by Jack Ford
‘So it was Jackson.’
‘But he didn’t know the dangers. He’s a great yachtsman so I guess he wouldn’t have seen the harm in it.’
‘Jesus.’
Governor Woods leant on the railings.
Cooper spoke matter-of-factly. ‘I’m going to say it was me.’
The shock in the Governor’s voice was as clear as it was in his eyes. ‘What the hell for?’
‘Jackson. He’d been drinking.’
‘Oh, Christ.’
‘If I say it was me, it should really be the end of it.’
‘Not sure if the Navy will see it like that.’
Cooper shrugged his shoulders. ‘So I get disciplined. You know something, John? I really don’t care anymore.’
Woods shook his head. ‘No, I can’t let you do that.’
‘What’s the alternative? They find out Jackson was drinking, and then what? You really think the Kenyan authorities will just give him a slap on the wrist when he was drunk in charge of a vessel and caused…’ Cooper stopped, unable and unwilling to finish the sentence.
‘I don’t know, Coop.’
‘Well, I do. And I also know what a hell-hole a Kenyan jail will be. We both know Jackson couldn’t cope for a day in somewhere like that, let alone serve a long prison sentence. I won’t do that to him. Or to you. There’s your job to think about.’
‘Look, this isn’t about my job.’
‘Oh yeah? Try telling the opposing party that. You know what’s it like, they’ll want to destroy you, John. They look for anything. And even though this has nothing to do with you, it’ll affect your political career… Jackson’s so proud of what you’ve achieved. Let him continue being proud.’
‘Governor Woods, excuse me, sir…’ The 3rd petty officer walked towards Cooper and Woods, slightly hesitant after what he’d seen happen to his colleague earlier.
He said, ‘Sorry to disturb you sir, but your helicopter is ready to take you to the hospital.’
‘Thank you, officer, just give me a minute.’
Woods turned to Cooper. Face taut with stress. Mirroring each other. ‘Okay. Do what you have to do… But Tom, this conversation never happened.’
He began to walk away but stopped. Quietly said,
‘I really am sorry about Ellie. Maybe you should go and see the Medic. He can give you something. You’ve had a shock.’
Cooper didn’t mean to sound so bitter, but he knew he did. ‘Pop a pill to make it alright? Make it all go away, John?’
‘That’s not what I’m saying.’
‘Thanks but no thanks. I’ve never been a believer in medicating myself and I’m not about to start now.’
‘Well okay, it was just a thought… And I’m here for you. If you need to talk, you know where I am.’
Cooper nodded slowly. Tried to smile. Gave up. ‘I appreciate that. Keep me informed about Jackson… And hey, put some cream on that nose, it looks sore.’
Absentmindedly, Woods touched the sunburn on his face, wincing slightly. ‘You know, Cooper, the hardest thing to do is to let someone we love go. But you have to, Tom. You have to let her go.’
Present Day
Eritrea – Horn of Africa Mai Edaga detention center
1
Thomas J. Cooper knew there were moments in life when you only had one chance. One shot. One opportunity to get it right. And he also knew such moments were often lost. Often wasted. Went unseen. But as he stood in the solidity of darkness, in his tomb-like cell, unshod and ankle deep in human waste, Cooper trusted his moment would come soon. And when it did, hell, there was no way he was going to lose it.
His tomb – part prison cell, part grave – was a hole in the ground. The place he’d been lowered into when he’d first been brought to the detention center, however many days ago that’d been.
The bodies of the unknown decomposing dead surrounded him; the ones who were still alive thinking their nameless brothers were the lucky ones. For the uncharged, untried prisoners of Mai Edaga, death would be their only salvation. A deliverance from the near ritualistic daily torture and the searing, crippling heat from the sheet of corrugated metal covering the hole, which acted like a furnace in the Eritrean sun.
The scraping sound of the cover being dragged off the hole had Cooper, along with the other men, protecting their eyes from the burning light.
‘Out.’ The guard – rich black skin, dressed in a knee-length shirt over heavy cotton pants – wiped away the veil of sweat forming on his upper lip. He sniffed contemptuously. Gestured his head to the prisoners.
Whilst the rest of the detainees fought to scrabble out of the hole, using the rotting corpses as a step to reach the edge and pull themselves out, Cooper waited patiently for an elderly man to climb up at the only point which didn’t require such extreme measures.
Once out, the guard sneered and jeered and jabbed the steel muzzle of his gun aggressively into Cooper’s stomach.
It took more than a minute before Cooper shifted his gaze from the gun to the guard. Lifting his eyes slowly. Staring with cutting derision. Then a wry smile spread across his face.
The guard’s broken English was deep. Guttural. He said, ‘What so funny James Dean?’
It was an anomalous reference from a bygone era as if somehow the guard, like the wild barren landscape Cooper found himself standing in, was frozen in time.
In stark contrast to the guard’s voice was the lilt of Cooper’s soft Missouri accent, scornful in its gentle defiance. ‘I don’t have to explain anything to anybody.’
The guard’s hostility darkened. Angered. Aware that he was somehow being mocked, though ignorant of the fact the reply had been a line from an old James Dean movie.
The butt of the guard’s gun smashed into the side of Cooper’s face.
‘What do you say now Americano?’
He stumbled back and it took a moment for him to recover. Longer than he wanted. But it hurt. Real bad. Shot pain waves through his entire body, setting his jawline on fire. But he was damned if he was going to show it… Never did.
Wiping his mouth and tasting the salty blood trickling from his lips, he locked his stare with the guard’s. Stepped forward. Pushed his stomach onto the muzzle of the gun.
‘Haven’t they ever told you?’
‘Told me what?’
Cooper winked. Whispered. ‘Never take on a crazy guy who’s got nothing left to lose.’
The guard, unnerved and taken aback by Cooper’s apparent fearlessness, took a few seconds to regain his composure. ‘Less of your mouth Americano… Now, move it!’
He pushed Cooper towards the line of barefoot prisoners waiting to walk the scorching six kilometre trek through the rough, hard, brutal terrain, to bring back heavy hessian sacks full of rice which tore mercilessly at the men’s hands, leaving them with painful open sores.
And the sun beat down. Ruthless and fierce and unrelenting, and the guard shouted and fired his gun giving the men no choice but to set off.
*
Ten minutes into the journey and the ground was unforgiving. Sharp stones cut into Cooper’s feet but he knew better than to stop, the guards being crueller than any barren land.
Vehicles made their way dangerously fast down the unmarked rocky track. Like giant clouds of powdered cinnamon, the sands swirled densely, high above the road. A battered truck sped along towards them as Cooper and his fellow prisoners approached a huddled figure clad in a full blue chadri, sat beside the road. Their face was entirely covered with dense material, save the small section around the eyes which was laced with a net grille.
As the empty sheep truck slowed down, coming to a noisy stop, Cooper stared at the driver. Locking eyes. Holding his gaze. And then he knew. This was the moment. The one chance he’d been waiting for.
With arresting speed and a quick glance round, he rotated his body and a caught the gun which was thrown to him by the huddled figure in blue, who now stood up, revealing the weapon concealed underneath t
heir chadri. Cooper aimed the gun at the guard.
To the chants and cries and calls and yells of the other inmates of Mai Edaga, Cooper fired warning shots towards the guard, as his disguised associate jumped in the waiting truck. He fired a few more shots for caution. For himself. For every dead man who never made it… For every dead man that was still there.
‘Cooper…! Come on…! Come on…! Jump in!’
Thomas J. Cooper did just that.
2
‘What kept you?’
Cooper was wired. And he could feel his eyes were wild with adrenalin as the truck sped and raced along the rough sand terrain. He broke into a smile which made him flinch as his parched, inflamed lips cracked further. He licked them in the hope of some relief. There wasn’t any. But damn, it tasted good. Freedom always did.
Levi Walker, a small stocky black man from Connecticut, with a cynical outlook on life, kept his eyes on the road as he spoke. ‘Oh, I don’t know, Coop, maybe a few thousand miles of sand. That, and the tiny matter of the Eritrean government.’
A woman’s voice came from the back. ‘More like deciding whether or not to bother getting your ass out of trouble… Again.’ Cooper swivelled round in the vehicle’s hard front seat, watching as she busily took off the chadri she’d been wearing. Grinned. Leant his well-built but battered body across the seat. Stretched over to the back where she was sitting. And landed a large kiss on her cheek.
Soft.
Warm.
Everything he hadn’t had for the past few weeks.
He said, ‘It’s good to see you too, Maddie… and you should keep that chadri, it’s a good look on you.’
Levi Walker burst into laughter. ‘Maybe I should take one home for Mrs. Walker. Save me having to look at her sour face across the breakfast table in the mornings.’
Cooper shook his head. He liked Levi. Always did. Always had. And he knew he couldn’t say that about a lot of guys. ‘Who wouldn’t have a sour face if they’d been married to you for the last twenty years? Beats me why Dorothy hasn’t thrown you out a long time ago… Oh shit, we’ve got company.’
Maddie span round and watched as a sheep lorry, driven by the prison guards, drove up behind them on the narrow mountain road, ramming into their tailgate and bucking them forward. She glanced quickly to her left; nothing but a crumbling sheer drop down to the hillside below. ‘Won’t this thing go any faster?’
‘I’ve got my foot right down on the gas! Our only hope is that their truck turns out to be slower than ours.’
Grabbing hold of the Heckler & Koch UMP 40 on the seat next to him, Cooper pulled back the folding stock. Leant his body out of the window. Began to fire at the truck as it continued to ram into them.
He shouted at Levi, ‘Keep it straight!’
‘I can’t! The road’s too bumpy. Too many potholes and any closer to the side, we’re going over!’
Without saying another word, and holding onto the truck’s roof handle, Cooper leant out of the window and began to fire at the truck behind as they veered precariously close to the edge.
The forty calibre shots ricocheted off the hood as Cooper struggled to get a good aim, as his hand shook and the truck bounced around.
‘Give it to me, Tom…! Now!’ Climbing over her seat, Maddie snatched the closed bolt weapon out of Cooper’s hands and pushed across the selector switch to fully automatic. ‘Hold on to me!’ she shouted at him over the sound of the racing engine. ‘And make it tight!’
Without waiting she pushed open the passenger door which swung out over the three hundred foot drop, and as Cooper held onto her waist she leant out over the deadly drop and expertly aimed and held her hand steady and cut out everything around her and closed one eye and aimed at the truck’s tyre…
Bullseye.
The front left wheel exploded into a mix of sound and shreds of rubber, and Maddie watched as the driver of the vehicle fought with the steering wheel as if he were driving a herd of wild horses. And as she pumped a last hail of bullets into the other tyre, the guards’ truck came to a screeching halt, millimetres from going over the edge.
Closing her eyes for a moment and breathing deeply, Maddie gave a last glance to the drop below and, helped by Cooper, carefully sidled back into her seat. Put on the safety lock of the submachine gun. Threw it down on the floor. Turned to Cooper and said, ‘You’re a total jackass.’
‘But you, Maddison, you’re something else and the best shot around and that’s why we all love you.’ He winked. Caught the look of incredulity on her face. And he knew her well enough to know she was pissed. Well and truly.
‘You think this is funny do you, Tom? None of this is funny. Not even close. I told you a long time ago that I’m not going through this crap again, you hear me? You could’ve been killed in that place and we could’ve all been killed just now. I thought you’d finished with all this. Remember? Remember your promises to stop this crap? But oh no. Suddenly you’re playing action hero again, whilst Levi and I put our jobs on the line – not to mention our necks – and it’s not over yet. We still have to get over the border. You really need to start growing up, because there’s a lot of people who rely on you.’
Levi swerved the truck, only narrowly avoiding hitting the carcass of a large goat lying in the middle of the road. ‘Seriously Maddie,’ he said. ‘Do this some other time. He’ll be wishing he’s back in Mai Edaga.’
Watching a fly hitch a ride on the truck as they weaved up the mountain trail, Cooper rubbed his head. Felt the tiredness beginning to hit. He’d barely slept for the past few days, partly because of the cramped conditions in Mai Edaga, but mainly because he hadn’t wanted to let down his guard.
‘No, it’s cool,’ he said. ‘Maddie’s right. It isn’t funny, but honey, you know it’s just our way to get through stuff. I’m sorry though, okay?’
Maddie, not interested in being appeased – not interested in anything Cooper had to say – snapped angrily. ‘That’s bullshit, Tom. Bullshit! You’re not sorry. You never are. But like I said before, I won’t be part of it anymore.’
‘Maddie, come on, I…’
‘No, Tom, I don’t want to hear it. I’ve heard it, too many times. But the worst thing is, I’ve fallen for it too many times, but you can bet your ass not this time.’
Cooper turned to appeal to Levi, who was driving hard up the mountainside, wanting to get to the Ethiopian border before night fall. ‘Levi, help me out here.’
‘Bro, you know I love you man but on this one, Maddie’s right. You know that. It’s some crazy stuff you got yourself into back there. We all know you’re good at what you do. The best. But… hell, I dunno, recently it feels like you’re always looking for the edge and you wouldn’t care if you fell off. I don’t know what’s happened. It’s like we’re back in the past. And they were bad days, bro. Real bad days. And I’ll tell you something else for free, I’m not looking forward to the crap we’ll get when Granger realizes we took off to come and find you…’
Levi ended his sentence with a whistle to emphasis his words, as was his habit.
Resigned, Cooper said, ‘Leave Granger to me.’
Changing gears and grinding the gear box, Levi shook his head. ‘Listen Coop, I know you’ve pulled me out of some near misses. Jeez, I probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you, but those days are over and I thought they were for you as well. We all did. I left the Navy to have a peaceful life, man, and apart from Mrs. Walker bitching every day, that’s what I get. I’m not looking for excitement, I’m looking to earn money and go fishing. Fishing and money. The only two things that matter. Everything else, especially women – sorry Maddie – is too much of a headache. But you and whatever’s going on, well it’s some kind of crazy.’
Maddie sighed, ‘I don’t get it, Tom, why make everything harder? Why do this after all this time?’
Cooper opened the tepid bottle of water Levi had passed him earlier. Drank it down. Didn’t seem to quench his thirst. Sighed. Knew h
e should have some patience. Because he got it. God knows he got what she was trying to say. Problem was, he didn’t want to hear it. Not now. Not ever. He said, ‘Christ, Maddie, can’t you just leave it? I’m just doing my job. That’s all.’
Red with anger and frustration and pain at not being able to get her words out properly, Maddie spluttered. ‘No. No you’re not. This has nothing to do with the job. We both know that. And we both know who it’s about.’
Levi took his eyes off the road to shoot her a hard stare. A stare which Cooper had no doubt he’d been practising for Mrs Walker. ‘Leave it, Maddie… She don’t mean nothing by it, Coop. We’re all upset.’
Tying back her long corkscrew brown hair in a tight ponytail, Maddie’s face was flushed. Red like a fever. ‘Yes I do mean something by it. Don’t tell me I don’t, Levi, and what’s more, don’t get into my business.’
Levi Walker, always hoping he and confrontation had parted company a long time ago, tried to smooth down the situation, though he couldn’t help thinking how scarily like his wife Maddie was when she had something bugging her.
‘Hey guys, listen. Let’s not get into a fight. It’s been a tough day and Cooper, you look beat. And although I know he’ll never say it, Maddie, I bet he had one helluva tough time in that detention center. We’ve still got a long-ass drive in front of us, but the sooner we get to the border, the better. The plane we chartered from Addis Ababa is thirty miles west from there. We’ll fly it back to the airport and then tomorrow there are three tickets with our names on. So it’ll be goodbye Africa, hello USA.’
Levi’s attempt at peace-making fell short of the mark for Maddie. Always did. Never got close.
‘Shut the hell up, Levi. I want Tom to admit it that the whole thing in Eritrea, it wasn’t about the job.’
‘Maddie,’ said Cooper. ‘Enough.’
‘You don’t get off that easily. It’s started again, hasn’t it? But what I don’t know is why… Come on Tom, I want you to admit this is about Ell… ’