by Jack Ford
Maddie shook her head. ‘I can’t believe you’re going to do this. Please, Tom. It’s crazy. Granger, please.’
‘This is getting good! There’s nothing like the Midwest for melodrama.’
Cooper snarled. Thought about punching Rosedale. Would leave it for another time. ‘Put a sock in it, Rosedale… Listen, Maddie, I really…’
‘You know what Tom, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear you telling me you’ve got to do it, because we both know that’s not true. If you take this job there’s nothing I can do… other than what Granger just said… If I can’t beat them, join them. So that’s what I’m going to do! Get on with it, and join you.’
Cooper had no doubt he looked shocked. ‘What?’
‘You heard me. If you go, I’m going too. We’ve always worked together as a team. So what’s the problem? You were the one who said being separated wouldn’t be an issue when it came to working together. I quote, it’ll be cool, business as usual. And us working together on an investigation, well that’s normal, wouldn’t you say?’
Cooper spun round to Granger. ‘No way. No way is she coming.’
‘For God’s sake if she says she wants to go, then she can go. We’re not in fifth grade.’
‘She can’t!’
‘What d’ya mean she can’t? She’s a better shot than you. Keeps her head. And knows her way around a plane and a boat as well as the two of you do. I’m not in the business of employing people who aren’t up to the job. So there should be no problem. Should there?’
‘What if something happened to her?’
Granger rubbed his head, drawing his hand down his face in weary exasperation. ‘I don’t know what to tell you, Coop.’
Cooper turned to Maddie. ‘Listen, it’s not happening. Maddie, I’m sorry there’s no way you’re going.’
‘Excuse me? I’m not quite sure if I heard right. I thought for a moment you were trying to tell me what I could or couldn’t do.’
Cooper glared back at her. ‘And what about Cora? Who’s going to look after her? You need to be at home with her.’
‘Oh my God, tell me you just didn’t say that.’
‘Listen to me…’
‘No, stop! Don’t go there. Cora will be fine as she always is when we go on a job. She’ll stay with my parents as usual. She’ll love it as usual. The only person who doesn’t seem to be able to do usual is you. Now if suddenly you’ve got a problem with the child care arrangements why don’t you stay and look after Cora, and Rosedale and I will go.’
Rosedale tipped his hat and winked at Maddie. He grinned. ‘There’s a word in Texas for strong women like you.’
‘Shut up, Rosedale, I don’t want to hear it.’
Wanting to defuse the situation, Cooper tried to sound deliberately casual. ‘Maddie, look. It’s no big deal for me to go to the DRC. But for you? Come on, it’s crazy.’
Maddie raised her voice. Her suppressed emotions twisting and transferring, channelling her feelings into hurt, hostile words.
‘Don’t you dare, Tom! Don’t try to manipulate this situation and make out you’re worried about me. You just want, for whatever reason, to go out there on your own. Next thing we know you’ll have disappeared, like so many times before. Admit it. You know I’m right.’
Cooper clenched his jaw. Tightened his fist. Unclenched his jaw. Untightened his fist. He said. ‘You’re not right. It’s just work.’
‘Then if this is purely professional, if it’s not really a big deal to go to the DRC, then hell, I’ve got bills to pay as well. In fact, why don’t we make this a party? Why don’t we all go…? Levi, you coming?’
Levi, who’d walked into Granger’s office just moments before, stared at Maddie wide eyed. ‘You lost your mind, Maddie? No. No way. You can count me out of this one.’
Maddie, continuing her emotional outburst, leant across Granger’s desk. ‘Then how about you, Granger? What do you say? You want to join us? Seeing as going to the Congo isn’t a big deal… Come on, how about it? Being as you’re so keen to send Tom. What do you say?’
Granger turned three shades of red. Stood up. Surpassed himself by slamming both fists down. ‘I say you need to go and calm down, Maddison. Go and drink some camomile tea or whatever it is that you women do at this time of the month.’
‘Are you freaking kidding me? What cave have you just stepped out of? And if anybody should go there it’s me. I know that place better than anybody here. It’s part of who I am.’
‘Maddie,’ said Cooper, ‘you were born here. It’s only your daddy who comes from there and he left when he was twenty. And as for your Mom, she’s an all American girl from Wyoming.’
‘It’s still a place I know well. I visited my grandma a lot when I was a little girl, until…’ She trailed off. A flicker of pain crossing her face. ‘Anyway, enough… I’ve got things to do. But I’ll be ready to go with Cooper and Rosedale. I’ll call you later for the details.’
‘Maddie!’ Cooper called after her as she slammed out of Granger’s office.
Rosedale, who at this point was polishing his cowboy boots with the edge of the drapes, broke the silence.
‘Looks like someone’s upset. Hands up if y’all reckon the worst decision this great country ever made was to give women their rights and let them out of the kitchen and into the workforce?’ He gazed round at the solemn faces of the other three then grinned. ‘Or is that just me?’
Cooper didn’t bite. Wasn’t going to give him that. Instead, he turned to Granger.
‘How soon can we leave?’
‘If admin can sort out the paperwork, we can have you all ready to roll by Wednesday. And Cooper, just find the plane this time and fly it back to the international BLC office in Nairobi. We’ll go over details later. Keep your mind on the job. No distractions, otherwise someone may get hurt. You understand what I’m saying?’
Cooper regarded Granger. Like with Rosedale, he wasn’t going to get into anything with him. ‘Who’s the plane registered to?’
Putting on his glasses, Granger glanced again at the pile of papers in front of him, scanning them for a name. He peered at one of the plane documents, trying to read the signature. Gave up, and grumbled aloud. ‘What the hell sort of writing is this? That looks like a three.’
Gazing at the document, Cooper turned it round towards him, staring at the signature in question.
‘That’s not a three, Granger, that’s an E… Look.’
‘Who the hell writes an E backwards? Are you sure?’
‘Yeah look. Emmanuel.’ He held up the document for the others to see.
‘The plane’s registered to someone called Mutombo. Emmanuel Mutombo.’
19
‘No way Maddison, you’ve lost your mind.’ Marvin Menga stared and despaired and appealed to his daughter as they stood in the large pretty bedroom of the Arizona house she and Cooper had bought after they’d got married. ‘Put that stuff down and listen… Maddie, I’m talking to you.’
Maddie turned to her father. ‘I’ve got to pack… Cora! Hey, Cora, are you coming to help me put my clothes in?’
Like a whirlwind, Cora Cooper ran through. Went straight up to Maddie’s open suitcase. Dropped in what she held in her hands. ‘Here you are, I thought they could keep you company.’
‘Baby they’re worms!’
‘Don’t be silly. They’re not worms, Mommy, they’re magic. Shall I go and get some more?’
‘No, it’s fine honey, I think I’ve got enough magic there don’t you?’ Maddie paused looked at her father. ‘Actually, Cora, why don’t you go and get Grandpappy some magic. I think he needs some to make him smile.’
With a nod and a skip, Cora bounced out of the bedroom.
‘I don’t want you going. Not to there. There’s no way you’re going.’
‘Daddy, that’s the second time somebody’s said that to me today. The first time it didn’t make any difference and it’s not going to this time.’
&nbs
p; Patting down his neatly cut afro, Marvin sat on the bed harder than he’d intended to. Knocked the pile of clothes right off. ‘What can I say to stop you?’
‘There isn’t anything you can say.’
‘What if I told you that I won’t look after Cora if you go?’
‘Then I know that wouldn’t be really you speaking. I’ve got to do this. Don’t make it harder.’
Marvin sighed. ‘Why?’
‘Tom can’t go on his own. He’s not in a good place.’
Those words were all that was needed for Marvin to lose his cool.
‘He’s not in a good place? Can I remind you Maddison it was less than a week ago when I had to come and pick you up from the floor in the middle of nowhere? And why did I? Because of that man. Yet it’s him who’s not in a good place. I bet he hasn’t even noticed how cut up you are. Was this his idea, for you to go along and hold his hand?’
‘No. In fact he didn’t want me to go.’
‘Doesn’t surprise me. He probably wants to go and disappear like he always does. To hell with responsibilities.’
Quiet, real quiet, Maddie said, ‘Daddy, he can’t do anything right in your eyes, can he? He said as much.’
‘Well at least he and I agree on something. I don’t know why you had to pick a man like him.’
‘Don’t start this again.’
‘You could’ve stayed in Mississippi and caught yourself a decent man. A church-going man.’
‘You make it sound like a fishing trip. And I would’ve been happy staying back at home?’
‘Well you made it clear enough by running off and getting some unsuitable job.’
It was Maddie’s turn to sigh. ‘I didn’t run off, you know that, and joining the Navy was hardly unsuitable.’
‘It is for a woman.’
‘What is wrong with you Daddy?’
‘Me? I’m not the one trying to prove something. You’re a mother, Maddison, you need to remember that.’
‘Sorry, have I just suddenly time-travelled to a different century? Why is it when men want to do certain things or certain jobs it’s accepted or maybe they’re even admired for it, but when women do these things it suddenly becomes a question of us wanting to prove ourselves? You need to get it into your head that I’m just good at my job – better than a lot of men I know. Plus I enjoy it. Period. I don’t need to prove anything.’
‘Maddie, I’m not talking about proving yourself with your job. I’m talking about proving to yourself you can go back to the DRC after what happened to you.’
Maddie froze. Dead still. Closed her eyes. ‘That was a long time ago and it’s got nothing to do with it.’
‘I think it has, I think…’
‘Just stop, Daddy. I love you but you don’t know everything.’
‘I do know you don’t have to do this.’
‘I do, and I’m going to, and nothing you say will change my mind. Now let’s just leave it at that.’
20
‘Hey.’
‘Look, if you’ve come here for a fight, don’t bother. Oh, and don’t bother trying to change my mind about coming either.’
Cooper tilted his head as he stood at the kitchen door of Maddie’s house. Their house. ‘No, I come in peace. Here, I even brought you a donut from Mac’s diner… Thought I’d come to see how you were getting on with the research. Sorry, I left it for you. Had a few things to sort out.’
Looking up from her computer screen, Maddie gave a half smile. Ignored the way her tummy had butterflies when she looked at him. ‘It’s as I thought, I can’t get any kind of information from the authorities over there. They’re notoriously secretive, and pretty paranoid. The contacts we’ve got over there have drawn a blank. Not that it really matters, because the likelihood of them having a record of a small plane is zero to none. And from what I hear, their aviation department has troubles of their own. It’s not looking good for them.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well for a start, the Democratic Republic of Congo has one of the world’s worst aviation safety records. Did you know the majority of their airlines are banned from entering any EU airspace because of failing to meet regulatory standards? Also, one of the main DRC airlines – connected to the government, incidentally – have had a couple of planes impounded for non-payment themselves. They’ve been impounded over in South Africa after a court order. To release them, they’re looking at well over thirty mill. So it looks like they’re in the same boat as our Emmanuel Mutombo. So getting any sort of help from them just isn’t about to happen.’
Taking a bite from one of the sugared donuts, Cooper sat down. ‘What about international data records? See if it’s been flown out of the country.’
‘Usual story. Like trying to find a pin in the ocean. You know the score. It’s one thing tracking down a commercial airliner – though that’s not altogether easy – but when someone’s flying a private plane, the ability to track it has so many variables. It’ll depend on location and the routing of their flight, and of course if the flight has been filed by the pilot, which in this case it won’t have. My guess is, if this Emmanuel guy did fly it he would’ve blocked the aircraft tail number.’
‘In other words, impossible to trace.’
‘Totally. Here in the States the Federal Aviation Administration requires all aircraft to have a visible registered tail number… but that’s certainly not the case for a lot of countries. The problem is, if by some kind of miracle they hadn’t blocked out the tail number, and they had filed a flight out of the country, the accuracy level of tracing the plane is mainly based on which technology is available in that particular geographical area, which won’t be a lot in the DRC and surrounding countries. It’s only been in the past few years that N’Djili Airport in Kinshasa has had a radar system, so we don’t have the luxury of the vast sources of data from receivers that track ADS-B or aircraft equipped with Mode S, like we do here. So it looks like we’ll be looking for this plane the old school way… Knocking on doors. But you know all this anyway.’
Cooper grinned. ‘I know, but I didn’t want to stop you in full flow. I know how much you like your research.’
‘No. I know how much you don’t like yours and hey, someone has to do it.’
He winked. ‘And you’re great at it. You see, you’d be wasted just in the kitchen.’
Maddie picked up the pen next to her and threw it at Cooper. ‘You’re starting to sound like Rosedale.’
‘Difference is, I don’t mean it… Hey baby.’ Cooper’s face lit up as Cora walked into the kitchen, clad in a pair of pink fluffy teddy bear pyjamas.
‘What have you got there, honey?’
‘A picture.’
‘Can I see it?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you haven’t said please.’
Cooper laughed. ‘You’re right, Cora, I should know better and mind my manners… Please can I see your picture?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s a secret.’
‘A secret?’
Cora nodded furiously, making her chestnut curly hair bounce over her face. ‘You said it was a secret.’
‘I said that?’
‘You said when we went to see John, it was a secret.’
Cooper stiffened as he felt Maddie’s gaze on him. ‘Can Mommy see it, honey?’
‘No.’
‘Please.’
‘No. Daddy said it was a secret.’
To which Cooper grinned. ‘Well then you better go and hide it.’
Maddie frowned. ‘Who’s John, Cora?’ ‘Daddy’s friend.’
Cooper shrugged his shoulders. Bit his lip. Pulled a face. ‘I think she means James. I took her to see him when we were looking to buy a pony for her.’
Cora giggled. ‘Not James, Daddy. John. John in the big white house.’
Quietly, Maddie pressed on. ‘Tell me about John, honey.’
&nbs
p; ‘Jesus, Maddie, stop questioning her.’
Maddie stopped. Stared. Narrowed her eyes. ‘Why is that such a problem to you?’
‘Because she’s a kid, and all she’s done is draw a picture and you’re going in at her like the CIA. Leave her alone… Cora, why don’t you get back into bed and I’ll come and tuck you up in a minute.’
Cora looked at Mommy and then at Daddy, and something told her maybe what she’d said had made them cross. ‘Have I done something wrong?’
Cooper shook his head and gently pulled Cora in towards him. ‘Listen to me, baby. You have done nothing wrong. You understand that?’
‘You’re not mad at me?’
‘Oh honey, I couldn’t be mad at you if I tried. I love you.’
‘I love you too, Daddy.’
‘Go on, go to bed. I’ll be through in a minute.’
Cooper watched Cora skip out of the room. He stood up in an atmosphere which was so heavy he would’ve sworn you could’ve knocked it with a hammer. As he got to the door, Maddie’s words hooked him and tried to reel him in. ‘Don’t do that again.’
‘What?’
‘Well apart from making me look like the bad guy, don’t get our daughter to keep secrets.’
‘I’m not.’
‘Tom, I know you, and I know Cora would do anything you asked her to. Don’t abuse her trust.’
Cooper rubbed his head. ‘Jesus Christ, Maddie, have you heard yourself? You know what Cora’s like. She loves pretending she’s got secrets.’
‘I know what you’re like. I know how you love having secrets.’
‘Well thanks for that vote of confidence, Maddison. I didn’t come here for this… Look, I’ll speak to you tomorrow.’
‘Tom, who’s John?’
‘Maddie, leave it okay. There is no John. Cora’s just a kid, she’s got it wrong.’
21
Wednesday turned into Thursday which turned into Friday, before the trio finally arrived in the oppressive humidity of the towered chaos of the capital city, Kinshasa, which spread and sprawled out from the shoreline of the Congo River.