Chapter 2

July 2009, Sudan

I had not seen Karen since that afternoon in May 2004, five years ago; but not even the hijab and the long dress she was wearing could hide the fact that she still was an attractive woman. I forced my thoughts away from her, to the task at hand. She didn’t pose a threat, but he certainly did. I made sure that I looked vaguely interested in the newcomers and it seemed to work since nothing in his demeanor changed when he briefly inspected me. However I didn’t allow myself to relax until they were both inside, and also after I was sure that he had paid some attention to all the people outside. He would not have stayed alive this long if hadn’t been careful.

Suddenly I could hear the earpiece in my left ear come alive. I was almost surprised that they worked at all. The stuff I got from the Frenchman was next to rubbish, but it was all I - or Ahmed - was able to get without being noticed. I now had three working voice activated devices inside to listen to the conversations. They worked, but only if they got activated first. Also, if I wanted to have the discussions recorded, I needed to be close. High technology stuff my ass. I guess it was the surplus stuff the Chinese didn’t want, or something that DGSE, the former employer of the Frenchman, had trashed. But, since I couldn’t trust my own boss, it was all I had.

“ ... but I reserved two rooms. There is no way that I’m gonna share a room with you.”

Even with the poor quality of the earpiece, I could tell that Karen was pissed. That reminded me of the last time I’d heard from her.

June 2004, home

At the beginning of the following month, I had all my ducks in a row. The only time I sneaked back into my own home, was when Karen was forced to visit the college. I got in to pick up my passport, and left my keys on the kitchen table. I had arranged with my teachers so that I could send my missing work to them by email. That meant I was free to leave in a few days. Some of them grunted, but as the work I had accepted was the favorite child of the Dean, I had no real problems with them. I agreed that all the official papers would be delivered to my lawyer, who would then store them for me. Just in case I came back.

On nearly my last night in my home town, I took out my old phone and powered it up. As soon as it was online it started chirping for both text messages and voice mails. I ignored all of them while I pressed the first speed dial I had programmed into my old phone.

“Where are you, you bastard? And why aren’t you answering my calls and messages?”

Damn, she managed to sound pissed off.

“I just thought that you deserved one chance to explain, Karen.”

“Explain? You know fucking well that I still owe you two guys, bastard.”

“No, I really don’t know. I was about to surprise you, but instead you really managed to surprise me.”

Now she was silent for a moment. I could almost see the look on her face changing as I had seen it so many times before.

“I saw the video. You were there with three girls. There is no way of denying that as I heard your voice, too.”

Now it was my turn to get silent. A video. That could only mean one thing.

“Karen, did you really look that video? It was made when I was still in high school.”

“No it was not. There was a date on it which was two weeks ago. Joel explained that my father was worried and he’d had you followed.”

The pain in my stomach was almost physical now. Suddenly it all became clear.

“So, Karen, instead of asking me or talking to me; you decided to believe your father and your dear Joel, just because there was a date on that video? On second thought - don’t bother answering. Maybe this was a good thing, and prevented a major disaster. You managed to have your rebelliousness in college with me, and now you can go back to your family.”

I could hear her gasping for breath on the other end.

“Karen, the condo will not go on the market before the end of the year. You can live there until you find a new place to live. But, if your boyfriend tries to move in ... or even spends a night ... my advocate has orders to start selling it immediately.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend!”

“The same applies with fuck buddies, if you want to use that term. I just tried to act civil so that your kind of good people would understand.”

“If you didn’t cheat on me then why were you so busy and secretive?”

No apology, nothing that would sound a bit like that. Just more questions with that pissed off voice.

“Maybe you should ask your willing informants, Karen. I’m sure they can figure out something new. Goodbye. This phone number will cease to exist after this call, and I’ll be leaving the country, tomorrow. My attorney will contact you in a few days. He’ll negotiate a time with you when he can arrange to pick up all of my stuff. Thank you for all these years, and I truly hope that you’ll have a good life, Karen.”

I could hear her yelling on the other end when I ended the call, and turned the phone off. If I didn’t love her any more, then why was I crying? Maybe I could have forgiven her having sex with some jerk; but the fact that she trusted the jerk and her father more than she did me, was just too much.

I had lied to her a bit. I didn’t leave the country the following day, but it was only a few days more. Once again I met my lawyer, but this time I was asking for a recommendation. After a few more questions, he guided me to a distant relative of his who had some time ago ended his eight-year stint and had decided to start his own business. The man in his late twenties still had the no-nonsense look that was typical of persons who had been in the military. When I explained what I wanted and why, he didn’t question if it made sense or not.

I explained to him the video I had made with my girlfriend Lisa and two of our lesbian friends, Amy and Joyce. The duo - as they had been called - were the ones who had gotten the idea and since they both wanted to learn about film-making they decided to do something more than the normal high school assignments. As Lisa was also bi-curious, the duo wanted to have one experience with the male species. It didn’t take very long to convince me.

Amy and Joyce made the script, and we did the filming during one weekend. There was nothing left of me when the filming was done. The resulting flick was about 45 minutes in length. After seeing it once, together, we all agreed that the duo had some real talent. But we also agreed that we should keep the film hidden, since the result was something that varied from nice softcore to real hardcore. In order to get a real act to look good on film, you need get close and that IS hardcore.

I didn’t give any details to him, but explained that since my copy of that video had never left my safe deposit box, it meant that someone had either stolen or copied the video from one of the girls. Since I didn’t wish any harm to any of them, I asked him to contact them and warn them - and try to find out who stole the video. I stressed that my lawyer had all the power needed to stop the video from spreading. I knew that Lisa wanted to be a teacher, and that kind of video might be a real showstopper. If he needed to see the video, it would now be in a safe at my lawyer’s office.

Once we had agreed on his fee I warned him about Karen’s father. I explained that he had contacts and money and that he had the motive. Most probably we could never prove anything but our man should be careful since there might be some influential people behind all this. When I had said that he started to smile.

“Greg, I think that you should know that they would have liked me to re-enlist as an MP but they also advised against it. When my stint ended, one colonel also retired and two more will probably never make it to general. Thanks for the fair warning but I’m not afraid of that kind of people.”

When I finally started my trip to Thailand, I felt all drained out.

July 2009, Sudan

It was all too easy to fall back on the old memories. Like I was that old with my twenty-eight years? I had listened to the arguing and at the end Karen and her companion got the two rooms they had reserved. With some extra cost, of course. I almost sighed with relief, since any other result would have ruined my carefully laid plans. Like any plan survives contact with the enemy? For that was what he was to me - a deadly enemy.

I followed their voices when they headed to their rooms, and surprisingly enough I started hearing voices from the rest two of the devices as soon as the doors opened. I guessed that it probably also meant that the batteries of the devices would not last the two weeks that was promised to me, but more likely a few days. Whatever, if everything went as planned two days would be more than enough. Suddenly I heard Karen again.

“No, you cannot come in. Like I said to you during our trip here, I’m a professional; and being a professional, means that I’ll not have sex with you, ever. Even that one kiss was a mistake.”

I couldn’t hear what he said in reply. It was clear that he didn’t like her response, but was unwilling to press this issue any further for now. I could hear the door close. Karen muttered something which I couldn’t fully catch but the tone of her mutter was unmistakable. I had heard it sometimes during our few years together.

The tea in front of me was getting cold, or as ‘cold’ as something in this environment would ever really get during the day. However I didn’t have any intention of moving, since I was not absolutely sure if he had any local people helping him. All of a sudden my earpiece became active again. It seemed that he had picked up his phone and moved next to the window, as that was probably the only place in that room where any mobile worked.

My ability to understand Arabic was still quite limited, and the fact that he spoke fast and the quality of my listening device was quite poor didn’t help; but still I understood enough that I knew I had no other possibility than to act, and act quickly. Even though I had suspected it, it hit me quite hard as to how my boss had planned to use me to forward his own agenda. From here I just couldn’t find out how far the conspiracy reached. I truly was on my own. I really hoped that the other devices I had bought from the Frenchman would be better than these listening devices. I felt a bit insecure as I would be stepping into something I still was not fully familiar with: from passive observer, to active participant.

June 2004, Khao Lak, Thailand

During my time in high school I had traveled a bit with my parents, but the organized tourist travels had left me quite poorly prepared for what was waiting for me down there. I was, however, prepared for the heat. I did not have much luggage, since I had decided to buy most of my clothes there. But I really was not prepared for the fact that nothing was working, and nobody was expecting me.

After several calls, I finally found out that the guy who should be there supervising me was on vacation for at least the next two weeks. After two more hours, I found myself outside a small crappy hotel away from the beach where someone had made a reservation for me.

Half an hour later I was at the reception desk of a half empty holiday resort and I managed to negotiate a price that was only a little bit higher than the one that had been negotiated for me in the sloppy hotel I had visited first ... and my price included breakfast!

Even if I was tired of traveling, I wasn’t able to rest - probably I was in overdrive ... Since the hotel had a pool bar I decided I might as well start with a vacation, if I was not going to work for a while. I could at least get really drunk. Something I had not done since high school, and at the time it was still totally illegal for me, which of course was part of the fun. Hell, I was a jerk, then. Maybe I should just resurrect my internal jerk again. After all, the last two times I’d been the nice guy had ended badly for me. So I put on my new swim shorts (which were straight from the shop at the airport), and grabbed the pool towel provided by the hotel. I put my room key card on the lanyard that accompanied the pool towel, and hung it around my neck as I headed towards the pool bar.

I put my towel on a free chair and hit the pool just to take a few strokes, before heading to the pool bar that rose straight from the pool. Only after I climbed onto the pillar that represented the chair, did I notice the other people there. I said my hellos to the red-headed woman closest to me and the man next to her. I gave the man behind the bar my room key card, which he swiped and returned. Then I picked up the beer he gave to me. Suddenly I noticed that the red-headed woman had moved next to me, which seemed to cause some displeasure to the man who had been leering at her.

“Hi. Are you from States?”

Two things came to my mind almost simultaneously. She was hitting on me, and I could not betray Karen. It took a few seconds more for me to remember that we had broken up, and just a moment more to recognize her dialect.

“Yes, and you are from the UK, Northern part but not really Scotland, right?”