by T. M. Clark
Amos shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Sixpence, is there any evidence that this lion is hurt?’ She bumped the mouse and it changed spreadsheets. She stared.
‘No, Miss Peta. Looking at the tracks, it was a loner. Perhaps he is one that hunts men—’ He stopped talking. ‘What is it?’
Peta was staring at the screen. She sat in the chair and flicked through the other programs and open documents.
‘Maps. Look, here is the koppie, and it’s marked on his map with a cross.’ She continued to slowly pan through the map, looking at the sites marked. ‘Many of the sites that he’s marked are the sites I’ve marked in my office. Look, every one’s the place of a white cross. I wonder what the others are?’
Sixpence shook his head. ‘I do not know, Miss Peta. I am sure you will figure it out, but first we need to concentrate on the lion.’
‘What did you find?’ Peta asked, giving him her attention again. She stood up, closed the computer and took it with her as she followed Sixpence.
‘This man, he never stood a chance. Look.’ Sixpence walked back to the tracks. He pointed at the ground. ‘The man was caught unprepared, and he did not even get close to his weapons. The lion was between him and his guns. His body was away slightly from camp. Perhaps he went for a pee, like he has done often before, pissing around his tent, keeping some predators away. Scent marking. But this time, he ended up getting more than he bargained for: he walked into where the lion lay watching him. This is what the tracks tell me, but in true life, it could have been different.’
‘When have you ever read the tracks in the sand wrong, my old friend?’ Peta asked.
‘Not often. He is the master of all trackers,’ Amos said, joining them.
Peta smiled.
‘Miss Peta, you need to get back on your radio. If this lion continues travelling southwest like he is doing, he will cross into the old Tribal Trust Lands, and there are people there who could be in danger. It has been a few years since we had a man-eater in this park.’
CHAPTER
9
The Warning
Joss wrapped the towel around his waist and slowly transferred himself into his wheelchair. Now that he and Bongani had transformed his en-suite bathroom into a wet room, showering had become much easier. He had also installed stainless-steel rails along the walls and by his toilet.
The lights flickered and lit brightly again, a sure sign that they were about to have yet another power failure. Thankfully the big generator, now rewired to also power his house, would kick in. He opened the bathroom door and wheeled himself into his room. Once he’d settled on the bed, he lifted his laptop and logged in.
His friends were all on the other end of the computer or a telephone. His commando buddies who lived in England had made noises about visiting, but were still leaving him to his own devices. He thought of his circle, the men he had fought with. Some had died fighting alongside him, and some were permanently damaged. Like him, they bore their scars, and wore their prosthetics.
At least Peta was here, and hadn’t been subjected to the horrors of the Afghanistan war.
He shook his head as if to dislodge the thought of her.
The lights went out at the same moment his cell phone rang, its screen bright blue in the darkness. No caller ID. He answered anyway. The generator clicked on and the room was flooded with light once more.
‘Hello?’
‘Hey, it’s Peta.’
‘Hi. What’s up?’
‘A few things actually—’
‘Hang on, I never gave you this number. How—’
‘No, you didn’t, but the receptionist at your front desk did when I asked for it and told her who I was.’
He smiled, lying back and stuffing his pillow under his head. ‘Right. And who did you claim to be?’
‘Not some damsel in distress, I promise. I told her I was the AWIC veterinary representative of Matusadona and Chizarira National Parks, and I needed to speak with the lodge owner urgently. And that would be you.’
‘Ah, in that case I guess I don’t need to fire her for passing on my personal information to a stranger.’ He laughed quietly.
‘I’m no stranger to you, Joss,’ Peta said. ‘I saw more of you growing up than I care to remember.’
He could hear her smile and could almost see her nose crinkling as she tried to stop herself from laughing, her hand coming up to her chest in the way it always did when she lost control of her laughter. Because any moment she would snort, and she hated snorting, so it would be even funnier, and she would laugh again. He and Courtney used to almost pee their pants making her laugh.
‘So, what’s so important that you had to call me at this late hour? Not that I mind,’ he added quickly. ‘It’s great to hear from you.’
In those first few days home, he’d so often reached for her card to call her, wanting to talk to her, find out if she was okay, but then become too embarrassed about what had happened in Beit Bridge. He had been a coward, not wanting to own up to the fact that he’d broken one of his own rules: never hurt a woman; always treat her with respect.
He swallowed his pride and opened his mouth to ask, but no sound came out.
‘I wanted to know how you are?’ she said. ‘If you settled in okay. If Bongani had looked after your lodge nicely for you?’ She was stalling, her sentences running on too quickly. He had heard people talk like this many times when interrogated, or when in a war zone and scared.
He sat up. ‘No, you didn’t. If you wanted to know that you would have called before now. What’s wrong?’
‘I have some bad news. There’s a man-eating lion coming your way. We found remains in Chizarira, and then another body yesterday, just inside the Chete Safari Area. The tracks turned south. He appears to be meandering down through the Sijarira Forest Area – towards you guys. My men are on his trail, and I wanted to give you the heads-up. Warn your people, Joss. The last thing you need is a man-eater near your tourists. You will get an official ZimParks notice, if it ever gets done, but I wanted you to know so you could prepare the kraals in your area.’
‘Bongani will get word to those areas and we’ll take extra care with the tourists.’ Joss waited for Peta to say something else, but she was silent. ‘So, you’re sure you have two confirmed kills?’ Lions could travel immense distances, so if it decided it was coming to a new hunting ground, the people in his area were in trouble.
‘Two that we know of. The first we stumbled on by total fluke, but then some of the anti-poaching guards began tracking the lion, and they came across the next victim. Poor guy riding a bicycle down the road. Two men within a week.’
‘How much time do you think we have?’ Joss was preparing for a shopping trip to Bulawayo for more timber for ramps through the lodge and, despite Bongani’s objections to his improvements, he had a meeting with a pool construction company for the lap pool he needed for his rehabilitation. He couldn’t go if there was danger. Bongani would need help to organise his people.
‘Another week at most before he’s in your area. But he’s probably already in range of the outer villages.’
‘You sure it’s a he?’
‘No. I keep calling it a “he” because I would hate to think of it being a pregnant lioness that has to be destroyed.’
‘Poor bastard.’
‘I’m worried. The area didn’t used to be so densely populated and there’re many people who don’t realise the danger of a rogue lion. This lion’s feet are huge, bigger than average, and he seems to have developed a taste for men. It doesn’t seem to be that he’s old and can’t catch anything else. It’s as if he’s targeted these men specifically, which is madness in itself. There was a woman who was sitting behind the man on his bicycle; she said the lion didn’t try to chase her at all. He attacked her husband as if he wasn’t interested in her.’
‘That’s different.’
‘I know, weird. I’m worried. You’re not as agile as you once were—
’
‘You’re bringing my legs into this?’
‘Oh no, just that you walk slower now ... that you ...’
He covered his eyes with his hand, trying to block out the pity he heard in her voice. The pity he’d hoped to never hear from Courtney now rang clearly from Peta. ‘Lions can’t eat plastic and steel legs. I’ll be fine, Peta,’ he said.
‘Oh, you are a – forget it. Forget that I said anything about it, okay?’
‘How did your game settle in?’ He switched to small talk to try to keep her on the line.
‘My stallion is amazing, although I don’t get to spend enough time on him. The duggaboy ran into the bushes the moment we opened the boma, and I hope he stays far away from the camp. I don’t ever want to see him again. The rhino settled in like he’s always belonged here. He’s already courting a female or two through the boma fence. Give him another week or so and we can let him free too. How have you found settling back into the old place?’
‘We’ve had to make a few changes to the house, but mostly it looks like it came out of a time warp. Exactly the same.’
‘That must feel a little strange?’
‘I needed the familiarity at first. Now, not so much. We’re planning on going into Bulawayo soon for more materials. I need to have ramp access the whole way through, and we’re running out of usable timber. I’d forgotten how many stairs there are in this place.’
‘Joss, you know that there are people in safari lodges who have been kicked out by war vets, had their buildings taken?’
‘I know, but these changes are needed for me to be able to get around on days that I need to use the chair rather than my prosthetics. If it will put your mind at ease a little, I went through a list of those lodges with Bongani. All the attacks have been politically motivated, and some didn’t have the support of the locals in the first place. Hopefully war vets won’t touch me because I’m so far from anything, not even on the edge of a game reserve, in the buffer zone of Kariba and the BaTonga people. Besides, I border Chief Tigere’s land, so we should be okay.’
‘Be careful with what you invest, is all I’m saying.’
‘I will, Peta. I meant to call—’
‘No, you didn’t. You avoided me because of what happened. I want you to know that I’m okay. No hard feelings, no permanent marks. All forgiven and forgotten on my side. So, if that’s the reason, I’m not okay with you avoiding me. You were my sister’s best friend. Hell, at one time, we were friends, even if I was older than you. I used to envy you and Court, so carefree together. Full of life and vitality. I could do with you in my life, since she can’t be with me.’
Joss blew his breath out. ‘Peta—’
‘No, hear me out.’ Her voice went up a notch. He remembered that tone only too well from yesteryear, and he wasn’t about to interrupt. When Peta raised her voice, you listened.
‘I’m fine, seriously. Those bruises faded within a week. But I keep thinking of you, wondering how you are. Wondering how you’re managing in your home, now that you’re so changed. I find myself thinking that you were nothing but truthful with me, and how lucky Courtney was to have you as a friend all these years. The lion was my push to call you. I wanted to talk with you, hear your voice.’
He let out the breath he’d been holding, and knew things were going to be okay between them. The years had passed, and many changes had happened, but underneath all that, their friendship from so many years ago had endured. She’d been brutally honest with him, and now it was his turn.
‘Peta, I’m glad to hear from you, honestly. I wasn’t sure you wanted me in your life again. You said it yourself, I’m a ticking time bomb.’
‘That you are. But friends are thin on the ground these days. I spend too many hours in the bush. Work colleagues come and go. All these years we’ve known each other, Courtney was always there, but there was a friendship between us too, and friends accept that people change – and they accommodate those changes.’
He chuckled, trying hard to get out of the intense conversation.
‘I wanted to say hello. See how you are. Find out if you’re okay,’ Peta said.
His shoulders relaxed, and he stretched out his stumps. It was going to be alright, the angst was gone from her voice. ‘Have you let any of the other safari operators know yet?’
‘Only you. The office can do those calls in the morning.’
Joss smiled. ‘I’m happy you rang. Sorry about the victims the lion took to get you to call me, but I’m glad to hear from you.’
There was quiet at the other end of the line, then she said, ‘How are your therapy sessions going?’
‘Difficult, with the constant electricity cuts, and the internet isn’t so flash either. I rewired the big generator so I have power in the house when the ZESA goes off. Luckily, the one at the lodge was big enough to share power with the house. I’ve ordered a new diesel one too. The one my dad put in is getting old.’
‘You going to throw it out?’
‘Hell, no. I’m planning to relocate it to the village and sink another borehole there for water.’
‘You putting in power to Bongani’s village?’
‘Yes, it’s time he came into the twenty-first century.’
‘So much for critical repairs and renovations only. What are you planning, Joss? I can hear your brain ticking from here.’
‘Nothing major. I want Bongani to have the same comforts he’s had in the lodge staff house now that he’s moved back to his village to be near his dad. We’re going to be doing a bit of renovating, some indoor plumbing, underground electrical work, that sort of stuff. Old Chief Tigere’s time is coming, so Bongani needs to be with his people. There’s no need for him to live in the past because of the move.’
‘Oh, is that all? I know how much that stuff costs. Did you knock off a bank or something while you were in Afghanistan?’
‘No, but Bongani was a good manager.’ He smiled again, and shook his head, thinking that smiling was becoming infectious when he spoke with Peta. Thank God that the payouts from his parents’ life insurance policies had been sitting in an English bank. ‘Are you up at Matusadona or closer? You can come on over if you want? Or we can meet you on the road somewhere to share a meal? Picnic like we used to with the folks. I probably shouldn’t go out of the area now with the news of that lion, but I could still see you—’
‘Little Joss Brennan, are you asking me on a date?’ Peta said.
‘I guess I am.’
‘I’m at Matusadona. How about you come here, and pay your respects to Courtney like you wanted to?’
‘I will, but not now. I’m not ready to finally let her go yet.’
Peta paused, then said, ‘Believe me, I understand that feeling. Perhaps I can come spend a weekend some time at your lodge? The road isn’t in bad condition at the moment, so I can drive down in a few hours.’
Joss felt his heart race in anticipation. ‘Been a few years since we were here together; you’ll see a lot of changes in the lodge. You sure you’re okay with the drive down?’
‘I’d love to come. Amos will drive down with me. That won’t be a problem, will it?’
‘Amos?’ His heart stopped beating for a nanosecond. ‘Who’s Amos?’
‘My assistant. I don’t fancy driving through your side of the communal lands without him. Besides, if we make our way down, we can check on my guys following that lion, see how far they’ve got. They might need rations restocked. Do you still have a catamaran or skimmer we can use? Been years since we did any tiger fishing.’
He had forgotten how much Peta loved to fish. She didn’t like to eat them, but she loved catching them and throwing them back into the water so they could be free again.
‘Fishing, that’s all you can come up with?’ he said, and couldn’t keep the amusement out of his voice, as once again he shimmied down the bed and lay on his back.
‘I’m looking forward to seeing my old friend too, I’ll be in touch as to when.’<
br />
He heard the phone click in his ear and knew she had hung up on him, but he couldn’t stop grinning.
Not exactly a commitment to a date to visit, but it was better than nothing. The next week was going to be extremely challenging, but damn if he wasn’t looking forward to getting it over and done with, knowing that soon he would see Peta. But first he had a district to get ready for a rogue lion.
No: Bongani would need to get everyone ready. This would be yet another test of his strength as chief-in-waiting, and Joss had to ensure that no one attempted to look to him for help; they needed to continue to look to Bongani.
It wasn’t going to be easy, but with any luck, Bongani could contact all his people and they could start being more vigilant. The villagers would have to bring their goats and cattle in and make bomas to keep them safe for a while. Most of those on the northern tip of the area did that each night anyway, as they were used to predators. It was only those closer to the lodge who were unprepared.
Joss’s job would be to ensure that his guests in the lodge understood the significance of the lion in the area too.
Joss called Bongani’s cell phone, punching the speaker button while he dressed in boxers and a T-shirt.
‘What is the matter?’
‘I’m good, but can you pop over here before going back to your village tonight? I just got off the phone with Peta. She says there’s a man-eating lion on its way into the area. You need to warn your people.’
‘I’ll be right over.’
Five minutes later, Bongani was letting himself through the kitchen to meet Joss in the dining room. He carried a big map of the area and a slim binder. ‘I have a plan drawn up for when something like this happens.’
Lwazi came into the dining room. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Everything’s fine, thanks, Lwazi,’ Joss said.
‘You sure?’
Joss nodded. ‘It’s okay, go back to bed; you have school tomorrow.’
‘Night, then.’ Lwazi waved and walked down the passage. They heard his door close softly.
‘Things working okay?’ Bongani asked.