Scene 8

Mercier pressed another button on the TV remote. The prancing rat disappeared and a man appeared. He sat firmly on a stool in some bar with a band of plaster across his lips - that was assumably Koslow, although he looked only vaguely like the young man in the photo.

«Together with the video we have received a letter. Both came directly to our department. Hing knows exactly that we will be trapped in such a situation. Hing knows that, and so does Koslow.»
«Koslow? What do you mean?»
«Well now, we are not sure whether the professor is not somehow involved in the business. Naturally, we are proceeding on the assumption that he was kidnapped against his will, but we cannot exclude other possibilities. Neither in the house nor in the laboratory did we find evidence of someone forcibly breaking in, nor of any violence. Furthermore, the computer in the lab was protected by a secret password. We also have no proof that the demand comes really from Hing. Must I speak further…»
«But why should Koslow conjure up something like this?»
«In the last few years, there has been much disagreement between him and, let us say, his clients. Naturally it is about money for the research at ORM, about budgets that are not sanctioned. That brought up the idea that the professor allowed himself to be kidnapped in order to obtain more funds for his research.»
«Who are these clients?»
«I cannot reveal their identity at present. But the highest in the land are involved.»
«Good. I know nothing and I experience nothing. But I am expected to find the professor, right?»
«So to say.»
«And, pray, where should I begin?»
«Well, the professor recently received an official gift: a lovely watch in which we installed a minute sender. The sender has a reach of just about 150 km but we were lucky. One of our agents could trace the signal to the place of its origin.»
«Let me guess: the professor is locked up in the cellar of his own house.»
«No. The signal came from Dakar.»
«Dakar? Dakar in Africa?»
«The capital of Senegal, to be precise. You fly in two days.»

continue