The Intern Affair (55 page)

Talya wasn’t sure that
Charles
fully understood Samir’s denial of being able to look at her.

Thomas
was still staring. Talya could feel his eyes on her.
She kept her head bowed. She realized then that she had learned to distrust anyone approaching her under stressful circumstances.
Her whole body was tense. She was ready to pounce at the slightest move, like a cat watching its prey.

Leaving
Christian
and
Jerry
behind, under their strenuous protest, Talya and her three companions walked to the Main House in silence.
They took their shoes off at the door and went in to sit down.
When they were settled on the floor, Samir gently took off the pin that retained Talya’s veil.
She smiled at
Charles
and
Thomas
in turn.
She knew the scars were yet visible and would be for her lifetime.
The bruises had not faded away as much as she would have liked.
It had only been a week since the attack, and the cream that
Jasmin
had
put on them every morning, had not been that effective.

Charles
was staring from Talya’s face down to her hand still in a cast.
Thomas
lowered his eyes and looked away.

“Talya, I am so sorry,”
Charles
said ruefully. “I had no idea.
How are you?”

“I’m fine.
And if you’ll permit me, I will pin the veil again.” She did quickly under Samir’s appreciative gaze.

“I don’t know what I could say, Talya,”
Thomas
said finally. “Like
Charles
, I didn’t fully appreciate what you’d been through until now. But why on earth did you continue with this after
Charos
did this to you?”

Samir and Talya looked at each other.
How did they know about
Charos
?

Samir looked pointedly at each man in turn. “I think you better explain what you’ve just said.
And by the way, please explain what you are both doing here.”

Charles
’s eyes didn’t leave Talya’s face when he answered. “We will, Samir, if you give us the same explanation afterwards. Why are you here?”

An hour later, they were back at the hostel.
After somewhat cool and reserved introductions to the newcomers, the reason for everyone’s presence in Kedougou had been explained. They had discussed the night’s outing to Sabodala. Talya had kept quiet for the most part.
Samir knew what they were after and throwing her two cents worth into the ring, had not been necessary.

82

They needed to get
to the mine site at sunset.
The time window was short—only twenty minutes of prayer time—during which they would have to enter the camp unnoticed and find an empty hut.
There they would spend several hours waiting for the village above the camp to be asleep, and for the few remaining men at the site to do the same.

Once silence and darkness would have fallen over their surroundings, they would move in pairs to the three locations where Talya had suggested they would be able to find the evidence they needed.
Charles
and
Thomas
would carry the items back to
Dakar
and submit them to the
proper
authorities in time to annihilate
Charos
’s operation.

Samir and Talya would go to the nitro container while
Charles
and
Christian
would climb to the first adit and make a thorough search of that location.
Thomas
and
Jerry
would do the same with the other two adits farther down the village’s hillside. They planned to give themselves an hour to perform the search of the three adits.
After which, whether they would find anything or not, they would retrace their steps to the empty hut and wait for everyone to return safely, before going on with the next phase of their plan, if they hadn’t found anything during the first survey.

The prime difficulty was to approach the mine site unnoticed.
Although improbable, the dirt blowing from behind their vehicles would announce their arrival to anyone watching the valley from the top of the third hill.
Moreover, the dirt tracks leading to the gates on either side of the camp were wide open to any scrutiny.
In short, ‘
they’
would see them coming a mile away—literally. Their only chance to reach the site on time, while escaping detection, was to travel the last three miles on foot.

Charles
was the one person Talya worried about; he hadn’t left the comfort of his office for far too long to be able to walk three miles in the heat, over a harsh terrain and without proper shoes.

Samir had made the same observation as Talya did. “
Charles
, with all due respect, we have a problem with your choice of shoes.”

Charles
was sitting on the bed beside Talya. “What’s wrong with them, they’re very comfortable and I walk easily in them.”

“You probably do, my friend, but I will give you a spare pair of mine, and Talya can tell you how good they feel. She’s been walking in them for a week, even with her sprained ankle.” Saying this, Samir pulled out a pair of goat socks from their pack, and handed them to
Charles
.

Quite puzzled,
Charles
took the socks and tried them on.
Talya slipped down onto the floor, sat at her boss’s feet, and began lacing his shoes.
I thought I’d never see the day.

Thomas
was laughing his heart out from his chosen corner of the room.
Standing by the dresser,
Christian
and
Jerry
were chuckling. They turned away not to show their utter amusement at the scene.
Samir was grinning in a satisfied manner.
‘His’ woman had been well taught.

I would have to have a talk with the man later
.

“You don’t have to do this, Talya,”
Charles
protested mildly.

“Oh yes I do.
There is only one way to lace these shoes.
If you don’t do it properly, they’ll slowly fall from your calf down to your ankle.
Just be patient and sit still, will you!”
That last injunction provoked another round of laughter.

“Okay. And now for the next step in preparing for the journey”—Talya got to her feet—“I want you to take one of these as soon as you have eaten.” She handed him a salt tablet that she had ta
ken
out of her jeans’ pocket.

“What is it, Talya?”
Charles
looked at the tablet curiously.

“A salt tablet.
That’s all it is.
I may be able to lace your shoes but I certainly wouldn’t be able to carry you to the mine site.”

When the renewed hilarity had abated, Samir said, “Now we will go to the market and find the food that will give us strength for our journey.”

“And what kind of food is that, Samir?”

“Simple food,
Christian,
simple food. Just follow Talya and me, we will show you.”

In one movement, everyone filed out of the room, down the stairs and out of the hostel under the curious gaze of M
rs.
Van Kaasen.

As they were walking down the street,
Thomas
came to her side. “Talya, I just want to say that everyone in
Vancouver
is rooting for you.
Carl
,
Jim
and Doug—especially Doug—wanted to come down with us. Even
Terrance
invented some excuse or other to come down.”

“Thanks,
Thomas
. You can tell everybody when you talk to them next, that I have missed them and I hope to be home soon, I don’t know when, but soon….”

“
Thomas
,” Samir said under his breath, “we’re approaching the market now, and I appreciate your talking to Talya, but remember she’s veiled. You’re not supposed to address her in public. We don’t know who’s watching.” He squeezed Talya’s hand so that she
would understand
his well-meaning comments.
She did.

“Sorry. I guess I can’t get used to Talya being veiled.”
Thomas
threw the Touareg a quick smile and pulled back to join their companions who were following their progress closely through the market lanes by this time.

When Samir found what he was looking for, he talked to the lady behind the stall in Malinke (the regional dialect) and got a small gourd full of what Talya knew was Camel’s milk.
Two stalls farther down the market lane, they found cheese and unleavened bread. They completed their purchases with some mangoes and bananas. Under normal circumstances, being a woman veiled in abayah, Talya would have had to carry the lot.
Her only redeeming feature was that she had a hand in a cast.
So,
Thomas
and
Christian
did the carrying, for which Talya was pleased and relieved.

Jerry
, the silent one of the bunch, came to Samir’s side on the way back to the hostel. “Samir, I know you’re a pilot, same as me. May I ask you where you got your wings?”

The question sounded innocent enough, but the Touareg did not seem to think so. “I believe you know it already,” he replied, looking at the man haughtily.

They all had a file on someone’s desk by now, which
Christian
and
Jerry
had read from cover to cover, Talya was sure.

Jerry
was a tall and gaunt young man; his motions were brisk and calculated. His head was adorned with curly, dark hair, while his skin seemed to have been tanned since birth. His brown eyes were piercing as those of an eagle.
To Talya, his allure and demeanour appeared definitely dangerous.

He smiled at Samir’s remark. “Yes, perhaps we know everything there is to know about you, but I usually like to hear from the man himself before I work with him, so that we understand where we stand.”

Talya felt Samir’s grip tighten around her hand.
Delving in his past was not something Samir appreciated from anyone. “Let me say something to you and I won’t repeat myself.
As far as my understanding of ‘where we stand’, as you so aptly put it, I know that you will use every ounce of my knowledge during our journey together and, that, you will do for one purpose only, to help you get your next promotion.
And that sums up our relationship from this point onward,
Jerry
.”

“I’m sorry, Samir, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You haven’t, you haven’t.
I was just telling
you
where
I stand
.”

At these words,
Jerry
retreated to the back of the pack to join
Christian.

When they walked into the lobby of the hostel, Talya
saw
Christian
talk
in an agitated manner to
Jerry
.
The latter was getting an earful.
Christian
didn’t look happy at all.

As soon as Talya got back to the room, she had to lie down.
She felt oppressed somehow. Her breathing was difficult for some reason.
Samir saw that something was wrong and chased everybody out, telling them to go to their rooms and that he would call on them in time for lunch.

He sat on the bed and asked, “What’s wrong, Princess?
If you tell me you feel oppressed, I’ll tell you that it is normal.”

“Yes, that’s what I feel.
But how did you know?”

“Because I feel it too.
It’s just that your body has difficulty in re-adjusting to the dust and dirty air.
The desert has cleansed your lungs and now suddenly you’re breathing red dirt again.
The same thing would happen if you were smoking.”

“Will it pass by tonight?
We have an hour’s drive in that dirt yet.”

“Don’t worry, we bought mangoes, remember?
They will clean your blood and you will feel good by tonight, I promise.” He took her hand and kissed it.
“But you should sleep for awhile or at least stay in bed until I get our people to come in and eat.
I’ll go and talk to them now.” He got up to go to the door.

“I don’t
—
”

“Hush, Talya, I’ll be back in a minute.” And he was gone.
Talya curled up and soon she was asleep.