by Deb McEwan
*****
Those that had them were told to bring their own laptops for the training.
‘Ooh that’s nice. I haven’t seen that before. Did you treat yourself?’ Val opened the lid on her new laptop and Gail remembered the last course that Val was on when she said she’d need to use one of the charity’s computers because hers was so old.
Marion could see that Val looked like the cat that got the cream so pretended not to listen and definitely didn’t want any part in the conversation, guessing where the computer had come from.
‘It’s a gift from Gary, arrived this morning. I didn’t want to accept it but it’s hard to refuse when something’s sent to you in the post, isn’t it? He’s so kind and obviously very keen to keep in touch.’
Yet again Marion wanted to vomit.
‘Very kind of him,’ said Gail with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, but both women could tell she wasn’t being sincere.
As with anything related to Gary, Val was blind to anybody else’s feelings and always thought something else was going on. She went for a comfort break and mentioned it to Marion when they were next on their own.
‘Do you think we should push it to see what’s wrong with Gail? Her reaction to my good news was so out of character and I’m quite worried about her.’
‘It’s the stress from work, Val. Like all charities People Against Poverty are struggling. Gail was telling me they’d had to sack a lot of the admin staff so they have to arrange their own travel, overnight stays, type up their own reports etc…all stuff that she used to have done for her.’
Made sense to Val and she could understand why Gail didn’t seem as bubbly as she’d always been.
‘She’s probably overtired as well as stressed out. Shall we offer to help?’
‘No!’ Marion’s protest was over the top and Val leaned back in surprise.
‘Sorry. You know how independent she is, she’d be mortified.’
‘Fair enough, Marion. Good job nobody else was about, you would have frightened the life out of them.’ Val had a feeling that something funny was going on but couldn’t quite put her finger on what. She’d have plenty of time to think during the nights in Romania, although her previous experience had shown her that after a full day’s work, her body told her brain to shut down and very often she was too tired to think. Sometimes that was the best way to find a solution as the harder she thought about something the more elusive it became.
‘We’ll see,’ said Val more to herself than anyone else.
Marion gave her a funny look but deigned not to comment.
The break over and the training continued. Despite Gail’s skills both women were in their own worlds and would have to read the hand out from the session to find out what the lecture had been about.
The two days of training and familiarisation flew by and Val and Marion said goodbye to Gail following dinner on the second day.
‘Take care, both of you and we’ll see you in a few months.’ It was the most serious that either woman had seen Gail and they said their goodbyes and made their way back to the station.
‘Gail was a bit over the top wasn’t she?’ Val asked while they were waiting to cross the road. She was too busy watching for a break in traffic to see the fleeting expression on Marion’s face.
‘I expect she was thinking about that business in Zambia and hoping there wouldn’t be any surprises this tour.’
‘Maybe you’re right. Funny how that Daniel disappeared before they had a chance to question him though... come on, looks like it’s going to tip down,’ Val grabbed Marion and they rushed across the road as the first raindrops started to fall from the grey sky that was slowly turning black. Marion was amazed that Val was totally blind to the link between Daniel and Gary, which seemed glaringly obvious to her. It wasn’t very often that she was grateful to the good old British weather that had put paid, for the time being anyway, to any further conversation about Gail, the events in Zambia and those horrible men.
Both wanting to get home and sort their gear out for Romania, they agreed not to delay their journey further with coffee or tea and to meet at the airport three days later.
‘We can always phone if we want to pick each other’s brains,’ said Val. ‘I still think Gail’s attitude was out of character though.’
‘Ah well, maybe she’s got other stuff on her mind. When’s your train due?’
The diversionary tactic worked and they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
*****
Back at the docks Gary showed his papers to the official and made his way to the ship. They sailed 30 minutes after the expected time, which meant the girls had been in the container for over 3 hours. Captain Saul said they’d need to get out into the open sea before opening the container and bringing out the girls, and he assured Gary and Daniel that there would be no adverse effects of their 4 hours or so in the claustrophobic box.
As they opened the container doors a little while later and the girls filed out gulping in great breaths of sea air, they heard the sound of an engine in the distance.
Captain Saul laid a hand on his employer’s shoulder. ‘Here’s our insurance.’
They watched as the large speedboat pulled alongside the freighter and Gary viewed from the higher deck as one of the crew threw a ladder over the side from a lower deck and six men climbed the ladder and jumped onto the ship. A rope was then lowered and one of the remaining passengers secured a box, which was pulled up and onto the ship.
‘Munitions,’ said the captain, stating the obvious.
This was repeated a further three times. The passenger then looked up and saluted and the captain called his thanks before the speedboat disappeared. The latest arrivals appeared on the deck and if looks were anything to go by, Gary was impressed. Had he not hired these six mercenaries he would have been extremely wary if confronted by any of them, and he was the meanest and most dangerous man he knew. Gary laughed to himself, so far so good. Captain Saul had fulfilled all his requirements and could find himself a regular employee of Gary in the future. Saul told Gary that he’d tell the men who the boss was but Gary wouldn’t be able to talk to them directly as they didn’t speak English. Happy with that Gary didn’t want any new friends, just confidence that any attacks by potential pirates would be met with savagery that brooked no forgiveness and no repeat offenders.
*****
For this farewell they’d decided to meet in the city for breakfast before Val and Marion departed for the airport.
They’d discussed whether dinner and a night at the theatre might be a more appropriate time to break the news but had decided against it. They’d already had a get together with a family dinner and night out a few days before Val and Marion started their training, and Val was delighted that Carl and his new girlfriend had been able to attend.
Jim called his mother to make the arrangements. ‘We have news,’ was all that he had said, under strict instructions not to let his mother wheedle any additional information out of him. Libby had told her mother that there was something they all needed to discuss. Carl couldn’t make it to the breakfast but his sister had already told him the plan and he’d been all for it, confirming enthusiastically that he’d definitely be at the wedding. Val and Marion discussed both calls and rightly assumed that an actual date had been set for Jim and Fiona’s wedding. They managed to work out that the blessing would take place round about the same time but having experienced the major disappointment of Libby and Tony’s secret wedding, neither woman wanted to build up her hopes too much, just in case their assumptions were incorrect.
The café was around the corner from the charity headquarters and also convenient for Victoria Station where Val and Marion could go directly after breakfast to catch their train to the airport.
The tea, coffee and orange had been served and the youngsters were asking Val and Marion about Romania while waiting for their cooked breakfasts to arrive. The older women waited patiently unt
il Jim nodded to Fiona. Clever, thought Marion. Fiona was the only non-blood relative and the twins knew that if their mother or Val wasn’t happy with the news, they’d be less likely to have a go at her. The betrothed couples hadn’t even considered this. Fiona being the most forthright had volunteered to break the good news and the other three had agreed.
‘You may be wondering why we asked you here today?’ she raised her voice to ensure she had their full attention and there was a smile playing on her lips.
‘As you probably suspected, we’ve set a date.’
Marion clapped and Val smiled.
‘What you might not have suspected is that we’re getting married in Spain.’
‘Oh goody,’ said Marion, but Val waited in anticipation of news about the blessing.
‘And…’ she looked at Libby who took the hint.
‘…And we’re going to have our blessing after Jim and Fiona’s wedding. We’ve booked the venue and Fiona and I are going out for a long weekend in September to make the final arrangements.’
The mothers were delighted and they discussed the date and venue. Val hoped they’d have enough leave for her to be able to see Gary at the same time, but kept that thought to herself.
Marion noticed the twins looking at each other. There’s more she thought. When nothing was forthcoming she prompted. ‘Is there something else you want to tell me?’
This time they had planned for Fiona to give Marion the news. ‘We’ve invited Graham, Carol and Mel, Marion. I hope you don’t mind?’
Val stopped thinking about Gary when she saw the look on Marion’s face. She waited for the fireworks, but none arrived.
Yes she did bloody mind, she minded very much. She should have anticipated this and knowing what young Mel had been through, and she still couldn’t bear to think of the girl as the twins’ stepsister, she didn’t have a choice. She tried to adjust her features so they couldn’t see how bitter she still felt about the whole affair. So much had happened since Claire’s death and the end of her marriage that she should be over their bastard father by now, despite his deceit of nearly two decades.
‘Not a problem. I’m sure the hotel will be big enough for us to be able to avoid each other,’ although Marion’s smile was false, they decided to ignore it and all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
They said their goodbyes knowing that the next time they saw each other would be in Spain, prior to the wedding and the blessing. Not overweight but a little heavier than she wanted to be Marion vowed to lose 7 pounds by the time they went to Spain, adamant that she would look her absolute best when she met up with her ex-husband.
Val tried to switch off on the journey to the airport and hoped that Marion would have it all out of her system by the time they boarded the aircraft. They were flying to Baia Mare in the north of the country. With the one stop off the flight time was approximately seven hours. The new orphanage site was about 90 kilometres away from the airport in Sighetu but all that was much too long to be listening to Marion’s comments about her ex-husband and his family. On the flip side, Marion probably didn’t want to hear her talking about Gary. After they checked in Val looked tentatively at Marion and put a hand on her arm to get her full attention.
‘Can we do a deal?’
Marion pre-empted the next comment.
‘I know, I know. Okay. I’ll shut up about that bastard Graham if you don’t talk about,’ she hesitated, not feeling brave enough to say what she thought. Val got her drift and interrupted.
‘Gary. I won’t talk about Gary. Well not to you anyway.’
They laughed as they made their way to the departure gate. Sometimes the old magic of their friendship was still there.
*****
It was the happiest Mary had been since she’d been taken from the orphanage. Despite the fear of being suffocated in the container they’d all survived though some of them had got through the experience with fewer scars than others. Mary looked at Frea, the young girl who had followed her around since they’d left the container what now seemed like ages before. They’d stopped once to take on more cargo and supplies and now they were in the middle of the ocean again. Even if they’d wanted to escape there was nowhere to go. Consequently they were left more or less to their own devices. The boss had used her on that first night and he’d been particularly rough, but since then none of them had seen much of him. She’d seen him eat once and his face had turned a funny colour and then he’d run to the side of the ship and vomited into the sea. Mary wondered if he had the disease on him or if it was nothing to do with her. She looked up, glad that her parents had returned and were helping her again. She thanked them for making the boss ill and also for whatever they had done to stop the other men from molesting her and the other girls. It had been a while since she had something to thank anybody for and the fresh sea air and a full stomach was enough for now.
Gary tentatively got up from the bed in his cabin. The only time he felt reasonably human was when lying down. The sickness returned as soon as he stood up and he fought to stop it rising to the surface. He looked down at his emaciated body and wondered when he would next be able to eat a meal without it making an appearance a few minutes later. He had never felt so weak and was seriously worried about his health and strength. Weakness was an anathema to him and despite his timeframe to meet the businessmen in Algiers, he considered where they could stop off for a few days in order for him to regain his strength.
Gary sent a hasty email to Val. He didn’t mention his illness, not wanting her to think any less of him. He was able to tell her of the progress the ship had made and how he’d lucked out by buying and arranging to sell the shipful of scrap metal. In her previous email she’d asked whether he’d known that Daniel was being investigated. Gary feigned surprise in his response and told Val that he hadn’t seen his former friend since her and Marion had left. From the tone of her last and previous emails, he had no doubt that she’d believed him. He closed the computer hurriedly when he’d finished and rushed to the heads. There wasn’t much in his stomach and he’d been sick so many times that it hurt with the latest bout of retching. He decided to have a sleep and if he felt better when he woke up, would summon Saul and discuss another possible stop off with him. As he lay down with his arms tight around his stomach trying to stop the pain, he wondered if this was what hell was like. He wouldn’t have too much longer to find out.
The noise woke Gary and it sounded as if all hell had broke loose on the open deck. By the time he dragged himself out of his bed and took his rifle out of the cupboard, it sounded as if trespassers had boarded the ship. Pirates he assumed and he couldn’t work out whether his mercenaries or the invaders were winning the battle. He heard girls screaming and his sense of urgency doubled – not because of a sense of gallantry, but because he would lose money if the uninvited visitors kidnapped any of his girls.
The man that grabbed Frea’s arm was over six foot tall and stank of rum and corruption. Mary didn’t notice as she acted without thinking. Putting her hands around the smaller girl’s waist she pulled as hard as she could. The pirate had been told not to harm the merchandise but this one was slowing him down and irritating him like a small yappy dog.
Mary’s interference bought them the time they needed and Captain Saul seemed to appear out of nowhere, fury and murder in his eyes. He swung the machete and the last thing that Mary saw was the look of shock in the pirate’s eyes before his head dropped to the deck with a dull thud, the eyes still open and staring at both girls. His hand still held Frea’s arm for a few seconds after his head was separated from his body. The attack ended as suddenly as it had begun and had it not been for Frea’s high-pitched terrified screams, the ship would have been absolutely silent.
Even feeling like death, Gary had still managed to kill two of the pirates and their bodies soon disappeared into the unforgiving sea, along with all the others. The crew and girls watched for a few seconds as the sea seemed unnaturally calm and silent. Sud
denly the water churned and a feeding frenzy started, sharks and smaller fish devouring the bodies and minutes later all trace of the pirates had disappeared.
Captain Saul said something to one of the mercenaries and a rope ladder was thrown over the side of the ship. Before the leader descended the ladder, he gave one of his team the evil eye, punched him in the face and said something to him. Gary didn’t need to speak the language to work out that the punched guy was the one who must have slept during his watch, his lethargy almost causing disaster for the ship, her crew and passengers. His lack of action proved how ill he was – had he been in rude health, the man would have been fed to the fish along with the marauding pirates. He summoned Captain Saul while watching the head mercenary board the pirate vessel that had been tied to the freighter. The captain explained that he’d given the man orders to salvage anything of value from the ship and to untie it and set it on fire as a warning to any others in the area. He also explained that the inattentive mercenary would be led to believe that his punishment was the punch and a loss of pay but would be dealt with appropriately once ashore. They might need him relatively healthy until then and it was unlikely that he’d fail in his duties again. The attack had decided Gary that he would bear the sickness until their arrival at Algiers rather than risk a diversion and another possible invasion. He returned to his cabin without even asking what the real punishment for the useless mercenary would be.
The memory of the head hitting the deck played over and over in Mary’s mind. She felt no sympathy for the pirate, only gratitude for the captain and something else. She’d told herself since her kidnap from the orphanage that she had to look out for herself and trust no one. Her guard had lapsed and she’d allowed Captain Saul’s kindness to get under her skin. She trusted him like no one else since her family had died and her gut told her that he would look out for her. She cursed her feelings but no matter how much she argued with herself, it all came down to her instinct and she hoped that she wasn’t in for another disappointment.