‘He never produced that speech of the General’s that he said was going to be so important.’
So, Karim would not give Dexter the draft he had half promised to Tamara. She wondered why.
Dexter went on: ‘And no such speech has been made.’
The General might have abandoned the speech – but it was equally likely that he was simply waiting for the right moment. However, Tamara said nothing.
Dexter said: ‘I’m going to hand him back to you to run.’
Tamara frowned. Why was he doing this?
He responded to her frown. ‘Karim doesn’t merit the attention of a senior officer,’ he said. ‘Like I said, you overrated him.’
But this man works in the presidential palace, Tamara thought. He’s almost certain to have useful intelligence. Even a cleaner at the palace can pick up secrets from the waste-paper bins. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I’ll give him a call.’
Dexter nodded. ‘Do that.’ He looked down at the document on his desk. Tamara took that for dismissal and went out.
She busied herself with routine work, but she was worried about Abdul. She hoped he would make contact soon. There had been no word from him for eleven days. This was not completely unexpected, just worrying. On American highways, a thousand-mile journey would be a two-day trip, Chicago to Boston; Tamara had driven it once, to visit a boyfriend at Harvard. One time she took the bus: thirty-six hours, a hundred and nine dollars, free Wi-Fi. Abdul’s trip would be very different. There were no speed limits because none were needed: it was not possible to go more than about twenty miles per hour on stony unpaved desert tracks. Punctures and other breakdowns were likely, and if the driver could not fix the problem they might wait days for help to arrive.
But Abdul faced hazards worse than punctures. He was pretending to be a desperate migrant, but he had to talk to people, watch Hakim, identify the men Hakim contacted, and learn where they hung out. If suspicion fell on him . . . Tamara saw again the body of Abdul’s predecessor, Omar, and she recalled like a nightmare how she had knelt in the sand and picked up his severed hands and feet.
And there was nothing she could do other than wait for Abdul to call.
A few minutes after twelve noon, Tamara got a car to take her to the Lamy Hotel.
Karim was standing at the bar in a white linen suit, drinking what looked like a non-alcoholic cocktail, talking to a man Tamara vaguely recognized as being from the German embassy. She asked for Campari with ice and soda, a cocktail so weak that a gallon of it would hardly make her tipsy. Karim left his German acquaintance and came to talk to her.
She wanted to know why the General was giving out free trainers, and whether his popularity was slipping; but a blunt question would put Karim on his guard, and he would deny everything, so she had to approach the subject carefully. ‘You know the US supports the General as the basis of stability in this country.’
‘Of course.’
‘We’re a little concerned to hear rumours of discontent with him.’ She had heard no such rumours, of course.
‘Don’t worry about rumours,’ Karim said, and Tamara noticed that he had not contradicted her. ‘It’s nothing,’ he went on, making her think it was definitely something. ‘We’re dealing with it.’
Tamara chalked up a point to herself. Karim had already confirmed something that had been no more than speculation on her part. She said: ‘We can’t understand why this has started just now. There’s nothing wrong . . .’ She let the unasked question hang in the air.
‘There was that incident at the N’Gueli Bridge that you were involved in.’
So that was it.
He went on: ‘A few people are saying that the General should have responded quickly and decisively.’
Tamara was excited. This was a new insight. But she frowned, as if dispassionately calculating dates, and said: ‘Well, it’s more than two weeks ago.’
‘People don’t understand that these things are complicated.’
‘That’s true,’ she said, showing sympathy by agreeing with an empty platitude.
‘But we will respond very firmly, and soon.’
‘I’m glad. You spoke of a speech –’
‘Yes. Your friend Dexter was very curious about that.’ Karim looked offended. ‘He almost seemed to think he had the right to approve the draft.’
‘I’m sorry about Dexter. You and I help one another, don’t we? That’s what our relationship is about.’
‘Exactly!’