Amie in Africa Box Set 1

by Lucinda E Clarke

  “Yes, this matches the photos on my phone. This was the site.”

  “You took pictures! We weren’t told about that!” Peter was horrified. “Show them to me!”

  “I can’t, Peter, sorry! I don’t have my phone here. And they’re not very clear anyway,” Amie blustered, lying through her teeth. Some deep instinct told her to keep them away from him. “Anyway, they were terrible. I was a long way off, and I didn’t really see very much, hardly anything actually.” Peter advanced on her as if to take her bag from her and search it. Amie took a step backwards. She was tired of him bossing her around and treating her as if she was an idiot, and she didn’t trust him. She was not going to show him anything.

  “Did you send them to our people in London?” Peter asked sharply.

  Without thinking, she told the truth. “No, I didn’t think it was safe.” For several seconds no one moved, no one spoke, the atmosphere was strained.

  “I suggest we set up camp here,” Karen announced, breaking the silence before Peter had a chance to ask any more questions. She began unloading the first truck and they started erecting the tents. “At any rate we’ll take a little while to suss out the area. Then we’ll take a few soil samples for a complete report to send back.”

  Bob nodded. “At least one of us should stay with the vehicles. Last thing we need is to come back and find we’ve been robbed.”

  “What sort of people would live around here?” Peter looked doubtful.

  “What about the villages we went through earlier today? You never know,” Bob said.

  “Good point,” Peter agreed, banging the tent pegs into the hard-baked ground. “As it was your suggestion, I’m volunteering you.”

  Bob groaned. “I could have guessed. OK, someone’s got to. You finish the tents Peter and I’ll get a fire going and cook us up a nice dinner for when you all get back.”

  Karen giggled, which Amie thought was a strange reaction from such a down to earth, no nonsense person. She wasn’t nervous was she, or was this girly behaviour for Peter’s benefit? They slung their back packs over their shoulders and set off.

  Amie reckoned it was only a couple of kilometres at most, and when they reached the dry river bed she knew she was on the right track. As they crested the top of the rise, they could see the broad plain sparsely dotted with acacias and a few knob thorns stretching out to the horizon. Mopani trees and a majestic baobab tree in the middle distance speckled the skyline, its branches like roots reaching for the sky.

  Slithering down the other side of the ridge, they set out across the grasslands.

  Suddenly Peter halted. “Look. The grass here is flattened. There’s lots of evidence that someone was here, and they would have been firing in that direction.” He pointed to the north.

  Amie noticed several bits of plastic, torn labels and some polystyrene chips littering the ground and caught in the branches of the shrubs.

  Karen handed her a large plastic bag and told her to gather as many of the wrappings as she could, while she went to take soil samples which, she informed Amie, could prove that weapons had been fired in that area. She pointed to a bush several yards away. “Look, more papers over there,” and obediently Amie wandered over to collect them.

  They’d been working away quietly for a little over an hour when something made Amie look up. Standing off to one side was a large bull elephant and he was in musth. His enormous penis hung down between his back legs and on either side of his head, just behind his eyes, the skin was wet from the secretions seeping from his temporal glands. This could be painful for elephants, and she knew it made them aggressive and unpredictable.

  The huge animal swung his massive head in her direction and for a moment she froze. There was no sign of any other herd members, he was on his own and that made him even more dangerous. He would defend his territory and anything else he saw as a threat or competition for the female he was searching for.

  Amie looked around, neither of the others had noticed, but she had to warn them.

  “Karen! Peter!”

  Both heads turned towards her and then to where she was pointing.

  The beast looked from one to the other and loped forward a few steps. He threw his head back and trumpeted loudly, the sound echoing off the dry, dusty earth. His trunk swayed from side to side, and he advanced a little more. The three people invading his territory were all at different angles, one on his left, another on the right and the third straight ahead.

  “What do we do?” Karen dropped her bags and bottles.

  “You can’t outrun him,” Amie hissed as loudly as she dared without calling attention to herself. The leviathan appeared to be focusing on Peter, who was deliberately walking backwards one step at a time. His feet appeared to float over the dusty ground while, keeping his eye on the animal, he put more distance between them.

  The elephant trumpeted again. The terrifying sound reverberated around them. Amie and Karen stealthily moved further away, bit by bit, but there was nowhere to hide; they were all out in the open and exposed in every direction.

  While elephants rarely attack, and Amie knew they were only aggressive when cornered, it was different if a lone bull was in musth. He’d be bad tempered, driven by hormones, and his behaviour would be unpredictable. It was the worst possible situation. How he’d come so close without any of them noticing she had no idea. Their only hope was to keep moving as far from him as possible and hope he’d not see them as a threat.

  The bull mock charged again, gaining more ground and coming even closer. He twitched his trunk from side to side which Amie took as a good sign, as he stood making up his mind if they were a threat or not. Suddenly he flattened his ears against his head, tucked his trunk inwards and levelled his tusks. He was staring straight at Peter.

  “Look out!” cried Amie “He’s going to charge.”

  The elephant swung his huge head towards Amie. Now he was focused on her. In warning Peter, she had unwittingly put herself in danger. Her knees turned to jelly, she was rooted to the spot. The bull elephant was less than twenty yards away, towering above her. He was fully grown, at least twelve-foot tall and possibly eight foot across at the shoulders, and his tusks were long and straight. He was close enough for her to see the marula stained ivory, the thick wiry hairs on his solid grey hide, and feel the vibrations from his huge stamping feet. She knew she couldn’t outrun him; he could run at twenty-five miles an hour.

  The elephant trumpeted again, flapped his ears a couple of times then lowered his head, pinned his ears back and charged – straight for Amie.

  20 NEW ARRIVALS

  He was within five yards of Amie when there was a huge explosion. It stopped the beast in its tracks. The ground trembled beneath her feet, flinging her onto her back. For a moment Amie thought someone had shot the animal. She cast about frantically through the swirling dust. Who had a gun? Was someone else here?

  The adrenalin pumped through her body as she scrambled to her feet. One step, another and another, until she was backing away as fast as she dared. She wanted to check what was behind her, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the elephant.

  The leviathan was still standing, swaying slightly, but he was making a horrendous squealing sound. As he tried to stagger towards Amie he stumbled, then stopped as if puzzled. It was then she realised what had happened. The unfortunate creature had stood on a land mine and it had blown off the lower part of one leg. Blood was pouring into the dust around it.

  Despite her fear Amie felt a lump in her throat and she gulped. For a moment, she forgot her life had been in danger. To see such a majestic animal maimed by a cruel man-made invention designed to kill people, was devastating. She stared wide-eyed as she shuffled backwards creating more distance between them, and she noticed that Karen and Peter were doing the same. It was impossible to tell how big a threat the animal was now. It was still in shock but the pain must have been excruciating. Would he try and charge again? Would he follow them and attack?

&
nbsp; “W – What do we do now?” Karen’s voice wavered.

  “Keep retreating Karen, its behaviour is still unpredictable,” Peter snapped back.

  Time stretched into infinity as they made for the steep slopes of the donga which dropped down into the dry river bed. The beast hadn’t moved but if he decided to come after them, they were still in danger. As soon as they reached the ridge, they threw themselves down the other side, ploughed through the sand and scrabbled up on their hands and knees. They ran back to the camp as fast as the heat allowed. Fuelled by adrenaline, Amie covered the ground even more rapidly than she had at the Spa Resort escaping from Ken. Sample bags were forgotten, measuring tapes left behind, trowels and test tubes abandoned; they had one goal in sight, to get away as far and as fast as possible. If she’d stopped to think about it, Amie would have blessed Bob for making her as fit as she was; all those endless hours of training in the Scottish Highlands were paying off.

  Further up the path they met Bob coming to look for them. He was carrying the rifle and gaped as they raced past him making for the vehicles. He turned and ran with them.

  “What happened?” he demanded as they jumped into the Nissan and slammed the doors.

  “Elephant, lone bull, in musth,” gasped Peter, grabbing a water bottle and draining it in one shot.

  “But I heard an explosion, least I think …”

  “It stepped on a land mine. It’s badly injured but not dead. I’m not sure how mobile it’ll be once it comes out of shock.”

  “It will be in such pain,” Amie was feeling both relieved and sad. “Can’t we do anything to help it?”

  Peter gave her a condescending look. “It’s only an animal, Felicity, and besides, it was about to kill you.”

  “Yes, I know but …” Amie was quite shocked by Peter’s callousness. There was no sympathy to be seen in his dark face.

  “Do you think that land mine was left over from the demonstration? Did those men leave it there?”

  “No way of telling. Mozambique has been at war for almost thirty years, first for independence from Portugal and later a bloody civil war. In theory, the war was over in 1992 but even today there’s a lot of tribal unrest between Frelimo and Renamo. With over three million abandoned landmines it’s not surprising that at least twenty people a month have limbs blown off. Average life expectancy is only forty-six.” Peter knew a lot more about Africa than he’d let on.

  When she stopped to think about it, Amie hated the way the world was. There was so much beauty, and then man had to go and spoil it all.

  “Time to pack up and leave,” Bob announced. “I’ll start collapsing the tents.”

  “No rush,” Peter glanced briefly at his watch. “I doubt the old bull will make it this far. Most likely die within a couple of days from septicaemia, then we can finish gathering the evidence we need.”

  “I’m not sure I agree,” Karen’s eyes flashed. “I, for one, don’t want to be a sitting duck for a maimed elephant who just might look for revenge.”

  “If it was a buffalo, I might agree with you,” Peter replied, “but I think we’re safe enough.”

  “Can’t we do anything to help it?” Amie asked again. “At least put it out of its misery?”

  “Not with that gun we can’t.” Peter indicated the rifle leaning up against the Nissan. “Not with .375 bullets, and I guess that’s all you have?”

  Bob nodded.

  “So, we sit and wait. He’s not going to creep up on us, now is he?”

  “Well, we didn’t notice him the first time.” Anger boiled inside Amie. Why were they all sitting here doing nothing while that beautiful creature lay in agony less than a couple of miles away. There must be something they could do, especially if Peter was insisting they still needed to gather evidence of the arms demonstration.

  Then, another thought flittered through her brain. Three million land mines left? They could be anywhere. She could step on one even here in the clearing. She shuddered. It was yet another part of Africa tainted by man.

  By tacit agreement one of them kept watch for the approaching elephant, while Bob served up the supper.

  Karen kept herself busy by tidying up the camp.

  Vultures flying overhead was a sign that the elephant had gone nowhere. There had been no game out on the sun-scorched plain, so it must be the elephant that had attracted them. Once or twice when the air was still, Amie thought she heard bellows of pain, but it might have been her imagination. Would other members of the herd answer the pitiful cries? But the lone bull was not young, it was possible he’d been on his own for some time and was looking for a new herd where he could mate with any females in season. He looked too old to be with a group of younger bulls, but would other elephants answer his distress calls? If they did it was unlikely they would approach the human camp here, they were probably in more danger from humans than stepping on a landmine themselves.

  The atmosphere was tense as they settled down to eat the stew Bob had prepared. He’d made a few funny remarks about his lack of cooking skills, but no one was laughing. Each was either lost in thought, or wary of unknown dangers lurking just out of sight. Peter in particular, appeared nervous. He kept fiddling with his watch strap, or going back time and time again to check something in the Isuzu. He disappeared into his tent several times, returning minutes later before pacing up and down again.

  “Problem?” Karen looked at him.

  “No, nothing, nothing at all, enjoying the night air.” He was cool, calm and collected, but Amie suspected this was a cover.

  After supper Bob suggested they played a game of cards, and everyone agreed, but after a couple of hands, both of which he won, it was obvious no one was concentrating. They gave up by mutual consent.

  Amie was feeling depressed. She wasn’t going to let on in front of everyone but it was hard work appearing cheerful. The whole episode with the elephant had upset her more than she could have imagined. She thought briefly about grabbing the rifle and going to put the poor creature out of its misery, but common sense told her that she had no idea where to aim the bullets and although she now knew how to use a gun, she’d never pointed one at a live creature. She might inflict even more pain on the dying animal and she couldn’t bear that.

  The vultures were no longer flying overhead. They would have landed by now pecking and fighting over any part of the beast they could grab. Africa was raw, wild and primitive, and without interference from man, the balance of life was in harmony with the earth. Amie closed her eyes and tried to imagine the baby vultures in their nests that would be well fed tonight.

  “Have you met Peter before?” Amie asked Karen when they both prepared for bed in the tent that night.

  Karen smiled. “No. I wish I had though. As far as I know he’s based in London, while I’ve been up north for months.”

  “He did say he’s never been to Africa before didn’t he …?” Amie probed a little more.

  Karen cut her off mid-sentence. “I’m not going to discuss this. We don’t disclose our former backgrounds, and we don’t ask personal questions, Felicity, you know that. All I know is he’s also with the Service and I don’t need to know any more than that, and nor do you.” She slipped into her sleeping bag and turned away facing the tent wall.

  She’d told Amie nothing, and the questions still whirling around in her head remained unanswered.

  The night passed without further incidence and Amie and Karen barely exchanged a word the following morning. In an attempt to break the ice, Amie asked her why it was so important to go back and gather samples of the soil and packaging. The demonstration was long over; the arms had disappeared and the buyers and sellers were miles away.

  Karen reluctantly explained that the origin of the ammunition, and even the discarded rubbish and shell casings, could possibly lead to where they’d been manufactured.

  But surely, Amie argued, there were dozens of arms deals every day and it would be normal to find quiet spots like this to show of
f what they could offer to prospective buyers.

  Karen hesitated, there was obviously a lot more she wasn’t saying, and wasn’t going to tell Amie.

  “But how did you know this was going to happen?” Amie persisted.

  “You told us,” was the simple reply.

  “But only after the event. I had instructions to stick to Simon like glue, so did you suspect him of doing stuff like that?”

  “I really can’t confirm that.”

  “Does MI6 or whoever, back in London suspect Simon of working for the other side? Or was he representing our government in selling arms to people we don’t want anyone to know about?”

  “I can’t tell you, Felicity, I really can’t. I don’t know the full story.”

  “So, what can you tell me?”

  “Nothing more than you already know.”

  “But I don’t know anything for sure. OK then, is Simon back at work in the Consulate in Durban?”

  For a moment Karen was stunned. “Are you telling me Simon worked in the Consulate? In our Consulate? In Durban?”

  “Yes, of course he did. He is or was, the Consul there. Surely no one gets to a position like that without being squeaky clean.”

  Karen frowned, and to Amie, she looked very worried. Something wasn’t making sense. Karen suddenly sprang to her feet, and grabbed Amie’s arm.

  “Come, show me that porcupine den you told me about.” Her voice carried across the camp site.

  For a split-second Amie wondered what she was talking about – what porcupine, what den? Then she cottoned on.

  “It’s over here,” she said clearly. “It’s this way.” They walked off out of earshot.

  As soon as they’d gone far enough Karen grabbed her arm again. “Tell me,” she hissed. “Repeat what you just said.”

  “About Simon working in the Consulate?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so surprised, Peter knew he was there.” Amie was about to explain they must have met when Ken went to get her a new passport, but shut up in time. “What’s going on Karen, what’s worrying you? I don’t understand.”