Page 46 of A Perfect Devon Christmas
‘What about your sister and her family? Are they safe?’ she asked softly.
His face darkened. ‘My sister, Laila ...’ He swallowed. ‘I don’t dare call her; I don’t want to do anything to draw attention to her. I have spoken to Farid once, he said they are safe, I can only pray that’s still true.’
Ivy’s throat tightened. ‘Is that why you’re frightened? That Robby will leverage your sister’s safety to force you to return and face the drug smuggling charges?’
A horrified expression crossed his face. ‘He doesn’t know about Laila.’ Omar’s voice rose to a fever pitch. His eyes blazed at her. ‘And he mustn’t.’
Startled, Ivy fished around for a way to calm him down. ‘And what do you miss?’ she asked.
His gaze grew distant. ‘The mountains. The air after the first snowfall. Teaching. But most of all, Laila, and the laughter of little Sami and Yasmin.’
Ivy blinked back tears. She reached out, hesitantly at first, then wrapped Omar in a firm, maternal hug. To her surprise, he didn’t pull away.
Jez sat up blinking sleepily then yawned, his tiny body stretching in the soft firelight. With a series of playful, breathy coos that sounded almost like a pigeon, he wobbled forward, his little paws tapping lightly on the floor as he padded toward Ivy, a bundle of innocence, such a stark contrast to Omar’s tale.
She reached down and scooped the puppy up. ‘Why is Robby trying to track you down?’
‘He wants me to go back to Afghanistan. And of course I can’t. But I can’t risk telling him why. If I tell him and that gets out, if, God willing, my sister and her family are still alive, it will put them in danger.’
Ivy shook her head, trying to make sense of what Omar had said. Why would the CEO of a London charity bother tracking down a former employee to convince them to return to Kabul? ‘Why does Robby care if you’re here or in Kabul?’
‘Once I had a job and somewhere to live, I wanted to warn the charity about what was going on in Kabul.’ A haunted look came over his face, and she suspected he was recalling the sacrifice he’d made to achieve that goal: his former life and putting his family and his friend Farid in danger. ‘And?’ she prompted.
‘When I did, Robby got involved.’ He shook his head wearily, ‘I thought he would be incensed at me suggesting that the charityhe was running was involved in something underhand, but all he seemed to be concerned about was if I could prove what I was saying.’
The fire hissed and shot out a spark. Ivy pushed Jez aside and rose, stamping on the ember. As she retook her seat it occurred to her that if the Taliban had caught Omar, they would have snuffed out his life just as easily as she had put out that spark.
‘And could you prove it?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘That’s when Robby started suggesting I go back. Go and find the evidence for him.’
‘But you can’t,’ cried Ivy.
‘I know, but I can’t tell him why without risking my sister and her family. I don’t trust him.The only explanation I can think of is that someone’s pressuring Robby, someone more senior. He’s being used.’
‘More senior than the CEO? Who’s that?’
‘The Taliban,’ said Omar. ‘That’s where the real power lies. I think they must have found out I’m here and about my past career and are threatening to make life difficult for the charity if Robby doesn’t cooperate and get me to go back. Each time I try and settle somewhere, get a job, sort out my life, it never lasts.’
Stroking the slumbering puppy, she listened to Omar. Apparently, shortly after Omar’s meeting with Robby, when he’d refused to return to Kabul, the head teacher at the nursery where Omar was working called him into his office to tell him he was being ‘let go’. The boss gave no explanation but implied there was evidence linking Omar to drugs. ‘I left and got a job in Reading. What choice did I have?’
That only lasted a few months, before, once again, he received his notice. The same thing happened in Bristol, and when he found a job in Taunton, then Barnstaple. ‘Each time, just before I lost my job, Robby came to see me, offering to finance my trip to Kabul, to pay for a security guard if I was nervous – asif that would help me! That’s why, this time, I haven’t bothered to get a job. What’s the point? I hopedthat if I didn’t get a job, he wouldn’t be able to trace me, but then Helen showed up, and now Robby.’
‘This is weird. You’re not the one causing trouble. Robby’s the one who needs to wake up to the fact that he’s being used.’
‘He doesn’t know that the real reason I left was because I was an interpreter for the British army. He thinks I left because I was about to be accused of drug smuggling, and he says his contacts with the Taliban assure him they can get those charges dropped. He thinks he can trust them!’
‘Tell Robby why you can’t go back and make him promise not to tell anyone else. He’s the CEO. He must know how dangerous the Taliban are. Surely, he can be trusted not to put your family in danger.’
‘Did he strike you as a man to trust?’
Ivy thought back to her brief interactions with Robby: the tense meetings with Helen, the nasty tone in his voice when he confronted Omar in the pub. Her heart wanted to believe Robby wouldn’t endanger anyone’s life, but she had to agree with Omar–it wasn’t a risk worth taking.
‘Is Helen in trouble too? Has Robby got something he’s using against her?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Robby tracked me to Barnstaple. When he met me, I stupidly told him I’d fallen in love with the area and would stay even if he had me fired – I hoped he might leave me alone. He didn’t. I lost my job. But Robby must have taken what I said seriously. He convinced Helen I was involved in drug smuggling, and that finding me and getting me to return to Kabul was the right thing to do. He got her a job near Barnstaple, here in Brambleton.’
‘And you’ve told her the truth, that you were framed for drug smuggling?’
