Amber explained the danger to Zuzu and, after some uncertainty on her part, Amber managed to convince her to climb into the jeep with them. The ranger gunned the engine and they shot off at high speed.
‘Time is of the essence,’ said Gunner as he drove straight over some bushes. ‘I’ve a plane on standby to take us to the capital. There you’ll be reunited with your parents.’
Gunner drove up to the safari lodge’s rarely used rear entrance, unlocked the gate, closed it behind them, then parked beside one of the guest suites.
‘Why all the secrecy?’ asked Connor as the ranger checked the grounds were clear for them to proceed. ‘Surely the Burundian army is in control of the lodge?’
Gunner responded with a sceptical raise of an eyebrow. ‘Don’t take anything for granted, Connor, especially in Africa. The Black Mamba has defeated forces five times his rebel group’s size in the past. Besides no one knows where you are or even that you’re alive. I want to keep it that way until you’re safely back with your respective parents. Now grab your essentials only: passport, travel documents, a change of clothes, and leave the rest.’
They moved from room to room, quickly gathering their most important belongings – except Amber, who stuffed a bag full of her best clothes and jewellery for Zuzu, fulfilling her promise. ‘I don’t suppose we’ve time for a quick shower?’ she asked, tugging at her dirty matted hair.
Gunner shook his head regretfully. ‘Sorry, can’t risk it. That’ll have to wait until later.’
Next they entered the lodge’s kitchen through the staff entrance. Some dislodged pans, a crumpled white hat and a pool of dried blood were the only remaining evidence of the chef’s presence. Connor’s alert level shot up and he looked uneasily at the ranger.
‘As I said, you can’t take anything for granted,’ whispered Gunner as he raided the pantry. Then, peering through a small window in the kitchen’s service door, he led them into the lounge.
The lavish room was deserted but appeared to have been the scene of some riotous celebration. The mirror behind the bar had been shattered. A spray of bullet holes peppered the main wall, several of the rounds having gone through the tribal shield, knocking the display askew. Connor also noticed the zebra-skin rug on the parquet floor was stained red – whether from blood or red wine it was impossible to tell, but there was an ominous dark trail leading from the bar out into the reception area.
‘Do you think there’s anyone still here?’ asked Amber nervously.
‘By the looks of it, we’ve missed the party,’ replied Gunner, plundering the bar for bottles of Coke and fresh water.
But Connor couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d been led into a trap, one just waiting to be sprung. ‘So where’s the army?’
Gunner shrugged. ‘Killing rebels in the park, I suppose. Now you all look like you need refuelling, and I don’t want you dropping dead on me before we reach our final destination,’ he said, popping the tops of the drinks and handing them out. ‘Wait here while I call in the plane.’
The ranger disappeared into the lodge’s back office.
As the four of them glugged on sugary Coke and greedily tucked into the chocolate bars, bananas and the other snacks Gunner had gathered, Connor strode over to the bay windows overlooking the veranda and the plain beyond. Despite his fatigue, it was clear they weren’t out of the danger zone yet and he needed to maintain a Code Orange level of alertness. Peering through the glass, he surveyed the lodge’s grounds, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of approaching rebels. There was no movement in the bush. In fact it looked almost too still. Then he spotted the body of a government soldier lying by the electric fence, half-obscured in the grass. ‘Amber, we need to g–’
‘My word, it’s a miracle!’ exclaimed a voice in accented English.
Connor spun to see the bulging figure of Minister Feruzi standing in the doorway.
‘I’d heard you’d escaped the ambush,’ said the Minister for Trade and Tourism, smiling profusely and waddling over to the bar like a hippo heading for its watering-hole. ‘But I would never have believed it until I saw you with my own eyes.’
‘Did you know one of your soldiers is lying dead out there?’ said Connor, pointing to the electric fence at the lodge’s boundary.
‘Oh yes! Minister Rawasa has returned to the capital and I’ve been left here to pick up the pieces,’ he replied with a what-can-you-do shrug. ‘But, joy of joys, we have good news at last! You’re all safe and sound.’
His gaze fell upon Zuzu standing with them at the bar, his nose turning up slightly at her presence. ‘And who’s this?’
‘Our guide,’ replied Amber with enthusiasm. ‘She’s been a lifeline to us.’
‘I’m sure she has. Burundians are a most hospitable people,’ said the minister assuredly. ‘But now it’s my responsibility to look after you.’
He wrapped his chubby arms round their shoulders, Amber looking distinctly uncomfortable and Henri wincing beneath the man’s sweaty touch. Only now did the minister notice the red welts covering Henri’s body and he let go. ‘Oh, my poor boy, what have they done to you?’
The ranger strode back in. ‘Plane’s on its way. Let’s make a –’ He stopped and stared at the minister.
‘Gunner?’ exclaimed Minister Feruzi, staring back in equal amazement. ‘My God, another risen from the ashes! Are there any more of you?’
With a solemn stern shake of his head, the ranger replied, ‘I found Buju, or what was left of him.’
‘That’s tragic to hear,’ said the minister. ‘But have you any news of Laurent or Cerise? We’ve reason to believe they may have escaped the ambush too.’
‘I wouldn’t know,’ replied Gunner as he beckoned Connor and the others to join him. ‘Time to go, kids.’
‘What’s the rush, Gunner?’ Minister Feruzi demanded, his pudgy eyes narrowing in suspicion. ‘This lodge is now secure.’
‘Are you sure about that, Minister?’ questioned the ranger with a sharp jerk of his head at Connor, Amber, Henri and Zuzu, urging them to hurry.
‘Children, you mustn’t go with him,’ insisted Minister Feruzi. ‘This man’s a prime suspect in the ambush.’
Connor and the others froze halfway between the two men. So he had been right to be suspicious of the ranger?
‘Don’t believe him,’ said Gunner. ‘He’s the one behind all this. He dictated the viewpoint and the route for the sunset safari, even though there’s a far better place closer to the lodge.’
Minister Feruzi laughed. ‘That’s ridiculous! Think about it, children: who stopped the convoy in the middle of that riverbed?’
‘That’s only because Buju spotted a mine!’ argued Gunner. ‘Otherwise we’d have all been blown to pieces. Connor, why do you think Minister Feruzi was so far back in the convoy? His vehicle escaped unharmed because he knew the ambush was going to happen.’
Caught between the ranger and the minister, Connor wondered who to believe. One of them was lying. Amber and the others looked to him to make the decision.
‘We have to go now!’ insisted Gunner, his eyes darting from the door to the veranda.
‘Given the situation I don’t trust anyone,’ said Connor, repeating the ranger’s words back at him.
For Connor, Gunner’s story of his escape had always seemed too good to be true. He also thought it unlikely that a government minister would be in league with a rebel military group. He made a move towards Minister Feruzi, the man opening his arms to receive them. Then Connor remembered the dead body of the soldier by the wire. The minister had said the lodge was secure, but how could that be if the guards were dead?
At the last moment Connor changed his mind, nodding to Amber and the others to go with Gunner instead.
‘I can’t save you now, children,’ said Minister Feruzi as General Pascal strode into the lounge, accompanied by Blaze, No Mercy and half a dozen rebel soldiers.
‘I see you found my strays,’ remarked General Pascal, heading stra
ight for the bar as if he owned it. His eyes bloodshot, his skin oily with sweat and his injured arm wrapped in a bandage, the rebel leader looked the worse for wear following his battle against the government troops. But the infamous military skill of the man had evidently secured him another victory.
‘Whisky!’ he barked to one of his soldiers. Scurrying behind the bar, the boy grabbed a bottle and filled an empty glass. The general drained it in one hit and the boy replenished it immediately.
‘I understood that the army had been diverted to sector four of the park!’ growled General Pascal, glaring at the minister. ‘So how come soldiers attacked our camp this morning in sector eight?’
Minister Feruzi blanched at the news. ‘Th-the major-general must have changed his plans without informing me.’
General Pascal stabbed a finger at the minister. ‘You realize I’ve lost good warriors,’ he snapped. ‘What’s worse, the army’s probably blown half the diamonds to dust!’
Tugging a handkerchief from his shirt pocket, the minister mopped his brow in panic. ‘I assure you, the major-general was instructed to search the south of the park. But what about the diamonds? Do you still have control? Are there any left?’
‘Don’t worry your fat face about it! My forces still command the valley and there’ll be plenty enough for everyone,’ replied the general, grimacing as he inspected his swollen arm. ‘First let’s deal with this little problem of my strays. Then we can discuss the future of this country, and your place in it.’
Stepping forward, Gunner spat at the minister’s feet. ‘You treacherous piece of scum, you traded our lives for diamonds!’
Minister Feruzi glanced down at the spit smearing his shoe. ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Gunner.’
General Pascal nodded a silent order to No Mercy. A deafening bang rang in all their ears as the boy soldier shot Gunner in the chest.
‘Consider yourself fired,’ said Minister Feruzi with a gloating smirk as the ranger writhed and groaned in pain on the floor.
‘No, Gunner, no!’ cried Amber, dropping down beside the ranger and pressing her hands to his wound, blood oozing from between her fingers. Connor kept Henri close as Zuzu stared in wide-eyed shock at the boy soldier standing over the ranger.
‘Finish him off,’ said the general, his tone bored. ‘I can’t stand the groaning.’
On a do-or-die impulse, Connor snatched one of the tribal spears from the wall. ‘Stay back!’ he warned.
General Pascal eyed the old weapon with amusement as he leant against the bar, swilling his whisky. ‘Now what are you going to do with that, my White Warrior?’ he enquired. ‘Spear a lion?’
‘No,’ Connor replied, pointing the iron tip at him. ‘Skewer a snake!’
The Black Mamba laughed. ‘You have fighting spirit, I grant you that. But playtime’s over. Drop the spear or Blaze kills your girl.’
Blaze drew a handgun and aimed it at Amber’s head. Connor turned the spear on the rebel. If he was quick, he could perhaps drive it through the man’s chest before he pulled the trigger. But No Mercy would have more than enough time to shoot Gunner again. And then what? Connor glanced towards the bay doors. He wondered if they could flee via the veranda. Then a rebel soldier appeared on the other side of the bay windows, cutting off their escape route. Left with no option, Connor discarded the spear, the weapon clattering on to the wooden floor.
‘You disappoint me,’ said General Pascal, knocking back the last of his drink and coughing into his fist. ‘I’d hoped you would die fighting like a warrior.’
The general headed for the main door, beckoning Minister Feruzi and the half-dozen rebel soldiers to accompany him.
‘Blaze, kill the strays,’ he ordered. ‘Any way you wish. Just make sure the Batwa girl, who put the arrow through my arm, suffers most.’
Forced at gunpoint to kneel, Connor, Henri and Zuzu joined Amber on the parquet floor slick with Gunner’s blood. The ranger’s breathing was now laboured and rasping. He’d fallen unconscious with the pain but was clinging to life. Connor’s mind was racing, trying desperately to think of some way out of their predicament. But No Mercy kept his AK47 trained on them and Connor knew at the first sign of resistance he’d simply shoot them dead.
Blaze unsheathed his machete and caressed the razor-edged blade with a finger. ‘This is my weapon of choice,’ he said with a sadistic grin. ‘I can cut, cleave, slice, hack, chop or behead you with one stroke of this beauty.’
The rebel paced slowly in front of them, drawing out the tension as he casually swung the blade.
He jutted his chin at Zuzu. ‘I’ll leave you to last, Batwa,’ he spat with contempt. ‘Then you can know of the suffering that awaits you.’
Understanding the threat but not the words, Zuzu shrank away but her eyes remained fixated on No Mercy.
Blaze prodded the tip of his machete into Henri’s chest. ‘You, I’ll skin like a rabbit. Hang your hide out to dry in the hot sun.’
Confronted by his tormentor once more, Henri began to sob and tremble uncontrollably. Blaze laughed. ‘Pathetic!’
Leaving the boy quivering at the thought of his impending gruesome demise, Blaze crouched before Amber. He pushed aside a lock of her hair with his machete, then rattled his macabre necklace in front of her face.
‘Perhaps I’ll add one of your teeth to my necklace,’ he said, leering at her.
‘I hope you burn in hell,’ she said, her eyes fierce and defiant.
Blaze blew her a mocking kiss. ‘And I hope I meet you there.’
Connor was driven to the point of madness. Powerless to do anything, he could only watch as Blaze tormented each of them in turn. Grimly aware that it was now a stark matter of life and death, Connor resolved to die trying to save Amber and Henri. He still had his father’s knife tucked on his hip. He wondered if Zuzu was thinking the same thing. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the boy soldier and his gun. Perhaps if he made a move to tackle Blaze, she’d go for No Mercy and try to wrestle the weapon from him.
The rebel regarded Connor. ‘I know what you’re thinking, but if I see you even twitch I promise to make your girl truly suffer.’
Connor glared up at Blaze. ‘I’ll tear you limb from limb if you dare lay a finger on Amber or Henri.’
Blaze smirked. ‘It’s me who’s going to enjoy taking you apart, piece by piece. But who should go first? Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,’ he said in a sing-song voice, the tip of the blade swinging from Connor to Amber to Henri and back again. ‘Catch a lion by the nose. If he roars, let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.’
The machete came to a stop in front of Connor. Blaze grinned. With a violent sweep of the blade, he cleared one of the lounge’s coffee tables, the candles and place mats scattering on to the floor. Then he grabbed Connor by the hair and held the blade to his throat.
‘So, what will it be – long or short sleeves?’
Connor stared up at him, at once baffled and petrified by the question.
‘No Mercy, hold out his arm,’ Blaze ordered.
Suddenly it dawned on Connor what the rebel had in mind. He struggled wildly but Blaze pressed the machete harder into his neck, drawing a thin line of blood.
‘Don’t fret. It only hurts after I cut your arm off,’ explained Blaze as No Mercy slung his AK47 over his shoulder and seized Connor’s wrist. With surprising strength, he pinned Connor’s arm down on the coffee table.
‘Deo?’ uttered Zuzu, staring at No Mercy.
The boy soldier didn’t react.
‘Deo! C’est ta sœur!’
No Mercy looked at her uncomprehendingly.
Zuzu became more frantic. ‘Deo! Mon frère! S’il te plaît, ne lui fais pas de mal! Je t’en prie.’
‘Tais-toi!’ barked Blaze, striking her with the back of his hand.
The blow was so violent that Zuzu was flung against the bar, her head cracking against the mahogany panel.
No Mercy frowned, still holding Connor’s arm, but his attention now on Zuzu. Her
lip bleeding, tears rolling down her cheeks, she continued to beg the boy soldier to listen to her. Connor couldn’t understand a word. His heart thudded in his chest as the blood rushed through his ears. A paralysing wave of panic overwhelmed him and his limbs refused to respond as Blaze took up position to hack off his right arm.
‘Don’t close your eyes. You need to see this,’ said Blaze, licking his lips in anticipation. ‘I promise you’ll remember this for the rest of your life.’
The machete came down. Amber screamed and Henri covered his eyes. Zuzu’s shouting grew louder. Connor fought to break his paralysis, scrabbling for his knife. At the last second No Mercy let go of his wrist and Connor snatched back his arm, the blade embedding itself deep into the wooden table.
Blaze glared in furious outrage at No Mercy. ‘You idiot! Why the hell did you let go?’ he roared.
As he tried to yank the machete out of the table, No Mercy picked up the discarded spear. Before Blaze knew what was happening the boy soldier had buried the iron tip deep into his back. Blaze let out an agonized howl as the spear pierced his heart and burst out through his ribcage.
No Mercy twisted the shaft one last time and Blaze slumped to the floor. ‘That’s for making me believe my family were all dead!’
Still trembling from shock, his arm clutched protectively to him, Connor watched in stunned amazement as Zuzu rushed over and embraced her long-lost brother. No Mercy stood rigid and emotionless, unsure how to handle such affection, his first in years. Then he surrendered himself to his sister, resting his head against hers.
Amber, clasping her own brother, smiled with joy at the heaven-sent reunion. His eyes red and puffy, Henri stared at the contorted body of Blaze, the spear tip protruding from his chest. ‘Is he dead?’
Bodyguard: Ambush (Book 3) Page 25