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.A tall, wiry man with very dark brown skin opened the door.His T-shirt was several sizes too large, and a rope belt cinched around his waist kept his baggy cargo pants up.He smiled, exposing two rows of yellowed teeth."You are Dwayne," he said.Great, Jan thought.Real names."Banura," Dwayne said, shaking hands.He went to introduce Jan."This is.Kate?"She smiled nervously.She couldn't be Jan.And she couldn't be Connie.So Kate it was."Hi."Banura extended a hand to her and drew them both into the house.Inside the door was a narrow flight of stairs heading down.There was no access, at least from the back door, to any other part of the house.Once inside, they watched as Banura returned to position a massive bar that spanned the width of the door.He led them down the stairs, hitting a couple of light switches on the way.The stairway wall was lined with cheaply framed photos--some in color and some, mercifully, in black and white.Most of them were of young black men, some just children, barefoot and dressed in tattered clothes, photographed against bleak African landscapes of ruin and poverty.They were wielding rifles, raising hands together in victory, mugging for the camera.In several, the men posed over bloody corpses.One that made Jan look away showed a black child, probably no more than twelve, waving a severed arm as though it were a baseball bat.Banura took them into a crowded room with a long, brilliantly lit workbench.Spread out on the bench was a black velvet runner, and over it three different magnifiers on metal arms."Have a seat," Banura said in his thick African accent, gesturing to a ratty couch that was half-covered in boxes and two IKEA-type office chairs that probably cost five bucks new."Sure," Dwayne said, dropping onto a narrow spot on the couch."You won't be needing your gun," Banura said, his back to Dwayne as he sat on the stool at the workbench."What's that?""The one in your right pocket," he said."I'm not going to take anything from you.And you are not going to take anything from me.That would be totally foolish.""Hey, sure, I get that," Dwayne said, laughing nervously."I just like to be cautious, you know?"Banura pulled his magnifiers into position, flicked another switch.They had lights built in to them."Let me see what you have," he said.Jan, who had chosen not to sit, reached into her purse and withdrew her bag.Dwayne leaned back on the couch to make it easier to reach into his pants and fished out his half.He tossed the bag over to Jan, like having a bag of diamonds was no biggie, and she presented both of them to Banura.Delicately, he opened both bags and emptied them onto the black velvet.He examined no more than half a dozen of the stones, putting each one under bright light and magnification."So, you know this stuff pretty good, huh?" Dwayne said."Yes," Banura said."So whaddya think?""Just a moment, please.""Dwayne, let the man do his job," Jan said.Dwayne made a face.Once he'd finished looking at the half dozen stones, Banura slowly turned on his stool and said to them, "These are very good.""Well, yeah," said Dwayne."Where did you get these?" he asked."I'm just curious.""Come on, Banny Boy, we went through this before.I'm not telling you that."Banura nodded."That's fine, then.Sometimes it is better not to know.What counts is the quality of the merchandise.And this is superb.And you have a lot of it.""So, what do you think it's worth?" Jan asked.Banura turned his head and studied her."I am prepared to offer you six."Jan blinked."I'm sorry?""Million?" Dwayne said, sitting up at attention.Banura nodded solemnly."I think that's more than generous."Jan had never expected to be offered anything remotely close to six million dollars.She thought maybe two or three million, but this, this was unbelievable.Dwayne stood, struggled not to look excited."You'll never guess what my lucky number happens to be." He slapped his own ass where he'd been tattooed."Well, you know, I think that's a figure that my partner and I can work with.But we'll need to talk about it.""We'll take it," Jan said.Banura nodded again, then turned back to his table.He began selecting more of the diamonds at random for study."The quality is consistent," he said."Fuckin' A," Dwayne said."So, where's the money?"Banura frowned without taking his eyes off the jewels."I don't keep funds of that nature around here," he said."I will have to make some arrangements.You may take your product with you, and later this afternoon we can make an exchange.""Here?" Dwayne said."We come back here?""Yes," Banura said."And I should tell you, that for a transaction of this size, I will have an associate present, and you will not be permitted to enter my premises with that gun on you.""No problem, no problem," Dwayne said."We want to do everything straight up."Banura glanced at his watch.It looked, to Jan, like a cheap Timex."Come back at two," he said
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