Chapter 6
1625 Words
Chapter 6Namlah Badawee—a name meaning nomad ant in Arabic—was writing on the white board affixed on the opposite wall to his desk. On it, he usually wrote a bullet-point list of the matters or items that presented problems or issues that needed clarification. The fine features of his coffee-color face and his upper lip adorned of a trimmed mustache gave one the impression the man was a stranger in these parts, which he was. Originally from Syria, Namlah had immigrated with his parents to Canada when he was only a teenager. After years of schooling and much studies devoted to foreign laws and political intrigues, Namlah saw his way to being appointed legal advisor in international law at CSIS, where he soon acquired the reputation of being a wizard at his trade. The Sadir Affair had occupied most of his time of late and now that two material witnesses had been removed from the trial unexpectedly and that the CIA Deputy Director Van Dams had been killed, Namlah was trying to find a thread that would lead him to identifying the mastermind in this affair. He had discovered that the reasons behind sending Talya and Samuel to Australia were not directly related to Samuel living in Melbourne since childhood, but were probably associated to Talya living and working in Sydney for years prior to her returning to Canada. Talya’s past, once again, held the key to locating the person they had nicknamed the Puppeteer.
When Fred Gibson entered Namlah’s office, he shot a quick glance at the white board, nodded, smiled and sat in one of the visitors’ chairs, swiveling it to face the legal advisor.
“I see you’ve made some progress, Counselor,” Fred said. “Could you clarify for me what this all means?” He pointed at the board.
“Yes, by all means, Chief,” Namlah replied, taking a few steps toward the first list of names. “In this column we have the names of the people who had a relationship with Ms. Kartz. By that I mean people who either played a role in her life or who had some influence in her work or career. Of course, these relationships sometimes date back to her youth, but some others are more recent as you will see.”
“Okay, but before we go into details, could you elaborate on the names that seem to come at the forefront of the rest?” Fred’s impatience began to show. He was a man who liked to get to the point or the crux of the matter as fast as possible. He didn’t like to linger on unimportant details.
“Yes, Chief, but you need to understand that someone who seems unimportant today may very well be the one we’re looking for. By all accounts, our puppeteer is not the obvious criminal that will stick out like a sore thumb.” English being his second language, Namlah had the habit to use run-of-the-mill or tired expressions when describing his findings.
“Fine, Mr. Badawee, but I haven’t got all day, so let’s get on with it.” the chief retorted.
Visibly crestfallen, Namlah went on, “The first name on top of the list is perhaps the oldest of the lot, but one that stands out nonetheless. Mr. Deschamps was the man who abused and raped Ms. Kartz when she was a teenager. That event in itself has been recorded in her dossier, but what has not been recorded was what happened to the man after he was dismissed from the school where he worked in Conakry.”
“But wouldn’t he have been arrested or something, after being dismissed?” Fred asked a little surprised that a child molester or rapist would simply roam free after attacking one of the children in his class.
“No, Chief. At the time, Guinée was under Sékou Touré’s rule and the French didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. They simply sent the man back to Belgium and said no more about it.”
“Do we know how old he is now? And why would he be of interest to us at this stage?”
“Two things, Chief. One; he was dismissed under a very large cloud of suspicions and could not practice anymore. And two; according to his dossier, the man was and still is vindictive.”
“How do we know this? Has he done something recently that would put him on your list?”
“Yes. And although the man is already in his seventies now, he has maintained an extensive network of child pornography, especially since the advent of the internet.”
“That may be so, but why would he be connected to Talya at this time? There is a very large gap between child pornography and drug or armament trade...”
Namlah waved a hand in front of him to stop the chief. “Not so large of a gap, Chief, when you read the intel reports I have obtained on him. In fact, the man has been dealing drugs for years from his home in Brussels and is now one of the prime suspects in Europe in other related crimes.”
“So you think this Mr. Deschamps could be linked to our case in some ways?”
“Yes, I do, Chief, because he’s got the resources and the background required to mount such a vindictive campaign against Ms. Kartz.”
“All right then. I’ll read those reports you’ve mentioned. Who’s next?”
“The next person is perhaps more interesting at this stage because he’s Australian...”
“Now you’re getting somewhere, Counselor,” the chief exclaimed, all smiles. “Is that the second name on the list?” He pointed at the board again.
“Yes. His name is Herbert Parsimon. He was the CEO of a diamond mining company in Sydney and Ms. Kartz worked for him for a short while.”
“Ha-ha, that’s what I call a link, Counselor. So, tell me what has the man done that would put him on your list?”
“I will not go into details—they’re all in the report—but he has been somewhat instrumental in getting Ms. Kartz involved with the Guinean government in the early days of the company discovering large diamond deposits in and around the Baoulé River in north-eastern Guinée.”
“But, wasn’t that her job?” Fred asked. “She was usually appointed as some sort of liaison officer for these mining outfits. So, what’s so strange about that?”
Namlah nodded. “Yes, Chief, that was her job as you said, but there is a link there, not so much in the job itself, but in the location of the mining development. This mining enterprise is actually located a few miles from Sabodala on the other side of the border with Senegal.”
Fred had his eyebrows raised by this time. “Are you telling me that we’ve got another of these mining holes located in the same area as Sabodala?”
“That’s exactly what attracted my attention about this man, Chief. And when I read that their mining camp was raided and blown up by the locals at some point, I began to wonder if these two outfits were not related somehow.”
“Do we know why the locals sent the camp and their expats to kingdom-come? Because I assume there were some dead parties involved.”
“Yes, there were and the whole thing was plastered in the European press at the time, but was hushed to some degree in Australia and North America. And that’s what really aroused my curiosity. Why would a government keep such a blunder quiet? Were they afraid to apprehend the parties responsible for fomenting trouble?”
“Have you got the report here?”
“Yes, Chief, and I’ve asked Jimmy to have a copy printed and put on your desk this morning.”
“Very good. Thank you. But I see that you have other names on this list; some of them I even recognize—just tell me how they are related to the case.”
“Okay, but the only other name that could be of interest is James Flaubert...”
Fred didn’t want to interrupt but did with a grunt.
“Mr. Flaubert has always been at the right place at the right time, so to speak and he’s the one who has the most connections with all of the people involved in any of the cases we’ve dealt with to date.”
Fred nodded. “All right. It makes sense to look into his background a little deeper, but he doesn’t look to me as a person who would be capable of maneuvering such an elaborate operation for so many years...”
“But that’s exactly what we need to keep in mind, Chief. The puppeteer is a silent, innocuous mastermind. He will not appear to be the criminal that he is. He will appear to all as the most innocent party.”
“Okay, Counselor, I hear you and as I said I’ll look into his dossier.” Fred paused, crossed his arms over his ample chest, and eyes going down the list of names, he asked, “What about this Les Holt, what’s his relationship with Ms. Kartz?”
Namlah looked up at the name. “Hum, yes. Here again, he may be someone whom we don’t need to concentrate on, but there was something in this man’s past that attracted my attention.” Fred uncrossed his arms, re-adjusted his butt in the chair and seemed to prepare himself for one of Namlah’s long explanations. “Mr. Holt was involved with Ms. Kartz in the early days of her stay in Australia—before she met Agent Meshullam and while she was employed at the diamond company. The relationship didn’t last but a few months but what’s interesting about the man is that he was a ground engineer with the RAAF. At the time the Australians were heavily involved in providing military assistance in the Middle East...”
“By military assistance,” Fred interrupted, “you mean armaments and the like?”
“Apparently yes...”
“Why do you say ‘apparently’? Is there some doubt about the intel we’ve got from Australia?”
“Well...,” Namlah hesitated, “we’re only sure of two things; Mr. Holt traveled to Saudi Arabia on a couple of occasions to accompany military aid to Kuwait and to oversee the maintenance of their Hercules while on the ground in the desert. That’s about all we have on the man at this time.”
Fred seemed pensive for a moment. “That’s another link I’d like you to dig into, Counselor. This guy was sent with the RAAF during Desert Storm to Saudi at a time our Prince Abdullah was also involved with arms provision to Kuwait.” He grunted again. “It may amount to nothing we could use in this case, but it’s worth checking out, same as all these other threads you have.”
“That’s what I intend to do, Chief...”
“Okay, but don’t spend too much time on James Flaubert; my gut tells me we’d be chasing our tails in his case.”
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