KINSHASA, DRC – PRESENT DAY
The Toyota Land Cruiser FJ45 idled roughly next to the curb as the busy late afternoon traffic in Kinshasa creeped along, horns blaring as if it would make a difference.
"You think he's going to show?" Justine asked, aimlessly drumming her fingers on the top of the steering wheel.
James Bond wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his forearm and fiddled with the air conditioning vent on the dashboard as if it would make a difference.
"Give it time," was all he could say in response. Because at this point, he just wasn't sure anymore. They had been sitting here for over two hours without any sign of their contact.
They were parked down the block from a busy intersection in the city's Zeka neighborhood. The sidewalks were lively, lined by vendors who took shade under the two large trees that provided a respite from the fiery rays of the sun.
Many of the men who worked here, sitting on unbalanced stools or broken-down folding chairs behind their rickety card tables, were among the world's leading diamond smugglers. They routinely processed transactions totaling millions of dollars from their ad-hoc offices on a street corner using burner mobile phones that would be smashed to bits and out of service within hours.
It wasn't that long ago, Bond recalled, that diamond smuggling was thought to be a thing of the past. After the conflict diamond controversies of the 1990s and 2000s, the world had united under the Kimberley Process, which was meant as a sort of "birth certificate" for each diamond – allowing each rough diamond to be traced back to its country of origin. In theory, this would prevent the sinister diamonds for weapons trading that fueled many of the sub-Saharan conflicts and insurgencies.
But, just as water inevitably flows downhill, smugglers found ways around the Kimberley Process. One of the main ways was to repatriate stones from conflict areas and export them through countries like the DRC where they could be passed off as legitimate. Alternatively, stones could be smuggled the old-fashioned way to Surat, India, where over 85% of the world's raw diamonds were cut and polished. Indian officials had largely chosen to look the other way to stones that came in outside of the Kimberley Process for fear of losing the industry back to Israel or Belgium. Some experts estimated that as many as a quarter of the world's diamonds were now sourced via these "unofficial" methods.
The temporary nature of the smugglers' offices belied the sophistication of their operations. Each of these men controlled a network of contacts within the mining operations, mules who would carry the goods, and logistics and forging experts to assist in moving the stones or provide the necessary paperwork to make them look legitimate.
"You think they've realized you're not actually Peter Franks?" Justine asked. The young agent from the Cape Town station was inquisitive and incisive, despite her lack of experience.
The heat was wearing on Bond, as was the waiting.
"We'll find out, I suppose," he said. "I've gotten this far with it, so either we're still good, or I'm walking into the teeth of a trap."