Blood Trail

by Tony Park

  Samantha flicked her head behind her, in the direction of the boring machine. ‘There’s an exit, about two hundred metres that way. You’ll come up inside the reserve.’

  Sannie decided she needed to get everyone out as soon as possible. If Sean and Henk were behind them, then hopefully they would come running, having heard the gunfire. The other possibility was that Sean had taken the injured Henk back out the entrance by the hotel swimming pool. ‘All right,’ she said, pointing her own pistol, which she had retrieved, at Samantha, ‘lead on.’

  Samantha, complaining that she was in pain, shuffled along, with Sannie prodding her in the back every now and then. Virtuous offered to bring up the rear of their little column, with the girls safely in the middle. Benny was enjoying the attention of the two teenage girls as he walked protectively alongside them.

  They came to a shaft identical to the one Sannie had passed under in the other tunnel. She was taking no chances, in case of booby traps. ‘You first, Samantha.’

  Wincing, and making slow work of the climb because of her wounded arm, Samantha made her way slowly upward, with Sannie just below her. At the top, Samantha grunted and heaved until she was able to shift the manhole cover and light flooded down below.

  ‘Don’t try to make a run for it,’ Sannie cautioned her.

  ‘In my condition? I need to sit down.’

  Sannie climbed out of the tunnel, gulping down the fresh air. Samantha sat dejectedly by the tunnel entrance.

  The girls, who were both young and fit, were able to share the load of carrying Benny up the ladder, holding him by a carry handle stitched onto the back of his tracking harness. Finally, Virtuous, struggling on the ladder rungs, made it to the top, with Lilly and Laura helping her out into the open air.

  Sannie patted Samantha down and found her phone. They had lost the wi-fi signal and had no reception here. Just then they all turned at the sound of an engine.

  ‘The cavalry?’ Virtuous said, fanning her face. She sat on the ground in the grass, Henk’s pistol by her side.

  Sannie had her Z88 out and ready, but lowered it when the familiar sight of Sean Bourke’s distinctive long-wheelbase camouflaged Land Rover Defender emerged through the trees.

  Benny’s ears pricked up and he trotted to the rear of the vehicle as it pulled up. He must have recognised either the truck or his master’s scent on board. Or perhaps, Sannie mused, he just wanted his chew toy.

  Sannie started moving towards the Land Rover, peering at the tinted windows. How did he know where to find us?

  Three men burst from the canvas-covered load area on the back of the vehicle, all dressed in blue workers’ overalls but carrying AK-47s. They fanned out and took up positions of cover facing her.

  Sannie raised her pistol and took aim at one of the men as the driver’s-side electric window came down. A man, vaguely familiar, stared at her. ‘Put down your gun, Captain. Predictably, there’s another man in the back with a weapon pointed at Sean Bourke’s head. I’ve seen you together in Killarney, so I know you know each other.’

  The armed men moved forward and Sannie lowered her pistol.

  Samantha stood and told the gunmen about Sannie’s spare pistol and the one that Virtuous was carrying. The men came to them and disarmed them.

  ‘How are you, my liefie?’ the driver said to Samantha.

  ‘I’ll live, but I need to get to a doctor soon.’

  ‘With a fine tale for the Hazyview Herald of how you fought off some poachers.’ The man got out. He was fair-haired, in his late fifties, wearing cargo pants and a khaki bush shirt. His skin was pale – probably, Sannie thought, from being underground. She recognised him – the last time she’d seen him was pre-COVID, when he’d played a round of golf with her late husband.

  ‘Piet Oosthuizen,’ Sannie said. ‘Elizabeth said you ran off with another woman.’

  He gave a tight smile. ‘Now all your comrades here know my name as well. That might not bode well for them, Sannie.’

  Sannie glared at him.

  Piet shrugged and drew a pistol from the waistband of his pants. ‘I see Samantha’s little plan to convert you didn’t work.’

  ‘Give up now and things might not go too badly for you in court,’ Sannie said.

  ‘With the penalties they’re handing out for rhino poaching these days? I don’t think so. Get in the Landy, all of you.’

  Sannie saw Benny scratching up at the tailgate of the four-by-four. ‘Benny –’

  ‘Stop!’ Piet pointed his gun at Benny, who looked to Sannie. ‘I really don’t want to kill the dog, but if you say one more word to it, I’ll shoot it before it lifts a paw.’

  Sannie did not doubt him. She felt for the dog.

  Laura started crying and Lilly put an arm around her as the gunmen ushered them all to the rear of the Land Rover.

  ‘Keep the policewoman in the back seat, away from the others, so she doesn’t rouse the rabble,’ Piet said to his men.

  Sannie was escorted past the open flap of the canvas-covered load area and when she looked in, she saw Sean lying on the floor, hands cuffed and feet hobbled. Piet had been bluffing about the extra gunman in the back, covering Sean, but it made no difference as Sannie knew she had been outgunned. Sean had a gag in his mouth but he made eye contact with her.

  Henk? she mouthed.

  Sean could only shrug his shoulders. Sannie noticed that Benny was waiting by a tree, a few metres away from his master. As a consolation, he had managed to pull Sean’s daypack out of the back of the Land Rover, no doubt hoping someone would let him play with his chew toy.

  Her guard shoved her between her shoulder blades and took her around to the back seat of the double cab. He pushed her inside and took the seat beside her, the barrel of his AK-47 pressed into her ribs.

  Sannie closed her eyes and said a quiet prayer for the safety of her children, especially Tommy.

  Once they were all on board, with Samantha sitting in the front passenger seat and the other gunmen and captives in the load area, Piet drove off.

  ‘Are you going to kill us all now?’

  Samantha looked over her shoulder. ‘I gave you a chance, Sannie.’

  Piet nodded. ‘Sean’s too gung-ho for his own good – said he’d rather die than take money from rhino poachers. Such a shame his little daughter will grow up without a father.’

  ‘What about the girls?’ Sannie asked.

  ‘I never wanted to take any of them,’ Samantha said. ‘The first two were just too damn inquisitive for their own good, and silly Laura went behind the termite mound for a pee just as two of our men, who had snared an impala for rations, were about to go down the tunnel. She saw them and fortunately I happened to be in the bush as well so that when we threw her down there I had just enough time to close the hatch and cover it up. Piet caught her. We’ll still ransom her and give her back to Sue once she’s handed over the money and we’re sure she’s all right with our . . . arrangement.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Sannie said.

  Samantha looked back again. ‘What?’

  ‘I’ll join you, work with you.’

  Samantha smiled. ‘We’ll see.’

  Piet had joined one of the main arterials through the Sabi Sand that served as the boundary between Lion Plains and Leopard Springs. He took a left onto one of the Leopard Springs roads. No passing vehicle would think twice about the presence of the big camouflaged anti-poaching truck whose driver had carte blanche to be anywhere on the reserve.

  Piet sped past a herd of buffalo, scattering a few who were trying to cross the road, and a lone elephant bull who trumpeted in anger at the dust cloud the vehicle raised.

  The presence of more game – a herd of impala and a trio of giraffes – told Sannie they were nearing water, and sure enough, Piet turned onto an access road with a sign that said Leopard’s Rest Dam.

>   He pulled up in a circular clearing overlooking a large expanse of water. Piet got out and he, as well as the gunman covering Sannie, and Samantha, looking pale and slightly unsteady as a result of her bullet wound, took Sannie to the edge of an open pit.

  The hole was about two metres wide by six long, and six metres deep. The walls were sheer and stabilised with concrete that looked like it had been sprayed on three sides, but the fourth side, she could see, was smooth and actually part of what appeared to be a dam wall, sunk into the ground. Amazingly, three metres from the bottom of the pit was a green-tinged window that was a metre in height and ran almost the full length of the wall. It looked to be made of thick, armoured glass.

  ‘Brilliant, isn’t it?’ Piet said.

  Sannie looked along the waterhole. A pair of warthogs that had been drinking at the far end, maybe a hundred metres away, stared at the noisy humans. A herd of waterbuck was filing in for a drink and a fish eagle gave its distinctive, mournful call from the branch of a dead tree that had been flooded by the manmade water point. Wallowing in the muddy shallows was a large white rhinoceros, a bull by the look of his bulk and the size of his horn.

  ‘This is where the tunnel-boring machine will be extracted,’ Piet said, ‘and when it’s removed, we’ll enlarge the hole, put in steps and a roof, and guests will come here and be able to view game drinking at water level. They’ll also be able to see the crocodiles, hippos and fish through the underwater viewing window.’

  As if on cue, a hippo honked from somewhere. Sannie felt a shiver down her spine at the thought of the reptiles that were no doubt lurking somewhere in the dam.

  The other two gunmen had unloaded Lilly, Laura, Virtuous and Sean, who hobbled over to them. They were all ushered to the edge, and the gunmen took several paces back to cover them.

  Piet checked his watch and looked to Samantha. ‘We don’t have much time. Let’s get on with it.’

  Samantha turned to Sannie. ‘Did you mean what you said, just now, in the truck?’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘Fine. Push Lilly in.’

  ‘Why? What’s the point of putting her in there?’

  Piet lowered his voice. ‘The machine will break through in a few minutes. It will be over quickly. Her remains will be, well, turned to slurry, and sent back down the tunnel through the pipe. There will be no trace of her, and what there is will become part of the landscaping around the new hotel.’

  Sean launched himself at Piet, even though his hands were cuffed and ankles tethered. Sannie went for Samantha, who squealed and ran, as Piet dodged to one side, put out a foot and tripped Sean. Lilly and Laura both screamed as Sean toppled over the edge and into the pit, head first. Not even able to use his hands to break his fall, he landed with a sickening thud. Sannie, realising the moment was gone, glanced down. Sean was not moving.

  ‘You heartless bastard,’ Sannie said to Piet.

  ‘Heartless? No more than the government that was prepared to see Samantha and her husband go bankrupt and become homeless, or my business destroyed and all my workers out of a job. People are murdered every day in this bloody country, because those in charge won’t give police like you the resources and manpower you need. This is just us trying to survive.’

  Sannie looked to the men with guns, probably ordinary construction workers who had been wooed by the same fatal, sick logic that their employer was now using to try to justify killing animals and humans alike.

  Virtuous had brought the girls to her again, one under each arm. She had her eyes closed and her face tilted to the sky.

  ‘The girl,’ Piet said.

  Just then, they all heard a voice come over the radio through the open door of the Land Rover.

  ‘Mia, Mia, this is Sara, over.’

  ‘Sara, this is Mia, copy. What are you doing back here, over?’

  ‘Mia, Bongani’s in hospital, they think he’ll be fine. I got a lift back with the national parks helicopter to Kaya Nghala and took a Land Rover. I’m looking for you. Are you OK?’

  ‘I’m fine and Jeff’s with me. Oscar’s been shot, but he and Graham killed the poacher. It was Alfred, from security! We’re taking Oscar to Leopard Springs Lodge. We’re in a rush, let me call you back soon.’

  ‘Roger, standing by.’

  Samantha looked to Piet and nodded.

  ‘Right, let’s get on with it,’ Piet said. ‘If you’re with us, Sannie, now’s the time to prove it.’

  ‘No!’ Laura yelled.

  Virtuous opened her eyes and shepherded Lilly behind her. ‘You will have to kill me first.’

  Piet walked to Virtuous and pointed the pistol at the middle of her forehead.

  ‘You may take me,’ Virtuous said. ‘But please do so in exchange for the girl. She is young and fit. Perhaps she can work for you underground, but let her live.’

  Virtuous ignored the pistol, walked around Piet to the pit and stepped off the edge. She landed hard, but managed to ease herself to her knees and slowly stand. Once more she closed her eyes and looked to heaven.

  ‘Sannie?’ Piet said.

  She looked at Lilly. ‘I can’t. Think about what Virtuous said.’

  ‘What about me?’ Laura cried.

  Sannie went to the edge of the pit and looked back at Laura. ‘Do whatever you have to in order to survive.’

  Then Sannie jumped, and focused on landing with her feet together and knees bent. She landed harder than she’d anticipated, but went into a controlled roll. She checked herself and found she was uninjured. Sean, however, was unconscious, and Virtuous had dropped to one knee and was holding her right ankle tightly.

  Sannie looked up at the top of the pit. Piet had Lilly by one upper arm. Laura was screaming, somewhere out of sight. Piet shoved Lilly, and the gangly teenager windmilled her arms as she fell. Sannie did her best to break the girl’s fall, though both of them ended up winded on the floor of the pit.

  Gasping for air, Sannie saw Piet take one look down at them, then turn his back and walk away. Moments later she heard the Land Rover start up. The noise of its engine, and Laura’s wails, disappeared into the bush.

  Sannie managed to stand and went over to Lilly to make sure she had survived the fall. As she helped the girl to sit up, they both sensed movement in their peripheral vision and turned to look through the thick glass window. A crocodile, perhaps three metres long, glided lazily through the water, watching them through one beady eye.

  Chapter 30

  Mia and Jeff had found Graham, staggering in the unforgiving afternoon heat under Oscar’s weight, and loaded them into the Land Rover game viewer.

  As Mia had told Sara, they were following Graham’s original plan, to head to Leopard Springs as the nearest lodge. Jeff had already radioed for a helicopter evacuation from the lodge’s helipad.

  Mia was in the first tier of seats, behind Jeff, who was still driving. Oscar was lying along the centre row of seats. Mia held one of his hands and Graham, seated with his comrade, held the other. There was not much more they could do for him right now. Oscar, while in terrible pain, was still conscious and trying to be stoic.

  ‘Not long now, bru.’ Graham used his free hand to wipe tears from his eyes every now and then.

  Mia was touched by Graham’s show of emotion. ‘You really do care for him, don’t you, Graham?’

  ‘The big bastard’s like my brother. I don’t want to lose him.’ Graham swallowed a sob. ‘Or you.’

  With Mia giving general directions based on the position of the sun and her knowledge that they would hit a game-viewing road soon enough, Jeff bashed through the bush, weaving in and out of larger trees.

  They came to a dirt road and Mia told Jeff to turn right, mentally picturing the layout of Leopard Springs as best she could. She did not know the reserve well, but arrogant Jake, the guide who had hit on her at the airport, had invited Mi
a and Bongani and a few of the other staff from Lion Plains over for a weekend a few months earlier when all of them were suffering the lockdown blues. They had been on a few game drives. Jake had hinted that there was big work being done on the Leopard’s Rest waterhole, but had made a point of telling them all that they were forbidden to visit the dam as there was some sort of revolutionary new attraction being built there. Whether or not anyone at Leopard Springs was aware of what was really going on underground would probably be the subject of a future police investigation, Mia thought.

  ‘Jeff.’

  He looked back at her. ‘Up ahead somewhere you’ll see a turnoff to a place called Leopard’s Rest. Take it, even if it says no entry. It should be a quicker route to the lodge.’

  ‘Yes ma’am.’

  Graham reached for her hand and she took it and squeezed it.

  What on earth was she going to do about these two – Jeff and Graham? That was also going to be the subject of future questioning and investigation, she decided. Almost to her shame, she had felt something intense with Jeff, though now was not the time to be reliving crazy dreams.

  *

  Sannie stood at the bottom of the pit, feet apart, legs bent in a squat position, hands braced against the rough concrete wall. Her shoulders took terrible strain as Lilly helped Virtuous up onto them.

  Her thighs and calves burned and Sannie emitted an involuntary yell as she pushed herself until her legs were straight. Although the bullet wound she was carrying was not much more than a graze it was hurting like hell now. The sangoma, no lightweight, wobbled precariously as lithe young Lilly used hands and bare feet to climb Sannie and then the older woman like a human ladder. Even though Lilly probably weighed no more than fifty kilograms, the extra weight felt like it was going to crush Sannie’s body.

  ‘I can’t stay here for much longer,’ Virtuous protested.

  ‘I’m almost there,’ Lilly said.