Chapter 1
1780 Words
Chapter 1An hour after take-off, the tension hadn’t left Talya. She had fear on the brain. Knowing she was going to Kedougou instead of Dakar was terrifying. Every minute brought her ever closer to her destination—the mine site. Was her fate to be sealed in the same way as Richard’s had been? Talya needed to do a major cerebral clean-up and find something that could get her back on track, so to speak.
Something eluded her, something important. Why would Hjamal want her in Sabodala? She didn’t want to think of any of the possible answers to that question. She had presumed that every one of her adversaries had something to gain by wanting her in Dakar—not in Sabodala. Was that presumption wrong? Why was it wrong? Talya knew Hjamal needed help with his gold-processing plant. She also had a hunch that Rasheed, for the most part, acted of his own accord. He had a lot to hide, of that she was sure. On the other hand, Talya had assumed Savoi ran off to Dakar to meet Hjamal. Was that a fair assumption? As for Rheza she was perhaps a mere pawn on this game board. Of that, Talya wasn’t sure. What about the Dutchman, how did he fit into the picture? What was he doing with the nitro-glycerine? Another question ran in front of the pack. How did Carmine’s money come into play? Was Hjamal also involved in the embezzlement of the funds? Talya was losing ground again. She was not cleaning up, she was adding to the clutter. She needed to stop speculating. While she was racking her poor cerebrum for answers, she noticed Pierre was leaving the cockpit.
He came to sit across from her. “How are you enjoying the flight so far?”
“It’s great actually. Much better than commercial flights, for privacy that is.”
“True, but really, this is not the top of the line. You should see some of the other jets I’ve had the pleasure to fly—they’re something else.”
“Oh, I see. You’re not Monsieur Hjamal’s personal pilot then?”
“Actually, no. The company that owns this aircraft pays my colleague and me. This jet is a bit like a chauffeured limousine. Our company has a contract with Monsieur Hjamal, not with us personally.”
“Well then, you could do almost anything you wish as long as you stayed within the contract’s boundaries?”
Pierre leaned back in the seat, crossed his legs and looked completely at home. “I’m glad you’ve said almost anything, because there are quite a few restrictions to the liberties I could take with this kind of aircraft.”
“For example?”
“Well, the size of it, for one thing, or its ground-speed at landing, for another. Those prevent me from taking this baby down in a farmer’s field. We need 1500 meters of solid tarmac plus a safety zone at both ends of the strip. So, I couldn’t take you to a deserted island, even if I’d like to.” He laughed and Talya smiled, panic slowly replacing dread.
“It’s like with our landing in Kedougou today. I couldn’t land—”
“What?” Talya faked total surprise at this announcement. Pierre straightened up his hands gripping the arms of the seat. He reminded her of a cat ready to pounce.
“Yes, my orders are to take you to Kedougou and—”
“I’ve heard you the first time. Whose orders are they?”
“Monsieur Hjamal, of course.” They looked at each other. “I can see that you knew nothing of this. How could that be?” It was his turn to be astonished and not faking it. He reclined in the chair, holding Talya’s eyes in his gaze.
“I have no idea what is going on, Pierre. On Friday afternoon, Monsieur Hjamal invited me to come to Dakar. He never mentioned anything about my being dropped off in Kedougou.”
“I’m sorry no one has told you, but we’ll be landing in about an hour’s time at the town’s airport. I was told Monsieur Hjamal is meeting you there to take you to the mine site.”
What had been panic thus far slowly became determination to get to the truth. “Okay then, if that’s where Monsieur Hjamal wants us to meet, that’s where we’ll go.”
“Again, I’m sorry, but our flight plans have been filed already and I couldn’t just change them in mid-air.” Pierre’s red cheeks were getting redder with irritation. “We’re flying a commercial route and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do it. I’d lose my job over something like this.”
Talya shook her head. “It’s okay, Pierre, don’t worry about it. We’ll see what happens when we get there.”
Soon after landing and when a cloud of dust began to mask the horizon, Pierre lowered the binoculars and turned to Talya. “You’re ride is here, Madame Kartz. Do you want us to wait...?”
“No, Pierre, that won’t be necessary. When we’re sure the vehicle is from the mine, you can leave me. I should be in good hands.” She shot him a tentative smile.
Pierre hesitated. “Alright then...” He didn’t want to leave this woman in the middle of nowhere. This whole thing didn’t feel right. “We’ll wait until we’re sure ‘you’re in good hands’ as you say.”
Two men climbed out of the Land Rover and rushed toward Talya. Their ragged clothes and dirt-covered skins didn’t inspire confidence but their engaging smiles did.
As soon as they were on the road, Talya asked them how far the mine site was. She didn’t get an answer. An hour of a bumpy ride later, Talya stood in front of a hut at the end of a central road.
The man, who had climbed out of the Land Rover with her, deposited her knapsack beside the door and looked down at her. “You go in and wait. We come later to give water to drink.”
Talya didn’t care about that; she wanted to know when Hjamal or Rasheed were going to show up. “Where is Monsieur Hjamal or Monsieur Rasheed? Are they here?”
The man smiled. “We come later.” he repeated. “You wait.”
“What’s your name?” Talya yelled to his back. He was already walking back to the Land Rover.
Talya shrugged. She was not going to get anything out of him, she knew.
She pushed the door open to discover a two-room domicile freshly painted, tiled throughout and a bed standing to the one side of the main room. On the other side of a dividing wall she found a large tin basin filled with water and a sink fixed to the wall. She looked around her and sat on the bed. Not bad—not a prison anyway.
Pierre and John, the navigator, were not pleased with this situation. They had watched the Land Rover go down the dirt track with misgivings. What would happen if Madame Kartz had no means of transport to complete her journey to Dakar? Hjamal had not given them any further instructions. They had simply been told Hjamal and the Rasheed guy would drive back to Dakar the next day.
Apparently having made up his mind, Pierre said, “Let’s go to town and get us a vehicle.”
“Do you want to drive to the mine?” John asked, knowing the answer already.
“Yes. This woman is not equipped to stay at a mine site. You’ve seen it—all she’s carrying is a shoulder bag—that’s hardly enough gear to stay anywhere.”
John nodded. “Besides, she told us Hjamal was expecting her in Dakar, didn’t she?”
“Yeah. Why don’t we call him on the radio and see if he’s home?”
“Okay.” John nodded again. “I don’t trust this guy. And that Rasheed is some piece of work—”
“Hjamal here.” the man said when he answered the radio call.
“This is Pierre Masson, sir. We’ve just dropped Madame Kartz in Kedougou. Do you want us to wait for her...?”
“Did you see Monsieur Rasheed?”
“No, sir, just the driver and one other man, why?”
“Never mind why. Get yourself a vehicle and go to the mine. She’s not supposed to visit the place alone. I’ll contact Rasheed and see where he is.”
“That’s a roger, sir. We’ll be in touch when we’ve found her and we’ll see you in Dakar.”
“Roger and out.” Hjamal said, cutting off the communication abruptly.
Left alone in the hut, Talya decided to take a look around the site. If Savoi and Rheza were held someplace in the compound, she wanted to find them. She made her way out of the hut furtively. Seeing no one observing her, she went down the dirt lane that would probably lead her to Hjamal’s plant—she hoped. Going down the steep hillside, she noticed a parking lot ahead with an assortment of trucks, Land Rovers and tractors—all of them old and in need of repair, it seemed. Farther down the track and round a corner, a bench carved out of the hill hosted a long line of equipment surrounding a water pond. The ball mill and crusher Richard had described in his letter were well in evidence. Yet, what was also evident was the fact that this machinery was ominously silent and appeared to have been in this dormant state for quite some time.
Talya walked along the road adjacent to the processing line for some five minutes until she neared the two buildings she had seen from the top of the hill. She made her way to the first one and found its door locked. She shook her head and went round it to the second building. This one was open. She went inside and discovered a fully furnished lab with assay equipment encumbering several tables. In one of the crucibles she noticed two little gold pellets. That plant is producing gold—not much by the looks of it, though.
She went out and closed the door of the lab gently, all the while looking around her to see if anyone was watching her. No one was in sight, which fact bothered her a little. Where is everyone? The answer was staring at her a hundred yards down the road. A group of men were prostrated in prayer, their backs to her. It was two o’clock—prayer time. This ritual would probably last another ten minutes—at the most—and Talya had no time to lose. She needed to return to the hut unseen. She quickly and silently made her way back up the hill and to her temporary residence. She waited. She thought someone would come to fetch her, but, when looking at her watch, she realized that a half-an-hour had passed and no one had shown up, she wondered why she had been brought up here. It made no sense. Hjamal had said he wanted to meet her in Dakar... Where is he? Does he know I’m here?
Suddenly, she heard voices outside and a car stop in front of the door. She opened it cautiously only to have it pushed wide open in her face. She stumbled back to find Pierre grabbing her by the arm before she fell backward.
“What are you doing here?” Talya blurted, stunned.
“Don’t say anything, Madame Kartz, and come with us. We’re bringing you back to Dakar.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now!”
The men outside had surrounded a Land Rover with John at the wheel. The men that Talya assumed to be workers seemed impatient and not at all happy with what was happening.
Pierre pushed Talya into the backseat—a bit roughly, she thought—and went to sit in the front seat beside John.
“Let’s get out of here.” he said to the navigator. The latter nodded and revved the vehicle before turning it round and driving out of the camp rather quickly.
- Writer
