She hung up without answering. She had come close to losing her life, and she could no longer take Dexter seriously. She walked unhurriedly across the compound to the CIA station.
She found Dexter sitting at his desk. Phil Doyle was with him. By this time Dexter had learned more. ‘They’re saying a CIA woman arrested a suspect!’ he said. ‘Was that you?’
‘Yes.’
‘What are you doing arresting people? What possessed you, for Christ’s sake?’
She sat down uninvited. ‘Do you want me to tell you what happened, or would you prefer just to yell at me?’
Dexter bristled but he hesitated. He could not deny that he had been shouting, and his boss was there. Even in the CIA, it was risky for a man to open himself to the accusation of bullying. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Make your case.’
‘Make my case?’ She shook her head. ‘Am I on trial? If so, we’d better be formal. I’ll need a legal representative.’
Doyle spoke in a reasonable voice. ‘You’re not on trial,’ he said. ‘Just tell us what happened.’
She told them the whole thing, and they listened without interruption.
When she had finished, Dexter said: ‘Why did you go to Karim? You should have reported to me!’
He was angry that he had been left out of the drama. Tamara was exhausted from the tension, but she forced her brain into gear and recreated the thought process she had gone through. ‘My informant said the assassination was imminent. But the phones were not working. I had to decide what was the fastest way to get the warning to the General. If I had gone to the palace myself, I probably couldn’t have got in. But Karim could.’
‘I could have gone there.’
Why couldn’t he work this stuff out for himself? She said wearily: ‘Even you wouldn’t have got in immediately. You would have been subjected to questions and delays. Karim has instant access to the General. He was able to sound the alarm faster than people here at the embassy – in fact, faster than anyone else I can think of.’
‘All right, but why didn’t you report to me after you had seen Karim?’
‘No time. I would have had to tell you the story. You would have been sceptical, and we would have had a long conversation very like this one. Finally, you would have believed me, but then it would have taken you time to assemble a team and brief them; and only then would you have set out for the palace. It was obviously better for me to go to the scene right away and try to spot the bombers. Which I did. Successfully.’
‘I could have done that more efficiently with a team.’
‘Except that you would not have got there until after the explosion. The assassination attempt took place within minutes of my arrival. In those few minutes I correctly identified all three bombers. Two are now in custody and the third is dead.’
Dexter changed his line. ‘And it was all for nothing, because the General wasn’t in the car.’ He was determined to diminish her achievement.
Tamara shrugged. She hardly cared what Dexter thought. She was realizing that she could not work under him much longer. ‘Probably he wasn’t in the car because Karim warned him.’
‘We don’t know that.’
‘True.’ She was too tired to argue.
But Dexter was not finished. ‘A pity your informant didn’t tell us sooner.’
‘That was your fault.’
Dexter sat upright. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘He wanted to see me yesterday. I told you I had to leave the training session early. You ordered me to postpone the meeting instead.’
She saw that Dexter had not connected the two events. Now he was worried. It took him a few moments to respond. Then he said: ‘No, no, that’s not how it happened. We had a discussion—’
‘Crap,’ she said, interrupting him. She was not having this. ‘There was no discussion. You ordered me not to meet him at the appointed time.’
‘You’re misremembering this.’
Tamara directed a hard look at Doyle. He had been there. He knew the truth. He looked uncomfortable. She guessed he felt an impulse to lie, in order to avoid undermining Dexter’s authority. If he did that, Tamara decided, she would resign on the spot. She kept her gaze on him, saying nothing, just waiting for him to speak.
Eventually, he said: ‘I think you’re the one who’s misremembering, Dexter. My recollection is that the conversation was brief and you gave an order.’
Dexter looked as if he would explode. He reddened and his breath came fast. Struggling to control his anger, he said: ‘I guess we’ll have to agree to differ, Phil—’
‘No, no,’ said Doyle firmly. ‘I’m not agreeing to differ.’ Now he was in the position of imposing discipline, and it seemed he was not going to fudge the issue. ‘You made a judgement call and it turned out badly. Don’t worry, it’s not a capital offence.’ He turned to Tamara. ‘You may leave us.’
She stood up.
Doyle said: ‘You did good work today. Thank you.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ said Tamara, and she went out.
*
‘The General wants to give you a medal,’ Karim said to Tamara the following morning at the Café de Cairo.
He was looking pleased with himself. She guessed that his warning had earned him the General’s profound gratitude. In a dictatorship, that was better than money.
‘I’m flattered,’ Tamara said. ‘But I’ll probably have to refuse. The CIA doesn’t like its officers to get publicity.’
He smiled. She guessed that he did not mind her refusal: it meant he would not have to share the spotlight. ‘I suppose you are supposed to be secret agents,’ he said.
‘All the same, it’s good to know that the General appreciates our work.’
‘The two surviving bombers have been under questioning.’
I bet they have, Tamara thought. They will have been kept awake all night, denied food and water, grilled by alternating teams of interrogators, and probably tortured too. ‘Will you share the interrogators’ full report with us?’
‘I should think it’s the least we can do.’
Which was not a yes, Tamara noted; but Karim probably did not have the authority to give a definite answer.
Karim said: ‘My friend the General is furious about the assassination attempt. He takes it very personally. He looked at the body of the chauffeur and said: “That could have been me.”’
Tamara decided not to ask whether the driver had been sacrificed in a test. She said: ‘I hope the General isn’t going to do anything rash.’ She was thinking of the elaborate ambush he had set up at the refugee camp, all in retaliation for a minor skirmish at the N’Gueli Bridge.
‘So do I. But he will have his revenge.’
‘I wonder what he will do.’
‘If I knew, I couldn’t tell you – but, as it happens, I don’t know.’
Tamara felt Karim was telling the truth, but that made her more apprehensive. Why would the General keep his intentions secret from one of his closest associates, the man who had just saved his life? ‘I hope it’s not dramatic enough to destabilize the region.’
‘Unlikely.’
‘I wonder. The Chinese are deeply involved in Sudan. We don’t want them to start flexing their muscles.’
‘The Chinese are our friends.’
The Chinese had no friends, in Tamara’s opinion. They had clients and debtors. But she did not want to argue with Karim. He was a conservative old man who would only take so much from a girl. ‘That’s something to be grateful for,’ she said, trying to make it sound sincere. ‘And I’m sure you’ll urge caution.’
He looked smug. ‘I always do. Don’t worry. It will be all right.’
‘Inshallah,’ said Tamara. ‘God willing.’
*