Old Lovers Don't Die (33 page)

Isabella gathered up the washing with great reluctance, four of Emmanuel’s shirts and two of Chantal’s skirts. She wrapped them all in the jacket and tied the sleeves together. Mike positioned Michelangelo on Galela’s shoulders as they stood next to the wall. He pulled himself up onto the roof and then Mike threw up the jacket full of washing. They retreated down the driveway so that they could see Michelangelo, his white top clear in the darkness. A few minutes later, the smoke from this first chimney stopped. Moments after that, smoke from the second chimney stopped and Michelangelo was back at the edge of the house. Mike quickly ran forward and caught Michelangelo as he jumped from the edge of the house.

“Isabella, take Michelangelo up the road a little in case there is any shooting. We will position ourselves at the back and front doors.”

Isabella only made it to the front gate when she heard the smashing of glass. She turned around and in the darkness could see Galela positioned next to the front door. Mike was standing at the corner of the house, which allowed him to view the back door. There was more glass smashing followed by loud coughing, the smoke inside the house taking effect. Then the front door was suddenly thrown open, smoke billowed out followed quickly by a coughing Raoul Assad. He stumbled onto the veranda, coughing repeatedly, clutching a wet tea cloth to his mouth, a gun in his other hand. Galela struck quickly with the back of his pistol, and Assad collapsed lifeless on the veranda. A whistle to Mike signalled the all clear and Isabella could see him disappear around the back corner of the house. In a few minutes Jannie, Emmanuel, Cindy, and Chantal were all standing on the front lawn, coughing, and tears streaming from their eyes.

“Is Christian all right?” Jannie stammered as he wiped his eyes.

“Yes, he is fine,” Isabella said. “Once everything is settled here, I’ll explain and take you back up to him.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think there is an international arrest warrant for Raoul,” Mike said looking at Galela.

“The lake is not very far away,” Galela said shrugging his shoulders; the statement was more a question seeking Mike’s approval.

“Let’s see if he can swim, although the Tilapia may not find him to their taste. For him to contribute to the ecosystem of the planet, ironically, might be one of his only positive contributions; it would also make for less paperwork.”

Christian could hear Isabella and Mike’s footsteps as they walked up the pathway towards theatre. Heinrich and Suleiman, upon hearing their voices, peered out the door into the darkness.

“I can see everyone coming; they are about fifty metres away,” Suleiman said turning back inside the door to face Christian.

A few minutes later, Mike appeared in the doorway smiling. Christian could see Jannie and Isabella standing behind him.

“Everyone is okay,” Mike said, as he walked in and stood at the foot of Christian’s bed. “No problems here, I hope.”

“No sir. The only problem has been the mosquitoes,” Suleiman said smiling.

“I hope you are taking your antimalarial tablets.” Isabella quickly offered her advice.

“So what happened at the Sudani’s?” Christian asked.

“Well the short version, and your father can give you the longer version, is that Kariba in his drug confused state of mind, had blackmailed Assad into holding your father, Cindy, and the Sudanis in case he ran into any problems dealing with us.”

“Michelangelo smoked us out,” Jannie said, interrupting Mike and smiling in Michelangelo’s direction.

“I can’t imagine how he did that but obviously it all had a good conclusion and what happened to Mr Assad?”

“Let’s just say that he wasn’t a very good swimmer,” Galela said looking in the direction of Heinrich and Suleiman, who both smiled knowingly.

Christian tried to imagine what had happened and realised that he obviously needed the full picture to understand. Hopefully, his father would fill in the details later.

“Well, I’m glad it all worked out. Now we only need to deal with Kariba.”

“After all the drama and once the smoke cleared, I did get your phone,” Isabella said handing it to Christian.

“Thanks. Perhaps now we can find out what the ICC would like us to do with Kariba.”

“We will leave you to deal with that. Galela and I are going to go and check the mortuary and Kariba, Heinrich, and Suleiman will stay here for the rest of the night in case any of Kariba’s gang are brave enough to return. Emmanuel has suggested that if the ICC can evacuate Kariba from Goma, we could sedate him and transport across in an ambulance. See if your contact at the ICC can organise a plane to pick him up from Goma airport.”

“Christian, Cindy and I are going to go and help the Sudanis clean up their house. Jannie, if you want to talk to Christian, could you check his blood pressure and pulse? They were fine when I left him. You could tell him about what happened and then come and join us.”

“We will also give you a bit of space with Christian,” Heinrich said. “We will just be outside, so just shout if you need anything.”

“Sounds like a plan, as they say in South Africa. So you people go on. I will talk to my son here a little bit more and we will see what the woman from the ICC has to say.

Christian looked in his address book briefly wondering about the time. It was now 10 PM in Garanyi, an hour earlier in Brussels. He found Petrea’s number and sent a text explaining that they had Kariba in custody.

“How do you think your mother will react when she hears about your latest adventure?”

“She’s very phlegmatic as you may remember. She will be concerned, however delighted that everything is okay, and I can just imagine she’s going to want to be in Cape Town when we arrive.”

“I think it’s amazing that she hasn’t remarried. She is such an attractive woman still judging by those photos on your phone.”

“I often wondered that same thing. Nothing ever seemed to get started with her from a relationship point of view. I remember that there was one anaesthetist who turned up when I was about fourteen years of age. He seemed to be interested in her but it never progressed beyond friendship. It was the same with a number of other men and I wondered whether she had lost interest in men when you disappeared from her life. That Tom Jones record I asked you about, she plays that about every six months or so. At least she did up until about a year ago. I think she had a candle burning for you, and I assumed it was really a love that you two had shared that she couldn’t replace.”

“That was very much the same for me. Over the years there have been visiting doctors. One very attractive German woman specialising in tropical diseases came and worked at the clinic. I was attracted to her but not in the sense that I was with your mother. I knew then that your mother was the love of my life and perhaps there was no other.”

“Well, it’s going to be interesting to say the least to see you two in the same room again.”

“Yes, I can’t wait, but I’m uncertain about the whole surprise element. That might just be too much for her after this long.”

“Come on, dad, if you’re into that kind of Tom Jones music, you’ve got to be a romantic.”

“Yes I know, but we have been apart long time and even though I feel this way, there might be a lot of other feelings that your mother has to deal with, such as anger, before there can be any kind of reconciliation.”

“It will be fine; Mike and Sian will be there along with Isabella’s mother, Nadine, for support.”

“I know we haven’t talked about the affair that I had with Nadine, and I will need to obviously with your mother, but it’s encouraging that she has obviously dealt with it in her way and still has feelings for me.”

“Strangely Renata and Nadine have become really good friends. It took a bit of adjusting initially, but when it was established that Isabella was not your daughter, they were able to talk and become friends. Nadine apologised to mum and said it was only a few times that things happened and that she knew you really loved mum.”

“Yes, it wasn’t even really an affair. There were three nights when I had been operating late. Things went too far and then we realised that it wasn’t something we wished to continue.”

“Dad, I don’t really need to know any more than that.”

“Yes, I’m sorry that you had to find out about that and then deal with it. From what I’ve seen of Isabella, she is a wonderful young woman and Doctor.”

“When I met her in Cape Town, I thought she was the love of my life. I think I must have inherited some of your genes because I haven’t been able to experience that same feeling with any of the other girls that I have been out with so far.”

“Does Isabella feel the same way?”

“We were talking about that just before Kariba burst in. I wasn’t completely convinced that she felt how I felt about things, but I think she was curious for us to see whether we could recreate any magic once we got Cape Town.”

“Well, it could be an interesting little gathering for a number of reasons then,” Jannie said smiling.

Christian felt the phone vibrate in his hand. He looked down and saw a message from Petrea.
Outstanding news about Kariba. Plane in Goma tomorrow at 2 PM. Do not forget the $5 million reward. Currently in Cape Town, I have missed you.

“What did it say?” Jannie asked. “The ICC will cooperate?”

Christian did not reply for a few seconds. It was the last three words of the text, which he had not expected, and which had taken him a little by surprise. ‘I have missed you’ brought back all the memories of the discussions on the plane with Petrea, and how, when he saw her leave in London, he realised he had similar feelings to when he met Isabella for the first time.

“Christian, are you okay? You look deep in thought; not good news from your contact at the ICC.”

“They can pick Kariba up in Goma tomorrow and will have a plane there at 2 PM.” Christian looked at Jannie, wondering if he was noticing the feelings that he was experiencing.

“Judging by your reaction, I would say the representative from the ICC, without knowing her, has at some stage touched part of your soul. Would that be a good guess by a father who hasn’t seen you for twenty years?”

Christian smiled. “Very intuitive. I did wonder where I got those genes from. It is not something that I can say that I have seen in mum. Petrea is the ICC prosecutor whom I met on a plane going to London. She has coordinated the pickup of Kariba, but she is currently in Cape Town and we might also meet up.”

“My paternal intuition further tells me it is going to be a very interesting meeting in Cape Town.” Jannie laughed.

“I’ll text her back, and let her know that that’s okay for 2 PM tomorrow. And then I had better let Mike and Galela know so that they can start getting transport organised,” said Christian.

“Here is a bit of fatherly advice based on that intuition. Why don’t you text Petrea to call you? Then you can absolutely confirm all the details for tomorrow and any other details for Cape Town. I’ll go and wait outside with Heinrich and Suleiman.”

“That’s a very good suggestion. Thank you. I’ll do that.”

After Jannie had walked out through the partly broken door, Christian could hear him speaking to Suleiman in Afrikaans. It reminded him of the past that he had not yet talked to his father about. He looked at the text message again. Despite what she had texted, and a flirtatious conversation on the plane, he had convinced himself that someone in her position would have many others who would be of more interest. Besides which, he had not yet established whether Isabella was the only one he could have great chemistry with. He knew Isabella wanted to try again to answer the same question. The only thing to do, he resolved, was to tell Petrea about Isabella, and keep the meeting in Cape Town with her at a professional level.

“I hear if we get Kariba to Goma airport, the ICC will pick him up?” Mike said walking back in through the door.

“Yes, that’s all arranged. They will have a plane there at 2 PM with security people and all the papers to be served on him. They just asked whether they would need a medical person to accompany him and I said no.”

“Okay, that’s great. And we discovered some other very good news.”

“Well given what’s happened recently,” Jannie said, “good news is always going to be welcome. What did you manage to find out, Mike?”

“Heinrich and Suleiman were talking to the locals and they told them that Raoul always flies in to Goma on a Lear jet. Dr. Sudani allowed them to take the ambulance, and they drove across and the Lear jet is parked on the runway, refuelled and waiting for his return. They also found out the two pilots are staying at the Ihusi Hotel. They have persuaded them to fly us all to Cape Town tomorrow!”

“Is that legal?” Jannie asked.

“Well, we did suggest that the Lear jet could be impounded by the Congolese authorities when we reveal what Raoul was involved with; the pilots suddenly offered to fly us to Cape Town, then be allowed to directly return to Damascus,” Mike said with a smile and a wink at Christian.

“Well, that sounds very legal, co-opting a plane for a real medical evacuation! I believe Lear jets have a full-length bed, which will also make it easier for Christian. I have to smile; Mike, some things over the years clearly haven’t changed with you.”

Mike laughed. “Well, you know what they say, keep the best parts and improve the worst. And it’s great to have you back, Jannie.”

“Okay, now that you two have finished eulogising the past, have you let Sian know and Renata or Nadine?”

“I spoke to Sian on the phone, and she contacted Renata and found out she has managed to get a flight from Australia tomorrow and will get in at 9 PM. Renata said to say hi to you and that she was looking forward to seeing you and had a surprise to show you.”

“Well, she doesn’t realise obviously the surprise that we are bringing might well upstage hers,” Christian said, smiling and looking in the direction of his dad.

“No indeed. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she sees you, Jannie.”

“Mike, will you have enough room for us all to stay at your place?” Christian asked.

“What we thought we would do, since we will arrive first, is take you and Jannie to our place. Nadine is going to be at the airport to pick up Isabella. Given your history with Nadine Jannie, it might well be prudent to keep you hidden so that Renata is the first to see you the next day.”

“Yes, I agree with that. I’ve had a brief chat with Christian. He agrees that would be much more sensitive and then I can hopefully, with Renata’s help if she forgives me, deal with the Nadine saga later on.”

“So where is mum going to stay?”

“At the Mount Nelson, a beautiful old Victorian hotel, fifteen minutes from where we live. Renata arrives at about midnight, so Sian has arranged a car to pick her up and take her to the hotel. We thought it would be less disruptive that way even though your mum is keen to see you. And then we thought that if your mum and dad get on as we expect they will, they might need a little bit of romantic downtime together!”

“Way too much information for a son.” Christian smiled

“Sian thought that Renata would also be a little bit jetlagged and that we should arrange for her to come to our place for lunch. Jannie, would that make you the entree or the main course?”

“Very funny, Mike. As I said, some things don’t change!”

“And of course Christian, with the great progress that you are making, we expect you to be walking by the weekend. With your bowels now working, we can move you up to eating something more solid.”

“That sounds good, dad. I am starting to get a bit hungry which I guess is another good clinical sign and I don’t have any pain.”

“Okay you two. Enough of a clinical discussion. Here are the details. Heinrich and Suleiman are staying at the Ihusi Hotel to make sure we have pilots in the morning. Heinrich is an amateur pilot so he will check and make sure everything is ready. Dr. Sudani is going to come with us in the ambulance. We all have white coats to make it look more official and Galela will ride with Michael in the front.”

“With the damage to the door here, we are going to move you down to Dr. Sudani’s tonight, Christian, in the ambulance. Then we’ll all leave from there in the morning.”

“Dad, you might want to talk to Isabella tonight a little bit about what happened with you and her mother.”

“We have already done that, so don’t worry. She was as understanding as you. I just hope your mother is when I meet her.”

“I’m sure she will be, dad, especially with some positive input from your son.”

“Cut!” Mike interjected. “You’ll both have me in tears soon.”

“As though that would happen,” Jannie said laughing aloud.

Half an hour later the ambulance arrived. With Isabella’s help, Christian walked to the ambulance and up the back steps for the short journey to Dr. Sudani’s. The few bumps along the way reminded him of his abdominal wound. He put his hand under his T-shirt and felt the very fine wound. He thought he must thank his dad again for doing such a good job.

Chantal was at the front door as they arrived and waved the ambulance up the driveway. The door was opened from the outside, and Christian was confronted by Emmanuel’s smiling face, as he made to walk down the rear steps of the ambulance.

“Let me come in and give you a hand.”

“He’s walking by himself,” Isabella said proudly from inside the ambulance.

Christian, holding onto his intravenous line, walked carefully down the steps, with Emmanuel holding his elbow for extra support as he stepped onto the ground.

“So nice to see you back and in one piece,” Chantal said as he walked up the back stairs.

“Nice to be back and in one piece,” Christian said smiling at her.

“We have rearranged the bedrooms. I have put a spare bed in your room, and Isabella is going to sleep in there, in case anything happens such as a temperature or you wanting to vomit. We are going to put your father in the front room.”

“That’s great. Thank you,” said Christian.

“I will make sure he behaves,” Isabella said with a mock reassurance, causing Chantal to laugh.

“The big thing is going to be everyone getting a good sleep after all the drama. There is a five hour flight to Cape Town tomorrow. Now that Christian can eat a little, how about an early supper and then we all have an early night.”

“Eating Chantal’s food again sounds great,” said Christian.

Chantal made ratatouille as she thought Christian may not be up to spicy food. The mix of tomatoes, garlic, onions, and courgette with a little bit of basil, was just what Christian needed to satiate his hunger. He was also desperate to try a slice of Chantal’s home-made bread, but Jannie intervened and suggested they just wait and see how he got on with the ratatouille. Bread, he reminded Christian, in the early stage of bowel functioning can clog things up. At the end of the meal, the conversation turned to the departure in the morning and all the events of the last few weeks.

“We will be sorry to see you all go,” said Emmanuel.

“I think I would like to come back at some stage,” Isabella said, “if you would have me. It seems like here I could use my training in tropical medicine to the best advantage.”

“We would be delighted to have you back, Isabella, as well as Christian with Jannie.”

“I think I can say from everyone that we are extremely grateful to you and Chantal for looking after us. I think we all need to sort out a few things in Cape Town and then stay in touch and see where things lead us. And then contact you about returning,” said Christian.

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Emanuel.

“And of course, the Sudanis could always visit us in Australia, dad. Couldn’t they?”

“Maybe, but perhaps it’s going to depend a little on your mother!”

“Well, on that note, I think we should all go to bed. It will be quite involved and busy day tomorrow,” said Mike.

Christian got into bed, having decided with Isabella’s help that he no longer needed intravenous drip. He released the mosquito net as Isabella searched through her backpack. Uncertain as to whether he should watch, he politely turned his back. The sound of her getting undressed was strangely exciting.

“And what might you be thinking? I can feel you thinking something,” said Isabella from behind his back.

“The thought of you naked in the same room as me brings back some of those great memories.”

“Don’t get too excited. I’m still in my underwear which, this being Africa, is not as pretty or as exotic as you may remember.”

Christian felt the mosquito net lift up and as he glanced up and saw Isabella’s face next to his. She kissed him on the cheek.

“That’s all the foreplay you are allowed before Cape Town. Doctors’ orders and if you misbehave, I’ll have the surgeon talk to you.”

Christian laughed. “Good night, Isabella. Sleep well. See you in the morning. Can’t wait for Cape Town”

The smell from Chantal’s coffee drifted into the bedroom. Christian stirred, looked across at Isabella, who was still sound asleep under her mosquito net, and wondered what it would be like making love to her again. Would there be that same wonderful feeling?

“Are you two awake yet?” Chantal called from outside the door. “Coffee is made; Mike and Galela are just checking the ambulance again outside and then coming in for coffee.”

Christian quickly got dressed. He lifted up the mosquito net covering Isabella and kissed her gently on the cheek.

“Mike and Galela are here. Time to go.”

Christian waited for Isabella to dress and then they quickly walked through into the kitchen. Sitting on the stools around the kitchen bench, each with a steaming cup of coffee, were Mike and Galela.

“Did you sleep well, my young friend? I hope your snoring didn’t disturb Isabella,” Mike said smiling at Chantal.

“No, it didn’t,” Isabella said over Christian’s shoulder. “And there was no sleepwalking either, if that’s what you were thinking, Mike.”

“Can’t imagine I would be thinking that about you two at all,” Mike laughed.

“We have Kariba sedated in a coffin in the ambulance. We will need to go in about fifteen minutes. The Goma border is ten minutes down the road. He will remain sedated for about twenty minutes,” Galela said.

“And if there are any delays and he wakes up?” Jannie asked.

“We have a small bore intravenous line tracking out through the bottom of the coffin. Isabella and I will be in the back of the ambulance with you and if he makes any noise, we will give him a 20 mg bolus of propofol.”

Chantal wished them luck, hugging both Christian and Isabella before they climbed into the back of the ambulance. Mike said goodbye to Chantal, and climbed in through the back door and sat next to Isabella. Christian lay under a sheet on the bed opposite the coffin. Jannie and Mike then quickly hooked a dummy intravenous line before taping it realistically to Christian’s arm. Mike then peered through one of the tiny peepholes in the coffin at Kariba. After a few seconds, he stood up and smiled at them all and said,

“Perfect – breathing but not stirring.”

The connecting window to the cab slid back and Emanuel’s face appeared.

“All ready to go,” he said

Mike nodded as Emanuel held up the paperwork and signalled to Galela sitting next to him to start driving towards the border. Fortunately, being early in the morning, the roads were not yet crowded with people walking to and from the border. Galela, however, couldn’t avoid all the potholes, each of which caused a disconcerting dull thump as Kariba’s body knocked against the side of the coffin. Christian hoped it wasn’t too much of a stimulus that could wake him up. It took about six or seven minutes from the Sudani’s to get to the border crossing. Christian felt the ambulance slowing and knew that they must be close.

“Border crossing coming up in one-minute,” Emanuel called through the sliding window, which he then closed.

Christian felt the ambulance stop. The front door then opened and he could hear Emmanuel explaining to the security guards that they had patients for transfer to Goma hospital. His French wasn’t good enough to understand much more but he heard the conversation moving along the side of the ambulance to the rear door. He looked at Isabella and Mike.

“Isabella, do you understand what they’re saying?”

“They want to look inside the coffin to make sure nothing else was being transported across the border.”

“Shit!” Mike said. “We need to give him 10 mg of propofol to make sure he doesn’t move when I open the coffin.”

Christian watched as Mike quickly took a syringe already loaded with the propofol. Jannie lifted the top end of the coffin so that Mike could find the IV line connected through the coffin to Kariba.

“There is a chance that this could overdose and kill him. But better to take that chance than to be charged with human trafficking,” Mike said as he injected the propofol and then tucked the intravenous line underneath the coffin again. He had just sat back on the bed next Isabella when the back door opened. Emmanuel rolled his eyes in a look of fatalistic expectation. Behind him were two guards in military uniforms, each with an automatic weapon. One of the guards handed his weapon to the other and climbed into the back of the ambulance.