The Intern Affair (76 page)

“I’m sorry you had to witness this,” Samir said softly as he came to sit beside Talya.

All the while,
Christian
had been observing the incident, turning his head from time to time in their direction. “
Your Highness
, would you mind taking the wheel for me while Khumar and I package our guest for transport to the hotel?”

“Sure,” Samir replied while taking
Christian
’s place in the driver’s seat.

“I’m sorry, Lady Sarah, but I’ll have to ask you to go and sit beside
His Highness
up front while we do our job down here.” 

Talya nodded in reply and went to sit on the passenger seat, turning it to watch their cat and his companion
doing their job
, which consisted of taking a heavy impermeable tarp out from the bench boxes and literally rolling the protesting
Karim
into it. They then tied both ends of the sausage with cordage that they had found in another box.  “But,” Talya had to ask, “
Will
he be able to breathe?”

“Oh yes.  There is enough air flowing through either end of the package for him to breathe until tonight. He’ll be hot though, but that can’t be helped. And frankly, losing a few pounds won’t do him any harm and it’ll improve his appearance when he’ll cross the Pearly Gates later.”
Christian
had a devilish smile adorning his baby face. “It’s time for me to get dressed also.” He towelled his curly hair and slipped
into the trousers of his suit.
“You know, Talya, I will miss you when I leave
Dakar
.”

“What do you mean?  It sounds like you’re going to disappear.”

“That’s exactly what Khumar and I will do once you and Samir are safely on your way to
Paris
.
O
nce an assignment like this is over, we have to go home and
literally
disappear until we’re recalled for duty.”

“But what about
Sir Reginald
, wouldn’t he want to have you back?”

“No, Talya, he can’t have me back, as you put it, not for a while anyway. Perhaps when
Charos
is dead and his operation is
truly
a thing of the past, I could come back.”

“What about if
Lady Sarah
and
His Highness
,
Emir
Samir
Hamed Khalif Al-Intha
were to require your particular assistance in getting rid of
Charos
, would you be assigned to us?”

Talya felt the boat swerving so abruptly that she thought she was going to fall off her chair. She turned to Samir who looked positively stunned. At the roughness of the veering,
Christian
and Khumar had gone flying to land on their rear end on the bench to her right, the sausage rolling atop their feet.

Both men were regaining some stability when
Christian
opened his mouth to reply, but was prevented to speak when Samir shouted, “
Christian!
If you dare utter one syllable in reply to Talya’s question
,
I’ll have you thrown out of the service all together.” He stopped, turning the wheel in the direction of the moorage. “And as for you, Talya, I’ll deal with you as soon as we get back to the hotel. As I’ve said many times; you are impossible!” Samir added, looking at Talya with a broad grin adorning his handsome face.

“May I speak now?”
Christian
ventured as he came to stand
by
Samir’s shoulder.

“You may, but you know the condition.” Samir smiled kindly at their cat.

“I won’t reply to Talya’s question but I will make a statement that should serve perhaps as a
warning
to the both of you.” The word ‘warning’ didn’t sound good. “I have been advised officially that my next assignment should start in the South of France, and I have been asked to
disappear
in Europe for awhile, not too far away from the
Riviera
. Therefore, Samir, Talya, you might find this cat at your doorsteps in a not too distant future, after all.”

Samir turned his head. “All right, Mr.
Sylvester
, will you do us the favour of returning this boat to its original mooring now, and of having dinner with us at the Hotel de Crillon in a
not too distant future?
” 

“By all means, right away.”
Christian
practically grabbed the wheel from Samir’s hands,
who then
went to stand behind Talya’s seat. They were arriving at the Yacht Club’s mooring.

When they were walking toward the car, Talya saw Jimmy’s jaw clench again.  He was bracing himself for another surprise. He was looking at the package curiously when he asked, “Would
Your Highness
like for us to put your latest catch in the boot?”

“Yes, Jimmy, that is the proper place for it,” Samir replied as he climbed into the limo and sat beside Talya. “Princess, what do you have in mind?  Tell me before I decide to spank you right here and now.”

“My Lord, you said that you would ‘deal with me’ at the hotel. So I will say nothing until we’re both back in my suite.” 

“All right then.” Samir grabbed and stretched her across his lap, mimicking to giving her a spanking. 

Talya was laughing so hard and struggling to get up that
Christian,
who had
had
a glimpse at the scene before stepping into the car, closed the door on them and said, “Khumar,
His Highness
is occupied right now!  Shall we ride in front with Jimmy?”

127

“
Christian,
Talya has
explained to me the reasons for the question she posed to you aboard the launch,” Samir said, “but we won’t get into that right now. We have a more pressing problem.” The four of them were sitting in the lounge at the hotel. “If we advise the authorities, as we should, that we have uncovered the drug operation, and that M
r.
Karim
is under lock-and-key—or dead—so that they can start cleaning up the mess, we’re exposing all involved to immediate sanctions from
Charos
. But if we don’t, we’re exposing ourselves to sanctions from the governments on two continents.” 

“And how do you propose we circumvent this problem
now,
Your Highness
?”
Christian
asked, frowning while visibly anxious to hear the answer.

“We’re going to tell the authorities all we know and all we’ve done thus far so that we’re in the clear with them, but we’re going to let
Charos
think
that we’ve failed in
eliminating
the traitor and that he has time to get away before the authorities get hold of him. This will save everyone from getting killed in the meantime.”

“So, if I understand this correctly, we need
Karim
to stay seemingly free for as long as it takes to prevent
Charos
to go on a killing rampage, before we have time to bring him down,”
Christian
concluded, drinking a long gulp of his juice.

“But,
Your Highness
, if I may ask,” Khumar said, opening his mouth at last, “how do you suggest we go about doing this? We can’t very well ask for
Karim
’s co-operation in pretending to get away…
,
Or can we?”

“Oh yes we can, and I will!” Talya burst out, finally getting her two cents worth into the discussion. She was tired of having lost her freedom of speech since she had put on a veil.
Enough is enough!
  The three men looked at her, obviously surprised at her unexpected outburst. “We need his full co-operation all right.  And it’s either that or we’ll get him to the beach tonight as planned and let the chips fall where they may.” Talya was frustrated, exasperated by all the tergiversations. 

“Talya, please let us handle this,” Samir suggested, looking at her with understanding.

She was having none of it. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to the three of you and do nothing when I know that the only thing that we’ll see us through this, is to get
Karim
to sit right here with us, and
co-operate
!” She raised her voice with all the impatience she was allowed to demonstrate without completely blowing her top. “And what’s more, gentlemen, Mr
.
Karim
has participated in a similar scheme once before. If you recall he played the victim at Sabodala only to be restored to power thanks to
my stupidity!
  If I had opened my eyes and understood what was going on at that time, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today.”

She was on the verge of hysteria. Samir took her hand, stood up and led her away saying, “Will you excuse us, gentlemen, I think Lady Sarah needs my attention for awhile.”

When Samir closed the door of her suite on them and took her in his arms, she started crying quietly. 

“Shhh, Princess. It’s almost over. We’ll be home soon.”

“I’m sorry, Samir. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done. I can’t cope anymore.”

“Talya, look at me.” Samir lifted her chin gently. “There is no time for self recriminations, we have to think of what we need to do to get us home safely and get
Tristan
’s projects started.  If
God
wanted to punish you for what you’ve just described as your
stupidity
, he would have done
so
already
. We wouldn’t be here together in each other’s arms if such had been His design.”  As usual, Samir had the right words for Talya to calm down.  She did.

Releasing his embrace a little, he went on, “I think we should let
Christian
handle
Karim
from now on. He knows better than anyone does how to handle criminals.  He will get him to co-operate and
—
”

“We need to bring him back to
Dakar
,” Talya cut in. “We can’t let him loose. Even
Kareef
made sure that
Karim
was a
real
victim before facing us in
Dakar
.  We should do the same.  We can’t trust him.”

“I know, and I think
Christian
has learned his lesson. Cats do not like to go swimming after a fish—they much prefer to play with a mouse on dry land.” 

Talya burst out in nervous laughter. 
God
,
I am so tired of it all.

128

After a lengthy
three-way conversation with
Sir Reginald
, and after advising Mr. Simmons of the change of plans, they were sitting at the restaurant that evening with
Karim
as their guest. 

Sir Reginald
was to release all the information related to the drug trafficking operation in West Africa to the authorities that night, on the condition that none of the authorities involved would make any arrests until Samir and Talya were back in
Paris
.
Karim
was to phone
Charos
after dinner, telling him of his
successful
escape to Bubaque, when in fact he was going straight to jail upon arrival in
Dakar
. This scheme was buying just enough time for
Carl
to have the agreements signed with the Development Funds Organization and enough time for everyone, including
Charles
, to be out of reach until
Charos
was captured—or dead.

Karim
sat between
Christian
and Khumar.
Christian
had found some fresh clothes for him (Talya had no idea from where) and the man looked half-decent as he was sipping his tea.

Talya felt relieved; she had not lured a man to his death. Samir had been right. She wouldn’t have been able to live that memory down. 

“M
r.
Karim
, I just have a couple of questions for you,” Talya began after the meal was over. “Why did you have to have our friends killed?”

“But I didn’t,
Ms. Gilmore
,”
Karim
replied with assurance. “Mr.
Charos
was the one who ordered the killings on the information he received from me when I was back in
Bamako
.  Think about it,
Ms. Gilmore
, what would I’ve gained by having my niece killed?  She was my bread and butter until I would’ve been able to get my own enterprise running again. As for killing
Mansur Dillon
, it served no purpose as far as I was concerned, except to make me realize I was next on
Charos
’s list.  We all know too much. As it is
,
I’m glad you’re putting me behind bars.  That way I’ll be out of
Charos
’s reach until he’s arrested. Believe me when I say that the man has people everywhere ready to do away with any of us at a moment’s notice. I wouldn’t put it past him to be aware of us being sitting at this table at this very minute.”