Jade rubbed her eyes. She needed a shower. More than that, she needed eight uninterrupted hours of sleep. But time was limited. Piet was languishing in a holding cell. She had a busy Monday lined up.
“Why today?”
“What, you want to wait till your next birthday or some-thing? We’ve been following this guy nonstop since he came out of prison. Verna and me. We know his moves. He’ll walk to the shop later on. Before lunch. Like he does every day. C’mon. Let’s get it done. Today’s a good day, I’m telling you. I know these things. So I’m on my way. If you don’t want to go, I’ll do it for you.”
Jade sighed. “Give me twenty minutes. I need to shower.”
She showered, changed into fresh clothing and strapped on her gun belt. She walked into the kitchen in time to see David’s unmarked driving past her house. He was off to work. She wondered if he had thought of her when he stood in the shower, with the rising steam carrying the scent of her as the hot water hissed down and washed it off his body.
Robbie pulled up outside her house one minute later. He was driving his BMW, but Jade noticed it had different plates.
His timing was uncanny. How had he known exactly when the cop left home? If he’d cut it any finer, she thought he would have probably ended up in a head-on collision with David on the narrow road.
“Let’s get going.” He reversed out of the driveway and Jade steeled herself for a wild ride. In the end, it wasn’t as bad as she expected. Robbie turned onto the main road and drove sen-sibly towards the highway.
“What’s up with you? Did you take an advanced driving course?”
“Speed traps and roadblocks. Someone called in and warned me.” Robbie indicated his cell phone. He turned to her and grinned. “D-day at last. You know, Jade, you’re a gutsy chick. You’ve got bigger balls than that Muffin the Wonder Horse. You follow through. I never thought you’d do it the first time. I swear to God, right up until the moment you pulled the trigger I thought you were going to back out and I’d have to do some damage control.” He shook his head, eyeing her with admiration. “You haven’t changed, have you? Tough as ever. I haven’t forgotten how you saved my ass the other night.”
Jade had had no intention of backing out. Not since the first night after her father’s death, when she had been alone in the little house in Turffontein and Jacobs had come for her. She remembered waking from a troubled sleep to what was then the most terrifying sound imaginable. The creak of a floorboard in a house she knew was empty apart from herself. The rattling of her locked bedroom door. She was scrambling out of the window when she heard the lock splinter and the door give way. Crouching outside the gate behind his new unmarked, she saw Jacobs turn on the light. She saw the steely gleam of the long knife he was carrying. Then she’d turned and fled, running down the dark street, breath sobbing in her chest. She had escaped. And she had come back later, with Robbie, to even the score.
Robbie’s voice dragged her back to reality.
“What’re you thinking?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Well. Better start thinking if we’re going to get this done right.” His tone was unusually sharp. She saw him take one hand off the wheel. He lifted it to his mouth and tore at his cuticles. Jade realized he was nervous.
David arrived at work exhausted but content in a way he hadn’t been for a long while. Naisha was a beautiful woman, a charming companion, a true professional at work, an excel-lent mother at home. But he was now acutely aware of their differences. She didn’t understand police work. The inherent danger and violence in his job disturbed her. When he spoke about his day, she didn’t want to hear. Over the years, their communication had fizzled into uneasy silence. And then she had looked elsewhere for the companionship she lacked.
Jade had always been like a sister, a best friend, someone who instantly understood every thought in his head. And last night had felt so right. Amazingly, heart-stoppingly right. When he thought about it, he found it difficult not to let a silly grin take over his face. He couldn’t control the heart-pounding excite-ment that flooded his body, making almost everything seem trivial except the thought of seeing her again.
But he had Kevin to think about. The boy had lived without his father for too long already. David’s occasional weekend and evening visits always ended with tears, Kevin begging him to stay. When he married Naisha, David had promised himself he would make the relationship work, that they wouldn’t become one of the depressingly high police divorce statistics. He was resolute that if he had children they would grow up with both parents in a secure home environment.
David pushed the troubling thoughts aside. Despite his tiredness, he had a feeling it was going to be a good day.
He was wrong.
He walked over to his filing cabinet and took out the files he needed to work on most urgently. Before he could open them, he heard a tap at his door. He looked up.
Williams stood in the doorway with two senior investiga-tors from the Scorpions, the elite high-profile investigation unit that specialized in serious political and organized crime. He recognized one of them as a sniper. All three of them wore Kevlar. The sniper was in camouflage.
“What’s up?” David asked, walking round his desk to shake hands with the trio.
Williams didn’t offer his hand. His face was grim.
“Superintendent Patel, you’ve been working with Jade de Jong on the Botha case.”
David frowned, puzzled. “Yes, I have. I cleared it with you before I asked her. We’ve got a suspect in custody, and we’re making good progress. Why? Is there a problem?”
“Yes, there is.” One of the investigators stepped forward. “We’re about to arrest a second suspect related to your case.”
David felt a shiver of unease. Something was wrong here. “Who are you arresting?”
The thickset officer regarded him with a faint smile. “Jade de Jong,” he said, his voice neutral.
“What the hell are you talking about? She’s done nothing wrong.” David glared at the man, his hands bunching into fists.
“It’s not what she’s done. It’s what she’s about to do.”
“How do you mean?”
The man checked his watch, a waterproof Rolex copy. David had seen street hawkers selling them outside the station. “We’ve got confirmed intelligence that in approxi-mately an hour and a half she’s going to make an attempt on the life of a paroled prisoner, namely a Mr. Viljoen.”
“What?”
The man nodded. “Her father was instrumental in his con-viction. It was a high-profile case. Attracted a lot of publicity. Both brothers received death threats while they were on trial. One died in prison, and we’ve just been informed that she’s going to shoot the other one. Today.”
David stood stock still, feeling like the world had turned upside down.
“Jade wouldn’t do that. Who told you? They must have their facts screwed up.”
“An informer.”
“Well, your informer’s given you the wrong information.” David turned back to his desk and reached for the phone. He dialed a number.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m calling her. She’ll confirm it’s bullshit.”
The officer grabbed David’s shoulder and pulled him away from the phone. The receiver fell to the floor. The man placed his finger on the cradle of the instrument, disconnecting the line. “Superintendent, you don’t understand. Our informa-tion is accurate. Our facts are confirmed. If you try to make contact with this woman now, you’ll be perverting the course of justice and we’ll arrest you along with her.”
David stared at the man in frustration.
“I can’t believe this.”
The officer shrugged. “Please come with us.”
“Come with you? Why? I’ve got a week’s worth of paper-work to finish off this morning. I’ve got a suspect in the holding cells who’ll be released in twenty-four hours unless I can prove the case against him.”
“Scorpion cases take priority.”
“If you’re so good at your job, why do you need me?”
“Patel, if we leave you here the first thing you’re going to do is to warn the suspect. Come with us, please.”
David looked at the receiver swinging on the end of its line, scraping against the tiled floor. Then he looked back at the men. He saw Williams shaking his head, pale with fury. David clenched his hands again. How could they accuse Jade of planning such an unlikely crime? He wanted to punch the investigator, but his words had planted a tiny seed of doubt. The Scorpions only made arrests when they were sure of their facts. Did he really know Jade as well as he thought? Or was there a darker side to her, one that he’d never seen? His fingers were bruising the flesh of his palms. With an effort, he relaxed his hands. “OK,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”
He walked with the men to an unmarked car outside the building and got inside.
32
Jade stared blankly at the rows of cars on the highway. She felt oddly out of control, as if she were being dragged into an unwanted future against her will.
“Why are you helping me with this, Robbie?” she asked.
His yellowed teeth tore another strip of skin from his index finger.
“Believe me, it’s not for my health,” he said.
“Why, then?”
He shrugged. “I said I would. When you left, ten years ago. We had an agreement. Jacobs then, Viljoen now. Two fewer racist pigs in the world. No problem for me.” He turned to her, sucking his finger. “You see, Jade, you think I’m just a gang-ster, some crazy guy who likes killing. That’s not how things are. You don’t understand me. Why do you think I never deal in hijacked cars? I don’t kill for fun. I only kill the guys who deserve it, and that guy deserved it long ago. I saw what he did to you.” He drummed his fingers on the dashboard.
“A leopard doesn’t change his spots. I know that better than anyone, Jade. I grew up on the streets in Westbury, you know. Slap bang in the middle of the ganglands. Then, when I was twelve, my mum landed a better job. She sent me to a good school in the north of Jo’burg. I didn’t want to go. She didn’t want me to end up a criminal. I could have changed, could have ended up being the CEO of some bloody company for all I know. But I didn’t want to. So what am I now? A better-educated criminal, that’s all. I’m a goddamn chameleon. I can speak English like a white man, but put me back on the street with my friends and you wouldn’t ever know I even went to school, the way I talk. Same with Viljoen, I’m telling you. Man knows how to play the game. Two weeks out of prison? He’ll be back to his old ways.”
He turned off the highway and followed the route to Viljoen’s suburb. The superette was a few blocks away. The corner building was low and modest, with a small sign outside. Perhaps it had been a house before it was converted into a shop. Robbie braked and stopped a few meters away.
“Why did you ask why I was helping you?” he said.
“Just wondering.” Jade looked ahead and then behind her. The road was empty. She couldn’t work out what was making her feel uneasy.
“What are you looking at?” Robbie’s teeth had drawn a bright bead of blood on his finger. He stared at it, wiped it on his jacket, and then gnawed the skin again.
“Checking the road, that’s all.”
“It’s clear. I told you. I’ve been here a few mornings now. I know what goes on here. Which is nothing much, as you see.”
Jade nodded. “I see.”
The shop wasn’t exactly a hub of commerce. The entrance opened onto the four-way stop which meant that Viljoen would have to walk round the corner to go in. That was good. It meant it was less likely that any customers would be watching when he walked out and turned the corner to go home. And if they were there, what would they do? Their car would cruise past. Shots would be fired and it would pull away and disappear.
“Here he comes. Out for his daily constitutional. On his way to get the last bread and milk of his life.” Robbie sat straighter in his seat. “He’s alone. Couldn’t be better.”
Jade watched the entrance. A black lady strolled inside. She was wearing a domestic worker’s uniform. Perhaps she had been sent to get some emergency groceries. Or perhaps she was on her mid-morning break. Jade realized she hadn’t seen many domestic workers in this area. People here were mostly too poor to afford help. The lady didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
She saw Viljoen approaching, tottering forward on frail legs. He looked anxiously to the right and the left, nervous about his own vulnerability. The blue collar of his shirt peeped out from under a gray jersey which hung off him, as if it had been bought for a larger, stronger man many years ago.
They waited and watched. Viljoen rounded the corner and walked inside the shop.
“He’s usually about five minutes,” Robbie said.
Behind them, a car was coming down the road. A cheap generic model with mirrored windows. As it passed, it slowed down. Jade glanced at the windows, but all she saw were the reflections of the blue sky and the dark shape of Robbie’s car. It turned left at the four-way stop.
Jade saw another man walking towards them on the other side of the street, wearing a bulky jacket. He was marching briskly down the road. He didn’t seem to be paying attention to his surroundings, but all the same he was another witness. She didn’t want witnesses.
She looked at the digital clock on the dashboard. When Viljoen had gone into the shop it had been 10.48. The numbers flicked forward. She undid her seat belt, curled her hand around the butt of her Glock and drew it out of her holster. Her finger brushed the trigger. She swallowed. There was no time to think about anything else. She needed to focus on the gun and on her target.
At 10.54 Viljoen hurried out again, carrying a white plastic carrier bag.
“You know they make you pay for your grocery bags now in this country?” Robbie said, inching the car forward with an impatient rev of the accelerator. “It’s a shame, really it is. Supposed to help reduce littering but all it does is make the supermarkets richer. Still, he can obviously afford the thirty cents or whatever it is.”
Looking at the bag’s slim outline, Jade thought he probably couldn’t afford much else.
Robbie clapped his hand onto her leg. “Right, babe. Let’s go do this.”
He eased the clutch in and the car moved off smoothly down the road.
Jade watched the shape of the old man become clearer as they drove closer to him. He didn’t look like a dangerous polit-ical criminal as he stumbled along, heading back towards his home, shadow wavering on the uneven paving.
They passed an empty plot, rubbish lining the long grass growing there. Deep inside a clump of bushes in the center, Jade saw light glinting off a metal surface. She turned her head to look closer. The flicker had come and gone as they passed, but it reminded her of the sun’s reflection off the barrel of a gun.
She twisted in her seat and looked out of the rear window. The pedestrian on the side of the road had stopped walking. He turned towards them, watching. Her head whipped round. The domestic worker had come out of the corner shop. She was hurrying along the sidewalk in their direction, her stride suddenly urgent and purposeful.
“Robbie, wait.” They were a few meters away from Viljoen. “Something’s not right here.”
“Couple of seconds more and it’ll all be fine.” He buzzed the passenger window open. “Point and click, Jade. Just like you did last time. Don’t lose your nerve now. Don’t let me down.”
Jade struggled with him, trying to buzz the window up again.
“Jade, what the hell? Look, do you want me to do it?” Rob-bie’s hand closed over hers. “I’ll help you. Here, give me the gun. Grab the wheel.”
“It’s a setup. There’s a sniper in the bushes. Those are plain-clothes detectives on the street,” Jade screamed at him, so loud that the elderly man looked round in alarm.
“They can’t be.” Robbie wrestled the gun out of her hand. He sounded confident.
“My contact said today was the day. The cops don’t know a thing.”
“They do.”
With a loud crack, the glass of Robbie’s back window shattered.
He dropped the gun and grabbed the wheel.
“Shit! We’re being shot at.” He smashed his foot onto the accelerator. The engine roared and the tires shrieked. Jade heard more shots ring out behind them.
“They go for the tires, we’ve had it.” Robbie swung the vehicle sharply, slewing it from side to side, dodging the bullets. Jade braced herself against the dashboard. With a cold flood of realization, she knew she’d been wrong. She’d been wrong about almost everything. She didn’t know if she could make things right. Perhaps the truth would be as elusive as it had been ten years ago. But she had to try. She had one chance, and she knew one chance was all she would get.
Her body slammed against the passenger door and rebounded into Robbie. She felt his arm, as tense as a steel cable, control-ling the wheel.
“Did you sell me out to the cops, Robbie?” she yelled above the wailing of the tires.
“Jesus Christ, I swear I didn’t, Jade. I don’t know what’s going on here. I never sold you out. I wouldn’t do that.”
“Stop the car,” Jade screamed.
“You crazy, babe? I stop this car now, we’re on a one-way trip to hell. Via the holding cells, if we’re lucky.”
“Stop the car. Just for a second. I’m getting out. I’m going to go, whether you slow down or not.” Jade wrenched the door open, fighting the slipstream, icy air stinging her eyes. She saw the tarmac rushing past, and readied herself to jump.
“For Christ’s sake.” Robbie braced himself against the wheel and stamped on the brakes. The car skidded to a stop, flinging Jade forward. Her head struck the windshield and her vision exploded into a thousand stars.
Then Robbie’s hand was on her back. He shoved her out of the car.
“Go,” he yelled.
He’d pulled away before she’d even stopped rolling. Rubber tore from the tires and smoked on the tarmac. He took the corner on two wheels, just as the vehicle with the mirrored windows appeared at the top of the road again, engine racing as it accelerated towards them. The car screeched to a halt and two figures jumped out. Then it roared off again in pursuit of Robbie.
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