Payback - John Hayes Series 06 (2020), стр. 13
“Don’t tell Maadhavi. She’s trying to get me to cut down.”
“It’s good to know someone is taking care of you.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Are you happy?”
“Very.” Steve stirred his coffee, then dropped the teaspoon onto the tray. “She’s a wonderful woman, John. My life is so much better with her in it.”
“Good, I’m happy for you both. Everyone deserves to be happy.”
“Yeah, mate.” Steve sipped his coffee, then licked his lips and placed the cup back down on the table, staring out the French windows into the garden. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been happy. My divorce, in fact, the last few years of my marriage...” He turned back to John and grimaced. “Not fun, mate, not fun at all.”
John said nothing, allowing Steve to continue.
“That’s why I came here. I needed to get away from it all, to start afresh. Somewhere no-one knew me.” He grinned. “And this city is full of work for an ex-cop.”
“So...” John chose his words carefully. “Now this,”—John gestured to the laptop with his spare hand—“will be dangerous. Is it worth risking,”—he gestured as if encompassing the entire house—“all this? What if you never see Maadhavi again?”
Steve looked down, turning the coffee cup around and around on the table, then looked up.
“What kind of man would I be if I left Mia and her child to die over there… if I didn’t at least try,… just because I feared losing my happiness and comfort? I couldn’t do it. My entire life would be a lie, John.”
John stared down at the dining table surface. He took a deep, slow breath, then exhaled.
“Yeah. I know.”
The men sipped their coffee in silence, lost in their own thoughts until a sound by the door made them look up to see Adriana watching them.
“Well, don’t you two make a happy pair this morning?”
21
Later that morning, after a large breakfast and Marisel had cleared away the plates, they sat around the dining table. A fresh pot of coffee sat on the table next to a laptop, a couple of notebooks, and pens.
“Look, Steve, going into Syria should be our last resort. We need to make sure we’ve exhausted every other channel first.”
Steve raised both his hands.
“John, I know that’s the sensible thing to do. Don’t think we haven’t tried. My brother and I have been working on this for weeks before I called you. The Australian government doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. She’s a terrorist in their eyes.”
“She’s a mother with a child,” Adriana protested.
“I know, but they don’t see it that way. They are worried about what the public will think if they allow,”—Steve made quotation signs with his fingers—“members of ISIS into the country, just because they are Australian.” He shrugged, “It’s an election year.”
“Red Cross, UNHCR?” John asked.
“John, we’ve gone through this already. No-one is interested. They’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
John nodded and drummed his fingers on the table. He looked up at Adriana, then across to Maadhavi.
“What do you think about this, Maadhavi?”
“John, I’ve seen what Steve has gone through in the past few weeks. He’s tried everything. I don’t see what else he can do.”
“And if he goes into Syria?”
Maadhavi paused, turned her head to look at Steve, and gave him a sad smile.
“Of course, I don’t want him to go, but...” She turned back to face John. “I know what she means to him. I can’t hold him back. It wouldn’t be fair.” She looked down at the table and frowned, a faint quiver in her lip, “I love him, and I have to respect whatever decision he makes.” Looking up, she continued, “There are two lives at stake here. It’s not right for me to be selfish.”
Steve reached across and gave her hand a squeeze.
Maadhavi looked at Adriana. “You understand, don’t you?”
“I do.” Adriana half-smiled in support, but her eyes remained concerned. “I don’t want John to be in harm’s way, but I know he, too, can’t stand by and do nothing.” She smiled at Steve. “And I know what Steve has done for us. It’s the least we can do.”
“Yes, he told me what happened in Oman.”
“We wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t been for Steve.”
Steve looked down, uncharacteristically embarrassed as Adriana continued.
“So, yes, it will be dangerous, but it’s the right thing to do.” Adriana turned to John and placed a hand on his thigh. “I’m canceling my flight back. I’m staying here. I’ll help in whatever way I can.”
“But your work?”
“You really think I can go back to the office while you and Steve are doing this? Besides, I convinced João to let me work from here, and hopefully, there’ll be a story in it for the paper.” She looked at Steve. “That’s if you don’t mind, Steve?”
“No worries. Just make me look good.”
John smiled, leaned over, and kissed her on the neck.
“I love you,” he murmured in her ear
“Right.” Steve clapped his hands. “We’ve got work to do.”
22
They spent the rest of the day researching as much as possible about the conflict in Syria while Marisel kept them supplied with coffee and food. Adriana worked the phone, contacting as many journalists covering the region as she could. The dining table resembled a conference table at a startup, with laptops, phones, and pieces of paper strewn everywhere. By late afternoon, they were tired and dejected. Steve pushed back his chair and went to stand by the window, his hands in his pockets. John looked up, glanced over at Adriana, then leaned back in his chair.
“What’s up, Steve?”
Steve shook his head and turned to face them. He looked at them all one by one and sighed.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into this. It’s looking