She thought about the snake that strikes from trees. She squinted up to the high boughs and realized that nothing could touch her from that distance, but the darkness of Africa all around her felt ominous all the same.
Another crack of lightning made the house and the neighbors’ homes go dark. Power outage. Great. Tabitha grabbed a baseball hat from between the seats and mashed it onto her head. She leapt from the car and sprinted toward the house in the rain. She paused to regain her composure. She could smell the smoke mixed with the scent of wet air. She hoped there’d been no bodies in that fire. She knocked on the door and heard voices inside.
It took some time for someone to open the door. A young girl stood holding a candle, and another smaller girl held the door open. Tabitha told them she needed to see their papa. They giggled and left her standing in the doorway in the dark. Tabitha heard voices speaking, but didn’t understand the language. Mpande appeared with a flashlight, which he shone briefly in her face.
“Ms. Cranz, how are you doing?” he said without any enthusiasm.
“I’m fine, but that’s not true of Daniel Kangala, I’m afraid.”
“What has happened? An accident?”
This was the tricky bit to explain. “Not exactly. He’s missing in the bush.”
“What?” The flashlight’s beam shook. He sounded disturbed. Perhaps he was really listening.
“We know Daniel was running an errand for Mhlongo. Over to Satara. Then when we were out looking we found the bakkie he took on an unmarked side road but…the fire…we can’t find him.” Tabitha felt herself running at the mouth, trying justify her intrusion and concern.
“Okay, okay. What kind of errand? Maybe he’s late returning.”
“But the truck. We found it hidden in some brush in a little valley. I lent it to Daniel to go to Satara and back. Daniel would have come back. We had plans for a safari drive. But he was doing work for Mhlongo and now he’s disappeared. Something is wrong. He’s in danger. Can’t you see?”
He held a large palm up for her to stop. “Yes, yes. I believe you.”
“You do?”
“Come.” He gestured for her to come in, and she followed the beam of his flashlight to a telephone in the front hall. Several doors opened off this; behind one she heard the giggles of the little girls. The smell of fried potatoes lingered. “It will be difficult. All my staff was involved in fighting the fire. I’ll call security and put them on the lookout for Daniel.”
“Not the police?”
“We could look for him more quickly and efficiently than the police. I’d appreciate it if we could keep this ‘top ranger goes bad’ story out of the papers and magazines. This is ‘off the record,’ as they say.”
Tabitha stared open-mouthed. Was he going to tell her about the investigation into Mhlongo, or was there something else to hide? He picked up the telephone but discovered it gone along with the lights.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Mpande sighed. “We’ve been concerned that Mhlongo had some illegal activities going on, and we’ve been watching him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this? Is he responsible for my uncle’s death?”
He moved his hands in the sign of surrender again, and the motion made shadows jump on the walls. “We don’t know about your uncle, but it didn’t seem prudent to tell you. I didn’t want you telling all the world about our possible ranger problems. It’s one thing to have a poaching issue, all the parks do, but to have it in-house is quite another problem. We don’t need that kind of publicity, and besides we didn’t want to tip our hand to Mhlongo.”
“I heard on the radio that the fire was arson. Did you find a body?”
Mpande shook his head. “We haven’t searched the area thoroughly yet; it was too late in the day. Souli had a call that a ranger saw a car leaving the area.”
“A park vehicle?”
Mpande shook his head.
Tabitha looked at the phone. “What about Daniel? What are we going to do?”
“It depends. Maybe the radios are working.” His feet made a flat sound crossing the cement floor of his home. He searched through a cabinet, coming up with a walkie-talkie device. Tabitha watched him trying to tune in a channel. She chewed her lip and wondered why they hadn’t put a stop to Mhlongo sooner. It seemed so wrong now.
Static answered Mpande’s furious tuning on the handheld radio unit. A few times he tried speaking into it, but no one’s voice came in response. He slapped it. “I think the electricity for the relay station must be down. This complicates things.” He tapped the handheld unit against his leg at a furious pace.
The front door still stood open, letting in the smell of damp earth and rain and an occasional flash of lightning. In the dim light, she noticed Mpande’s skin had grown shiny with humidity, or maybe sweat. The flashlight threw strange shadows around the hallway.
“We’ve got to organize a search party for Daniel. Don’t you have procedures for this?” Tabitha wanted to shake him from his contemplative state to an active one. Come on.
“Everyone is exhausted after the fire.”
“But Daniel could be out in the bush somewhere.”
“Let’s go find some of my staff. Although, after dark, I don’t know how much searching we can do. It may have to wait until daylight; everyone will be fresher then.” He called something to someone in the house in a language foreign to Tabitha, and they headed out the door into the rain. Tabitha indicated she could drive. He said a staff member would bring him back once they got the generators going.
She slid behind the wheel and ground the gears trying to back out. Time was sliding away. Tabitha followed his instructions to go back to the office block. The two-minute drive took forever. Tabitha’s mind felt numb.
Mpande unlocked the doors and headed inside the building. The darkness of the hallway ate the small beam of the flashlight. Voices in the hallway ahead indicated life in the building.
“Oh, Sir!” A young man in a green uniform pulled himself upright but stopped short of saluting. “We cannot get the emergency generator activated.”
“Can you contact the others on your mobiles?” Mpande asked.
“No, sir. We were wondering if perhaps the signal tower was struck by lightning.”
The man who had told Tabitha to leave earlier appeared around the corner. He gave Tabitha a suspicious look in the dim light.
Mpande ran a hand over his head. “Jonathan, we need to talk. Daniel Kangala was working for Mhlongo…”
Tabitha interrupted. “No. He was doing a favor, so Mhlongo would talk to me for my story.” If they were thinking of Mhlongo as a criminal, Tabitha didn’t want Daniel mixed up in that.
“He’s turned up missing and Ms. Cranz thinks that perhaps he’s met with some danger. Were you following Mhlongo today?”
“No, sir. It was Godfrey, but he lost his trail around noon and came back to camp here hoping to find him again. Then the fire started, and no one saw Mhlongo during that time. He seems to have vanished.”
“What do you mean, vanished?”
“He hasn’t come back and the gates have been closed for some time. He could be camping somewhere. We’ve tracked him doing that in the past,” the guard said.
As they walked through the dark hallway, a few more guards joined them. A small flock of flashlights lit their way. By some unseen signal, the small group came to a halt outside the radio room with the maps. Some of the discussion took place in English and the rest in a tongue Tabitha couldn’t recognize. Mpande seemed about to give instructions to them when Tabitha interrupted.
“I want to help with the search party.”
“Certainly. We were just discussing that we think it would be best to take off at first light. It is too dark and the rain will have obliterated any tracks we might hope to see.”
“What do you mean, morning?” Surely that’s not what he meant. “Don’t you want to find him still alive? We could already be too late. The fire.”<
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“If he’s still alive, I assure you our staff members are trained in survival techniques, but there’s no chance of finding him tonight. Didn’t you look where you found the truck to your satisfaction?”
If he’s still alive? She was losing confidence in Mpande’s vision. Tabitha nodded. “Yes, but…”
“This is a two2 million hectare park. We cannot spend the whole night searching for him in the dark. Our staff is exhausted from fighting a fire today. It’s ineffective. In the morning, we’ll be able to see better. We will find him then.” He tried to soothe and reassure Tabitha, but she wasn’t buying it.
The men were talking quietly among themselves. Someone’s flashlight bobbed in the darkness. Tabitha caught sight of the map on the wall of the radio room. The letters PA jumped out at her. Phillip Adkins.
She saw that no one was going to look for Daniel tonight, and that if anyone did it was up to her. She rubbed her hand on her forehead hiding her eyes, then tried to relax her expression.
“If that’s the way it has to be…”
Mpande nodded. “I see this upsets you, but I can’t risk the safety of the rangers.”
“All right. May I borrow a flashlight to make my way back to the cabins?” She tried to sound nonchalant.
His dark eyes narrowed, but he nodded and handed her a light. The men conversed in their language, and Tabitha turned and stepped into the darkness. The beam of light lit the hallway ahead, but the dark pressed in around her. Her footsteps sounded unnaturally loud on the concrete floor.
Outside, her hand shook as she opened the door of the truck.
Tabitha couldn’t search the entire park on her own, but she could check the road where they’d found Phillip and each road in between. She swallowed hard. It was the least she could do, since Daniel wouldn’t have been in this predicament if not for her. She stomped the truck into reverse and headed to the camp gates. She got out of the car in the light drizzle and pushed the wooden gate open.
Chapter 51
“She was right, you know.” Pieter threw down the packet of slides. “There’s nothing there of interest. She didn’t get any pictures of the enclosure.”
Mhlongo and Johanne stared into the fire as Pieter stood and began pacing. His shadow crossed them, back and forth, back and forth. Mhlongo fingered the slide in his pocket. Why should he tell Pieter? He’d already taken the enclosure slide from the American. Pieter didn’t have to know it ever existed.
“But now, thanks to your ingenious methods, she has thrown her suspicion our way.” He stopped mid-stride and threw a withering look at the two men fixated on the flames. He continued in a frenzy of words, “We’ve managed to avoid the suspicions of governments, customs, and police for years, only to have you blow it with a half-cocked American journalist.”
“It were him killing her uncle that did it.” Johanne said, poking a big thumb at Mhlongo.
Pieter spun around. He snatched a burning log from the fire and lunged, holding it inches from Johanne’s face. “Let us talk a little about personal responsibility.” Johanne leaned back as far as his large bulky body would allow. He raised his arms in surrender. “You were there on each occasion. You are an accessory, as our dear authorities say.” He whipped the flaming ember towards Mhlongo’s head. “And you.” Mhlongo didn’t flinch or duck. “You think you have what it takes to be the man, the one in charge?”
Mhlongo shrugged, his shoulder almost touching the flame. “You baas,” he said, not meeting Pieter’s eyes. Mhlongo’s insolence released anger like steam into Pieter. He drew back and thrashed Mhlongo with the burning log. Mhlongo defended his face with his arm and squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. A wordless growl erupted from Pieter’s mouth, and he flung the log back into the fire.
In the silence, they could hear the crackle of the fire and Pieter’s heavy breathing.
Pieter broke the heavy silence. “I want no more surprises. Make certain you have not made any other mistakes.” He paced around a moment. “Where are my certificates?”
Mhlongo spoke in a low even tone. “I made arrangements for someone to bring them to Satara Camp. They are ready for pickup.”
“Is this person reliable? Did you have to pay them?”
“They were ignorant. Just making the delivery for me.”
The muscles worked in Pieter’s jaw. “Make certain of it.”
Mhlongo raised his eyebrows and a smile twitched at his mouth. He already had.
Chapter 52
Tabitha inched the bakkie through the opening she had created at the front gate, then got out to return the gate to its closed position. The darkness ate up the headlights as Tabitha drove. The artificial light seemed harsh and menacing on the privacy of the bush late at night. Would Daniel be dead in the darkness? She prayed not. If she could just remember where that road was exactly. She flicked on the windshield wipers to combat the drizzle.
She drove for 20 twenty minutes and as the distance grew from camp, her confidence diminished. She’d tried three small tracks that led to nowhere so far. What could she do out here by herself? A dirt track opened up off to her left. She wasn’t sure this was the one where they had found Phillip, but it seemed the right distance from camp. She left the asphalt and felt the pull of the wet sand on the tires. It was a dead end and seemed like it might be the same spot. She knew people and assistance were many kilometers away. She felt like the only person left in the world.
She opened her window and shone the flashlight around. No obvious signs of predators. Only her nerves standing on end signaled danger. If this was the same spot, it was a confirmed predator path. The light glinted on a boulder just off the road to her left. Tabitha remembered thoughts of her uncle using the rock for a minimal amount of shelter when she was here with Daniel.
“Daniel?” It came out barely above a whisper. She could do better.
She climbed from the truck and tiptoed through the night. The sound of night insects reached her through the rain. An occasional bolt of lightning told of the storm still lingering. She pressed around the end of the boulder.
She used her light to look behind the rock. The sand had been disturbed. Even to her amateur eyes, it looked like someone had been there, and whoever it was had traveled the narrow path leading away from the boulder. She flashed the light across the darkened bush and set out down the path. The thick brush scraped against her shoulders, sounding unnaturally loud. Another crack of thunder shook the sky. Tabitha shivered.
“Daniel,” she said to reassure herself. She tightened her grip on the flashlight.
She glimpsed a tall tree disappearing up into the night, but the tight pathway made it impossible to see how far it was ahead of her. She swept the light along the path, watching for the sparkle of predator eyes reflecting back at her. No visitors that she could detect. No Daniel either. She wound her way further into the bush. The beam of the light did little to diminish the darkness.
The crack of a branch made her break into a trot, but she would not turn back. Her heart pounded a rhythm in her neck.
She followed a bend in the path and saw a lump lying at the base of the tree. Oh, no, oh no. Tabitha scrambled forward in the damp sand. The lump appeared to be a crumpled heap of clothes and blood. As she came on it, Tabitha could see that it was actually Daniel, curled into a tight ball.
“Daniel! Are you all right?” Tabitha knelt and tried to see if he was tied. A moan escaped the big man’s throat. Surely making sounds was a good sign. “Can you hear me?” She flashed the light over him, trying to see his injuries. A rope lashed him to the tree.
Another moan accompanied by a nod. He’s conscious, Tabitha thought. The iron smell of the blood wafted to her and she realized the danger. “Are you hurt badly?”
This time she saw the back of his head shake no. His head was still hidden, pulled into his chest like a turtle.
She fumbled in her pocket for her pocketknife. She dropped it in the sand, but retrieved it with shaking fingers. She posit
ioned the light and moved to free his ankles from the cloth ties that bound him. She sawed away with the pocketknife. Daniel moaned again. She got his legs free, but he still didn’t move. She worked to cut the rope tying him to the tree. It felt like it took hours.
“Let me see your wounds,” she said as she finished cutting.
Tabitha struggled to roll Daniel onto his side. He was partly buried in the sand like he’d somehow scooped the soil around him. The soil had turned to a muddy slop where the rain and blood had soaked it.
Tabitha used both hands to dig away the earth and sand. Blood showed on his pants, but Tabitha couldn’t see the wound.
She shoved at the sand, cradling Daniel. “We’re going to get you back to the car. Can you walk?” She finally had his upper body free to roll over. She sawed at the rope binding his arms.
Daniel stirred and seemed to come to himself. “God be praised. You’ve come in time.” He stretched his long legs away from his chest.
The darkness urged them to move. She got Daniel to his feet. He was unsteady but able to stand. “I gathered the sand around me. It was the only way I could think to staunch the blood.” Someone had created long slits across Daniel’s arms. They were caked with sand, dried blood and seepage of fresh blood.
“Daniel, you need help,” Tabitha coaxed him down the narrow trail that would lead them back to the vehicle. “Who did this to you? Do you know?”
A grim nod from Daniel was lost in the grimace of pain he got from turning his head. “I am thinking he would not approve of me telling, but I have suffered wrongly. It was Philemon Mhlongo. We fought. He hit me over the head and when I woke up, I was like this.” He gestured back to the hollow where she’d found him.
Tabitha stared at him. “But the bakkie?”
“Where is it?” Daniel asked.
“It was hidden in the bush probably twenty kilometers from here.” Tabitha swatted at the shrub branches closing in on the path.
Daniel grunted. “I do not recall driving it there.”
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