Poacher (6 page)

There were four heavy crates, each about four
feet in length. That meant four trips to the truck, which would
take a lot of time, increasing the chances of discovery. Joao was
under no illusion as to what would happen if they were surprised by
resistance fighters.

‘I’m fetching the truck,’ he said, tossing
the Tokarev to Rui. ‘Keep your eyes open.’

Rui sat down on one of the crates, his back
to the trunk of the big tree. He was sweating profusely and his
eyes were darting all over, trying to look everywhere at once. On
top of his fear, the pounding hangover made life miserable.

It felt like hours before he heard the
familiar sound of the approaching truck.

Joao slammed on the brakes and stopped in a
cloud of dust, piling out of the cab. Speed was now of the essence.
One by one they threw the heavy crates onto the truck. There was no
way that their presence could not have been detected by now. It was
just a matter of beating the reaction time of the opposition.

They jumped into the cab and reversed the 200
yards to the main road in record time.

Joao expected to be torn apart in a hail of
bullets at any moment, but nothing happened. He backed onto the
tarmac and got going, pressing the ancient truck to its limits.

As the kilometres clicked by, the tension
started abating.

‘Yeoww!’ Joao exclaimed, slapping his brother
on the leg. ‘We’re rich! This stuff is going to fetch us a fortune.
Renamo is most probably going to buy it back from us, but boy, are
they going to pay!’

Rui was still glancing over his shoulder
apprehensively. ‘We are going to have to keep this to ourselves. We
could end up in front of a firing squad if it leaked out.’

‘Sure thing, bro, but only you and I know. We
will bury the stuff near our camp and start looking for buyers
later. Meanwhile, we will jump the wire again as soon as we can get
away. Just you and me. We have still got two good tusks, and the
Chink sounded rather desperate for rhino horn. I’m sure we can put
the pressure on him for enough to retire on.’

‘Joao, you are living in a dream world. You
know how scarce rhino still are. We could spend weeks in the Park
without seeing one.’

‘I know where there is a magnificent bull
with a gigantic horn, just waiting for us. The only problem is
convincing him to part with his horn,’ Joao said, casting his
brother a sideways glance and grinning mischievously.

Rui was petrified. ‘You can’t be serious,’ he
said. ‘The quarantine camp is too close to the rangers’ place. He
guards those rhinos better than he would have guarded his own
harem.’

In the late 1800s both the white and black
rhino were hunted to the brink of extinction.

During the past twenty years, a concerted
effort had been made by the Parks Board to re-establish these
pachyderms in the Park.

White rhinos were obtained from the Natal
Parks Board, Natal being the only province where viable quantities
still existed to enable the species to survive. The animals were
then transported to the Kruger Park and kept in quarantine camps
for several months to acclimatise, before being released in the
Park.

One of these quarantine camps was situated
five kilometres to the west of Sam’s house at Nwanetzi. Rumour had
it that one of the bulls there at present had a horn that would
challenge the present world record.

In aphrodisiac value this was worth 10,000
dollars, but Joao was shrewd enough to know that, provided he could
find the right buyer, the trophy value would exceed that amount
tenfold.

‘Don’t worry, little brother, if the ranger
interferes, I’ll handle him.’

He was hoping to sound more confident than he
felt: somewhere in the back of his mind a small voice was trying to
tell him something, which he preferred to ignore.

He knew Sam Jenkins well. This was no
ordinary ranger. Rumour had it that he had followed a band of
poachers way into Mozambique, killing them one by one.

This, being highly illegal, was most probably
just a story. Still . . . with Jenkins you never knew. With so many
stories floating around there had to be something special about the
man.

Nevertheless, he thought confidently, you
don’t fuck around with Joao dos Santos either.

By the time Louis arrived, accompanied by his
chief black ranger and one more man, Sam’s Toyota was loaded and
ready. The black rangers used to carry antiquated .303 rifles but
they’d recently been issued with new semi-automatic R1 rifles. Sam
preferred his Sauer & Sohn 300 Winchester Magnum, topped with a
powerful Bausch & Lomb scope.

They drove both trucks to a hill a few
hundred metres from the carcass. Everything was off-loaded and
while the rangers were carrying the stuff to a big tree at the base
of the hill, Sam and Louis drove the trucks a kilometre back along
the fire break. They hid the trucks in a deep donga and camouflaged
them with branches and grass. On the way back to the hill they kept
to the overgrown shoulder to avoid leaving boot prints in the fire
break. Not that the poachers would be approaching from this
direction, but with an opportunity like this they didn’t want to
leave anything to chance. The vehicle tracks were of no
consequence, as the fire breaks were regularly patrolled.

‘So, what are you going to do?’ Louis
asked.

‘Shoot the buggers if they give me half a
chance.’

‘No, you bloodthirsty bush mugu. I was
talking about this brand new crumpet you saddled yourself with.
Literally.’

‘Oh. Yes. Well, frankly, I don’t know. Have
to think about it.’

‘You realise, of course, what Estelle, her
family and your family are going to do to you when this lot leaks
out. A man doesn’t have to be a prophet to know you’re going to be
in the wringer. And you are the bright one who is always accusing
me of thinking with my knackers.’

‘Shut up. This is serious, and I haven’t got
the faintest idea what I can do.’

‘You can drop this new woman like a hot
potato and hope details of your carnal weekend never leak out. In
fact, I reckon that’s about the only thing you can do.’

‘No,’ Sam said, shaking his head.

‘You’re in heat. Sit it out and cool
off.’

They were approaching the tree under which a
rudimentary camp was being pitched.

‘Aaron, you and James get to the top of the
hill and start looking. And for God’s sake stick to the shade when
you are using binoculars. We don’t want to advertise our presence
to the whole of Mozambique.’

Sam tuned the two portable radios to the same
wavelength and gave Aaron one. ‘Remember to keep the volume control
way down.’

They were going to camp at the base of the
hill, and have radio communication with the two lookouts on the
summit. The lookouts would be relieved every four hours. It was not
a hill in the true sense of the word, but one of the rocky outcrops
that were scattered throughout the otherwise flat bushveld. It gave
them the advantage of being able to survey the surrounding flats
for kilometres around. Another advantage was that they could shield
a gas stove between two boulders at the base and were therefore not
limited to cold rations.

After a cup of tea and a pipe Sam took his
gun and crawled to the summit. ‘You guys go and have tea,’ he said
and started glassing the eastern horizon, taking care to shield the
lenses of his binoculars from the sun.

Joao and Rui were in the command tent of a
military camp near the border, talking to Colonel Lysenski. Joao
had just slipped him an envelope containing a bundle of cash, and
the colonel was in an expansive mood. These two men were
supplementing this pay nicely, and the extra money was making
things available to him without which his stint in this godforsaken
bush would have been much worse.

Joao was telling him about his intended
sortie into the rhino camp.

‘Comrade,’ Lysenski said, ‘do not
underestimate this Jenkins. He is a very dangerous man indeed. I
have heard much about him.’

Clenching his jaw muscles, Joao leaned
forward; ‘I, too, am a very dangerous man, comrade. I know Jenkins
well, and I have also heard a lot about him, half of which is
bullshit. I think it would be interesting to meet him on equal
terms.’

The colonel smiled and leaned against the
back of his chair. ‘It is good for a man to have fire in his soul,
Joao, but be careful you don’t scorch yourself. You know as well as
I do that you will never meet him on equal terms. Over there he has
got all the backing in the world, and you are on your own. I give
you AKs and ammunition, but that is as far as your backing
goes.’

Joao was grinning inwardly as he left the
tent. This was one time he doubted if the colonel was going to get
his share. With some rhino horn, the tusks and his cache of arms,
he was seriously considering retirement. A man with enough money
could disappear in Maputo and never be bothered by anybody.

On their way back to camp that morning they
had buried the arms safely. Only Rui and himself knew about the
haul, so it was as good as money in the bank.

‘Come, little brother,’ he said putting his
huge arm around Rui’s shoulder. ‘Let’s prepare ourselves to venture
forth and collect the balance of our fortune.’

‘As long as we don’t collect a bullet up the
backside. I still say you are now becoming reckless. Shouldn’t we
leave it for a while?’

‘And wait for life to pass us by? No way,
sonny. We are going in tomorrow just before first light. Tonight we
will sleep right next to the fence. Let us pack and go.’

First light found them well into the Kruger
Park, heading towards a low ridge about a kilometre from Sam’s
house. Joao strolled along jauntily as if he was taking a walk on
his own farm.

‘Slow down, Joao,’ Rui cautioned. ‘Even if
you are not scared of the rangers you’re forgetting we are in lion
country.’

Joao flashed a grin over his shoulder. ‘Maybe
I should have brought along the old mama that does the washing, to
help me carry your share.’

These delusions of always being in control
were a common danger all rangers had to guard against constantly.
When a man spends the best part of his life in the bush amongst
dangerous animals without the occasional close shave, he tends to
start underestimating his environment. And Joao hadn’t had one for
too long.

On reaching the ridge they climbed it
carefully. Lying flat on the summit, Joao peered over. In the
compound there was some smoke from a cooking fire, but in Sam’s
yard there was no sign of life.

Sam’s house, being fairly close to the
border, was amply guarded by fences. The outermost fence was a
standard three-metre electrified game fence. Inside that was a
broad band of the poisonous sisal-like shrub as well as three rolls
of blade wire coils. The inner fence was diamond mesh topped with
an electrified strand. This could keep out anything except
elephant, which Sam kept out himself.

Scanning the yard with his binoculars Joao
was pleased to note the absence of the Toyota. His spirits were
lifted further when he noticed three black rangers in the shade in
the compound. They had been instructed by Sam not to go out on
patrol, in case they scared off the poachers.

Joao reckoned on the three black rangers out
at the moment, which meant about one man per 150 square kilometres.
This was going to be easier than he had anticipated. He slid back a
couple of yards and got up. ‘Let’s go get us a couple of horns,’ he
said and strolled off.

They gave the house a wide berth, circling
west towards the rhino camp. Rui was also feeling a lot more
confident in the absence of the Toyota. He patted the fine-toothed
hacksaw he was carrying. At least this was going to be a lot
quicker than hacking the tusks out of the skull of an elephant.

They scaled the fence of the quarantine camp
and sat down in the shade, checking their AKs. While drinking from
their canteens, Joao instructed Rui to set the rifle to
semi-automatic. Letting rip at full automatic would give the
rangers a much more accurate idea of direction, in the unlikely
event of the shooting being heard in the compound. They then
proceeded into the camp. It was going to be like shooting fish in a
barrel.

They had hardly gone a hundred metres when
they came across the rhinos. Carefully judging the direction of the
wind, Joao indicated that they should bear left. The rhino having
extremely poor eyesight, Joao confidently approached to within
twenty yards. The big bull was there, with a horn that made Joao’s
eyes water. With him were three cows and two calves. Joao motioned
to the cow on the left and indicated that Rui should shoot just
after him.

The big bull went down in a cloud of dust. A
moment later Rui’s gun roared while Joao was getting the other big
cow in his sights. Their second shots coincided. Rui’s’s cow was
also down, but trying to get up. He let her have two more, and she
subsided.

The other cow was running away at a tangent,
accompanied by the rest of the family. Joao shot again, and again
his luck held. The cow’s hindquarters sagged as her spine was
severed. Joao charged in and killed her. For a moment there was
absolute silence in the dust as if nature was stunned. Then Joao
whooped, and Rui followed suit.

Within ten minutes the horns were in their
knapsacks.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ Joao said, sweat
beading his forehead.

‘Shouldn’t we skip the tusks and get to the
wire?’ Rui asked.

‘No,’ Joao said and headed north at a trot.
‘This is our last trip, and we are going to make it
worthwhile.’

Rui was more inclined to take their winnings
and pack it in. He tried to convince Joao that this would be that
safer thing to do. He was still awed by the magnitude of what they
had done.