Free The Zul Enigma by J M Leitch Page B

know what
to make of the lanky young man who peppered his sentences with unintelligible
English slang and swear words. But he was very friendly. They talked about
their families and as the beers went down, discovered they shared many
interests, although not always the same points of view: music, football,
politics, the cosmos… and women.
    Whether it was his South
London accent, his quirky charm or his flushness from working on the rigs,
Carlos wasn’t sure, but Drew certainly attracted the ladies and on top of the
fascinating though sometimes heated discussions they shared, that was another
good reason to hang out with him. They cut an odd picture, the six foot four,
lean, fair Englishman and the five foot ten, stocky, swarthy Spaniard, but it
wasn’t long before their antics became legendary.
    ‘Truth was,’ Drew said, ‘I felt sorry for him. Being Spanish and all.’
    ‘Hey…’
    ‘But after spending time
with him, I knew we’d get on famously.’
    ‘How come?’ Joseph
asked.
    ‘Because he always rises
to the bait. Every time. I just love taking the piss out of him. Talking of
taking the piss, are you still on your thespian trip, Carlos?’
    ‘Shut up.’
    ‘Thespian?’
    ‘Yeah. Surely you
remember the year Carlos went MAD?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘MAD – The Music
And Drama Club at Goddard.’
    ‘We put on good
productions there. Why do you always make fun of it?’
    ‘Because I never got
over seeing you dressed up as a woman.’
    ‘Hey… one time, just one
time…’
    ‘Well,’ Joseph said,
‘you guys helped me settle in.’
    ‘You used to be a right
little shit. Always rubbing everyone up the wrong way. You needed help making
friends.’
    ‘You didn’t stay long?
What was it – a couple of years?’ Carlos asked.
    ‘Didn’t want to end up
like you guys…’ Carlos shot a glance at Drew, but he wasn’t looking. ‘… I
missed the social life when I left. You both taught me a thing or two about
partying. I’ll never forget that one on the river boat.’
    ‘Oh fuck, I’d forgotten
that.’
    ‘So what are you doing
in Vienna?’ Carlos asked.
    ‘IAI just entered a
joint venture with RUAG Aerospace Austria and I set up a rep office here. I’ll
be in and out all the time over the next few months. We should get together
again.’
    Carlos reached for his
drink.
    ‘How’s OOSA?’ Joseph
asked.
    ‘It took a year to get
the place operating properly. And it took four years hard pressure to get the
budget to drag our technology into the twenty-first century,’ Carlos opened his
palms in front of him. ‘We’re a worldwide organisation disseminating space
technology – for Christ’s sake, we have to have cutting edge
technology ourselves.’ Joseph nodded. ‘It’s still a lot of work, but more
routine now. We got our annual Legal Subcommittee Session coming up in a couple
of weeks. That’s a big job.’
    ‘Well, well. She made
it,’ Drew leaped to his feet and hugged the petite woman walking towards their
table. He took her hand and led her up to the others. ‘Remember these
reprobates?’
    She smiled. ‘Hey Joe,’
she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. She unbuttoned her coat and joined
Carlos on the rattan sofa. ‘And as for you…’
    ‘Erika?’
    She threw her arms
around Carlos’s neck. ‘Hi stranger! It’s so good to see you,’ she whispered in
his ear.
    ‘Now,’ Drew said, ‘it’s
a proper reunion.’
    ‘You look just the
same,’ Carlos said studying her face. ‘Not a day older.’
    ‘Oh you,’ she crinkled
up her eyes in a smile, ‘you haven’t lost any of that Mediterranean charm now,
have you?’
    ‘Drew said you’d moved
here. When?’
    ‘In the new year.’
    ‘What brought you to
Austria of all places?’
    She shrugged. ‘I’d been
thinking about moving to Europe for a while. I thought it would be a good
experience for the boys. Get to know their roots. Remember? My mum was German.
Then Joe said he had contacts here and got me a job.’
    ‘How do