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CHAPTER20
Colton
I had no idea what to picture when the air crew said we were about to land in Tabiq, but from up here, the island looked lush and green. It wasn’t what I thought a third-world country would look like. But once on the ground, I saw things differently. As we drove to the resort, I could see the poverty. Brice said they’d done a lot of work to make improvements, but this place was still hurting badly.
I turned to Bennett, “Tell me this is the worst of it.”
“I wish I could. But if you’d been here about five years ago, it would’ve been a dangerous drive just to reach New Hope. It wasn’t the locals you would’ve had to worry about, but the local authorities. Foreigners were generally held for ransom or turned out to be just as corrupt as the local officials.”
We passed a truck that had obviously been broken down on the side of the road for a couple of years. A few minutes later, we saw a house in bad repair.
I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t believe you had to live like this. Had to go through what you did with my father. No woman should ever suffer like this.
“You’d think the people here would hate us. Wish us dead for what our father did,” I said.
Bennett replied, “For the first couple of years, that was the case. Me and my men were on watch 24/7 to protect the family while they were here. Even Alex, who married Ziva, a local woman, wasn’t accepted. We had to prove time and time again that we were here to help and not to exploit them further, before they even started to trust us.”
“I’d like to see what has been done, and if possible, I’d like to help in some way,” I said.
“There will be plenty of opportunities for that. First you need to understand that the people here are standoffish, and for good reason. When you talk to them, don’t be shocked if they will not look you in the eyes. Since they do not know you, you might only get very short responses if you speak to them. They are not intentionally being rude, but will have their guard up.”
“Understandable.”
As we drove, I could see that the closer we got to the resort, the nicer the homes were. Was that for the tourists’ benefit? I was trying not to pass judgement until I got the full picture.
Bennett stopped the SUV as another was coming from the opposite direction. He rolled down the window and said, “Hello, Finn, how are things at the hospital?”
“Coming along. I wasn’t expecting to see you back here so soon. Hope there isn’t some…problem my wife should know about?” said Finn.
Bennett shook his head. “No. Actually, I am here with Colton Marzoni. His mother was from Tabiq.”
What the fuck! Brice said we don’t talk about this to anyone.
Finn looked at me and then back to Bennett. “Why don’t you two have dinner with me and Reesa?”
“Sounds good. What time?” Bennett asked.
“Seven. She’s usually through working by then,” Finn said, then pulled away.
I turned to Bennett and said, “I’m not here to socialize. I want to know what the hell is going on in Tabiq and make sure that things are heading in the right direction, not the way James had them going.”
“Exactly. What better way to do so than to have dinner with the president?”
“Finn is the president of Tabiq?” I could tell by his accent that he was from Ireland, not Tabiq.
“No. Dr. Finn O’Connor is in charge of the hospital. He’s married to President Reesa Florraz. As you can see, the president is female. Is that enough progress for you?” Bennett asked.
I chuckled. “We haven’t even accomplished that in the states.”
“As Brice said, we’ve been working hard to change things here. No better way to get the full effect than to hear it from Madam President herself.”
“Are there any other surprises in store for me?” I asked.
Bennett pulled the SUV back onto the road and said, “In Tabiq, it is one surprise after another. All you can do is hope they are all good. But no matter how smoothly things appear to be going, you can’t let your guard down. The evil that once plagued this country is just waiting for the opportunity to rare its ugly head and take over again. It’s our job to watch and be ready.”
“How can it be that dangerous if the man married to the president of the country was out driving alone?” I asked.
“Trust me, he wasn’t. Just like we’re not. You might not see them, but my men are always close by. Always watching. If things were to turn bad, they would swiftly make their presence known,” Bennett said.
