Linda, the most outspoken and confident in the group answered her. “Dunno where they’ve gone. We wus brought here and kept locked up in one of these stinky huts. But when more girls came we four managed to escape. An’ they never even noticed! Then last night they brought these vans and loaded up all the other kids and drove them off. We wus hiding but we watched.”
“But how did you escape?”
“They locked us up in one of the huts and there was a bolt on the door, but it weren’t strong and Fazia and me, we broke it open and then we ran and hid and they didn’t know we’d gone.”
“They did miss us, idiot. They sent out people to search for us.”
“Yeah, well, we were too clever for them. We found some rocks that made a cave and we hid in there, and they didn’t find us.”
“No, you got it wrong. We watched for a while, and there wus a lot of angry shouting, an’ that’s when Fazia saw you getting locked up in that hut over there. So, we ran away and hid behind the big rocks,” Linda corrected her.
“When all the vans left, we crept back. The little ones were scared of what animals there might be out there in the dark. We reckoned we wus safer in a hut at night, and then today we wus gonna walk to the road and then hitchhike home. But we wus gonna take food and water and stuff, from what they left behind.”
“Then Maisie thought she saw a lion, so we stayed in the hut till it had gone,” Fazia added.
Villages were often abandoned due to disease or tribal conflict. Any perceived danger and the inhabitants could disappear in no time at all, but four – or should it be five – aid workers? That was a different matter. Amie couldn’t believe they’d taken them prisoner. Would they have killed them? That was unlikely as well, if only because she was still alive. The first thing to decide was what to do now. She turned back to the children, however brave the two older ones pretended to be, they were still kids.
“But now you’re here you can take us home,” little Winnie sounded so hopeful.
Amie’s heart sank. It sounded as if the villagers planned to return and she had no idea how she was going to get four children to safety.
“It was Linda who wanted to let you out,” Maisie spoke up. “Fazia said it was too dangerous you might be one of the bad people.”
“I can’t thank you enough.” Amie smiled, lifting Winnie off her lap. Then she got to her feet and walked over to the door of the hut. She peeped round the edge. For sure the village was now deserted, not a single soul in sight.
“So why didn’t you try and run far away that night? Why come back to the village at all?”
“Hey, Miss, you must be mad. We heard about Africa, and there are lots of dangerous animals out there, lions and tigers, and they can eat you up,” said Maisie.
“They can’t get at us in here,” another small voice added. “They can’t get through the walls to eat us up.”
“No, of course they can’t.” Amie smiled. “Are you sure you’re the only ones who escaped?”
“Dunno, think so. Them grownups, they had a terrible fight, said there weren’t enough kids.” Linda spoke for them all again and they shook their heads.
“And how old are you?”
“I’m ten and Fazia’s twelve and Maisie is eight and Winnie there is just seven.”
Amie was surprised. Linda was much taller than Fazia yet she was two years younger. Then, thinking about what was supposed to happen to them, her blood boiled. How could mothers be so cruel to their children, how could they put them through that torture? They had chosen to go and live in England, maybe had even been born there themselves, they must have known it was against the law and yet they were prepared to stick to outdated tribal practices. Even in many African countries FGM was outlawed; and this was the first time she’d been aware of it. They couldn’t stay here, that was certain, but what was she going to do now?
Once Amie felt strong enough to walk, she went in search of the trucks and was relieved to see them just as they’d left them, so maybe there was a chance she could get the children to safety. She turned back. “So you saw the other white people here last night? Two women and two men? They drove up in those trucks,” she asked them when she returned to the hut.
In the weak moonlight shining through the doorway she saw them nod their heads.
She sat on the floor again and put her arms round the youngest. Amie rubbed her legs gently, holding her close while she sobbed.
“OK, so you don’t know what happened to the white visitors, and you don’t know where they’ve taken the other children in the vans.”
She felt little Winnie go limp in her arms and realised the child had fallen asleep. She was nuzzling into Amie like a small puppy, still a baby herself, and Amie could just make out the streaks of tears on her smooth, dark skin. She was crying in her sleep and sucking her thumb. It brought back memories of Angelina, the little girl she had lost, and Amie had to fight hard to hold back her own tears.
For once, she told herself firmly, you are going to act decisively. So what are the options? Try to leave here immediately under cover of darkness, or wait to see if the villagers return?
Amie peered at the luminous hands on her watch, it was already past three, and she thought the sun would rise about five, so she’d wait until the early light of dawn. If she went poking around the village in the dark, she was not going to be able to see very much, or find out where the others might be. There were torches in the trucks, but it could take her ages to find them in the dark. No, she would wait until there was a little light; they would need to stock up on water and containers before they tried to go anywhere. It would be sheer madness to leave without any supplies at all.
A slight snuffling sound told Amie that Maisie and Linda had fallen asleep. Fazia stretched out her hand and plucked at her arm. “You’ll take care of us now, Miss, won’t you? You’ll look after us now?”
Amie nodded. “Of course I will,” she whispered back. “I’ll take care of you.” As she said it she knew that might not be possible, and with the best will in the world she was not sure how she would be able to keep these children safe. What had she just said? She shivered in the darkness and hoped she would not live to regret her promise.
Despite Amie’s intentions to stay awake, sleep overcame her as well. She knew she should go and check the trucks, see if maybe her cell phone was still there, but she was weak and exhausted and although she battled to stay awake, it came unbidden.
It was not until the first rays of light began to filter through the spaces where the thatch met the top of the walls that she woke with a start. They would have to hurry. It was possible the villagers could appear at any minute. They might be sleeping close by and only come over to this village during the day.
She shifted Winnie who was still snuggled up to her in her sleep. “Fazia,” she hissed, “Linda, wake up, we need to get going.”
Both the girls sat up, rubbing their eyes and stretching. For a moment Amie wondered if they had forgotten where they were, until she saw their wide eyes as they remembered the night before.
“Quickly. First you must make sure all the huts are empty. Linda you take the ones on the left, Fazia, the ones on the right. You are to check and see if there is anyone there, so move quietly. On your way look out for any containers we can put water in and if you find a door that is locked, don’t try to open it, just come and find me.”
“OK, but what about them?” Linda pointed to the two smallest ones still locked in their dreamland.
“Leave them to sleep as long as they can, I need you two big girls to help. I know I can rely on you, yes?”
The flattery worked and both of them grinned. Within seconds they were out of the door and creeping from hut to hut.
Amie kissed Winnie’s sleeping head and then went out to inspect the trucks. As she approached the Hilux her feet crunched on shards of plastic; the remains of her SIS phone. “Oh! Damn!” She inhaled when she took hold of the door handle on the Hilux, and only exhaled
when she found it was unlocked. As she had suspected, they had cleared every last thing out of both trucks. The food and water had been taken along with her luggage and bag. The one faint hope that the pay-as-you-go cell phone would still be there was dashed. The inside of both vehicles were as empty as the day they’d been driven off the show room floor, apart from a few mosquito nets which she found stuffed down behind the back seats and a piece of plastic piping that reeked of petrol.
She slipped into the driver’s seat and reached up to pull the visor down. A small hand scrabbled at her leg.
“Miss, Miss, you not gonna leave us behind. Please, please don’t do that!” Little Winnie was shaking from head to toe, the tears streaming down her face.
Amie slipped back out of the truck. “No, no, you silly goose. I was just looking for the spare car key. If I can find it, we can drive away.”
“Sure?” Winnie’s eyes grew wide. Poor child, Amie thought. The very people who should be there to protect her were the very people who had betrayed her.
She picked Winnie up and popped her into the front passenger seat. “There, now we can’t go without you. I’m going to leave you for a few minutes on guard, think you can do that?”
Winnie nodded her head vigorously, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile. She knelt up on the seat and looked around reminding Amie of a little meerkat. “I’ll be a good guard,” she whispered.
Amie turned her attention back to the visor and to her relief there was the ignition key inside the small plastic pocket. She mentally thanked the engineer who’d had the foresight to add such detail to this make and model. She slipped it into her pocket.
She turned to Winnie. “I’ll only be a few minutes, so remember to keep a good look out and if anyone comes, duck down out of sight and keep very, very still. I’m going to look for water and food.” Without waiting for Winnie to reply, Amie swung out of the vehicle and nearly flattened Maisie who was right behind her.
“Maisie, you stay here and keep Winnie company and be a look out. Understand?”
The child nodded and was scrambling up into the Hilux as Amie went in search of the other girls. They had done an excellent job by collecting a variety of none-too-clean empty plastic bottles, and Fazia had found a steel water tank and was busy filling them all with water.
“Did you find any food?” Amie asked them but they both shook their heads.
Linda pointed to a hut on the far side. “Couldn’t get in that one, door wus locked or summat.”
Amie looked over to one rondavel a little way back from all the others which had been built in a neat circle. As she tried the door, she thought she could hear a low buzz from inside. Maybe the other aid workers had been locked in there. She looked anxiously at the rising sun, it was getting late, and while she didn’t think the villagers would creep back, every second they wasted increased the danger.
She ran back to the truck, opened the back, pulled up the mat, grabbed the wheel wrench and trotted over to the locked door. For a second, she hesitated then decided that if it was used as a food store, her efforts would be well rewarded. She jammed the narrow end of the tyre lever into the door jamb and pushed as hard as she could. It didn’t budge; it was a lot stronger than it looked. She wedged it in again and pushed it to one side and then the other as hard as she could. All of a sudden the door flew open and she staggered backwards. Linda and Fazia came running over.
“You, OK?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Amie reassured them.
A loud buzzing and a putrid smell hit her at the same time. A bolt of fear shot through her body. She turned and pushed the other two away. “Go, stand by the truck, take the water with you and wait for me. Go, now!”
“But, but ...” Linda was prepared to argue, but Amie gave her another hard push. “Do as I tell you, NOW!”
Linda backed away in surprise and giving her a dirty look shuffled backwards a few steps. Fazia on the other hand was already grabbing as many bottles as she could carry and was making for the truck as fast as possible.
Amie put her head in the doorway and peered inside. As she had feared, a huge cloud of flies was buzzing round a shape bundled in rags. She took a deep breath, the air stank, the unmistakable smell of early decay. She put her hand over her nose and mouth as she ventured inside.
She was loath to disturb the wrapped remains, but she had to know what it was. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a white finger poking out to one side. “Oh, my god,” she whispered and took another step forward. The fingernails were adorned with bright orange nail polish and in the morning light she could see the odd sparkle from the silver slivers mixed in with the varnish.
“Oh no, no!” Amie sunk to her knees, her heart thumping in her ears.
“Oh yeuk, what’s that!” the voice in her ear caused her to jump and swinging round, she came face to face with Linda.
“OK, if you didn’t do as I asked you, then face the consequences,” Amie snapped at her. “It’s a dead body right, a dead person, a person who was alive yesterday; a person who was my friend. Now, GO!”
Even in the half-light Amie could see Linda’s dark face blanch and she backed out of the hut and ran to the Hilux, stopping to retch on the way.
Amie used the end of the tyre iron to poke at the bundle, flicking the material to one side until she could reassure herself it was Kirsty. No two people within a thousand miles would have nails like that but she had to make sure. The flies had been busy. They’d been feasting for over twenty-four hours and when she pulled back the rags covering Kirsty’s once chubby face, she was horrified to see the empty eye sockets under a shaven head. Tears poured down Amie’s cheeks as she backed out of the hut. That poor girl had done nothing to deserve this, she’d come to Africa to help those less fortunate, and they had butchered her. Why?
She should have explored further. Kirsty’s body was not the only one lying there in the darkness of the hut.
Amie stumbled outside, horrified, saddened and disgusted. Who she was up against? Was the tall dark-haired man who had knocked her out responsible for this? She’d kill him if she ever saw him again. If this was down to him, one way or another he’d pay for it. Someone had to!
She raced back to the Hilux, pulling the key out of her pocket. “Everybody inside now,” she shouted, “and then lock all the doors.” She inserted the key into the ignition and turned it. The engine tried to turn over, rumbled once and then stopped. Amie tried again and again, but the same thing happened. She noticed the petrol gauge, it showed empty. Somebody had siphoned out the fuel supply. That would explain the abandoned length of plastic pipe.
She swore under her breath. “Wait here and keep the doors locked,” she said as she jumped back out. It was probably a stupid thing to tell them to do, if the villagers returned, they were trapped, with or without locked doors. It was unlikely the children themselves were in danger, except for FGM, for they would be returned to their parents after their ordeal. Wouldn’t they? She raced to the Land Rover, flung open the door and searched to see if there was a spare key anywhere. There was no pocket for it on the top of the visor. She explored the glove compartment, felt around the plastic dashboard, and even pulled the carpets up to peer underneath them. She was beginning to despair until she pulled open the ashtray, and there it was.
Sweat dripped into her eyes but she ignored it. She shoved the key in the ignition and turned it. The vehicle burst into life and the engine throbbed at a steady pace. She looked at the petrol gauge and was relieved to see it was almost three quarters full. For some unknown reason the villagers had only emptied one fuel tank, was that because they didn’t have a key to get into it?
“Come on, kids,” she called. “Everybody out and over here. Don’t forget to bring the water.”
Leaving the engine idling Amie hoisted Winnie up into the back seat. Maisie scrambled up beside her and Fazia, seeing Linda claim the front passenger seat, threw herself into the back next to the little ones.
“All the doors locked?” Amie asked as she began to back up. A chorus of voices from behind her confirmed they were.
Amie’s first instinct was to drive as far away from the village as fast as she could, but while the truck trundled along the road they’d arrived on, it occurred to her she had no idea the direction the villagers might have taken. She could be driving straight towards them right now. Too bad, she thought, I’ll drive through them. I’m stopping for nothing.
13 THE ENCOUNTER WITH DOUG
Up to this point Amie hadn’t even considered where she was heading. How far would three quarters of a tank take them? She could only guess. She hoped it would be good for a few hundred miles at least. The little ones wouldn’t be able to walk far if they had to escape on foot.
She replayed the journey from the main road in her mind, it had taken them several hours. It was madness to cross the border into Zimbabwe again, not after that accident, so that was out. Apart from the obvious reasons, she was now driving the car which had killed the little girl and none of them had passports. How the hell was she going to get any of them to safety? Was it best to drive to Atari and go straight to the British embassy in the capital or even further north into Togodo to meet up with her old friends? But she doubted she had enough petrol to drive even as far as Atari.
The temperature inside the Land Rover rose as the sun beat down. The two youngest in the back were fretful, complaining they were hungry. Amie told Fazia to give them sips of water to put something in their tummies, and promised to stop as soon as she could find something for them to eat.
Amie relaxed a little when she reached the bitumen and turned north. The thought of Kirsty’s mutilated body still preyed on her mind. Why had she been killed and what had happened to the rest of the team?
Cut for Life Page 12
