The Intern Affair (32 page)

The line went dead for a second when Samir ended the description of
his
plan.

Ghali
said, “First, I’m very grateful that you’ve called me, but I have no idea if I can pull this off.
It’s not going to be easy. Have you thought of calling the authorities on this?”

“We have thought about it, and we’ve decided against it.
But you don’t have time to argue with me now. Either you accept to help Talya or I’ll hang up . . .”

“Samir! You know I will do it. Just one more question: what about
Charles
?
Have you told him?”

“No, and Talya is asking you to do it. Call him and tell him that we will contact him from the airport.”

“Okay, I’ll be in Tsawwassen when you arrive. Just stay on board until I reach you. The ‘B Deck’ is where I’ll get the vehicle in. Wait for me at the bottom of the stairwell nearest the bow of the ship.”

“That’s a roger,
Ghali
… And, by the way, thank you, my friend.”

“Don’t you even think of mentioning it, Samir; you know how I feel.”

40

Ghali
was in a daze
.
Talya was in serious danger right here, right now.
If he were to be at the rendezvous in due time he needed to get the move on.
As he closed the door of his apartment, he called
Charles
.
He told him of the plan, and that Talya was going to call him once she had reached the airport safely.
Charles
wanted to follow him or to help him, to which,
Ghali
firmly replied that he didn’t want any help from him because that would put him in danger as well. He couldn’t allow his friend and mentor to take any risk at the moment.
Talya needed him alive.

Ghali
was already driving his car toward the hospital when he snapped his cell phone shut.
He needed to get to the emergency desk first.
He arrived in a huff in front of the nurse, and he wasn’t faking it. He was anxious.
Every minute that passed, brought the ferry closer to port and Talya closer to a waiting killer.

“Hi,
Sandy
, I’m glad you’re here.
I’ve got an emergency at
Tsawwassen
Bay
and I need to go with the ambulance to fetch the patients from the ferry.
May I see the schedule?”

“Sure,
Dr. Defray
. I’ll call the attendants. They’re having breakfast but they’ll come right up.”

“Okay, and I’ll need to take a couple of safety suits with us.
Until I know what’s really wrong with these people I’m not going to take a chance.”

“No problem, I’ll get the suits ready.
Do you want an extra one just in case?”

“Sure, why not; better be safe than sorry.”
Ghali
sounded nervous, which he was.

Sandy
called the cafeteria first and was on her way back with three bags containing the suits by the time Joe and Allan, the two paramedics, were coming out of the elevator.

Joe looked detached, almost carefree. “Hi, Doctor!
We hear that we’re taking a little trip down to Tsawwassen. What’s up?” His companion looked curiously at the doctor.

Under normal circumstances, the ship’s captain would have requested the ambulance directly.
For the doctor to be called first was quite unusual.

Ghali
was ready with the response before the question was even posed. “I got a
call from one of my patients.
He’s been in
Africa
lately and he didn’t want to alert anyone of his ailment or create any panic on board before arriving at port.
I know the man and I think it’s just an attack of salmonella, but we’ll see.
He and his girlfriend need to be transported anyway.”

“No problem, Doctor. We’ll be there on time if we go now.
We don’t know what the traffic is like this morning.
Actually, we’d better be going.” Joe and his partner were already walking to the door leading to the ambulances’ parking lot.

As they reached the vehicle, Joe turned to
Ghali
and said, “By the way, Doctor, I forgot to introduce my new partner; this is Allan MacArthy. Allan, this is
Dr. Defray
.” The two men shook hands and they climbed aboard the ambulance.
Ghali
took the attending-physician seat behind Allan.

As they were driving down
Granville Street
toward the bay,
Ghali
decided it was high time to let the two men into the scheme, because if they balked, he would still have time to get a cab and reached the ferry, bringing the protective suits with him. When he finished telling Joe and Allan of his plan, they turned to each other and smiled.
Ghali
stared at them puzzled.

“
Dr. Defray
, knowing you for some years now, I’d have to say you surprise me,” Joe said,
still
smiling while keeping his eyes on the road. “If Allan has no objection, I think we’ll do it, and once we’ve dropped your friends at the airport, we’ll call it in as a false alarm and bill you for it, how’s that?”

“Absolutely perfect, Joe, but if you have any objection, Allan, please say so right now, and I’ll get off the vehicle at the next light.”

“No-no, Doctor. I’ll go along with the plan all right. But I’ll have to ask you if you have thought of alerting the police.” Allan had an inquiring mind,
Ghali
decided.

“Of course I’ve thought about it.
But by the time they get off their asses my friend may be dead; besides, who’s going to believe that an unknown woman is going to be shot or attacked coming off the ferry.
The police would lock
me
up first and ask questions later.”

“And they’d spend the whole week trying to explain how and why it happened,” Joe said.

“I guess it’ll give me the experience of taking patients off the ferry,” Allan said, looking straight ahead of him.

Suddenly,
Ghali
didn’t trust him.
Yet, he had to be sure before going any further. “If you don’t feel comfortable with this, we’ll call it quits right now.”

Joe turned his head toward his new partner. “And if you want, Allan, I can drop you off at the airport on the way down to the ferry and pick you up on the way back. That way, you wouldn’t have to know or be party to any of this.”

“It’s just that I don’t like doing something like this so soon after entering the service. I’m not sure I can sign the report afterwards.”
At least he is honest about it
,
Ghali
thought.

“Okay, I’ll drop you off at the departure’s level at the airport and pick you up later.
In the meantime, if you want to call the office and report me, you can go right ahead, I won’t be afraid to get a reprimand because I attempted to save a woman’s life.”

Wow! Joe didn’t mince words when it came to showing his partner what was what
.

“Okay, okay . . . you made your point.
But if one day this escapade turns sour for both of us, I’ll have to tell what really went on.”

Joe threw a quick glance over his shoulder. “Okay then, let’s do it, Doctor.”

Ghali
felt an immense weight lift
ing
from his shoulders, and pleasure invad
ing
his heart at the thought of being able to help the woman he loved.

41

When Samir returned
to the table, he was grinning from ear to ear.
Talya wondered why.

“What’s the matter? You look like the cat that swallowed the canary.”

“
Ghali
is splendid!
He didn’t even flinch at the idea of putting himself in this predicament.
He thought only of your safety.
Maybe he’s not as selfish as I thought he was.”

“
Ghali
is
not
selfish!” Talya exclaimed. “Where does that come from? He
is
self-centred
, I grant you that; but selfish no—not toward me anyway.”

“I think there was a little bit of both. In any case, we have other things to discuss than
Ghali
’s character flaws.
As I said, he will do what I asked.
And we should go down on ‘B Deck’ soon after reaching port when all of the people have left the ship.”

The ferry arrived at port in time.
The masses disembarked quickly and in the usual organized fashion. Busses and trucks were out first followed by private vehicles. Meanwhile, foot-passengers left the ferry, walking down the gangways leading to the port facilities. Samir and Talya waited until it was time for them to descend to B Deck.
Then, as agreed, Talya played the role of the sick friend in front of an attendant and fell to the ground apparently unconscious.

She heard the attendant rush over, and Samir tell him that he had already phoned an ambulance because his companion had felt faint since departing
Victoria
.
When the attendant was gone to alert his colleagues on B Deck of the impending arrival of an ambulance, Samir lifted Talya off the floor and carried her down the stairwell.
On the way, he whispered, “You’re so light, Princess, that a camel wouldn’t even budge at feeling your weight on his hump.”
Oh God
,
this is not the time for laughter
. Talya couldn’t help smiling, however. “Princess, please….”

When they reached B Deck, Talya heard
Ghali
’s voice order the attendant to put her on a stretcher and to dress her in a safety suit immediately.
He told Samir to slip into another suit and to go quickly into the awaiting vehicle.

While Talya was fitted in the suit with care, a strange voice came to her ear. “My name is Joe, Ms
.
Gilmore
.
I’ll be driving you to the airport, and please, don’t open your eyes until we’re out of here—we don’t know who’s watching. Just leave it to me.”

“You’ll be all right, Ms
.
Gilmore
, don’t worry, we’ll be at the hospital in no time,”
Ghali
said in Talya’s ear.”
Then they lifted the stretcher into the ambulance and closed the doors on Samir,
Ghali
and Talya. Once they were rolling off the ferry and on the road, Talya pulled her hands from under the cover and stretched them toward her two accomplices. They each took one hand and smiled. Relief showed on both their faces.

“Thank you,
Ghali
,” Talya said. “We’re only half way there, but I think now we can breathe a little easier for a while, that until
Kareef
’s men figure out the ambulance trick.
But I’m hoping to be on board of an aircraft before anybody realizes what we’ve done.”

“Talya
,
that was what I wanted to do all along,”
Ghali
said. “Maybe one day we could do this again.”

Samir and Talya choked with laughter.

“Not on your life,
Ghali
,” Talya yelled. “I would never put you in such a position again, but I know what you mean, and I would never be able to ignore the risk you’ve
taken
.
As for sharing the risk, please tell Joe up front how much I appreciate his co-operation, will you?”

“No need, Ms
.
Gilmore
, I’ve heard you, and it was our pleasure to help you.”

All the while Samir stayed silent, smiled and kept looking at Talya as if mesmerized.

“
Ghali
, tell me what did
Charles
say when you called him?” Talya unbuckled the belt and began disrobing from the suit and sitting up.

“He’s dumfounded, Talya, and I think you should call him.” He handed her his cell phone.

“
Charles
?”

“Thank God you’re okay, Kiddo.
Are you at the airport already?”

“On our way. We’ll get there soon, so please listen to what we’ve planned to do and to what I’d like you to do today.”

“Okay, shoot. . .”

“We’re probably going to take the first flight out to
Toronto
. We’ll spend the night at the Airport Hotel where you need to courier my passport, my medical card, the folder with my notes, from my desk, and the medications that
Ghali
will get from my apartment. We have some clothes with us,” Talya added, seeing that the ferry attendant had brought their shopping bags into the ambulance. “And we’ll buy the rest on the way. From
Toronto
, we’ll take a flight to
Paris
and contact Air Location.
Michel
and
Marcel
will get us back to
Africa
as soon as the Lear can take us.
But we’ll phone you from each stop and let you know how we’re progressing.”