Cry of the Firebird

by T. M. Clark

  The impact with Mishti’s car threw him forward. His airbag deployed, cushioning him in an instant, before deflating again. The motion jerked him back in his seat as the seatbelt tightened up, holding him firmly in place.

  He heard glass smashing. Then tinkling. Falling on metal as it made its journey down to the road. His hearing had become sensitised in the moment of impact.

  Sithole let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. It sounded loud, ragged, even to him. He opened his eyes to look out.

  The Mercedes in front of him had indeed crumpled. It looked like it had wrapped itself around the stainless-steel bull bar. He had hit it directly in the centre of the driver’s door. His 4x4 was no longer running. The onboard car computer had done its job and immediately cut power to the engine.

  He turned the key. It started again. He smiled as he put it in reverse and attempted to back up. The metal in the front groaned and complained; he gave more power to the engine. The metal gave way with a ripping sound.

  He saw that the front door of the Mercedes was still attached to his bull bar, mangled into it. He could see the woman slumped over her steering wheel. She wasn’t moving.

  Eish, the things he would rather have done with this pretty rich Indian woman. But a contract was a contract. He did what he was paid to do.

  Turning the steering wheel, his 4x4 responded. Everything appeared to be working. He drove around her smashed-up car and down the road. In his rear-view mirror, he could see that her security guard was running towards her car. ‘Ag shame, gijima, my china, but you are already too late to save her.’

  CHAPTER

  39

  It turned out that waiting for someone to come out of hiding and kill you, even when you’d employed the best security force available to protect you, wasn’t actually so good for the mind. In fact, it was driving Lily crazy. She second-guessed everyone she met at the supermarket, the clinic, and even in her practice. She’d begun spooking at shadows.

  According to Khanyi, that was normal and she was doing fine. She certainly didn’t feel fine. But she was physically better than him. He was healing and had a little help from more staff while he was getting better, mostly coordinating the team now as he did his physical therapy and got himself moving again. He’d been lucky. Having fallen and hit his head, he’d been knocked out, so he now sported a new scar on his hairline for that, but the four shots he had taken in his backside and into the top of this thighs had miraculously missed every vital organ and the bones.

  Sunday was creeping past with the pace of a snail. Lily was walking back to the house after checking on Elise. She worried that the young woman would die anytime now. She was counting hours rather than days.

  ‘Afternoon, Lily,’ Piet said, waving as he got out of his bakkie.

  She waved back and smiled. Only Piet could remain upbeat when the security company knew he was a policeman and yet still insisted on escorting him across the property.

  ‘I am here for the camp-out I promised with David and Maddy. Mason said that he was going to join us for the fun of late-night fire and the marshmallows.’

  Lily hit her forehead with her hand. ‘Oh no, I totally forgot. That’s okay; the kids will still love it as a surprise, I’m sure.’

  Usually, she would organise nice food and snacks to spoil them when they were camping out, but this time they would have to raid the pantry and make do.

  ‘Right, so, if we go tell them, I think they had Minke and were taking her for a swim at the dam by the willow tree. She’s getting good at spreading her wings and trying hard to walk on water.’

  ‘She is a flamingo; she should be able to do it naturally. But I am happy that they are exercising her, getting her ready for her release,’ Piet said.

  ‘I think they like the walk to the dam and taking bags of carrots to Perdy, Dee-Dee and Pedro, and of course, food for the ducks. I’m not sure what they are going to do when that bird goes back to the wild, they’ll be so lost. Maddy’s parents must think that we’ve taken her permanently.’

  Piet smiled. ‘In our culture, you can share children to help other people if they need a little space. To stop a husband and wife fighting, you can take their children to live with you for a few days so they can make nice and live in harmony again.’

  ‘That’s all very well, but we have had her … however long we have had her, but it seems a long time in my head. David and Diamond, that’s a different story to Maddy. Have you given any more thought as to what will happen to them?’

  ‘Ja, we spoke about this already.’

  Lily looked at him. ‘I’m blank.’

  ‘I told you that I can’t take them, not legally. I already have too many other responsibilities. At least when Natalie died, she had her parents still alive to take Breanna. If something happens to me in my line of work, they will be no better off once again. I think the best is to let them go to a foster home. Perhaps someone will be able to take them together. I hope so.’

  ‘We did. You’re right, now that you mention that, it’s all coming back,’ Lily said.

  ‘You should increase your CBD oil intake. Let it help your brain more.’

  ‘I will,’ Lily said. ‘I have to admit that I never thought I would be the one taking the oil, but there you go. I suppose stranger things in life have happened.’

  ‘We need to make more soon. Lincoln and I will make it, and Quintin wanted to help this time.’

  ‘I guess Quintin has never been what one might call a traditional husband,’ Lily said.

  ‘I will get the camping gear out of the big shed, and then find the children.’

  ‘Piet, I have been editing your book, and it’s looking good. Perhaps later we can sit and go through some of it—I’ll print out another copy. For me, too, because the one I am using is starting to look quite tatty.’

  ‘That would be good,’ Piet said.

  ‘Enjoy your camp-out. I know the kids love them,’ Lily said.

  * * *

  Piet woke under the stars, next to the embers of the fire. The moon was at about three o’clock in the sky, so it was between two and three in the morning—the darkest hours. The noise he heard was not right. He lay quietly listening to see if it would come again.

  There it was.

  Opening one eye, he looked around. He couldn’t see anyone close by. He opened the other and moved his head.

  The person walked silently. He was good in the bush. The security guards had walked past a few times; they were not so soft on their feet; they didn’t have anything to hide. But someone else did.

  Piet sat up. The noise was coming from the direction of the gate. He looked into the open tent that Mason slept in. He was asleep on his mattress, and his soft snore was clearly audible. He checked on the second tent where David and Maddy slept. They were vulnerable if there was an intruder here.

  The security company had not given him a button like they made Lily wear around her neck, to press for help if she felt threatened or needed assistance quickly. Silently, he crept into the children’s tent. He had to get them to safety. Then he would raise the security company for help.

  Piet put his hand over David’s mouth and shook his shoulder. David opened his eyes, and Piet motioned for him. David nodded. Piet woke up Maddy the same way. When they were both awake, he signalled for them to follow him and keep silent.

  He woke up Mason quietly, and he was up in seconds, ready to move. On his way past his bedroll on the ground, Piet picked up his bow and arrow quiver, and put it over his shoulder.

  ‘Where’re we going,’ whispered David.

  ‘To hide in the stables. There is someone here. If men come to you, then run fast to the dam and hide in the trees and the long grass like I have taught you. Make sure Mason stays with you so that you can protect him; he might not know how to hide well.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Mason said.

  ‘I thought it would help keep you calmer knowing that they are looking after you, but …’ Piet said.
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br />   ‘Oh yes. What’s happened?’ Mason asked.

  ‘Somebody has come through the front gate uninvited. We need to get you all to safety.’

  ‘What about you?’ asked David. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I am a policeman, remember. Once I see you are safe, I will go and wake the security staff, and Quintin and Lily. We will give the intruder a big fright.’

  ‘What about Diamond? She’s sleeping with Lily and Quintin tonight,’ David asked.

  Still keeping everything at a whisper, Piet replied, ‘I’ll make sure she is safe, too. Do not worry, and we can check on Elise when it’s all done, although even from here we can see her lights are off, so she is safe for now.’

  ‘Okay,’ David said.

  Mason nodded his head. ‘Come on, kids, quickly.’

  They ran as quietly as they could for the stables. Piet leading them, Maddy then David and Mason at the back.

  Soon they were in the outbuildings. Piet said, ‘Go inside the horse stables and hide between the haybales.’

  ‘Okay,’ David said. ‘Come on, Maddy, I’ll make sure they can’t see you at all.’

  Maddy hugged Piet tightly before she was pulled away by David.

  ‘Protect them with your life, Mason,’ Piet said.

  Mason nodded as he grabbed a pitchfork off the wall.

  Piet crept towards the homestead. He knew that if he went into the studio, Minke would wake up and make a lot of noise, but he had no other way to get into the house. He stopped and listened but couldn’t hear the man; he’d probably got into the house already.

  He abandoned the plan to wake them, and instead headed to the security cottage, the second ikhaya that had been fitted out for the security company as a base station, and also had rooms for them to sleep. As soon as he got to the security office, he rapped on the door. It opened within a moment.

  Whispering, Piet said, ‘Someone came in near the gate. They are already in the house. I could use a weapon of some sort. I was camping with the kids; I only have my bow and arrows with me.’

  The new security guard nodded. He tapped on his phone, and within a breath and a half, there were four of them standing with Piet.

  ‘Nothing on the monitor, but if Piet says there is someone here, I’ll believe him over our electronic equipment,’ Khanyi said. ‘Move out to the house. Someone give a spare to Piet.’

  Piet held the cool 9mm in his hand as he ran in front of the team. He knew the property like it was his own home. He stopped at the back of the house—from here he could see both the downstairs kitchen and one of the big windows upstairs. A small light moved around in the office. He pointed. ‘There.’

  ‘Power is off in the house, and the battery backup is disconnected, or the security lights would have come on,’ Khanyi said. ‘Generator is disabled obviously.’

  ‘On it,’ one of the others said, disappearing back the way they had come.

  The light moved from the window and Khanyi tried the back door. It was open. The team of three crept inside, checking each other as they went.

  Piet stayed outside in the shadows. He moved his position slightly so that he could see both the back door and the studio exit just in case.

  He heard Tiger meow as the door of the studio burst open and a man tumbled out. Minke was running after the man, honking and trying to peck at him, but with her curved beak, she wasn’t actually doing any damage at all. The animals were clearly disturbed by someone they did not know being in their space.

  The man ran right towards Piet, but behind him was one of the security guards. Piet couldn’t take a shot with the 9mm in case he missed. He quickly took his bow off his back, notched an arrow and let that fly instead. He knew he would always be true with that.

  This intruder was not getting away. Whoever had sent him had threatened Lily’s life more than once already, and now trouble was there again. The perpetrator had forced her to get private security and live with them shadowing her all the time. Taken away her freedom.

  That was something Piet knew a lot about.

  ‘Fucking hell,’ the man swore loudly as he turned and ran towards Lincoln’s ikhaya.

  Piet ran after him.

  Suddenly, the light in Lincoln’s home went on and he came out like a bull from a neck lock, shouting and beating on a tin pot, making a huge ruckus. ‘Voetsak skabenga! You keep away from this farm. Go away. Voetsak!’

  The security floodlights lit up the driveway at that instant, and Piet could see there was a police car with Gauteng number plates parked at the front gates. He could hear the beeping of the security alarm resetting, and the lights in the house flashed on in his side vision.

  The alarm started going off. The main gate had been forced open just enough for a man to climb through.

  Lincoln rushed onto the driveway, a knobkerrie in one hand and the dustpan lid in the other, still screaming, ‘Voetsak!’ at the top of his lungs. Bessie had come out of her ikhaya and was shouting too; she held a broom in her hand. There was total mayhem.

  The security firm backup bakkie arrived behind the cop car, parking it in. One of the security guys was on his phone as he climbed out of the vehicle, and the other had got out fast and let his dog out of the back, and was waiting for instructions. The dog barked madly, pulling on his leash, knowing that this was no training exercise.

  Two of the three security personnel burst from the front door of the house and ran towards the gate and the man on the phone. One had remained in the house with Lily and Quintin, and the other one, who had gone to fix the electricity, ran into the house. The security man who’d been talking on his phone nodded as another car skidded up behind the blocked driveway. A policeman was standing in the middle of the driveway, shouting orders, directing them towards the sheep pens.

  The guard with the dog took off in that direction, his flashlight shining in front of him. His dog led the way on the leash as if he already had the scent of the men in his nose and was hunting. One other man followed, as did one of the security detail.

  Piet shook his head. No way could the police have got there so fast before the private security backup. Something was amiss here. Under the bright lighting, he retraced his steps and followed the footprints as they ran first towards Lincoln’s ikhaya, and then away again. They went through a flowerbed; here Piet picked up his discarded arrow. Then he walked onto the driveway where he found the blood trail. He bent down and smoothed the sand and blood spot through his fingers. ‘He is bleeding from my arrow.’

  ‘You shot him with an arrow?’ Khanyi said. ‘We lent you a 9mm for a reason. Why didn’t you shoot the shit out of him?’

  ‘Ja, you did,’ Piet said and carried on following the trail. ‘But I did not want to shoot any of you guys by accident. I saw him only briefly in the shadows when he ran out of the house. Besides, you and I both know that I was hunting “only for the pot”, and that’s legal here; he just got in the way between that impala and me.’

  Khanyi nodded and walked next to him. Piet went to the gate and then lay on his stomach and looked underneath the police car.

  ‘He is not at the sheep pens, he is here,’ Piet said, pointing to the policeman. ‘And there is something under the police car.’

  Khanyi motioned for one of his guards to go through the gates, but he pointed his weapon at the policeman. The other guards there followed his lead.

  The policeman was shouting, ‘How can you trust this little man? Why would he say something like that? I saw the skabenga run for the sheep pens when I got here. I was first on the scene.’

  Piet looked at the man and stepped closer. ‘So, Warrant Officer Sithole, we meet again. Been a few years, but obviously they have been better to this little man than to the cop who has been corrupted.’

  ‘Who are you?’ Sithole asked.

  ‘Doos. You cannot lie your way out of this situation. You know me. Khanyi, the police car was here when the security floodlights came on. Then the headlights went on. I saw it,’ Piet said.
‘I was following Sithole.’

  ‘I’m Warrant Officer Sithole. I was first on the scene after the alarm code sent a distress signal to the police station. This man’s threatening me. You all heard him.’

  ‘No he didn’t, you domkop. Sergeant Piet Kleinman tells the truth, he’s with us,’ said Khanyi. ‘Put your weapon down, now. Look at your own chest. See that laser marker. Know that if you let off even one round, the other laser tagged onto your forehead will blow your brains out before you can even attempt a reload.’

  The guard who had climbed on his belly under the police car came out. ‘I have what looks like a homemade book and a laptop.’

  ‘This is my evidence. This is police property. That belongs to the police. I am Warrant Officer Sithole, and this is my case—’

  Khanyi cocked his weapon. ‘Shut up. Or I will shoot you.’

  Sithole looked around. He seriously thought that he was going to run.

  ‘I wouldn’t run, look at that blood coming from your stomach, looks like you ran into something,’ Khanyi said.

  Sithole clutched at his stomach.

  ‘You still die if you run,’ Piet said calmly. ‘You ran into a traditional arrow. It is dipped with poison for hunting. Do you not understand? You are already dying. I can follow you all night, and through the day, but before then, you will stop and you will die.’

  Sithole dropped to his knees, his hands behind his head. ‘Get me to a hospital. I don’t want to die.’

  * * *

  Khanyi was on the phone again. He had it on speaker. ‘The suspect had been shot with a poisoned San arrow,’ he said.

  The voice on the other side carried. ‘Did you say an arrow?’

  ‘Yes. You’ll need to dispatch an ambulance quickly. The San hunting poison is deadly.’

  Lily and Quintin, with Diamond carried close on Quintin’s hip, were coming outside with the other two security detail as the real police arrived.