Solomon's Throne (20 page)

“Us, apparently. But let’s try to keep religion out of it tomorrow, shall we?”

“Sure. Unreligious Jesuit research. Happens all the time.” She smiled and closed her laptop, having never made a connection.

They slept soundly, lulled by the sound of the waves lapping on the beach. They were awakened early by people chattering in Swahili and Portuguese and other languages Rei didn’t recognize. Apparently the beach was used as a roadway, as well as an unofficial port for the fishing sailboats that headed out early each morning. The birds were communicating in raucous squawks, and the couple found themselves smiling at the unfamiliar but peaceful sounds around them.

“Coffee.” Rei finally said, and took her clothes into the bathroom. Gideon, not as addicted as his wife to morning caffeine, lingered in the bed awhile longer. He wasn’t sure what the day would hold, but he wanted to fully appreciate this moment of rest as long as he could. When Rei emerged, hair in a pony tail, and in modest slacks and button up shirt, he sat on the edge of the bed.

“You go order. It’ll take forever, so I’ll just meet you there. I’ll have eggs, potatoes, toast, fruit, coffee, milk, juice… Whatever they have!”

“I’ll say!” She kissed him and left.

Rei was sitting in the shadows of the beach front restaurant, staying out of the sun so she could see the screen on her laptop. She had gotten her strong, delicious African coffee, with hot milk, and was spending the time before the food came reading over Father Eduardo’s journal again. She finished a page and looked out to the ocean, enjoying the clear blue water and the fishing boats’ sails out along the horizon. She was daydreaming and relishing the peacefulness of being the only patron in the restaurant when a man walking alone down the beach caught her eye. She put on her sunglasses and looked more carefully, then drew in her breath.

He was dressed in black, with short black hair. He had a cell phone to his ear, and was looking up and down the beach, then up to the houses and trees along the shoreline. Rei shrank back into the shadows, although she knew that she couldn’t be seen. She was afraid to move, as that might catch his attention, so she sat very still, the black laptop open in front of her to shield her pale face. The man was agitated and shaking his head. She knew that the open building was empty except for her, and the lone server had long been in the kitchen, probably taking a rest while he waited for her food to be prepared.

She moved her hand to her pocket but realized she didn’t have her own cell phone with her. Gideon was coming to meet her, and she hadn’t thought she needed it. Now she had no way to warn him to stay where he was until this monk passed by.

The man stopped just past the restaurant, and looked up the pathway that led to the main lobby. Most of the cottages were off this pathway, except the three that were on the beach. Their cottage was one down from where the man was standing. He was not talking, but had the phone to his ear. Finally he turned up the beach and kept walking, passing their cottage with a bare glance. Rei slowly closed her laptop and put it in her backpack. She backed out of the dining room and into the kitchen, where she sought out the waiter.

“We can’t wait, I’m sorry. But we will pay for the food, if you will please put it on our bill.” And she left through the back door.

Rei followed the staff pathway that twisted through the hibiscus and bougainvillea, and wound her way around to their cottage. Gideon was locking the door when she got there. She put her finger to her lips and waved him back inside.

“They’re here! There was one of those guys in black on the beach. He didn’t see me—I decided to sit in the back by the bar to cut down on the glare on the laptop, thank God. And he didn’t come into the resort, but I think there’s someone else checking front desks, because he was on the phone. We need to leave. Now!” She began throwing their belongings into bags. Gideon ran into the bathroom and gathered all their toiletries, grabbed the rest of the bottled water from the table, and threw it all in his backpack. He zipped it up, saw that Rei had stuffed all their clothes in the suitcase. He hefted that while pulling a carry on. Rei grabbed her purse, backpack and the other carry on, and they cautiously opened the door.

They decided not to check out. The front desk attendant had taken their credit card information when they checked in, and they didn’t want to alert the desk to their departure. Perhaps thinking they were still on the grounds would slow the monks down long enough for them to get into town. They used the staff walkway again, and skirted around the resort to the car park.

Gideon was thankful then for the older car, as it didn’t have an alarm system. He used the key to quietly open the rear cargo door, threw all their bags in, and opened the driver’s side door. Rei was bouncing up and down with impatience beside the passenger door. He pushed the unlock button to let her in.

“Go! Go go go!” She yelled after slamming the door, and grabbed the handle over her head.

Gideon, however, proceeded at a normal pace. He didn’t want the sound of tires screeching, or of gravel being strewn all over the other vehicles, to give them away. He sedately backed out and stopped fully before entering the roadway. He glanced at Rei and tried to smile.

“Which way?”

“Crap, I don’t know! I’m about to burst an aneurism here! Just drive. We don’t even have a map!”

Gideon decided to drive south, as the peninsula eventually petered out at the point to the north, and he didn’t want to get trapped. On the other hand, it was possible that their Jesuit mission had been up there… There was just no way to know, and for now his instinct was to be closer to the mainland coastline if they needed to get lost.

They drove around for fifteen minutes, trying to keep a map in their head of the roads they’d driven down. Gideon had a compass on his watch, and figured that they could always head east and hit the ocean. When they were sure they weren’t being followed, they turned up a rutted red dirt road which seemed to have some businesses as well as shanties and lean-to shacks. About a quarter of a mile up, there was a bar and coffee shop, which also sold bottled sodas and chapatti. A small road ran between it and a house, and he pulled the Prado in there, as out of the way as he could squeeze.

Rei grabbed her purse, Gideon his phone, and they walked cautiously to the bar. It was open air, but with a rusted tin roof, and they chose a seat in the back corner, partially hidden by the Merinda soda refrigerator. Rei’s hands were shaking as she picked up the laminated paper menu.

“We’re just getting soda, Rei. Nothing we have to wait for.”

“I know. I’m just… I need to do something. That really freaked me out. How are they finding us?”

“They have the journal. They know where Father Eduardo went. It could be just a matter of elimination, or putting men in all the possible locations. And if they have some way to get flight manifests, they’ll always be able to find us eventually as long as we fly commercial. We have no way of knowing exactly what they’re doing at this point. Driving was probably a bad idea. It took too long, and gave them a chance to catch up.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We find the outpost. We try to get to it before they do. But without the letter, I think they’re counting on us doing the work for them, just following us to see where we go. I don’t think they know what we’re looking for. So if we can stay hidden…”

“Yeah, that’s easy. A
wazungu
couple in Inhambane. And they’ll find out about the Prado from the hotel…”

“Ok, so we need a different mode of transportation… We can’t do much about being white.”

A very pregnant young woman came over to take their order. “
Posso adjudar?”

Rei held up two fingers. “Coke,
por favor. Obrigado.”

Gideon was watching the road, and a motorbike went by with a woman sitting side saddle, a toddler on her lap. The driver had on a helmet, which was unusual.

“What about that?” He pointed. “We can use a motorbike.”

In the end, they had to buy one. The pregnant woman’s brother had an old one, which ran fine, but he used it as a taxi so he wasn’t keen on renting it to them. There was no such thing as insurance on the bikes, and he didn’t trust them not to steal or wreck it, thus depriving him of his livelihood. He negotiated a deal which would allow him to purchase another, slightly better one, and sold them two helmets as well.

Gideon was happy with the deal, because the bike was small, only a little bigger than a dirt bike, and would fit into the cargo area of the Prado if they put the rear seat down. It seemed a good bet that they would need it again, and they could sell it later if it survived the trip.

They left the Prado tucked away in the alley, and paid the young woman’s nephew, who was twelve years old but not in school, to watch it. They put on long sleeves and gloves to hide as much of their white skin as they could, and donned the helmets. The owner of the motorbike had drawn a crude map for them, and they headed north once again, to a secondary road that paralled the main road. They stopped at a government office, parked the bike, and Rei went inside.

She went up to the desk of a very bored middle aged man. “
Perdao, senhor
, can you help me? I am here doing some research for my employer, Xavier International,” she handed him her card. “I was told that there was once an outpost for a Jesuit mission here. Perhaps it is now ruins? Could you tell me how to find it?”

The man thought for awhile, and then shook his head. “
Nao.”
He went back to reading a government publication.

“Um,
senhor?
Do you know anyone that might know? I would really like to find it.”

The man thought for another long moment. “
Sim
, there is a lady at the store on the corner. She is very old, and she used to be a teacher, at the secondary school. She might know. If she does not know, then it might be lost to time…” He shook his head at the realities of life, and went back to reading.

“
Obrigado.
” Rei left the building, pulling on her helmet.

“Well, there’s a store ‘on the corner.’ I don’t know what corner. And an old lady who might know. And if she doesn’t know, it’s lost in the mists of time, or some such thing.” Gideon started the bike and drove away slowly in the direction Rei thought the government man had pointed.

On the next two corners there were no stores. On the two after that, also no stores. They were about to turn around, when Rei spotted a small store selling airtime cards, bags of fried chips, and a few other sundry items. She touched Gideon’s shoulder and pointed so he could see. He came to a stop in front of the curtained door.

Rei jumped off, and stepped inside the dark interior. It wasn’t much bigger than a large closet, but it was lined floor to ceiling with toiletries, snack foods, fresh tomatoes, dried fish, second hand clothing, and bottles of water and soda. An ancient woman was sitting on a stool in the corner, looking like she was taking a nap.

“
Perdao?
” Rei spoke softy, as she didn’t want to startle the woman. “
Dona?”

The woman came awake in that slow way the elderly sometimes do, and blinked a few times. Then she smiled at Rei.

“Can I help you, Mama?” She asked.