Silent Predator (18 page)

‘Get in,’ a woman said to him, leaning back and opening the rear door of her BMW. Tom sidled up to the car but did not take up the invitation.

He held his gun up, pointed in the air. ‘Back up, now!’ The tour operator driver finally saw sense and started his engine. As he tried to reverse, however, he
jack-knifed his trailer and had to engage first gear to move forward again. All three lions were on their paws now, growling and facing outwards in different directions. The van’s erratic movements were spooking them, but the cats, like the other drivers on the bridge, were trapped. ‘Move it!’

The lion that had spotted Tom caught sight of him again. Cornered, it had only one option. It bounded between two cars and started running directly at Tom. Women screamed and cameras whirred as the lion closed the gap, charging for the kill. Tom had moved to the front of the BMW better to communicate with the van driver, but now he saw the flash of tawny fur streaking towards him. ‘Get in!’ the woman behind him yelled again. He needed no further prompting. He took three paces back and dived, headfirst, onto the rear passenger seat. The woman was trying to close the door but his foot was in the way. He yelped as he felt the door crush against his ankle but, turning around to look back over his shoulder, he saw it was not the woman who was closing the door any more. She was bent double in the front seat, screaming maniacally. The lion was standing on its hind legs, roaring. The pressure on the door was coming from two massive paws, and the leathery pads, each the size of a dinner plate, were pressed against the car door’s window. The beast’s foul breath fogged the glass. Its deep, wheezy growls rocked the car almost as much as its massive weight as it fought to get inside the vehicle.

Tom lay on the back seat and racked his Glock, chambering a bullet as he let the slide fly forward. He reached out and pressed the electric window button
in front of him, on the door opposite the lion. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, you fucking idiot?’ the woman’s husband said from the driver’s seat. He had been in shocked silence so far. As the window slid down, Tom felt the pressure relieved on the car. The lion hadn’t left, it had just got smarter.

He saw the hooked claws protruding, each as long as one of his fingers, as the lion hooked one huge paw into the gap in the partially open door. He was going to open it. Tom pulled his foot free at last and thrust his right hand out of the window. He squeezed the trigger four times. Children cried and parents hollered. The lion withdrew its paw at the deafening sounds of the gunshots, and turned and ran back over the bridge in pursuit of his two brothers.

The tour van had finally turned around and was speeding away. Like a champagne bottle uncorked, the road was now clear and cars spewed across the bridge, eager to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the madman with the gun as quickly as possible. Inside the BMW the woman who had probably saved Tom’s life was a sobbing wreck. ‘Get out of my fucking car now, you stupid
rooinek
,’ her husband spat at Tom.

Duncan pulled up beside them in the Land Cruiser, shaking his head. ‘Well, you cleared the bridge,’ he said.

‘Sorry,’ was all Tom could think to say to the couple in the car. He climbed out and leapt back into the front passenger seat of the game-viewing vehicle.

Tom noted the sign on the bridge as they raced across the Sweni River. He checked the map as
Duncan drove. People honked their annoyance at them as Duncan overtook car after car, not caring any longer that he was going almost twice the fifty kilometre per hour speed limit. They had already covered roughly sixty kilometres from Skukuza, but still had more than twenty to go, on dirt, once they reached the S100 road, just south of Satara camp. If the men they were pursuing were sticking to the speed limit, in order not to draw undue attention to themselves, then Tom was hopeful they would catch them before they abandoned their vehicle. Assuming, of course, they were on the right road and had correctly figured the kidnappers’ plan.

‘Can’t you go any faster?’ They had turned onto the dirt road now and Duncan had slowed the Land Cruiser to about sixty kilometres per hour – still twenty above the maximum for gravel.

‘If we hit a buck or an elephant you’ll be going nowhere.’ Duncan returned his concentration to the road. Tom held the bar on the front dashboard for support as they roller-coastered through a drainage culvert. All four wheels left the road as they hit a hump where a grader had turned off.

They left a cloud of red dust in their wake, which blanketed a pair of cars and their occupants, who had stopped to photograph a trio of giraffe. The long-limbed animals, scared by the roar of the Cruiser’s speeding diesel engine, cantered away, looking as though they might trip at any moment.

Tom was still looking backwards when Duncan braked hard, and he was thrown into the dashboard, his right shoulder connecting with it painfully. ‘What?’
He looked up to see a family of warthog, a big male, his female and three tiny piglets, galloping away, their tails pointed up like antennae as they ran. Duncan accelerated again and ground through the gears until they were back up to their safe maximum speed.

‘
Bakkie
ahead,’ Duncan called. It was the fifth such vehicle they had seen. This one had its brand, Isuzu, written in bold, raised black letters across the tailgate. Tom noted that the enclosed rear canopy was heavily tinted. He slid his pistol from its holster and held it loose in his lap.

‘Take them,’ Tom said. Duncan pressed his foot to the firewall.

Tom saw a face in the driver’s wing mirror as Duncan brought them alongside the right rear corner of the pick-up. It was an African and he was watching them intently. He saw the rear passenger window of the twin cab start to come down. Tom raised his pistol so that it was level with the dashboard, but still out of the sight of any occupant of the other vehicle.

A man’s face peered out, but only for an instant. His complexion was dark, swarthy, but not black. If Tom had to guess he would say Arab. ‘Get ready to ram them if I tell you.’ Duncan’s face was grim, but he simply nodded.

Duncan slowed marginally as they prepared to draw alongside. At that moment, Tom heard a whining protest of changing gears and the other vehicle shot forward, accelerating. ‘Faster!’

Duncan changed down quickly but the
bakkie
was pulling away from them. Tom had only a split second to make his decision. They could simply be local men
who might resent some rich tourist from a private game lodge and his guide trying to overtake them at speeds in excess of the legal limit. Or they could be Robert Greeves’s kidnappers.

He raised his hand and aimed at the right rear tyre of the other vehicle. As he squeezed, Duncan hit a deep rut and had to wrestle with the wheel to keep them straight. Tom’s shot went wide. If the driver of the other vehicle heard the shot he did not heed it as a warning and continued to accelerate. Tom coughed as they drove through the dust plume churned up by the Isuzu. It would be hard to get a clear shot through the red-brown mist of grit and he was worried about accidentally killing one of the people they were trying to save.

Any doubt Tom had about the identity of the other vehicle disappeared when the tinted rear window of the
bakkie
’s canopy suddenly flew up. Tom lifted his arm instinctively, but then ducked as he saw a man wearing a black ski mask pointing a short-barrelled version of an AK 47 at them. Duncan saw the threat too and swerved wildly as the assault rifle opened up on them. The rough ride made it hard for the gunman to aim and the bullets sailed high. Tom glanced up and saw two holes had been punched through the canvas sun canopy.

Tom felt no satisfaction that they had taken the right route, nor that they had found the criminals’ vehicle. They were outnumbered and outgunned. He didn’t imagine that was the only automatic weapon in the
bakkie
. He couldn’t shoot back – he was certain that the man with the AK was guarding Greeves and
Bernard, who would be lying in the back of the truck’s cargo area. All they could do was keep them in sight.

‘Keep on them but don’t get too close,’ he said to Duncan, who was doing his best to do just that.

Tom fished his mobile phone from his pocket and held it up so he could see the screen. ‘No signal. Shit. We’re on our own, Duncan.’

‘Not quite.’ As he drove one-handed, Duncan snatched up the handset of his two-way radio and started talking rapidly in Shangaan. Tom listened in as he kept his eyes on the vehicle ahead, visible now and then through a swirling dust cloud. A series of acknowledgement messages came through in African dialect. He also heard some radio chatter in Afrikaans when Duncan turned up the volume. ‘We might get some support if we’re not too late.’

‘We can use it. Can you get Tinga on that thing?’

‘We’re too far away now, but I can try to relay a message.’ After some more talking on the radio, Duncan was able to pass a message back to Tinga giving their location and confirming that they were in sight of the missing persons.

As they bounced and skidded through tight turns and a dry river crossing, a message came back from Tinga. Duncan translated it. Sannie was relaying through another guide that the police were on their way, but there would be no air support, as the parks board’s helicopter, normally based in Kruger, was in Johannesburg for an engine overhaul. They were trying to get military air support from the nearby air base at Hoedspruit. ‘Still on our own,’ Tom said bitterly.

‘This road ends soon, in a T-junction. They can go
left or right or, if your theory is right, they’ll ditch their
bakkie
and continue on foot.’

‘Well, let’s hope we’ve foiled that part of their plan. I’m assuming you can take this thing through the bush?’

‘You better believe it, man.’ Duncan slapped the dashboard fondly. ‘They’re slowing. What do you want me to do?’

‘Hang back.’

Tom’s command was too late. The
bakkie
in front of them skidded to a halt. Even though Duncan hit his brakes as well, the distance between them closed rapidly as a result of the lead vehicle’s sudden stop. ‘Get down!’ Tom yelled as he saw the gunman in the back taking deliberate aim. One of the rear doors of the twin-cab passenger compartment opened and another man in a ski mask climbed out. He carried a cut-down Russian assault rifle identical to the other man’s.

The two AK 47s fired on automatic and Tom felt the impact of slugs slamming into their engine. The front of the Land Cruiser sagged and Tom knew the tyres had been hit. Steam hissed from their punctured radiator and Tom heard the Isuzu’s engine start up again. He raised his head and saw the trailing dust cloud once again. ‘Grab your rifle.’

Tom got out of the stricken four-by-four and started running up the dirt road. He knew the track would end soon, and even if the other vehicle went off road, its momentum would be slowed by the bush, perhaps to walking pace if the trees were as thick ahead as they were to each side of him. He looked back and
saw Duncan trotting behind him, working the bolt of his heavy hunting rifle and chambering a round as he ran. He felt a momentary pang of guilt at putting the safari guide in danger. He was a civilian and this was not his fight. Tom had no business ordering him into harm’s way, and he told him as much when he drew alongside.

‘Mr Greeves and Mr Joyce were clients. Their safety is as much my responsibility as yours, so be quiet and save your breath for the fight.’

Duncan raised a hand and moved off the graded road into the long golden grass and thickets of thorn-studded trees on their right. Tom followed the guide, who had reduced his pace. They heard the Isuzu’s diesel engine ahead, but it had slowed to a laboured growl. Duncan paused and dropped to one knee, and Tom followed suit. Ahead of him through the bush, he could see the intersection.

Duncan cocked his head to one side. ‘They have gone on ahead, driving through the bush. They will not move fast. Listen.’

From their left, Tom heard another vehicle’s engine, though this one was screaming at a high pitch. He squinted into the morning sun and saw a dark green Land Rover closing on them, a dust cloud in tow. The vehicle stopped at the intersection, and Tom and Duncan emerged to greet it.

‘Howzit, my
boet
,’ the Afrikaner driving the Land Rover said to Duncan as they shook hands, African style, linking their hands by the thumbs halfway through the traditional European greeting. The man was grey-haired and his face, tanned to the colour
of mahogany, was lined with deep furrows, worn by age and a lifetime in the unrelenting African sun, and his beard was stained yellow by tobacco smoke. He conversed rapidly with Duncan in Shangaan. In the rear of his Land Rover, which, like Duncan’s Cruiser, had no sides or solid roof, just a canvas awning above, were two plainly confused tourists, a young couple.

‘Duncan’s explained what’s going on?’ Tom asked the man.

‘
Ja
. I’m Willie. He tells me you want to take my Land Rover off road into that bush, to follow those other
okes
.’

‘That’s right,’ Tom said. ‘We don’t have time to waste. Radio your position and get someone else to come collect you and your clients.’

‘Hold on,
bru
. You don’t tell me what to do, and no one, not even Duncan, gets to drive my vehicle. I’ve told him to stay here. I’ll drive you.’

Duncan looked at Tom and shrugged. The white man went on, ‘I was a recce commando in our war in Angola. If those
okes
are as bad as Duncan’s made them out to be, you need someone like me more than someone like him.’ Willie took his own rifle from its cradle on the Land Rover’s dashboard and inserted its bolt and then chambered a bullet as long as Tom’s middle finger. ‘Now then, folks, my colleague Duncan here is going to look after you while this gentleman and I go look for some
tsotsis
in the bush.’

Before the confused tourists could ask too many questions, Tom was sitting in the passenger seat beside Willie. The big Afrikaner engaged low-range four-wheel drive and the boxlike truck lurched down
a drainage ditch and into the bush. Ahead of them the trail carved by the Isuzu was plainly visible. ‘This should be fun.’ Willie veered off to the right.