After briefing Dave Winters and sending him on his
midnight mission to meet with Aden Ossman, Dan returned
to the residence to go to bed, but he had difficulty
getting to sleep. He was wired with adrenalin, and
thoughts ricochetted around in his head like sticks in a
whirlwind. One overpowering concern was that he would
be taking Liliana and her daughter into the airport on
Sunday morning when there was a possibility of danger.
Even though Aden had said that if anything should happen
it would take place up in the north, Dan was,
nevertheless, worried that his information could be
wrong. He considered cancelling all plans, but finally
decided that he had to get Liliana out of Mogadishu. He
had to rely on Aden's information, and go ahead as
planned unless he learned something new. He went
through a series of imaginary conversations with first
Rita, and then Carlo. I'll say this and she'll say
that, or he'll say so and so, and I'll tell him thus and
so. When Dan did finally drop off into a fitful,
restless sleep, it was from shear mental exhaustion, and
he slept until the alarm sounded at six o'clock.
By the time Dan got to the embassy on Tuesday
morning Dave Winters had drafted a secret, immediate action cable to Washington setting forth all that they
had learned in their conversations with Aden Ossman the
previous night, and ended it with a request for
authority to grant political asylum to Aden and his
sister, Khadija, if they should request it.
Dave brought the draft cable to Dans office, they
compared notes on their talks with Aden, made some
editorial changes, then put the message in final and
fired it off to Washington. For the time being they
agreed to hold Aden's information between just the two
of them and the secretary who had done the typing. Dave
was just leaving Dan's office when Liliana arrived for
Dan's morning language class which by this time had
become either love making sessions, or just
opportunities to visit and exchange information.
When coffee had been served and the door closed
they both stood up to embrace each other. Dan kissed
Liliana and it felt good to hold her close to him. "I
just came from Alitalia, and I've got my tickets for
Sunday," she said and handed an airline ticket envelope
to Dan.
"Good," Dan replied, and dropped the tickets on the
table. "I'll need your's and Juliana's passports as
well so bring them to me tomorrow," he said, and let his
hand slip down to the cheeks of her bottom to push her toward him. She rubbed and pressed against him.
"Are you hot?" she asked and ran her tongue over
his lips.
"I'm always hot when I get within ten feet of you,"
he said.
"Good, so am I," she said, then unzipped his fly
and slipped her hand inside to pull the genie out of the
bottle.
She stroked him a few times, then pulled off her
panties and sat down on the couch to take him in her
mouth. "Are you ready?" she mumbled.
"Yes," he answered.
"Then come inside me quickly. I've been ready
since five o'clock this morning," she said and pulled up
her skirt as she lay back on the couch.
Dan lay on top and pressed into her. "Oh, God,"
she whispered and drove her nails into his back. "Si, si
si"
They had finished their love making; Liliana was
rubbing a tissue between her legs, and Dan was closing
his fly when the phone buzzed. He walked across the
room to pick it up.
"Greg Chandler calling from Rome on line one," his
secretary said.
He held his hand over the mouthpiece. "It's Greg Chandler calling from Rome," he repeated to Liliana.
"Shall I leave?" she asked and stood up to slip
into her panties.
"No, sit down," he replied, and punched the button.
"Greg?" he said to the melody of electronic beeps.
"One moment, Mr. Ambassador." It was the embassy
operator in Rome.
"Dan?" Greg asked.
"Yes, Greg, go ahead," Dan said.
"How are you?" he asked.
"Fine, How's it going up there?"
"Not too bad, but I have something wierd to tell
you," Greg said. Dan knew what was coming. "I don't
like to use the telephone to tell you this, but I think
you ought to know. Do you know Carlo Brancusi?"
"Yes, of course - go ahead and use the phone - what
has he done now?" Dan asked, and he wondered if by the
end of the day their conversation would be all over the
mission, and maybe beyond the mission.
"He came into the embassy here this morning and
wanted to see the ambassador, but he got palmed off on
me," Greg said.
"Yes," Dan said, and motioned to Liliana by
pointing to the phone and nodded his head. "What
happened?"
"He's written a letter to the Secretary of State
saying that he's outraged because you're having a love
affair with his wife, Liliana."
"I know about that letter, Greg," Dan said. "What
else?"
"He's been to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here
and he wants to make a formal protest through the
Italian Embassy in Washington."
"Just what factual basis does he have for all of this activity?"
Dan asked.
"Things people have told him, and he has a copy of
a letter that Antonio di Paulo wrote to his sister,
Marlisa, before he was killed. Marlisa just got back
here from Mogadishu Sunday night and the letter was
waiting for her. She gave Carlo a copy of it," Greg
shouted into what for him must have been a bad
connection, since Dan could hear him all too loud and
clear. "I have a Xerox copy of part of it right here in
front of me."
"Read it," Dan said.
"Okay, it's written in Italian, but I'll translate
it for you. It says,'I think that I am not the only one
involved with a married person. I just saw the American
Ambassador walking on the beach at seven o'clock in the
morning with Liliana Brancusi. I feel sorry for them.
"That's all?" Dan asked, and wondered if Antonio
had mentioned Maggie's name in the letter.
"That's all that is germane to what I'm calling you
about," Greg said. "The rest is just trivial stuff
about his farm, and the hunting trip he was taking."
"Well, it's a big step from walking on the beach to
the bedroom, and I'll have to set Carlo straight. I
appreciate your calling, Greg. Anything else?"
"Yes, Greg replied. "Carlo said he's coming back
to Mogadishu on next Sunday's plane."
"Good, I'll be looking forward to seeing him," Dan
said.
He cradled the receiver and told Liliana all that
Greg had told him.
"Oh, God," she said and put her hands over her
eyes. "What a fucking mess!"
"It could be worse," he said.
She looked at him with an incredulous expression.
"How?" she asked.
Dan had a sudden urge to laugh, and a big, tension
easing, belly laugh erupted from deep inside him. "I
don't know," he said and he felt tears of laughter in
his eyes. "I just know that things could be worse.
Carlo could have told Greg about his wife Maggie being
involved with Antonio for one thing."
Liliana started laughing, too, and soon she was
crying with what Dan hoped were tears of laughter.
On Wednesday morning Dan sent his driver, Abukar,
into the souk to buy some things that he would need on
Sunday morning as props to be used to get Liliana and
Juliana through the airport without their being
recognized. Pete Stuart called to tell him that Kurt
Conrad and Dahaba were being married that afternoon. In
the early afternoon the embassy received a routine
personnel cable saying that Pete was being transferred
to Washington on a rotation assignment, and just before
quitting time an immediate action, secret cable from
Washington came in that instructed the embassy to grant
political asylum to Aden Ossman and his sister Khadija
if it were requested.
Dave Winters had already established a code by
which he could communicate to Aden that he wanted a
meeting with him. Dave and Dan met late Wednesday
afternoon in Dan's office. They agreed that Dave would
see Aden later that night, so that Dave could pass the
word to him.
Dan's concern about taking Liliana and her daughter
into the airport when he knew there was a threat of
danger continued to nag at him, and Dan wanted another
meeting alone with Aden to reassure himself as well as confirm to him that Carlo would be on the incoming
Alitalia flight on Sunday. Without telling Dave why he
wanted to see General Ossman, Dan asked him to tell Aden
that, if Aden thought it was safe, he would like to see
him once again at the beach hut at eleven o'clock Friday
night.
Dan left the embassy Wednesday evening in good
spirits to meet Liliana at the beach hut for sundowners
before they both went on together to join Pete at his
home for the celebration of Kurt and Dahaba's marriage,
and now Pete's transfer from Mogadishu.
Liliana was already at the hut wearing her bikini
bathing suit when Dan arrived. After a quick kiss she
shooed Dan into the bedroom to change his clothes so
that they could go for a walk on the beach. "I'm going
to miss this beach, and I want to get as much time in on
it with you as I can before Sunday," she said.
The temperature was mild, the tide had ebbed and a
cool fresh breeze blew out of the northeast as they
walked hand in hand along the wet sand at the edge of
the water. Small waves lapped and washed over their
feet from time to time. Dan had a feeling of bitter-sweet melancholy as he realized that they were coming
down to their last few days together in Mogadishu. "I'm
going to miss you Liliana, and this beach is going to be very lonely for me once you're gone," he said.
"Oh, I'm going to miss you, too, Dan," she said.
"I can barely stand to think about it. I'm just hanging
on one day at a time," she replied and looked at him.
"You're not sorry we got involved, are you?"
"You know I'm not sorry," he said. "I wouldn't
trade anything for the times we've shared together here
in Mogadishu, and I'll always cherish the memories of
these times. They've been the sweetest moments of my
life, but I'm looking forward to many more sweet moments
with you."
"I'm so glad you don't have any regrets. This
thing has turned out to be a lot of trouble and I'm sure
pain for you," she said.
"I don't like to contradict you, my darling, but
you're mistaken about the pain," he said, and slipped
his arm around her. "My life has been nothing but joy
from the day that I met you. You don't know how special
you are, do you?"
"I'm not special, Dan, but I'm glad you think I
am," she said and slipped her arm around him.
Oh yes you are, Liliana," he insisted. "Your joy,
enthusiasm, jouir d'vivre as Marie-Claude would say, is
catching. Your positive, enthusiastic attitude infects
everyone who comes near you. It infected me, and I can't wait to get on with living with you once we're out
of here."
"That makes me feel so good to hear you say those
things. I don't like to be sad or depressed or
melancholy. Sometimes I'm sad, sure, just like
everybody is sad. Some things are sad, and I feel them
- Antonio getting killed was sad - and I felt sad - it
was even worse to see Maggie sad, and I was sad for
Maggie, but life goes on, and life is meant to be lived
in all its joy and sadness."
"That's what I mean, Liliana," Dan said. "It's
that attitude that makes you special. It's your
philosophy of life that makes you special."
"I really don't have any special philosophy about
life, darling," she said. "I just put one foot in front
of the other and hope for the best, and most of the time
I get it. If I don't get the best the most I risk is
disappointment, and a little disappointment is a lot
easier to handle than walking around with a long face
expecting the worst. Anyway, if you expect the worst to
happen, it usually does, so I never expect it."
Dan looked at her and smiled. "I know you don't,"
he said and he silently vowed that he would not expect
the worst at the airport on Sunday. He would use her
philosophy and expect the best to happen.
They were at the far end of the beach, and the sky
was aflame with a dramatic African sunset. "If we're
going to Pete's party we'd better turn around and walk
back to the hut," Dan said and stopped to take her in
his arms to kiss her. "I love you, Liliana."
A wave washed up around their knees. "I love you,
Dan. More than anything in the world," she said.
"Come on," he said and started walking quickly back
toward the hut. "I'll wash your back for you."
