MICHAEL CRICHTON

Uganda; everyone now had to enter the country from the west, throughKinshasa.No official reason was given for closing the eastern border, although sourcesin Washington speculated that Idi Amin’s troops, fleeing across the Zaire borderfrom the Tanzanian invasion of Uganda, might be causing “local difficulties.” Incentral Africa, local difficulties usually meant cannibalism and other atrocities.“Do you believe that?” Elliot asked. “Cannibalism and atrocities?”“No,” Ross said. “It’s all a lie. It’s the Dutch and the Germans and theJapanese—probably your friend Morikawa. The Euro-Japanese electronicsconsortium knows that ERTS is close to discovering important diamond reservesin Virunga. They want to slow us down as much as they can. They’ve got the fixin somewhere, probably in Kinshasa, and closed the eastern borders. It’s nothingmore than that.”“If there’s no danger, why the machine guns?”“Just precautions,” she said again. “We’ll never use machine guns on this trip,believe me. Now why don’t you get some sleep? We’ll be landing in Tangiersoon.”“Tangier?”“Captain Munro is there.”6. MunroTHE NAME OF “CAPTAIN” CHARLES MUNRO WAS not to be found on thelist of the expedition leaders employed by any of the usual field parties. Therewere several reasons for this, foremost among them his distinctly unsavoryreputation.Munro had been raised in the wild Northern Frontier Province of Kenya, theillegitimate son of a Scottish farmer and his handsome Indian housekeeper.Munro’s father had the bad luck to be killed by Mau Mau guerillas in 1956. * Soonafterward, Munro’s mother died of tuberculosis, and Munro made his way toNairobi where in the late 1950s he worked as a white hunter, leading parties oftourists into the bush. It was during this time that Munro awarded himself the titleof “Captain,” although he had never served in the military.72