by M A Moore
The fuel gauge on the truck read empty. He didn’t trust Robert, but at the moment he saw no alternative. They arrived at the small airfield in less than ten minutes. The black SUV was no longer in sight and this alone increased Mike's suspicions. Amy said nothing.
The pilot had the small engine plane ready for takeoff. Robert loaded the three of them into it and they taxied down the run way just as the black SUV made its appearance. Gunmen fired a few shots, but none came close to the plane.
How very convenient, Mike thought.
Three passengers and a pilot were a heavy load for the single engine bush plane. The craft left the ground reluctantly, bouncing a few times before lifting off. It was also noisy. Robert sat next to the pilot and donned a set of headphones. They flew almost due south at low altitude. Mike recognized the orderly farm lands adjacent to Kruger National Park as they began their descent three hours later. They landed at a small private airport, not much more than a strip of flat packed dirt outside of Nelspruit, South Africa.
Robert helped Amy out of the plane. Mike handed her the purple sack that seemed almost a physical part of her. They headed towards the brick building by the side of the only runway. “I think you would both like an explanation.”
Mike nodded. Amy appeared to expect no less.
“There’ll be a vehicle arriving shortly to take us all on to Johannesburg.”
The three of them sat down on a bench in front of the building to wait. Their pilot was already refueling the plane preparing for a quick departure. Robert looked over at Amy assessing how much she knew and how little he would get away with telling her.
“I was doing auditing work for a U.S. company contemplating a major investment in mining operations in Zimbabwe.” Robert said this for Mike’s benefit. “A local businessman came to me with a proposition. He would pay me a rather outrageous sum of money to get access to some proprietary technology on lithium extraction.” Robert turned his head to look at them. "Why he thought I had access to it is beyond me, but I played along to gain his confidence.”
Neither Mike nor Amy interrupted so he continued. “My employer wanted to know who was behind it all, and this guy was only an intermediary testing the waters. Then things got a bit more complicated -too complicated. I knew I was out of my depth. That’s when your people got involved.” Robert looked over at Mike.
“My people?” Mike asked in a non-committal manner.
“South African Intelligence,” Robert replied. “We have a mutual friend who helped arrange our recent departure.”
“Mutual friend,” Mike repeated softly.
“My part of this escapade is over, and I am heading back to the States as soon as I get a ticket out of Johannesburg. I believe my mother will be glad to see me.” Robert looked over at Amy.
“I’m sure she will,” Amy responded without much feeling.
Not long after, a vehicle showed up for their use. The driver left the engine running and headed over to join the pilot who had just finished refueling the small plane. Robert stood and walked over to the white SUV and took the driver’s seat. Amy and Mike followed him. “I’m heading directly to Johannesburg’s airport” He looked at Amy. “Do you need a ride?”
"She can't go with you," Mike replied for her. “Our passports still have us in Zimbabwe and I'll need to get her an unconventional exit visa before they'll let her on a flight out of South Africa to anywhere." As her former tour manager, he claimed it was his responsibility.
“Suit yourselves,” Robert replied curtly, and he set off down the road leaving a trail of dust. Johannesburg’s airport was a four-hour drive away.
After he left Amy turned to Mike. "Does an exit visa really matter that much?"
“I exaggerated a bit. I don't trust him.”
After a moment’s hesitation he added, “Why don’t you come to Cape Town with me? I would like to show you the Stellenbosch vineyards to the east, and I have connections for nice accommodations in Frankenhoeck.”
Amy voiced her reservations. “I don’t know Mike. Maybe it’s time for both of us to head home.”
She scanned the now deserted airstrip. “By the way how are we supposed to get anywhere, our transportation has left.”
The small plane that brought them here was taxiing down the makeshift runway. They watched it circle overhead and fly east towards Mozambique.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mike replied. “I have friends in the area that can supply transportation.“ He pulled out his cell phone and started making calls.
He made a connection with another one of his colleagues in the tourist business. He pressed Amy to change her mind about seeing a bit more of the country.
“It’ll take me a couple of days to straighten out the passport issues. This is the height of tourist season and getting you a plane ticket out of South Africa and back to the States might take a few days. Why not enjoy some of the best wine South Africa has to offer while you wait?”
Amy didn’t have a better idea at the moment, but she still couldn’t agree to his plan. He hadn’t mentioned either his wife or his child, and Amy considered this a glaring oversight on his part. She knew there were secrets he was keeping from her.
It wasn’t more than twenty minutes when a colleague of Mike’s drove up in a beat up Audi. The three of them left the private airfield and headed to Nelspruit’s official international airport only five miles to the south.
The airport looked more like a log cabin built for giants. It had exposed beams and a central corridor twenty-five feet high open on both ends. There was no air conditioning, and no need for it with the cross breeze. While Mike went to get them tickets to Cape Town Amy wandered over to a news kiosk and scanned the headlines.
Unrest in Cape Town Unplanned Settlement Turns Violent, read one. Amy skimmed the article quickly.
Violence erupted as government turns deaf ear to protests once again. Twenty dead as fire erupts outside of Cape Town settlement.
Amy thought that Johannesburg was the danger zone in South Africa. Evidently there was more than one.
Mike found Amy looking through an International Herald. “Everything okay?” she asked him.
“All the flights we need are fully booked. We can't get out until the day after tomorrow,” he replied. She wasn't sure she believed him. When pressed he explained that the Nelspruit to Cape Town route only ran a few days each week and today's had already left.
Daily service to Johannesburg existed but the plane was small and only held twenty-four passengers. The ticket officer had insisted on seeing some identification and his was in their abandoned jeep. His tour company was sending him what he needed, but it would take at least a day to arrive. He suggested that they make good use of their time and visit Kruger Park. It was only a short drive to the South Gate, and Mike was sure that the Sabie River Hotel could put them up for a couple of nights. Amy was too tired to argue, so Mike went over to the car rental kiosk and leased a small jeep. How he was able to do that without identification baffled her.
Later, when they had been traveling for an hour, Amy realized they could have driven to Johannesburg in four hours and avoided the delay. She was sure that Mike had another agenda. She wanted answers too. And she would get them out of him later when they were both clean and rested.
Don’t get emotionally involved with another married man, she told herself. They’ll only break your heart -again. Amy was angry because she knew it was already too late. Whether or not she could say it out loud, she was emotionally involved. But until she could get back to Johannesburg or Cape Town, she and Mike were partners, and the only thing she was sure of was that this assignment was not over yet.
Chapter 25
Kruger National Park offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. Established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld, this national park of nearly two million hectares, is unrivalled in the diversity of its life forms and continues as a world leader in advanced environmental manag
ement techniques and policies.
When they arrived at the hotel's car park Mike turned to Amy and asked, “Should I book two rooms?”
“One room, two beds. I’ve gotten accustomed to having you within earshot.” Amy wanted to keep him close. She had questions and he might have some answers.
While Mike made arrangements at the front desk, Amy wandered the lobby area. The place was everything she imagined a safari lodge in the bush should be. The reception area and walkways to the rooms were ten or more feet above the ground. Thatched roofs gave protection from the elements, but there were no walls to keep out the sounds of the wildlife and nearby river. Dark leather couches and low tables sat in clusters around a wide meeting area with a six-foot high vase in the center. A sign half way up the railing on the walkway marked the height of the flood waters from two years previous. Red Persian style rugs with fringe softened the floors around the sitting areas and other decorative touches could have come straight out of a Haggard novel. She imagined that Alan Quartermain would have felt quite at home here.
Mike led them to their room. There were two single beds and a sitting area. A floor to ceiling picture window filled one wall and looked out into an area of trees where two small bushbucks grazed.
“I’ll give you first crack at the shower,” Mike offered. “I’ll just wait for you down by the bar.”
“I’ll find it,” she replied. They were a little awkward with each other.
The shower filled one entire wall of the bathroom and could have held an orgy of six comfortably. Amy dropped her dirty clothes on the floor and stood under the cascade for a long time. She scrubbed hard. Removing the grime of the last few hours off of her skin and out her hair was a marvelous feeling. She donned the spare set of clothes that were still in her purple sack, brought her dirty clothes to the front desk for laundry service, and went out to find the bar.
She found Mike sipping a can of Coke on the deck overlooking the Sabie River. He stood up when he saw her. “You look a lot cleaner. You smell better too.”
“Undoubtedly,” she replied. “I left you some hot water.”
“Thanks. Do you want to eat at the restaurant? ”
“Let’s get something out here on the deck. I like the idea of being out under the stars,” she said as she leaned on the railing overlooking the river.
“Give me twenty minutes.”
“Take a half hour –I think you need it,” she said sniffing the air around her and wrinkling her nose. She was angry with him, but the attraction she felt hadn't gone away. She put the anger aside for the time being.
The deck was a maze of small sitting areas with low square tables, colorful cushioned divans and rattan chairs. All of them looked over the river. Large trees shaded the area by day, but lights hung from the branches so that nighttime visitors to the bar could maneuver, but had sufficient darkness for other, more private activities. Amy ordered sandwiches from the barman, another Coke for Mike and a mango juice and ginger beer concoction for herself. Alcohol did not seem like a good idea. Amy sipped on her drink and the sandwiches arrived soon after Mike made his reappearance.
He was wearing clean clothes that he must have purchased in the hotel’s gift shop. She invited him to sit next to her. They hadn't eaten since they left the Sister' clinic and they were both hungry. They devoured sandwiches in companionable silence for a while. The only sounds were hippos making their way on land for their nightly feeding. After a while the silence between them was almost deafening.
At last Amy turned to him and leaned her head close to his.
“I think we have a few issues to discuss,” she said in a whisper, gazing into his eyes to gauge his reaction. “We need to talk about Robert.”
Mike looked relieved, as if he expected something else. He too had his reservations as regards her cousin.
Mike leaned back on the cushions of the couch. Except for the barman a few yards away and out of hearing range, they were alone. The dark surrounded them now and lent a certain intimacy to the setting. The temperature had dropped but neither of them was cold. A monkey warmed itself over the spotlight that lit up branches in the large fever tree over their heads. It hoped they would leave a few scraps behind for him when they left.
Amy began. “Robert certainly did not tell us much this afternoon. Don’t you think everything that happened seemed a little too convenient?”
He nodded his head. Her concerns mirrored his own.
“He alluded to a mutual ‘friend’. Who do you think he meant?” Amy asked.
Mike remembered Toomey’s eyes staring up at him from the dust and only said, “It’s not clear to me who he meant.” Mike considered Toomey. He was an operator. Mike was sure of that. But he had trouble believing that the man would betray him. Stanley Bonner was another matter altogether.
“Too many unanswered questions remain.” Amy started enumerating them. “Who is Robert’s boss? Who are these people after the lithium extraction technology? Is there even enough lithium to bother mining?“
“Where did the automatic weapons come from and where are they headed?” Mike added to the list. He took the last few sips of his Coke and crushed the can in his hand.
“Do you think that was what he was referring to when he said he was 'out of his depth'?”
“He wasn’t clear about that either, was he,” Mike replied.
Amy shook her head and looked out into the night. “I haven’t spent much time with Robert since we were children. I’ m twelve years older than he. He was eight years old when I left home for college and right after that to get married. He was a scrawny kid when I left. We only reconnected later because of his mother. He’s been on his own for a long time. I really don’t know him anymore.”
Mike sat back on the divan and listened to the grunting hippos in the river announcing their presence to others in their territory. He made a decision about keeping information from her. They couldn’t afford any more secrets between them.
Mike stared straight ahead, the dark made it easier to share sensitive issues. “Ralph Toomey’s body was lying in the road as we left the mine area.”
Amy took a long deep breath before answering. “Is that who Robert meant when he mentioned a mutual friend?”
“I have trouble believing Toomey would hand me over to an enemy. But there is someone else who might.” Amy waited for him to continue.
“Do you know a man by the name Stanley Bonner?” Mike asked her.
Amy shook her head. “I don’t think so -at least not by that name. Who is he?”
“He was my boss when I was in South African Intelligence. He asked me to keep an eye on you when we were at Vic Falls.”
“Do you think he was responsible for the body they claimed was Robert’s in Zambia?”
“He was the one who told me he doubted it was true. He also suggested we head to Harare to find him.”
“I’m confused.” Amy sat back and pulled up her knees to sit cross-legged on the divan. “Someone fakes Robert’s death with a body so damaged that it's beyond recognition. This corpse is wearing Robert’s clothes and his fancy watch.
“Bonner tells you Robert was spotted in Harare. Toomey tells us that there is some connection between Robert and AZZA Enterprises outside of Harare. When we go to investigate the place Toomey ends up dead while we barely escape with our lives and Robert rescues us with a waiting plane.”
“That about sums it up.” Mike sat back and shook his head. “I don’t know the connections, and there must be some.”
Amy glanced at the timepiece dangling from her wrist. The coroner in Zambia had given it to her, but she only started wearing it this evening. She found it buried in the bottom of her purple back pack after she showered. It was too big, but she would get it re-sized when she got back to the States or she could return it to Robert next time she saw him.
“I have a little more information to share,” Amy admitted with a trace of a guilty conscience.
Maybe now she’ll tell me
what was going on, Mike hoped.
“Robert’s company asked me to find him and bring back information. After talking to Robert at Chobe…”
Mike’s eyes widened slightly.
“Yes, it was his people who took me from the parking lot. I thought the issue was lithium concentration in some disputed mineral deposits. He gave me a clay sample that I tested at Sister Gertrude’s clinic while you were recovering. Her father had been a chemist for a mining company and the sisters left his lab intact with all sorts of assay instruction manuals and chemicals. I’m good at following recipes. Robert claimed his sample had a high concentration of lithium, but my test showed it had none whatsoever.”
Mike shook his head as the situation became even less clear in his mind. “So what do you think is going on here?” he asked her.
“I don’t know. My assignment with Robert’s company should be over. But it doesn’t feel over to me.”
They both sat in the dark not speaking for a few moments, each lost in troubling thoughts.
“I don’t think there are any more answers to be had tonight.” Mike yawned and stretched his arms overhead.
“There’s just one more thing,” Amy murmured. Mike pursed his lips. He was sure where the discussion was headed.
“Tell me about your wife and daughter.”
Mike looked down at the ground. Clasping his hands, he leaned over to rest his elbows on his knees. “My daughter’s name is Evie, after my grandmother. Evie’s mother Francoise is not legally my wife, but we’ve been together about ten years.”
Mike stared out into the darkness.
“Evie was a surprise. Francoise is not happy here in South Africa anymore. She hasn’t been for a long time, but especially since she got pregnant. She wants all three of us to move back to Lyon, her home town in France. She doesn’t think South Africa is a safe place to raise a child.”
Mike looked over at Amy. “I'm a white African. I love this land, its people and the animals that live in it. I don’t want to leave.”
