by Tony Park
There was no one around the empty school, not even kids flouting the lockdown regulations. The wire mesh fence around the construction site for the new classrooms was festooned with plastic shopping bags. A dog barked nearby.
As Sannie walked closer to the school she could see Julianne Clyde-Smith’s helicopter sitting in the middle of the empty rectangle of rocky earth that served as a soccer field, just beyond the new building, which was substantially complete and roofed.
She advanced, her pistol held in a two-handed grip.
Sannie stopped still and took out her phone. It was too quiet for Africa. She felt, in her bones and in the downy hairs standing up on the back of her neck, that it was time to call for backup.
‘De Beer,’ Henk said. ‘We’re almost there, Sannie.’
‘Lekker. I think I’ll wait for you. I’m by the school and –’
*
‘Gunfire,’ Henk said to Mia, but she had also heard the shots over his phone’s speaker.
Mia red-lined the four-wheel drive’s engine as she pushed it up into sixth gear.
De Beer had drawn his pistol. He was on his phone, calling for backup as Mia swung into the village.
Faces watched them from windows and a mother dragged a curious child from the stoep back indoors.
‘Someone’s shooting,’ Jeff said from the back of the Land Rover. ‘Give me the rifle.’
Mia wanted to argue, but was too busy concentrating on the road ahead.
‘No ways,’ Henk said for her. Ignoring Jeff, he spoke into his phone again. ‘Sannie, talk to me, if you can.’
Mia looked to him.
Two shots rang out.
‘Sannie, we’re coming in. Talk to us.’ Henk held up the phone for Mia to hear as they pulled up two hundred metres short of the school buildings and all got out of the Land Rover. Mia unzipped her gun case and took out her .375 rifle.
‘One guy, AK-47,’ van Rensburg replied, at last, ‘in the school building. I’m hit.’
‘Sheesh, Sannie. How bad?’
‘Leg. It’s not bad, but I won’t be dancing tonight.’
‘Got you. Are you in cover?’
‘More or less. I’m behind the water bowser trailer, to the left of the construction site.’
‘Got it.’ Mia pointed out Sannie’s location for Henk and Jeff, who crouched beside her.
‘I’m going to outflank the guy in the schoolhouse,’ Henk said.
Mia gave a sharp nod. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’
A burst of fire rang out, echoing up the empty road. Mia felt a mix of fear and excitement and flashed back to the man she had killed. Would she, could she, do it again? She was happier she was with, and behind, the detective this time.
There were more gunshots. It sounded to Mia like a pistol, Captain van Rensburg’s. At least she was still alive.
Henk stopped to assess the situation. ‘There’s a drainage ditch on the right. Looks like they’ve been digging it for a water pipe. We go through that way, catch him on his blind side.’
Mia nodded. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all they had. Henk had kept the line open to Sannie so he told the policewoman what they were going to do.
‘I’ve got one spare mag of ammo, Henk,’ she replied. ‘When you give me the word, I’ll pump it all into the building, try to keep his attention off you.’
‘OK. Be careful, Sannie.’
‘You as well.’
Mia turned to Jeff. ‘You stay here with the Land Rover.’
Jeff looked like he was about to argue, but Mia didn’t have time. Henk got up, darted to the ditch and slid down into it, barely keeping his balance. He was a big guy and was huffing and puffing already. Mia guessed he didn’t chase too many suspects on foot. She swallowed her fear and jumped down after him.
They were like a couple of World War I soldiers, she thought, heading along a trench to certain doom on the front line. She wanted to be out of this nightmare and, at the same time, perversely, she felt the adrenaline supercharging her body with excitement and anticipation. It was a rush – she was sure her father had once described going into combat as a young man in the same way.
As they got closer to the half-finished schoolhouse they passed cement mixers, a bulldozer lying idle, and an earthmoving machine. The sound of more gunfire, louder now, focused her.
Henk was walking bent at the waist, keeping his head below the lip of the deep trench. He turned to look at her. ‘All right?’
She shrugged. ‘We’re going into a gunfight.’
He gave a small nod of understanding. ‘You stay here. Call for an ambulance. We’re going to need one for Sannie – at least.’
Mia thought about Jeff and when she turned to look for him, she found him right behind her.
Jeff grinned. ‘Sorry.’
Mia shook her head, then said to Henk: ‘I’m staying with you.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes.’ She was anything but. She gripped her rifle tighter and turned to Jeff. ‘Go back to the Land Rover and wait for us there.’
‘No,’ Jeff said. ‘You can’t order me around like that. Besides, you might need me.’
They heard Sannie fire two shots from her pistol, which were answered by a long burst from the gunman in the schoolhouse.
‘I’ve been counting his shots. He’s changing magazines after thirty rounds,’ Henk said. He held the phone close to his mouth and said ‘now’ to Sannie. He glanced back at Mia. ‘Run, if you’re coming!’
The big detective lumbered along the trench line and, when it came close to the half-finished building he started scrambling up and out of the excavation. Mia was on his tail and was out of the cover before Henk. Jeff, now beside her, reached down and gave the detective his hand, hauling him the rest of the way out. It was a less than auspicious start, Mia registered, to their valiant assault.
Henk raised his pistol and ran forward. A silhouette darted across an open window space and Henk fired two shots.
Mia held her breath, even as she ran, and it was only when she began feeling dizzy that she remembered to breathe again.
‘Ow!’
Mia spun around and saw Jeff had tripped and fallen headlong into a shallow trench that looked like it had been dug for electrical cables or some other services.
‘I’m OK,’ Jeff called.
A person emerged from the front door of the building site. Henk swung to fire, but checked his aim at the very last second. It was a girl. She was African, young and lithe, and she ran like an impala fleeing a pack of wild dogs.
A man followed her out and Mia, like Henk, had her gun up ready to fire.
‘Don’t shoot!’ He held his arms high as he ran and Mia recognised that it was Mike de Vries, Julianne’s missing chopper pilot.
The shock of seeing the girl and the pilot, unarmed, fleeing, caused them all to pause. Mia and Henk took cover behind a large cement mixer.
There was the distinctive pop-pop-pop-pop of an AK-47 firing on full automatic again and the pilot pitched face forward into the dirt. More bullets chased the girl, but she continued to run, headlong, arms windmilling in panic.
Henk started moving. The dark-clad figure appeared at the window again.
Mia could see that the man was raising his rifle, but Henk already had his gun up and was firing. The man ducked below the windowsill. The ground Henk was running over was furrowed and churned, the money for landscaping having probably run out when the pandemic hit. He stumbled and sprawled forward, landing on his belly.
Jeff had dusted himself off and caught up with her again. He was almost pressed up against Mia. He stuck his head around the cement mixer. ‘I can see him, Mia.’
‘Keep your bloody head down!’ Mia yanked on Jeff’s shirt to pull him back behind the cement mixer, where he crouched down.
Mia didn’t know whether to follow Henk or to turn and flee. Henk was exposed, working the slide of his pistol, either to clear a misfeed or reload. The man in the building raised his head and the barrel of his rifle, taking aim at Henk and making the decision for her. Mia fired, then worked the bolt, chambering another round in one fluid movement. Her drills were quick; she had trained on the rifle range to take down a charging lion or buffalo. A chip of brickwork flew off the building’s wall next to the gunman’s face.
The man switched his aim to her and fired; Mia felt the billowing fabric of her untucked khaki safari shirt snatched away from her body. She hunkered back behind the mixer with Jeff, trying to escape the next round. Henk was shooting again. Mia aimed and fired again. Her target disappeared. The gunfire stopped.
*
Sannie gave it five minutes then got to her feet and moved towards the school building, advancing from cover to cover. She was being cautious and her leg was now throbbing in pain. Fortunately, the bullet had only grazed her, but her blue uniform pants were turning purple with blood. The wound needed to be dressed, but as Tom had told her more than once, the best treatment for a gunshot wound was to first kill the person who had inflicted it.
Tom. She pushed him from her mind and tried to calm her breathing as she advanced, both hands up.
‘Sannie!’
She looked over to see Henk, now back on his feet, brushing dirt from his clothes as he and Mia and a young man also closed on the school building.
‘Are you all right?’ she called.
‘Ja, fine,’ Henk replied. ‘I think Mia got him.’
Sannie touched her first two fingers to her eyes then pointed them to the building, reminding them all that they needed to keep watch for more danger. Sannie had told the wide-eyed, running girl – she didn’t yet know if it was Thandi or Lilly – to go straight to Mama Nomvula’s house in the village and to stay there until she could get to her.
‘There could be two more girls somewhere in that building,’ Sannie called to the others.
She paused beside the helicopter pilot and quickly, painfully, dropped to one knee. A quick touch of her fingers to his neck confirmed what she could tell from looking at him and seeing him fall. Dead.
Sannie got to her feet again, took a couple of steps, then stopped. She held up a hand until the others all noticed, and also paused.
There was something not right about this.
Then the schoolhouse exploded.
Chapter 22
Jeff was kneeling by Mia’s side as she opened her eyes.
‘Eish,’ she said, blinking up at him. ‘What happened?’
‘Shush.’ Jeff wiped her head with something. ‘You were hit in the head by some debris. Thank God you’re alive. You were blacked out for a couple of minutes.’
Her head hurt, now that he mentioned it. She remembered an explosion. ‘The school?’
He shook his head. ‘Gone. That place was rigged to go off.’
Mia was aware of someone in her peripheral vision. She craned her neck, the simple movement causing her to wince with pain. ‘Captain . . .’
‘Mia,’ Sannie said, limping a few steps so Mia could better see her, ‘good to see you’re all right. I have to go. I’ve just met your friend Jeff and he’s called an ambulance.’
Mia sat up and felt dizzy.
‘Stay still,’ Jeff said. ‘Lie down.’
‘No. Where are you going, Captain?’
‘The girl.’
‘I remember now – she ran from the building, with the pilot. Is he . . .?’
‘Dead,’ Sannie said. ‘I’ve got no idea what’s going on here. I’ve asked for a forensic team to go through what’s left of the building.’
‘Let me come with you.’
‘Mia . . .’ Jeff began.
‘I know these people,’ Mia said. ‘I speak their language. Let me come with you. It’s just a bump on the head.’
Jeff looked up at Captain van Rensburg.
Sannie shrugged. ‘All right. Might be better if we’re all together. We still don’t know who else might be around here.’ Sannie looked over at the remains of the school. Henk de Beer, covered in dust from the explosion, was gingerly picking his way around the wreckage, pistol still in hand. ‘Henk?’
He waved back at her. ‘You go on. I’ll stay here until the forensics guys arrive. I’ll see what I can find. You don’t want to see what I’m looking at right now.’
Mia drew a breath. ‘The other girls?’
Henk shook his head. ‘No, no sign of anyone else. Just what’s left of the oke who was shooting at us.’
‘Call Sean Bourke.’ Mia grabbed hold of Jeff’s forearm, using him for support as she hauled herself to her feet. ‘His old dog, Benny, was trained to detect explosives, and last I heard they were having no luck tracking the poacher inside the reserve.’
‘Yes, good idea,’ Sannie said. ‘It’ll be hours before I can get a police canine team here.’
Sannie headed back to the cars, making the call to Sean on the way, with Jeff supporting Mia. They were the walking wounded, Mia thought, as they followed.
‘I’ll drive,’ Jeff said.
‘Let me come with you,’ Sannie said, ‘my leg is not so lekker.’
They climbed in and Sannie directed them to Mama Nomvula’s house.
When they arrived Mia saw Virtuous, the village sangoma, standing at the gateway.
‘Ai, what has happened?’ Virtuous asked.
Mia was not a close friend of the sangoma, but they knew each other by sight and greeted each other. Mia filled her in.
‘Captain, you are also injured. Let me take a look at that wound.’
‘We’re here to visit Nomvula and to see the girl.’
‘The girl?’
‘A girl escaped from the new school building, just before the explosion. I very much hope it is one of the girls who are missing.’
Virtuous looked heavenward and clasped her hands. ‘Praise be. I received a call from Nomvula to come, now-now. She said it was an emergency. Is it Thandi or Lilly?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ Sannie said. ‘We’ve called for an ambulance.’
‘Yes,’ Virtuous said calmly, ‘but the paramedics are not here yet. I am.’
‘Wait here, please. Mia, come with me.’
Mia glanced at Virtuous, giving her an apologetic look, and the sangoma replied with a polite nod.
They went into the house to find Nomvula with her arms around a thin young girl who was shivering, even though the day was warm, and she was swaddled in a thick grey woollen blanket.
‘Are you hurt?’ Sannie said to the girl.
The child looked up at her, eyes wide and brimming with tears.
‘It’s all right,’ Sannie prompted, ‘you’re safe now.’
‘This is Thandi,’ Nomvula said, and Mia saw the sadness in the older woman’s eyes. ‘She thinks my Lilly is alive.’
‘Did they hurt you?’ Sannie asked again.
‘A man . . . he hit me sometimes. I couldn’t sleep, I was so afraid,’ Thandi said.
‘Did he . . .’ Sannie began.
The girl shook her head and lowered her eyes. ‘No, but he threatened me with that.’
Mia seethed quietly. Her head was throbbing and she felt nauseous. She needed fresh air. She got up and went outside.
Virtuous was still outside, sitting on the stoep, with Jeff standing nearby.
‘I’m sorry the captain was so rude,’ Mia said to her.
Virtuous smiled. ‘She is hurt, under pressure, and it is not just her leg that is wounded. She has suffered a terrible loss.’
‘She has?’
Virtuous nodded. ‘Someone close to her has died. Her husband.’
‘Shame,’ Mia said, meaning it. ‘I need to make an appointmen
t to see you.’
‘I know.’
‘How?’
‘You killed a man.’
‘Word travels fast,’ Mia said.
‘This is a small community. Nothing happens without me knowing about it, Mia.’
Mia narrowed her eyes. ‘Then what happened to those missing girls, the one inside?’
‘That did not happen in this community. The police captain will not find anyone from Killarney guilty.’
‘Outsiders?’ Jeff weighed in.
Virtuous gave a small shrug. ‘Maybe. Or it could be that the men who hunt the rhinos are getting desperate; rhinos are not as easy to come by any more as . . .’
‘Children?’
Virtuous looked away. Mia felt a chill.
*
Sannie waited while Nomvula made Thandi a cup of tea, with condensed milk and three heaped spoons of sugar. The girl took it between her grubby fingers, blew on it and sipped.
‘Did you see the other girls?’
Thandi blinked at Sannie, seated opposite. ‘I heard things, but never saw anyone else. I was kept alone.’
Sannie took out her notebook. ‘Where did they keep you?’
‘In a room.’
‘Can you describe it?’
‘The walls were made of cement, no windows, just the one doorway. They put a bag over my head, when they took me.’ The girl wiped away some more tears. ‘But the sack was not tied tight so I was able to get glimpses of them, and where I was.’
‘You heard the other girls?’ Sannie asked her. ‘This is important. We need to find them, to know if they are still alive.’
‘One time, I heard Lilly; I know her voice. She was crying for her grandmother.’
Nomvula put a knuckle to her mouth.
‘Go on, you’re doing very well,’ Sannie said. ‘When did you hear her?’
The girl looked puzzled. ‘It was hard to keep track of days. I think it might have been two days ago, three, maybe?’
A groan escaped from Nomvula, who got up from her chair, turned and tried to busy herself boiling more water.
‘Any more?’
‘Another time I heard a girl screaming, calling for help, but her voice was different, she sounded white, like, maybe British.’