

Conrad moved closer, keeping behind the rubble, until he could hear what they were saying.

As the miners in the bar had indicated, the argument was about production and safety.  The manager felt that, despite the disposable nature of the workforce, a certain level of safety needed to be maintained.

“You can't pull ore out from under a thousand tons of rock."  The baboon informed the tiger.

“Not with that attitude."  The tiger snarled.  “Why don't you just pack this level with enough explosives to shatter all the rock above.  Then we can dig it all out and ship it all away for processing without wasting ore-bearing rock on columns and supports and roofs?"

“Because besides killing everyone in a ten-kilometer radius we don't have the heavy equipment to move and break up that much rock.  These bastards," the baboon continued, sweeping his arm to encompass the miners and local overseers, “can dig it out by paw but if you blast it all it will end up as huge boulders to big to be shipped out on the train."

“Move the miners somewhere safe and they can go at it with sledgehammers and picks afterward."

“The ground will be unstable.   The boulders will shift and crush a lot of workers."

“Are you paying their widows pensions?"

“No."

“So, what's the problem?"

The baboon thought it over.  “Maybe it would be worth it after the vein gives out and there is only the mine structure left holding ore.  Meanwhile, I've hired a chimp with an engineering degree to come up with a way to shore up these tunnels so we can get back to work."

While they continued to talk, Conrad tried to figure out where the tiger was from.  The big cat spoke passable French, but with an accent, possibly Asian.  He looked to be a Siberian tiger, but that left a large area that included Eastern Russia, Mongolia, Northern China and the Korean peninsula. Or, Conrad reminded himself, the tiger could be working for non-aligned business interests.

“I'm leaving on the ore train tonight."  Conrad heard the tiger tell the Manager.  “When I return in two weeks there had better be another full train waiting for me.  Understand?"

There was enough menace in that last word to make even the hairs on Conrad's neck stand up.  The baboon looked like he had shit himself, and he hurried to assure the tiger that they would be back up to full production, and more, very soon.

Conrad had anticipating retracing his steps to leave the mine, keeping well back of the tiger, but the big cat moved in a different direction.  Keeping out of sight, Conrad followed him to a lift that was only large enough to bring supplies like explosives down and ore samples up.  The tiger stepped inside and gave two sharp pulls on a rope tied just outside the cage.

As the lift began to rise Conrad scrambled to get behind it.  When it was a bit more than his height off the ground he jumped up and grabbed a spring meant to cushion the landing on the descent and held on for dear life.

The elevator rose up through the levels Conrad had traversed earlier.  Some were still being worked while others were empty and abandoned.  He wanted to get off on the last underground level but there was no way to tell how high up they were, so he prayed that he would not be pulled from the earth and exposed to the lift operators and guards at the top.

He was in luck.  The lift rose through a wooden shaft that hid him from onlookers.  The shaft was reinforced with thick beams so when the lift came to a halt Conrad merely had to swing back and step onto one of the horizontal ones.  He pressed back against the wood was the left, now empty, was sent back to the bottom, perhaps to bring the manager up.

Conrad did not wait for the lift to return.  He shimmied up the crossbeams until he could look over the edge of the platform where the tiger had gotten off.  Most of the employees were busy staying out of the tiger's way and Conrad was able to lift himself out and scurry around behind the shed where the operators worked. 

Leaving the mine was easier than he anticipated.  Hiding behind the shed, Conrad pulled the chimp mask and gloves back on before replacing his ID card on his breast.  Then he slipped into an empty field office and grabbed a roll of blueprints from a drafting table before running down the hill in the same direction the tiger had taken.

“The tiger left without the plans he wanted."  He called to the guards as he approached the gate where they were checking employees as they exited.  “He'll gave the baboon's guts for garters if I don't get them to the train before he leaves."

“Maybe we should hide them and let that prick get skinned."  One of the guards, a lion, laughed. 

“Yeah, what's he ever done for us?"  His partner, a gorilla snarled.

Conrad kept his head down so that they would not see the unnatural way the mouth on the mask moved when he spoke.

“They'll know who was on shift, and the manager won't take all the blame by himself.  He'll need a scapegoat … or two."

“Yeah, you're right." The lion growled as he waved Conrad through with one massive paw.  “Go on, get going."

Conrad got going.

Behind him the lion turned to the gorilla and asked, “That guy remind you of anyone?"

“Nope."

* * * * * * * *

There was only one train in the yard when Conrad got there.  It had two Deisel-Electric locomotives in the front and a third at the rear to move the heavy ore cars.  Conrad knew from his briefing that rail was the only reliable means to transport ore, but the question remained, where were they transporting it to?

The train began to move as he approached in the shadows.  Conrad was able to run and jump for one of the ladders on an ore car near the middle of the train.  He had to time his leap just right so that his legs would not dangle and maybe be crushed by the heavy steel wheels.

Scrambling to the top of the ore pile Conrad began to move forward.  If there was a passenger car it would be in the front, near the locomotives and ahead of the dust and falling bits of rock coming off the uncovered ore cars.

It was not an easy trip.  There were gantries to duck under, tunnels where he had to lay down on the shifting ore, and he had to leap from one car to another, but he slowly made his way forward until he was behind the lone passenger car.

Peering in through a small window Conrad saw the tiger sitting in an armchair.  He was having an animated discussion with a female figure that had its back to Conrad.  Her head was out of his line of sight, and all that he could make out was that she had a nicely curved backside and a fluffy grey tail with dark spots on it. 

He could not make out what they were saying over the roar of the locomotives and the clatter of the wheels on the rails.  There did not appear to be any open windows near them, and besides, trying to hang from the roof of the moving carriage to listen in was probably suicidal.  He decided to climb up onto the roof and make his way forward.

The rear locomotive was empty, controlled remotely like the one in the back of the train by the engineer and conductor in the first engine, he supposed.  He moved forward just to be certain.  Sure enough, the cab of the forward locomotive was occupied by two bonobos, who were discussing their route for the night.

This time Conrad was able to get close enough to an open window to overhear their plans.  It seemed that instead of travelling south to the Chinese-owned lithium processing plant in Zimbabwe, as they had done in the past, they were heading east for the rail ferry across Lake Tanganyika, and into Tanzania.  From there they would make the best time they could to the city of Dar Es Salaam, where they would drop the cars at the port for the ore to be transferred to a freighter.

After that their conversation switched to the relative merits of the brothels of the port city.  Conrad retreated to the cab of the second locomotive. 

He would have to report these developments right away and then try to get some rest before they entered Dar Es Salaam.