The Colour of Gold

by Oliver T Spedding

  Realising that they were trapped, Shadow put his hand inside his overalls and pulled out his 9mm Smith and Wesson M39 single action automatic and moved quickly to the unsuspecting Indian. He put his left arm around the man's throat and pushed the automatic roughly against the man's head. He swung the man around to face the advancing policemen who were beginning to move towards the entrance to the complex.

  "Get behind me Isaiah!" Shadow shouted. "We're trapped! Take your gun out and face the policemen behind me!"

  Isaiah assessed the situation instantly. He withdrew his automatic from under his overalls and moved quickly to stand behind Shadow waving his gun menacingly at the three policemen.

  "Move back or the Indian dies!" Shadow shouted at the policemen in the car park.

  The policemen stopped and stared at the two black men and their hostage, uncertain of what to do.

  The plain clothed policeman behind Shadow, obviously the officer in charge, tucked his automatic into his belt and stepped forward, raising his hands in front of him. Shadow glanced over his shoulder as the man began to speak and a vague sense of recognition that he had seen the man somewhere before filtered into his memory.

  "You'll never get away!" the white policeman said. "You're completely surrounded! Let the hostage go and throw down your weapons!"

  "Never!" Shadow shouted. "We don't care if we die, but if we do, the Indian dies with us! We have no fear of death and we're happy to die for our cause and for our people!"

  Shadow looked back at the men in the car park.

  "Move back and let us pass!" he shouted. "If you try to stop us the Indian will die!"

  The policemen hesitated, unsure of what to do.

  "Move!" Shadow screamed. "Get out of our way!"

  Behind him he heard the police officer's voice.

  "Move back, men!" the man shouted. "Move well back and don't try and apprehend them."

  The men in camouflage uniform moved away slowly and Shadow could hear them muttering angrily. Holding the Indian firmly around the neck Shadow spoke to Isaiah.

  "Take hold of my shoulder with your left hand and walk closely behind me and watch the three bastards behind me. Watch them very carefully because they are the real danger to us and if they look like they're going to do something shoot them."

  Slowly Shadow moved out of the Plaza, his arm firmly around the terrified Indian's neck. Isaiah followed, watching the three men in the complex warily and waving his automatic menacingly.

  The two black men and their hostage moved slowly across the car park until they reached the street. Shadow glanced quickly over his shoulder. The policemen were following them at a considerable distance, their weapons at the ready.

  "It's no use following us!" Shadow shouted. "You are aggravating the situation! We are prepared to die and we will kill the Indian if we have to!"

  "Please let me go!" the Indian tailor pleaded. "I've done you no harm!"

  "Even if I wanted to let you go, I cannot." Shadow said. "You were in the wrong place at the right time. As long as we have you we will survive. It's up to our enemies whether you live or die. It's not our decision. Just do as we say and you'll live."

  The policemen continued to follow Shadow and Isaiah at a distance and they had no doubt that there were other policemen watching them from the side streets and from the rooftops of the nearby buildings but as long as they had the Indian they were safe. The police and the government couldn't risk and international outcry if the hostage was harmed.

  "Once we get to the car we'll get the hell out of here." Shadow said to Isaiah. "Bogdan is going to have to prove to us that he's as good a driver as he claims to be. If he is then we should be able to get away successfully. The police will try to follow us but I don't believe that they'll try to stop us. As long as we have our Indian friend were safe."

  The two black men and their hostage moved as quickly as they could through the streets, their shadows moving from behind them to in front of them as they passed under the street lights. In the distance Shadow could see the dark blue BMW with Bogdan sitting in the driver's seat. As they get closer he could see that Bogdan was watching them in the rear-view mirror and hopefully assessing the situation. As they reached the vehicle the engine burst into life. Shadow opened the back door of the car and shoved the Indian into the interior, following him quickly and slamming the door closed. Isaiah hurried around to the front passenger's door, opened it and climbed in. The car pulled away, its tires screeching as they tried to grip the tarred surface of the road.

  "Get going, Bogdan." Shadow said, urgency making his voice shake. "Show us just how good a driver you are. We had to take a hostage and I've no doubt the police are ready to follow us. We've got to lose them quickly. Get to Soweto as quickly as you can. Once we're there go to the safe house but stop about two blocks from it. Then we'll walk the rest of the way.

  Bogdan nodded as the car accelerated along the streets, swerving around the evening traffic in front to them and sliding around the corners. At times Isaiah was certain that they were going to smash into other cars or roll as they careened around the corners but Bogdan's driving skill prevented this every time. They reached the freeway to Soweto and hurtled towards the dark city. Both Shadow and Isaiah stared out of the rear window anxiously but they could not see any vehicles that appeared to be following them. The Indian hostage sat cowering on the back seat too terrified to do anything.

  "I don't see anyone following us." Shadow said. "I don't think that the enemy allowed for a hostage situation."

  The speeding car reached the turnoff to Soweto and Bogdan slid the vehicle expertly onto the off-ramp and into the dark rutted dirt streets of the black city.

  "I think we've lost them." Shadow said with a nervous grin.

  Bogdan was forced to slow the car. He switched off the headlights and drove with the parking lights on. The car bumped and swayed over the uneven streets.

  Although the three black men couldn't see any police vehicles following them, what they also couldn't see was the police helicopter hovering high above then in the night sky and monitoring their progress with night vision equipment.

  ***

  "Right, men." Captain Tiaan Botha said to the four policemen as they stood in the operations room at the Brixton police station. They were dressed in camouflage outfits and carrying FN FAL automatic rifles and hand grenades. The Captain was also dressed in a camouflage uniform but only armed with an automatic pistol and two stun grenades. "From the helicopter that followed the terrorists we now know exactly where they are in Soweto. Apparently they dumped their car and walked two blocks to number sixty nine Embo Street in Zone One in Diepkloof."

  The policemen listened attentively.

  "The main house is a brick dwelling but there's a small shack made of wood and corrugated iron sheeting at the back and it's my guess that the bastards are in the shack. We'll move into the target area quietly and assess the situation but there'll be a Casspir on standby. As soon as we've surrounded the shack we'll identify ourselves and call on the bastards to surrender. It's very important that we get that Indian hostage out alive. If the bastards won't surrender, and I don't think that they will, we'll cause a distraction and I'll try to sneak up behind them and lob a stun grenade into the shack. If we can do this we'll move in quickly, rescue the hostage and kill the kaffirs. Any questions?"

  The four men shook their heads. They'd done this type of operation many times before and all of them had notches on the wooden stocks of their weapons that recorded the number of blacks that they had killed.

  ***

  Shadow, Isaiah and Bogdan stood inside the tiny wooden shack behind the house in Embo Street, their faces grim in the light from the single white candle standing on the small wooden table in the centre of the room. Each of them was armed with an AK47 and their automatic hand weapons.

  "Are you sure that you know how to use an AK47?" Shadow asked Bogdan.

  "Yes." Bogdan replied. "Isaiah spent some time earlier tod
ay showing me how it works, but I've never actually fired it. Don't worry though. When the time comes to use it I won't let you down."

  The Indian hostage sat slumped on one of the kitchen chairs next to the table and stared up at the three men, his face filled with anxiety. Shadow turned to the terrified man.

  "What's your name?" he asked.

  "Bala Desai." the man replied. "Please let me go. You don't need me any more. You've escaped from the police, haven't you?"

  "Unfortunately Bala, we had no option but to take you hostage." Shadow said. "Although none of us is scared to die we have to fight our enemies with whatever we can and never give up. If we'd surrendered at the Plaza we would have ended up being tortured and shot or hanged. We will win the struggle eventually, even if we have to die in the process. The white man cannot keep us down forever."

  "Please let me go." Bala repeated. "You really don't need me now. I've got a wife and a little girl. What will they do without me?"

  Shadow stared at the frightened man and then looked at his two companions.

  "What do think?" he asked. "Are we safe now? Have our enemies really lost us? Should we let him go?"

  "I think that we should wait a little longer." Isaiah said. "While we were walking here from the car I thought that I could hear a police helicopter high above us. I couldn't see anything but I'm almost sure it was there. If we let him go now and the police know where we are then we're as good as dead. Without the hostage they'll kill us but if we still have him there's always a chance that we can negotiate our way out."

  "Isaiah's right." Bogdan said. "I don't like the idea taking innocent people as hostages but we had no option. I suggest that, if the police haven't found us my morning, then we should let Bala go."

  "Okay." Shadow said as he turned to Bala. "Unfortunately, as you've just heard, we can't let you go yet. But you must remember that our enemy cannot afford to have you die so, if they do find us, I'm sure that we'll be able to trade you for our freedom. But, again I must warn you; if you try to escape, you will die with us."

  As Shadow finished talking he saw Isaiah stiffen as he looked out of the shack's window.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  "I think I saw some movement out there." Isaiah replied. "It looked very much like a man in camouflage uniform."

  Shadow quickly leant down and blew out the candle.

  "It looks like the security police have found us." he said, grimly. "I didn't think that they would find us this quickly. If we all want to live we're going to have to talk our way out of here."

  ***

  Captain Tiaan Botha led his four men along the dark Soweto street until they reached number sixty nine. They waited in the darkness as Tiaan studied the house and its surroundings. The little brick dwelling was typical of the houses in the city; square with a sloping corrugated iron roof and low walls separating it from its neighbours but no wall in front. There were no lights of any kind inside the house. Signalling to his men, Tiaan moved swiftly into the gap between the house and the dividing wall and as they reached the back of the property they could vaguely make out the tiny wooden shack at the back. A faint glow emanated from the small window and was suddenly extinguished.

  "I think that they may have seen us." the Captain whispered. "Stay absolutely still while I figure out our next move."

  The five men huddled against the brick boundary wall of the property and waited while their leader studied the surroundings and planned their next move.

  ***

  Inside the little wooden shack Shadow and Isaiah peered out of the window trying to identify the enemy in the darkness outside. While they were so absorbed, Bogdan began to move stealthily towards the door of the shack and silently opened it.

  "I think I can see them huddled against the boundary wall!" Shadow said.

  "Yes, I think that I can also see them now." Isaiah said. "It looks as if there are five of them."

  Bogdan slipped silently out of the shack being very careful not to knock anything with his AK47 or scrape his feet on the uneven mud floor. Leaving the door open he began to creep towards the far side of the house and away from the waiting policemen. He reached the corner of the house and stood waiting, unsure of what to do next. He glanced back at the dim shape of the hut, relieved to see that the door was still open.

  ***

  "Two of you go around the front of the house and up the side so that you can cover that side of the shack just in case they try to make a run for it that way." Captain Botha whispered. "In the mean time I'm going to attract their attention by calling on them to surrender. After I've done that I'll move quickly to the other side of the shack and hopefully be able to open the door and toss in a stun grenade. As soon as I leave you I want you to begin firing short bursts of automatic fire over the roof from both sides. It's important that nobody fires directly at the shack with the intent to kill though. We must get the hostage out alive. When you hear the grenade go off I want two of you, one from each side of the shack to rush in and help me get the hostage out. Once we've got him safely away you can saturate the shack with rifle fire and even toss in a few grenades. I want those kaffirs dead. They've caused me a lot of problems!"

  The police captain stood up slowly and took a deep breath. In his periphery vision he saw two of his men begin to move towards the front of the main house.

  "Attention those people in the shack!" he shouted. "This is the South African Security Police! You are completely surrounded and cannot escape! Throw out your weapons and come out with your hands up!"

  Tiaan moved swiftly towards the back of the house as the first short burst of automatic fire shattered the quietness of the sleeping black city.

  ***

  As Bogdan crouched at the corner of the main house he heard someone begin to shout to the inhabitants of the shack, telling them that they were surrounded and should surrender. At the same time he heard heavy footsteps moving along the side of the house towards him from the street. Suddenly a short burst of automatic rifle fire shattered the quietness of the night and he heard the deadly rush of bullets hiss through the air above him.

  Bogdan turned towards the shack and as he did so he saw a dark figure move around the side of the shack towards the open door. Without thinking he raised his AK47, aimed at the shadowy figure and squeezed the trigger. The shock of the exploding bullets and the backlash of the weapon caused Bogdan to almost drop the rifle. He watched in horror as the heavy bullets smashed into the man just as he reached the door, blasting huge holes in the man's body and driving him through the doorway and into the shack. At the same time an enormous explosion occurred behind the man as the stun grenade that he'd been about to toss into the shack exploded harmlessly in the yard.

  Realising that he couldn't possibly outgun the men approaching from the street Bogdan raced back towards the door of the shack. As he reached the shack he saw a figure round the corner of the shack. He tried to raise his AK47. A brilliant flash of light erupted from the rifle in the man's hands and for a second before he died Bogdan felt the excruciating pain of the bullets smashing into his body. He fell sideways into the shack, ending up on top of the dead police officer lying on the floor.

  ***

  Shadow and Isaiah tensed as they heard one of the policemen outside shout that they were surrounded and should throw down their weapons and surrender. They both lifted their AK47s in readiness to fight to the death. Shadow glanced over his shoulder to see where Bogdan was. To his horror he saw that the door of the shack was open and Bogdan had disappeared! He was just about to tell Isaiah had disappeared when a shadowy figure appeared outside the doorway but before he could react a long burst of AK47 rifle fire from outside the shack smashed the man into the shack. He heard one of the bullets that had missed the man thud into the back of Isaiah's head. He turned to see Isaiah's head hit the window and then his body slumped to the floor.

  Shadow fell to the floor of the shack as a loud explosion outside the dwelling shook the whole structure.
In the dim light he could see Isaiah lying dead on the floor next to him. He looked up just in time to see Bogdan appear in the doorway and stared in shock as another burst of automatic rifle fire smashed into Bogdan's body throwing him into the shack and on top of the dead policeman lying on the mud floor.

  Suddenly the whole shack began to disintegrate as automatic rifle fire from both sides sent a deadly hail of lead crashing through the thin walls. Shadow saw bullets knock the Indian hostage off his chair, his head exploding in a mass of blood, bone and brains.

  Shadow lay on the mud floor of the shack and began to fire blindly through the open doorway. He heard the window above him shatter and a heavy object fall onto the floor next to him. There was a blinding flash of light and heat, followed by incredible pain and then blackness.