“What about Zain and Sibu?” Crystal asked Nina, who came to call them for some wine and hors d’oeuvres on the patio.
“Oh, Purdue is showing them to their room around the corner by the master suite,” Crystal told her.
“Well, hurry up, ladies,” Nina warned, rolling her eyes. “You are about to see a Scotsman hosting his first braai!”
“This I have got to see,” Cheryl laughed, with much agreement from the others. Laughing and speculating, the women stumbled curiously along the hallway to the living room where the sliding doors would display the hilarity. Purdue, Sam, Zain, and Sibu stood around the impressive fire, each nursing a beer.
“Castle Lager, ladies?” Sibu shouted.
“I’ll have one,” Cheryl giggled.
“I’ll stick to what I know, thank you,” Nina announced. “And what I know is that I do not end up behaving very ladylike on beer. Crystal, wine?”
Crystal nodded enthusiastically. “Me too, please,” Mieke chipped in. She joined Nina in bringing the wine and glasses outside to the garden table. The sun had set, but the orange horizon held on to the daylight as the wind settled down into a gentle breeze. The sea rushed in the background as the group acquainted themselves with each one’s capacity on the expedition and background.
“Cheryl, you worked for Dr. Malgas before?” Crystal asked. “Why did you leave?”
It was an honest question, but it was one Cheryl had not expected. Especially Mieke could not wait to hear what her predecessor was going to say, and it made Cheryl extremely uncomfortable. There was no denying that she felt intimidated by the buoyant Mieke, who had replaced her.
"I… I fell ill. Unfortunately, I could not continue assisting Dr. Malgas because I was absent so often," she explained.
“That’s horrible. You have fully recovered, I assume?” Crystal asked, and Cheryl confirmed with a nod.
“Really?” Mieke asked plainly. “I heard you left because you were a heroin addict.”
Nina and Crystal sat speechless, exchanging silent looks as Cheryl and Mieke stared each down.
“That is behind me now,” Cheryl said, adamant on maintaining appearances.
“That’s great,” Mieke smiled sardonically. “Because that kind of dependence is dangerous. Keeps you from being… vigilant.”
Chapter 15 — Planning and Preparation
After a night of drunken boasting, catty remarks and several noise complaints most of the group still did not bother to retire to their respective rooms. Especially Mieke and Cheryl seemed to have no interest in turning in since the heroin remark, and Nina and Crystal did their best to keep both local girls occupied separately. The men had no idea why the female camaraderie suddenly had taken a turn for the worse, but they assumed it was because they never joined in the merriment of beer and meat by the fire.
Sibu and Zain slept in their designated room, but Purdue spent most of the night going over his data. He had set the perimeter so that the high-frequency sonar would penetrate surface sand, hopefully revealing nothing there. Then he had fallen asleep. The lullaby of beer and Scotch was just too strong for him to stay awake. Sam curled up on the couch after a B-movie marathon. He woke up sore and hung over, but he woke up first due to a commotion somewhere in the house.
He stepped over Purdue’s wiring and staggered to the bathroom. Once he had disposed of what he thought was the contents of Loch Lomond, he heard sporadic muttering, muffled by a bedroom door. Sam decided not to flush the toilet until he had satisfied his curiosity. He slipped down the corridor through the dusky dark of pre-sunrise, until he heard male voices; the voices of Sibu and Zain. Sam snuck closer, his head still feeling like cotton wool and horse shit, and his throat sore from learning South African folk songs the night before.
“I don’t like it, Zain. Let’s just take the whore and use her as payment, you know, pimp her or something. I am telling you, she is fucking with us, dragging us along hoping we’ll drown so she can get away.”
Sam strained his ears.
‘What whore are they are talking about?’ He wondered. Intrigue filled him, but not in a good way. It was no excitement-infused eagerness to find out what the security blokes were up to; he felt as if there was something very wrong. ‘What payment? They do know that Purdue is paying everyone who is in on the expedition, right?’
“Now you listen to me,” said Zain sharply. “We play this charade as far as it goes, for Christ’s sake! You think small. I think big. If you don’t want to do this, then piss off and let me get rich. It’ll be better for me if I don’t have to share with you.”
“What? Are you serious? She’s playing us!” Sibu said as softly as he could in his hoarse voice.
Zain sounded extremely aggravated. “Why do you carry on with the whore, you fucking idiot? Don’t you see? These cats have so much more money and… and authority. Big leagues, these okes!”
‘What the hell does okes mean?’ Sam frowned.
“Forget what that slut can do for us anymore. She was just a stepping stone, Sibu. Think about it. Once we are out on the sea with these okes, we have bigger fish to fry, as they say,” Zain persisted.
“What does that mean?” Sibu asked.
“What?”
“Bigger fish to fry.”
‘Christ, what a moron,’ Sam thought as he listened to the conversation. Even he found Sibu quite stupid in his inability to see Zain’s point — whatever it really meant.
Zain did not even bother to explain. He just went off on a rant about his associate always failing to see the big picture, having no idea that Sam stood on the other side of the door, eavesdropping and generally agreeing with him.
Suddenly Nina pressed up against Sam. He uttered muffled shriek, and realizing that the two men might have heard him, he grabbed Nina and pushed her up against the wall next to the bathroom. As Zain and Sibu jerked open their door to see what was going on, Sam latched his lips on Nina’s in a passionate kiss she could not break from even if she ‘d wanted to. His entire bodyweight pinned her to the wall and the kiss the likes of which she had not enjoyed in years kept her quiet. Her nails dug into Sam’s back and arm as a gesture of furious protest, but he could not let the two brutes know that he had overheard them.
On seeing what they could only construe as a secret affair between two colleagues, Zain drew back into the room, pulling his associate away from a delightful show.
“Hey, mind your own business, Sibu!” he whispered to the chuckling man as he closed the door. “Don’t draw any unnecessary attention to us by letting them know what a fucking pervert you are.”
“You are so uptight, Zain. Maybe you need some of that European ass to cheer you up too,” Sibu chuckled. “I intend to get me some.”
Zain gasped in total exasperation. “And when exactly are you planning to do that?”
“During the trip, of course. I know that tall bitch wants it. You heard how she talks,” he licked his lips at the thought of cornering Crystal on the boat.
“Don’t make me shoot you right here and now, Sibu,” Zain warned under his breath. He had had it with his associate’s predatory desires and murderous traits, especially now that he had gotten so close, mingling with the super-rich and well-connected people. They trusted him — the perfect front for any sinister plan. He was not going to let Sibu screw up his new path into international thuggery. Zain figured he could make a fortune with these people, and he had no qualms about shooting an old friend in the face to get it.
“What hell are you doing?” Nina hissed in Sam’s ear. She did not sound hostile, rather slightly taken aback.