Part 34 (2/2)

She has lost her chance. She is no longer the favorite prisoner. Now she is the one who has stuck her neck out farther than anyone else.

She meets Phillips eyes.

He speaks English now. It will be as I say. He falls silent.

Theres something about him, about his eyes, scarred skin, and short gray hair. A fast sequence of the things he has done to Nubian women is running through Ibens head. There is nothing more she can say.

She discovers that she doesnt dare meet his eyes again or even look in his direction. Instead, she sinks down on her haunches and waits. She doesnt move until one of the men says something, which she a.s.sumes must mean that she is to go back inside the hut. She obeys, unable to fight for Roberto any longer.

Mark and Cathy have heard everything, but they dont say a word. Iben cant be sure if theres not a small part of them thats happy shes the one taking risks.

On her way to sit down she touches Roberto; he seems lifeless. Cathy has rolled him over on his side in the recovery position.

A little later Ochieng comes in. He makes Roberto inhale the vapor from a steaming brew of herbs but seems to know perfectly well that he cant cure him and that the treatment he is offering is only for show.

The night is cold and Iben s.h.i.+vers in her flimsy clothes. Its so pointless for Roberto to die this way, only a few yards away from where she is trying to find enough peace to sleep. I must try to do something to help Roberto. I must try. But she knows that she will not.

Cathy and Mark just lie there, quietly.

Should I move alongside Roberto to warm him with my body? She thinks of how she avoided sharing her warmth with him while he was still conscious. She felt awkward about sleeping with her arms around her sick boss. But now everything has changed it is not feeling awkward that gives her pause, but the thought of waking up during the night embracing a corpse.

After a little while she moves over to Roberto and makes the others come too, so that all four of them can keep each other warm. She dreams that shes back in the office. Malene, Camilla, and Anne-Lise are hysterical because there is a trail of blood across the floor where someone has dragged a dead body. Somehow Iben knows that the blood is Ojijis. Other things happen that she cant recall afterward.

The night feels so long that only remembering the dream proves to Iben that she has slept at all. When the gaps around the curtain become lighter, Roberto is still alive.

They are relieved, but Mark has become quite strange, almost aggressive. He moves clumsily back to his own s.p.a.ce, b.u.mps into the others, and pushes them hard enough for it to hurt. Iben doubts that he is ill but doesnt dare question him about it.

She can hear the men getting together for their morning service. Should she sing with them again? Should she go outside? If she goes outside, showing anger wouldnt make it harder for them to kill her. The choice is between staying in the hut to demonstrate how unforgivable she finds their treatment of Roberto, or joining them, which goes against every natural instinct.

She thinks to herself: If I do go out there it might persuade them to let a doctor see Roberto.

Iben sings along with the hymns and again adds her own solo verses. Then, for the first time in more than twenty-four hours, she hears Marks voice. He speaks quietly.

Shut up, why dont you.

Mark! Cathy sounds upset.

Mark continues: Iben, you wont gain a thing by sucking up to them. Not these guys.

Iben carries on singing regardless. This morning they havent sent a guard to bring her outside. She gets up and, keeping an eye on Mark, tries to get out through the door. The guard says something incomprehensible, shoves her back inside, and pulls the cloth back in place.

Iben has no tears left. All three lie still and listen.

Then Cathy speaks. Iben. Youre a survivor.

This time there are fewer voices in the choir. Some of the men must have left, setting out early in the morning. Iben manages to pick out seven voices.

No one comes in with a morning meal. Iben is dozing when she is alerted by the sound of running feet. Four shots ring out. Men are shouting in Swahili.

Then nothing.

All is quiet again.

Iben peeps through the doorway. Militiamen are walking from hut to hut, investigating each one. Their uniforms are different from anything Iben has seen before, neither police nor army. Someone must have dispatched a special unit to free the hostages. There are about twenty of them. She cant work out who is the leader until the soldiers haul two Luos from a hut and push them down on the ground in front of a man with gla.s.ses. He addresses the Luos and then turns away to give the soldiers new orders.

The guard in front of their hut has disappeared. Iben stands in the doorway and peeps around the cloth, but she doesnt go out. At the far end of the encampment eight unarmed Luos are standing in a line.

Now Cathy and Mark have joined Iben and stick their heads around the other side of the curtain.

Some of the soldiers march the Luos along to the biggest hut and shove them roughly inside. Omoro is among these eight men.

His eyes widen when he sees Iben. He calls to her: Iben! Iben!

Silence.

The leader of the special unit walks toward the hostages. He is smiling.

Everything in order?

Iben finds it hard to look at him and hard to concentrate on what hes saying.

She hears gurgling noises from the big hut. Maybe she replies something to his question. Afterward she cant recall.

The soldiers come out again. They havent been in there long. Their clothes and hands look clean but Iben notices the tops of their shoes where the leather is stained red.

None of the hostage takers emerges from the big hut.

chapter 35.

iben cannot figure out what Paul is up to.

Just after Gunnar left the DCIG, Paul told her to drop her work on Chechnya for the next issue of Genocide News and concentrate on Turkey instead. She has no problem with that except that Paul is also insisting that Anne-Lise is to be her co-editor.

Thats simply too much. Anne-Lise has never done anything journalistic, never written or edited anything. She is sure to run to Paul every time she cant grasp one of Ibens decisions, with the likely result that sh.e.l.l ruin Ibens relations.h.i.+p with Paul and, in the long run, with the board as well.

After the meeting Anne-Lise said she had a headache and went home something to be grateful for at least. Now Iben has twenty-four hours to get over her annoyance before her new teammate returns.

Paul has closed the door to his office, so theres no need to escape to the kitchen for a discussion with Malene. Camilla can hear what theyre saying, but it doesnt matter. Malene acts distant and uninterested. Obviously she is still displeased about Ibens voicing her opinion of Gunnar earlier.

After they chat for a while, Malene says sh.e.l.l pop down and get something nice for their afternoon coffee. She takes her bag with her, which means that the trip is just a cover for her to talk to Gunnar on her cell phone.

When Malene returns, she has spoken with Gunnar, as predicted.

Hes really annoyed. During the meeting here, Gunnar realized that Paul didnt have a mandate from the board as hed said he did. It didnt take long for Gunnar to figure out that Paul was trying to use him in some internal power struggle. Malene looks at Iben, not acknowledging that she was right about Gunnar after all. He turned down Pauls offer of a seat on the board.

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