Page 155 of Never
The last of the search parties arrived back and joined those sitting on the ground. Mohammed counted them and found thirty-six people, not including Naji. Then he spoke.
‘Your driver has left with the bus,’ he said.
The oldest man among the migrants was Wahed, and he automatically became their spokesman. ‘Where has Hakim gone?’ he said.
‘How should I know?’
‘But he has our money! We paid him to take us to Europe.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’ Mohammed said with an air of exasperation. ‘You didn’t pay me.’
Abdul was intrigued. Where was this going?
Wahed said: ‘What are we supposed to do?’
Mohammed grinned, showing his lack of front teeth. ‘You can leave.’
‘But we have no means of transport.’
‘There is an oasis eighty miles north of here. You could walk there in a few days, if you could find it.’
That was impossible. There was no road, just a track vanishing and reappearing between the dunes. Tuareg tribesmen who lived in the desert could find their way, but the migrants had no chance. They would wander around in the sand until they died of thirst.
This was a disaster. Abdul wondered how he was going to contact Tamara and make his report.
Wahed said: ‘Couldn’t you take us to the oasis?’
‘No. We operate a gold mine here, not a bus service.’ He was enjoying this.
A light dawned on Abdul, and he spoke up. ‘This has happened before, hasn’t it?’ he said to Mohammed.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yes, you do. You’re not troubled or even surprised about Hakim running off. You have your speech ready. You’re even bored, because you’ve said the same words so many times before.’
‘Shut your mouth.’
Hakim was running a scam, Abdul saw. He brought migrants here, took the last of their money, then abandoned them. But what happened to them next? Perhaps Mohammed contacted their families and demanded more money for helping them travel on.
Wahed said: ‘So we just have to stay here until someone appears who is willing to take us away?’
It will be worse than that, Abdul thought.
Mohammed said: ‘Your driver paid us to put you up for one night. Today’s breakfast was your last free meal. We will not give you any more food.’
‘You will starve us to death!’
‘If you want to eat, you’ll have to work.’
So that was it.
Wahed said: ‘Work, how?’
‘The men will work in the pit. The women can help Rahima. She’s the one in the black hijab who runs the kitchen. We’re short of women; this place needs to be cleaned up.’
‘What’s the pay?’
‘Who said anything about money? If you work, you eat. If not, not.’ Mohammed grinned again. ‘Everyone is free to choose. There’s no pay.’
