by T. M. Clark
Chloe grinned when she saw them. There should have been four men. She frowned. ‘Where’s Khululani?’
‘He’s fine. He took a different route,’ Nick said as he came and sat next to her. A little closer than where Xo sat on the other side. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
‘Good to see you sitting up and talking sense,’ he teased.
Chloe could feel the blush rising from her chest.
‘You had us worried,’ Nick said.
Ethel drew a small blanket over Mike, and then began stoking the fire.
‘Thank you, Ethel, but I can fix my own dinner later,’ Nick said. ‘You’re already busy.’
‘Mike’s asleep, I was just massaging his legs some more before Enoch moves him into the cave for the night. I’ll do your dinner, you must be hungry,’ she said.
‘Thank you,’ Nick said and Ethel passed him a cup of cold tea that she had made earlier and left to steep.
Filipe crouched by the fire, and Enoch sat opposite them. Ethel passed them both some cold tea.
‘Are you better now, Chloe?’ Nick asked.
‘Mostly. I threw up over Xo and have spent the last two days with the shakes, so that’s not fantastic, but I hope we can start again tomorrow.’
‘Sorry that Khululani and I had to go away.’
‘I was mostly sleeping, I didn’t know you’d left,’ Chloe admitted. ‘What did you find? And I don’t want to hear a watered-down girlie version, I want the truth.’
Nick nodded. ‘We might be in more trouble than we originally thought with this guy.’
Enoch came and sat closer to Nick so he could hear better.
‘The explosion was the Caçador Escuro destroying his own bakkie,’ Nick said.
‘Eish. That’s nuts,’ Xo said.
‘He’s one deranged individual. We cut through the bush to the area where we saw the explosion. He might’ve been able to burn his vehicle, but the metal still showed the bullet holes. He had burned the lady passenger and someone else, too, to make it look like he was dead as well. She was still in her seat at the time of his torching the vehicle, as we had to chase the hyenas away. They’d pulled her body halfway out of the back window. There were also another vehicle’s tracks. It’d pulled over to the side of the road. The bad news is, he didn’t go back to Zimbabwe or further into South Africa after he’d destroyed his bakkie. He backtracked towards Mapai and parked where he had for his last hunt. He’s now on foot and Khululani and I think he’s after us.’
‘Fuck!’ Xo said, putting his hands on his head.
‘Watch your mouth,’ Enoch said.
‘Sorry, Dad,’ Xo said immediately.
‘He knows how to read spoor well. He followed ours, got a little confused at the grave site, and then trekked back to where our truck had parked. Once he knew we were travelling in a vehicle, he followed us to where the RENAMO guys’ tracks crossed over ours and changed direction about an hour and a half north of Mapai, obviously thinking we had gone north, and then turned back. He made a mistake, thank God. He changed direction and followed the RENAMO soldiers in the truck. We followed him for another day, making sure he was heading away from us, then we decided to split up. I came back to continue to travel with you, help keep guard. Khululani is still following after the Caçador Escuro, to shadow him, see where he ends up. If it looks like he’s turning our way, then he’ll leg it here to give us warning.’
‘No offence, but despite Khululani being amazing and fit, he’s on foot. How’s he supposed to race to us and find us once we move again?’ Xo asked.
Nick smiled. ‘That man is part of Africa, he can be a tree, he can be the water. He’ll find us. The only reason he would ever give up and not keep his word is if he’s dead. But the likelihood of that happening is slim. The Caçador Escuro won’t even know that Khululani is shadowing him.’
‘This is an interesting development,’ Enoch said. ‘When we left, we thought that if we could just get to Zimbabwe we would be safe from the SAP. Now we have to get to Zimbabwe and make sure that this Caçador Escuro never finds us. It seems the further we go, the more trouble we get ourselves into. We really did poke the lion’s balls!’
‘What?’ Chloe said.
Enoch quickly explained as they all started to laugh. It helped break the growing tension within the group.
Nick coughed. ‘Trouble used to be my middle name, but I hope that with all of us watching, we can make sure that the Caçador Escuro doesn’t get close enough.’
No longer laughing either, Enoch shook his head. ‘This is worse than I thought could happen. We will be constantly wondering if we are in his crosshairs now.’
* * *
Chloe woke to the quiet murmur of Enoch and Nick speaking. She could feel that she was held tightly against Nick, his arm over her back, keeping her close to him. She could feel his breathing and the deep vibrations when he spoke as her head was on his chest. Not wanting to move but knowing that soon she would have to, she stayed still for a moment listening.
‘You have to tell her, Enoch,’ Nick was saying. ‘She deserves to know what happened, and more importantly, why.’
‘It’s not your secret to tell, you made your decision then,’ Enoch said.
‘I did, and I have learned to live with the consequences of that. But if you get killed on this journey? What then?’
‘Then you tell her,’ Enoch said.
‘I don’t know everything. That’s the point. And if we both die? It’s not as if Mike can communicate and explain everything to her. What about Xo? You telling me you never discussed what happened with him either? He’s a grown man.’
‘Leave Xo out of it.’
‘Why? If you die, doesn’t some of the gold belong to him?’
‘No. The gold is Mike’s. It always has been,’ Enoch said.
‘Well, Mike can’t exactly do anything with it now, can he. It’s Chloe that’ll have to answer any weird police charges if anyone remembers when you guys return.’
‘If anyone remembers. Grace said there had only ever been one policeman come sniffing around.’
‘That’s one too many. Chloe has no idea what she’s heading back into. You of all people must understand you might not have the luxury of time. The hunter is out there, there are dissidents rumoured to be Mugabe’s 5th Brigade running around Matabeleland, murdering everyone. You were a Rhodesian Grey’s Scout. They’ll think of you as a threat, too. I’m not so sure that Delaware is as safe as you all hope it will be.’
‘I will tell her when I am ready,’ Enoch said.
Chloe decided enough was enough. ‘Tell me what?’ she said.
‘How much have you heard?’ Enoch asked.
‘Enough to know it’s time you told Xo and me what happened,’ she said. ‘Because if you do die, there are so many things that will be left unsaid between us that you will not cross over to the other side. You will haunt the earth forever. A lost spirit.’ She took a big breath. ‘Enoch, we need to talk about what happened on the day Dad had his accident. The truth. I want to know the whole story.’
‘Told you we should not have been talking with her close by,’ Enoch said.
‘I’m going to wake Xo, and you’re going to have a family chat.’
Enoch’s shoulders slumped. ‘You are like a tsetse fly, you keep on and on. You are never going to allow me any peace if I do not, are you?’
‘No,’ Nick said, giving Chloe’s shoulder a squeeze. ‘Not anymore. I’m going into the cave and Xo is coming out. Talk. All your lives are in danger, and you can’t have unfinished business and regrets if you die.’
‘Nick, you need to come back and listen too, you are right. Perhaps by having this out in the open, it can help heal both you and me, because it certainly can’t help Mike,’ Enoch said.
‘Thanks. There are questions I still have that are unanswered too,’ Nick admitted.
Enoch stared into the fire as they waited for Nick to return with Xo.
Within minutes, Xo walked out of the cave and went to sit next to his father. ‘Dad, Nick just told me you want to talk to us about the day that Mike was hurt.’
Enoch shook his head. He stood up and paced a few steps before sitting down again. He chewed the side of his thumb nail.
‘My son, and Chloe,’ he began, ‘the daughter who loves her father, and as a daughter who loves me, a simple black man. I need you both to know that deep down inside we were always good people. Before the madness.’
Chloe said, ‘I know you are still a good person, Enoch.’
‘Dad …’ Xo’s voice broke.
Enoch took in a deep breath and then let it out. ‘I knew this day would come. I have dreaded each day waiting for you both to push for the answer. It eats inside me, like maggots on rotten flesh, but I dread telling you. I do not want to see the light that you both hold in your eyes for me dim and turn to hatred.’
Chloe reached across and took Enoch’s hand. ‘I can never hate you, but I need the truth, Enoch. I deserve to know what happened.’
‘Whatever it is, Dad, you need to tell us, we’re adults. You can stop trying to protect us. We can make up our own minds when you explain,’ Xo said.
Enoch wiped the sweat from his forehead. ‘This is mostly for Chloe. I tried so hard to keep you out of it. I never wanted you tainted, Xo.’
Xo nodded his head.
‘I’m listening,’ Chloe said.
Nick sat down on the other side of her and took her hand in his.
Enoch sighed. ‘That day is burned into my memory …’
* * *
Mike passed Enoch a bottle of water from the Coleman. ‘Chloe’s going to love that last jump you and Xo constructed,’ Mike said.
‘I think they are nuts to jump up and out of a riverbed like that, but then I have become more cautious now that I am older, and do not bounce quite as well as the children,’ Enoch said.
Mike laughed. ‘It’s been many years since either of us bounced. Now when I hit the dirt, it hurts like hell.’
‘Who would have thought that we would be getting older,’ Enoch said.
‘Glad you said older. I don’t feel old. Not unless I fall off Diablo, then I feel as if every bone in my body is breaking.’
‘That is because he is over sixteen hands tall. It is far for anyone to fall from up there.’
Mike laughed. ‘I think Diablo must have been a throwback to some thoroughbred that was also loose on that farm. Seriously, Zonda couldn’t be his sire.’
‘That, or you overfed him as a foal. You bottle-fed him around the clock after his mum died! That’s how he got so tall, too much milk.’
‘That was a sad day when we lost that mare,’ Mike said, shaking his head.
As they came towards the fence, the maid Milly was running towards them. ‘Baas Mike, Baas Mike. Telephone. The man said it is very urgent.’
Enoch watched Mike taking the steps two at a time, and running into the study area where the phone was. Enoch waited outside the door.
‘We need to get to the hospital. Sarah’s hurt,’ Mike said as he headed back outside.
Enoch nodded, and together they ran for the bakkie. Enoch went to the driver’s door and stopped Mike getting into the seat. ‘I will drive, you are too upset.’
‘Fine,’ Mike said, ‘you always drive faster anyway.’
They reached the hospital at breakneck speed and rushed into the ER waiting area.
‘My name is Mike Mitchell. I was told my wife is here,’ he said to the nurse at the counter.
She looked at a chart on the wall. ‘They’ve taken her into surgery—they couldn’t wait.’
Mike ran his hand through his hair. ‘Can you tell me anything else?’
The nurse read the chart. ‘She was unconscious when the ambulance brought her in. She was brought in with another patient, who’s also in the emergency rooms, and there was a security guard—who’s also in a bad state, who they took to Impendla Hospital.’
‘Do you know anything about what happened?’
‘Sorry, but I can let you through to wait in her cubicle. The doctor will come back there once she’s finished in surgery.’
‘Thanks,’ Mike said as the nurse led them through to wait in the curtained-off portion of the ER, before going back to her desk.
Mike sat in the chair and Enoch stood.
‘Wait a moment, she said “another patient”. The only other white person at the mine this week was Andy Pryor because of the work stoppage. Andy is here too,’ Mike said, beginning to walk through the emergency room, opening curtains one by one until he found him.
Andy had a bandage on his head, and the doctor was finishing putting plaster on his arms, which had been broken. A nasty cut above his left eye had already been stitched closed.
‘What happened?’ Mike asked.
‘Mike,’ Andy said.
‘What happened?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t remember.’
‘Bullshit,’ Mike said, taking a step towards him. ‘What happened? Was there a riot? Yesterday it was just a peaceful work stoppage. What did you do to make it turn into a blood bath?’
‘Sir, I’ll have to ask you to leave—or I will get security to come and remove you,’ the doctor was saying over and over.
Enoch tapped Mike on his elbow and tried to guide him back into the waiting area. ‘Brother. Come with me.’ His insistence eventually managed to break through the haze that Mike was in.
‘This isn’t finished. I want answers,’ Mike said as he turned and walked away with Enoch.
‘Come sit,’ Enoch said when they were back in Sarah’s cubicle. ‘I think we will get more answers from the mine’s security guard. You stay here, and I will go and talk to him in Impendla after we know what is happening with Sarah.’
Mike nodded and sat down. ‘I know that Andy had something to do with it. That man is terrible to his staff. I want to know what he did that pushed those men over the edge and caused them to riot. To get Sarah hurt. This’s his fault, and he’s going to pin it on the workers, just wait. I bet you anything his bad work ethics won’t be questioned here, and once again they’ll all be swept under the mat.’
‘We don’t know that yet,’ Enoch said. ‘You’ll need proof if you are going to be saying something like that against him.’
The doctor came into the emergency cubicle. ‘Mr Mitchell, can you come with me, please?’
Enoch watched Mike walk into a private waiting room. He walked closer. With the mood Mike was in, anything could happen, and he would rather be on hand just in case.
Through the window, Enoch saw Mike kick a trolley full of medical equipment, which toppled over. Enoch burst into the room, taking the doctor by surprise as he held Mike in a grip around his arms, and while he didn’t struggle, he was swearing and breathing hard.
Enoch looked at the doctor. ‘What happened with Sarah?’
‘She didn’t make it,’ the doctor said. ‘I’m sorry—we did everything we could.’
‘When can he see Sarah?’ Enoch asked.
‘That won’t be possible,’ the doctor said.
Enoch shook his head, still holding Mike. ‘Make it happen, or I will let him loose.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ the doctor said, backing down.
‘Better,’ Enoch said as the doctor left the room.
Mike had quietened and now sat on the edge of a chair, while Enoch stood close by.
Sometime later the doctor came back into the room. ‘Follow me.’
They walked into a private ward, where a body with a sheet rested on the bed. The doctor left them in the room and excused himself.
Enoch’s heart broke when he saw Mike lift the sheet to find Sarah’s head wrapped in blood-stained bandages. Mike took the sheet down further. She was dressed in a hospital gown, and while all the tubes and needles had been removed, it was clear that she’d only been hastily cleaned to allow them to see her as quickly as possible.
> At least Mike could hold her one last time as he sat on the bed next to her, put his nose to hers and broke down.
Enoch left him there and returned to the bakkie. He drove to Impendla Hospital, which was reserved for the black population—although that would hopefully change with the New Zimbabwe. He had got directions to Sammy Mabiza’s ward from the nurse on duty.
He found the security guard, Sammy, lying on a bed in a shared ward surrounded by beds filled with strangers. He had no family or friends around him for support. He had bandages around his head and chest, and his hands were both bandaged. His left shoulder was strapped to keep it upright. The man had taken a severe beating from what Enoch could see.
He approached the bed with respect.
‘Salibonani. Linjani? Can I visit with you? I am a friend of Sarah Mitchell.’
The old man turned his head and nodded, and he smiled as best he could with his swollen lips and face. ‘Siyaphila. Unjani wena?’
‘Sikhona.’ Enoch smiled. Even though the old man was hurt, he was still sticking to their formal traditional greeting.
‘How is Madam Sarah?’ Sammy asked.
‘She is on the other side now. But I can see that you are in great pain.’
Enoch watched as Sammy tried to hold in his emotions and failed, and tears welled in his yellowing eyes.
‘Uxolo,’ Sammy said. ‘I tried to protect her, I tried.’
Enoch chose his words carefully. Although he and Mike treated each other as equals, he was still seen as ‘Mike’s boy’ by many of the people in their country. A time would eventually come when that would hopefully change, but not today. Sammy was old, so Enoch needed to appeal to the man’s traditional ways. Older people deserved respect, and they were not usually questioned.
‘I see that,’ Enoch said. ‘That is what I came to ask you about. I wanted to know what happened at the mine. How my madam got hurt? I know my madam—she is a good woman. She is a friend to everyone. Why did the workers hurt her?’
‘She tried to leave. Baas Pryor, he told me not to vula the gate if the men outside got cross. I told her to go back inside where it was made of bricks and it was safe. When they came through the fence, she couldn’t get back inside.’