On Sunday morning Dan felt especially passionate,
and he did not want to get out of bed when the alarm
sounded at five o'clock. He reached out and drew
Liliana's warm soft body close to him to rub and stroke
her. "Oh, God, I'm hot this morning," she said and
rolled on to her back to spread her legs.
She was already moist when he slipped his hand
between her legs. "Me, too," Dan replied and kissed her
nipples.
"I wish we could stay here and make love all day
long," she said in a soft, sleepy whisper.
"Me, too," he said and rubbed his fingers through
the triangle of soft hair and kissed her.
"Come inside of me, please," she said, and pulled
him over on top of her. Her body quivered as he pressed
slowly into her. She thrust her pelvis upward to reach
for him and he slipped deep into her, together they
moaned, groaned, twisted and turned. "I'm coming," she
sighed.
"Me, too," he gasped as they sailed into a calm
that was as still and quiet as the eye of a storm.
The calm and stillness in bed that morning was the eye of a storm and when Dan reached the embassy that morning
he started sailing out through the other side of a
hurricane of events that would last the rest of the
week.
The first gust of wind came when Pete Stuart
arrived in Dan's office to tell him that Kurt Conrad had
decided that he could not leave Mogadishu unless he
could get a passport for a Somali woman, named Dahaba
Hassan, with whom Kurt had been living. Kurt had tried
in the past to get Dahaba a passport, but it had been
refused because Kurt and the woman were not married. He
could not marry her because there was no provision under
Somali law for a Muslim to marry a Christian. It was a
"Catch 22" situation.
At Pete's urging Kurt had gone off to look for a
mula, a Muslim priest, who would marry them if Kurt said
he had converted to Islam. Pete asked Dan to intervene
again with General Ossman to enlist his support since
the Somali passport office came under the jurisdiction
of the National Police.
As Dan listened to Pete telling the story about
Kurt he recalled Liliana's remark about the New
Testament verse that says there is "no greater love than
that a man lay down his life for his friends." Dan
remembered how Liliana had said that this was an ideal toward which we all strive. Kurt has very nearly
reached that ideal, or he's crazy, Dan thought, but he
felt a rush of willingness to do all that he could to
help Kurt and his girlfriend, Dahaba.
"Kurt must really love this woman if he's willing
to stay here and go to jail for her," Dan said and got
out of his chair and walked to the phone. "See if you
can get me an appointment with General Aden Ossman right
away," Dan said to his secretary, then cradled the
phone. Turning back to Pete Dan said: "My job, as I see
it, is to get Aden to order the officer-in-charge of the
passport office to issue this girl a passport so we can
get Kurt out of here. All we want Aden to do is grease
the skids so we can avoid an international uproar that
would involve the American and Austrian embassies and
who knows who else now that love has entered the
picture."
"That's all," Pete replied.
The phone buzzed again. Dan's secretary told him
that General Ossman could see him immediately, and
together he and Pete walked out of the embassy. Pete
returned to the USAID Mission and Dan rode to the police
compound.
General Ossman was in a hurry to get to the airport
to see the Prime Minister off on the Alitalia flight that would arrive and depart that morning, so Dan
quickly told him the story.
"What's this girl's name?" Ossman asked.
"Dahaba Hassan," Dan replied.
"Goldie," Ossman said to himself and picked up the
telephone to speak to the Major in charge of the
passport office: "A certain Mr. Kurt Conrad from the
American Embassy will be bringing a Somali woman named
Dahaba Hassan to your office for a passport. I would
like you to issue the passport immediately," he said in
a crisp military tone, then replaced the telephone and
looked at Dan. "Tell Kurt to see Major Jama. Anything
else?" he asked and smiled.
"That's all," Dan said and stood up to leave.
"I'll walk with you to your car," Ossman said and
walked around the desk, then once outside the office,
out of earshot of any other people or hidden
microphones, he said, "I'd like to have that long walk
on the beach with you, but I'd like to make it late at
night."
"You set the day and the time," Dan said.
"How about Monday night around eleven?" he asked.
"That would be fine. I'll be waiting for you at my
beach hut," Dan said, and got in his car to return to
the embassy to pass the word about Kurt and the passport to Pete Stuart. Dan wondered what had happened since
the day before when Aden had told me that he would get
in touch with him after the President's trip to the
north.
Dan was not back in the embassy more than an hour
when the phone buzzed. Dan's secretary told him that he
had a long distance call from Paris on line one.
He punched the glowing button on the telephone.
"Hello," he said, and the phone crackled and beeped with
electronic tones.
"Dan, this is Rita. Do you know a man named Carlo
Brancusi? " she asked.
"Yes," he said. "He's an Italian who works with
the Somali Ministry of Justice."
"Well, he has made you and me the laughing stock of
the seventh floor of the State Department," she said.
"What in the hell are you talking about, Rita?" Dan
asked.
"He has written a letter to the Secretary of State
saying that he is outraged by your conduct. Brancusi
accused you of having a blatant and open love affair with
his wife!"
"How do you know this, Rita?" Dan asked. He was
stunned.
"Never mind how I know. Is it true?" she asked.
"Never mind if it's true. I want to know how you
know he's written this letter," he said.
"Is it true?" she insisted.
"It's nonsense," he said. "How do you know this
man has written the letter?" Dan insisted.
"Naturally, the Secretary of State doesn't have
time to deal with real or alleged infidelities by his
ambassadors and he gave the letter to Brian Olsen to
take action. Brian had to come to Paris on business,
and I saw him and his wife last night at a cocktail
party. I have never felt so humiliated as when his wife
told me about it, and I want to know if it's true?"
"I told you it's nonsense, Rita."
"It may be nonsense, but is it true? Are you
having a love affair with this man's wife?" she
persisted.
"No," Dan said and did not consider that he had
lied. Dan rationalized that he was not having a love
affair with Liliana. He was in love with her.
"Dan, I'm coming back to Mogadishu a week from
today on next Sunday's plane," Rita said.
"There's no need to do that, Rita. I'll get this
thing settled," he argued.
"I'm coming, Dan. Meet me!" She hung up the
phone, and he cradled his receiver.
Dan's first impulse was to get tickets for Liliana,
Juliana and himself and leave on the same plane on which
Rita would arrive, but he did not ever consider it as a
serious option. That would be abandoning his post, and
that was not the way that he planned to end an otherwise
unblemished thirty-year career in the Foreign Service.
Instead, he called a man named Abdi Karim, the local
employee who served as the embassy's customs and
immigration expediter, to his office and told him that
he wanted Abdi to buy a first class ticket to Rome for
Mrs. Thornton on next Sunday's plane and that Abdi would
have to clear her through exit customs and immigration
after she arrived in Mogadishu next Sunday.
Abdi looked at Dan with a puzzled expression on his
face. "Do you mean, sir, that Mrs. Thornton will be
leaving on the same plane that she arrives on?" he
asked.
"That's exactly what I mean, Abdi," Dan said. "Any
problem?"
"No, sir," he replied. "No problem."
Dan called Stan Jacobs, the Deputy Chief of
Mission, and asked him to go to the airport to represent
him at the farewell for the Prime Minister who, along
with Marlisa di Paulo, was leaving on the plane due to
arrive in just about an hour, then Dan left the embassy to track down Liliana.
Dan had cancelled his language class with Liliana
that morning thinking that he would be going to the
airport to say goodbye to the PM. Liliana had told Dan
that she would go instead to the U.N., so Dan had no
trouble finding her.
Liliana was just pulling her car through the gate
to leave the U.N. compound when Dan arrived. Abukar
pulled the car up to stop along side Liliana's. Dan
told her that he had something urgent to discuss with
her, then asked her to park her car, and come with him.
They drove to the beach hut where Dan poured coffee
for both of them, then sitting in their rattan chairs he
told her what had transpired that morning.
"Oh God, Dan, I'm so sorry," she said and reached
out to take his hand.
"No need for you to feel sorry," Dan said. "It's
not your fault. It's nobody's fault. It's just the way
things are, and we have to deal with it."
She squeezed his hand. "I'm glad you feel that
way," she said. "There's no telling what caused Carlo
to do such a stupid thing. He may be frustrated about
finding a new job, or maybe he misses Marlisa, but as
you can see Carlo is capable of very impulsive action."
"I know," Dan said and lightly rubbed his finger tips over her cheek bone where she still bore slight
traces of the bruise where he had slapped her. "What
concerns me is that Carlo might come back on the same
plane."
"Wouldn't that be something," she said and was
quiet for several minutes. "But you're right. He could
come back on the same plane. I don't think Rita and
Carlo know one another do they?"
"No, I don't think so, but I'm not worried about
the two of them getting together," Dan said. "I'm
worried about Carlo coming back here and beating the
hell out of you again."
"I hadn't thought of that, but I guess I should be
worried about it, too," she said.
"I don't think you should worry, but maybe we
should make plans on the basis that he will be back here
on that plane," Dan said.
"What do you mean? What kind of plans can we
make?" she asked.
"We plan for you to leave secretly on the same
plane he's coming on," Dan said and revealed an idea that was taking
shape in his mind. "By the time Carlo finds out you're
gone the plane will have taken off. I'll submit my
resignation, retire and in a month or so I can meet you
in Rome. We'll all three of us, you me and Juliana, go to the States together."
"Gulp," she said and laughed.
"I agree, gulp," he said and laughed along with
her. "We're being forced into putting our money on the
pass line, into taking action. You think about it, and
we'll talk more tonight. I'm going back to work now."
Dan stood up, and took her in his arms to kiss her. "I
love you, Liliana and I don't want anything to happen to
you. You are too precious to me."
On Sunday night they were at the beach hut enjoying
the new freedom that came with Marlisa's departure from
Mogadishu. They had been on a long walk along the
beach, and Liliana had almost decided that she would
leave on next Sunday's plane, but she was concerned
about being on the same plane with Rita. Dan pointed
out that Rita had no idea what Liliana looked like, and
that Rita would be in the first class section, while
Liliana and Juliana would be back in tourist class.
Liliana then wondered how Dan could get her through exit
customs and immigration without someone who knew her
seeing her and telling Carlo before the plane departed.
Dan told her that he had some ideas on how they would
handle her departure, and asked that she trust him.
"I do trust, you, my love," she said. "I trust you
implicitly." She then mentioned her last concern and that was that Dan would be left behind to deal with
Carlo. She was afraid that he might seek revenge
against Dan and become violent.
"Men who strike women, generally don't do the same
thing with other men," Dan said. "Furthermore, I've got
a whole squad of Marines surrounding me, so I have
plenty of protection. There's no need for you to worry
about me. Everything will be alright."
"But I do worry, and I will worry until this thing
is over and we're both back in Rome together," she said
and stood up. "I don't want to, but I have to go home
tonight. Can you take me to pick up my car at Marie-Claude's house?"
"Don't worry," Dan repeated. "In a couple of
months from now we'll be walking hand in hand through
the streets of Rome, or sitting in a sidewalk cafe. I
promise you," he said and offered her his hand. "Come
on, I'll take you to Marie-Claude's."
Liliana and Dan had dinner together on Monday night at
the residence, and she told him that she had definitely
decided to leave on next Sunday's plane. She would go
from Rome to Amalfi to spend a few weeks with her family
while waiting for Dan to join her. "When something is
over, it's over," she said. "The marriage between me and Carlo is over, so there is no point in my staying
any longer. I don't want to see him and I don't want to
be here when Rita arrives. I don't want to see her
either."
"Rita won't be staying. She'll be on the same
plane with you," Dan reminded her, "but I don't blame
you for not wanting to see them. Neither do I, but I
have to stay, or at least I feel I have to stay. There
is no easy way to handle this situation, but I think
with you gone it will be easier."
"How will you handle Carlo if he confronts you?"
she asked.
Dan looked at her and smiled. "I've been a
professional diplomat for thirty years, and one of the
first lessons I learned was never admit anything.
There's a tactic called 'plausible denyability' that we
use all of the time when we find ourselves in
compromising situations," Dan replied. "My second rule
is to deal with problems in the order of their
appearance."
"I'll remember that in case I run into Carlo at the
airport," she said and smiled back at Dan.
"I think we can manage to get you out of the
country without him seeing you in the airport," Dan
said. "We can use the VIP departure lounge, and there's no way you can see who is leaving the lounge from the
arrival area where Carlo will be."
"How about getting into the airport?" she asked.
"Trust me," Dan said.
"I do trust you, and you know that I trust you,"
she said, then got up from the table to leave to go
home. At ten-thirty Dan drove down to the beach hut to
keep his appointment with General Ossman.
Dan mixed himself a light whiskey and water then sat
down to look out toward the sea while he waited for
Aden. It was a moonless, dark night, and the stars
shimmering in the equatorial sky seemed almost near
enough to touch. The only light came from the
reflections on the calm glassy water from a Russian
tanker that was rolling in the swells offshore. It was
quiet save for the sound of the waves breaking over the
reef, and Dan took time to reflect on the events of the
past few months that had led Liliana and him to the
point where they both found themselves. Liliana was
showing enormous courage, Dan thought, to not only
undertake the whole airport caper that lay ahead of
them, but also to leave a marriage of ten years to go
with a man whom she had known only a short time. She
was going against all that her religious background had taught her - she was willing to leave not just her
hu sband but her own country to immigrate and start a new
life in order for the two of them to be together. Dan
knew that, in her heart, Liliana was totally committed
to him, but for just a moment he dared to consider
whether custody of Juliana could still become a factor
in their future. Then, taking his own advice to deal
with problems in the order of their appearance, he
dismissed this, and let his thoughts roam beyond Liliana
and their problems.
Dan thought about Maggie Chandler, the steady, all-American girl who could always be counted on when the
chips were down, with two children and a husband of ten
years, and he wondered if she had considered coming to
live in Somalia in order to be with Antonio. Some
intuitive feeling told him that she had not only
considered it, she had made that commitment, and would
have done it if Antonio had not been killed in the plane
crash. Then there was Kurt Conrad who was so committed
to this Somali woman that he was willing to risk going
to jail in order to be with her. In that moment Dan
knew that his commitment to Liliana was so strong that
he would go to any length to be with her. Liliana is my
woman, Dan thought, and I will stay in Italy, resign my
ambassadorship, retire - I will do what ever is necessary to be with Liliana.
Dan wondered what in the hell it was about this
strip of wild, lonely, isolated and barren coast that
drove men and women to such determined commitments.
Could it be the spirit of Lilith? he asked himself with
all sincerity, and he felt the presence of some strange,
powerful, primordial force within him that was
simultaneously both frightening and alluring, known but
unknown, strange yet seductively familiar. A sense of
surrender and acceptance of this force, what ever it
was, filled him and he knew that he had no choice with
respect to Liliana, and to think that he had a choice
was an illusion. Dan knew in the deepest, most profound
recesses of his soul that it is commitment that moves
the universe, and that he was committed to Liliana.
It was almost eleven thirty when he heard the sound
of a car at the front of the beach hut in the otherwise
overpowering silence and stillness of the night.
Shortly, he heard the ring of the old ship's bell that
hung near the entrance and he walked through the hut to
open the door.
Standing in the shadows, in front of a little, beat
up, Fiat 600 car, was a tall Somali, dressed in the
typical bushmen's garb that consists of an ankle length
piece of fabric wrapped around the waist like a long skirt, and a large muslin cloth draped over the head and
shoulders then wrapped around to cover the bare torso.
The corner from the left side of the cloth was thrown
over the right shoulder so that the lower part of his
face was covered. At first, Dan was startled, then he
recognized his caller as General Aden Ossman.
"Aden!" he said. "What in the hell is this? Come
in."
"I'm sorry to be late," Aden said and walked in the
hut. "I've been followed the last couple of days, and
it took me some time to make sure that I was not being
watched tonight."
It was almost a reflex for Dan when he put his
finger to his lips with a signal to remain silent, then
motioned for Aden to follow him out through the hut to
the beach.
"Even though the State Department security people
regularly sweep the hut, my house and the embassy for
bugs, I don't really trust any place except out here in
the open," Dan said. "Now then, tell me what in the
hell is going on?"
"I don't really know for certain," Aden said.
"Ever since I got back from my trip up north I've
thought that I was being followed, and yesterday I was
sure of it.
"Who's following you?" Dan asked.
"I think it's Army G-2, but I don't know why?" he
said. "Unless there's a coup coming down."
"I've heard that there's unrest in the military
over the issue of establishing relations with Kenya,"
Dan said, and made a conscious decision not to hold back
what Dave Winters had heard.
"So you know about that," Aden said. "I'm not
surprised. It's more than just unrest over Kenya,
though. There's discontent among the top military with
the politicians and the rumors of corruption, and
there's always the Russians pushing them."
"I know all of that, too," Dan said. "But none of
this is new, so something else must have happened for
you to come out like this, and it must be serious."
"It is serious," he said. "I suspect there's a
plot to seize the government during the president's
trip up north."
"Is this plot life threatening?"
"It could be," he replied. "I don't know enough
about it to say for certain."
"Have you told the president?" Dan asked.
"Yes, but you know what politicians are like. He
dismisses everything. He says I'm paranoid," Aden said
then lapsed into a long silence. "I'm also concerned about my own life, Dan, and that's really what I came to
talk to you about. I can't tell you all that I know,
but I am truly concerned."
"I believe you," Dan said. "What do you want from
me."
"I don't know exactly how, or if, this thing will
play out, and I don't know who I can trust to talk to
about it, but I do trust you," he said and paused again.
"I may have to seek refuge in a foreign embassy, and I
want to know where you would stand if I came knocking on
the door of your embassy."
Dan was silent for a long time, and he felt a heart
wrenching compassion for this intelligent, self assured
man who was standing beside him on a beach, in the
middle of the night, asking if Dan would save his life
if he were to hold out his hand. Dan had never
experienced a life threatening situation where he feared
that someone might actually kill him or a member of his
family. He could only imagine the fear that Aden must
feel. At the same time Dan knew that he had shown
enormous courage and trust by coming to talk to him.
"What I'm going to give you is a straight forward
bureaucratic answer, and that is that if you come
knocking, we'll open the door."
"That's all I need to hear," he said.
"No it's not," Dan said. "I said that was the
bureaucratic answer. We'll let you in, but after that
it's a matter of negotiation between Washington and who
ever takes over out here as to whether or not you can
stay. Before you come in, I would like to get a
guaranty out of Washington that you can come in and be
assured that you can stay as long as there's a threat,
or be given a safe conduct out of the country. That
means I have to report this conversation to Washington.
Aden turned and they started walking up the beach,
and there was another long period of silence. "If I did
come to your embassy, I would want to bring my sister
Khadija with me," Aden said as they continued to walk.
"I think that could be arranged," Dan said. "Aden,
you know Dave Winters, don't you?" he asked.
"Yes, he's CIA, isn't he?" Aden asked.
"Let me put it this way, Dave is an intelligence
professional, and he knows all of the ins and outs of
the request you're making," Dan said. "I'm not being a
bureaucrat and trying to pass you off to someone else,
but Dave knows what questions need to be asked so we cam
tell Washington what they need to know before they can
grant political asylum. I'd like for you to talk to
Dave tonight, so we can get an immediate cable off to
Washington. You can trust Dave, Aden. I assure you, Dan said and waited for his answer.
"Okay, I can do that," Aden said after what Dan
knew must have been a lot of reflection. "How do we get
hold of Dave?"
"Are you sure you're no longer being followed?" Dan
asked.
"I think, so. I'll know for sure when I leave your
beach hut," he replied
"Good," Dan said. "Here's what I propose. You
drive exactly five kilometers into the bush beyond the
"Jolly Green Giant" on the Afgoi highway, turn around
and wait there for Dave. If you think it's safe turn
your parking lights on. If it's not safe turn your
headlights on. Got it?"
"Yes, parking lights safe," he said.
"I'm not going to risk using the telephone. Just
as soon as you leave, I'll go to Dave's house and brief
him, and tell him to meet you in about half an hour.
Okay?" Dan asked, and they turned to walk back toward
Dan's beach hut.
"Yes," he said.
"Aden, I'm going to tell you something now that is
private between the two of us. I'm going to be
submitting my resignation as ambassador, and retire from
the Foreign Service."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Dan. Why?"
"There are other things that I want to do," Dan
said. "I want to tell you something else that is very
personal, though. I'll be getting two people out of
Mogadishu on the Sunday Alitalia flight," Dan said, then
told him of his plans to use the VIP lounge.
"Are the people you want to get out, Liliana
Brancusi and her daughter?" Aden asked.
"Yes," Dan replied. "I'm in love with Liliana and
I want to marry her, but first I have to get her out of
here. I'm afraid her husband may be arriving on the
same plane that she'll be leaving on."
"Actually, you're in luck, Dan," Aden said. "The
president has planned his departure from Mogadishu to
coincide with the arrival of next Sunday's Alitalia
flight, so he'll be using the lounge, but I'll be there,
too. I'll see that you have no problems, and if Carlo
Brancusi should be on that flight I suspect that he may
have some troubles with the customs people. It might
take him a long time to get through."
"That would be convenient," Dan said and laughed.
"You don't think there can be any trouble in the airport
do you?" Dan asked.
"Do you mean with respect to the other business I
discussed with you?" Aden asked.
"Yes," Dan replied.
"No. If this thing that I suspect should happen it
will be up north," Aden said, and Dan hoped he was
right, at least right about nothing happening in the
airport.
Dan then told him about Rita's arrival, and his
plans for her to leave on the same plane, as well as how
he planned to conceal Liliana's arrival at the airport
so she would not be recognized.
They had arrived back at the beach hut, and they
climbed the steps up to the deck. "Maybe you should
convert to Islam, Dan. That way you could have more
than one wife," he joked as they walked through the hut
to the front door.
"One wife is really all I want, Aden, and I've
found the woman who I want for that wife. Good luck,"
Dan said and shook his hand. "Rest assured that I will
do all I can to help you, and remember parking lights
safe - headlights unsafe."
Dan opened the door to the hut, and Aden looked up
and down the dark empty street. When he was sure that
he was not being watched, he walked quickly to his car.
Dan noted the licence plate number of the little Fiat,
then drove to Dave Winter's house to awaken and brief
him.p>
