SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF SUEZ

A Novel

By

Gene C. McCoy

BOOK TWO

CHAPTER 27

Dan was in a catatonic stupor, but he managed to get through the rest of Sunday. He walked on the beach, took the sailboat out, and mentally played back and relived a thousand scenes and conversations that had taken place between Liliana and him over the past few months. He searched for some clue that would tell him that Carlo was the liar, but why would Carlo lie? Dan asked himself.

Dan wanted to call Liliana on the telephone, but placing a long distance call was an ordeal that required two days advance booking, and it would be hours before Liliana would be in Rome, anyway. But even if he could call her, how could he say on the telephone, your husband told me you are a self-absorbed sociopath, a compulsive adulteress, a thief and a liar? And how could he then ask, Is it true?

If the things Carlo had told Dan were true, and Liliana was that unstable, Dan was afraid she might attempt suicide if he confronted her. If they were not true she would be hurt and offended that Dan could ever believe such things about her. He did not want to believe those things about Liliana, but a seed of doubt, once planted in the mind, grows like a weed and it takes on a life of its own with one false assumption or mistaken idea leading logically to one false and mistaken conclusion after another.

Dan found himself thinking that what he had interpreted as innocent, wide-eyed, optimistic enthusiasm was really mindless, self-centered ignorance, and that what he had thought was love, was really an opportunistic, ambitious lust for power and maybe sex as well. Liliana could have been overwhelmed by what Carlo called the trappings of power that surround an ambassador. Dan knew that these trappings are only illusions.

In fact, these so called trapping of power are intended to project and promote an illusion of power. Dan had known for years that he was powerless over people, places and things, and nobody does anything unless they want to do it. Dan knew that as an ambassador he had no power to make anybody want or do anything. The most he could ever do is suggest alternatives, and, if he were lucky, help them along a more creative, life enhancing alternative path. As the day progressed his painful obsession with Liliana caused his thinking to became more circular, negative and confused with respect to Liliana, love and himself.

Dan spent the night at the beach hut, and on Monday morning, after a long walk along the beach, he thought he had regained a modicum of perspective. Nothing had changed between Liliana and him. Carlo had simply told Dan a lot of things, that might or might not be true, about Liliana's past, and what did it matter if they were true. Everyone had things in their past that they did not like. Nobody is perfect - his own lie to Rita had convinced him of that. Liliana could still be exactly as Dan had perceived her - warm, loving, affectionate, courageous and enthusiastic. The least that he could do is give her the benefit of the doubt, not jump to conclusions, acknowledge that his feelings for Liliana had not changed, and deal with problems in the order of their appearance. The next problem as he saw things would be the matter of custody of Juliana.

When Dan arrived in the embassy he booked an overseas telephone call to the number Liliana had given him for her family's home in Amalfi. He asked that the call be taken at the residence on Tuesday evening at ten o'clock.

On Tuesday evening the call went through - Liliana was not there - Yes, she had arrived - yes, she was fine. Would she please return the call on Wednesday night at the same time - Dan gave the number in Mogadishu - Yes they would tell Liliana - all accomplished in Dan's rudimentary Italian.

He was at least relieved to know that she had arrived in Amalfi, and that she was all right, but on Wednesday morning the events in Somalia diverted Dan's attention from his obsession with Liliana. The telephone call would never come through.

Dan got up early Wednesday morning, and walked on the beach. He was in the embassy by six o'clock, and he knew that something had happened from the time he left the house. There was a conspicuous display of troops - military vehicles patrolled the otherwise deserted streets, and the lone policeman who was normally on duty at the embassy had been replaced by a squad of combat equipped army troops from an elite, red beret wearing, special commando unit.

Dave Winters was standing in front of the Marine Guard's desk with a telephone in his hand when Dan entered the chancery. "I was just trying to call you," Dave said and handed the phone back through the opening in the bullet proof glass.

"What's happened?" Dan asked.

"I don't know yet, but Aden Ossman is involved. I tried to get him in his office and they said he was not in at the moment, but his house is surrounded by army troops. Radio Mogadishu, which should have come on the air at five o'clock, is just broadcasting a canned signal that repeats, 'Please stand by for a special announcement.' I'm going out now to see what I can pick up."

Dan went to his office and around ten o'clock Dave returned to confirm that General Ossman and his sister Khadija were both under house arrest.

"I think the worst has happened, don't you?" Dan said.

"I'm afraid so," Dave replied. "I hope Aden is okay and that they don't link him to us."

"Is there any significance to the troops outside our embassy?" Dan asked.

"I don't think so. All the other diplomatic missions are surrounded by troops from the same elite outfit. It's a special unit that is very loyal to General Said."

"Maybe they're placed around the embassies to arrest anybody who might try to seek asylum," Dan said.

"That could very well be the case," Dave replied and walked to look out the window. "Radio Mogadishu is still broadcasting the same canned announcement, and the 'bush telegraph' isn't fast enough to get word of mouth messages down here to Mogadishu. If what ever happened went down up north, the army knew about it in advance here in Mogadishu. Everything has been too well orchestrated to be a response to a spur of the moment emergency."

"How about the telephone?" Dan asked.

"All long distance service, both domestic and international is suspended," Dave replied.

Dan's telephone buzzed and he picked it up. "Yes?" he said.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs just called to say that there will be a special press conference at noon. All diplomatic missions are invited to attend," Dan's secretary told him.

He replaced the receiver then turned to repeat the message to Dave.

"I wonder who they think can attend a press conference other than the people from the weekly Somali News. There hasn't been an international journalist in Somalia for months. Do you want me to cover it?" Dave asked.

"You might as well," Dan said. "I'll standby here in case anything happens. In the meantime let's get the staff together to tell them that were trying to find out what has happened. I want to get word to the families to stay off the streets, too."

"We can do that by radio. Everybody's got a radio n their house now. I'll get the Marines started on alerting the homes," Dave said and left the office.

Dan held the staff meeting, told everyone what the embassy had learned so far, and urged them all to keep very low profiles until they knew for certain what had transpired. At two o'clock Dave called to give Dan a quick telephone report on the press conference, then came to Dan's office with an immediate action cable to Washington. Dan took the cable from him and read it:

THE FOREIGN SERVICE

OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

OUTGOING CABLE

IMMEDIATE-SECRET

ACTION: SECSTATE-WASHDC

FROM: AMEMBASSY MOGADISHU

SUBJECT: PRESIDENT OF SOMALIA ASSASSINATED

1. BEGIN UNCLASSIFIED-IN A HASTILY CALLED NEWS CONFERENCE A MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPOKESMAN ANNOUNCED THAT PRESIDENT ABDIRASHID ALI SHERMARKE WAS ASSASSINATED EARLY TODAY BY A MEMBER OF THE SOMALI NATIONAL POLICE FORCE (SNP) IN THE REMOTE NORTHERN VILLAGE OF LAS ANOD WHERE THE PRESIDENT WAS TOURING A DROUGHT-STRICKEN AREA.

2. THE SPOKESMAN ALSO ANNOUNCED THAT A DUSK TO DAWN CURFEW HAS BEEN IMPOSED AND THAT THE MOGADISHU AIRPORT IS CLOSED TO ALL CIVILIAN AIR TRAFFIC. ALL POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND MEETINGS IN EXCESS OF FIVE PERSONS ARE BANNED AND INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH SERVICES ARE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED THE SPOKESMAN REPORTED.

3. THE SPOKESMAN SAID THE UNNAMED POLICEMAN WHO IS ALLEGED TO HAVE COMMITTED THE ASSASSINATION HAS BEEN ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH MURDER. THE SPOKESMAN ALSO SAID THAT THE POLICEMAN IS A NATIVE OF THE QUANDALA DISTRICT WHERE THE PRESIDENT WAS ALSO BORN AND RAISED.

4. THE AFFAIRS OF GOVERNMENT WILL BE CONDUCTED BY A SUPREME REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL TO BE HEADED BY AN AS YET UNNAMED ARMY OFFICER. THE COUNCIL WILL RULE BY DECREE, AND WILL ADHERE TO A FOREIGN POLICY OF NON-ALIGNMENT AND NEUTRALITY THE SPOKESMAN SAID-END UNCLASSIFIED.

5. BEGIN SECRET-NO FOREIGN DISSEMINATION-EMBASSY HAS LEARNED THAT GENERAL ADEN OSSMAN, COMMANDANT OF SNP, AND HIS SISTER, KHADIJA OSSMAN, ARE UNDER HOUSE ARREST AND THAT ARMY LIEUTENANT GENERAL ABDUL HUSSEIN, FORMER DEPUTY COMMANDANT OF SNP, HAS BEEN NAMED ACTING COMMANDANT OF SNP.

6. THE EMBASSY DOES NOT YET KNOW THE SIGNIfICANCE OF THE FACT THAT THE ALLEGED ASSASSIN IS A MEMBER OF SNP. IN PRIOR MESSAGE WE HAVE REPORTED THAT GENERAL ADEN OSSMAN SUSPECTED THAT A PLOT AND POSSIBLY A COUP WAS BEING HATCHED IN THE ARMY BUT HE MADE NO REPEAT NO MENTION OF SUSPICIONS THAT MEMBERS OF THE SNP WERE IMPLICATED.

7. THE EMBASSY DOES VIEW AS SIGNIFICANT THE FACT THAT THE ALLEGED KILLER WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY AND WAS NOT SUMMARILY SHOT AND KILLED. THIS MIGHT INDICATE THAT A POLICEMAN WAS RECRUITED TO KILL PRESIDENT IN ORDER TO DISCREDIT GENERAL OSSMAN AND THE SNP.

8. ALTHOUGH THE SITUATION IN MOGADISHU IS TENSE THERE IS CALM AND TROOPS ARE PATROLLING STREETS. WHILE IT IS TOO SOON TO ASSESS IMPLICATIONS OF THE ASSASSINATION IN TERMS OF PROSPECTS OF ADDITIONAL VIOLENCE, AT THE MOMENT THE EMBASSY DOES NOT REPEAT NOT SEE ANY IMMEDIATE THREAT TO AMERICAN LIVES OR PROPERTY - END SECRET - NO FOREIGN DISSEMINATION.

They fired the cable off to Washington and over the next several days more of what had happened was revealed, and was evidenced by the subjects of subsequent outgoing messages prepared from information gleaned from human intelligence sources, monitoring Radio Mogadishu, and the official spokesman in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

SUBJECT: ARMY ANNOUNCES DISPATCH OF OFFICIAL AIRCRAFT TO ROME TO RETURN PRIME MINISTER WHO WAS ON VACATION IN U.S.

SUBJECT: SUPREME REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL ANNOUNCES CHANGE IN NAME OF SOMALIA TO SOMALI DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.

SUBJECT: SUPREME REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL REQUESTS ALL U.S. PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS TO LEAVE COUNTRY.

SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER ARRESTED ON RETURN FROM VACATION.

SUBJECT: ALL FORMER MEMBERS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ARRESTED-MANY CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION.

SUBJECT: SUPREME REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL ANNOUNCES ARRIVAL OF SOVIET TEAM OF ECONOMIC EXPERTS TO BEGIN ONE MONTH STUDY OF ECONOMIC NEEDS.

The dawn to dusk curfew remained in force as did the ban on civilian air traffic, and the suspension of international telephone and telegraph service continued. Sunday came and went without the usual Alitalia flight. Although there was no threat to life or property and day to day life soon returned to the normal monotony, just as before the coup, morale among the staff and especially families plummeted. The curfew was confining. Imaginations worked overtime to conjure up threats even though none existed. The arrival of personal mail was delayed because of the ban on air traffic. The embassy requested permission to fly in personal mail and medical supplies on an Air Force plane, and the request was denied.

Dan's morale was as low as the rest of the staff, but as their leader he could not show it. Every moment, from the time that he awakened in the morning until he went to sleep at night, that was not taken up with work, was devoted to thinking about Liliana. She had become an obsession, and in his body he felt a craving for her that can only be compared to what he imagined an addict or alcoholic must experience. At the same time Dan had developed a fear for Liliana because of the things that Carlo had told him about her, and this tension between instinct and reason threatened to tear him apart. In his heart and his body Dan wanted to deny and ignore everything that Carlo had told him, but in his head he could find no reason for Carlo to have lied to him. In his heart and his body Dan wanted to forgive Liliana for everything that might have transpired before they met. Everybody makes mistakes - everybody has things in their past that they regret, he rationalized. In his heart and his body Dan wanted to believe that what Liliana and he had found together was special - that he was as special to her as she was special for him. But reason, doubt, fear and guilt all conspired to keep hammering away at him until at times he shouted out loud to the committee of conflicting voices in his head to "Stop!"

On the Wednesday following the coup, international telephone service was restored, and Dan placed a call to Liliana in Amalfi. The call came through at the residence late Thursday evening. It was a bad connection but Dan heard them say that Liliana was not there. She had gone to Rome. More doubt - more fear - more guilt.

On Friday night Liliana called Dan. It was another bad connection, but he heard her say, "Dan, I have to withdraw from our relationship. I'll try to write you a letter."

Dan heard himself saying "I understand, Liliana," but he did not understand. The connection was broken, and for a moment the committee in his head was silenced. The affair with Liliana was over and Dan accepted it. He wanted it to end, but by Saturday morning he was already formulating a plan to go to Rome just as soon as air service was restored. Nothing could be solved by telephone. Liliana, Dan told himself, was caught in the same web of doubt, fear and guilt in which he was trapped. She was afraid of her past and afraid that Dan would not accept her as she is, or maybe her family had convinced her that she should end the affair. Whatever the problem it would be solved by going to her - by face to face, heart to heart love, and hand to hand caresses.

On Saturday morning the embassy received an immediate action cable from Washington saying that Dan's resignation had been "reluctantly" accepted; however, he should inform the Somali government that he was being recalled to Washington for consultation to discuss the events of the past week, then proceed immediately to Washington.

Dan cabled Washington with a reminder that there was still no commercial air service out of Mogadishu, but said he could request approval from the Somalis to fly out through Nairobi in the small Cessna 180 which the USAID Mission had under charter.

An immediate reply came back instructing Dan to leave by the charter aircraft, and on Sunday he requested an appointment with General Said who by this time was the announced head of the Supreme Revolutionary Council.

The General was cordial, soldierly and without hesitation granted approval for Dan to fly out of Somalia via what ever means were available, by any route that he might choose. There were more cables, this time to the American Embassy in Nairobi, requesting Kenya government approval for the flight. Late Monday the Kenya approval came through.

In the meantime, Pete Stuart, hearing that Dan was planning to use the charter to fly out of Mogadishu, fired off an immediate cable to Washington to request that he, in conjunction with his transfer to Washington, be authorized to leave on the same plane. His approval came through on Monday afternoon as well. Dan and Pete made final arrangements to leave together early Friday morning.

For the rest of the week Dan was busy supervising packers, consulting with the Somali government and making his final calls on the diplomatic corps. Because the curfew continued in force there were no farewell parties, but he was invited to a couple of hastily planned lunches.

In Dan's mind he made plans to fly to Nairobi, where he could call Liliana, and from there go through Rome to Washington. Hopefully, Liliana and Dan would once again be on the same wave length by the time he left Rome.

Dan held his final staff meeting on Thursday morning, and Thursday evening he went alone to the beach hut for a last walk on the beach and a final sundowner drink.

He had just returned from his walk and had mixed himself a Campari and soda when he saw Carlo Brancusi walking across the sand, over the same path that Liliana had used when she walked to the hut from the Italian Club. Carlo stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to the deck.

"I understand you're leaving," he said looking up at Dan.

"Yes," Dan replied. "I'm taking off tomorrow morning on a charter flight."

"Very impressive," Carlo replied. "Have you heard from Liliana?"

"No," Dan lied.

"Neither have I," Carlo said. "I did hear from Marlisa di Paulo though, and she told me something that I thought you might want to know." Carlo paused as though waiting for Dan to ask what Marlisa had said, but Dan remained silent.

"Liliana has left Juliana with her family in Amalfi and she's living with her airline captain race driver. Here's her phone number in Rome if you wish to call her," Carlo said and handed Dan a piece of paper, then turned to walk back toward the Italian Club.

Dan dropped into one of the big rattan chairs, and he again had the sensation that he was on a falling elevator plunging into infinity.

His chest was an empty cavern, and he could hear the wind whistling through him. He looked eastward toward the sea beyond the waves breaking over the reef, and he felt himself being drawn backward through time and space beyond the time of the Prophet, beyond the Crucifixion, beyond the Buddha sitting under the great Bo tree, beyond Eve. Out there, to the East, somewhere beyond the reef, was Eden where God and Adam had conspired to drive Lilith, the seductress, and the child-killer out of paradise. Dan had a vision of satyrs and nymphs dancing by the light of the moon, then the vision changed to gypsies dancing by firelight, and finally he saw Liliana dancing to soleares. Deep in some remote corner of his soul Dan heard the wails, moans and lamentations of Lilith mourning the loss of her lover. The tempo of the lamentations increased and became shrieks of rage, and finally laughter. It was Lilith laughing at another old man who had fallen under her spell.

The sun was rising over the sea on Friday morning when Dan and Pete took off in the small light plane to fly to Nairobi. They banked over the sea then turned north to fly low along the beach. Looking out the window Dan could see his beach hut then they were over the strip of wild, barren lonely sand dunes that rise up behind the water. As they turned west the roar of the engine became a deep throaty laughter of Lilith or was it Liliana?.

THE END

Gene McCoy © July 1998

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