by Jack Ford
Cooper was shocked. ‘Me?’
‘Yeah, Coop. You think I don’t realize what I did to you? You took the rap, but you know it was me, we both do. There’s no excuse. I was an arrogant jerk. A drunk arrogant jerk.’
Cooper looked down at the floor. ‘No, you weren’t, you just didn’t…’
‘I didn’t know? Come off it.’
‘My point is, it was my responsibility and mine alone.’
‘No matter what you say, Coop, I know what I’ve done to you. Look at you. You’re a mess.’
‘Cheers, buddy! Any time!’
‘I’m being serious. The accident damaged all of us, but you especially. You’re killing yourself, Coop. I can see it, and so can everyone else. And that’s what I’ve done. I killed Ellie and in the process, I killed you.’
The silence was overwhelming. Police sirens and a car alarm faded in and out in the distance, and the ticking of the clock on the wall sounded louder than it had done only a moment ago. Cooper could only manage a hoarse whisper.
‘I never knew… Jesus, you’ve been carrying that round with you for all these years. Jackson, I’m sorry. I…’
‘Stop, Coop, please. I don’t want you to apologize. I just need you to understand where I’m coming from.’
Cooper tilted his head as was his habit and let the minutes tick by. ‘Would it help if I tried to get myself clean? Get some real help? Sort things out with Maddie?’
‘I’m not asking you to do that.’
‘I’m not saying you are. But would it make a difference?’
Jackson studied Cooper’s face. ‘Yeah of course, because then I wouldn’t have to watch you torturing and killing yourself slowly.’
They fell silent again.
Eventually – slowly, real slowly – Cooper said, ‘Then I promise. That’s what I’ll do. I can’t put you through this.’
‘Coop, listen man, I wasn’t trying to put pressure on you, I…’
Cooper snapped. ‘I’ve made my decision, so let’s leave it at that.’
Jackson, seeing Cooper wasn’t willing to talk about it anymore, changed the subject. ‘So tell me about the DRC.’
‘There’s nothing to tell really. Just bits and pieces that I can’t figure out. Basically I’ve found out a whole heap of nothing, and collected a whole heap of nothing.’
‘Come on Coop, I know you. It isn’t ever nothing when it comes to you.’
Cooper raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh yeah? Let me show you…’
He went across to his green canvas bag. Brought it back to the bed space. Pulled out three full-to-bursting evidence bags and threw them down next to Jackson. He grinned. ‘There. Now try telling me you don’t think it’s a whole heap of nothing.’
Looking at the different objects through the transparent bag, Jackson said, ‘A Coke top?’
Cooper shrugged sheepishly. ‘I know. Go figure.’
‘What you going to do with all this?’
‘Nothing. Throw it all away, I guess. I haven’t got time to go through anything, not that there’s anything much to go through. I got to catch my flight.’
Jackson’s smile hit his eyes. Lighting them up. Letting life back in. ‘You want me to help you? I can go through them, it’s not as if I’ve got anything else to do. What do you say?’
Cooper shrugged. ‘Knock yourself out, but I’m telling you, it’s junk.’
‘I expect to be paid though.’
‘I knew there’d be a catch. So what we talking? Breakfast at Jimmy T’s place?’
‘Nope, I’m looking for a steak from Sammy’s, you know the place near your ranch? Well that’s my price. No negotiation. T-bone, rare, with mustard and eggs over easy.’
Cooper shook his head. ‘I dunno, you drive a hard bargain, Jackson… but I guess you’re on.’
He tore a piece of paper from the notepad at the side, and quickly scribbled down a couple of names and handed it to Jackson.
‘Seeing as you’re now in my pocket, I’d like you to dig up whatever you can about these people, especially this Dr. Foster. One minute the guy’s in the DRC handing out certificates, next thing you know he’s dead.’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know. That’s what I need you to find out.’
Jackson looked at the paper. ‘Okay, I will. And I’ll keep in touch, I’ll get on to this right away. I won’t let you down.’
Cooper winked. ‘Jackson, you couldn’t let me down if you tried.’ He turned to go but then said, ‘Can you remember anything?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘When you were knocked out. I kind of gave you my confessional.’
‘Not a thing. Why have I missed something? Was it juicy?’
‘Not really. Usual ramblings of a guilty man… Anyway, I love you, and I’ll see you soon.’
Jackson said, ‘I love you too, bro.’
87
‘John, can I have a quick word?’
On his way out, Cooper looked at the Secret Service men a few yards away who were trained to watch and trained to be aware, as well as to listen acutely to what was going on around them. Feeling it would be prudent to move away a little bit more, Cooper stepped into the doorway of Jackson’s hospital room.
He said, ‘I don’t know if Beau told you, but we managed to speak to Bill Travis.’
Woods checked and whispered and checked again no-one could hear him. ‘I told you to leave it!’
‘And I told you I wasn’t going to… Anyway the point is that was Simon Ballard in the photo. AKA, Papa Bemba. I bet your life Charles and this Donald Parker probably know exactly who he is. But I’m flying back out there tonight, and you can be damn sure I’m going to find out.’
The president, digesting the information, stared coldly at Cooper. ‘Look, Coop, you’re putting me in a really difficult situation here.’
‘Why?’
John’s eyes flashed with anger. ‘Because you’re digging up stuff you shouldn’t and you’re trying to find some dirt on somebody because you have a feeling something’s wrong. You’re really going to cause a whole heap of problems over goddamn feelings?’
Cooper noticed some of Wood’s staff glance over. ‘I’d keep your voice down if I were you, John. I don’t know what’s going on with you and Donald Parker but I do know if there’s anything going on at Lemon water treatment, you need to know about it.’
‘I don’t.’
Cooper looked bewildered. ‘I don’t get it, of course you do.’
Woods snarled and moved in real close. ‘This is what I’m trying to tell you, Coop. I don’t want to know, because if I do, then I might have to do something about it.’
88
John Woods sat in the Oval Office with his feet up on the desk. It was late – or rather it was very early – but either way, he couldn’t sleep.
‘Hey John, what’s going on?’
Teddy Adleman walked in, wearing a striped red open neck shirt and blue pants. They were slightly creased and looking like he’d picked them up and pulled them on from where he’d thrown them the night before, but as usual his afro was military neat.
‘Sorry to call you. Did I wake you?’
‘John, it’s in the middle of the night, of course you woke me.’
Woods knocked back the coffee he’d sent one of the Secret Service men out for. ‘I need you to do a check on Donald Parker.’
Teddy looked puzzled. ‘We already did. Came back clean.’
‘I know but I need you to do another. Off record.’
Teddy slumped down on the sofa and realized he’d sat on the seat with the faulty spring. He made a mental note to personally follow up on maintenance and moved along to the next seat. ‘Off record? I don’t get it.’
‘Just do it, Teddy. And I don’t want anyone else seeing it apart from you and me. Got that?’
‘Sure. Anything in particular you want me it to focus on? Because, like I say, the FBI check was clean.’
‘I know. What I want is to
find out is if there was ever a connection between Simon Ballard and Parker. If and how often they went to the same meeting. Hell, even if they ever frequented the same coffee house. I want to know.’
Teddy whistled. ‘Simon Ballard as in…’
‘Yeah, Teddy, him.’
89
Cooper was tired from the eighteen-hour flight followed by the long road journey from Rwanda. It was strange to be back in the DRC, in the same way being in Washington had been strange. And once more, where he’d just come from seemed like a movie he’d just watched. Only existing in the moment.
He’d travelled all over, but no other place had made him feel so on the edge. There was something claustrophobic about it. The intensity. The chaos. The overwhelming belief in the spirit world. Even the extreme weather appeared to be a powerful impacting entity in its own right. Triggering his darkest side.
The country had affected him more than he liked to admit. The negative outside influences saturated his whole being, reawakening the part of himself which he didn’t like.
‘I see your dress sense hasn’t improved with your trip back to Washington.’
Rosedale sat in the Toyota wearing his favorite canary yellow suit whilst glancing disapprovingly at Cooper’s go-to gray marl t-shirt and faded jeans.
With Rosedale’s banter being the last thing Cooper was in the mood for, he stuck to talking about Maddie.
‘I tried to persuade her to fly out here with me. I was hoping she would.’
Rosedale, checking the road for water-covered potholes in front of him, slowed down.
‘I seriously worry about your state of mind. Don’t you remember what happened? What you did? The way you behaved? Do you really think she’d want to come back to more of the same? And why the hell would you want her to anyway? She’s better off without you.’
A flicker of hurt passed through Cooper. ‘You think she’ll ever forgive me? I mean properly forgive me?’
Trying to work out the way, Rosedale shrugged. ‘Sadly, yes. That’s the impression I got. Not that you deserve it.’
Cooper gave Rosedale a cutting stare. ‘How many times have you spoken to her?’
‘A few.’
‘And you didn’t think to say? I thought we were supposed to be a team.’
Not unkindly, Rosedale laughed. ‘That’s what I was saying to myself when I was looking down the barrel of your gun. Anyway, she’s happy where she is. Probably knitting me a hat as we speak.’
Cooper knew he sounded amazed. That’s because he was. ‘Knitting you a hat?’
‘Yeah, she told me she was going to knit me a hat. Is that so strange?’
‘In a word, Rosedale, yes. I didn’t even know she could knit.’
‘Did you ask her?’
Cooper opened his arms in disbelief. ‘Are you serious? Did I ask Maddie if she could knit? No, I did not. The thought never even entered my head. I never saw her once take out a pair of knitting needles when we were together. Anyway, did you?’
‘Ask her? Of course. And that’s why I’m getting a hat and you’re not.’
Cooper fell silent. Stunned into it. He looked out of the window, trying to get some kind of sanity back. ‘Tell me about the plane, Rosedale.’
‘I will, but before I do, I want to say something… I know I may not be a person you think of when you need to talk to someone, but Thomas, at the moment, I’m all you’ve got. The stuff with your candy pills and especially the stuff with, well… that hallucinogenic trip you did. If you want to talk about it, about what you saw or if it’s still messing with your head, I can listen.’
‘I appreciate that but I’m not even going to think about it all. Not yet anyway. My head’s a wreck and as for the trip I did, well, it wasn’t good. Finding Zola when I was still coming down from the Iboga root was tough. I think half of me thought it was part of the trip. It messed me up more than I was already. Then seeing Ell… you know something, I can’t do this. If you don’t mind I’d rather not talk about it, but thanks anyway.’
‘No problem… Anyhow, we’ll be there in about ten minutes, not that there’s much left of it. When you’d gone, there was a lot of activity with Bemba’s people. I’m not sure if they were still looking for us, but they were certainly out in force. That’s why I thought it was best to move camp fifty miles east from Zola’s village. Not that I wasn’t certain before, but it’s clear it was Bemba’s men who shot her and I did a lot of asking around in places. Paid a lot of people for a whole lot of nothing, but then I spoke to this woman who not only knew where the plane was, she saw what happened.’
‘You think she’s straight up?’
‘Oh absolutely. I’ve seen the wreckage myself, and it was exactly as she said, so there’s no reason for the rest of it to be bull.’
‘What did she say?’
‘From what I can make out, it was pilot error… Come on. We’re here. I’ll show you.’
90
Cooper found himself with Rosedale in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. He could see the small pieces of wreckage from the plane scattered about the area.
‘How far do you reckon the debris is spread out?’
Rosedale yawned. ‘Not too far. The problem is getting to it. The main site will be over there. Across those trees. Most of what you see here is what I collected from nearer where the plane went down.’
‘Do you think the crash was suspicious?’
‘No, I doubt it. The larger parts of the wreckage which I managed to find, I’ve already examined them, and nothing leaps out to me. It’s in line with a low flying crash. See the trees over there? Well apparently the plane was first skimming the tops of them, then apparently minutes later the woman who saw it said she remembered it actually hitting the trees. Kind of bouncing off them, she said.’
Cooper squinted. ‘Which trees?’
‘Those ones there. Told me it damaged the tail. She said something broke off. Which is consistent with this debris. Then… see over there, near the foot of those mountains? That’s where she said it went down. The other thing she told me was the weather was bad. The fog gets pretty thick around here so I’m guessing our pilot wasn’t experienced in instrument-only flying. Because what other reason is there for flying so low other than to have better visibility? He couldn’t have been preparing to land, because there is nowhere. Only trees, rivers and mountains. He hadn’t run out of fuel, because the woman heard the engines. So it has to be a pilot error due to bad weather. That’s what my money’s on. But I guess we’ll never know that, nor who was actually piloting the plane.’
‘It’s strange to be flying that low, though, to hit the trees.’
‘Like I say, I reckon he came down because of the fog, but didn’t realize how low he was until it was too late, or maybe he was already out of control by then.’
Cooper gazed out at the sea of trees. Tried to picture the scene. ‘And you’re certain we can’t get over there to see it.’
‘Not a hope in hell. Dense forest and mountains, no chance. I did have a look around, but just past those banana trees, there’s a deep gorge. Impossible to go down, plus the further back the forest goes the more impenetrable it gets. It’d be crazy even to try. At least, though, we found it. Who bank-rolled the plane, we’ll probably never find out. Where Emmanuel is, who knows?’ Rosedale stopped and chuckled to himself. ‘Apart from all those unanswered questions, Thomas. Job done.’
Cooper gave Rosedale a quick glance, but decided not to say anything about it. Not yet, anyway. ‘We need to let Granger know, so he can inform the bank and deal with the paperwork, insurance, and all that admin stuff he loves to do.’
‘I let Maddie know already,’ said Rosedale, ‘but I left her to deal with Granger. But now he knows he’ll be wanting us to pull out. The plane was the main priority, not Emmanuel, so he’ll see it as there’s no reason for us to stay. And I second him on that.’
Cooper didn’t look at Rosedale. ‘I need a couple more days. Can you give me that?�
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Rosedale pushed his cowboy hat off his forehead. Wiped the back of his neck with his hand. ‘Why?’
‘Don’t ask me. I just want you to trust me on this.’
‘I won’t ask you, but as for trusting you? Thomas, that’s a different ball game. But I’ll give you two days… tops.’
Grateful, but not quite knowing how to say it, Cooper walked over to the trees. Called over his shoulder. ‘Do you think there’s a chance Emmanuel was piloting?’
Rosedale answered adamantly. ‘No way. We obviously don’t know where he is but both Zola and his aunt gave the impression he was safe. Go figure. But, if that writing is definitely Emmanuel’s in the visitors’ book in the Lemon water plant, then factually we can rule him out as being the pilot. The woman who told me about the plane said she was certain of the date of the crash. Apparently it was Liberation Day here in the DRC, which is May 17th. And the date Emmanuel visited was May 22nd.’
‘And you don’t think she could’ve got it wrong.’
‘No, I don’t. Because apart from it being Liberation Day, it’s also a public holiday, and the woman spent part of the day with her family in Buziba. That’s why she remembers it so well.’
Cooper pointed to some of the smaller debris. ‘Is this what you collected?’
Rosedale, who was leaning against a tree and trying to get his cellphone to work, called back. ‘No, that’s from the tail of the plane.’
Continuing to inspect the ground, Cooper examined what seemed to be hundreds of tiny dead insects. ‘Hey Rosedale, you got a collecting pot on you by any chance?’
Rosedale tried to be funny. He missed by a long shot. ‘Oh, don’t tell me you haven’t got one of your bags on you? I feel the world is less of a safe place now.’