The Zul Enigma (9 page)

‘Little bugger clawed
his way right to the top. He’s the boss of their MALAT Division now!’

‘MALAT?

‘UASs, Unmanned Air
Systems. We do a lot with the armed forces and ministries of defence all over
the world.’

Carlos raised one
eyebrow and his drink. ‘Congratulations.’

‘And to you. Director of
OOSA Drew said,’ and Carlos nodded. ‘So…’ Joseph turned towards Drew, ‘what’s
it like at NASA now? The place must be in uproar after the bombshell the
President just dropped.’

‘The proposed budget
cuts? No shit! All hell let loose. But the media’s loving the public backlash.
Probably blowing it up out of all proportion but who cares, we need the show of
support.’

‘Anderson’ll have to be
careful if he doesn’t want to lose his edge at the polls,’ Carlos added.

‘If he doesn’t back down
I could be out of a job in a couple of months. Me and hundreds of others. Not
that I care,’ Drew grinned. ‘I’m ready for a holiday – get in some sailing.
I’m over the rat race. I need to relax and slow down.’ He got up. ‘Another
round?’

As he loped off, Joseph
leaned in towards Carlos. ‘Drew told me about your wife. She was so young,’ he
shook his head ‘only thirty Drew said.’

Carlos fought his
instinct to recoil.

‘Please accept my
condolences,’ Joseph said and squeezed Carlos’s arm with a grip as fierce as a
vice. ‘How long’s it been? Four years?’ Carlos nodded. Their heads were
practically touching. ‘It must have been terrible.’ He dropped his hand. ‘I
guess the job helps keep you focused.’

‘No time for a social
life,’ Carlos replied.

‘I know how that feels,’
Joseph sighed, ‘not like the old days at Goddard eh?’

‘What?’ Drew said,
reappearing with the drinks, ‘those glorious halcyon days. Where did they go?’

‘You two always struck
me as unlikely friends.’

‘I thought he was a
right pompous little prick before I first spoke to him.’

‘Hey, I didn’t like you
much either. So arrogant and opinionated. Always strutting around with some
girl following, preaching to her about this and that.’

‘How
did
you
meet?’ Joseph asked.

Carlos looked at Drew.
‘Remember? You stopped me in the corridor.’

‘Hey mate, slow down,’ Drew had said, grabbing Carlos by the elbow. ‘I want to
talk to you. You’re from Spain, right?’

‘So?’ Carlos glowered up
at him.

‘It’s just I know what
it’s like to have folks living on the other side of the world. That’s all. You
must be feeling like shit here all on your own,’ and he dragged the startled
Carlos off to the nearest bar for a beer.

‘First time living
overseas?’

Carlos nodded.

‘Poor sod! You’ll get
used to it. Me? I’ve lived all over the place. My old man’s an oily boy.’ Drew
chuckled at the puzzled look on Carlos’s face. ‘An oilfield hand. A bloke who
works in the drilling business. I had a go at it myself. Worked as a roughneck
on a jack-up in the North Sea. For a couple of years. Bloody freezing in
winter, I’ll tell you. Finally I saw sense and decided to further my education
in an academic way. You’re on my course, right?’

Carlos didn’t know what
to make of the lanky young man who peppered his sentences with unintelligible
English slang and swear words. But he was very friendly. They talked about
their families and as the beers went down, discovered they shared many
interests, although not always the same points of view: music, football,
politics, the cosmos… and women.

Whether it was his South
London accent, his quirky charm or his flushness from working on the rigs,
Carlos wasn’t sure, but Drew certainly attracted the ladies and on top of the
fascinating though sometimes heated discussions they shared, that was another
good reason to hang out with him. They cut an odd picture, the six foot four,
lean, fair Englishman and the five foot ten, stocky, swarthy Spaniard, but it
wasn’t long before their antics became legendary.

‘Truth was,’ Drew said, ‘I felt sorry for him. Being Spanish and all.’

‘Hey…’

‘But after spending time
with him, I knew we’d get on famously.’

‘How come?’ Joseph
asked.

‘Because he always rises
to the bait. Every time. I just love taking the piss out of him. Talking of
taking the piss, are you still on your thespian trip, Carlos?’

‘Shut up.’

‘Thespian?’

‘Yeah. Surely you
remember the year Carlos went MAD?’

‘What?’

‘MAD – The Music
And Drama Club at Goddard.’

‘We put on good
productions there. Why do you always make fun of it?’

‘Because I never got
over seeing you dressed up as a woman.’

‘Hey… one time, just one
time…’

‘Well,’ Joseph said,
‘you guys helped me settle in.’

‘You used to be a right
little shit. Always rubbing everyone up the wrong way. You needed help making
friends.’

‘You didn’t stay long?
What was it – a couple of years?’ Carlos asked.

‘Didn’t want to end up
like you guys…’ Carlos shot a glance at Drew, but he wasn’t looking. ‘… I
missed the social life when I left. You both taught me a thing or two about
partying. I’ll never forget that one on the river boat.’

‘Oh fuck, I’d forgotten
that.’

‘So what are you doing
in Vienna?’ Carlos asked.

‘IAI just entered a
joint venture with RUAG Aerospace Austria and I set up a rep office here. I’ll
be in and out all the time over the next few months. We should get together
again.’

Carlos reached for his
drink.

‘How’s OOSA?’ Joseph
asked.

‘It took a year to get
the place operating properly. And it took four years hard pressure to get the
budget to drag our technology into the twenty-first century,’ Carlos opened his
palms in front of him. ‘We’re a worldwide organisation disseminating space
technology – for Christ’s sake, we
have
to have cutting edge
technology ourselves.’ Joseph nodded. ‘It’s still a lot of work, but more
routine now. We got our annual Legal Subcommittee Session coming up in a couple
of weeks. That’s a big job.’

‘Well, well. She made
it,’ Drew leaped to his feet and hugged the petite woman walking towards their
table. He took her hand and led her up to the others. ‘Remember these
reprobates?’

She smiled. ‘Hey Joe,’
she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. She unbuttoned her coat and joined
Carlos on the rattan sofa. ‘And as for you…’

‘Erika?’

She threw her arms
around Carlos’s neck. ‘Hi stranger! It’s so good to see you,’ she whispered in
his ear.

‘Now,’ Drew said, ‘it’s
a proper reunion.’

‘You look just the
same,’ Carlos said studying her face. ‘Not a day older.’

‘Oh you,’ she crinkled
up her eyes in a smile, ‘you haven’t lost any of that Mediterranean charm now,
have you?’

‘Drew said you’d moved
here. When?’

‘In the new year.’

‘What brought you to
Austria of all places?’

She shrugged. ‘I’d been
thinking about moving to Europe for a while. I thought it would be a good
experience for the boys. Get to know their roots. Remember? My mum was German.
Then Joe said he had contacts here and got me a job.’

‘How do you like
Vienna?’

‘Just fine… except…’

‘Except what?’

‘Except a bastard of a
boyfriend she hooked up with,’ Drew cut in.

Carlos looked from Drew
to Erika and back again. ‘What happened?’

Erika pursed her lips.
‘Long story. And he wasn’t a boyfriend – I just had a drink with him a
couple of times. Then when I told him I didn’t want to see him again, he
started stalking me.’

‘Austrian?’ Carlos
asked.

‘No!’ Drew interrupted.
‘Nigerian. Probably some illegal on the bones of his arse thinking he was onto
a good thing.’

‘I feel so stupid now.
Anyway, he wouldn’t stop calling so I changed my cell number and got an unlisted
one at home. Then he found out where I lived. It was scary – he kept
hanging around outside my house. I was about to go to the police when Drew
called and said he was here.’

‘I was in London because
Aunt Hetty died and came over here for a few days before the funeral. Thought
I’d surprise Sophie and look up Erika and the boys. Of course, when she told me
what was going on I said I’d have a word with the arsehole. He’s got the
picture now.’

Erika looked at Drew.
‘My hero!’ she laughed crossing her palms over her heart.

He lifted his drink.
‘It’s a pleasure, my dear. But be careful playing the cougar in future, okay?’

‘Ouch!’ she said. Then
added, ‘I’m not sure what you call the male version of that… sugar daddy? But
anyways, how is your little Sophie?’

‘Well…’

‘Not trouble in
paradise, surely?’ she said smiling.

‘She got pissed off
about you, if you must know.’

‘Oh no!’ Erika replied,
her smile vanishing.

‘Don’t sweat, darling.
I’m beginning to learn I also need to stick to partners nearer my own age. And
as for the music she played… well… what can I say? It was absolute crap.’

‘So you’re not
heart-broken?’

‘Hardly! Shame though.
She had a great apartment with a roof garden – out near UNO as it
happens. Now I’m back in a bloody hotel.’

When Drew dragged Joseph off to get another round, Erika put her hand on
Carlos’s arm.

‘I’m so sorry about
Elena, Carlos.’

He shook his head.

‘The last time I saw
her, was just before you shifted here. She wasn’t happy about it.’

‘She changed her mind
when she started finding her way around.’

‘I don’t know so much.
She called me out of the blue once. Said all the stodgy self-important
mid-Europeans were driving her nuts.’

Carlos smiled. ‘Typical
Elena.’

‘Did she make any
friends?’

‘It wasn’t easy. Not
like in the States. But my colleagues were very good. And we had loads of
visitors. That kept her busy.’

‘And what about you?’

Carlos shrugged. ‘I’ve
got my work.’

‘You look tired.’

‘I work long hours. And
travel a lot.’

‘You’re not looking
after yourself, Carlos. Life’s not all about work you know.’

‘White wine for Erika,
beer for Joseph and Mojitos for us,’ Drew announced, plonking down the drinks.

Joseph had to dash off for a business dinner and Erika left at the same time to
collect her boys from their friend’s. Drew walked them to the door.

‘He looks awful,’ Erika
said. ‘I wouldn’t have recognised him.’

‘He’s still not over
Elena,’ Drew replied. ‘He blames himself.’

‘But he’s like a
completely different man. He used to be so loud, so full of energy, so
passionate. Just now it was like talking to a burst balloon.’