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

door and listened. A man’s fist was pounding on a door. Instinctively, Samir knew something was wrong. He had escorted Talya to her room, but he had not gone in with her, enough people had imposed their presence on her already. He did not want to be another on the list. He continued to listen.
“Madame Kartz has been attacked—” That’s all Samir needed to hear. He knew she had been in danger and he had tried to tell her, but now was not the time to dwell on the past. He had to find Rasheed and fast! He knew Rasheed had come back. To Samir, there had been no other conclusion; the man would not have crawled back into his hole. He was ruined. Talya had seen to it. He had lost money, pride, dignity and worst of all; his drug operation was now in shambles. Samir had seen more into the murder of Richard Gillman than the mere discarding of an unwanted hand. Talya needed to be eliminated—she knew too much. Tomorrow she was to open a dam of revelations that would send Rasheed to prison—or worse.
110
“Say what? Who are you?” Hassan blurted bewildered.
“Azhar, Maitre, but that’s not important. I’m on assignment from the embassy. Madame Kartz has been attacked and we need you upstairs.”
“Let me get some clothes on. Come in. Come in. Have you told anyone else? Did you call Monsieur Flaubert?” As he was slipping into his trousers and shirt, Hassan was trembling with rage and dread. What happened? Who could have attacked her? He needed to call Mohammed.
“We need you upstairs,” Azhar insisted. “The doctor is on his way. I’ll call the other people after her safety is insured.”
“Who was it? Who attacked her?”
“We don’t know yet. She lost consciousness before she could tell my colleague.”
“Let’s go.” Hassan was already rushing through the door, slamming it on the way out.
111
Grabbing the shirt from the seat where he had dropped it, Samir opened his door cautiously, careful that the hall was now empty, and made his way to the back exit and down the stairs to the gardens. He had no time to lose.
The grass was soft underfoot, which made his progress silent. The light from the spotlights encased in the ground was enough for Samir to peer into the distance without much problem. He stopped beside an ortensia bush and crouched into the shadows. He wanted to watch and familiarize himself with his surroundings. He needed to become one with the night and listen to the sounds. A minute passed and he heard footfall ten yards directly in front of him. The man’s shoes creaked ever so slightly at each footstep. Then the door, not far from him, opened and slammed shut; a man ran in the direction of the hedges. Samir presumed he was a security agent. He had seen him roaming the hotel corridors earlier that day. Suddenly there was a commotion up ahead. Several officers swarmed the grounds. He heard someone yell orders and then it was all over. Two officers were dragging Rasheed out of the bushes. He had been punched senseless. Relieved, Samir stood up, went through the back door and climbed the five flights of stairs separating him from his room.
Once he had showered, he went to the balcony and sat in the lounge chair for a long while.
112
Talya was still lying on the floor attended by whom Hassan assumed to be the house doctor. He knelt at her side and looked at her. The pain he felt was indescribable. Her new outfit was ripped down the front. Her right arm showed signs of heavy bruising, and her cheek was bleeding.
“How is she, Doctor?”
“She is in shock. We need to get her to her bed right now. Can you carry her?”
“Yes, of course.” Hassan slid his arms beneath her limp body and lifted her.
While walking down the hall, from over his shoulder he saw Mohammed and James rush down the corridor. Reaching Hassan, James asked quietly, “Who did this?”
“I don’t know.”
“No questions right now, gentlemen. I want her in bed and all of you out of here,” the doctor ordered when they were in the bedroom of Talya’s apartment. Hassan laid her on the bed and wrapped the bedspread around her.
“I’ve called for a nurse. She’ll be here any minute. You can go now.”
“What’s going to happen now, Doctor? Why—”
“She’s going to come out of it soon, I think. Her heart couldn’t cope with the sudden pressure. My name is Doctor Simeon by the way, and you are?”
“Maitre Hassan Sangor.”
“Okay, Maitre, I’ll ask you to wait in the other room, would you mind?”
“Sure, I’ll be here if you need me.” Hassan felt utterly miserable and responsible.
In the living room, he found James and Mohammed sitting on the sofa. They stood up as he came out.
“What happened?” Mohammed asked the tone of his voice grave with concern.
“All I know is that a man attacked her. Apparently she passed out before giving his name.”
“That’s not quite correct, Maitre,” Khumar said as he came into the apartment, closing the door behind him.
“And who are you?” Hassan was staring at the intruder.
“I’m Khumar, an agent from the embassy.”
“Khumar, I’m Monsieur Flaubert, Madame Kartz’s employer and this is Monsieur Fade from the Prime Minister’s office in Mali. Let’s have a seat.”
“I know, I was given your names and info on each of you earlier today, and I’m pleased to meet all of you.” The four men sat down.
“You said she did say who it was.”
Khumar turned to Hassan. “Yes, his name is Abdul Rasheed and we’ve caught him on the grounds trying to get away.”
“You mean, Rasheed actually came in here and Madame Kartz let him in?” Mohammed was astonished.
“No. We suspect he let himself in with his own key. From what the clerk told us downstairs, there were several keys handed out for this apartment and we found one of them in Rasheed’s pocket.”
“Who have you alerted about this?” James couldn’t understand how this security agent had let this happen.
“Just the three of you and the ambassador.”
“What about the police commissioner?” Hassan asked.
“He’s been told by the sergeant who caught him.”
“What do we do now?”
“Nothing until morning, Monsieur Fade, then, I’m sure the ambassador and the commissioner will give us some instructions. Apparently, we still have a murderer on the loose and—”
“But, we know who he is…” Hassan flared. Then catching himself, “Or I should say whom Madame Kartz suspects. So can’t the commissioner arrest the man for questioning?”
Khumar shook his head. “Maitre, you know very well that it’s up to the commissioner to decide. We can’t intervene. It’s a matter for the Dakar police.” He was a short fellow, but his bull-like stature seemed to give him the power his height had denied him. “In any case, I think Madame Kartz is safe for now. And if you like to go back to your rooms until morning that’s fine. We’ll be watching and the police are on hand now to wait till tomorrow.”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Khumar got up and went to answer it. “Who is it?”
“Lisa, the nurse, may I come in?”
He opened the door to a tall Peule woman. “All right, come in, they’re in the bedroom on the left.” She was wearing a uniform and carrying what looked like an overnight bag.
“Hello….” She nodded and smiled at the three men when she passed the living room and entered the bedroom discreetly.
“Monsieur Flaubert, Monsieur Fade, as I said there is no need for you to stay here. Actually, I would prefer for you to return to your rooms so I would know where everyone is,” Khumar said to both men. “I’ll wait for you by the door to see you out. I have to get back on duty.”
Hassan remained seated but his companions rose from the sofa.
“Will you call us when she comes out of it, please?” James’s voice was faltering with untold emotions.
“I will. I will look after her. And I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Mohammed looked down at Hassan.
“Because I didn’t stay with her tonight, I should have—”
“This is no time for self-recrimination.” Mohammed put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Who was to know Rasheed would come back?”
“Yes, Monsieur Fade is right, Hassan. You’re not responsible for this.”
“But I can’t help feeling that if I had been there, none of this would have happened.”
“When this is over, we’ll need to have a talk about this.” James looked down at the man whom Talya only allowed to love her from a distance.
“I appreciate your concern, and I think I should perhaps step aside, because she needs protection and I don’t seem to be able to provide it for her.” Hassan shook his head, distraught.
“You’re not getting this, are you?” Mohammed’s voice had a trace of frustration in it. “I am sure stepping aside is not the answer. And, we’re not talking about marriage either. What we are talking about is you being a companion to Talya, the man beside her who looks after her and who helps her to accomplish what she’s destined to do.”
“Like Hagar searching for water—”
“Exactly. Talya needs your guidance, she needs you to show her the way for her to work with peace in her heart.”
James remained silent during the exchange, admiring the way Mohammed led Hassan on the path of understanding. The ways of Islam were a mystery to him but at this moment, he could see a glimmer of light at the end of this tunnel of confusion.
“If you don’t mind then, I’ll go to bed,” James said. “Will you be there at the meeting at nine?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll be there.” Mohammed nodded, following James out of Talya’s apartment.
113
Being slapped gently on the cheeks, when she opened her eyes, everything was a blur at first. Talya saw a man bend over her and a woman in white uniform standing at his side.
Talya pushed the man’s hand away. “What happened? Where’s Rasheed?” she slurred, regaining quickly a memory of the fight and her hurrying down the corridor.
“You had a bad shock, Madame Kartz. You’ll be all right. This is Lisa”—the man pointed to the woman—“your nurse. I’m Doctor Samuel. Do you want anything before going to sleep?”
“Yes... Where’s Maitre Sangor?”
“He’s out here; I’ll get him for you,” Lisa said, going to the door.
“Maitre? Madame Kartz wants you. Would you come in, please?”
Hassan was already in the room before the nurse finished the sentence. The doctor stopped him before he got closer. “Hold on, Maitre Please, no questions and no talking about what happened,” he whispered in Hassan’s ear. Hassan nodded in reply.
Talya could feel her cheek burning and her arm (and her entire body for that matter) aching but other than that, she couldn’t feel anything wrong with her. She wanted to get up to wash off Rasheed’s smell from her body before throwing up in revulsion.
As she tried to set her foot on the floor Hassan came to her, took her in his arms and caressed her head as she