The Intern Affair (23 page)

“What about the contracts that
Jim
worked on with
Alhassan
, will they be ready?”

“All of that will be put back on hold. You have to make a clean slate of everything first.
You know the Directors; they’re not going to move forward until this is cleared up.”

“No,
Charles
, not again! Don’t even think of waiting for me to resolve this before going on with the projects. You’ll be playing into the government’s hands. You have to convince the Board to move forward. Even if we have to defer the reconstruction of Sabodala, we should be able to go ahead with summoning the permits to work at the mine site.”

“I don’t know that we can
summon the permits
, as you say, but we’ll get you the power of attorney that you’ll need to get all of the applications introduced, the minute the Board sanctions the move.”

“Well, if all we’re waiting for is the sanction from our Directors, I’ll be in our boardroom at 9:00AM Monday morning and I’ll serve them with a
summons
of my own—”

She heard
Charles
laugh.

“Talya. What’s got into you?”

“Nothing,
Charles
, except rage; I am going to destroy the monster that’s behind hurting and killing a beautiful woman who’s only fault was to have been blind and subservient at the hands of imbeciles like
Abdul
Karim
. She didn’t deserve to die.
Kareef
is going to pay for this and all the rest of it.”

“So, you believe the Senegalese government will see their way clear to grant permits without having the reconstruction plans approved?”

“Yes I do, and I’ll tell you why. The government will only be too glad to show to the Development Funds Organization that they’re moving forward, enabling us to be on the ground and on site to investigate the connections that must exist between the village and the drug operation. The result of that investigation will clear the way for the reconstruction.”

“I guess—” He wasn’t convinced, obviously.

“
Charles
, listen, why do you think
Sir Reginald
is so anxious for me to discover who’s behind all of this, or the ramifications that may exist between the various cartels in West Africa and
Florida
?”

“
Florida
now, what are you talking about?”

“I won’t go into that now, just answer the question, why is he so anxious?”

“…because the
Village
of
Sabodala
or its location is important somehow?”

“Absolutely! And I don’t need to go back to my notes to know that. There is something about the village or even the mine site itself that is vital or pivotal to the continuing of the drug trafficking.”

“Okay, I can see your point and if you’re right, we are sitting on a time bomb.”

“You’ve got that right.
I’ve got to get
Kareef
to talk—”

“Hold on, Kiddo.
Stop it right there!”

“Sorry to interrupt,
Charles
, Samir here—” Talya had forgotten her friends were listening to this. “We’ve been listening to what you were discussing, and I can assure you that Talya
is not
going to face
Kareef
—even if he’s held in manacles.”
That word again. The images; a hand held by a manacle hooked on a stonewall…
“I won’t allow it,
Charles
. Unless she remembers—”

“I know, Samir, and that’s exactly what I wanted to say. Talya? Are you listening to this?”

“Sure. Yes, it may not be a warranted meeting at the moment, nor will it ever be something I would relish in doing. A couple of hours ago, I would have agreed with you entirely, but now, no one is going to stop me. You can take that to the Board if you like. You won’t stop me!
If I have to I’ll go in his cell and face him.” Talya was enraged. The viciousness of
Kareef
’s attack and torture on
Helen
fuelled her resolve to destroy him. Her heart was beating so fast she was choking again.

“Talya, please stop,”
Ghali
said from the living room’s extension.

Talya was in such a state that she hadn’t heard Samir come in. When he sat on the bed beside her, the anger she felt moments earlier abated and receded into a balm of peace. He took her hand. “You’ll be all right, Talya.”
She smiled.

“
Charles
, I think Talya has had enough for one night,”
Ghali
said, “I’ll be staying with her and if you’d like to let us know how
Alhassan
is doing when you get some news, just phone me on my cell.”

“I guess we went a bit too far, didn’t we, Kiddo?”
Charles
said to Talya.

“I don’t know about too far, but you’ll never know how I feel right now.”

“Maybe I do.”

27

Jim was sitting
at his desk in his office—if one could call it that—sorting some of the accounts and the take-in for the night at his club located in a side street of the West End in Vancouver. He was pleased with the bottom-line. His business was flourishing and his drug sales were very
healthy
, very healthy indeed. The phone suddenly disturbed his reflection. He looked at it, wondering who would call him at this time of night. His girls were all tucked away, either in their bed or in someone else’s. He picked up the receiver with curiosity and apprehension.

“
Charos
here.”

Yes, Jim thought,
Charos
would be the one person who’d call at this time of night. “I surely didn’t expect to hear from you. How’s the weather in
Paris
?”

“No need for platitudes. I don’t have time.”

“Okay. What can I do for you?”

“We have a busy body that needs a lesson in keeping her nose out of our business.”

“Yeah? And who’s that?”

“You know her. I believe I mentioned her a few weeks ago, because she lives in your area.”

“You mean the
Gilmore
woman?”

“Yes.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I need to know if she plans to go anywhere and I want her stopped—you know what I mean.”

“Yeah. No problem. What’s the address?”

Charos
gave the details and hung up.

It didn’t take two minutes for Jim to call two of his men and tell them to survey the
Gilmore
woman’s apartment and to
put her out of circulation for a while
, the minute they got hold of her—discreetly of course.

“You might have your work cut out for you,” Jim added, “because she is as slippery as an eel under rocks, so watch your step. Mr.
Charos
don’t want her to return to
Africa
… if you get my drift.”

“No problem, Boss, we’ll take care of her—she’ll be out of circulation by the end of tomorrow.”

“I hope so, ’cause you know, boys, we’re dealing with the boss in
France
on this one and if she skips town, you’ll be next on the list.”

“We get you.”

“Go then—I’m busy.”

The two men left Jim’s office that Saturday morning and went directly to their quarry’s apartment. It was 6:00AM and
Ms.
Gilmore
should still be in bed, like a good girl, they thought.

28

It was about four o’clock
in the morning when Talya woke up. The quietness of the apartment was agreeable and comfortable. Samir and
Ghali
had probably left when they saw that she had fallen asleep. She was glad to be alone. She got up and made her way to the bathroom.
She caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror. She didn’t care how she looked. She took a quick shower, put on some jeans and the warmest sweater she could find. She left her purse on the hall table (she smiled to herself), and locked the door behind her. She walked down to the seawall and continued walking through the park until she reached Prospect Point overlooking the Fraser Valley Inlet. She went down the stairs leading to the platform overhanging the river, sat on the ground, and started weeping quietly. Talya knew no one would find her there and for a long while, she could be
really
alone.

It was five-thirty when she hailed a cab at
kerbside
at the entrance of
Jim
Park.
She had enough money with her, her wallet being tucked in her back pocket, to reach her destination and put her little escape plan into action. She told the cabby to take her to
Tsawwassen
Bay
. By 7:00AM, she was boarding the ferry to
Victoria
.

Once the ferry had left the bay, Talya settled down to have breakfast at the restaurant on the upper deck. She was famished. No one had thought of eating anything the night before, and her stomach was screaming against th
e
enforced fasting. She devoured scrumptious bacon and eggs, toasts and hash brown potatoes. Sipping her second cup of coffee, and as they were approaching Galiano, they were lucky enough to see a pod of Orcas playing in the water.

It’s not such an unusual sight on that route, nonetheless everyone on board was admiring the elegant dance of females leading their young, plunging and emerging rhythmically alongside the vessel.
The islands draped of black during the night, were now lifting their veils of sleepy fog to welcome the gentle sunrise highlighting their mountainous heads.
She went to the first deck, listened to the seagulls screeching overhead and watched when they dove and gush intermittently as they retrieved their prey out of the ocean.
The tranquillity of the voyage left her with a sense of relief when the ferry sailed into port at
Swartz
Bay
two hours later.
She caught a cab at the station and told the driver to take her to the Empress Hotel.
Seeing that she carried no luggage or even a purse and that her jeans and sweater may have been more suited to vacationing at a campground than they were to the tourist frequenting the Empress, he turned around and looked at her quizzically. “You sure it’s the Empress you want?”

“That’s w
hat I said,”
Talya replied flatly.

This being Saturday the traffic was light and it hardly took any time at all to reach her destination.

The Empress Hotel is one of the most beautiful hotels on the West Coast.
It is part of a chain of guesthouses built at the turn of the last century. They were destined to house the Trans-Canada train
travellers
.
Facing
Victoria
Harbour
, the Empress’s neo-gothic architecture had been masterly designed while the décor inside, the service, and today even the patrons hail the Anglo-Saxon tastes in its every detail. High Tea is served in the conservatory, or in the various salons, at five o’clock precisely every afternoon.

Talya went to the front desk and checked in under the curious gaze of the clerk. He wouldn’t have dared querying the purpose of her visit, nor would he have asked the usual question, “have you any luggage?” He presumed that if Talya had been carrying any luggage, she would have called for a porter to assist her. Discretion not only comes with their training but from birth.
I do believe!
These boys wouldn’t even know what the word ‘prying’ means.

Talya paid in advance for two nights. She did not intend to return to the nightmare before Monday morning.

Room key in hand; she went out of the hotel.
She had decided to go on a shopping spree.
This for her was an event.
For one thing, Talya didn’t like shopping, full stop.
However, once in a blue moon, she went
all out and spent
money. On this occasion, she hadn’t seen any blue moon but she just felt like it. She went into a couple or three shops along the Pedestrian Mall and bought two suits, a dress, trousers, sweaters and shoes, and a purse. In the last boutique, she changed into the black pair of slacks she had chosen and put on a white cotton sweater and bought a sports jacket to complete the ensemble.
Passing by a beauty salon, she decided that her mop of curls needed some serious attention.
She entered the place and let the girls and boys give all the attention they wanted to her hair, hands and face. When Talya returned to the hotel, not only did she have
bags
to carry up to her room, but also the transformation was so radical that the front desk clerk couldn’t help himself but stare at her across the hall. Once she had hung all of the clothes in the wardrobe, she decided to go down and have lunch. She felt good. She looked good and for another day and a half, she would enjoy herself.
There was no one to stop her.