BAMAKO - Aribert Raphael (red queen ebook TXT) 📗

“Do you recall seeing the two Air Location pilots this afternoon? I’m a colleague of theirs. I just landed myself. I need to return an item left at the airport by their passenger.”
“Yes, Captain. They’ve registered an hour ago and they also assigned their suite to a lady they had brought along with them.”
“Thank you, Miss Katy. I’ll just call my friends to come and register. We will need to stay the night.”
Samir walked away from the desk and went to sit with Hassan and Mohammed. The smile on his face spelled victory.
“Well, gentlemen, this humble servant has brought you at your destination and has found the lady you were searching for.”
Hassan, abashed by the events, barked at Samir, “That’s impossible!”
Ignoring the rebuff with a shrug, Samir turned to Mohammed. “Monsieur Fade, would you mind hearing me out. At least you, I’m sure, will believe the word of a Touareg.”
“Of course. Hassan meant no disrespect. Please go on.”
“Madame Kartz is here. She’s been escorted to a suite, which the pilots assigned to her. If you wish, I’ll find out which suite it is and we can go and see her.”
Hassan had been listening reluctantly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. Please forgive me,” he muttered.
“Allah will forgive you, if he has not done so already. As for me, I only wish for you to heed my guidance.”
Mohammed hesitated. “What do we do now?”
“Come with me,” Samir said. “You both shall register as my guests. And, follow my lead.”
“All right, let’s go then.” Already, Hassan was up and marching toward the registration desk.
Samir grabbed his arm. “Hassan, please … take my lead.”
They went together, walking calmly, to the awaiting receptionist. They filled out their registration cards and were each given a key to their respective rooms on the fifth floor.
While Miss Katy conversed in Arabic with Samir for a moment, the busboy took the three men’s luggage to their rooms then the trio went up the lift to the sixth floor. They walked silently down the corridor and stopped in front of Talya’s suite. Since Samir had motioned them to keep quiet, they had not uttered a word after leaving the hall.
Samir whispered into Hassan’s ear, “Your lady is in here. Just knock and she will come to you.”
Now that he was only a few feet away from her, Hassan was frozen on the spot. He recalled Talya’s words in her letter: “Please don’t follow me ...”
Mohammed knocked on the door.
64
Talya heard the knock. It had only been two hours since John and Pierre had left. They’d said they would ring her before dinner. Unless they wanted to eat at four o’clock in the afternoon, the visitor wanting entry was unexpected.
Talya was curious but on her guard. She opened the door.
“Hassan…. My God! What are you doing here? Mohammed?” The blood ran up and down her. Seeing them standing there, she could hardly believe her eyes. There was a third man with them. He was dressed in a pilot’s uniform.
“Are you all right?” Hassan’s voice sounded anxious.
“Yes, yes, please, come in, come in.” Talya’s heart was still beating so fast, she wanted to sit down.
“Maybe I should leave you...?” the pilot said.
“No-no, Samir,” Hassan said to the man. “If Talya doesn’t mind, I think you should stay.”
“No, I don’t mind,” Talya said quickly, “but please, do come in. I don’t want to attract undue attention.”
They all trooped through the passage and Talya directed everyone to the living room. Quietly, as if no one dared speak first, they all sat down. The men looked tired.
When Talya had recovered from the shock and found her voice, she lifted her eyes to Hassan. “You look a lot fitter than when I left you. Who was the medicine man who put you back on your feet so quickly?”
“Why did you do it? Why did you leave?” Hassan’s stare didn’t leave her face.
Sitting beside her on the sofa, he had grabbed her hand and seemed in no mood to releasing it any time soon. Mohammed, on the other hand, was watching Talya as if he had not laid eyes on her in eons. His emotions were painted across his face. He looked happy, relieved, embarrassed and maybe a little worried yet—all at once.
“Before getting into all of this, I think we should introduce Samir,” Mohammed said.
Hassan nodded. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry. Talya, this is Captain Samir Shaykh Sahab, the person who so graciously brought us to Dakar.”
The man sitting opposite Talya was tall, and although a uniform could be deceiving, this one didn’t fool her at all. Samir Shaykh Sahab was built like an athlete, his body beautifully sculpted. He had keen, light brown eyes and his bronzed skin was as smooth as velvet. Somehow, Talya was sure he was a Touareg. He had the presence of a man of the desert.
“Captain, I’m humbled by your presence in my house. I’m grateful to you for bringing my friends to Senegal. I hope the chore of escorting them was as pleasurable for you as the joy of seeing them again is for me.”
“Madame Kartz, it is an honour to meet you at the end of this voyage. Bringing our friends to you wasn’t a chore, it was a challenge.” This one is a character. They laughed. Hassan smiled. He looked slightly embarrassed.
“Talya, please, I beg of you, tell us what happened. What made you do this? How did you end up here in this not so humble place?” Hassan was looking around at the décor.
“All in good time, Hassan. First, I want to know if you’ve explained to Captain Sahab what brought him, and the two of you, to Dakar.”
Samir smiled. “Hassan and Monsieur Fade had no real opportunity to elaborate on the purpose of their escapade.” I really like this man’s choice of words—an ‘escapade’ indeed. “All I needed to know was that they wanted my help. Since I could provide it, I had no choice but to fly them down.”
“Nevertheless, I think Hassan owes you an explanation.” Talya looked pointedly at the man whom she had left only 24 hours ago, then unable to speak coherently.
He returned her gaze and turned to Shaykh Sahab.
“The description I’m about to give you of this case may surprise you. Perhaps, after you’ve heard it, you may not wish to be involved with it any further than what you already are. However, as an attorney, I need to ask you to keep everything you’re about to hear in the strictest confidence.”
Hassan was regaining his composure. He seemed to have regained control of all his faculties. Evidently, the disease had left no visible aftermath.
“I can recognize when confidence is needed, believe me,” Samir said. “I had an inkling there was more to this than just bringing you and Monsieur Fade to Dakar. So you can rest with peace in your heart, as Allah is my witness, that what you’re about to tell me will remain with me for as long as necessary.” This man is no fool. He’d given his word allowing himself just the right amount of leeway.
Shaykh Sahab then closed his eyes, reclined in his chair and listened.
Hassan was a talented storyteller. Most courtroom attorney’s are. No relevant details were left out. When he came to the point where Talya had left early that morning, he turned to her. “Now, the rest is up to you.”
Shaykh Sahab opened his eyes and looked at her as if he was about to devour her every word.
“Captain, what I’ve done since eight o’clock today is quite simple…”
“Madame Kartz,” he interrupted, “before you continue, I’ll ask you to do me the great honour to call me Samir, if you please?”
“It will be my pleasure, Samir. I’m thankful for your gesture of friendship and I hope to be worthy of the trust it implies.”
“I’m now ready for you to go ahead with your story, Madame.” His manners were so attuned with Islamic schooling that Talya wondered if a Mullah had raised him.
“Since I’ve left Bamako I’ve started playing chess with my adversary,” Talya began. “Yesterday afternoon, Monsieur Hjamal phoned me and invited me to come to Dakar. However, once I got to the airport this morning, I discovered that his intentions were slightly different—he had ordered the Air Location pilots to drop me off in Kedougou. From there I was to go to the mine site, which I did.” She paused. The three men nodded—they knew she had gone to Sabodala. “Once I was at the site, and since no one locked me in anywhere, I went down to the plant and had a look around. The processing line seemed not to have been running for sometime, although I found some small gold bullion in the lab near the plant.”
“And nobody stopped you when you went on your little tour of the property?” Hassan sounded perplexed.
“No. The driver—I mean the man that came with the driver at the landing strip dropped me off in front of the hut at the end of the mining village and told me to wait. Apart from these two I hadn’t seen anyone until I arrived at the other end of the processing line. I hadn’t realized it, but it was prayer time by then and all of the men were praying at the bottom of the lane.”
“How did you get back on the plane then?” Mohammed asked.
“Well, that was a bit of luck. You see, when Pierre and John—those are the pilot and navigator who brought me down—when they noticed that neither Hjamal nor Rasheed had come to meet me when we landed, they contacted Hjamal in Dakar. He told them that I wasn’t supposed to visit the mine alone and to come and get me.”
“So, you think Hjamal didn’t know you were going to the mine?” Hassan asked.
“No, he knew alright, but apparently he didn’t know Rasheed wasn’t there to give me a guided tour as it were.”
“And what happened then? How come you ended up here and not in the room you had reserved?” Hassan’s voice hinted at the touch of jealousy he seemed to display off and on.
“Well, since Pierre and John had been smart enough to call Hjamal and to come to my rescue, so to speak, I told them what I thought they should know about Hjamal and his enterprise. As you may be aware, the jet that came to get me in Bamako does not belong to Minorex. It’s under a leasing contract. Air Location would have had a hard time explaining my planned abduction to the local authorities.”
Talya stood up and went to the bar. “Any of you want something to drink before I go on?”
“No, we’re fine,” Hassan replied.
Samir looked over the back of his chair. “Hassan was only speaking for himself. If you have some juice, I’ll be glad to have a glass.”
“While you’re serving, I’ll have something, too,” Mohammed rejoined.
“All right then, if everybody is having something I’ll have a glass of juice also,” Hassan said impatiently.
Talya smiled and shook her head. “I thought