African Pursuit (10 page)

S
arah and Ben had settled into an uneasy existence with their captors. After the first couple of days during which they had not gone near any proper town they had both decided that they had been kidnapped and that the stories about returning them to their relatives were all a pack of lies. The stifling heat, the flies and the smell in the trucks were at times almost intolerable, but they comforted themselves with the thought that there had been no attempt to hurt them in any way and, as Sarah pointed out, they were worth much more to the villains alive than dead. They had both seen news stories and TV programmes about hostages and ransoms and just hoped that they would soon be rescued.

The only villain they had any liking for was Fred who was interested in them and was always taking them to see and do fascinating things related to animals and bushcraft. He regaled the children with stories about the jungle in Brazil. About how their camp had been infested with snakes and spiders; how one day an ant army had marched through the camp; how swarms of bees had attacked a plane coming to rescue them; how one of his mates had been blown to pieces by an accident with mining explosives; and how his brother had been eaten by caymans. The children were enthralled by his stories which all had
the ring of truth and Fred revelled in being the centre of attention for the first time in his life.

The professor pretended to be kind and concerned for their welfare but they both instinctively disliked and distrusted him. Sid and the other men virtually ignored them. They had a corner of one of the covered trucks to themselves and shared the truck with Fred and two of the others. After leaving the savannah they passed through a mountainous region. Their vehicles roared straight through any town or village that couldn’t be avoided, and the truck containing the children never stopped anywhere where there were signs of habitation. Fuel was always collected by the other truck and only transferred to the children’s truck out in the bush. On many occasions on their long journey the trucks were stopped by soldiers or men in paramilitary uniforms at checkpoints. Ben began to notice that when they were stopped in this way the professor always disappeared into his truck and was not seen again until the obstruction or road block had been safely negotiated. He was accused of cowardice by some of the men but he explained that he was a scientist, not a thug, and if they did their job he would do his. Ben and Sarah, however, noticed a very curious thing which was that whenever these occasions arose the officer in charge of the militia, or any person threatening Sid with a gun or knife, would suddenly collapse as if struck from behind, or his weapon would suddenly point up in the air as he fired. Sometimes an officer even shot some of his own men as his gun inexplicably pointed in a different direction as he fired at Sid or the trucks. The upshot of this was that they never had any difficulty in passing through such blocks, however ugly the confrontation at first seemed. Sid himself seemed somewhat surprised at his own skill in overcoming armed men and soon became proud of his reputation as a block buster. Later,
when Ben and Sarah were told about the professor’s invisibility robe, they would recall with great amusement some of these mystifying scenes and realise what had really been going on.

They drove through more and more heavily wooded country until eventually they were in the depths of the rainforest. Sarah had noticed that there were mice living under some old blankets in the truck and she gave them morsels and scraps from her supper every night. Now and then birds came and perched on the tailgate of the lorry. Ben thought they were trying to catch the mice, but one day he was puzzled to see a mouse coming out and approaching a large hawk which had arrived and perched on the tailgate of the lorry.

‘They look as if they’re
talking
to each other,’ he said to Sarah, and they both laughed at the thought.

One morning the children woke bruised and shaken after the trucks had driven all through the night over particularly dreadful roads. They could hear a continuous roaring and splashing and looked out to see an amazing sight. The river was thundering down cataracts and as they drove along they saw that the falls extended over many, many kilometres. The professor explained that these were the Boyoma falls, originally called the Stanley falls after a journalist who had journeyed through the Congo in search of the famous British explorer, David Livingstone. After leaving the falls the trucks headed south and west towards the Lomela river and the diamond lode that was the professor’s goal. Their route took them into the densest jungle the children had so far seen. There was a great deal of carnage, most of it fortuitously hidden from the children who were in the rear truck of the convoy. Sid had by now developed a zero tolerance policy for road blocks and whenever they approached any group threatening to stop them he simply opened fire with an automatic and carried on
driving. The children had by now got so used to the sound of gunfire that they hardly noticed the occasional bursts of automatic fire and the sound of splintering road barriers that punctuated their long journey. They travelled by day and by night along the terrible roads; in some places the track was so narrow that the lorries could barely force a passage through the overhanging trees and the undergrowth encroaching from the roadsides, and occasionally the men had to cut down a roadside tree to let them through.

On the morning of their third day after leaving the falls, they were continuing through similar terrain when Sid suddenly swore as the leading truck he was driving lurched to one side and ran into the bush at the side of the road. He got out and saw that they had a jagged puncture in one of the front tyres. The rubber was torn down to the wheel rim and was obviously beyond repair. Inspection of both trucks revealed that their spare tyres were missing, presumably stolen before the professor had acquired the vehicles. After cursing everything and everybody in sight Sid eventually calmed down and thought carefully for a moment.

‘I’ll take the other truck and go with Fred to find a new tyre somewhere – several tyres in fact; on these roads we’re gonna get plenty more flats.’ He paused and looked at the disabled truck by the side of the road. ‘Get that one into the bush,’ he added. ‘If a bunch of rebels comes along you’ll be sittin’ ducks – ’specially as you’ll be two men down without me and Fred.’ One of the men got in and started up. The lorry bumped and jerked on the flat tyre but he revved up the powerful engine and crashed through a thicket of wild pineapples growing by the side of the road. He drove deeper into the trees until Sid was satisfied that the vehicle was completely invisible to any passing traffic. Then he and Fred set off in the remaining truck.

While the gang were waiting for Sid and Fred to return with the tyres, they pitched camp and ate a meal of roast cassava and monkey. After they had eaten the children sat together on a fallen trunk away from the men’s cigarette and cigar smoke. As they sat Sarah noticed that a bird had settled close behind them and she nudged Ben who turned to look. It was some kind of a hawk they realised from its hooked beak, and it seemed completely fearless.

‘Oh look,’ said Sarah. ‘It’s hurt its eye, poor thing,’ and sure enough one of the bird’s eyes was closed and glistening as if recently injured. The bird hopped nearer and then Sarah gave a gasp. At its feet was Lucy’s leather glasses case. She bent down and picked it up. How on earth had a bird found it and brought it to her? She felt inside for Lucy’s glasses and instead pulled out the note. The first words jumped out at her and she hurriedly glanced across at the men. They were talking, drinking and smoking and paying no attention to her. She smoothed the note casually on to her lap and nudged Ben with her knee to read it with her. When they had finished she made sure she was unobserved as she tore a corner off the sheet, refolded the letter and replaced it in the case. She then slipped it behind her near the log. A few moments later the hawk emerged from a nearby tree and in a graceful swoop picked up the case and soared up into the sky. The children watched, spellbound, as it turned to the east and then was lost to sight as it disappeared above the forest canopy.

‘How on earth did all that happen?’ said Ben. ‘And all that stuff in the note: how can leopards come and not hurt us?’

‘It’s something to do with Lucy,’ said Sarah. ‘She’s always doing things with animals and they all seem to think she’s marvellous. She’s going to be a vet one day. Anyway, at last something is going
to happen and she’s got Clare and Clive to help her. I just hope they know these horrid men have all got guns and knives and things.’

‘I’m sure they’ll guess,’ said Ben putting a protective arm around her. ‘Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be OK.’

Meanwhile, Sid and Fred were still searching for a town where they could obtain some new tyres. They were in a remote area and it took the entire morning to find a settlement of reasonable size. There was a run-down garage but there were no tyres suitable for their army truck. They eventually found another town and Fred spotted a similar lorry to their own outside a cafe. In the cafe a group of rebel soldiers in para-military garb were sprawled across chairs and tables. They had obviously been drinking all morning and Sid’s quick glance through the door went unnoticed.

At a nod from Sid, Fred climbed into the soldiers’ lorry. He had intended to hotwire it but there was no need. The rebels, confident because of their brutal reputation that no-one would even contemplate meddling with them, had left the keys in the ignition. Sid hurriedly got back into their own truck and a moment later the two lorries moved off in convoy; the soldiers not discovering their loss until Sid and Fred had long disappeared into the vast depths of the jungle.

It was a long journey back on the terrible roads and it was late afternoon before Sid and Fred returned. They then transferred all the equipment from the hidden, punctured vehicle to their newly acquired lorry. During the transfer an acute observer might have heard a low hissing noise emanating from the ventilation holes in the ammunition boxes as they were carried from one lorry to the other. It was as well that nobody did, for they would have had a very nasty shock if they had opened the boxes. By the time everything
had been transferred it was evening, and they decided to pitch camp for the night. Though the delay was annoying for the villains, losing a day was not critical now that they felt safe from pursuit deep in the rainforest, but the extra day was invaluable to Lucy, Clare and Clive who were now driving day and night to catch up with the kidnappers.

Now that they were nearing their destination Sid had become progressively more impatient with the presence of the children, and after supper that night Ben, who had gone behind some bushes to relieve himself, suddenly heard Sid talking to Fred and the professor nearby. The three had obviously moved away from the others at the campfire so their conversation couldn’t be overheard.

‘They’re just a complete drag,’ Sid was saying. ‘We’re not goin’ to need ’em any more – it’s like the wild west out here with all these soldiers an’ rebels, an’ the cops ain’t takin’ the slightest notice of us. I think it’s time we wasted ’em.’ Ben suddenly realised with horror that Sid was talking about him and Sarah.

‘I think I agree,’ murmured the professor. ‘Leave it to me.’

‘If anyone touches them kids I’ll tear ’em apart!’ Fred snarled suddenly. ‘They ain’t done no ‘arm. We’ll just drop ‘em in the next town and scarper.’

‘We can’t do that.’ said the professor. ‘At the moment the heat’s off because everyone obviously thinks they’ve been eaten by lions. If they suddenly reappear and start blabbing we’ll all spend the rest of our lives in the slammer – and I wouldn’t count on living to a ripe old age in jail in these parts.’ Sid nodded.

‘He’s right, Fred. We gotta waste the kids.’

‘Just you try, that’s all,’ said Fred. ‘I’ll be watchin’,’ he added as he stormed off to join the rest of the group.

‘You can’t let him put us all at risk,’ said the professor when he had gone. ‘He hardly ever argues with you, so he must feel very strongly about it.’

‘He’ll be OK when he settles down,’ said Sid. ‘You just do the business and I’ll talk him round afterwards. We can bump up his percentage on the diamonds if necessary – if that’s OK with you of course,’ he added hurriedly. The professor nodded gravely.

‘In the circumstances I think that would be entirely reasonable,’ he replied. The “circumstances”, he thought with amusement, being that the twins’ only “percentage” was going to be a bullet through the brain.

Ben had heard enough but he stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe until the men had finished their conversation and moved off back to the campfire. He then slipped back to rejoin Sarah and told her what he had heard. That night they took it in turns to stay awake and keep watch, terrified every time something moved or rustled near the truck where they slept. Somehow they got through their night of fear and shortly after dawn the group had breakfast before setting off on the final leg of their journey. After breakfast the professor came over to the children and said in his most jovial voice.

‘Come on you two, while the others are packing up let’s pick some fruit to eat on the journey’. Sarah glanced at Ben and they both knew that the time had come to do something.

‘OK,’ said Sarah to the professor. ‘We’ll just go and get a couple of bags from the truck,’ and before Luke could say anything she and Ben returned to their truck.

‘As soon as we’re hidden from him by the truck we’ll run into the jungle,’ Ben murmured as they went. ‘It’s our only hope.’ Sarah nodded. The jungle was incredibly dense and with a few moment’s
start their slender figures might be able to get far enough away from the fat thugs to escape or hide. It was a pretty hopeless situation but there was nothing else they could do. As they approached the truck Ben saw a bird hop onto the back.

‘Look,’ he said. ‘Another bird! Maybe it’s got another message for us.’ They looked around. The professor was scrutinizing his GPS and his compass, planning the next stage of the journey as he waited patiently for them. He had no reason to be suspicious for he had no idea that they knew of his plans. Sarah and Ben quickly scrambled in the truck to see the bird.