Red Earth (25 page)

‘Um, pass, Jed. Your pal shot at us.'

‘Well, he gets trigger-happy around AK-47s. I know how he feels. Tell us where you are and we'll bring you in, to safety,' Jed said.

‘This isn't the Wild West, Jed, it's South Africa. We'll look after ourselves for a while, thanks. In the meantime, why don't you mobilise America's military might to catch the people who are trying to kill these kids?'

There was a pause on the end of the line. ‘You've hit a nerve there, Mike. This investigation's been a clusterfuck from the beginning. For Pete's sake, a US ambassador's been killed and we can't get our shit together. Work with us, not against us.'

Mike rubbed his eyes. He was tired. ‘We're safe for now, but if the bad guys find us you'll be the first person I call, Jed.'

‘We're still looking for you all, Mike.'

‘Good luck with that.'

Part 3

Inqe and his partner watched their chick expectantly. He had grown from a tiny ball of fluff into an increasingly stronger young male.

He had been hopping about in the nest for some time now and the moment had come for him to take his first flight.

The chick flapped its wings and jumped to the edge of the nest. Its parents beat their massive wings and took flight. There would be no room for the three of them here.

Inqe circled the leadwood tree slowly and at low level. Such was his size that he needed the benefit of a warm thermal rising from the earth to assist him to take off properly. The chick might fare better, with his lighter size, but for now, Inqe had to touch down on a branch and watch.

The chick looked too gangly, too uncoordinated to ever make it into the air, but with another hop he had left the safety of the nest. His wings flapped madly and for a moment it looked like he might collide with a sharp branch, but in the next he was flying.

They were not safe yet, not the chick, not Inqe, not their species, but there was hope.

Chapter 25

Mike held Banger's pistol up and at the ready as Nia unlocked and opened the door of her apartment. She would have thought the scene laughable if she hadn't seen what the terrorists were capable of.

They had driven to Umhlanga Rocks in Boyd's
bakkie
. The vet turned human doctor had checked on Themba in the morning, once they were all awake, and reported that the boy's shoulder was still bleeding. He wanted to put another couple of stitches in him and this would take time. Also, he wanted Themba to rest a little longer.

Nia and Mike had been reluctant to leave the three children, but as Boyd had pointed out, his vehicle could only take two, three at a pinch, in the cab.

Her additional worry, right now, was that the Americans might be here waiting for her, just as they had ambushed Mike at Suzanne Fessey's place. They knew her name, so it wouldn't take them or the South African police more than a few minutes to find her address. Mike brushed past her and moved through her flat, gun still up, then announced, ‘All clear.'

She resented the way he took over, but she also reasoned that it was good to have him with her.

Nia went into her bedroom, took a backpack down from the top of her wardrobe and filled it with clothes, toiletries and her South African and Australian passports. She went to the kitchen and filled the available space with some tinned fruit and three cans of tuna.

Her head throbbed and she felt the fatigue start to overtake her. She put a hand out to steady herself on the kitchen bench. ‘I think I need to lie down.'

‘Not here,' he said.

‘I understand. Do you think the kids are safe with Boyd?'

‘For the time being, but we all need somewhere else to hide up and rest.'

‘We can't keep running,' she said. ‘But we need to hide.'

‘My place is too risky; if it's not being watched already it will be soon and they'll be checking this flat out soon enough as well,' Mike said. ‘We can go back to Boyd's, but I'd really like to get the kids out of there this evening.'

‘We could get a couple of hotel rooms,' she replied.

‘Good idea. Got something in mind?'

Nia went to her balcony, opened the doors and walked outside. Mike walked out and stood beside her. She pointed down the beachfront.

‘You're kidding, right?' he said.

‘My parents gave me one of their credit cards. It's only for use in absolute emergencies. I think this qualifies.'

‘Well, if you're sure,' he said.

‘I am.'

They took the lift to the basement of the apartment block and got into her car. When the garage doors opened she drove out and paused on the edge of the road, checking up and down for possible surveillance vehicles. A few minutes later they drove into the car park of the most famous hotel in Umhlanga Rocks, the Oyster Box.

‘You know, I've lived in Durban all my life and I've never been into this place – mostly because I could never afford to even eat here,' Mike said.

‘It's my treat,' Nia said. The security guard at the boom gate saluted and pointed them towards the hotel's entrance. They parked and a porter in a colonial-style uniform and pith helmet came up to them. Nia opened the boot and the man took her backpack. ‘My parents used to come and stay here every year when I was at school. They were from Joburg but they loved it here in Umhlanga. They bought the apartment I'm living in five years ago.'

‘Clearly they could afford it.'

‘My parents didn't have a lot of money when they left South Africa, but they had good business sense. They bought a sleeping bag manufacturing company in Australia and worked hard.'

Nia asked the woman on reception if there were two rooms free and she confirmed that there were two adjoining sea view suites available. ‘I'll take both.'

The Oyster Box was old-fashioned in its feel and decor, down to its black and white chequerboard tiled floor; even the maids' uniforms looked like they hadn't changed since the 1930s. Nia thought the place was much the same as when she first visited, and its service was still impeccable. A porter escorted them to the rooms and showed them into the first suite. He opened French doors that led onto a strip of green lawn with two sunbeds. Just beyond the grass was the sparkling Indian Ocean and the red and white striped lighthouse.

‘Would you like to see the other room, sir?' the porter asked.

‘No, it's fine,' Nia told the man. ‘Just leave the key.'

Mike tipped the porter, who left them. ‘
Lekker
view.'

‘It is,' she said. ‘I never get tired of it. About the rooms …'

‘Yes?'

‘Don't think me a wimp, please, but I just don't want to be on my own right now, OK?'

‘I understand.' Mike called Boyd on his cell phone and walked outside to talk. He kept her in sight while he spoke.

‘What's the news?' Nia asked when he came back in.

‘He's given Themba a sedative, but the new stitches seem to be holding. He says Themba can't be moved for another six to eight hours, after dark. He says Lerato's going full teenager and is still asleep. The baby's fine.'

‘They're as safe there as anywhere else. Let me check on John.' Nia called Buttenshaw, who assured her he was safe and sound and no one, not even the US Government, had yet got around to asking if it was him who had flown them out of Mkhuze the night before, or where the fugitives were hiding. Nia relayed the news to Mike.

‘That's good,' he said. ‘I think we should get back to Boyd's soon, though.'

‘OK, but first I'm going to have a shower and get into some clean clothes. I'm offending even myself.'

Mike took a bottle of water from one of the bedside tables and sat on the chair outside, with the French doors open. It was sunny and warm and tourists were making their way to the hotel swimming pool, and down the steps in front of their room, to the left, to the beach below. Watching them, Nia wished she could be living their carefree life at the moment.

Before she closed the door she stole a glance at Mike's broad back. He reclined in the chair and clasped his hands behind his head. There were those nice forearms again, she thought, tanned and muscular. He still sported a full head of thick hair.

Nia went into the bathroom, turned on the water and stripped out of her flight suit and underwear. She stepped into the shower and luxuriated in the feeling of shampooing and soaping herself.

She thought about the way Mike had looked at her the night before, when they had both paused at the doors of their respective rooms. They were both too tired for anything to have happened, but she had sort of understood what he had said, about people needing someone to look out for them, or watch over them.

Nia had liked that feeling, but in her mind it was over with Banger and that made her want to feel like she didn't need anyone, least of all a man, in her life. She had been very independent ever since she was a child, but Banger had still hurt her. Nia was sad and angry and the fact that Mike Dunn seemed like a decent guy with a sensitive side was mildly annoying. She was ready to dislike all men, at least for a while, and here he was just trying to do the right thing by everyone.

She closed her eyes as she let the hard, hot water pummel her skin and rinse her clean. For a moment she wondered what it would be like to feel those big hands on her body, to touch him, and feel his skin against hers. She was sure that she would miss Banger's touch, his texture, more than the sex. It was ironic that despite her self-admitted prickliness and her feminist leanings she lived for the sensation of touch, a man's fingertips on her, and the feel of his skin.

Nia finished washing, got out of the shower and dried herself. There were plenty of towels so she wrapped one in a turban around her wet hair. When she went back into the room she could see Mike sprawled in the outside chair, asleep.

She walked as quietly as she could to her bag and took out some fresh clothes, but something must have stirred him as he looked over his shoulder at her.

‘Sorry to wake you.'

‘No problem,' he said. ‘I think I'll shower as well.'

‘OK, I'll get dressed here in the room, you help yourself to the shower.'

He got up out of the chair and walked inside. As he passed her she could see he was trying not to look at her bare legs, or the skin above the top of her towel. He was quaint, a gentleman, averting his eyes. She liked that.

Nia was tired and her head still throbbed. The thought of even getting dressed seemed almost too much to contemplate. Instead, she lay down on top of the bed, still wrapped in her towel. The softness of the duvet and the mountain of pillows was like a sedative. She closed her eyes and let her exhaustion overwhelm her.

She woke to the sound of a bottle being opened.

‘Sorry,' Mike said. ‘Sparkling water.'

‘I'm a light sleeper at the best of times,' she said.

‘I'll go out on the balcony. I wouldn't mind a snooze myself.'

She looked out the French doors. ‘It's hot out there. Come, lie on the bed. No hanky-panky, though, and I promise to keep my hands off you.' Nia saw the momentary indecision in his eyes. ‘It's all right.'

‘It does look tempting. I could go to the other room, of course.'

She patted the bed beside her. ‘Like I said, I don't want to be alone right now.'

He came to the bed, sat on the mattress and eased himself down. He lay on his back and closed his eyes, his hands folded across his belly. Within a couple of minutes he was snoring softly.

Nia closed her eyes. Sleep didn't come as easy the second time and she wondered if it was because there was a strange man lying next to her. She didn't feel vulnerable in Mike's presence, more the opposite. She felt safe with him nearby, not threatened, but all the same her nerves felt on edge now.

Again, though, her body got the better of her, and she must have drifted off because the next thing she knew she was opening her eyes and Mike was coming back from the bathroom.

‘The curse of old age,' he said to her, when he saw her looking at him.

She blinked a couple of times. ‘You should get your prostate checked.'

He gave a short laugh. ‘You're not backward in coming forward, are you?'

‘Sorry, discretion has never been a strong point.'

He held up his hands. ‘It's OK. I've had the check, and the blood test. I've had a few friends with that problem.'

‘Good – that you're OK, I mean.'

He looked down at her. She felt embarrassed, now that the first thing that had come into her head was something so personal, so intimate. It was not the sort of thing virtual strangers discussed with each other. On the other hand, they had just both been sleeping in the same bed.

‘Are you still tired?'

She nodded. ‘I am. I didn't think I'd get to sleep, but I did.'

‘You were snoring.'

‘Impossible,' she said. ‘I don't snore.'

He laughed again.

‘What's so funny?'

‘You sounded like a warthog.'

Nia reached behind her head, grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. Mike ducked.

‘Sorry.'

‘
Pah
,' she said. ‘I still maintain I don't snore.'

Mike looked at his watch. ‘We've got a few hours still before we can go pick up the kids.'

Nia let herself sag back into the bed. ‘You know what I'd really like now?'

‘What?'

‘A drink. I don't drink too much booze, but I'd love a gin and tonic.'

Mike got up and went to the minibar. ‘Coming right up. I won't join you, though. I want to keep a clear head.'

‘This one's for medicinal purposes.'

He took the miniature bottle of gin and small can of tonic from the fridge and poured them into a glass over ice he took from a bucket on the bar. There was pre-sliced lemon on a saucer and he added a wedge. It seemed decadent, somehow wrong, given the situation, but when he passed her the glass and she took her first sip she closed her eyes in bliss.

‘Good?'

‘Very.'

He sat down on the bed again and sighed.

‘Still tired?'

He nodded.

‘Lie down, rest while you can.'

He lay back, resting his head on the pile of pillows, then looked to her. ‘You're very brave, you know.'

She shrugged and took another sip. ‘Your young friend Themba is brave. A little silly, but also brave.'

He nodded. ‘I'm sorry you had to get involved in all this.'

‘It's just one of those things.'

‘Your boyfriend's an idiot.'

She snorted some gin and tonic up her nose, coughed, then laughed. ‘Thank you, I know.' He passed her a serviette and she wiped herself. ‘You don't know me, though.'

‘No, but the little I do know of you tells me that any man should count himself lucky to have you.'

‘No one has ever
had
me, except in the Biblical sense.'

He held up his hands again. ‘Sorry.'

‘It's OK. And thanks, I get what you mean. I kind of needed to hear that as well, after what happened.'

Mike rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. ‘What were you doing with a guy like him?'

Again, she felt her hackles rise. ‘He was hot.'

‘But he's below your station.'

‘Below my
station
? Are we back in the nineteenth century?'

‘You are too smart for him.'

‘So I need someone smarter than me, is that what you're saying?'

He shook his head. ‘An equal, I think.'

‘What if that doesn't exist?'

‘Well, a close second then.' Mike did something totally unexpected. He reached out his hand towards her and her heart started pounding madly as she felt the back of his fingertips brush her cheek.