The Intern Affair (64 page)

“But wouldn’t that destroy his spirit to be told that
Charles
is dead?”

“Quite the opposite,
Jerry
. Now he will not be able to afford to wallow in misery and self-pity. He will have to take the helm and help the projects to move forward.”

“I guess you’re right.
Charles
has even suggested getting
Carl
Evans
down here to continue the job. That would make the whole scheme more believable, don’t you think?”

“Maybe it would, but it would put another person in reach of
Charos
. I’m telling you, this character is not going to stop trying to make everyone pay for his loss of power. Anyway, that’s up to
Charles
and
Carl
. And how’s
Sir Reginald
taking all this?”

“Don’t ask!  He’s beside himself.  He’s after me for letting the killer escape.”

“I wish I was there to give him a piece of my mind. He’s got no idea what, or who we’re up against. These drug lords are only people to be seen on TV. For him, they don’t exist in real life.”

“I know, but one thing is for sure, the chief in
Ottawa
is jumping for joy right now. He’s learned about the bust and he’s sending his regards. But don’t worry he’s staying mute until he’s hearing from you.”

“Okay, I’ll get to Talya a-sap.”

106

When Samir heard
the phone ring, he looked at the clock at his bedside—2:00AM. Before answering the second ring, he was sitting up and alert. Besides Talya, no one knew where he was. He had left her a couple of hours earlier. She was asleep by now.

He picked up the receiver and spoke in Bambara.

“Samir, this is
Christian.
Don’t speak just listen.  I had to come down and join you.  I’ll be in your suite in five minutes and we’ll talk then.  Leave your door open, so I don’t have to knock.”

Samir heard the click at the other end of the line, and hung up. He was not surprised. The
cat
wouldn’t make a move like this unless it was absolutely necessary. He got up, went to splash some water on his face, rinsed his mouth and put on a thawb to wait for
Christian
.

“Good evening, Samir,”
Christian
said in an even tone of voice as he came into the suite and closed the door behind him. 

“Welcome,
Christian
!  Have a seat beside me.” Samir indicated the chair beside his own.

“You don’t look surprised to see me.  Why?”

“I was expecting you, but not so soon.”

“Expecting me?”

“Yes. I knew that you couldn’t have resisted the temptation to join us. The way you behaved at the mine told me so. You want to protect Talya from a killer and you want to kill him yourself, isn’t that it?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.  Don’t tell me how you knew that, because I don’t want to know about my inadequacies at this moment. That would put my instincts in some sort of control mode, and I don’t want that.”

“Good. Now you have come a long way to bring me and Talya, some news and to relieve some of the pressure that’s been applied on both of us, so tell me what made you decide to take tonight’s flight.”

Christian
then explained in detail, the reasons for his presence at Samir’s side that night.

He listened intently without interrupting
Christian
’s account.  “That’s what I expected to happen.  I knew the retributive sanctions would start coming down on us as soon as
Charos
was alerted of the drug cache being discovered. And I have a question for you: who told you that
Alhassan
had an infection?”

“The doctor in charge, why?”

“Think,
Christian,
think. What would get Talya to hurry back to
Senegal
?”

“You mean it’s a ploy—a trap to get Talya back to
Dakar
?”

“Yes it is, but maybe it is also an incentive for her to finish the job here and get killed in the crossfire.”

“I see what you mean. And maybe
Charles
’s killing was an added bonus—another carrot dangling in front of her nose?” 

Samir looked puzzled.
Christian
smiled. He knew Samir had not understood what he had said.

“I don’t understand—”

“Sure, it’s just an expression. It means that
Charles
was the other incentive…. Anyway, tell me what do you propose we do?”

“When we were in
Paris
, I didn’t tell Talya that
Charles
was on his way to
Dakar
at the time.  Believe me; I still regret to have hidden the truth from her to this day. She’s like you; she wants the truth to be told no matter the cost.”

“So we’ve got to tell her everything and hope for the best?”

“Yes, but not ‘hope for the best’, we’ve got to plan a counter-action, otherwise she’s liable to take off on her own, and do what you and I have to prevent her from doing at any price.”

“Are you saying that she would go that far?”

“Oh yes.  Without a shadow of a doubt. 
In fact
, she’s looking forward to the end of this job to be able to continue with
Tristan
’s projects, but if we put a picture like the one you’ve just described in front of her, she’ll soon realize that the killings will never stop until she disappears.  So she’ll put herself in front of the last bullet, and I will not let that happen, Inshallah.”

“All right then, where do we go from here?”

“We go back to bed and we’ll go and see Talya before we meet for breakfast with her friend,
Yvonne Gilbert
, at nine o’clock in the restaurant—”

“But you’ve just said that we need a plan, so she doesn’t go and face the traitor alone . . . and by the way, do we know who he is?”

“Yes, I figured it out last night. Yet, and although he has an office in town, Talya doesn’t seem to think that he would have remained at his desk since this whole chase started. That’s the piece of the puzzle that’s missing.  M
rs.
G
ilbert
is the one who holds that information.”

“I see. From what you’re saying then, we have to wait until morning to tell Talya, so she won’t be able to run during the night, and when this Mrs. G
ilbert
reveals the location of the traitor, we can make the arrangements to tackle the problem, keeping Talya in sight at all times.”

“You’ve got it,
Christian.
Now you go to bed and I’ll do the same.”

107

It was almost eight
o’clock when Talya woke up.  She was startled.  She had slept past sunrise, which was now unusual for her. 
Sleeping in a real bed did it.
 

She got up and went to ask the mirror in the bathroom what it thought of her sleeping beauty stunt.  It told her that she must have needed it.  Her face was almost back to normal.  The scars on the side of her cheek and eyebrow would be reminding her of
Charos
forever; and that she had to accept, but for the rest, the colouring was getting back to the right shade.  Her hair was in desperate need of a trim but under the veil, surrounding her face tightly, it wouldn’t be seen anyway.  Although she thought of her next disguise, which
Yvonne
was bringing with her, and in which the veil played no part. 
Oh well, I’ll see what
Yvonne
suggests.

A half-an-hour later, Talya was ready to go down. That’s when she heard a knock at the door.  She was dressed once again in full Muslim attire, in white this time with the royal blue abayah enveloping her from shoulders to toe. She didn’t expect anyone but Samir, so she flung the door-wide open only to face
Christian,
and Samir standing behind him. He wore a white djellaba under a linen mishlah woven with colourful treads of reds, green and gold.  A white linen ghutrah and iqal (a double ring of black silk twine) covered his head.

“No, Princess. You shouldn’t have opened the door without asking who it is first,” Samir said, passing in front of
Christian
and leading her agape to the seat by the window. “
Christian,
please come in, and make yourself comfortable, until we’ve finished telling Talya what this is all about.”

Talya had closed her mouth by this time, but she was still stunned, seeing
Christian
sitting on her bed now. She regained her voice instantly. “Good morning,
Christian,
it’s nice to see you, but what on earth are you doing here?”

“I have come to help,” he replied mildly. 

…that is not the whole truth
. 

“We need all the help we can get.  And
Christian
is here
—
”

“Samir!  Please don’t even try. You’ve done it once before, so you tell me right now what’s going on, or I’ll go back to
Dakar
and find out for myself.”

“Talya is right, Samir, go ahead,”
Christian
suggested, smiling.

That cat is irritating me…
“And don’t you leave anything out… Or—” Talya was on the verge of slapping someone’s face.

“Or what, Talya?” Samir was chuckling and holding her hand tightly.

“Oh, I don’t know what. Just get on with it?”

When Samir and
Christian
had explained what happened in
Dakar
in the past twelve hours, Talya was now aware why
Christian
was in
Bamako
.
S
he was grateful and relieved. Yet, she didn’t like the idea of
Thomas
being
next on the list
or even having
Carl
possibly come down to join the team.

After a moment’s reflection,
she said,
“Well, all I could say is that I expected to be seeing you, maybe on the next flight on Sunday, if Samir and I were taking too long to clean the slate
…
”

Both men burst out in loud laughter. 

Talya looked at them as if she just
saw two idiots come
out of an asylum.

What’s wrong with them?

Christian
looked at her as if she was the clown in the bunch. “I’m sorry, Talya, but you’re priceless.”

You’re going to get what’s coming to you, you miserable feline
.

Samir said, “When I saw
Christian
last night, that’s exactly what I said to him: ‘I expected you but not this soon’, and that’s why we’ve been laughing.” 

“I’m glad to hear that. It’s a comfort to know I don’t have two escapees from the nearest madhouse to accompany me this morning—” They started laughing again. “All right, fellows, we need to get down to the restaurant, now.
Yvonne
will not say boo to either of you, if I don’t find her first—”

“Okay, Talya, you win—”

“Sure I am, and all the way. So let’s get on with it, shall we?” She was already at the door when she finished the sentence. 

Talya was walking three paces behind Samir, as required by the Muslim etiquette, when they arrived at the terrace lounge where breakfast was usually served. 
She saw
Yvonne
sitting
in one of the chairs.  She was wearing one of her flowery dress tied around the waist with a red belt and she had her capacious bag in her lap. She was looking round in all directions when her eyes rested on Talya; she had come to Samir’s side when he stopped by the restaurant’s archway.
Yvonne
’s mouth fell open. Talya put her finger to her lips, indicating that she should stay quiet.  She got up and dropped the bag to the floor. As Talya came near her, she saw tears run down
Yvonne
’s cheeks, unchecked. 

Talya took her in her arms and whispered, “Everything is going to be all right now. Just listen while we talk, okay?”

“You don’t know how happy I am to see you. But, who are they
?” she said
quietly, shooting a glance over Talya’s shoulder when she released her embrace.

“They’ll introduce themselves,
Yvonne
.” Then to Samir behind her, “Samir, please?”

“Madame
Gilbert
,
my name is Samir
Hamed
Khalif Al-Intha
,”
he said
unassumingly while bowing gently to
Yvonne
. “It is a pleasure to meet a friend of
my wife to be
.”