Beyond Life (18 page)

The café was around the corner from the charity headquarters and also convenient for Victoria Station where Val and Marion could go directly after breakfast to catch their train to the airport.

The tea, coffee and orange had been served and the youngsters were asking Val and Marion about Romania while waiting for their cooked breakfasts to arrive. The older women waited patiently until Jim nodded to Fiona. Clever, thought Marion. Fiona was the only non-blood relative and the twins knew that if their mother or Val wasn’t happy with the news, they’d be less likely to have a go at her. The betrothed couples hadn’t even considered this. Fiona being the most forthright had volunteered to break the good news and the other three had agreed.

‘You may be wondering why we asked you here today?’ she raised her voice to ensure she had their full attention and there was a smile playing on her lips.

‘As you probably suspected, we’ve set a date.’

Marion clapped and Val smiled.

‘What you might not have suspected is that we’re getting married in Spain.’

‘Oh goody,’ said Marion, but Val waited in anticipation of news about the blessing.

‘And…’ she looked at Libby who took the hint.

‘…And we’re going to have our blessing after Jim and Fiona’s wedding. We’ve booked the venue and Fiona and I are going out for a long weekend in September to make the final arrangements.’

The mothers were delighted and they discussed the date and venue. Val hoped they’d have enough leave for her to be able to see Gary at the same time, but kept that thought to herself.

Marion noticed the twins looking at each other. There’s more she thought. When nothing was forthcoming she prompted. ‘Is there something else you want to tell me?’

This time they had planned for Fiona to give Marion the news. ‘We’ve invited Graham, Carol and Mel, Marion. I hope you don’t mind?’

Val stopped thinking about Gary when she saw the look on Marion’s face. She waited for the fireworks, but none arrived.

Yes she did bloody mind, she minded very much. She should have anticipated this and knowing what young Mel had been through, and she still couldn’t bear to think of the girl as the twins’ stepsister, she didn’t have a choice.
She tried to adjust her features so they couldn’t see how bitter she still felt about the whole affair. So much had happened since Claire’s death and the end of her marriage that she should be over their bastard father by now, despite his deceit of nearly two decades.

‘Not a problem. I’m sure the hotel will be big enough for us to be able to avoid each other,’ although Marion’s smile was false, they decided to ignore it and all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

They said their goodbyes knowing that the next time they saw each other would be in Spain, prior to the wedding and the blessing. Not overweight but a little heavier than she wanted to be Marion vowed to lose 7 pounds by the time they went to Spain, adamant that she would look her absolute best when she met up with her ex-husband.

Val tried to switch off on the journey to the airport and hoped that Marion would have it all out of her system by the time they boarded the aircraft. They were flying to Baia Mare in the north of the country. With the one stop off the flight time was approximately seven hours. The new orphanage site was about 90 kilometres away from the airport in Sighetu but all that was much too long to be listening to Marion’s comments about her ex-husband and his family. On the flip side, Marion probably didn’t want to hear her talking about Gary. After they checked in Val looked tentatively at Marion and put a hand on her arm to get her full attention.

‘Can we do a deal?’

Marion pre-empted the next comment.

‘I know, I know. Okay. I’ll shut up about that bastard Graham if you don’t talk about,’ she hesitated, not feeling brave enough to say what she thought. Val got her drift and interrupted.

‘Gary. I won’t talk about Gary. Well not to you anyway.’

They laughed as they made their way to the departure gate. Sometimes the old magic of their friendship was still there.

*****

It was the happiest Mary had been since she’d been taken from the orphanage. Despite the fear of being suffocated in the container they’d all survived though some of them had got through the experience with fewer scars than others. Mary looked at Frea, the young girl who had followed her around since they’d left the container what now seemed like ages before. They’d stopped once to take on more cargo and supplies and now they were in the middle of the ocean again. Even if they’d wanted to escape there was nowhere to go. Consequently they were left more or less to their own devices. The boss had used her on that first night and he’d been particularly rough, but since then none of them had seen much of him. She’d seen him eat once and his face had turned a funny colour and then he’d run to the side of the ship and vomited into the sea. Mary wondered if he had the disease on him or if it was nothing to do with her. She looked up, glad that her parents had returned and were helping her again. She thanked them for making the boss ill and also for whatever they had done to stop the other men from molesting her and the other girls. It had been a while since she had something to thank anybody for and the fresh sea air and a full stomach was enough for now.

Gary tentatively got up from the bed in his cabin. The only time he felt reasonably human was when lying down. The sickness returned as soon as he stood up and he fought to stop it rising to the surface. He looked down at his emaciated body and wondered when he would next be able to eat a meal without it making an appearance a few minutes later. He had never felt so weak and was seriously worried about his health and strength. Weakness was an anathema to him and despite his timeframe to meet the businessmen in Algiers, he considered where they could stop off for a few days in order for him to regain his strength.

Gary sent a hasty email to Val. He didn’t mention his illness, not wanting her to think any less of him. He was able to tell her of the progress the ship had made and how he’d lucked out by buying and arranging to sell the shipful of scrap metal. In her previous email she’d asked whether he’d known that Daniel was being investigated. Gary feigned surprise in his response and told Val that he hadn’t seen his former friend since her and Marion had left. From the tone of her last and previous emails, he had no doubt that she’d believed him. He closed the computer hurriedly when he’d finished and rushed to the heads. There wasn’t much in his stomach and he’d been sick so many times that it hurt with the latest bout of retching. He decided to have a sleep and if he felt better when he woke up, would summon Saul and discuss another possible stop off with him. As he lay down with his arms tight around his stomach trying to stop the pain, he wondered if this was what hell was like. He wouldn’t have too much longer to find out.

The noise woke Gary and it sounded as if all hell had broke loose on the open deck. By the time he dragged himself out of his bed and took his rifle out of the cupboard, it sounded as if trespassers had boarded the ship. Pirates he assumed and he couldn’t work out whether his mercenaries or the invaders were winning the battle. He heard girls screaming and his sense of urgency doubled – not because of a sense of gallantry, but because he would lose money if the uninvited visitors kidnapped any of his girls.

The man that grabbed Frea’s arm was over six foot tall and stank of rum and corruption. Mary didn’t notice as she acted without thinking. Putting her hands around the smaller girl’s waist she pulled as hard as she could. The pirate had been told not to harm the merchandise but this one was slowing him down and irritating him like a small yappy dog.

Mary’s interference bought them the time they needed and Captain Saul seemed to appear out of nowhere, fury and murder in his eyes. He swung the machete and the last thing that Mary saw was the look of shock in the pirate’s eyes before his head dropped to the deck with a dull thud, the eyes still open and staring at both girls. His hand still held Frea’s arm for a few seconds after his head was separated from his body. The attack ended as suddenly as it had begun and had it not been for Frea’s high-pitched terrified screams, the ship would have been absolutely silent.

Even feeling like death, Gary had still managed to kill two of the pirates and their bodies soon disappeared into the unforgiving sea, along with all the others. The crew and girls watched for a few seconds as the sea seemed unnaturally calm and silent. Suddenly the water churned and a feeding frenzy started, sharks and smaller fish devouring the bodies and minutes later all trace of the pirates had disappeared.

Captain Saul said something to one of the mercenaries and a rope ladder was thrown over the side of the ship. Before the leader descended the ladder, he gave one of his team the evil eye, punched him in the face and said something to him. Gary didn’t need to speak the language to work out that the punched guy was the one who must have slept during his watch, his lethargy almost causing disaster for the ship, her crew and passengers. His lack of action proved how ill he was – had he been in rude health, the man would have been fed to the fish along with the marauding pirates. He summoned Captain Saul while watching the head mercenary board the pirate vessel that had been tied to the freighter. The captain explained that he’d given the man orders to salvage anything of value from the ship and to untie it and set it on fire as a warning to any others in the area. He also explained that the inattentive mercenary would be led to believe that his punishment was the punch and a loss of pay but would be dealt with appropriately once ashore. They might need him relatively healthy until then and it was unlikely that he’d fail in his duties again. The attack had decided Gary that he would bear the sickness until their arrival at Algiers rather than risk a diversion and another possible invasion. He returned to his cabin without even asking what the real punishment for the useless mercenary would be.

The memory of the head hitting the deck played over and over in Mary’s mind. She felt no sympathy for the pirate, only gratitude for the captain and something else. She’d told herself since her kidnap from the orphanage that she had to look out for herself and trust no one. Her guard had lapsed and she’d allowed Captain Saul’s kindness to get under her skin. She trusted him like no one else since her family had died and her gut told her that he would look out for her. She cursed her feelings but no matter how much she argued with herself, it all came down to her instinct and she hoped that she wasn’t in for another disappointment.

Chapter 13

Marion and Val had started work as soon as their feet hit the ground at the orphanage building project. They’d been there almost a month and were about to have their second day off. They’d done some sightseeing during their first free day. Having been told that conditions in some of the orphanages were still dire, despite major improvements since the fall of the Communist government in the latter stage of the previous century, they knew that a number of charities were working very hard to improve conditions but were keen to look around and see for themselves. They did not pre-warn the management of the two orphanages they visited in the countryside. Whilst facilities at the first were adequate, the second caused major concern. There appeared to be a lack of medicines and the washing facilities were dirty and inadequate. Some of the children were bruised and both women suspected physical abuse at the very least. Many of the children were uncomfortable around the staff and when one of the female staff went to stroke the head of a little girl, Marion had the distinct impression that it was just for show. This was confirmed later when a young boy cowered as if he were about to be hit. By the time they returned to their modest accommodation next to the new build they were both very upset and agreed that they should file a report to
People Against Poverty
without delay, with a suggestion that their charity combine with two others and take over the running of the establishment as soon as possible. It amazed them both that children were treated like they would have been in an eighteenth century workhouse, yet less than 100 miles away lots of money had been spent to provide an internet connection. Though grateful for this facility it was a very distressing dichotomy.

Val said she’d type up the report – her typing skills were better than Marion’s and her new laptop was much more modern. Having completed the report Marion stood behind so that both women could scan it for errors, prior to sending it to Sylvia at the headquarters. Before they’d finished the machine pinged indicating a new email. Impatient to read it in case it was from Gary, Val minimised the report without checking to see if Marion had finished reading.

‘Oi. Do you mind?’

‘Sorry, Marion but I’m hoping for news,’ she hadn’t heard from him for a few days and was excited. She certainly hoped it wasn’t some stupid Spam message telling her that she’d inherited millions of dollars from a dead relative she didn’t know she had.

‘Okay. I’ll just go for a pee. Can we get that report in soon though, so they can act on it quickly?’

Val bristled. She only wanted to check her bloody email for God’s sake and would take seconds. Marion read her body language and didn’t wait around for her reply. By the time she returned from the toilet Val looked as if she’d won the lottery.

‘Good news?’

‘Yup. It’s just nice to hear from him and to know he’s all right. Let’s get this report off.’

Val told Marion the barest details of every email she received from Gary. This suited Marion who would be more than happy not to hear any further news about Gary, ever. Although, if Val did want to share anything with her in future she would feign interest but only for the sake of their friendship.

When Marion checked her own messages later that night, she was surprised to see one from Gail marked urgent. She assumed it was related to the report, but once she’d opened it and started to read, she was glad that she hadn’t called Val prematurely.