SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF SUEZA Novel
By
Gene C. McCoy
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER 25
At Dan's regular Thursday morning staff meeting
Dave Winters, without revealing the source, announced
that he had picked up rumors that trouble was brewing in
the government, and Dan urged everyone to stay away from
the airport on Sunday. "The President is going to be
inaugurating one of Somalia's new airplanes, and he's
taking off on a trip up north at the same time the
Alitalia flight arrives," Dan explained. "Everything
that we've heard indicates that if trouble does
breakout, it will be up north, but I still think it
would be wise to avoid the airport. The Diplomatic
Corps has been invited to see the President off, so I'll
represent us in the VIP lounge. Nobody else needs to
go."
After the staff meeting Dan called Abdi Karim, the
embassy's airport expediter, to his office and gave him
Liliana's and her daughter's tickets and passports so he
could clear the two of them through exit customs and
immigration on Sunday morning. "There won't be any
problems, will there?" He asked.
"No, sir," Abdi replied. "No problems."
On Friday Liliana and Dan spent the day at the
beach hut, swimming, sailing, walking on the beach and trying to be cheerful. They broiled lobsters for
dinner, and at eleven o'clock that night Liliana was in
bed when Aden Ossman arrived to keep his appointment
with Dan. Once again Aden was disguised as a Somali
bushman and driving the little Fiat 600.
Dan and Aden walked silently out through the hut to
the beach where Dan told him of his concern over taking
Liliana and her daughter to the airport if there was a
threat of danger. He asked Aden if he had picked up
anything new about which he could talk.
"I understand your concern, Dan, but I don't have
much new to tell you," Aden said as they stood on the
beach in front of the hut. "I don't think I'm being
followed any longer, and that may be a good sign, but as
you can see I still thought it was best that I wear my
bushman's disguise. Everything that I've heard
indicates that there is some kind of plot that will go
down up north, and that nothing is going to happen at
the airport."
"Are you going on the trip with the President?" Dan
asked.
"No, he wants me to stay here. If anything should
happen he wants me to be in Mogadishu where I can step
in and try to keep control of the government. There's
really not much I could do on the trip anyway." "Good," Dan said. "That will leave you a lot
closer to the embassy in the event you have to make a
run for it. How about security at the airport?"
"By Somali standards it will be tight, but by yours
it won't be security at all. There'll be a lot of
troops and police, but no real attempt to control access
to anything. It's very difficult to talk to anybody
about a plot when you don't know who's involved, and who
you can trust."
"I can believe that," Dan said. "Will I still be
able to drive my car on to the ramp?"
"Oh yes," he replied. "Basically the president
doesn't believe that there's any problem, and, as any
politician, he likes all of the glory and fanfare. He's
taking advantage of the usual party atmosphere at the
airport to increase his exposure to the public. He
wants all of the pomp and circumstance that goes with
the presence of the diplomatic corp. Just have your
flag displayed, and I'll pass the word that the American
Ambassador's car is to be allowed on the ramp."
"I'll be bringing Liliana and her daughter to the
VIP lounge, then I'll have to go down on the ramp to
meet Rita when the Alitalia flight arrives," Dan
explained. "I'll have to leave Liliana and Juliana
alone in the lounge until they board the plane." "I'll be there and I'll do my best to look after
them," Aden said. "If anything should happen, and I
truly don't think it will, I'll take care of them as
best I can, so stop worrying."
They turned to walk back to the hut "Thank you,
Aden," Dan said. "I appreciate all you've done to help
me, and I appreciate your taking the risk to come here
tonight. I'll see you on Sunday morning."
They climbed the steps and walked through the hut
to the front door where Aden checked the street to make
sure that it was empty, then walked quickly to his car.
Dan walked into the bedroom, pulled off his clothes, and
slipped in bed beside Liliana.
On Saturday morning Liliana brought her luggage to the
hut, and later in the afternoon Abdi Karim came by to
pick it up for delivery to the airport the next morning.
It was near sundown when Liliana and Dan went for a
final walk along the beach. Dan carefully went over all
that she would have to do the next morning to make
certain that there were no misunderstandings.
"Darling, there is one last thing that I need to
tell you. I don't want to frighten you, nor do I want
you to worry, but it would not be fair to you if I
withheld what I'm going to tell you," Dan said and paused.
They stopped walking and Liliana turned to look at
Dan with an expression of doubt and curiosity. "Yes,"
she said, "go ahead."
"Liliana this is secret information, and I know now
at this late date there is no one you can tell. We've
received word that there may be a coup. I've been
assured that there is no evidence that anything will
happen in the airport tomorrow, but there is no way to
be sure. I thought you should know about this before
you go into the airport with Juliana.," Dan waited for
the full impact of what he had just told her to sink in.
"Oh, God," she said. "How sure are you that
nothing can happen in the airport?"
"Just what I told you, now," he said. "The same
source that told us about the threat, tells us that it
won't happen in the airport, but they could be wrong."
"What should I do?" she asked.
"You could always stay here, and not try to leave,"
he said.
"But I want to leave. I don't want to see Carlo,
and I don't want him beating me," she said and bit her
lip. "I want to get on with life away from him. I want
to get on with life with you."
"Then let's go ahead with our plans," Dan said. "f you change your mind tomorrow morning, you can move
up to the residence and stay with me until we can both
leave together."
"Oh, God, I don't want to do that," she said.
"That would be worse than going through the airport."
She was silent for several minutes, then stopped to look
at Dan. "I'll leave tomorrow just as we've planned, but
I'm scared."
They turned to start walking back to the hut. "I
honestly don't think there is anything to worry about,
and General Aden Ossman will be in the VIP lounge
looking out for you after I leave to go down on the
ramp. But if anything should happen - if any shots
should be fired - you hit the deck and pull Juliana down
with you. Stay there until it's clear."
"Oh my God, now I'm really scared," she said.
"Don't be scared," Dan repeated. "Just be alert to
every move made by everyone."
They showered together, drove up the hill to the
residence for their last supper in Mogadishu,
then returned to the hut to spend their last night
together, for how long neither of them knew. They both
agreed that, in keeping with Liliana's philosophy of
never expecting the worst, no more mention would be made
of the threat of danger in the airport. Gene McCoy © July 1998
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© 1997 ginofso@gte.net
