Those in Peril (Unlocked) (40 page)

Hazel came to Hector. She looked up at him and said quietly, ‘You are a bloody genius, but I suspect you are well aware of that fact.’

‘I am forced to admit that I did have an inkling,’ he said, and she kissed him.

C
ayla went up to the Vet School in Denver at the beginning of the first semester of the new year, while Hector took on his new role at Bannock Oil as Hazel’s vice-president. At first he played no active part in the company affairs. Instead he looked on and he listened. And he and Hazel sat up late most nights, studying and discussing together the mountains of information that covered the company’s activities over the previous five years. His questions were perceptive and thought-provoking. Hazel found them so stimulating that she saw again through his eyes what she had done right, and where her judgement had been at fault. She came to understand that the years of being completely on her own, without a kindred soul to turn to for solace and counsel, had taken their toll. Without realizing it, she had been losing impetus. It had been a long lonely race for her and she was flagging. Now, once again, she had somebody whose judgement she could trust beside her and it was like a jolt of electricity. She no longer woke up in the morning dreading the day ahead. Once again she relished the prospect of conflict and challenge, of being stretched to the utmost.

‘It’s like that final set at the Aussie Open on the day I won the title. My God, it’s all fun again.’ To add to her joy of life, Hector was at last ready to go forward beside her. For months he had been sitting so quietly at the boardroom table that the other directors had almost forgotten his existence, but now he began to speak out. When they got over the initial shock, they began to listen to what he had to say.

‘This fella of yours has the nose and the instinct,’ John Bigelow told her with respect in his tone. ‘He is just like Henry at the same age.’

Bannock Oil’s affairs had been lagging of late but now they took an upward turn, not entirely because of the increasing price of oil. Hector flew to Abu Zara and after five days of discussion with the Emir he obtained the offshore drilling rights for the entire coastline of the Emirate abutting the Zara No. 8. They brought in the first productive gas well eleven months later. It was a storming success.

Hazel and Hector flew out to Abu Zara together to inaugurate the new well. Paddy O’Quinn and Bert Simpson and a dozen other senior Bannock Oil employees were at the Sidi el Razig airstrip to greet them. Both Hazel and Hector embraced Paddy and shook hands with the others. Then Hector looked around.

‘Where’s Tariq?’ he demanded. Paddy gave him a strange sideways glance.

‘He will be back in a couple of days.’ There was something in his tone that set off alarm bells in Hector’s head.

‘What?’ Hector demanded.

‘Later!’ Paddy side-stepped the question. They did not have chance to speak again until they reached the oil terminal building. As they climbed out of the vehicle Hector gave Hazel his hand to help her down, and at the same time he glared at Paddy.

‘Okay, Paddy, now tell me what’s happened to Tariq.’ There were just the three of them standing together, screened from the others by the bulk of the Hummvee truck, but still Paddy dropped his voice.

‘Tariq has gone up to Ash-Alman to bury his wife Daliyah and their child and to mourn for them.’ Both Hector and Hazel stared at him open-mouthed. Hazel broke the shocked silence.

‘Daliyah? Dead?’ Hazel burst out. ‘No! I cannot believe it.’

‘Their house burned down. Daliyah and the baby were caught in the blaze. It was late at night and they didn’t have a chance to escape.’

‘Baby?’ Hazel shook her head. ‘Daliyah was married to Tariq? They had a baby?’

Paddy nodded. ‘A son. He was born six months ago.’

‘I never knew,’ Hector said softly.

‘Tariq told me he wrote to you.’

‘Then I never received the letter. I never knew.’ Paddy had never seen him so distraught. Beside him Hazel began to weep quietly.

‘Oh, God!’ she mumbled. ‘Daliyah and her baby, dead. Oh, God. It’s too cruel.’ Hector put his arm around her and led her into the terminal.

The next morning when they walked into the terminal control centre Hazel was still pale and her eyes were red-rimmed. Hector was drawn and taciturn. Bert Simpson and Paddy stood up from their seats in front of the computer screens at the long system control table.

‘Tariq is here,’ Paddy said. ‘He heard that you’d arrived, and he came back from Ash-Alman early this morning.’

‘Call him in,’ Hector said. Paddy reached for the intercom and relayed the order. Within a few moments there was a soft knock on the door.

‘Come in!’ Hector called, his voice harsh with emotion. Tariq stood in the open doorway. His expression was cold and remote. Hector went to him swiftly and embraced him.

‘It is hard, old friend,’ he said and his voice was still rough.

‘Yes, it is hard,’ Tariq agreed. They stepped back from each other, both of them embarrassed and at a loss for words. Hazel went to Tariq and touched his right shoulder.

‘My heart goes out to you. Daliyah was a lovely woman. I owed her my life.’

‘Yes,’ Tariq said softly, ‘she was a good wife.’

‘And your son?’

‘He was a good boy.’

‘How did such a terrible thing happen?’ Hazel demanded.

‘You were her friends,’ Tariq replied obliquely. ‘Can we walk together and remember her?’

This is ‘Need to Know Only’
, Hector told himself.
Tariq is playing this thing very close to his chest.
He took Hazel’s arm and said gently, ‘We will be honoured to walk with you, Tariq.’ They went out into the bright Gulf sunshine. The sky was cloudless and the waters mirrored its brilliance. It seemed too beautiful for all this sorrow. Hazel walked along the beach between the two men in silence. At last she could contain herself no longer.

‘Paddy told us there was a fire in your house?’ She framed the statement as a question.

‘Yes, Mrs Bannock. There was a fire.’ He was silent again and they saw his eyes glisten in the sunlight with tears and with anger. ‘I tried to hide them. I took a house in a village where we are not known. I used another name. I had her brother stay with her to protect her when I could not. Her brother died in the flames with them.’

‘It wasn’t an accident, then?’ Hazel asked.

‘It was no accident,’ Tariq confirmed. He looked at Hector. ‘You know who did this thing.’

Hector nodded. ‘I know,’ he said flatly. Hazel stared into his eyes, and then she knew also.

‘It was Uthmann Waddah!’ Hazel whispered. ‘It was the Beast again. Wasn’t it?’ Hector nodded. ‘But how did you know?’ she demanded.

‘Mrs Bannock, Hector knew with his heart, not with his head. As did I.’ Tariq explained, ‘He and I know Uthmann as we know a beloved brother, or a mortal enemy.’

‘Do you know where Uthmann is now?’ Hector asked.

‘Yes. He is with Sheikh Adam Tippoo Tip at the fortress by the Oasis of the Miracle.’

‘You know this for certain?’ Hector demanded, and Tariq nodded.

‘After the funeral of my wife and my son and her brother, after the three days of mourning, I left them and went again by bus to Gandanga Bay in beggar’s rags to look for their murderer. I could not reach the fortress. It was too heavily guarded. But I waited at Gandanga Bay for twelve days. I saw many things. I saw the great new fleet of attack boats that Sheikh Adam has built since the death of his grandfather, and which his uncle Kamal commands. I saw the ships they have captured lying at anchor in the bay. I heard men talk of Uthmann Waddah. I heard them say that he walks at Adam’s right hand, and wields great power under his master.’

‘Did you see them, Tariq?’ Hector asked gently.

‘I saw them both. On the twelfth day they came to Gandanga Bay in great state with many men. Adam is now a mighty man of power, and Uthmann is his general. I could not reach him. There were too many of their men and they were careful. I might have to wait years, but my time will come,’ Tariq ended simply.

They were all silent for a while, and then Hazel asked, ‘What will you do now, Tariq?’

‘This is a thing of the knife,’ Tariq answered. ‘Blood calls for blood. It is a debt of honour. My wife and my son lie unquiet in their grave. I must give them rest.’

‘Must you do this thing, Tariq? We have lost Daliyah, must we now risk you?’

‘Tell her, please, Hector.’

‘Tariq has no choice in the matter,’ Hector told her. ‘He has to do what duty and honour demand.’ He turned back to Tariq. ‘Go then, old friend. If there is anything I can do, you know you can get a message to me through Paddy O’Quinn.’

‘It may take time . . . years even,’ Tariq warned him.

‘I know.’ Hector nodded. ‘You will be on the Cross Bow payroll for as long as it takes. Come back to us when it is done.’

‘Thank you, Hector. Thank you, Mrs Bannock.’ Tariq embraced Hector, and bowed deeply to Hazel. Then he turned and walked away along the pipeline in the direction of the airfield. He did not look back.

Hector and Hazel spoke of him often over the months that followed, but as they heard nothing from him his memory faded gradually into the background of their frenetic lifestyles. They did not forget him, but daily his memory was less poignant and pressing. Hazel voiced it nicely on the evening a full year after their last meeting with Tariq Hakam at Sidi el Razig. Cayla had spent the Easter weekend with them on the ranch and on the Monday had returned to Vet School. The two of them were drinking a flute of champagne before bedtime. Hazel raised her glass to him.

‘Thank the Good Lord that Cayla is safe here in America, and that those horrors are so far away in distance and in time.’

A
t Hector’s urging the Bannock management started to take seriously the exploitation of alternative energy. Hector acquired five patents from a young engineering savant that nobody else had ever heard of. The patents had such potential for cheaper and more efficient production of wind energy that both Shell and Exxon were soon bidding for a share in the venture. At the end of the second financial year since Hector had come on board, Bannock was able to declare an increase of seven and a half per cent on their dividend. The share price, which had been drifting in the doldrums for several years, shot up to $255.

Then to cap it all for both Hazel and Hector, Cayla’s results came in at the end of her penultimate year of Vet School. She finished third out of a class of thirty-six. Thelma Henderson, her psychiatrist, pronounced that Cayla was completely healed. She had put on a little weight and the fresh healthy young blood gave her skin a glow again. Hazel’s happiness was complete.

Another year sped away under them. Thanksgiving came around, and Cayla came down from Denver to celebrate with them at the Houston home. She brought a guest. He was in his final year at Colorado University College of Medicine. His name was Simon Cooper. Cayla sat beside him at the festive board, and looked up at him with shining eyes. Hazel reacted predictably.

‘His father is an ironmonger,’ she confided to Hector with horror.

‘You are an awful snob, my darling.’ He laughed at her. ‘Actually he owns and operates a chain of over one hundred and thirty enormous hardware stores. In comparison I am a pauper.’

‘Don’t you dare compare any other man in the world to yourself.’