Hope You Are Satisfied by Tania Malik

Author:Tania Malik
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Unnamed Press

DECEMBER 1990

It was Friday morning, our day off. We were out of uniform, in shorts and T-shirts, and it felt good. Jack and Burke turned up at 1000 hours for our drive to the beach town of Khorfakkan. Suntanned and ruddier since we last saw them, they didn’t seem too alarmed to be drinking beer for breakfast as they helped load the Land Cruisers, “motherfucking” over this and that with the guys. With the other offices around the industrial park closed for the weekend, we drank and spoke without censor. I’d told them to take as much leave as they could, as we’d be gone all day and wouldn’t be back before sundown.

Their president, George Bush, had flown in with his wife and other important politicians from the US to visit the troops over their Thanksgiving holiday. “Did you meet Bush?” we asked excitedly—after all, the man had commandeered all our news channels. “He didn’t end up on our ship,” Jack said. We were sorry for their missed opportunity, but they didn’t seem too bothered about it.

Freddy’s car would transport the food for our picnic and a couple of safari guys. Grace and Richard stowed their beach gear in Rohit’s car. Amir bounced around the Americans talking about Baywatch. His cousin had given him tapes of the show and Amir was obsessed with the Baywatch lifeguards. They inspired him to take intensive swimming courses.

“When Saddam Hussein gets here, Amir can escape by swimming across the Persian Gulf to Iran,” teased one of the safari drivers.

“And who’s going to tell him,” Rohit said under his breath to me in passing, “that he’s only watching because of that one actress running up and down the beach in her red swimsuit?” The actress Erika Eleniak, with a pert nose and fine cheekbones, bore a passing resemblance to Grace.

I was keeping out of Grace’s way, as she’d been in a mood lately. Just that morning she’d bitched at me for leaving the hot plate on while I was in the bathroom, but then as a peace offering, she ran out to the Lebanese bakery down the street and brought me a piping-hot manakish for breakfast, the Levantine bread with salty cheese irresistible to me.

But I couldn’t let any of this sidetrack me, not totally at least, because clipped to my shorts was the beeper Simon had given me for “Operation Don’t Fuck It Up.” His words. Only important people in the company got beepers and I’d always coveted a beeper of my own. Now it was a grenade hanging from my waistband.

My instructions were to call him immediately when he paged me. He’d have the flight details and time I was to go to the airport to receive the bag. “We’ll get to know well ahead when you’re needed, so you’ll have enough time to make it there,” he said.

Each time I was at the airport now, shepherding guests and VIPs, I forced myself to look around with fresh eyes, taking note. The obstacle course of guards and security checkpoints.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.