Chapter 2

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

"He's not telling us everything he knows." James thumbed through the journal as Ayana battled with the heavy traffic,"There is something else, something hidden, I'm sure of it."

"He's just worried we'll lose his book." she replied as she turned onto a side street seeking a route around the jam that had brought the long line of cars ahead of them down to a snail’s pace.

"No, I think it's more than that," admitted James,"But I can't quite put my finger on it."

"OK, let’s just say he's nervous that we won't take him seriously, probably lots of people have laughed at him because of his beliefs and ideas, some have probably been very rude... does any of this sound at all familiar to you Jim?" she glanced across at him,"Do you know anyone else who ever felt like that?"

"Yeah, you're right," he sighed,"It's probably nerves, but I still want to do a bit of research before we agree to this."

"OK baby." she smiled, but her thoughts were clearly miles away.

Probably on the Zambezi, he thought with resignation.

***

"Well, for someone who has done his research, there are certainly lots of errors in his story," announced James as he turned his laptop screen to face Ayana across the table,"Mamlambo is from South Africa, famous in theMzintlava River to be precise, where they call it"The Brain Sucker," the beastie that allegedly lives in the Zambezi is called Nyami Nyami?" James paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts."Now it strikes me as strange that this guy claims to be obsessed with finding the creature, yet... he doesn't even know it's proper name? And what is even stranger, there don't appear to be any records of inscriptions on any of the stonework’s of Great Zimbabwe."

Ayana studied the screen but her expression remained neutral.

"I had a feeling in my gut that he wasn't telling us everything, now we have two choices, either we give him his book back and walk away, or we get the true story out of him."

"Let’s give him a chance to explain," she replied after a moment of thought,"I have to admit I've been getting quite excited about the expedition, maybe he has a good excuse for the deception?"

"It better be good," exclaimed James,"Lies are not a good start."

***

Doug stared nervously at the table top as James probed him with searching questions and it soon became crystal clear that he knew nothing about his quest.

"You'd better start talking soon," warned James as he finally caught the young man's eye,"Or I promise you, we will walk away from this."

Instantly a flash of fear registered,"Please don't do that," he whispered,"You're my last hope."

"Hope for what?" asked Ayana.

He had expected anger, yet her voice remained calm and in a strange way, comforting."To find my father." he admitted as he folded a paper napkin and laid it just so beside his coffee cup, not satisfied he straightened its position slightly all the time avoiding their searching looks.

"Doug, why don't you start from the beginning, and tell us the whole truth this time?"

He glanced up and saw a sympathetic understanding in her deep brown eyes,"OK," he nodded,"Sorry I lied, I just wanted to make sure you would help me."

"Just give us the whole story," replied James,"And then we will see if we can help."

Doug began his story hesitantly but was soon pouring out the nightmare that he had lived through for three long years."Grandpa Douglas loved Africa," he began,"Well, that's what I have been told because I never met him, but my Pa, sorry, my dad, I keep forgetting you're British, he used to tell me stories about how Grandpa Douglas w