She had caught Laura's eye. It galvanized her. She thrust her arms through the chain-link and begged enthusiastically.
"Mam'selle, mam'selle! Le the de Chine, mam'selle! La canne a sucre!" Gresham drove on grimly. The girl screamed louder, shaking the fence with her thin arms, but her voice was drowned in the shouting of others. Laura almost turned to look back, but stopped at the last moment, humiliated.
There were gates ahead. A striped military parachute had been spread for shade. Black soldiers in speckled desert fa- tigues, with broad-brimmed ranger's hats pinned up on one side with a regimental badge. Commandos, she thought, Azanian troops. Beyond the closed gates was a smaller camp within a camp, with taller buildings, Quonset huts, a helicopter pad.
An administrative center. Gresham slowed. "I'm not going into this fucking place."
"It's all right, I'll handle it."
One of the guards blew a whistle, and held up his hand.
They looked curious about the lone buggy, not particularly concerned. They looked well fed. City soldiers. Amateurs.
Laura jumped down, flopping in Gresham's spare sandals.
"Medic!" she screamed. "I've got a wounded Azanian, she's camp personnel! Get a stretcher!"
They rushed forward to look. Gresham sat in his saddle, looming above them aloofly, in his flowing robes, his head wrapped in the veil and turban. A soldier with stripes ap- proached her. "Who the fuck are you?" he said.
"I'm the one who brought her in. Hurry it up, she's dying!
Him, he's an American journalist and he's wired for sound, so watch that language, Corporal."
The soldier stared down at her. Her stained tunic, a dirty shirt turbanned around her head, eyes undersmudged with black grease.
"Lieutenant," he said, hurt. "My rank is lieutenant, miss."
She talked with the Azanian administrators in one of their long Quonset huts. Wall shelves bulged with canned goods, medical equipment, spare parts packed in grease. Heavy insu- lation on the rounded walls and ceiling cut the roar of their air conditioners.
A camp trusty in a white jacket, his cheeks ridged with tribal scars, circled among them with iced bottles of Fanta orange pop.
She'd given them only the sketchiest version of events, but the Azanians were jumpy and confused, and didn't seem to expect much from a desert apparition like herself. The camp's director was a portly pipe-smoking black Azanian named
Edmund Mbaqane. Mbaqane was bravely attempting to look bureaucratically unflappable and very much on top of things.
"We're so very grateful, Mrs. Webster ... forgive me if I seemed abrupt at first. To hear yet another story of this genocidal Bamako regime-it does make one's blood boil."
Mbaqane hadn't boiled very vigorously-none of them had. They were civilians thousands of miles from home, and they were exposed, and they were twitchy. They were glad they had their hostage back-one of their own crew-but she hadn't come through government channels and they clearly wondered what it meant.
The Azanian Civil Action Corps seemed to have been assembled for multiracial political correctness. There were a pair of black ("Coloured") orderlies. Briefly, earlier, Laura had met a little slump-shouldered woman in braids and sneak- ers, Dr. Chandrasekhar-but she was now in the clinic, tend- ing to Katje. Laura surmised that little Dr. Chandrasekhar was the life and soul of the place-she was the one who talked fastest and looked most exhausted.
There was also an Afrikaaner named Barnaard, who seemed to be some kind of diplomat or liaison. His hair was brown, but his skin was a glossy, artificial black. Barnaard seemed to have a better grasp of the political situation than the others, which was probably why his breath smelled of whiskey and he stayed close to the paratroop captain. The captain was a Zulu, a bluff, ugly customer who looked like he'd be pretty good in a bar fight.
They were all scared to death. Which was why they kept reassuring her. "You may rest easy, Mrs. Webster," the director told her. "The Bamako regime will not be trying any more adventures! They won't be buzzing this camp again.
Not while the Azanian aircraft carrier Oom Paul is patrolling the Gulf of Guinea."
"She's a good ship," said the paratroop captain.
Barnaard nodded and lit a cigarette. He was smoking Chi- nese "Panda Brand" unfiltereds. "After yesterday's incident,
Niger protested the violation of her airspace in the strongest possible terms. And Niger is a Vienna signatory. We expect
Viennese personnel here, in this very camp, by tomorrow morning. Whatever their quarrel with us, .1 don't believe
Bamako would care to offend the Viennese."
Laura wondered if Barnaard believed what he'd said. The isolationist Azanians seemed to have far more faith in Vienna than people who were more in the swing of things. "You have any of that suntan oil?" Laura asked him.
He looked a bit offended. "Sorry."
"I wanted to see the label.... You know who makes it?"
He brightened. "Surely. A Brazilian concern. Unitika-something."
"Rizome-Unitika."
"Oh, so, they're one of yours, are they?" Barnaard nod- ded at her, as if it explained a lot. "Well, I have nothing against multinationals! Any time you fellows would like to begin your investments again-under proper supervision, of course ...
A printer began chattering. News from home. The others drifted over. Director Mbaqane moved closer to Laura. "I'm not sure I understand the role of this American journalist you mentioned. "
"He was with the Tuaregs."
The director tried not to look confused. "Yes, we do have some so-called Tuaregs here, or rather, Kel Tamashek.... I take it that he wants to assure himself that they are being treated in a fair and equal manner?"
"It's more of a cultural interest," Laura said. "He did mention something about wanting to talk to them."
"Cultural? They're coming along very nicely.... Perhaps
I could send out a deputation of tribal elders-put his mind to rest. We gladly shelter any ethnic group in need-Bambara,
Marka, Songhai... . We have quite a large contingent of
Sarakole, who are not even Nigeran nationals."
He seemed to expect an answer. Laura sipped her orange pop and nodded. Barnaard drifted back-he had quickly as- sessed the message as meaningless. "Oh, no. Not another journo, not now."
The director shut him up with a glance. "As you can see,
Mrs. Webster, we're rather pressed at the moment ... but if you require a tour, I'm sure that Mr. Barnaard would be more than happy to, ah, explain our policies to the international press."
"You're very thoughtful," Laura said. "Unfortunately I have to do an interview myself."
"Well, I can understand that-it must be quite a scoop.
Hostages, freed from the notorious prisons of Bamako." He fiddled with his pipe avuncularly. "It'll certainly be the talk of Azania. One of our own, returned to us from bondage.
Quite a boost for our morale-especially in the midst of this crisis." The director was talking over and through her for the benefit of his own people. It was working, too-he was cheering them up. She felt better about him.
He went on. "I know that you and Dr. Selous must be- are-very close. The sacred bond between those who have struggled together for freedom! But you needn't worry, Mrs.
Webster. Our prayers are with Katje Selous! I am sure she will pull through!"
"I hope so. Take good care of her. She was brave."
"A national heroine! Of course we will. And if there's anything we can do for you ... "
"I thought, maybe a shower."
Mbaqane laughed. "Good heavens. Of course, my dear.
And clothing.... Sara is about your size...."
"I'll keep this, uh, djellaba." She had puzzled him. "I'm going on camera with it, it's a better image."