I checked with the passport office again. Getting the visa for entry to Uganda and Rwanda was proving to be difficult, even with the help of various agencies behind us. The country was rife with human trafficking rings supplying cheap labor for many industries, particularly for agriculture. It seemed fairly benign, but the underside meshed with what we found in the Middle Eastern countries.

The yacht was registered in the British Virgin Islands. Not unexpected because of the huge benefits for flying their flag and the tax incentives. I wondered if the owner had a residence there as well. I knew there were some sticky requirements with some of the registries. Tracing the yachts movements of the past two years showed multiple stops in Kenya and our intelligence reports from the Lost Sheep mission brought more information.

The Blue Belle also called at ports along the Nile, and I was beginning to wonder if this was indeed a bad actor, or something else. The boat wasn't a billionaire's dream ship, but a much smaller vessel, barely qualifying as long enough with enough displacement to be considered a ship.

And having detangled the ownership labyrinth, we finally had a name for the king pin behind it. Multiple aliases came with it, and Meixing's research ferreted out a list of seven which could be attributed to the Captain of the Blue Belle.

The only one we considered legal was the one at BVI's registry office. Lord Burton Alexander O'Malley. I had to wonder if he was a descendant of the pirate's lineage. The man was knighted for his work establishing a dolphin rescue in Bermuda. What was he doing buying a slave from the Domestic Aide Agency network?

I stood up to stretch and take a walk. This wasn't a problem I could solve by myself. Wandering up and down the hall for a bit I made my way toward Meixing's office halfway toward the kitchen.

I stopped to spray down two orchids attached to rough bark hangers in the hallway by her door. The air in the office was better these days with all the plants and humidity. Apparently, the dimmer light coming in through her windows and then out through the glass wall was perfect for this species. Since all of us agreed cooler temperatures were better than overheating, we kept the air conditioning set at a frigid sixty-five degrees. The plants loved it.

Phalaenopsis orchids were in most of the offices and two amazing pots of them were in the reception area where Jane ruled. These plants were the ones I saw in grocery stores around Mother's Day and again at Christmas. Meixing said they were forced to bloom out of season and so often over watered they usually drowned before they finished blooming.

She wasn't in her office and I saw her coming out of the kitchen with a tray of ice cubes.

"What do we know about Lord O'Malley?" I asked.

"Give me a minute and I'll do a proper search on him, but I'm watering all the orchids first." She stopped in her office and dropped an ice cube on each of her pots.

"What the hell?" I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Once a week while they are still blooming and then once every two weeks, after they drop their flowers. The melting ice gives a slow infusion of moisture into their potting mix. As long as we keep spraying them like we are that is more than enough. If they start pushing their roots out of the bark mix into the air, they are getting too wet."

She made the circuit and did all sixteen of our plants. Then waved me into her office. I dropped into the single chair she had for visitors.

"What about the ones outside your office?"

"Those will do fine with just misting. They're a different species, and when they bloom, it will be spectacular. I can't wait. But as to Lord O'Malley." Meixing powered her monitors on and started typing.

I pulled my phone up and checked the messages. Aponi left a couple, asking if we would have room for for Sakari and Simi as well. They would need somewhere to stay.

"Okay, searches working and I'm poking into the Dolphin rescue. Financials etcetera. If you don't mind, I'm going to hang a few pots of spider plants. They like the same conditions as the orchids, and they are amazing at filtering out air borne toxins. The green variegations of their leaves make a restful atmosphere as well. Chlorophytum comosum like more light so they hang from the ceiling right in front of the windows to provide some shade and shadow play too."

"Get it done. One at least in every office that has a window," I agreed. "And teach us how to care for them as well. I don't want the routine to get lost when you are out of the office."

"Jane is putting a white board up in the conference room with the watering schedule. If you water plants, you check them off there. And you check there before you do anything to see what needs doing."

I chuckled. "And that's why she's the office manager. I'll thank her later."

Her computer beeped, and she said. "What the hell?"

"What's up?"

"Anomalies. Funding is coming from some very interesting places. I'll have to dig into this. Leave me to it. I'll get back to you when I sort it out."

Meixing shooed me out. "Close the door. I need to concentrate."

Turning back toward my office, I stopped and headed into the conference room. The promised white board with the watering schedule was there. I shook my head and went out to the reception area and leaned on Jane's counter.

She held up a finger as she continued to speak to someone on the phone, and then turned around and asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing right now. Just wanted to say well done on the white board. It was needed in any case and it's big enough to double for the monthly watering schedule too. Looks great."

"Meixing is a wizard with the orchids. And before I forget, Spunky will be here for a three o'clock meeting. I've got your tickets booked for the flight to Kenya. You leave in two days. Did you remember to get your vaccines?"

"Don't talk to me about those. I had a wicked reaction, especially since I had them all at the same time. Almost as bad as the flu in the U.A.E."

"At least you have them. Your visas for Uganda are ready, so that was it as far as travel arrangements, other than Rwanda. Last check said that visa should be ready, but I wouldn't count on it. I booked hotels in Kenya, but you're on your own in Uganda."

"As expected, but that might change again in any case. It's all dependant on what we find out about Blue Belle and what kind of cargo she took on. Meixing is tugging some threads on the owner's financials right now. It could change how we go after this."

"I've got a couple of clients working the online forms right now. They're putting details and evidence trails together right now. Hopefully Meixing will have the initial assessment done by the time you get back. She'll be gone at the end of the month for a week's compassionate leave."

I nodded. Our first official clients other than government contract work. I wondered what they would bring to our attention.

"I'll be gone for lunch. Chayton's boss is taking us out. He says she has a proposition for us to work on a retainer for the Department of Homeland Security. Finding certain terrorist types is proving to be a challenge they want help with."

"It's not going to take long before we need to hire a couple more investigators," Jane said.

"Put an ad out. We'll schedule interviews for mid May. Look for retired special ops veterans. We seem to be getting some pretty difficult cases through our established contract with DOJ, and who knows what the general population can throw at us."

"While I've got you, I'm talking to Edison about expanding our office to include a workout area. We didn't take this whole half with my original plan because I wasn't sure what our budget looked like. Fees from your job in U.A.E. will cover renos and we have enough left over to make a good little gym."

"Get it done. Great idea. We'll make it clear it can be used anytime. Make sure we have at least two showers attached."

I couldn't believe I didn't think of it when we were planning the original renovations. Fitness wasn't an option for anyone working investigations, and I thought the rest of our staff would appreciate the perk as well.

Chayton came out to reception and asked, "Are you ready to go? Edith is pretty excited about her proposal."

"Just let me get my laptop. I expect this is going to be a working lunch."