The Intern Affair (2 page)

“I have now presented you with
my answers
to these questions and an end to what I will remember as
The
Karim
Affair
. As Maitre
Sangare
will tell you, I have neither power nor any authority to see justice done in this country or in
Mali
, but I will ask that God be merciful on our souls.” 

So deem’d the man who fashioned for the sense

These lofty pillars
,
spread that branching roof

Self-poised and scooped into ten thousand cells,

Where light and shade repose, where music dwells

Lingering—and wandering on as loth to die;

Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof

That they were born for immortality.
[1]

So should be the cathedral of one’s mind

Where music dwells,

Far from the ranting and ravings of the human psyche,

Quiet and peaceful fashioned for the sense
s
.

And,

I am still dwelling in a world,

Where no peaceful repose

Has found its abode.

Talya
Gilmore
looked skyward at the building on the corner of a busy street in downtown
Vancouver
. She had not seen the familiar façade for nearly two months. She had closed the file on one of her hardest assignments, which had
taken
her to the heart of
West Africa
.
The
Karim
Affair
was a little more than a memory now, albeit a troublesome one. For the past weeks, Talya had tried to erase the images of her past—the face of ravaging horrors from her mind—to no avail. Nonetheless, and maybe going back to work was the perfect remedy to the haunting thoughts that had not left her ever since she came home.

The weather was pleasant. June was one of her
favourite
months. She loved to feel the gentle ocean breeze flutter through her blond curls, her face turned toward the mountains surrounding the bay, as she walked along the beach promenade. Even the rain would not deter her from taking a walk. Talya was a slim, alluring woman, but her striking blue eyes were often what attracted men to looking at this petite female of elegant yet reserved
demeanour
. She loved to dress, and jeans or casual clothes were not her
favourite
wardrobe choices. Not a snob, Talya simply loved to dress for every occasion. The only drawback was perhaps those dreadful high heels. They had never been designed for walking, so flat shoes were always on her feet if taking a stroll or going grocery shopping was on the agenda.

She lived quite close to her office, and walking to work of a morning seemed to clear her mind, and provided her with some exercise before her day began.

As she came out of the elevators,
Cecilia
, the receptionist, saw her at once and came round the front desk arms extended. “You’re back!” she shrieked, “My God, it’s good to see your face again,” alerting the whole floor of Talya’s return and giving her a big hug.

“Yes, here I am, and I believe
Charles Durant
is expecting me.” Peering into each other’s eyes for a fraction of a second, they then erupted in laughter—they recalled the first time Talya stepped into
Tristan
Resource’s head-office almost two years ago.

Jim
burst out into the corridor, practically shouting. “Talya?
I thought I heard you.”
Why is he shouting?
She had never heard a loud word out of his mouth. “How are you?
Let me look at the damages….” He looked up and down at his colleague approvingly. “No, I can’t see anything wrong. And what I can’t see won’t be good enough for a lawsuit.”

He hadn’t changed.
Jim Sanders
was still the lawyer straight out of the courtroom.

Taking Talya by the arm,
Cecilia
winked at
Jim
,
saying, “Let’s go to your office and take a look if everything is in order.”

“What?” Talya looked at both
,
puzzled. “I can go to my office alone you know; I think I remember the way.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure you can, but you won’t—not without us.”
What is she up to?
“Let me take that for you.”
Cecilia
took her raincoat and umbrella away and went to hang both items in the nearby closet under Talya’s quizzical gaze.

“But—”

“No
buts
,”
Jim
put-in, a conspiratorial look on his face. “You’re coming with us and do what you’re told for a minute.”

What is this?
Talya
was bewildered with all the attention she was getting.

They trotted down the corridor, stopped in front of Talya’s office and
Cecilia
opened the door.
Why had it been closed?

“Here we are. Please,
Ms. Gilmore
, come in.”

Then she saw ‘it’ on the credenza and ‘them’ standing along the far wall. Her colleagues, her friends,
Charles
,
Carl
,
Thomas
and
Terrance
—they were all there.
The ‘it’ was an enormous bouquet of flowers set in a beautiful Venetian vase on the credenza.
She was agape.
Words failed her.

Charles Durant
, the president of the company, approached her with, “Welcome home, Talya!” and handed her an envelope.

“Thank you
.
This is so unexpected. I don’t know what to say.”
She opened her arms, brought his face down to hers, and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
For a minute, Talya thought she saw
Charles
blush.

“Well…, I really don’t know what to say … except thank you,” she repeated, quite embarrassed by this unexpected display of appreciation from her colleagues.

“No, you shouldn’t thank us,”
Carl
Evans
said with the decisiveness for which she knew him. “We are the ones who thank you. You have done a great job, and you’ve done more than your job.” He was the fourth Director, and
Charles
’s partner. He hadn’t been there when everyone else had sent
Talya
to
Mali
.

“That’s very nice of you to say,
Carl
, but really all I did was to put two-and-two together. Everyone else made the job much easier.”

Thomas
Gerald
, their geologist, watched everyone from the corner of the room. “And you almost got killed in doing your simple
addition
didn’t you?” His jeans were a little more faded but other than that, everything about him was the same. Talya smiled.

Terrance
Eyton
, the company CFO, looked at Talya, frowning, as he took a couple of steps toward her. “What about your expense claim?” This provoked an immediate round of laughter when he shook hands with her.

Terrance
was forever asking the staff to submit their expense claims. It had become the joke around the office.

“Didn’t
Charles
tell you? Just charge everything to
Karim
’s account
,
”
Talya replied.

Terrance
chuckled and shook his head. “Okay, then I’ll go and see how I can straighten
your
mess.” He walked out, still smiling.

She then saw the lines of her boss’s face tighten and his jaw clench.
“That’s all fine people,”
Charles
said, “But let’s get back to business
,
shall we?
We’ve got shareholders to feed,” ushering everyone out of Talya’s office, and closing the door after the last one had left, while Talya went to sit in her ever so comfortable chair behind her desk.

Charles
took a seat in one of the visitors’ chairs opposite her. “I want to talk to you before we start our day.”

“What is it? Is there something wrong?” She advanced her chair to the desk, her curiosity aroused.
Envelope still in hand, she smoothed it flat in front of her.

“Yes and no. Did you tell
Ousmane
that you were taking a week off before returning to the office?”
Charles asked.

“No. I didn’t tell anyone about that. Remember; it was only when we were in the plane coming back, that I asked you if it was okay.”

“Yes, well, he didn’t know about it. He called here four times asking for you; even insisting on getting your phone number at home from
Cecilia
. She told him that she didn’t know when you were coming back and she actually told him to ‘go fly a kite’.”

Talya couldn’t help laughing at
Charles
’s comments. She knew
Cecilia
, and that was exactly what she would say if someone were insisting on something that she didn’t want to say or do.

“I’m sorry. Did
Ousmane
say if he was going to call back?”
Talya asked.

“Oh yes. Like every day for the past three days, he said he was going to call you
tomorrow
.”

“All right then, I’ll get him on the line today, no worries—”

“I’d prefer if you waited until he calls.” Talya nodded.
“One thing is for sure, though, I don’t want him disturbing you in any way.
All the plans we’ve made are based on your capacity to be focused—”

Talya raised an eyebrow. “Let’s not start this again shall we?” She had been told once too many times to be focused, when in fact, she had done nothing else but focus on her work. “I know
we need to keep focused
, as you say, but I’ve got to tread carefully when it comes to our relations with the governments in
Africa
, or when dealing with
Ousmane
. I need to handle it as delicately or tactfully as I know how.”

“No doubt of it, Talya.
In any case, I’ve assigned
Thomas
to the project in
Mali
and Doug to
Senegal
.
Initially, they’ll go to assess each project and they will accompany you when you’ll need to go back to either place.
There will not be any repeat of this last escapade, I can assure you.”
Charles
was getting a little agitated.

“Did I hear you correctly
?
You
have assigned both
Thomas
and Doug to
Mali
and
Senegal
.
” Doug was the new in-house engineer, whom Talya had not met yet.

“Yes you did. They’re not going to meddle in your government dealings or as your bodyguards, don’t worry; I’ll leave that to Samir and
Alhassan
from now on. They’re going to do their jobs.
In
Mali
we will need a geologist of
Thomas
’s
calibre
to head the exploration project, and in Sabodala we’ll need Doug’s expertise to start the demolition and clean-up processes.”
Charles
rose, shaking his head.
“Okay, I’ll let you deal with
Ousmane
. When you know what’s bugging him, we’ll see what we need to do,” he added, reaching the door, and walking out.

Meanwhile, Talya needed a coffee. She trotted out and went to the kitchen.
She was about to reach the coffee counter, when Doug stopped her.

“Talya?
My name is Doug McLaren.
I know we haven’t been introduced but it’s a real pleasure meeting you.” Doug was in his thirties; a muscular built, with a boyish face and an unruly head of red hair, like that of a circus clown that would probably distract anyone from taking him seriously.
On the day, he wore beige trousers and a light cream shirt, which washed down his milky complexion even further than it naturally was.

“Hi. Nice to meet you,” Talya said. “Welcome aboard! I heard about you coming to join us when
Charles
and I were on our way back from
Dakar
.”