Poacher (27 page)

'Oh God, no,' he moaned as he jumped up and
ran for the binoculars. He was just in time to see Joao running
through the gate that he had left open on his departure. He threw
the binoculars away, and jerked the rifle to his shoulder, the
powerful telescope pulling the running figure close. He did well by
missing the running Joao by a mere 2 feet at the distance of a
thousand yards. Joao disappeared around the corner of the house as
the fast bullet tore a chunk out of the wall.

Joao had known the moment he had spotted that
rifle on Sam's back.

For the very first time in his life, Sam
threw his rifle down and ran. As he picked up the bike, he heard
the distant popping of an automatic rifle. He was near catatonic as
he ripped through the bush towards the house.

As he skidded around the corner of the house,
the first thing that registered in his mind was that Estelle was
alive. Joao was standing behind her, one arm around her throat, the
other hand pressing the Tokarev pistol to her head. He was actually
grinning at Sam.

Sam didn't bother to stop the bike, he just
abandoned it.

'Stop!' Joao shouted, pressing the pistol
hard against Estelle’s head.

Their eyes locked over a distance of four
yards, and their hate filled the air like the stink of ozone.
Estelle’s eyes were wide, and she was shocked completely
speechless. Sam took the scene in at a glance. The bodies of the
two agents were riddled, and Botha hadn't even made it out of his
chair. Job was lying at the front door, still moving feebly.' You
utter bastard!'

'So, we meet again, like I promised. I have
been waiting for you to arrive for the final scene. This time, I
want to see your eyes when I kill your woman.' He grinned.

'Some man you are, you lousy shit. You are
making a name for yourself as an expert at killing defenseless
women.'

Over Joao’s shoulder Sam could see Aaron and
four more rangers stalking the fence, their R1 assault rifles at
the ready. In gloating over his moment of victory, Joao had
completely disregarded or forgotten about the compound. Either
that, or he did not consider the other rangers a factor while he
was holding Estelle hostage. Shooting Joao while he was holding
Estelle was out of the question, and Sam sincerely hoped that Aaron
wasn't going to try it.

'You are weak, hiding behind women, you
bloody coward,' Sam tried to keep his attention. Aaron was using
his head. They were about twenty five yards away, and Sam saw all
four pointing their rifles skywards after Aaron had whispered to
them briefly. Aaron held his fist up in the air, and shot his
fingers out one by one, counting to three. As the four rifle shots
rang out, Sam was already in motion. Joao looked over his shoulder
involuntarily for a split second. Sam's hand swept up from below,
hitting Joao’s elbow with such force that the pistol went flying.
Joao recovered miraculously fast, and as Sam was reaching out for
the collapsing Estelle, Joao hit him behind the ear with all his
might. Both Sam and Estelle went down, and Joao realised that he
was now an open target to the four men on the other side of the
fence. He ran for the corner of the house, scooping up his pistol
on the way. His AK47 was lying where he had left it when he grabbed
Estelle, and trying to get it would be suicide, as two of the
rangers were blazing away as fast as they could pull the triggers,
while the others were running for the gate. Joao ran to the Nissan,
but there was no key. The truck had a key in the ignition.
Selecting the wrong gear in his haste, the truck jumped forward
into the wall with a crash that rattled his teeth. He found
reverse, and the tyres screamed on the cement driveway as he made a
violent U-turn, side swiping the Nissan in the process. As he
cleared the gate, bullets were thumping into the bodywork, and one
shattered both the windscreen and the window on the passenger side.
He knew that if he took the tourist road north for some distance,
he would get to a firebreak that would take him to the Mozambique
border.

Sam was kicking the Yamaha to life when Aaron
came running up. 'Radio, emergency code One. We want the chopper.
Look after the missy!' Sam shouted. The bike covered the first
twenty yards on its rear wheel, engine screaming. As he broadsided
into the tourist road, he barely missed a dark panel van travelling
in the opposite direction. He opened the throttle all the way, and
the wind was blowing tears from the corners of his eyes as he
steadily gained on the cloud of dust way ahead of him. He shuddered
at the thought of game crossing the road in front of him, but
pushed the thought from his mind immediately.

Joao’s foot was pressing the accelerator to
the floor when he flashed past the firebreak. He stood on the
brake, the truck slewing sideways on the gravel road. With a
grinding of gears and spinning wheels, he backed up and was onto
the firebreak and picking up speed once again. He had caught a
glimpse of the motorcycle in the distance, trailing a plume of
dust. He pressed the truck as fast as it could go, becoming
airborne every so often. He was careening around a blind curve, the
tail end of the truck drifting sideways, when the elephant loomed
in front of him. He braked hard, and lost control completely. Both
the elephant and the truck crashed into the bush, the Toyota
flipping into the air and rolling twice.

The dust was still swirling in the quiet air
when Sam roared up to the scene. When he had slowed down
sufficiently, he once again abandoned the bike and dove for cover,
jerking the .44 Magnum from its holster. A deathly silence
descended, as if even the birds and insects were waiting for
something to happen.

Nothing stirred, and after a while Sam
carefully approached wrecked truck from the blind side. The cabin
was empty but there were fresh blood smears all over the interior.
As he turned around in a crouch, two pistol shots rang out in rapid
succession. The first punched a hole through his left shoulder, and
the second hit the door next to his head. He was off balance and
slightly dazed when Joao sprang up from behind a bush, and started
running. Sam lifted the Magnum and aimed through a haze of pain.
The gigantic slug hit Joao in the left wrist, nearly tearing his
hand completely off and throwing him to the ground violently. He
screamed, but was up and running again in an instant, cradling his
shattered arm. He had thrown his pistol away, and his only thought
was of trying to put some distance between himself and the
apparently invincible man behind him. Two more shots passed close
to his head and broke some branches in the thicket ahead of him. He
was heading for the dense bush, when all hell broke loose, and the
whole thicket seemed to erupt into violent movement, accompanied by
a loud trumpeting scream.

Had the old elephant cow not been driven to
the point of insanity by the pain radiating from her festering
trunk, she would have fled when she was first surprised by the
oncoming truck. All things being equal, the shooting and screaming
would have intimidated her instead of driving her into a rage. When
the man came running straight at her, she trumpeted her rage and
charged, her ears laid flat and her trunk tucked between her front
legs. The moment Sam saw her, he knew this was big trouble. This
was no mock charge - only death was going to stop this elephant. He
started retreating slowly while her attention was focused on Joao,
who was running back towards Sam. She caught Joao in the first ten
yards, and her ruined trunk shot out to grab him around the middle.
She lifted him above her head and slammed him into the ground,
killing him instantly. She kneeled on him, mashing him to a pulp,
while skewering what remained with her tusks. Sam was nearly thirty
yards away by now, still retreating carefully, when the cow got up
and spun around, Joao’s remains dangling from one curved tusk. This
she dislodged with a violent shake of her head, causing the body to
sail through the air for ten feet before plopping into the
dust.

The elephant remembered the second man, but
was unsure of where he was. She tested the air with her injured
trunk, but her sense of smell had been ruined by the wire embedded
in her flesh. She stared around her myopically, spreading her ears
to catch the faintest sound. Sam took his eyes off the elephant and
the ground for a second, and looked at his aching shoulder, to
assess the rate at which he was losing blood, and stepped on a
twig. The moment the twig snapped, he knew he was done for. With a
sideways shot at point-blank range, the Magnum had enough power to
penetrate to the elephant's brain, but he knew that he didn't have
a hope in hell of stopping a charging elephant with a handgun.
There were no trees in the vicinity that could withstand an
elephant, so he ran for the wrecked truck. As he dodged behind the
truck, the cow pushed both her tusks clean through the body of the
Toyota and lifted it partially from the ground, pushing it along.
Sam knew this could only end one way - he was merely postponing the
inevitable by trying to keep the wreck between himself and the
elephant. He had three bullets left, and tried for the brain twice,
only enraging the elephant more. He considered using the last
bullet on himself but decided against dying like a coward. He aimed
carefully and placed his last bullet at an angle between the ear in
the eye. He might just as well have used a pellet gun, for all the
effect it had. She merely trumpeted and came at him again as he
dodged around what was left of the Toyota. The vehicle had been
reduced to such an extent, that it was not much of an obstacle any
more. A cloud of dust was hanging over the battleground, and both
Sam and elephant were bleeding profusely now. Apart from the
bullets in her head, the cow had cut herself several times on the
sharp metal of the truck. She was by now completely insane,
fourteen thousand pounds of a raging fury, focused entirely on the
small, elusive man in front of her.

As the elephant stumbled over the flattened
Toyota, Linda’s prophetic words about dying flashed through his
mind once more. He accepted his death, and stood waiting for the
elephant, refusing the indignity of trying to run.

The report of the .458 Magnum behind him felt
like two giant hands slapping him on both ears simultaneously. A
cloud of dust erupted from high on the elephant's forehead, and
every muscle in her body immediately ceased functioning. As she
ploughed into the ground, Sam was still too stunned to dodge
quickly enough, and the outflung trunk caught him a tremendous blow
in the chest, sending him sprawling.

The next moment Louis was bending over him,
examining his shoulder.' Beginning to make a habit of getting shot,
aren’t you?' Two more men came walking from the direction of the
dark panel van parked on the firebreak, and another car was just
stopping behind the van in a cloud of dust.

'Thanks, pal, I owe you one.' Suddenly the
pain in Sam's shoulder closed on him like a vise, and he groaned.'
What the hell are these civilians doing on my firebreak?' More
people were getting out of the second car. Estelle broke away from
the group and ran to him, shouting his name. She fell to her knees
next to him, and cradled his head in her lap.' Are you all right?
Does it hurt badly? I was so scared that you were going to
die.'

'Can't get much closer to the real thing,' he
said and passed out.

As the helicopter lifted with the unconscious
Sam ten minutes later, the wash of the rotors stirred the bloody
rags of clothing partially covering what remained of Joao, tiny
dust devils dancing a macabre death dance around the pitiful
remains under the blazing Lowveld sun.

Chapter 15

When Sam opened his eyes, he thought he was
having a nightmare. Tobacco-pouch was next to his bed, a large,
evil-looking syringe in hand.' Oh no, not again,' he tried to move
away, but the pain stopped him.

All his protests were to no avail, and she
once again ended up sticking a needle into his backside. He wasn't
sure, but there may have been a glint of satisfaction in her
eye.

'Welcome back with us, Mr. Jenkins.'

'Where is everybody?'

Her mouth contracts firmly. 'No visitors till
morning. The wound wasn't that serious, but you have lost a near
fatal amount of blood .You need the rest. The injection will make
you sleep till tomorrow.'

'So why didn't you just give me a sleeping
pill then?'

Her pouted lips flattened as far as they
could go, nearly resembling a smile, and she merely shrugged. The
nasty glint was definitely there. Sam's voice was beginning to
slur.' You know, sister, you've got a mean streak in you. I swear
you’ve rushed in here on your off duty night, just to stick that
needle into me'.

Now she was really smiling. Or it could have
been a nightmare.' Soon as I heard, Mr. Jenkins, soon as I
heard.'

When he woke up, the sun was streaming into
the white room, casting a narrow band of brilliant white across the
foot of his bed. Estelle was holding his hand, and Louis was
sitting quietly on the other side of the bed, reading the morning
papers.

She kissed him on the lips.' Hello, darling,
how are you feeling?’

‘A bit stiff, but otherwise fine, thanks. And
thanks again, Louis, that was a very close one.'

'One of the easiest elephants I have ever
shot in my life. You are on the front pages again. Listen to this;
“… he single-handedly disrupted one of the most important smuggling
routes of not only ivory and rhino horn, but also…”’

' Cut the crap,' Sam interrupted him.' I
don't suppose you just happened to be on the scene?'

‘No, we’ve been onto you all along.’

‘We?’

‘State security contacted Dr Fisher when you
left on Sunday. They knew all about your plans, and had been
tailing you for quite some time. Once you were back in the Park, we
couldn't keep a direct eye on you without alerting either you or
your quarry, so we made it a team effort. We planted the two guys
at your house, both wearing radio transmitters. Then we cruised
along the tourist roads in the vicinity with the van, equipped with
powerful receivers, as well as a backup car. You nearly collided
with us during your wild pursuit, and we followed immediately,
sending the other car to the house to assess the damage there. You
and the elephant and were so intent on each other, that I merely
ran up to you openly, and shot it. And that was it. Glad you got
the bastard after all. It was him, wasn't it? I couldn't recognise
what was left'.