Allegiance (21 page)

‘Chaps, I’ve got a meeting on Monday at
HQ
with our liaison people and Indian Intelligence,
RAW
. It should be interesting to hear what they have to say about Mr Suleiman. And on Wednesday, there’s a meeting with an
FBI
chap from Pretoria who is here to investigate the centre and the sheikh. So by week end, we should have made some progress. Any questions?’

Durant and Shabalala had no questions.

‘Fine then. Let me answer your question, Mr Durant. Nandi gets to choose whom she sees. I just get to choose whether she gets my blessing or not.’

It was late afternoon and rain was threatening. Shabalala was sorry he’d arranged his meeting with Ruslan at the outdoor nursery, but it was too late to change it. Shabalala hated the grubby safe house. The nursery was in the open and there was a chance of running into someone familiar, but it was a chance he was willing to take. The arrangement was to meet Ruslan at the fountains, a short walk through a path of cycads and palms which created a fairly private setting. Ruslan was already there when Shabalala reached the end of the path.

Shabalala held up his hand in greeting while his eyes quickly scoured the surrounding areas to make sure they were alone. ‘I’ve got good news for you, Ruslan. I’ve identified who’s talking to the sheikh.’

Ruslan smiled, looking upwards as he felt a drop of rain fall on him. ‘That was quick, Reno.’

‘Thanks. He’s talking to the Indian intelligence service – their service is called
RAW
.’

Ruslan nodded. ‘The Indians. He would be useful to them. Do you have a name?’

‘Yes, but I don’t think you need to know the specifics, do you?’

The raindrops were starting to pelt down now and they walked quickly to a sheltered gazebo. Shabalala hoped his words hadn’t offended Ruslan. An asset was only valuable if he was nurtured and respected.

‘I thought we had a relationship of trust. The arrangement was that we would help each other. Quid pro quo I believe it’s called.’

Shabalala could see Ruslan’s expression had changed. He looked sullen. ‘I’m worried about you, Ruslan. You won’t do anything silly, will you?’

Ruslan laughed, to Shabalala’s relief. ‘Of course not. I am just curious, that’s all.’

‘I need to ask you something first. At the centre, where is your accommodation?’

‘Between the madrassa and the library there’s an old building which used to be stables. I sleep there.’

‘And the main building, who works in that area?’

‘Why are you asking?’

‘Just curious.’

‘The sheikh, two or three assistants, the financial officer, the person responsible for relief programmes, the grounds supervisor, there are quite a few people in that building. Anybody specific you looking for?’

Shabalala shook his head, playing down the relevance of the question. ‘Anybody you think we should be looking at?’

‘You mean anybody I think would want to be a shaheed, a martyr?’

‘Something like that.’

Ruslan thought for a minute as the rain stopped and there was a sudden quiet again after the downpour. The two men stood side by side, leaning on the varnished balustrade, and stared at the wet leafy tree ferns below them. ‘You owe me a name. While I think, maybe you should give me what I asked you.’

Shabalala smiled. He needed Ruslan. His value lay in his access at the centre and to lose him now would mean having to start from the beginning again and there wasn’t time. No harm in giving him the name. ‘You drive a hard bargain. Imtiaz Suleiman is his name. You have what you want. Now give me what I want.’

Ruslan nodded. ‘I’ll get the personnel list of the centre. On it, I’ll mark off names of people I think you should be looking at, the ones you should be profiling. Will that help you?’

‘That’ll help a lot.’ Shabalala hid his excitement. He had successfully narrowed their target field from an area of thousands of square metres and a community of hundreds down to a short list of names. And one of those names would belong to the suspect.

Amina walked into Horizons, hesitated for a moment, spotted Durant sitting under one of the umbrellas, and walked across. She wore a black raincoat, a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. Durant guessed she had also heard the weather report and was just as confused about what the weather would turn out to be as everyone else. The sun wanted to break through the rainclouds over the ocean, but it was late in the afternoon and the chances of rain seemed more likely. She took off her raincoat, and then her scarf, letting her long dark hair fall onto her shoulders. When she removed her sunglasses, Durant could see sadness in her eyes.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Thanks for meeting with me at such short notice. I’m worried about Mariam. I think your friend Arshad Tanveer is beating her.’

‘Well, firstly he’s not my friend, and secondly I’m sure you wouldn’t say that unless you were sure.’ Durant looked straight at Amina. A seasoned intelligence officer – she wouldn’t speculate or exaggerate.

She nodded and put her sunglasses back on, not because of the glare; she didn’t want Durant to see her cry. ‘Pretty sure. She hasn’t told me to my face, but I can see the signs. Besides the obvious physical ones.’

Durant felt gloomy and it sounded in his voice. ‘Really?’

‘The signs are there, I know what to look out for.’

Durant leaned forward and saw himself reflected in Amina’s dark glasses. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Well, this is the thing, I don’t know. I want to help her, but I’m not sure what to do.’ Amina felt a burning in her throat. She had to be strong.

Durant knitted his brows and grinned. ‘Aren’t you the same gal who a while back wanted Mariam tossed into a prison cell?’

‘I didn’t know her then.’ A faint smile touched her lips. ‘Maybe I was blinded by prejudice.’

A waiter came and Durant took the menus.

‘Don’t let her wrap you around her little finger,’ Durant said, opening the menu but not feeling hungry.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Don’t let her milk you. The deal was only to take Siraj into the crèche, not adopt his mother. I’m sure she’s got major baggage.’ In the distance, there was a flash and thunder rolled. Durant felt his hands clench.

‘How can you be so unfeeling? She’s a poor, lonely girl with no friends. I feel I’m all she’s got.’

‘Life’s full of choices and consequences.’ The words were edged with anger. ‘If she’s got a miserable life, she shouldn’t have married Arshad Tanveer in the first place.’

‘And I probably shouldn’t have married Ahmed. We all make mistakes. And we can all fix them.’

Durant shook his head. ‘So you trying to fix Mariam’s messed-up life is to try to make you feel better about yours.’

Amina pushed her chair back; her lip quivered.

Durant put his hands up and looked down at the table. ‘Sorry. That came out a bit harsh. I’m a bit edgy. It’s the weather.’

Her tight-lipped smile gave Durant some relief. ‘Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I’m projecting my own issues. I guess we both have problems.’

The waiter came back and Durant waved him away. He wouldn’t eat. Fear suppressed the appetite. As if to remind him, a loud crash and bang of thunder shook the tables.

Amina tightened the scarf around her neck and pushed her sunglasses onto her head. ‘When you see Tanveer again—’

‘Ask him to stop beating his wife?’ There was annoyance in Durant’s voice.

‘Look, I’m not asking you to understand or to agree with me.’ She picked up her bag and put it on her lap. ‘As your friend, I’m just asking for your help. But if you don’t want to help, that’s fine too.’ She stood up.

Durant felt his knuckles whiten and his teeth hurt from clenching. ‘Sit down; I’m still talking to you.’

‘Then stop being such an idiot.’ She sat down again, dumping her bag at her feet.

‘It’s a professional relationship, Amina. I can’t discuss personal issues with him. It wouldn’t be right.’ The afternoon had darkened and an eerie grey cloud had settled over the sea.

‘It stopped being a professional relationship when I took Siraj. It got very personal after that.’

Durant felt the dark clouds would consume him. He felt the tables swirling around him. Perhaps he should eat. He wasn’t thinking straight. ‘For you, yes. Not for me. I can’t get emotionally involved with my sources and all their issues. You worked with me, you know this.’

Amina reflected on his words. Did he think she had so easily forgotten the six years she’d spent in the Agency on his team? She knew the intelligence game – how handlers and their agents shouldn’t get too close or be involved in each other’s personal issues. That’s exactly what the manuals taught. They even called it ‘falling in love with your agent’. Having a blind or overriding loyalty to your agent was dangerous, foolish. Agents were to be kept at arm’s length. They were functional, a means to an end. Their purpose was to provide information. They didn’t somehow become an extension of your family or become a friend. Why was Durant doing this? Why was she doing this?

‘Sorry, Kevin, can’t do. I believe Mariam was sent to me for a reason. I can’t not help Siraj and I can’t just ignore Mariam’s issues. All I’m asking you to do for me is a favour. Bear it in mind when you meet him again. You’re a smart guy, think of something, try to help her.’

The restaurant began emptying as rain threatened. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

‘Thanks, I know you will.’ Amina opened her bag and slipped out an envelope. ‘She gave me this envelope yesterday and said I can only open it if something happens to her. I mean, this really worries me.’

Durant frowned. ‘Did you open it?’

‘Kevin, I can’t open it. She said only if something happens to her.’

‘Well, you said something
is
happening to her, so doesn’t that qualify?’

Amina shook her head. ‘You’re so devious. Some of my conscience is still intact. I won’t open it, I can’t.’

Durant pursed his lips in thought. ‘You can’t. But
I
can. I can reseal it again. I won’t even tell you what it says.’

‘Do you ever stop thinking like an intelligence officer? Think like a normal person for once.’

‘I always thought I was normal. What if it’s a suicide note or something? You’d feel pretty horrible if something happens to her and the envelope could have saved her.’

‘You’re exaggerating this whole thing. It’s probably nothing. Sorry I mentioned it.’

‘I always think the worst, you know me.’

‘It’s fine. I gave her my word, so I’m not going to open it. But please speak to Arshad for me.’

Durant looked into her face, a face he’d learnt to read over the past few years. ‘Something else is bothering you; I can see it in your eyes.’

She looked down at her bag on the floor. She had to go. ‘No, nothing else.’

‘Come on, I’m your friend, you can tell me.’

Amina sighed and put her sunglasses on even though the sun hadn’t broken through the clouds. ‘Don’t worry; I’m just fighting with my husband.’

‘Okay,’ Durant said hesitantly. ‘Sorry I asked then.’

‘We’re not speaking at the moment.’

‘It’s fine, Ami, you don’t have to share if it’s personal.’

‘I don’t mind sharing with you. You’ve got a top-secret security clearance. I’m sure my secrets are safe.’

‘What’s Ahmed up to?’

Amina smiled. ‘You sure know how to get straight to the point, don’t you? How do you know it’s not me?’

‘Because I know you.’ Durant paused and then lowered his voice. ‘And I know Ahmed.’

‘He is up to something and I know what it is. But I’m not going to tell you all that. It’s just a sad situation that I’m dealing with in my own way. He forgets I’m an old intelligence officer.’

Durant scratched his cheek nervously; he didn’t like the way this conversation was going. ‘Don’t do anything silly, hey, Ami.’

‘Silly? It won’t be silly. It’ll be carefully planned and executed like one of our operations.’

‘Now I’m really worried. I’ll help you if you need help, but I get worried when you talk like that. I’m not a very good counsellor, but I’m sure you shouldn’t be using the words “plan”, “execute” and “operation” when referring to something you’re going to do with your husband.’

Amina laughed. ‘This talk’s helping already! I won’t kill him, don’t worry; I didn’t use the word “execute” in that context. Anyway, this meeting isn’t about me, remember, it’s about Mariam. It’s Mariam who needs your help.’

‘Is Ahmed hurting you?’

‘Well, that’s a very direct question. Do you want me to answer you?’

‘I do, because if he is, I want in on the plan. We’re still partners and I still have to watch out for you. You’re like my little sister; I can’t have anybody bully you.’

Amina waved at the waiter. ‘This could take a while. Coffee please. Make it bottomless.’

Durban was a beautiful city in its own unique way. There was something enchanting about the way the golden afternoon sun transformed the buildings along the seafront into gleaming monuments, reaching into the sky like religious monoliths. Durant parked on the esplanade, ran across the busy road and entered the yacht club area. He was a little late, thanks to rush-hour traffic and major road works which were improving the city’s transport infrastructure. Durant tried to ignore the emotions he felt as he passed by the substation where he’d fallen almost a year earlier. There was no visible evidence of the shooting, but the scene was still vivid in Durant’s mind. Tanveer was sitting on a grass embankment, as arranged, and he nodded a greeting to Durant as he sat beside him.

Durant passed him a wrapped bunny chow. ‘It is halaal, I checked.’

‘Thanks, David. I don’t have much to report at the moment.’

‘How’s the shop been?’

‘Busy, and the gangsters haven’t been back since the metro police set up that satellite station.’

‘We had to pull quite a few strings to make that happen,’ Durant lied.

‘I appreciate it. And for organising Siraj. I am very grateful for the trouble you went to in organising that.’

‘Arshad, how’s the financial situation going? Better?’

‘A bit better, thank you. Everything is going well, again, thank you.’