The Intern Affair (71 page)

“The question should be ‘how could I live with myself if I don’t?’ The answer is: I don’t know that I could.”

“Well, Princess, I think I can go and join our cat now.” He didn’t sound convinced.

“Samir, please before you go.” Talya pulled him around to face her “What do you think of our new agent, Diallo? 
Christian
and I feel that something is wrong.”

Samir raised his head to the ceiling. “
God
, save me from the feline population of this
earth, please.” Then to Talya,
“Just let
Christian
worry about that. I have a role to play tonight and a job to do tomorrow. So let’s concentrate on what we’re supposed to do.”

“But, I think—”

“All right, Talya, enough!” He grinned and took her in his arms before leaving the room.

118

Samir walked down
the hall, entered the reception area and went down to the lounge where he found Khumar waiting for him. The latter stood up and waited for him to sit down. “
Christian
will be right back,
Your Highness
. Diallo has been recalled unexpectedly and will be on a plane to
Gabon
tonight.” 

“That’s fine, Khumar. I think the two of you will be able to handle the little man with the moustache by yourselves.”

“Like they say,
three is a crowd
,” Khumar said with a devious smile crossing his lips.

Samir nodded. “I have several questions regarding our friends in
Dakar
;
however, we will not broach this subject until later tonight.”

The ‘target’ was sitting three tables down from them. He was likely to hear every single word the two men pronounced from now on, especially if they talked about
Alhassan
or
Charles
.

They didn’t order anything from the bar, since they planned to eat a late lunch in the dining room if or when ‘the little man’ decided to do the same. A short while later
Christian
came bouncing through the terrace door, a broad grin
crossing his face.
He hadn’t swallowed the proverbial canary yet but he looked as if he did. “I am very sorry for my absence,
Your Highness
, but I had to accompany M
r.
Diallo to the airport.  There are some problems on one of our oil platforms in
Gabon
that need attention.”

“That’s fine,
Christian.
I will look into it when I call the office later tonight. We can’t have production interrupted until we reach our quota for this quarter.  Besides, the tankers wouldn’t be waiting indefinitely,” Samir said loud enough so that everyone in the lounge would hear him.

The curtain had been lifted on the first act.

119

When
Carl
entered
the bedroom of his friend and partner, he found the latter sitting in the chair beside the window. He looked downcast and concerned.

“The
reports of your death have been greatly exaggerated
, I see,”
Carl
said, grinning while shaking hands with
Charles
.

“Indeed they have,
Carl
. Pull up a chair and let me get you up to date. The week is almost gone and we need to get word from Talya before we can get the news of the drug bust released in the press.”

Charles
was anxious to talk to someone. It had been two days since he had been shot, and it seemed that a week had passed since he had seen or had talked to anyone.

“…and before you are de
clared ‘un-dead’,”
Carl
rejoined, sitting beside
Charles
.

“Yes and that, too.
All I can tell you is that Talya and Samir are now in
Conakry
, and according to
Sir Reginald
, they have forty-eight hours to finish the job. I don’t know if the directors of the Development Funds are prepared to sit on their hands for that long or even defer the signing of the agreements beyond the deadline, if we don’t have the mess cleaned up by that time.” 

“So we can’t move until these directors are satisfied that we have a clean mine site—free of any drug related activities—is that it?”

“In short, yes. As it is, we could talk to them until we’re blue in the face, they wouldn’t budge until the authorities and
Sir Reginald
showed them proof that we have a clean slate.”

“But the drug lords know already that we have uncovered their cache at Sabodala, so what’s stopping us from publishing the news, or
Sir Reginald
from alerting the authorities?”

“If we do that,
Charos
—the man at the helm in
Paris
—is liable to go on a rampage and start killing everyone involved.
Charos
is dying. He has nothing more to lose. As long as the authorities are not involved, he has a chance to make a clean get away. But the minute he hears that the police in four countries have been made aware of his operation, the killings will start.”

“Does that mean that Talya and Samir are on their own?”

“No, not at all. Talya has devised a plan that could only work if the Canadian government were becoming involved. They gladly picked up the ball since they are going to be the ones given the accolade for blowing the drug operation out of the water. She’s got the best intelligence agents working with her and Samir.”

“So…, if I understand this correctly, Talya and Samir are going to remove the linchpin of
Charos
’s operation with the blessing of our government?”

“Not exactly.  She and Samir are going to lure the man into position, thus enabling the agent to complete his assignment. If things turned sour, the agent will have to kill him. I believe we’ve met the agent when
Thomas
and I were with him at the mine.”

“Why do you say ‘I believe we’ve met him’? Aren’t you sure he’s the one assigned to do the job?” 

“
Sir Reginald
gav
e me no assurance on that one.
I suppose it’s better that way. I don’t want to remember
Christian Sylvester
as a
killer
—if there is to be any killing involved. I want to remember him as a person who helped us in cleaning this mess.”

“All right, I hear you.  Now one last question; how’s
Ousmane
handling the delays?”

“He’s fine. He shows signs of impatience from time to time. But when you remind him that he has to stall the show for Talya’s sake, he quickly comes back to his senses.”

“I said it was my last question, but I have another. Do you think
Alhassan
is going to pull through?”

“I have no idea,
Carl
. He’s responding to treatment now. But only when Talya gets back, will we be sure that he’s going to make it.”

“What was that infection
Thomas
told me about?  Did his wounds get infected or what?”

“Yes, they did but not naturally. Like the bullet that I got in my shoulder, the infection was induced and was meant to kill.  Apparently, a different nurse treated him last wee
ken
d and she must have put a dirty dressing on one of the wounds. It took only a few hours for the infection to spread and by the time the night nurse changed the dressing once again, it was too late. It was Khumar, his bodyguard, who thought of checking the clinical trash from the room, when he recalled the change in nursing schedule, and found the infected dressing. Once the lab confirmed the origin of the infection, the rest was easy.”

“But why are you saying that we’ll know for sure that he’s going to make it,
only
when Talya gets back?”

“That’s where romance gets into the picture. You and I know what it means to love a woman, and
Alhassan
is desperately in love with Talya. But he’s made a
huge
mistake; he thought she would fall at his feet in adoration. Talya, as you can appreciate, wouldn’t bow her head to a man let alone fall at his feet, so she pushed him away. Now, here we are…. As I said, maybe when she sees him, she’ll want to take him back.”

“And do you think she will?”

“Frankly, I don’t think so. She’s changed,
Carl
. She has aged ten years at least, since she left
Vancouver
the last time. I saw her at the mine, and the woman is no longer the gentle and innocent secretary we hired two years ago. And she’s been given a prestigious name to start a new life when this is over.”

“You mean she won’t go on with us?  After everything she’s done to see us through?  I can’t believe it.”

“Oh no, she will go on with us all right—stronger than ever. And I was even thinking of something that I wanted to discuss with you later regarding her future in the company.”

“And what was that? You know I don’t like the ‘later’ bit—”

“Not now! Only when she’s back safe and sound.”

“Well, okay. As long as I know that she’s a
Tristan
Lady, that’s enough for me for now.  And what’s that alias you’ve mentioned just now?”

“Lady Sarah Regia Virgo
Khalif Al-Intha
.” 

Carl
was at a loss for words, which was very unusual for him. After all
he
was a lawyer, and they could never keep their mouth shut. “Do you mean to say that our government
has obtained a release from the Emir of Qatar
to use the name?”

“Not quite.
Our pilot is in fact Samir
Hamed Khalif Al-Intha
, nephew of
the former
emir’s
brother and the heir of an immense fortune.”
Carl
looked at his partner agape. 

“You’re joking right?  This is just a cover for the job. Otherwise you know what that means for us?”
Carl
was s
miling broadly now.
“And you don’t have to tell me what that ‘little something’ you wanted to discuss ‘later’ is because I think I know what it is. And if you want my vote on that you’ve got it.”

“As I said,
Carl
, keep all of this for later. I’m dead, remember?”

120

The discussion
on oil fields’ production and money went on for a good fifteen minutes before the
little man
made his first move. Khumar had excused himself after awhile, saying that he had to take care of a few things for tomorrow night’s reception and that he would return later that afternoon.

“I am very sorry to disturb you, gentlemen, but I couldn’t help overhear your conversation and I understand you have a problem,” the
little man
said smoothly, as he approached Samir and looked down at him. “
You see
I am a Liaison Officer for the government of
Gabon
and I may be of assistance.” 

Looking up at the man as if he had laid eyes on him for the first time, “You’re not disturbing us, by all means, please have a seat Mr.…,” Samir said in an appreciative tone of voice.

“A
bdul
Karim
, sir, at your service!” He took a seat between Samir and
Christian.

“My name is
Christian Sylvester
, Mr.
Karim
,”
Christian
said, shaking hands with his prey. And nodding in Samir’s direction, “This is
His Highness
,
Emir
Hamed Khalif Al-Intha
”

“Oh I’m very sorry,
Your Highness
.  I had no idea I was intruding on royalty!”

“You’re not intruding, sir, not at all. I would be very interested to talk to you, really. Would you join us for
a late
lunch
or dinner perhaps?”

“Hum, well…, yes, if you don’t mind, I’ll accept. Very kind of you
,
I’m sure.” 

Christian
walked behind the two men to get to the restaurant at the far end of the lounge.

They sat down and resumed their discussion.

Act Two was unfolding.

121

Two hours later,
Talya woke from a long nap.  When Samir had left, she had ta
ken
a shower and she had slipped into a cream cotton pants, and a shirt-length thawb. She had ordered a tray of sandwiches and a pot of coffee. Now, as she was lying on the bed and looking around her at the room, she remembered the last time she had seen the same grey walls, the plywood furniture and the only high window on the far wall across from the bed.  She and her parents had stayed at the Hotel de France waiting repatriation at the end of one of her father’s contracts. It had been July of her third year of Junior High. On the one evening, her mother had closed the door of a similar room to the one Talya was in now, after telling her that the shame she had brought on
her
during the past few weeks wouldn’t be forgiven. Talya had not forgiven the years of indifference to her suffering her mother had imposed on her either; she and Talya had practically ignored each other’s existence until her father’s death. She had then moved to
Australia
with her mother and had stayed Downunder until her mother passed away. Although, Talya had returned to
Conakry
on a couple of occasions, she had never allowed herself to travel the road to Dubreka to return to her school.