“Exactly.Spy craft 101—often the best place to hide is right under the enemy’s nose.So I started with the resort where Sabera had been working.”Lilla grants us a sparkling smile.Apparently, we were a little late on that one, but still get an A for effort.“Sabera had quite the story to tell.Discovering her mother’s work, taking up the charge.”
“Captain Kurtz said her mother’s assignment was simply to socialize with the movers and shakers in Kabul, gathering intel on private relationships and personal finances along the way.”
“The most interesting tidbits can be gleaned from the most innocuous of sources.”
“Okay.But whatever secrets Maryam was passing along, that would’ve been at least ten years and an entire regime ago.How could any of her mother’s duties still be relevant?”
“Excellent question.Maryam was working on something when she first became ill.She was following a trail of rumors.Government ministers buying up a string of mines.”
“For illegal mining!”I feel like I finally know something.
But Lilla is already shaking her head.“The propertiescould’veonce held gems, minerals, rare earth elements.Except these were old worksites.Basically, already depleted.”
“Why would they want exhausted mines?”Daryl asks.
“Indeed.These are men of wealth and access.Why purchase used-up properties?That was the question Maryam was investigating, but never got answered.She was diagnosed with breast cancer instead.”
“You didn’t offer to get her out?”I ask quietly.“Bring her to London for treatment, after all she’d done for your government?”
“I offered.But she considered Kabul her home.And she didn’t want to leave her family.In the end, poppet, there are very few things we have control over.Maryam couldn’t beat the illness killing her.She could, however, choose where she would spend her final days.And she was not the kind of woman you could sway once she made up her mind.”Lilla’s expression softens.“It was one of the many things I quite admired about her.”
Daryl and I exchange troubled glances.So far, this conversation isn’t helping us.
“You said Sabera decided to continue her mother’s work,” I prod, trying to get us back on track.
“Maryam kept extensive notes, including avenues she’d only recently begun to investigate.She encoded everything, but Sabera had no problem deducing the key.”
“A magic square!”I attempt to skip ahead, only to once again miss the mark.
“I have no idea what that is.Maryam was a noted designer and fashionista.In particular, she had a great love for vintage dress patterns.Quite perfect, if you think about it—dimensions make for an excellent cipher, while what man would ever consider utilizing McCall’s as an encryption key?Sabera figured out the system on her own.That, as much as anything, convinced me to take her seriously.”Lilla pauses.Daryl and I nod dutifully.
“According to Sabera, her mother had hidden a series of coordinates, the latitude and longitude of the mines in question.But even before Sabera engaged the services of a fellow student, a geology major, to investigate the sites, Sabera had her doubts.”
“A geology student?”
“Jamil helped her track down the first abandoned property.As suspected, the mine was exhausted of natural resources.Except it wasn’t.”
Jamil of Sabera’s dreams.Jamil, whose name is forever incorporated into Zahra’s.I recognize the sadness of that, young love that never stood a chance.Forget countries, culture, religion.In the end, we are all the same, wanting to love and be loved, and wanting to believe such sentiments can last forever.
If only for Zahra’s sake it had.
“What do you mean the mine wasn’t exhausted?”Daryl is asking.
“The tunnels were filled with bars of gold.You want to knowwhat two decades of corruption, kickbacks, and bribery looks like?Apparently, an entire cavern filled to the brim with precious metals.”
“Like the Nazis.”Daryl sounds impressed.
Lilla merely shrugs.“No doubt, the powers-that-be knew their days of looting and pillaging were numbered.Moving physical resources out of a country, however, takes time.Hence the need for clandestine storage.What could be better than a series of abandoned mines?One savvy bureaucrat started selling the options, and every rich uncle, cousin, brother came clambering for their own unit.Lifestyle of the megawealthy and totally crooked.Which no doubt made them very pissed off about what happened next.”
“Sabera’s mother, then Sabera discovering their secret stash?”I ask.
Lilla smiles.“Oh, Sabera didn’t just trace the bounty—she looted from the looters.With the assistance of a group of like-minded student revolutionaries.Upon discovering the ill-gotten gains, she guaranteed the ministers could never profit from their illegal activities.Including, I might add, stealing from her own uncles, who no doubt had been planning on bribing the Taliban regime, but suddenly found themselves high and dry instead.”
“Sabera stole it all?”Daryl asks in awe.
“Indeed.Mines were emptied out, all coordinates were wiped clean from physical records, and, well… untold illegal fortunes seemingly disappeared overnight.Amazing how cranky that makes some people.”
I blink my eyes.Beside me Daryl appears equally impressed.
