The Intern Affair (79 page)

In minutes, they were aboard unharmed. Samir wrapped a blanket around Talya and threw one over his shoulders, which were wet from the rain within seconds.
Christian
hadn’t said ‘boo’ to either of them since they had climbed into the boat. He looked positively distressed and deeply hurt.

“Don’t you know that cats don’t like water?” he uttered at long last as he was starting the engine again.  Samir instantly went to turn it off and took the keys from the ignition.

“Samir! Why, why did you do that?  Why are you both here?  I don’t understand.” 

“Come and sit down for a minute, will you?” Samir put his arm around
Christian
’s shoulders and led him to sit on the bench beside Talya.
Christian
was bewildered. Talya couldn’t talk for her teeth were clattering so hard that she had a difficult time keeping her mouth shut.

“You don’t understand, you say, and that’s obvious. So let me explain it to you. Talya and I have been through what you could qualify mildly as an ordeal. For the past several weeks, we have not had a chance to be alone together for one single moment except perhaps when we were riding a camel in the middle of a sandstorm, or when Talya fainted in my arms from a heat stroke, and I watched her for hours before she re
covered consciousness.
What’s more, from now and for several more weeks, we’re going to be facing another nightmare and
we can’t do it
,
Christian,
unless we have time to ourselves. The ocean provided us with the solitude we needed, to face what’s awaiting us in
Paris
.  Until
Charos
is dead and buried we are not going to rest with peace in our hearts.  So, what I am going to ask you
now
is
to understand
what it is to be living with the fear of tomorrow in your mind and in your heart day after day.  We are not killers,
Christian;
we are only two people longing for peace.”

“Samir, Talya, I’m very sorry, but I rarely, or I should say I never had to deal with the victims of crimes; I only had to deal with criminals. I’m good at what I do. I certainly don’t regret any of my deeds. I don’t take the law in my own hands either; I just carry out assignments to protect people like you and
Sir Reginald
from harm.”

“All we’re asking,
Christian,
is that you stay with us and, perhaps from time to time, you might be able to rescue us as you did today, although I don’t think we would be swimming among jellyfish any time soon.”
You’ve got that right
, Talya thought. “But please don’t alert the neighbourhood once you see us going off on our own.”

“I’ll do that as long as you two understand that cats
do not
like water,”
Christian
concluded, laughing timidly, and as unexpectedly as they came, the clouds went away, letting the sun’s gentle rays comfort them until Talya’s teeth stopped their uncontrollable rattling. 

133

The embassy house
was located a few hundred yards from the edge of the cliff overhanging Yoff’s beach, a few miles from the
Dakar
airport. Talya had been in the house once before, when
Sir Reginald
had invited
Charles
,
Alhassan
and her for dinner. It was an imposing three-storey mansion. The upper floors were reserved to
Sir Reginald
and Lady Hilda’s private quarters. The ground floor was comprised of a semi-circular entrance and reception halls, a dining room, a lounge and a library. The décor was tasteful and accented with a few vases of flowers and huge plants. The Carrare marble floor was strikingly beautiful. Its polished and delicate green tone reflected the light from the chandelier descending from the dome-like roof of the hall to about ten feet above their heads. The wide staircase going up around the wall was covered of a green and white runaway rug. 

Lady Hilda and
Sir Reginald
came down the stairs to meet Samir and Talya when they entered the house.

“
Your Highness
,
Ms. Gilmore
, I am very pleased to welcome you in our home tonight,” Lady Hilda said, curtsying in front of Samir. She was wearing a long, white, lamé gown, which complimented and enhanced her tanned complexion and her deep green eyes. Her black hair was meticulously braided around her head.  She was a handsome and elegant woman.  

“Yes.
Your Highness
and
Ms. Gilmore
, it’s a great pleasure to have you both here tonight,”
Sir Reginald
rejoined.

“Madame,
Sir Reginald
, it is an honour for
Ms. Gilmore
and me to have been asked to your home.  We will be pleased to spend this evening in your company.” 

Talya was not supposed to utter a word. She had chosen to wear a light blue traditional gown, threaded with silver embroidery that went around the neckline and descended to the hem of the dress. She had wrapped the veil, also threaded of silver; around her head
,
leaving her face unveiled.

“Please come in, everyone is waiting for us,” Lady Hilda said, indicating the door leading into the reception hall. 
Christian,
who had been unobtrusively escorting Samir and Talya thus far, opened the door for the hosts and their guests.

As Samir and Talya passed through at Lady Hilda’s side, she saw
Alhassan
. Dozens of people stood behind and surrounded him. Khumar helped him to stand up from his wheelchair and she went to him directly.

“Talya!” he exclaimed as he took her in his arms. “I still love you,” he then murmured in her ear. 

“Yes I know, I know…. Can we talk, please?” Talya whispered.

Alhassan
’s answer was drowned in a thunder of applause from their friends and colleagues. 

“Thank you, my friend, for bringing her back,”
Alhassan
said as he released his embrace, extending a hand for Samir to shake.  He was smiling with happiness in his eyes. 

“Sit down,
Alhassan
, and later we will talk,” Samir said, shaking hands with his friend and helping him back in his wheelchair.

“Yes, I’ll be waiting in my room upstairs,”
Alhassan
replied, directing his gaze to Talya and ignoring Samir’s request, “if you don’t mind coming to join me later.”

“Of course, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Talya said.

“
Alhassan
, could we talk…?”

“Yes, Samir, we will, but later—after I have had a chance to talk to Talya. You understand?”

“I do.” Both men looked at each other for a moment—they understood one another.

Jerry
, who had come to stand beside
Alhassan
in the meantime, wheeled him away. Talya looked after him, tears pearling at the rim of her eyes.

Looking around her, while regaining her composure once more, Talya saw that there were people she knew, but there were many, she didn’t. However, the one person, she knew and whom she had been looking for, was her boss,
Charles Durant
.  As he approached from behind
Yvonne
, who wore a very elegant flowery dress, which seemed to be
billowing
around her, Talya noticed his hesitancy, and she broke all the rules of etiquette in taking him in her arms and kissing him on both cheeks. 

He returned the embrace with his able arm and said, “Kiddo! Please remember your position, will you?” smiling as he did.

“Who are all of these people? I don’t know half of them,” Talya asked discreetly as Samir came to join them.

“Samir! All I can say to you is thank you!”
Charles
said, as the two men shook hands, and to Talya, “They’re the Darcy Engineering team. They’re here to start the
dismantling
of the old processing plant.  And there are a few people from the Development Funds here as well.”

“And where’s
Ousmane
? I haven’t seen him yet,” Talya asked, looking around her at
all
of these people.

“He’s here, Talya.  Don’t worry, he’ll come to you when he’s worked up enough courage to come and say
thank you
.” 

Talya laughed inwardly, remembering
Ousmane
’s grand entrance at the Meridien Restaurant on the morning of their thunderous meeting.

And there he was, beside her, M
r.
Ahmed
Ousmane
.

“
M
adame
Gilmore
, I don’t know how to thank you
,” he said
almost timidly, “so I brought a little memento to put on your desk,” he added, pulling something out of his pocket. She looked up at him as he deposited a little gold ingot in her hand. Talya was at a loss for words. “This is the first and last ingot we processed from my plant in Sabodala. Maybe it will bring you joy at the memory of our first meeting in
Vancouver
.”

“Thank you,
Mr.
Ousmane, but why don’t you put it on
my
desk in
your
office for when I return to work with you?”

“You mean it?  You will come back then?” Ousmane asked in amazement.

“Of course I will! Why do you think Samir and I went to all of this trouble, if it weren’t to have a job at the other end?  We’ve got work to do,
Ahmed.
” 

The men and
Yvonne
laughed around her. 

In a few minutes of more greetings and accolades,
Yvonne
finally managed to get close enough to Talya, and to whisper in her ear. “You make a very handsome couple.”

Talya shot a glance at her friend. “Not yet,
Yvonne
, not yet.”

“Why? Aren’t you going down the aisle…?”

Talya looked at
Yvonne
fixedly. “I love him enough to go down the aisle, as you say, yes, but I still have to see a man dead and buried before I do. I told you that—”

“You mean the drug lord?”

“Yes. Besides which, I am yet to hear a proposal of marriage from my prince charming.”

“You mean; this is all just for show? But he said that ‘he chose you for his wife’ when we talked in
Bamako
, remember?”

“Yes, I remember, but have you seen an engagement ring on my finger?”

“No, but I don’t think he’s had time to go shopping, do you?”

“You’ve got a point there,” Talya replied, chuckling. “Anyway, we’ll have time to catch up on those details in the next day or so now that I know where you’re staying.”

“You can be sure of it. I will not let you leave until we have a long talk you and me.”

134

Hours later
,
Talya sat across from him in his room.
Alhassan
, in his wheelchair, looked at the woman he loved. They sat silent for several minutes. They had not laid eyes on one another for weeks, and words did not come easily
—
where to begin?

“What will happen now,
Alhassan
?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, when are you going to be able to get out of this contraption?” Talya asked, nodding in the direction of
Alhassan
’s chair.

“I have already started re-hab this week, and I think I should be able to walk in a month from now
—
at least that’s what the doctors tell me.”

“That’s a relief,” Talya said, smiling.

“What about you; what will happen now? Are you going to marry Samir?”

“I don’t know,
Alhassan
.”

“Why? Hasn’t he proposed to you? Or is this whole disguise and new name, just a posturing for the circumstances?”

“These questions remind me of the time we first met
Helen
, do you remember?”

“How could I forget?”
Alhassan
lowered his eyes. “That’s the first day we met. Why does it remind you of that day?”

“Just the fact that you asked one question after another
—
leaving the person no time to answer.”

“Well then, let’s take the question one at a time, shall we?”

Talya laughed.

“What did I say now? What’s so funny?”
Alhassan
was getting frustrated. He wanted answers, and Talya was evading the questions.

“I am laughing because now I feel like I am on the stand
—
”