BAMAKO - Aribert Raphael (red queen ebook TXT) 📗

all that, Talya. Believe it or not, I’ve seen the same road ahead of us as the one you’ve just described. But when it comes to you and me, my feelings get the better of me sometimes.”
“I’m glad you can see that, because if we have any future together, you’ll have to trust me and follow my lead from time to time.”
“Okay. You’ve made your point, now can we go back to us…?” We probably went round this a hundred times but there we are, back to ‘us’ again.
“Us? Do you mean ‘us’ as in you and me? There is no ‘us’, Hassan, not for now anyway,” Talya said in some agitation. “I have spent precious time, effort and money in coming to Dakar. I do not regret having done so, but as far as I am concerned, my mission ends here.” Her voice went up a pitch or two. “I don’t have any more time to waste in Senegal, and as for our project in Mali, until the permit is issued; my presence there is no longer required. I have to leave soon. You know that.”
“What about the murder? What do you want to do about that? And the money, I should think you’d want to recover it.”
“Hassan, the solution to the murder is staring at us. If Rheza and Savoi come back unharmed, you and I can go to the local authorities and give a statement. There is no need for us to do anything else. As for the money, we’re not in Europe or in Canada, we’re in Senegal.” She got up and went toward the terrace again. From the door, she turned to Hassan. “It was paid in good faith for services rendered. It’s over.” She walked back to the sofa.
Hassan listened but still kept his head down.
“As a lawyer, you know Carmine cannot hope to file suit, let alone build a case against Hjamal, or Savoi for making a deal. The money was earned, so to speak, and paid to Savoi as Carmine’s representative. If we were displeased with his services, the only recourse we had was to fire him. I think you should agree that, when Savoi fled from Mali, he had already resigned before we could reach him to dismiss him.”
Hassan had his elbows on his knees. He was looking down at the floor beneath him. “Talya, I thought you loved me. You said you did.” His train hadn’t left the tracks had it?
“Let me tell you something. I’m a loner. As for what we feel for each other, I’ve told you before, the excitement of our pursuit gave us a sense of desire, of physical yearning which unfortunately, doesn’t last for a life time. Yes, I love you, and I always will, but our relationship will not stand the pressure of time. I’m sorry, Hassan. I had to say this for both our sakes.”
Hassan was mortified. He lifted his head and peered into her eyes.
“Talya, the mere thought of you going away, even for a short time, is impossible.”
“Again, I’m sorry, but the day I’ll agree to spend my life with anyone, I’ll do it without any restraints, without any thoughts of separation or desire to go in any other direction than the one chosen by both of us. As it is, I found myself too many times wanting to escape, to get away from you. I can’t ask you to go through life chasing me to the four corners of the world, because that’s what you’d have to do. Yes, I care for you, but I care more about my freedom, and I, for one, have accepted the fact.”
“What am I supposed to say, Talya? What am I supposed to do?” His voice was laced with defeat.
“Perhaps, when you go back to Mali you should pray for guidance.” Talya tried to say this as gently as she could.
“Is it because I’m Muslim that you find our relationship hopeless?”
“I don’t find it hopeless, Hassan, but the fact that our beliefs are worlds apart makes our relationship very difficult.”
“I haven’t told you this before, but the only reason I’m a practicing Muslim now is because my family wanted it that way. Now that I’m a man, all that could change—”
“…and renege your entire family? Walk away from the people who raised you? No, you wouldn’t do that. Even if you did, in a short while, you would want to go back. You would miss your family, your friends and all that made your life what it is today. Although you’ve never proposed to me officially, for me, to accept marriage would be like accepting to sign our divorce papers at the same time.”
“I need you! And yes, I’d like you to be my wife….” The passion he must have felt at that moment was blatant and obviously painful.
“Hassan, can’t you see that marriage would destroy us? It would draw us apart. Maybe one day I’ll come back. In the meantime, we could try to see what line of conduct we should adopt between us and toward our respective families.”
Hassan got up, walked to the window, and turned to face Talya. “If we were to do what you’re asking, we would be denying ourselves the fundamental reasons for marriage—the love we would need to create the changes we would want to see in each other. We wouldn’t enjoy the support of one another to reach that goal nor would we grow into our marriage. I would need your love and support to change my way of life, such as you would need my love to grow into our union.”
Talya had enough. She didn’t want any part of this. “I need to be alone now. Please go.”
“Talya, I pray you, don’t chase me away,” Hassan pleaded.
“I’m not chasing you away, I’m simply asking you to leave me to think of what you’ve just said. I need to come to terms with everything that’s happened to us. And I can’t do that with you here, near me.”
Talya got up, thinking Hassan was going to take his leave as she asked. Instead, he grabbed her, embraced her and kissed her. She returned the kiss, taken in by the sensual feeling that had suddenly enveloped her.
When Talya closed the door on him, she was annoyed. She hadn’t wanted any of this.
80
“Thanks, Samir,” Johan said, stretching his arms above his head, yawning. “That was a great flight, and that last little run over the site was very interesting.”
“Well, there’s nobody here,” Rasheed barked from his seat. “Are we going to walk to Sabodala?”
“Shut your mouth,” Samir shouted from the cockpit. He was in no mood to be polite.
“Let’s have a look—” Johan took the binoculars out from under his seat and scanned the surroundings from one of the windows. “There….” He pointed to a cloud of red dust billowing above the nearby bushes. “That must be one of the four-wheel drives from the camp.”
Samir breathed an audible sigh of relief. Allah be praised. He un-strapped himself and went to the rear of the aircraft to lower the stairwell. Then he and Johan quickly brought the icebox and their bags to the ground at the foot of the stairs. They stepped back into the aircraft where Rasheed was already mopping his face from its fast-gathering perspiration. They pushed him forward and down the steps. Samir locked everything and as he came out, he saw Johan already spreading the canvass over the engine. Once Samir had taken care of all the technical details and he was satisfied that the plane was secured for the night, the three men began walking in the direction of the oncoming car.
As they strode across the strip, leaving the aircraft behind in its solitary spot, a dozen onlookers came rushing out of the shrubbery toward them, children mostly. Anywhere in Africa, it is customary for people to come and greet the travellers coming off an aircraft. Their curiosity apparently having not abated over the years, they’re always in awe in front of a ‘flying machine’. The group approached the three men with caution at first. The children then came closer to touch Samir. This man being clad of a uniform, they had concluded he was the pilot of the wonderful airplane that brought them down. Based on his long experience of flying to many such places throughout northern Africa, Samir was used to this display of affection and inquisitiveness. He smiled at the children and responded patiently with gentle words, even lifted one of the smaller boys and carried him in his arms for a few moments.
The car came to a stop in front of the three men. The driver recognized Johan instantly and ran out to meet him.
“Monsieur Johan, we not know you back soon. It’s good you here. Things are not going good.” He was a small man with watchful eyes and an emaciated face. His hair was covered with red dust. He wore a pair of shorts and a shirt, which had lost all of its buttons except for one. Both pieces of attire had been reduced to mere rags, frayed at the edges and they, too, were covered with a coat of red dust.
“All right, Daouda, we’ll talk later,” Johan said tersely. “Let’s get on with it. We need to get to camp before sunset.”
Johan climbed in on the front seat beside the driver, while Samir pushed Rasheed ahead into the backseat of the Landcruiser before taking the seat next to him. The poor car had definitely seen better days. Johan instructed the driver to take the back road, as he described it. They drove for a half-an-hour over a sandy and poorly maintained dirt track. Samir was afraid the axles wouldn’t take much more of such a beating, and he could see himself walking the rest of the way at any time now.
Johan and Daouda chatted all the way until they drew near the camp’s gate and the nervous tension seemed to rise. The time of truth was approaching. Samir was quietly praying. He had experienced troubles a few times in the past. Yet, he had always believed Allah would save him from his renewed encounters with evil and death. He was well aware of their presence that afternoon, however.
“We will be there in a few minutes,” Johan shouted over the noise of the motor. “Daouda tells me there is a problem with the wells. There isn’t enough water for the mill. There’s barely enough for drinking. It’s been like that for days.”
Samir said nothing. Rasheed snickered.
As they arrived at the mining village, a tall and gaunt man met them at the gate.
“Bonjour, Monsieur Johan.” He stood beside the car near Johan’s open window. “How was your trip?” His voice was steady.
“Hey, Mamadou, good to see you,” Johan said, clasping the man’s extended hand.
“My brother told me you’re coming and I’ve prepared a hut for you to spend the night.” He regarded the visitors with the determined and defending look of a soldier.
“I’m glad to hear we’re expected. How’s it going out here?”
“Not very good, Monsieur Johan, but I’m sure you know that already.”
“Yeah, Daouda told me.” Johan then flicked