An Autumn Hunting

Chapter 15

The open-handed slap Zakir gave me could have been heard in Kazakhstan. I used my tongue to check for loose or missing teeth, found everything more or less intact, shook the stars out of my eyes.

‘Nothing more you want to tell me?’

I carried on shaking my head.

Zakir clenched a boulder-sized fist in front of my face, but Aliyev held up a restraining hand. I knew it was time for me to talk.

‘You make a good living keeping heroin out of Kyrgyzstan,’ I said, ‘and the authorities turn enough of a blind eye for you to make a fortune from the Russkies. I dare say a few som changes hands in the process as well. But so far, you’ve seen yourselves as working to keep the country clean.’

Aliyev shrugged. ‘I’ve never thought of myself as an influence for good, but if people choose to think that and let me make money, why should I disagree?’

‘Tynaliev wanted in on the operation, a chance to suck on the Russian tit. He knew he couldn’t take any of your slice, not without blood. But when your only child has been murdered, your mistresses cost a fortune and your wife only contacts you when the credit cards are due, why not take a chance?’

‘I’m all for entrepreneurship. But I have very sensitive feet; my toes don’t like being trodden on.’

‘The way Russia is now, you could expand your market several times over. All that stops you is getting supplies into the country, right?’

‘The Russians are getting more prosperous, or poorer,’ he agreed. ‘Either way, we can shift the powder.’

‘Tynaliev wanted to open up the market, but without threatening you or your supplies,’ I said. We’d reached the crunch point, and both of us knew it.

‘How, exactly?’

‘Afghanistan’s not the only place in the world that grows poppies,’ I said. ‘And there’s more than one route into the Russian market. And other markets as well.’

‘Go on.’

‘I already told you Tynaliev didn’t confide in me; I was just a useful fool as far as he was concerned.’

I patted my pockets, brought out my cigarettes. As I lit up and felt the nicotine hit, I felt like I’d won a victory, however small.

‘Right now, you feed the Russian market with heroin from Afghanistan, brought into Osh and sent abroad. Because you keep the bulk of that shit out of the hands of the addicts in our country, you have a fair amount of freedom to do what you do. You control the supply so no one else splits your monopoly, right?’

Aliyev gestured for me to continue.

‘Imagine if the drugs were sourced from somewhere else, brought into here. From Laos and Thailand through Myanmar. It would be a fresh source that you couldn’t control.’

‘Why would Tynaliev bring smack into the country? This isn’t a big market, there’s not much money, and big risks attached. A difficult supply route with the chance of getting busted all the time.’

Aliyev sat back, shrugged.

‘Tynaliev was a bastard but I don’t believe he’d want to fuck over his own people like that. Remember, he’s survived two revolutions, he knows what the Kyrgyz are capable of when they finally rise up.’

I nodded agreement. There are graves out in Ata-Beyit to testify to what happens when people reach the conclusion enough is enough, together with a lot of stolen money and backhanders safe in foreign banks, and former politicians safe in exile.

‘Suppose you get the Golden Triangle heroin into this country, but you don’t want to sell it here?’ I said, flicking my ash onto the floor. I could tell Aliyev saw the bigger picture.

‘China.’

‘Sure,’ I agreed. ‘Ship it over the mountains to Urumchi and then filter it out. The Chinese already know the Triangle powder is better quality. And there are a lot more addicts there, with a lot more money.’

The Chinese authorities aren’t noted for their softly-softly approach to addiction, and when it comes to suppliers, the most you can hope for is a bullet in the brain. Which makes the business much more risky, and therefore much more lucrative.

‘Tynaliev must know such a move would put him on a Beijing death list,’ Aliyev said. ‘Surely easier for him to just stick to robbing his own people?’

I stubbed out my cigarette, considered lighting another, decided against it.

‘Not if he lays the blame for smuggling the drugs into China onto someone else,’ I said.

‘That someone else being?’

‘You.’