Allegiance

by Trevor Corbett

  Ruslan nodded. ‘I’ll get the personnel list of the centre. On it, I’ll mark off names of people I think you should be looking at, the ones you should be profiling. Will that help you?’

  ‘That’ll help a lot.’ Shabalala hid his excitement. He had successfully narrowed their target field from an area of thousands of square metres and a community of hundreds down to a short list of names. And one of those names would belong to the suspect.

  Amina walked into Horizons, hesitated for a moment, spotted Durant sitting under one of the umbrellas, and walked across. She wore a black raincoat, a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. Durant guessed she had also heard the weather report and was just as confused about what the weather would turn out to be as everyone else. The sun wanted to break through the rainclouds over the ocean, but it was late in the afternoon and the chances of rain seemed more likely. She took off her raincoat, and then her scarf, letting her long dark hair fall onto her shoulders. When she removed her sunglasses, Durant could see sadness in her eyes.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Thanks for meeting with me at such short notice. I’m worried about Mariam. I think your friend Arshad Tanveer is beating her.’

  ‘Well, firstly he’s not my friend, and secondly I’m sure you wouldn’t say that unless you were sure.’ Durant looked straight at Amina. A seasoned intelligence officer – she wouldn’t speculate or exaggerate.

  She nodded and put her sunglasses back on, not because of the glare; she didn’t want Durant to see her cry. ‘Pretty sure. She hasn’t told me to my face, but I can see the signs. Besides the obvious physical ones.’

  Durant felt gloomy and it sounded in his voice. ‘Really?’

  ‘The signs are there, I know what to look out for.’

  Durant leaned forward and saw himself reflected in Amina’s dark glasses. ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Well, this is the thing, I don’t know. I want to help her, but I’m not sure what to do.’ Amina felt a burning in her throat. She had to be strong.

  Durant knitted his brows and grinned. ‘Aren’t you the same gal who a while back wanted Mariam tossed into a prison cell?’

  ‘I didn’t know her then.’ A faint smile touched her lips. ‘Maybe I was blinded by prejudice.’

  A waiter came and Durant took the menus.

  ‘Don’t let her wrap you around her little finger,’ Durant said, opening the menu but not feeling hungry.

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘Don’t let her milk you. The deal was only to take Siraj into the crèche, not adopt his mother. I’m sure she’s got major baggage.’ In the distance, there was a flash and thunder rolled. Durant felt his hands clench.

  ‘How can you be so unfeeling? She’s a poor, lonely girl with no friends. I feel I’m all she’s got.’

  ‘Life’s full of choices and consequences.’ The words were edged with anger. ‘If she’s got a miserable life, she shouldn’t have married Arshad Tanveer in the first place.’

  ‘And I probably shouldn’t have married Ahmed. We all make mistakes. And we can all fix them.’

  Durant shook his head. ‘So you trying to fix Mariam’s messed-up life is to try to make you feel better about yours.’

  Amina pushed her chair back; her lip quivered.

  Durant put his hands up and looked down at the table. ‘Sorry. That came out a bit harsh. I’m a bit edgy. It’s the weather.’

  Her tight-lipped smile gave Durant some relief. ‘Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I’m projecting my own issues. I guess we both have problems.’

  The waiter came back and Durant waved him away. He wouldn’t eat. Fear suppressed the appetite. As if to remind him, a loud crash and bang of thunder shook the tables.

  Amina tightened the scarf around her neck and pushed her sunglasses onto her head. ‘When you see Tanveer again—’

  ‘Ask him to stop beating his wife?’ There was annoyance in Durant’s voice.

  ‘Look, I’m not asking you to understand or to agree with me.’ She picked up her bag and put it on her lap. ‘As your friend, I’m just asking for your help. But if you don’t want to help, that’s fine too.’ She stood up.

  Durant felt his knuckles whiten and his teeth hurt from clenching. ‘Sit down; I’m still talking to you.’

  ‘Then stop being such an idiot.’ She sat down again, dumping her bag at her feet.

  ‘It’s a professional relationship, Amina. I can’t discuss personal issues with him. It wouldn’t be right.’ The afternoon had darkened and an eerie grey cloud had settled over the sea.

  ‘It stopped being a professional relationship when I took Siraj. It got very personal after that.’

  Durant felt the dark clouds would consume him. He felt the tables swirling around him. Perhaps he should eat. He wasn’t thinking straight. ‘For you, yes. Not for me. I can’t get emotionally involved with my sources and all their issues. You worked with me, you know this.’

  Amina reflected on his words. Did he think she had so easily forgotten the six years she’d spent in the Agency on his team? She knew the intelligence game – how handlers and their agents shouldn’t get too close or be involved in each other’s personal issues. That’s exactly what the manuals taught. They even called it ‘falling in love with your agent’. Having a blind or overriding loyalty to your agent was dangerous, foolish. Agents were to be kept at arm’s length. They were functional, a means to an end. Their purpose was to provide information. They didn’t somehow become an extension of your family or become a friend. Why was Durant doing this? Why was she doing this?

  ‘Sorry, Kevin, can’t do. I believe Mariam was sent to me for a reason. I can’t not help Siraj and I can’t just ignore Mariam’s issues. All I’m asking you to do for me is a favour. Bear it in mind when you meet him again. You’re a smart guy, think of something, try to help her.’

  The restaurant began emptying as rain threatened. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

  ‘Thanks, I know you will.’ Amina opened her bag and slipped out an envelope. ‘She gave me this envelope yesterday and said I can only open it if something happens to her. I mean, this really worries me.’

  Durant frowned. ‘Did you open it?’

  ‘Kevin, I can’t open it. She said only if something happens to her.’

  ‘Well, you said something is happening to her, so doesn’t that qualify?’

  Amina shook her head. ‘You’re so devious. Some of my conscience is still intact. I won’t open it, I can’t.’

  Durant pursed his lips in thought. ‘You can’t. But I can. I can reseal it again. I won’t even tell you what it says.’

  ‘Do you ever stop thinking like an intelligence officer? Think like a normal person for once.’

  ‘I always thought I was normal. What if it’s a suicide note or something? You’d feel pretty horrible if something happens to her and the envelope could have saved her.’

  ‘You’re exaggerating this whole thing. It’s probably nothing. Sorry I mentioned it.’

  ‘I always think the worst, you know me.’

  ‘It’s fine. I gave her my word, so I’m not going to open it. But please speak to Arshad for me.’

  Durant looked into her face, a face he’d learnt to read over the past few years. ‘Something else is bothering you; I can see it in your eyes.’

  She looked down at her bag on the floor. She had to go. ‘No, nothing else.’

  ‘Come on, I’m your friend, you can tell me.’

  Amina sighed and put her sunglasses on even though the sun hadn’t broken through the clouds. ‘Don’t worry; I’m just fighting with my husband.’

  ‘Okay,’ Durant said hesitantly. ‘Sorry I asked then.’

  ‘We’re not speaking at the moment.’

  ‘It’s fine, Ami, you don’t have to share if it’s personal.’

  ‘I don’t mind sharing with you. You’ve got a top-secret security clearance. I’m sure my secrets are safe.’

  ‘What’s Ahmed up to?’

&n
bsp; Amina smiled. ‘You sure know how to get straight to the point, don’t you? How do you know it’s not me?’

  ‘Because I know you.’ Durant paused and then lowered his voice. ‘And I know Ahmed.’

  ‘He is up to something and I know what it is. But I’m not going to tell you all that. It’s just a sad situation that I’m dealing with in my own way. He forgets I’m an old intelligence officer.’

  Durant scratched his cheek nervously; he didn’t like the way this conversation was going. ‘Don’t do anything silly, hey, Ami.’

  ‘Silly? It won’t be silly. It’ll be carefully planned and executed like one of our operations.’

  ‘Now I’m really worried. I’ll help you if you need help, but I get worried when you talk like that. I’m not a very good counsellor, but I’m sure you shouldn’t be using the words “plan”, “execute” and “operation” when referring to something you’re going to do with your husband.’

  Amina laughed. ‘This talk’s helping already! I won’t kill him, don’t worry; I didn’t use the word “execute” in that context. Anyway, this meeting isn’t about me, remember, it’s about Mariam. It’s Mariam who needs your help.’

  ‘Is Ahmed hurting you?’

  ‘Well, that’s a very direct question. Do you want me to answer you?’

  ‘I do, because if he is, I want in on the plan. We’re still partners and I still have to watch out for you. You’re like my little sister; I can’t have anybody bully you.’

  Amina waved at the waiter. ‘This could take a while. Coffee please. Make it bottomless.’

  Durban was a beautiful city in its own unique way. There was something enchanting about the way the golden afternoon sun transformed the buildings along the seafront into gleaming monuments, reaching into the sky like religious monoliths. Durant parked on the esplanade, ran across the busy road and entered the yacht club area. He was a little late, thanks to rush-hour traffic and major road works which were improving the city’s transport infrastructure. Durant tried to ignore the emotions he felt as he passed by the substation where he’d fallen almost a year earlier. There was no visible evidence of the shooting, but the scene was still vivid in Durant’s mind. Tanveer was sitting on a grass embankment, as arranged, and he nodded a greeting to Durant as he sat beside him.

  Durant passed him a wrapped bunny chow. ‘It is halaal, I checked.’

  ‘Thanks, David. I don’t have much to report at the moment.’

  ‘How’s the shop been?’

  ‘Busy, and the gangsters haven’t been back since the metro police set up that satellite station.’

  ‘We had to pull quite a few strings to make that happen,’ Durant lied.

  ‘I appreciate it. And for organising Siraj. I am very grateful for the trouble you went to in organising that.’

  ‘Arshad, how’s the financial situation going? Better?’

  ‘A bit better, thank you. Everything is going well, again, thank you.’

  ‘And Mariam? How’s she?’

  Tanveer bowed his head. ‘I know she looks like a victim. She has a way of always looking like the victim.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘I’m the victim, David. I have always just tried to make her life better with the little bit I have. She’s a beautiful woman, beautiful.’

  ‘So how are you the victim?’

  ‘I think she has another love, another man, I am sure of it.’

  ‘What makes you think that?’

  ‘It is small splashes of paint on the canvas, but it paints a portrait that I can see well. It’s not a pretty picture.’

  ‘I don’t want to second-guess your judgement or anything, but how can you be so sure?’

  ‘I found keys in her bag. Keys for a place I don’t know.’

  ‘Maybe it’s her office keys or something?’

  ‘Maybe, but maybe not. There are calls to her cellphone, which she deletes from the log. And bruises on her body.’

  ‘Bruises?’

  ‘Yes. I fear for her. I love her, but I don’t know how to protect her.’

  ‘Have you any idea who this person might be?’

  ‘I intend to find out. I cannot let somebody take her from me. Not without a fight.’

  ‘Do you need help? Anything I can do?’ As Durant said the words he realised he had broken his own rules. Here he was, offering to help his agent with a personal issue. Tanveer’s confession that Mariam was in trouble confirmed Amina’s suspicions. In his professional capacity, it was a hands-off situation, but he hated men who abused women.

  ‘You have done so much for me already.’

  ‘Hey, look, if someone’s hurting Mariam, we’ve got to stop it.’

  ‘I am dealing with it and the hurting will stop soon.’

  Just north of the city at the estuary of the Umgeni River, the mangroves rise out of the muddy swamps like apparitions. On the sea side, the pioneer scrub and creeping plants line the dunes to the high-tide mark where the Indian Ocean rolls in. Through the hundreds of twisted and plaited mangroves, wooden boardwalks take educational groups and eco-tourists deep into the eerie forests where the shy fiddler crabs with their single large claws scurry across the mud and disappear into their swampy dens. Mariam had heard of the Beachwood mangroves, but had never walked through the reserve. She was sure the gates at the entrance to the area would be locked, but when the Volvo stopped under a sign that warned of the dangers of walking alone in the reserve, she saw the gate’s padlock was missing. Uneasy but compliant, she agreed to go with him as the last rays of the afternoon sun clipped the multistoreyed apartment buildings across the road from the entrance. Mariam tried to control her panic, but the further Khalid led her into the mangroves, the more she felt her breath quicken and a desperate fear overcome her. It was meant to be a romantic walk, but Khalid hadn’t said much and his grip on her small hand was anything but romantic. ‘Where are we going, Imraan?’

  ‘To look at the sunset.’ There was contemptuousness in his voice that was frightening, and she considered screaming, but decided that might anger him more. She was lost in her own turbulent thoughts. What had Arshad gotten her into? How had she gone along with this bizarre plan in the first place? It was too high a price to pay to please Arshad and make sure Siraj was in good hands. She feared for her life. Her knees buckled and she slumped against a large mangrove tree where the wooden walkway split to the left and right. Khalid stopped and sat beside her. There was silence, save for the rustling of crabs in the water under the boardwalk and the gentle swish of the wind through the mangrove trees. A mudskipper propelled itself across the mud, making a plopping sound. In the near distance, the sound of the sea.

  ‘Mariam Tanveer. You must think I’m a fool. Do you know who I am? Do you know?’

  ‘Yes,’ and Mariam was shocked at the sound of her own voice. It sounded like the last desperate yelp of a trapped rabbit.

  ‘You lied to me. I gave you so much, and you lied to me. I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget.’ Khalid’s words were a hoarse whisper, although he was sure there was no one else around – the reserve was only open to the public over weekends.

  ‘What do you mean? I didn’t lie,’ she said.

  The blow to Mariam’s ear was brutal. A high-pitched whine filled her head and her hand went up to protect her face as she curled into a ball.

  ‘I value my job, you hear me? You’re jeopardising my career in this country, you little slut.’ Khalid’s voice was a mix of contempt and bitterness.

  Mariam started sobbing. In the elixir of her thoughts, Amina and Siraj appeared. ‘Forgot to mention your husband, right? Listen to me very carefully. You’re gonna forget you ever met me. I’m going to quietly go back to my life, and you’re going back to yours, you understand me?’

  Mariam nodded. The ringing in her ears hadn’t stopped.

  ‘I can’t hear you? Do I have your commitment?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Yes. I don’t want to hurt
you, but you betrayed me, you threw my love back in my face. I only wanted the best for you. I never wanted it to be like this.’ Mariam tried to speak, but no words came out.

  ‘You lied to me.’ Khalid’s voice quivered and he put his hand on her neck in an almost desperate attempt at affection. ‘I loved you and you threw it back in my—’ Khalid’s words were cut short as an arm gripped him around the throat in a lock and choked the life-giving oxygen and blood from his brain. Someone had come from nowhere, neither Khalid nor Mariam had heard the footsteps on the boards. Mariam saw Khalid’s eyes bulge and his tongue drop out of his mouth. Her saviour was behind Khalid, she couldn’t see his face. She knew this was a chance to escape and she wanted to run, but her legs were numb and uncooperative. She grasped at a root and tried to pull herself up, using all her strength to push herself away from Khalid. Merciful God, she thought, someone had come along the path at just the right moment. Who knows what Khalid would have done to her? Her rescuer pushed Khalid aside and two things became instantly clear and equally frightening to her. Her rescuer held a pistol in his hand and a balaclava was pulled over his head. Khalid let out an animal-like grunt, slid a terrified glance at Mariam, then sprinted down the path towards the beach.

  Mariam wanted to run too, but the mangroves had taken on an ethereal feel and she felt as though she was inside a dream, a nightmare from which she couldn’t escape. The man moved towards her and she realised this was no rescuer, and her situation had gone from bad to desperate. She fell back against the large roots. ‘Take whatever you want.’

  The man was centimetres from her face when he pulled the mask off, and in one insane moment she saw her face reflected in Tanveer’s eyes.

  ELEVEN

  Dread has a way of occupying your body very efficiently. Amina could feel its armies overrun her and conquer first her reasoning – that Mariam was late to fetch Siraj from the crèche because of some arbitrary delay – and then her calmness – because what Kevin had said about the envelope might have been true. Perhaps she should have listened to him and opened it and then maybe things would have turned out differently. By mentioning the envelope, Kevin had made her guilty and responsible. A turbulent and oppressive guilt wrapped itself around her like a scarf. Why was she thinking the worst? It was only 6 p.m. and Mariam sometimes only fetched Siraj at 5. She was only an hour late. It wasn’t even quite 6 p.m.