The Property of a Lady - Elizabeth Adler [41]
The night they were to leave for Alupka and the small fishing boat waiting to take them to Constantinople, Tariq arrived at the cottage bearing a bottle of good vodka. “None of this peasant-made rubbish,” he said with a laugh, filling their glasses, “because tonight we drink a toast to the Ivanoffs. Long may they live.”
After the toast Princess Sofia handed him a narrow suede box and said “Whatever happens will happen, Tariq. You have done your best and the rest is in God’s hands. I am giving you and Han-Su this, with my gratitude and my son’s. You are a brave and loyal man, Tariq Kazahn, and my son loved you as a true friend.”
Tariq stared at the glittering diamond necklace lying on its bed of black velvet, stunned into silence.
“Your Highness is very generous to my husband,” Han-Su said quickly, “but of course we cannot accept such a payment. We are happy to help. You owe us nothing.”
The petite Chinese woman and the tall Russian aristocrat eyed each other respectfully as Tariq snapped the box shut and held it out to Sofia.
“It is not a payment, Han-Su, and it will make an old woman happy if you will accept my gift,” Sofia said firmly.
Han-Su bowed low. “I am honored, Your Highness,” she replied.
Sofia and Missie rode the twenty hilly kilometers to Alupka on small, sure-footed donkeys, while Tariq carried the child. He also carried an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder and his old Tartar sword in its leather scabbard at his hip. It was dark and moonless but Tariq was used to it and easily spotted the waiting fishing boat. The vessel was as black as the night with all lights doused. As it slid quietly from the shore across the inky sea to Turkey, Tariq and his family prayed for Sofia and her granddaughter, though they knew they would never see them again.
Istanbul
One year after they had helped Missie and the Ivanoffs escape, the White Russian forces in the south were finally defeated and Tariq and Han-Su were also forced to flee with their children in a small, leaky open boat across the Black Sea. When they reached Constantinople it was Han-Su who, with a few quiet words, kept her hotheaded husband under control. Instead of selling Princess Sofia’s diamond necklace on the back streets of the city, where she was afraid it might be recognized and traced back to them, and where anyway it would only have brought in a pittance, she sent it secretly to relatives in Hong Kong, where it was broken down and sold for enough money to give them a new start in life.
It was Han-Su who decided that the money should be invested in a small freighter traveling to the Mediterranean ports with cargoes of spices, silken carpets, brass, and silver and returning with vital machinery or, sometimes, guns. Meanwhile, the family lived frugally in a small, tumbledown wooden house atop one of the old city’s many hills, close to its hub, the Galata Bridge spanning the Bosphorus.
With Han-Su’s sharpness with money and Tariq’s flair for promoting new business, the Kazahn Freighter Line soon began to prosper. Another ship was bought, larger than the first and newer and able to travel longer distances. Turkish manufacturers learned they could rely on Kazahn’s ships and foreigners importing goods filled them on their return journeys. Tariq bought more ships and got more business and Han-Su banked the money. Within five years they owned a small fleet and a thriving enterprise. The foundations of the great Tariq Kazahn shipping empire had been laid.
After ten years they owned one of the world’s largest shipping lines and were one of the richest families in Turkey. They had moved into a beautiful yali, an old summer palace at Yenikoy on the European shore of the Bosphorus. Its gardens were fragrant with