“Since I taught him to do it! A few months ago. You know Michael it’s never too late to teach an old warrior new tricks you know” she said with a naughty smile and a wink, and to Night’s delight she disappeared beneath the covers...
Night used to regularly have the “Impotent Dream” as he called it when he was a rookie and never yet been in a contact situation with the enemy. After discussing it with his friends and colleagues he found it was pretty common amongst policemen. They all had similar dreams about their weapons misfiring –until they had successfully engaged the enemy with their guns in a real life situation that is. Night was sure a psychologist somewhere had documented the phenomenon. But neither he nor any of his mates were ever going to disclose something as personal as dreams to a head shrink.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
0800
Sergeant Night pulled into his usual parking spot at the Norwood Station. He could see Constables Shaka and Stanislov standing outside of the canteen entrance. He killed the engine and walked across to meet his friends.
“Morning boys.”
“Morning brother.”
The three men stared at each other in silence.
“So?” asked Shaka.
“So, nothing. We wait. Orders will come through on my cell and then we will move.”
Stanislov started to laugh.
“Not very discreet are we. Could we look any more like operators?”
Night looked down at his own clothes and then at his friends’ attire. They all wore black clothing. Shaka and Night wore black cargo pants and black boots. Stanislov black shoes and black jeans. They all wore black slim fitting t-shirts. Night and Stanislov had on the type of jackets only journalists, photographers and bodyguards wore. The kind with a dozen pockets. Stanislov very pointedly looked at his friend Shaka.
“And you look like a steroid bunny my friend. You know like one of those insecure bouncers who eats roids for lunch and dinner.”
“Hey my brother from a Russian mother don’t jealous me! Don’t jealous me just because you’re a fat bastard! Hahaha.”
Night stopped himself from laughing and noticed Stanislov’s face redden. His diet obviously wasn’t working that well. He was by no means fat though. Just naturally more round and very powerful. But being police officers and tactical operators, any kind of fat, or suggestion of fat, was a massive no-no.
“He’s got a point Zulu my brother, the shirt looks far too small for you. You know like you are trying to look huge.”
“Eish Mike, Voetsek Wena, I am not trying to look anything. I just am huge! Hahaha, but seriously this is the largest bloody t-shirt I could find man it’s a xxx large. What the hell do you want me to do. Walk around naked, like my ancestors!!”
Night laughed, taking in the sight of his extraordinary friend.
“You are just like Wamba. Too big and bloody hearty for this world.”
“Well, what should we do while we wait for more orders” asked Stanislov, as practical as ever.
“I am starving!” said Shaka.
“Imagine that. The world wrestling champion of the world needs food.”
“Hey brother don’t be anti-food now that you have to watch your diet, tubby. I’m a man and it’s breakfast time. I gotta eat you know, it’s only natural.”
“Yeah but I bet you ate at home before I picked you up right, less than half an hour ago, right?”
“Yeah but that was only a few eggs man. A little snack for the journey.”
“A few eggs, three right?”
“Six actually, but they were little ones…”
“Will you two shut it please. You sound like a married couple and you’re going to give me a headache…”
“Speaking of marriage Mike, how did last night go?” asked Stanislov.
A wide smile engulfed Night’s face.
“She said yes!”
Without a word the giant Zulu got hold of his friend and lifted him off his feet and gave him a powerful and warm bear hug. After a few seconds he put his friend back on the ground.
“I am so happy for you Mikey – I just love weddings, hahaha!” said Shaka.
“My God he sounds like an old lady” said Stanislov.
“I think you cracked a rib... Anyway let’s get out of here and get some grub. I could use a strong coffee as well, I hardly slept last night.”
“Yeah I am sure you didn’t sleep last night hey Mike, hahaha, this is a happy moment and calls for some celebratory chicken!” said Shaka.
The three men walked towards Night’s Lumina SS. As they reached the vehicle Warrant Officer Sipho Mnisi exited the back of the Norwood Police Station.
“Sergeant Night, just the man I wanted to see. I take it you have heard then.”
“Heard what?” said Night.
“About what happened a couple of nights ago.”
“No, what happened?”
“A doctor and his family were robbed and killed on Linksfield Ridge.”
Night kept quiet.
“So what does that have to do with Mike?” said Stanislov.
“It was his doctor, Doctor Chaplin.”
“What was taken?”
“Not much it seems or nothing you would expect, except for records, patient records.”
“Whose, mine?”
“No Mike. The filing cabinet was left open and disturbed under V. The next patient was Van der Walt.”
“Oh my God. Lisa!” said Night.
Without another word the four police officers including the detective jumped in the Lumina SS and Night activated the vehicle’s inbuilt siren system and they raced off to Kensington to Lisa’s house. Warrant Officer Mnisi put out an emergency call on his personal hand held radio on the channel that handled the Kensington area.
“Control, this is Warrant Officer Mnisi. Urgent.”
“Send Warrant.”
“Backup. I need backup Control. Send every available police vehicle you have to Three Mars Street in Kensington. I am the lead investigator in a bank robbery and the death of two police officers and I think a police Sergeant’s family is in serious danger. We are en route but will take a few minutes to get there.”
“Roger that Warrant. All vehicles on this channel listen up. A police officer’s family is in danger I need every vehicle on this channel to respond. Proceed immediately to Three Mars Street in Kensington. I repeat Three Mars Street in Kensington.”
Night methodically counted in his head 14 vehicles from Cleveland, Kensington, Malvern and Bedfordview respond to the Controller and report that they were en route to Lisa’s house.
Night drove that V8 like a man possessed. The three other police officers in the vehicle held on until their knuckles were white. Shaka in the front loved the drive but his exhilaration was overruled by a protective feeling for his friend Lisa. His blood began to boil at the thought of anyone doing anything to that sweet angel. Night drove the vehicle like a bat out of hell and climbed the steep hill that separated Norwood and Kensington, a treacherous incline, at impossible speeds. Stanislov could feel the vehicle wanting to lose control and skid out and crash but Night wrestled the powerful machine into submission each time, using the accelerator as a fine tuned regulator.
They cleared the mountain in no time at all and as they joined Roberts Avenue, one of the main roads in Kensington, Night could see marked police vehicles responding to the call for backup from every possible direction. Two minutes and three-near-collisions later and the Lumina SS pulled up outside Three Mars Street in Kensington. Two Kensington police vehicles were already outside, their doors open, and their crews nowhere to be seen. The Black Bastards ran to the entrance. Night noted that the electronic gate had been lifted off its hinges and stood slightly ajar. The police officers made their way in and found a uniformed police officer standing sentry at the house door blocking the entrance, assault rifle in hand and at the ready.
Hesitant to know the answer Night asked.
“What happened?”
&
nbsp; “Who are you?” demanded the young officer.
“I am Sergeant Night from Norwood and this is my house and these are my men, now tell me boy, quickly what happened!”
“They are dead inside. We heard your call for assistance and responded, my FTO went in. I heard him say that two are dead inside but there are no suspects left, it’s clear I think.”
“MOVE!”
And without waiting for the inexperienced officer to comply with the command Constable Shaka picked up the young policeman and moved him out of the way. Night moved in and saw blood all over the floor. Leading in from the garden and towards Lisa’s room, where only hours earlier Michael had made sweet love to her. Outside more and more police officers were arriving and swarming into the property. Kensington was a cacophony of police sirens and screeching tyres.
Night halted in front of her door, which was slightly ajar but he could not see in. His heart stopped beating. He felt the cold wind touch his face. A chill climbed into his body and travelled slowly down his spine and exited sharply through his lower back causing his body to convulse. He let out a sharp breath. His mind slowed and his vision became spherical. He lost his hearing and prepared to walk in, the voice of the young constable playing like a high-definition speaker system in his mind. “They are both dead.”
He slowly and deliberately opened the door . First he saw a police Warrant Officer. A man he knew, a good man. Then still in slow motion he saw his father in law to be, his mother in law to be. They were both crying. Tears in their eyes. They looked at him, met his eyes and in unison they looked to the floor. Crouching beside the lifeless body of his little, big mate Wamba, was the love of his life, Lisa. She looked bruised but principally unhurt, tears in her eyes. Night let out another deep breath through his nose. Thank God she was okay. But what about his canine child…Night came around to where Lisa squatted and raised her up into the safe embrace of his powerful but gentle arms. Then Night saw the full picture. The Lion Killer’s great bulk covered the form of a lifeless body. An intruder to the house of the Van der Westhuizens. Night could see the man wore a dark leather jacket, he had a large calibre firearm in his right hand and he had a pair of sunglasses on. The sunglasses were partially hidden by the colossal jaws of Wamba.
“What happened here my girl?” asked Night softly.
“He saved me Mike, our boy saved us.”
Lisa’s father then proceeded to tell Night and the other police officers present what had happened.
“You had just left for work Mike and as usual I watched you leave and I made sure the gates closed behind you. I saw Wamba go to the back of the property. Which is his usual routine after you stay over and then leave in the morning, he goes and sleeps by the pool, sometimes in it, in the shallow end on the steps.”
The father stopped to laugh softly at the thought of the loveable being sitting in the pool cooling off from the unrelenting African sun.
“I went inside for a few minutes and gathered the fodder for the birds. I always feed them in the morning. I went to the back door to go into the garden to fill the feeding station, it must have been only ten or 15 minutes after you had left for work and when I got to the door, that man”--he pointed to the corpse that lay under the motionless Boerboel -- “he was there with a gun and he pointed it at me. I immediately thought of Wamba and maybe calling him but then I looked over the man’s shoulder and saw that he was lying in a heap on the ground by the perimeter wall.
“The man then started laughing and told me that he had poisoned Wamba. He said, he said… Two Steps to hell for that stupid dog. What happened next is a blur but I know he took me inside, I couldn’t resist, I mean how could I fight him. We then went to the kitchen where my wife was preparing some tea and he took her, she screamed but the bastard hit her with his gun. Then I tried to fight and then he must have hit me because the next thing I remember we were all in here tied up. I looked around the room, my wife was beside me and Lisa was on the floor in front of us. That man was on top of her, he was laughing, I think he wanted to rape her, he was undoing his belt. I was so scared Mike but I was proud of my daughter because she didn’t cry, she didn’t struggle, she just looked at the bastard in defiance, I, I, I looked at my wife, she was unconscious, I thought she was dead and I am ashamed to admit it but I wanted to be dead myself but then, but then something strange happened. I, I thought I was going insane but the door handle to Lisa’s room slowly moved down and the door started to swing open. And then I saw him Mike, I saw our Wamba.”
The man burst into a torrent of tears. None of the officers ventured to interrupt his heart wrenching account, they were too full of emotion to say a word.
He continued: “He looked pissed off Mike! I love Wamba, and I know he loves me but I have never seen a beast so angry. I mean every muscle in his enormous body was tensed. His eyes were on fire. But, but I could see that something was wrong, he was injured or drunk, I don’t know, he staggered and then… and then when he was behind the man he let out the most chilling sound I have ever heard. I swear to you Mike, you might think I am completely mad but he sounded like a…a ..”
“A lion” said Shaka who had entered the room and was blocking the entrance with his mighty frame. Stanislov was outside calling off the cavalry and thanking his brothers. Constable Daniel Shaka’s face was wet with tears.
“Yes Danny. Yes my boy. He was magnificent. I felt as if God himself had sent my boy. The criminal, the robber he got a terrible fright and he turned around and stood up. Lisa rolled away from underneath the man. And if somehow sensing the time was now right, like he wanted the man to face him, or something, Wamba jumped on him and crushed him to the ground. And he bit him Mike, but he bit his entire face, like you can see. And I heard the crunch. You know like the sound of bone breaking, the man let out a gurgle, and a let out a huge breath. I think the weight of Wamba pushed it all out of him. And then they lay there just like that, as you see them now.”
The room was still. Lisa and her parents, Night and the Warrant Officer and Daniel Shaka were silently absorbing the dramatic details.
Then Shaka spoke: “Mike can I pick him up, lift him off of this thing, this evil thing.”
“You will have to my friend, you are probably the only one who can. But Warrant what about the scene, shall we preserve it or…”
“No it’s fine. Let’s take your boy out of here and remove that dead son of a bitch from the house. We will close the docket on this criminal scum quick, quick” said the Warrant Officer.
The giant Zulu carefully leaned down and attempted to heave the giant Boerboel up into his arms but he couldn’t as his great canines were embedded in the skull of Maleven. Night asked Stanislov to take Lisa and her parents into the kitchen to drink some warm tea with lots of sugar to treat the shock.
When they were safely out of the room. Night bent down and prudently removed the teeth one by one from the dead man’s head. Once Wamba’s iron grip was completely removed from Maleven’s cranium it slightly collapsed in on itself.
Shaka, his face a torrent of tears, held the great beast up into his arms and into his chest. He moved to the door and began walking. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks, mid stride.
“Mike! Mike!”
“What man?”
“A heartbeat, I can feel his heartbeat! Its faint and slow but it’s there!!”
Thirty minutes later and another roller coaster, neck-break ride, over the hill in Night’s Lumina SS and Wamba was on the operating table of the Norwood Vet.
“We have pumped his stomach and given him the medication he needs but he should be dead Mike. He has no right to be alive after being given so much Aldicarb. The stuff is nasty and he digested, look.”
Veterinary Surgeon Michelle Fisher showed Night and Shaka the contents of a tube which now contained what had been inside Wamba’s stomach. “This amount of pesticide would usually kill three horses let alone just one dog!”
“He’s not just a dog, doctor, he is a Zulu
Lion.” said Shaka proudly and with great grandeur in his deep voice.
“Well whatever he is it’s a miracle that he is still alive. And he has almost no chance of staying that way, I’m sorry to have to say that but it’s better that you don’t get your hopes up. Too much poison has entered his blood stream and nervous system. Only a miracle would bring him back from this.”
At that moment Night’s phoned beeped, the familiar CTU sound.
“24, I love that show!” said the Vet. “I will leave you guys alone so you can say goodbye to your friend, he will have to stay overnight.”
And Fisher left the room and closed the door behind her. Night looked at his phone, the message from a new unknown number read:
DEPARTURE: JOHANNESBURG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN 60 MINUTES. TERMINAL A GATE 09. LEAVE PRIVATE ARMS. PARK SAPF AIRPORT GARAGE. ENDS.
“Zulu, it’s time.”
Shaka said his affectionate goodbyes to his Zulu Lion and left the room.
Night took Wamba’s magnificent head in his arms, kissed his crown gently and whispered: “I will see you again soon my friend. In this life or the next, but not yet, not… just… yet. I love you boy and thank you. Thank you for saving our Lisa.”
Lumina. Drive. Nandos. The Zulu had to eat after so much emotion. Night too was also starving but didn’t let on. He enjoyed the lightness of the moment in being able to tease his best friend for always eating. The great Zulu warrior managed two whole chickens and a side of fries.
“One celebratory chicken for your marriage and one celebratory chicken for the courage of the brave Zulu Lion” he had declared with much pomp and ceremony.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Lisa’s house. Night arranged with the General’s assistance that a Kensington police vehicle would stand guard outside the house protecting Lisa and her family for the next 72 hours.
Night held his fiancé safely in his arms. Her head resting on his chest. After a few quite moments Night opened his mouth to say goodbye but Lisa put her index finger to his lips and stopped him from saying farewell. She looked up into his loving eyes and whispered softly:
Night in London Page 28
