The Intern Affair (22 page)

“But what, Samir, what?” Talya screamed the words in exasperation and confusion. “I have only lived in
Africa
for a time and I can’t believe that what happened to me a long time ago has any bearing on something that happened last night.”

“Maybe it isn’t what happened in your youth that’s important, but I’m sure it is something that relates to it. In the same fashion that your relationship with
Alhassan
has awa
ken
ed rebuke for love, what happened in
Dakar
may prevent you from seeing the reason for everything that’s occurring today.”

Samir was looking into her eyes.
Talya couldn’t stand it any longer.
She turned her back to him and took several steps into the water. As she advanced farther, the water felt beautifully smooth and warm, enveloping her feet, her ankles; the dying waves caressing her legs.

She was about to plunge into the waves to swim until her heart would give out, when, with a violent jerk, Samir pulled her back into his arms.

“Please don’t abandon your humble servant,” Samir whispered into her ear. “I couldn’t bear it, please stay with me.”

“Let me go!” Talya shouted, trying to wriggle herself away from his grasp.

“No! I can’t let you go, Talya!”

She shook away his grip and ran into the waves.

“Talya,
Please!”

“Leave me alone!”

Knowing she wouldn’t turn back, Samir had no alternative but taking his jacket, shoes, trousers and shirt off and swim after her. He was soon alongside her. He grabbed her by the waist.

“I want to be alone and disappear…,” Talya yelled to his face. “No one needs the devil that’s with me everywhere I go.”

The tug of war, pulling Talya’s heart in all directions, was more vicious than ever.
She was lost in a nightmare of love and misery.
She ached with the fiery of loving and adoring thoughts while her heart was collapsing in a midst of tearful anguish.

He dragged her to the shore breathless.
He sat her in the sand beside him. “Let’s go home.
You need to rest.”

“No!
I can’t rest until I have paid for this horror….”

He draped the afghan that she had dropped on the sand before hitting the water, over her shoulders and got into his trousers and shirt, threw his jacket over his own shoulders and sat down beside her. “Even if you don’t sleep, I want you home in the safety of
Ghali
’s care; he will stay with you tonight.”

“And where are you going?
I want
you
to stay with me.”

“No, Talya. I have phone calls to make and I have to plan for our departure.
I need to phone
Charles
as well. If we are to go back soon, I need to prepare things for our arrival.
So, tonight you will stay with
Ghali
, please?”
He lifted her chin up to him once again to seek approval.

“I guess if you have to?”

“You know I have to, and when the morning comes, I’ll be beside you. Don’t even think of fretting or missing any moment together.
I told you, I will not leave your side … ever again.”

26

Ghali
answered
the intercom almost immediately as they rang the doorbell.

He stood in the doorway, watching them coming out of the elevator. “How…?”
He stopped and stared. “Let me get some towels…. What happened?”
Ghali
could only guess, and fright took over his mind. Suicide was usually in the cards for patients who suffered from depression. He was looking into Talya’s eyes as he handed them both towels that he had grabbed from the hall closet.

“Nothing…,” Talya replied, taking her afghan off her shoulders.

Samir had closed the door behind them meanwhile. “
Ghali
, I don’t know you at all.” He threw the towel
Ghali
had handed to him around his shoulders. “But, I’m going to ask you to stay here tonight.
I want you to care for this woman as if she was your sister or your mother.”
Talya stared at Samir. His tone of voice sounded odd to her.
What is this all about?
“And even though I know that you love this woman, I’ll ask you not to lay a finger on her.”

Ghali
exploded, “What?
How could you? What right have you got to ask me such a thing?
Who do you think you are?”

Samir put his hands in his pockets and strode to the bay window facing the ocean.

“I am only her servant,
Dr. Defray
, and tonight I’ve watched this woman wanting to take her own life. Because of what happened in
Africa
, your friend and lover wanted to swim to her death this evening.
So, I am not only asking you, but I am in fact ordering you not to touch her.”

“But—”

Still dripping wet, Talya went to stand close to her dearest
Ghali
and pulled his face toward her so that he would look into her eyes. “Listen. Samir has asked me to come back. He showed me that I have a chance to fight and maybe I can do this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have stopped. So I am the one asking you to stay with me.”

“All right,”
Ghali
said with a remainder of reluctance in his voice. “But before you leave, Captain, I’ll have to tell you both something.”
He took Talya’s hand away from his chin and held it close to his chest.
“I have phoned
Charles
and he’s asked me to accompany you on your journey, and I have accepted.”

Talya was dumfounded.
She couldn’t believe it.
She took her hand off, ran into the bedroom, and slammed the door shut. She took off her clothes and engulfed her body into her night robe. She heard Samir say, “Do you have
Charles
’s number, I need to talk to him, right now!”

“Yes, it’s 604-96…
But—”

“
Dr. Defray
, I have to tell you; what
Charles
has done, by inviting you on board, was with good intention I’m sure, but it will send Talya over the edge.
She won’t have anyone with her.
She won’t even accept you to stay with her tonight now.
You, of all people, should have realized that,” Samir continued admonishingly.
“You’re the one who alerted everyone of her condition.
And now, without any further thought for her safety, you’ve accepted an invitation that could cause her to suicide.”

“I see that now,”
Ghali
said ruefully. “Yet, when
Charles
asked me to travel with her, I couldn’t even think of saying no. I wanted to watch over her and care for her.”

Talya was listening at her bedroom door. She really wanted both men to leave as soon as possible.
Samir was right; Talya needed to find peace in solitude.

She kept on listening.

Samir lifted the receiver and Talya lunged across her bed, grabbing the extension to hear their conversation.
She was sure Samir would have heard the ‘click’.
She didn’t care.

“M
r.
Durant
?
Samir here, I’m sorry to disturb you.”

“Yes, Samir; and you’re not disturbing me. I was anxious to hear how Talya’s doing anyway.
So, tell me how is she coping?”

“Not well at all I’m afraid. I need you to do something for her.”

“Anything, what do you have in mind?”

“Call it off.
Call it all off, M
r.
Durant
,” Samir demanded without preamble.
“We’ll be going back as planned, but we need you to stand by and I need you to ask
Dr. Defray
to remain in
Vancouver
for the time being. She needs to know that he’s safe at home.”

“But I thought he could help her—”

“I am very sorry,
Charles
, and please allow me the familiarity, but, she needs to know that
Dr. Defray
is where she can return when the time comes for her to do so.
As it is, and if
Dr. Defray
comes with us, she’ll be trapped into watching over him. She thinks that everyone coming close to her now will be in danger. I would have to agree with her. If
Kareef
has succeeded in taking away the lives of people who were maybe well acquainted with damaging knowledge, bringing
Dr. Defray
onto the scene may put his life in danger as well.”

“I hear you, Samir. In fact, after extending the invitation, I was having second thoughts about it.
I couldn’t have another child of mine risk his life.”

Talya didn’t know if
Ghali
had heard that comment but she hoped he knew how
Charles
considered him. She continued to listen.

“I thought that’s what both of them meant to you,” Samir said. “And that’s the reason for my stern resistance to the project, and I’m sorry for my meddling
—
”

“Don’t be sorry.
I’m grateful that you are here to help us.
Since that evening in
Dakar
when you set me straight, I knew you were a man I would never underestimate nor deny a hearing.”

“It’s an honour to serve you and to have earned your respect, sir.
Now, would you like to talk to
Ghali
or Talya?”

“Sure if Talya is listening, I’ll have a word with her—”

“Oh, she’s been listening alright; but before I let her speak, I would ask you if I might call you back from the hotel to make arrangements for our early departure.
And also there are a few things I will need to discuss with M
r.
Evans
—”

“No problem, I’m standing by the phone anyway.
Sir Reginald
has to call back with some instructions. Let me talk to Talya and
Ghali
now.”

“
Charles
, I’m sorry,”
Ghali
blurted as soon as the receiver was close enough to his mouth. “I shouldn’t have accepted the invitation.
I can see that now.”

“Never mind, I shouldn’t have offered in the first place.
And now since I know you’re on the line, Kiddo, how are you?”

Talya smiled. “I’ll be better soon. What’s happening out there is unbelievable. How could
Kareef
have such connections to have our people attacked like that?”

“Don’t trouble yourself with
how
Kareef
did it, rather ask yourself
why
he had to do it?
There lies the answer. You have to find out the
why,
Talya. You have the answer. We are convinced of it.
If not you directly, something you have seen, or someone you have known is the reason for making you, and everyone around you, a target.”

“But I don’t know where to begin looking. I have written everything down. You know that, you’ve read the statement I made to the police.”

“Exactly. Start there, and read all of your notes again. Maybe the answer is in those notes.
I don’t know, but it sounds like the logical place to start.”

“What about
Mr. Dillon
, and
Alhassan
?
Do you have any news?”

“No, not yet, I’m waiting for
Sir Reginald
’s report. I’d say it’ll be midnight our time before we get anything.”

“When do you want us to leave?” Talya hated to ask when she knew
Ghali
was still listening.

“I’ll talk to Samir and
Carl
first before going to the Board with all this on Monday. But I suspect you should be back in
Dakar
by the middle of next week.”

“That soon?” Somehow, Talya felt her safety blanket, of the distance separating her from the inevitable nightmare, slipping away from her.

“Sure, you need to go and see
Alhassan
and
Mr. Dillon
and you’ll have to deal with our
d
ear friend,
Ousmane
, who will be expecting you.”

“Please,
Charles
, don’t even mention his name. He is the one person I don’t really want to have to face at the moment.”

“I know, but you have to face him sooner or later. This time Samir, however, will be at your side and I know he’ll be able to fend off any forthcoming ‘badgering’ as he called it.”