The Intern Affair (29 page)

“Let’s go to the ferry terminal together,” Samir suggested, getting up, “then we can keep the taxi and go on to the gardens, if you wish.”

“No, Samir. No thank you,”
Ghali
countered decisively.
He wanted to be left on his own from now on.
He had learned a lot about himself that morning and he needed to think how he was going to handle the months ahead. “If you don’t mind, I’ll find my own way home.”

An hour later, Samir and Talya were walking along the trails of the
Butchard
Gardens
. She looked at the flowers, the trees and saw nothing. Samir remained silent. He knew the turmoil Talya was experiencing. There were no words to describe adequately what she felt, except ‘torn’.
God, please don’t abandon me,
she pleaded, quietly lifting her head to the sky.

33

“
Charos
.”

“Jim here.
It’s not going down.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?”

“When we got to the apartment, she was gone.”

“Gone where?”

“We tailed the boyfriend. He got us to
Victoria
. She’s at the Empress.”

“So?”

“Just making sure; d’you still want to
put her out of circulation or…
?

“Get rid of her!”
Charos
shouted in Jim’s ear. “Is that clear enough for you? She’s too slippery for my liking. She’s trouble, big trouble
—
”

“But we’ve got a problem.”

“What’s that?”

“The boyfriend’s gone back.”

“Are they together or not?”

“No. We haven’t even seen her yet. It’s weird.”

“I don’t need any ‘weird’. Just get her. I don’t care how you do it. Don’t call me with any more explanation. Just do your job.”
Charos
hung up.

Jim, receiver still in hand, dialled another number.

“
Gary
?”

“Yeah.”

“Get her—and this time,
eliminate
her.”

“But she’s got the other guy with her
—
”

“What other guy? I thought the boyfriend was gone.”

“…the Arab guy
—
”

“Gees; what’s this woman into? Anyway get her alone, and then get rid of her—d’you hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you. I’ll be in touch.”

34

“What’s the matter?”
Samir asked. “Do you want to return to the hotel?”
He had stopped and turned to
face
her.

She raised her
gaze
up to his. Tears welled at the rim of her eyes.
Talya wanted to return to
Africa
at that very minute. She couldn’t enjoy anything anymore until she saw
Kareef
dead.
Vengeance, as virulent as she could feel it, was insidiously penetrating her soul. She felt hate adorn her every thought. She felt rage fuel her every move and she began to feel an insatiable need to destroy anything in her path.

Samir saw the flare of revenge gleam
ing
in her eyes.
Saying nothing, he took her hand and led her out of the gardens, under Talya’s mild protest. She wanted to be alone.

Once back at the hotel, Samir closed the door of his suite, and throwing the key on the table, he said with severity, “Sit down.
I’ll come and join you in a minute.”

She sat down and watched him go to the bedroom, uncomprehending.

When he returned, he had
taken
off his jacket and necktie, and had rolled up his shirtsleeves.
He pulled her up and, taking her in his arms, he kissed her feverishly. Talya didn’t return the kiss; she fought back, trying to free herself, horrified.

Then releasing her brusquely, he pushed her down on the sofa. “Now, if you want to kill anyone you’ll have to kill me first for the disrespect I just demonstrated to you.”

Talya was aghast.
Kareef
’s face was all she could see in front of her eyes; Samir wasn’t there,
Kareef
was.

It was all she could do not to scream.
Samir stood towering over her but didn’t make a move to touch her.

Eventually, recovering slightly from the shock, and between gasps for air, she uttered, “Don’t ever do that again!
It hurts more than a beating would. How could you?” She got up—all she wanted was to get away from him now. He grabbed and held her wrist. “Let me go!”

“No.” Anger still flared in her eyes when he wrapped his arms around her gently. “You cannot let vengeance fill your mind, Talya. I saw it in your eyes. I saw something I never thought could exist in your heart. And I needed to show you how vengeance feels before you decided to become its companion.”

“How could you?” she repeated.

“Look at me.” She lifted her head apprehensively. “Do you understand what’s happening to you?”

“No, I don’t. I only know a woman is dead because of me, the man I loved is in hospital, suffering inconceivable pain, and a friend is lying beside him dying, all because of what I have done … and you, you … of all people … you forced yourself on me.”

Samir led her down to sit beside him on the sofa and put an arm around her shoulders.

A moment of silence passed between them, a time to ponder.

“Do you realize that you’ve put yourself in the same category as those men who have pushed themselves on me?”

Samir turned his head to look at Talya—ruefulness was all she could see in his eyes.

“I had hoped you would understand, but I suppose you haven’t.”

“Understand what? If you wanted to show me how vengeance feels, Samir, that’s not the way to go about it—not with me.”

“You need to cleanse the vengeance lining your heart, Talya.”

“Maybe, but now I resent you for what you did. Just tell me
,
how do you expect me to show you the respect you deserve or to continue with the friendship we have built, if you are not behaving any better than
Alhassan
did. And
Alhassan
never, never did what you did just now—he always tried to show me how much he loved me but never forced a kiss, or forced me into anything we didn’t want to do.”

“Please forgive me, Talya, I was wrong—very wrong indeed.”

“Forget it. I thought you were a better man, a man who understood how I feel.”

“And how do you feel?”

“Angry, Samir, just angry.”

He peered into her eyes. “We have a very long way to go together—isn’t that what you’ve told me this afternoon?”

“Yes, but—”

“Listen, Talya, you’re going to go back in time with me. During that journey, we will meet the enemies, but we will not be able to face them if either of us succumbs under the pressure of vengeful thoughts.”

Talya didn’t want to hear any sermon, she was still seething.

“Tell me, how can I do that? These
enemies,
as you call them; they’re out there . . . Tell me how, Samir, how can I turn my back on them?”

He shook his head.
“Only in prayer will you find strength and justice. I don’t mean prostrating yourself before God; I mean letting your mind be at one with goodness and charity, which are in your soul. Those are powerful weapons, Talya.
They will lead the way to a just victory. God is a figure drawn in our minds but he is only an image of our own selves—”

Startling both of them, the phone rang. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead and without warning, fear invaded Talya’s thoughts. Samir looked at her and reached for the receiver beside the sofa.

“This is Captain
Mandalay
.” His voice was firm and annoyance tinted the words. “…Yes she is.
Do you want to speak to her? …I understand. What is it?”

Talya was anxious to hear the answer to that question, so she moved to get up and go to the bedroom to pick up the phone’s extension. Samir grabbed her arm and sat her down again, his gaze was gentle, yet disapproval lined his face.

“…Thank you,
Charles
. I will have to call you later or I’ll see you maybe on Monday if there is no other news in the meantime. But for now if you’ll excuse me, I will have to deal with this.”

When Samir hung up, he rose, went to the bedroom and closed the door uttering not a word.

Talya was stunned. She wanted to cry out for she was seeing
Kareef
’s face again.
She closed her eyes for a minute to try erasing the image from her mind.

When the silence of the suite seemed to envelop her, she went out, noiselessly returning to her room. As she closed the door behind her, she made up her mind; she desperately wanted to be alone, to find solitude and peace somewhere amid her troubled thoughts.

She changed into her old jeans and sneakers, slipped into her warm sweater and crept out of the room. She quickly passed the lift and took the stairs down to the ground floor where she found herself outside in a side street. It was nearly four o’clock.

She walked quickly to the Brownstone Inn and stopped in front of the building, looking at it from the footpath opposite. It was a friendly place. She saw nothing.
She crossed the street and looked at the inn’s front door, and the stones surrounding it. There was no memory there. Her heart was cold as the stones facing her.
She wondered if she had become numb to the memories.
Maybe
Mansur
’s death—she was sure that the news had been of his dying—had cleansed her memory somehow. Although she didn’t believe that it could be the sole reason for her temporary blindness. She entered the lobby and went to sit in one of the chairs.

The concierge, who recognized her immediately, came to greet her. “Ms
.
Gilmore
, it’s good to see you again.
Isn’t the doctor with you this wee
ken
d?”

“No, he wasn’t able to stay this time, but we’ll be back soon I’m sure,” Talya replied airily
.

“Would you like to have some tea?”

“No, no thank you. I’m expected somewhere else for tea, but thanks for asking.”

“You’re very welcome. I’ll be right here, if you need me.” He walked away.

Talya sat there for a long while. The familiar surroundings seemed to soothe the latent ache in her heart.
She remembered the Grand Hotel and
Alhassan
at the bottom of the grand staircase, waiting for her on the day they first met. She thought of all of those meetings they had with
Mansur
and his words of caution.
She recalled their lunch at ‘Les Almadies’ and their talks on the balcony. He had been so right and so intuitive, and he had been the first man to raise his hand against
Kareef
.
Ultimately,
Kareef
had succeeded in having him killed.
How, how did he do it?
Imperceptibly, that question began to jostle its way to the forefront of her thoughts. Talya’s determination to exact revenge on
Kareef
, clouded her capacity to focus, yet she felt there was an ever-increasing need to find out the
why
and the
how
behind these murders.

“My Lady, have you forgotten? We have a dinner date…,” Samir said, bending over Talya, smiling.

She hadn’t seen him come in.
She looked up at him and returned the smile her eyes filled with tears.

“Please forgive me, Talya. Could we go somewhere and talk?”

Talya nodded and got up to lead him to the inn’s Tea Room, where they found a table near the bay window and sat down.

The waiter brought them some tea and asked if they wanted some sandwiches or scones.

“Just tea will be fine, thank you,” Samir replied quickly.

Talya couldn’t wait to ask, “It’s
Mansur
, isn’t it? He died didn’t he?”

“Yes,
God
has seen fit to end his pain—”

“Why didn’t you say anything when you heard the news?”

“I couldn’t show you how much vengeance there was in my mind at that moment.”

“And why did you force yourself on me, Samir? Coming from you … I don’t understand. I really don’t.” She shook her head.

“I knew you didn’t understand the minute I released you. I was very wrong, Talya. What’s even worse is that I didn’t foresee the damage—treating you this way—could do to our friendship. I am sorry.”

Talya didn’t reply immediately—forgiveness seemed so hard to impart now. “Perhaps time will allow me to show you how I feel, but for now, Samir, I’ll have to think about everything you said.”