The Code War (33 page)

Nancy wondered if Shai ever said
anything serious without bringing humour into it.

He continued with his serious
face.
'Some of your past is hoping to
catch up with you, leap into the present with you and take over
your future. And that part don't mean you any good.' He allowed
that to sink in.

'And some of your past is ahead of
you already and trying to put a halt to what's already over. And
that part don't mean you any bad.' He was full of helpful
pauses.

'And some of it's beneath you and
some of it's above you, figuratively speaking. But all of it's
around you. Even now. Are you with me so far?'

Nancy shook her head.

Shai laughed and held his chest as
he wheezed. 'What do you mean?' he said. 'I've been as clear as I
could be.'

He was laughing and wheezing so hard
Nancy was genuinely worried for him. She stroked his arm.

'Shai. That sounds like a riddle.
You surely didn't bring me here just to tell me that?'

'No, I didn't bring you here to
tell you that. I brought you here to meet you. Because I haven't
got much time left. I know that. And I got to thinking about
Miriam and Mikey, your parents, and how you got
cut off from the family. And that's why I got in touch with your
Aunt Mary. Because family is important.'

'I'm glad you did.'

'Really? Well that's great because
I thought to myself, Shai, you've got to make the effort. You've
got to reach out to that girl. No matter what it costs
her.'

Nancy looked into the bright
twinkling eyes and felt that every penny put into this trip had
been well spent.

Shai hadn't finished. 'But then I
thought well, while she's here maybe I could talk to her about
what's ahead, because…'

'Shai. Just a minute. You said I
shouldn't ask how you know what you know. But how do you? Can you
really see my future?'

'OK.
'
Shai summoned her with his fingers. 'Come here close, because I
have to tell you something that few people are aware of. Actually,
it would be embarrassing if my friends found out.'

Nancy was apprehensive but she
bent forward so that Shai could whisper into her ear. 'In fact, I
might get thrown out of the kibbutz as a loony if this becomes
generally known.'

Nancy whispered even more softly.
'Shai. Are you going to tell me what it is? Or should I go for a
walk and come back later?'

He smiled. 'OK. Here it is. I'm
religious.'

'Oh, you are?'

'See. I knew you'd be shocked.' He
looked around and behind him. 'Promise you won't tell
anyone?'

'Yes of course. But why is that
important?'

'You see,
one day while I was praying you swam into my head. Not as
pretty as you are in real life, of course.' He raised his thumbs in
emphasis. 'And you really swam. Because you were in a whirlpool.
And it sucked you in. Only the funny thing was, it didn't matter
that you got sucked in. There were these great tree roots beside
the whirlpool and you hung onto them and used them to climb out.
And I knew it was a metaphor. You were safe, so long as you hung on
to your roots.'

'My roots?'

'Yes, your roots. And anyone, even
someone innocent, like me for instance, might be part of that
whirlpool. Unwittingly.'

'What roots exactly?' Didn't Doreen say
something like this?

'If you don't know, I can't tell you.'
Shai was deadpan. No twinkle this time.

'Oh. I thought you were going to give me
some answers.'

'
The
best answers are those you find for yourself. Some answers can't be
given to you. But what I want to say to you is this. Whatever
you're getting into, it's dangerous. And if that concerns you, you
should back out now.'

A solitary magpie flew past the
window, wings outstretched, braced to land.
Nancy envied it the ability to fly off any moment it wanted
to. Shai wasn't making her life any easier.

He
squeezed her hand again to get her attention. 'We'll go for
lunch now, in the canteen. But first, I've got something for you. I
wanted to hand you this personally. I didn't want to put it in the
post.'

Shai thrust his hand in his pocket
and produced a small piece of folded pink gift-wrap paper. He held
it in his upturned left palm and began to unfurl the
corners.

'I'm sure she'd want you to have
these.'

As Shai pulled back the last
corner of paper Nancy's eyes opened wide.
There in his palm lay two exquisite jade
earrings.

Nancy picked
one of them up and held it in front of her. The housing and
clasp were of filigree gold but it was the perfect proportions and
the slender tear drop cut of the precious stone that enchanted the
eye. She turned it around, letting the light catch it.

'They're
beautiful
. Even I can see the workmanship
is amazing.'

'
Valuable too. If you ever need to sell them, they'll more
than make up the cost of your trip to Israel. But they're a big
part of why I asked you to come here. You see they were given to me
when your mother died. For safe-keeping. You were young and the
family were worried you might lose them. So they sent them to me
because I was an archaeologist.'

Nancy looked at him curiously.

'Yeah, I know. Odd choice. As
though an Israeli ruin-hunter is going to know about jewellery
that's come from Russia. But no-one in the family knew about
antiques so they figured an archaeologist was the next best thing.
Anyway, they didn't know if these were genuine or just picked off a
market stall.'

'
If
these came from a market I'd love to visit it.'

'
Exactly. Well I didn't know anything about eastern
jewellery, obviously. All my work has been here in Israel. But I
used some of my connections.'

'Mm hmm?
'

'Well it turns out these earrings
were made over three hundred years ago. In China. At the end of the
Ming dynasty. How and when they got into our family I don't know.
But this I can tell you. They once belonged to your great great
grandmother.'

'It's a big car, Nancy. With a
huge back seat. You know, you're lookin
g
particularly attractive right now. How about if we stop in a lay-by
for a little while and…'

'No.'

'Oh, please Nancy. I've worked so hard
for you today.'

'I'm just not in the mood alright? I've
had a busy few days and I've got a lot to think about.'

Silence. The big Jaguar scooped up
the miles and threw them behind. Pete had paid for the luxury car
even though his aristocratic secret was out. He had no need to
honour his commitment but he had chosen to do so. Nancy knew she
had won him over. She had won them all over. She had kept their
secrets even as she pulled them this way and that and made them
play her game. They knew it and loved her for it.

They were already halfway back to Eilat.
Nancy was tired and had almost fallen asleep.

'Anyway.
' She was out of her reverie now. 'I want to hear about
your chat with Shai. I wasn't paying much attention. What did he
tell you? Was it worth talking to him?'

Andy became animated again. 'Yes,
wasn't it incredible that your great uncle turned out to be an
archaeologist?'

'Yes
,'
said Nancy. 'Incredible.'

Andy turned and laughed. 'Anyway,
I just asked him a couple of questions and immediately he was off
and running. I could barely write notes fast enough to keep up with
him. He talked about the Assyrians and the Hittites and the Essenes
and Idumeans. He talked about the evidence for King David in
Jerusalem, which is not much, and the fortress at Masada. But
mostly, he talked like all that stuff was real. He made it come
alive. He's done more to light my fire on middle east history than
hours of lectures at uni. I can't wait to read more. Shards and
bones indeed. Those stories are so much more real than they were
this morning. The people too. I've got to thank you Nancy, it was
well worth giving up a day at the dig.'

He looked across at
her
. 'What about you, did you get what
you wanted from Shai?'

Nancy gazed out of the side
window
for a long while. She watched the
empty vastness of the desert roll by, its unrelenting harshness
stretching out on all sides. Five minutes went past before she
responded.

'
He told
me I'm in a whirlpool and I can still jump out,' she said
eventually, so softly that Andy almost couldn't hear. She turned
away from the window, unfurled her left hand and looked down at the
two antique earrings that nestled comfortably in her palm. 'But if
I jump out, I'll never know what was inside it. And I may never
find my roots.'

Café Haifa, Eilat,
Israel

'Maybe we have to kill you.' Habib
faced Nancy sternly across the table. He stubbed his cigarette into
the ashtray as two plumes of smoke vented from his nostrils and
curled around her neck. 'But not today.'

'I'm pleased.'
A revolving fan blew the smoke away.

He regarded her with a puzzled
frown. Nancy's calm manner was frustrating him. She liked it that
he had no idea how to handle her.

'
I have
checked out your story, Nancy, and it seems everything you told me
is correct.' Habib took three packets of sugar, broke them open one
by one and stirred them into his espresso. 'A man was killed two
days ago by a mob at a fishing village near Banjul and a white
woman was seen in the area. Our police contacts are not involved in
child slavery themselves. But they say your story is believable. We
have looked for the lorry but it has gone.'

'Sorry about the lorry.'

'No matter,' said Habib with a tilt of
the face. 'It is our problem. We do not ask you to replace it.'

'You are magnanimous beyond
measure.'

'Mag…what?'

'It..it means you have a big heart.'

Habib searched Nancy's face closely. He
was looking for any sign of weakness or deceit but her continued
gentle sarcasm combined with her willingness to look him straight
in the eye, without apparent rancour, was surprising him. There was
a long pause while Habib carefully selected his next words. In
English, his third language.

'I can not
use you in Israel,' he said finally. 'You know neither
Arabic nor Hebrew. Likewise Africa. The fact of your skin colour
maybe take people by surprise for a while. But long term your skin
no good there. You would be like a deer swimming through a pool of
crocodiles.'

He sipped his supersweet espresso. Nancy
watched.

'But t
here is someone who maybe like to meet you.'

'Uh-huh.'

'But not here. Not Israel.'

'Uh-huh.'

'I have spoken about you. It is possible
that my employer can use someone like you in England.' Nancy's
heart sank. She didn't want to go back to boring England. 'But
first you need to learn our ways, understand how we do things. You
know the name of our organisation?'

'Brother. Lafi told me.'

'Do not speak the name often,' Habib
instructed. 'Just say 'the company'.

'The company. Fine. Who wants to meet
me?'

'I spoke to Mr Lo myself,
yesterday.
He is the boss of the company.
The company is based in Hong Kong.' Nancy could feel her mouth go
dry. This was more like it. 'He very pleased to have the medicine
cargo back. He thank you for that.'

'Glad I could help.'

'But he also say a white face in
Hong Kong may be good for him too. Or maybe not, who can say? Mr Lo
is building a worldwide logistics operation. He needs more staff.
It useful for him to have clever people without criminal record.
Clever people like you maybe.'

Habib took another cigarette from
his pack and lit it.

'But I take a big risk. If you
work well with Mr Lo, it reflect on me. Maybe they give me some of
Egypt to expand. Maybe Cairo itself.' He blew out a cloud of smoke.
'But if you fail, it will cost me.'

He looked at her, clearly trying to read
her intentions.

'Anyway, I decide to take risk on
you. You will go to Hong Kong. You will meet with Mr Lo. Perhaps he
can use you. Hong Kong is a place where English is spoken, no? Many
white people there. Tomorrow go to Tel Aviv airport. El Al airlines
desk. There will be a ticket for you to New Delhi for a connecting
flight to Hong Kong. Someone will meet you when you arrive there.
Be discreet with your boy friends, make sure they know
nothing.'

Nancy stared at Habib to make sure she
could trust him. Was he just getting rid of her? Would she get to
Tel Aviv airport only to find nothing there? But what did she
expect, a contract of employment? A big handshake and a 'welcome to
the company' smile?

'I never thought I'd say this, but
'thank you'', said Nancy with sincerity. She held out her hand
before realising it was inappropriate and swiftly withdrew it.

Habib stood up, gave a slight bow and
left.