BAMAKO by Aribert Raphael (smart books to read txt) 📖

days since he had just begun a trial hearing that morning. Talya thanked the lady—Daphne was her name—and asked her to have her boss call her when he was available.
She called Chantal next. She picked up the phone at the first ring.
“Hello, Chantal, how are you?”
“Oh. Hi, Talya….” It sounded as if she was expecting to hear someone else’s voice. “I’m fine; I’m waiting for a ring from the hospital in Brussels. Jean-Claude arrived during the night and they’ve decided to operate on his shoulder right away to put the bones back in their proper places. So, now I’m waiting to hear from the doctor.”
“That’s great. I’m sure it won’t be long now. Everything will be fine.”
“I sure hope you’re right. But, I can’t stand the waiting. Minutes seem like hours. I feel like I’ve been staring at this phone for days now.”
“And you have. Well, not maybe for days, but hours can seem like days when you’re waiting for a call, I know. In any case, I won’t keep you. I just phoned to see how you were. Now I don’t want you to miss your call, so I’ll let you go.”
“Okay. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you, but you understand? I’ll phone you when I hear from the doctors and then you can tell me what happened since I left.”
“I understand, don’t worry. We’ll talk soon.”
Talya’s next call was to Rheza. What was the girl doing? She was curious. She, too, picked up the receiver at first ring.
“Rheza? This is Madame Kartz. I hope I haven’t disturbed you? I was wondering if you have any news from your uncle.”
“Oh. Madame Kartz. I didn’t expect your call. Sorry. I’m waiting for a call from New York. I’m hoping someone up there will tell me my uncle’s okay, or where he is. I can’t get over it. I’m so worried. I have a bad feeling about all this.”
“I can only repeat what I’ve told you last night. Maybe your uncle is doing the right thing for once and everything will be all right.”
“You don’t believe that. You know it isn’t true. I tell you, my uncle’s gone and if he’s not in New York, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“Rheza, listen to me. If what you say is true, then yes, we may have a problem, but until we know for sure, we’ll simply have to wait. I’ll hang up now because I wouldn’t want you to miss his call. And please ring me when you have heard from your contact in New York, Okay?”
“Sure. I’ll call you.” Rheza rang off.
It seemed everyone was doing something and Talya, too, had a full day ahead of her.
She ordered a pot of coffee to be brought up, went to the desk, sat down and began typing.
Earlier that day Talya had asked Monsieur Dia at the front desk, to find her an electronic typewriter and he did. The man was a miracle worker. She couldn’t accept the laptop he wanted to lend her. The government application forms couldn’t be filled-out using a computer.
She went at it with all the concentration she could muster. She needed to apply herself to something tangible. After a couple of hours, she realized that she was already halfway through the first legal document.
For the next two days, Talya continued working her way through the documentation.
One morning she went with Chantal to an appointment Jean-Claude had made with the Resident Manager of a mining company, which held a property in northern Mali, a man by the name of Steve Quinlan. He told them that they were at the beginning of a long road of government haggling over the proposed expenditure for the exploration of the land, meetings, and of endless discussions with Kane. He made the point of telling Talya that in his experience, the second step in acquiring any permits in Mali was the hardest. It consisted of attending an elaborate conference with various ministers and government members who would vote on the application being approved (or rejected). He added that it took him three months to reach that stage and that his company had started with a clean slate—not like Carmine with their tarnished reputation.
Chantal and Talya came out of Steve’s office feeling nothing less than depressed.
“Three months. Did he really say three months? That’s unthinkable,” Talya said, turning to Chantal in the back seat of the taxi, going back to the hotel.
“He did say that, didn’t he? And that was after successful processing of the documentation…”
“I’m not staying here three months. No way on earth would James let me do that anyway.”
“In any case, you’ve got to clean the slate first. You heard the man; you have to get this mess straightened out before you can even consider processing the application.”
“I guess so, and that puts us back at finding Savoi, doesn’t it?” The question was rhetorical, of course, somehow Talya hoped it wasn’t.
“That it does, Talya, no question about it.”

The following day, depressing thoughts gave way to more constructive and objective ones. Talya finished part of the first set of forms and she was attaching maps and accounting files to the ever-growing dossier, when the phone rang. It was Rheza. Since Talya hadn’t heard from her in almost three days, she thought she might have news from Savoi. After her conversation with Steve, Talya was eager to hear what she had to say. Rheza was in tears again. Her voice was hiccupping from sobbing.
“…Uncle Amadou’s not in New York. They said he called last Tuesday … and … he said he was going to Guinée or … to Senegal. He said he has some friends in … Dakar. He said … he had to wait for things to cool down in Bamako … before he’d come back… What am I going to do? I don’t know where he is. I don’t know how to find him …” She paused but the crying continued.
Talya couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. She’d been told her uncle may be in Dakar. So, what’s the big deal?
“Rheza? Are you listening? Please calm down. Take a deep breath and think about everything you’ve been told.” Talya waited for a reaction. She only got more choking cries. After a few moments, though, the sobbing seemed to subside.
Talya went on. “You’ve said your uncle may be in Dakar? I’m sure he can take care of himself and he’ll phone you as soon as he can.” Especially, since he ran off with a boatload of money.
Again, no reply other than sniffles, so Talya pressed on, “I tell you what; you take a drive, relax, and have a sleep this afternoon. Then, you can phone me later tonight and maybe we can meet in the morning? How’s that sound?”
“Do you know anyone in Dakar?” The girl has a one-track mind.
“No I don’t, Rheza. I think you should be patient. I’m sure your uncle will call soon.” Talya was edging toward the fed-up stage; she had enough of disappearing uncles and sobbing nieces for a while.
“Thanks. I’ll call you tonight. But I really don’t know if I can help you …” I don’t think I need your help right now either!
“I think I’ll leave it up to you to call me whenever you’re satisfied your uncle is safe and sound. In the meantime, I cannot afford to stop working. So, I’ll let you go back to your searching and I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure, I guess ... Good bye, Madame Kartz.” They hung up.
I have it right up to here.
Talya returned to her desk and continued working, but her mind kept wandering. She couldn’t concentrate. Then, the phone ringing off the hook disturbed her again. It was Hassan’s secretary this time, advising her that Maitre Sangor requested a meeting with her at two o’clock that afternoon, if she would be free to see him. Of course, I’ll be free.
Talya went downstairs and out for a walk. She needed to stretch her legs. Although, it isn’t something a lady does unaccompanied in Bamako, at that moment she didn’t care. She wouldn’t have cared if she were walking on the moon naked. Carmine had spent nearly a half-a-million dollars on this deal, and here she was—nothing to show for it (yet) but a hysterical niece and a disappearing agent. She wanted to tackle the problem head-on. If only she could find Savoi, she would get some answers and get this whole thing cleared up eventually. Before frustration had time to set in, half way down the block, Talya stopped at the ‘Paillote’, a sort of terrace-like restaurant frequented by white tourists. A paillote is a large hut topped with a thatch roof, usually built on the West African coastal resorts to provide shade to the beach-goers who may have had too much sun.
She settled down in one of the lounge chairs facing a little park, which separated her from the hotel pool and read for a while. Then she went to have a drink at the bar. Being nearly lunchtime there were a couple of people sitting on tree-legged stools talking to the bartender, and another few sitting on rattan chairs around wobbly tables. The bartender came toward Talya, a little surprised at having to serve a woman alone, yet he did without comments. She asked for a glass of white wine to take some of the edginess off her brain. She munched on nuts and crackers like a pigeon picking at crumbs on the ground. She ate some of the hors-d’oeuvres the Chef brought in for the patrons. Nothing seemed to work—she had only one question to which she couldn’t find an answer, why did Savoi disappear? He flew the coop, yes, but that to her, was only part of the explanation for his disappearance. She walked back to the Grand Hotel and up to her room to freshen up. It was almost two o’clock. Hassan would show up on time and she wanted to be ready when he got there.
18
Hassan got up early from a restless sleep. The trial had dragged on and he kept on thinking about Talya. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. In the last week, she had managed to open the door to a flood of unchecked emotions. It felt good thinking about her, but it annoyed him all the same. How could this woman have such an effect on him in such a short time? He had dealt with many women in his career and most of them left him cold or insensitive even. There had been several torrid relationships in his life but none had left him so lovingly placid or thrilled. He decided to keep his behaviour in check the next time he would meet with Talya. That was going to be harder than he thought just then.
Something else was on his mind, something that annoyed him. Where was Amadou Savoi? Hassan had not yet taken an hour out of his schedule to go to Savoi’s villa. This darn trial has taken