by Deb McEwan
Daniel had started chatting as soon as they’d got into the Land Rover and Gary told him to shut the fuck up if he didn’t want another black eye and a broken nose to go with it this time. Gary closed his eyes and the next time he opened them the sun was high in the sky and the animals and insects were well awake and making enough noise to wake the dead. He looked at his watch, 9 o’clock. He’d slept for 10 hours straight and still felt like absolute shit.
‘Stop at the next village so we can have a break and some food.’
Daniel nodded. ‘You all right boss?’
He looked like death to Daniel but there was no way that he’d tell him that. Gary could usually handle any situation but Daniel wondered if having to practically do a midnight flit had stressed him out.
‘Fine. When we get to the village buy food and drink to eat there and some to take with us so we can stop where we want next time. When you negotiate, give them a good price on the understanding that they haven’t seen us if anyone asks about us.’
‘Yes, boss.’ He should already be aware that people will give information to the highest bidder thought Daniel, but there was no way that he was going to tell him that. He wasn’t sure he would on a good day, but in his current mood, no chance.
They arrived and Daniel asked to see the Village Elder. Negotiations commenced and the Village Elder could see that Gary had company that were invisible to others. He didn’t like the man so kept his distance when Gary offered to shake his hand.
‘He’s superstitious of strangers,’ Daniel quickly explained, not wanting the boss to go off on one.
Negotiations completed and the Village Elder had given his word that he would not tell any strangers about their visit. Some of the village women hurried around with bowls of food and water, which were wolfed down by both the children and adults. The guards kept a close watch on the girls to ensure that they didn’t speak to the women, even accompanying them while they relieved themselves in the basic facilities. The villagers weren’t stupid and knew that the young girls weren’t with the men by choice. The Elder had told his senior wife that the women were not to ask questions and she had passed the word. There would be plenty of time for discussion after the strangers left.
Refreshed with full bellies and some dried food they left the village less than an hour after their arrival. Having consulted the map Gary reckoned their journey would take at least another 30 hours and that they’d overestimated how fast the bus could go. He put Daniel on the bus for the next leg of the journey and ordered the non-shifty looking guard to drive the Land Rover. He didn’t like the look of the other one and told Daniel to keep an eye on him and to make sure he didn’t touch the goods.
They stopped a few more times on the way, all too exhausted to marvel at the wonderful scenery en route. Even the girls who didn’t know what their future held just wanted the journey to be over. The road on approach to the Angolan border was not a road at all, but a single lane sand track. Gary marvelled at the sturdy Bedford bus. The vehicle had tackled anything thrown at it and in a weird way he was often proud to be British, and wasn’t surprised at the parts of the world his country had occupied in the past. The craftsmanship of the old bus was brilliant and he wasn’t surprised when she took the sand track in her stride. They passed their papers to the border officials who were interested in the cargo until they found the sizeable bribe and no further questions were asked. He was glad that nobody in this part of the world seemed bothered about doing their job properly – his life would have been extremely difficult if they were.
After what seemed an age they arrived at the port in Luanda. Gary took in the scene around him - cranes as far as the eye could see lifting the containers off the freighters and onto land and vice versa. Who knew what was hidden in those containers and where they were headed. For the size of the port Gary imagined it was a twenty-four hour operation and he was correct. The ship’s captain had explained that there were no overnight storage facilities but that his shipping company had some rooms in an old large disused Portakabin, and that the girls could be kept there safely from their arrival until their departure later on the same day. Gary had toyed with the idea of using the passenger terminal in Luanda and obtaining false identification documents for the girls. After weighing up the pros and cons he knew this idea was fraught with potential problems and that the best plan was the one he’d decided on. Luckily, one of his contacts in Europe had put him onto the ship’s captain who was well connected locally. He quickly scanned the ships that were docked. Most of them were too big for what he’d expected but there were three that could be the one they were booked onto. Instead of guessing, Gary sent the guards to find the old captain and his scrap metal freighter. He also sent Daniel to find the man who was taking the bus. He’d negotiated 5 young girls in exchange for the bus and was amazed at how cheap life was. In the end he accepted 4, one had mysteriously disappeared and Gary didn’t want to delay his journey or draw any further attention to himself while he waited for another to be procured. He concluded this part of his business in a rush, keen to get on the ship and summon Mary, to prove he wasn’t losing his masculinity.
Chapter 11
Every time Marion tried to call Gail over the next five days she got her answering service. She was so annoyed but wasn’t seeing Val until the following week when they were doing two days of familiarisation training before departing for Romania just three days later. Mulling over her time between jobs she thought that the twins were unusually quiet, but Fiona and Libby had been very interested in their Zambia tour and had asked loads of questions. They’d pumped her for information about that man but Marion hadn’t wanted to worry Libby so had kept it as light as she could, and had tried her best to keep her opinions to herself. She knew that the girls knew she didn’t like Gary, but guessed that Val had talked to Libby about him and her mother’s side of the story would have been completely different from her own. She was running out of time and patience and contemplating whether to call the Director, as she was finishing her grocery shopping and packing the car. Her mobile rang and the display showed that it was Gail.
‘Can we meet?’ was Gail’s hasty greeting and they arranged to meet at the charity headquarters the following day. ‘Don’t tell Val,’ Gail added unnecessarily.
Marion had felt guilty for withholding information from the charity and wanted to be the first to speak. As soon as she sat down in the room with Sylvia and Gail and the secretary had served filtered coffee and green tea, she off loaded.
‘I should have told you before but I found some bank statements in the office drawer,’ she sucked in a breath. ‘Gary had deposited two large sums into a UK bank account in Daniel’s name.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us this before?’
‘Sylvia, Val doesn’t know about this. We had a major fallout over Gary and can get along just fine as long as neither of us talks about him. If I had told you that at our meeting, Val would have gone berserk and accused me of God only knows what.’
‘Okay, we’ll pass that information on to the police, they’re already involved.’
Marion raised her eyebrows and Sylvia explained.
Although she had suspected that the men were involved in the abduction of the girls, to be told that Interpol were on their case and that they would be tracking Val’s emails and listening to her phone calls was quite a revelation.
‘Oh shit,’ was Marion’s uncharacteristic response.
‘Shit indeed,’ said Sylvia. ‘The police have said not to change our plans for you ladies as that might alert Gary Jamieson, or whatever his real name is. Will you be able to carry on as if you don’t know any of this, and keep it from Val for the time being?’
Marion thought for a moment. She had been spot on about both men and her and Val had already agreed not to talk about Gary.
‘Whatever’s happened between us Val is still my best friend... she’s going to be devastated. Could you keep this from your best friend?’
‘Mario
n,’ Sylvia leaned forward. ‘If you tell Val and she doesn’t believe you, there’s a chance she’ll contact him and that could blow the whole police operation.’
‘The police believe he’s going to bring the girls to Europe and hope to catch him there,’ said Gail. ‘If he finds out, those girls may not be rescued and who knows what the rest of their lives will be like?’
It was a no brainer then. She had to think of the greater good of the girls who’d been kidnapped.
‘Okay, I won’t tell her. But this may well be the kiss of death for our friendship.’
Sylvia got up to signify that the meeting was over. They would usually have concluded with a formal handshake but this time the women hugged and Sylvia told Marion how grateful she was for her cooperation. She would see them both the following week and have a quick chat, ostensibly about the investigation of Daniel Mulenga and if there was any progress on that front. They said their goodbyes and Marion left, feeling as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Marion did a bit of shopping in London and tried to lift her mood before arriving back at the flat in time for dinner. She was surprised to see that both twins were there along with Libby and Fiona. Although Claire had told them not to tell their mother, the twins had decided to go against her wishes believing it would be in Val’s best interest.
‘Okay, what’s going on?’
They all look so flaming serious thought Marion. After the day she’d had she could do without more devastating news. She mentally composed herself and thought of her daughter. To lose a child was the worst possible thing in life and went against the normal laws of nature. Marion had endured and was still enduring that agony so anything else life threw at her might be awful, but a doddle in comparison, she was sure.
‘This isn’t easy to tell you, Marion.’ Libby sat up straight in the chair with her hands together in her lap, as if attending a formal job interview.
‘But we discussed it and decided that you ought to know,’ added Fiona.
‘Hmm,’ so they were getting the girls to tell her. Whatever it was it must be bad.
‘Carry on.’
‘It’s about Val’s friend, Gary Jamieson,’ Fiona again. ‘He’s not what he appears to be.’
‘Can you please stop pussyfooting around and just tell me what’s going on.’
‘Gary Jamieson is trafficking young girls to sell as sex slaves and is also a murderer... I mean very probably a murderer,’ Jim corrected himself and they all waited for Marion’s reaction.
‘How do you know this?’
It wasn’t what they’d expected and they looked at her assuming that the information hadn’t sunk in.
‘Mum, did you hear what Jim said?’
‘I did and did you hear what I said? How do you know this?’
‘Tony was surfing on the Internet and as usual, listening to stuff he shouldn’t have been. He intercepted some police business and heard them mention my mother’s name and yours too so... that’s how we found out.’ Libby’s voice trailed away and there was an unexpected gust of wind, which made them all look around the room and a knowing look passed between the twins.
Not very likely, thought Marion. ‘Show me the website.’
‘I can’t do that, Mum. They must have realised that someone was hacking it and it’s been encrypted, but not before we discovered that the police are following that guy.’
‘Who did he murder?’
‘Err, don’t know,’ said Jim.
‘Well you said he’s a murderer. How do you know that?’
‘The police said they suspected him of murder and child trafficking,’ said Tony and Marion noticed how relieved his brother looked at this explanation. She let it go for now and waited for them to start questioning her. She didn’t have long to wait.
‘You don’t seem very surprised,’ said Fiona. ‘I know you don’t like the man but I expected a stronger reaction.’
‘I already knew,’ that shut them up. ‘I’ve just returned from the People Against Poverty headquarters and have been informed that Gary Jamieson and Daniel Mulenga are being investigated on suspicion of trafficking young girls to sell as sex slaves. Three girls disappeared from our orphanage you see.’
‘And my mother still wants to see this man?’
‘Aah.’ Marion studied her hands.
‘She doesn’t know does she?’ Libby got up to leave the room.
‘Libby, come back please,’ Marion rushed to her and put her arm around her, supporting her to her seat as if she were an invalid.
‘They’ve made me promise not to tell your mother, Libby. Although she already knows that Daniel is under investigation. If I do tell her and Val doesn’t believe me the lives of many young girls could be at risk. Your mother’s like a sister to me and you’ll never know how much I care for her, but...’ Marion put her head in her hands and shook it. ‘I know it’s going to be the death knoll for our friendship but I can’t have the lives of God knows how many young girls on my conscience.’
‘I hate not telling her as well.’
‘You haven’t told her? I’m surprised. I would have thought that...’
‘Mum. We wanted to speak to you about it first and then we were going to tell her.’
A likely story. Marion could see that Tony was lying again and she wondered why they couldn’t or wouldn’t tell her the truth. The story about hacking the police website was so obviously a lie. Who were they protecting she wondered. Maybe it was someone close to Gary who was grassing him up – she thought that’s what they called it - and maybe they’d given their word not to say anything. That seemed unlikely too, so why weren’t they telling her the whole story? Knowing the twins as she did there was no point in trying to get the information out of them. They could be as stubborn as their father when the mood took them. Well, she could be pretty difficult too and Sylvia had told her that she wasn’t to tell anyone about the police tracking Val’s emails and phone calls. It might be too much of a secret for Libby to keep.
Tony noticed his mother’s lips turn downward and a frown appear in the centre of her forehead and wondered where her train of thought was taking her.
‘Mum, Mum!’
She looked up. ‘Right. As there’s a police investigation I don’t think you should tell your mother, Libby. We have to protect her safety, right?’
Libby knew that Marion was right. Her mother was smitten and she knew that even if she tried to tell her about this awful man, her mother wouldn’t believe her, especially the story about how they got hold of the information. And there was no way she could tell her about Tony’s sister. She would also know that they had been talking to Marion behind her back, so it was a lose, lose situation. Libby knew that even with the outcome of Gary Jamieson being caught by the police, her mother would still feel wounded and betrayed by them all and have a broken heart as well.
*****
Claire and Raphael had watched the whole proceedings and although she was initially angry with her brothers for going against her wishes, she had still nearly collapsed with laughter when Libby was explaining to her mother how they found out about Gary Jamieson. Raphael had to hold her and put a hand over her mouth so that she didn’t cause any further disturbances down there. She felt better when they discovered what Marion already knew and was pleased that her mother hadn’t been told that Gary and Big Ed were one and the same.
‘Come on, let’s go home,’ said Raphael and he had that look about him that she already recognised and that meant they’d have some fun when they were back in Cherussola. Claire was so grateful for Raphael. Jay had been the love of her life and she never thought she’d experience lovemaking again. Death was getting better than it was cracked up to be and she knew she’d be with Raphael until one of them was sent to heaven for eternity. Claire knew that this wouldn’t be for a long time, she didn’t know how she knew, but was absolutely certain that Cherussola was her home for the foreseeable future. Perhaps it was something to do with her ever
-increasing powers but she wasn’t going to dwell on that at the moment. She looked at Raphael and took hold of him. He could travel much faster than her and she knew that she was in for one heck of a ride, or possibly two she laughed as they shot through the universe like the Enterprise on Warp Factor 10.
*****
Val and Marion met at the coffee shop by Victoria Station again to walk to the HQ and start their pre-deployment training. They hadn’t seen each other for almost two weeks and Val looked tired and drained.
‘How are you?’
‘I haven’t heard from Gary. I’m worried about him.’
Oh heck. Marion knew Val would think her false if she expressed concern for him and callous if she didn’t – a no win situation.
‘I’m sorry to hear that, Val. Can you contact anyone else?’
‘You’re not sorry at all are you?’
Marion didn’t want an argument within seconds of meeting her nor did she want one in public. ‘You know how I feel, Val but you must also know that I’m concerned about you.’
‘I’m sorry, Marion. It’s just that I’m tired. He’s probably not in a Wi-Fi zone so can’t FaceTime me. It’s still worrying though.’
‘I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s a capable and versatile man and he managed to get to forty something without your help,’ she gave Val a gentle nudge and they both laughed.
‘Yeah, you’re right. Come on, let’s get cracking. I wonder who’s taking the training?’
‘Gail.’
‘How do you know that? The letter didn’t say.’
‘She told me when you were in the loo after that meeting. I just forgot to mention it, that’s all,’ Marion couldn’t see a reason why Val would check that with Gail so hoped she’d got away with the lie.
They walked on in silence, Marion worrying about Val and Val worrying about Gary.
*****
