Shooting Butterflies (46 page)

Shilo clamped his teeth together.

Buffel attempted for a moment to saw the material backwards and forwards against the obstruction.

‘Open now or you get a tranquilliser shot!' Buffel said, and Shilo opened his teeth a little. Buffel pulled the rag tight and fastened the gag in place behind his head.

Coming up to the turn off of Kujana Farm, Buffel smiled. There were signs that counted down the kilometres to the entry. He should have expected a flash entrance like it had, the place was a game farm, and by the looks of it, and from what he had got out of the locals, a prosperous one.

Buffel turned in and drove over the extra wide cattle grid. ‘He doesn't mess around with his entrance, does he?' he said as he raced down the farm road through the trees that lined the sealed road.

He could see what appeared to be a farmhouse nestled among the old tall trees to the left, but he needed somewhere more quiet to work on Shilo, to set a trap.

To collect his Butterfly and have an escape route out again.

He continued down the road and saw the perfect dwelling.

Behind the sheds there was a house tucked away. It was surrounded by tall, neatly trimmed hedges. He drove to the front gate, and through it. Not bothering to open it, his bull bar on the front caused it to shudder as it sprang back and opened towards the
four-string barbed wire fence that hid inside the hedging. He went through the gate and drove slowly up the road towards the front door.

No dogs came running and barking at him. It was a good sign.

He looked around. No one was running to tell him he was in the wrong place for the safari farm experience. Good.

When the road turned to a single separate garage that was attached to the house, he left it and took the thinner concrete path to the front door. He drove over the rose bushes and flowers that lined the pathway. Soon he was as close to the door as he could get without driving up the steps.

He stopped and climbed out of the
bakkie
, taking his keys with him as he walked up the front steps and tried the front door. It was locked. He ran his finger along its edge, finding that it opened inwards.

He took a step back then he lifted his foot and kicked at the lock. The door didn't open, but it did give a little. He stepped backwards again, and slammed into the door with his shoulder.

This time the lock splintered the softer wood on the inside of the door.

He called out into the house. ‘Anyone home?'

No one answered him, and no one tried to shoot at him. He poked his head through the open door. Then he turned back to the
bakkie
and went to fetch Shilo.

He wasn't old, but he was getting older. Shilo was a large man, and he huffed and puffed now as he manoeuvred him through the front door.

He dumped Shilo on the white leather couch in the lounge area. He cut a cord from the curtains and he tied it into the rope that already bound Shilo's arms and legs. He tied Shilo to the metal feet of the sofa before taking a look around the house.

It was definitely empty, no one at home. No one hiding in a bedroom or anything.

The house belonged to one classy lady, based on the furnishings. From the white and red harem-styled main bedroom with the huge
sleigh bed, to the fancy pink handtowels in the kitchen, the house smelt of expensive perfume.

He returned to the
bakkie.
Shouldering his duffel bag, he pulled his rifle from under the seat. Walking inside, he set both down on the white full pile carpet. But not too close to Shilo, just in case.

He needed to barricade the house and fortify the front. He also needed to ensure that he had a clear escape route planned. He knew that the farmer would come.

He knew that the police might come, but he needed to know from Shilo how much he had told them. He needed to try to trade Shilo for The Butterfly, and, maybe the boy too. He needed to complete the final ritual as close to the original as he could. Four males and two females. Only this time, The Butterfly would be sacrificed, and this time he would save Impedla. The children's voices crying out in his head would be silenced as she walked them all through the light.

He hated that this part was not meticulously planned. It meant there was always an element where something could go wrong.

He kicked Shilo as he passed him and pushed a bookcase against the window near where the TV cabinet was.

This mess was all Shilo's fault.

If he had just kept out of his business in the first place, it would never have come to this.

He lowered all the blinds, and pulled the curtains closed. He moved every piece of furniture that he could to either barricade a door or block a window, except the kitchen door at the back. He left that free of clutter as an escape route.

While he was moving things, he walked into a study, and there he found a CB radio station. He reached for the power button.

There was silence.

No chatter on the airwaves, but he wondered about the presence of a radio in the house, and the whereabouts of its owner.

31

A
Thin Line

Kujana Farm, Hluhulwe, South Africa

13:15pm

As Wayne drove into his property, he took a deep calming breath. First, he needed to find where Buffel was holding Jamison, then he needed to ensure that Tara and Josha were safe. Only then would he go after the son of a bitch. He drove towards his homestead.

Hawk Ngele, one of his game guards, stepped out a distance in front and raised his hands in a stop position. He slowed the Mack truck down to stop next to him and Hawk climbed up onto the outside step to talk to Wayne.

‘
Baas
, he's in your mother's house. We didn't try and stop him, just like you instructed. He has taken
Baas
Jamison inside, but he was tied up and had a gag in his mouth.'

‘Thank you, Hawk,' Wayne said. A calmness he knew well descended on him, he was in combat mode. His Recce training had now kicked in. His mission was to retrieve Jamison.

‘He also took one rifle out his
bakkie
, it looked like a Ruger or some other bigger calibre hunting rifle, and he had a large duffel bag that he carried in too. But other than that, nothing. No movement from inside for the last ten minutes or so.'

‘Instruct the men to gather by the tractor shed,' Wayne said.

‘Yes,
baas
,' Hawk said and he jumped clear of the track.

Wayne continued to the Mack truck's parking bay inside one of the big sheds, and within moments, Moeketsi was parked along side him in the smaller truck.

‘Moeketsi, stay with Tara. If Buffel takes one step towards her or Josha, shoot him. Even if you have to shoot through me or Jamison. Understood?'

‘Yes,
baas
.'

‘Under no circumstance is he to get his hands on her at all.'

‘Yes,
baas
, I understand, I will die before I let him get his hands on Madam Tara.'

Wayne helped Tara out of the truck. He held onto her waist and hugged her gently to him.

‘I need to go and get Jamison,' he said.

‘How?'

‘Still working on that, but I'm going to try talk him out first.'

Tara said, ‘I'm coming with you. Gabe and I might be able to help you. He knew us once …'

‘I don't want you anywhere near—'

‘Wayne, I need to do this.'

He looked at her face, it was set and determined. ‘Okay, but you stay beside me, and don't show an inch of yourself where he can shoot it, okay.'

‘Sure,' she said and lifted herself to kiss him.

‘Josha, go into the house—'

‘No way, I'm staying with Mum.'

‘Me too,' Gabe said, ‘So don't even try tell me—'

‘Moeketsi, take Josha with you, bring back arms for everyone from the weapons safe in the office. Bring a tranquiliser gun for
Josha, I don't want him killing anyone at his age. Meet us at the gate into my mother's house.'

‘Come, Josha,' Moeketsi said, and they turned to the main Wild Translocation office that took up part of the shed space at the other end.

‘Tara, stay close to Gabe. I'll be right back,' he instructed as he crouched down, and headed towards the outside of the sheds. Slowly Wayne crept along the hedging and then peered around the corner.

He could see Buffel's
bakkie
parked against the garage door, facing the gates, as if ready to leave in a hurry if Buffel got the chance. He couldn't see in because of the tinting, but he didn't think that Buffel was in it, his boys would have noticed something like that and reported it to him. The house was silent.

He retraced his steps to the shed.

‘Right, we need to get closer, before we do anything else,' he said to Tara and Gabe.

Storm came and stood next to him, and he reached over and gave her a pat. ‘Come on, old girl, you need to stay out of the way too,' he said to her.

They walked to the assembly area where ten of his armed game guards stood waiting with Hawk.

He addressed them. ‘I'll drive the front end loader in there, the thick metal on the front will give some protection if he opens fire. Hawk will drive behind me with the hay bailer, and come up on the left, blocking the
bakkie
in so Buffel has no escape route. Mark and White, you need to put something across the front of the smaller tractor to protect Hawk as he drives. Bring some of that old corrugated iron from the back of the shed that we have piled there. Be careful of snakes when you lift it. Tie it in place with wire, quickly. My idea is that we drive with five men close behind us, towards the front of the house.' He pointed to a group standing together as a unit. ‘I want you to go on the outside of the hedge, crawl under the bush and the wire at the back of the house and stay hidden as close to the back door as you can. If he comes out that door, shoot him. I'll move the tractor in five minutes. Move out!'

The men scattered to do his bidding.

Moeketsi and Josha arrived, both loaded with weaponry.

He gave them a quick rundown of the plan.

‘Thank God my mother went to help Ebony with her kids,' Wayne said.

‘Poor kids, she's a strict one that,' Moeketsi said. ‘Sorry,
baas.
I know she is your mother—'

‘No it's okay, you're right. She has tried hard since coming home again, but some things in her nature she simply can't change. But she seemed to have those kids controlled which was what Ebony needed.'

‘Talking Ebony—' Moeketsi said and nodded his head.

Ebony had just driven Jamison's dual cab up beside them. She got out, and lifted a .303 rifle behind her.

Wayne's dogs came bounding up behind her, their tongues lolling to the side.

‘Heel.' The ridgebacks dropped down at his feet. ‘Whoa, Eb. Where you going?'

‘To shoot the lowdown shit that has my husband,' she said in a voice as cold as ice. Wayne had never heard that tone from her and he knew that she was in a place that he had to drag her back from.

‘No, Ebony,' Wayne said. ‘You can't do that. You have two beautiful girls who need you. You can't go to jail for him.'

She seemed to deflate a little, and then she looked at him. ‘Wayne, how did it come to this? How did he get the jump on Jamison? He's going to kill him. This man inside, he has no conscience. He tried to burn me alive.'

Wayne opened his arms and she stepped into a hug. He pulled her close. ‘Eb, I know. Jamison told us.'

He let her go slowly. ‘You obviously want to be nearer the action, like Tara, so wait here at the end of the shed with her, Josha and Moeketsi,' he said.

Ebony nodded. He watched as Tara and Ebony walked to the outside of the shed where Ebony rested her .303, leaning it against the cement, barrel upwards, keeping it close. Josha walked to his
mum's house, and his dogs crept towards Josha. ‘Go, guard him!' Wayne said and the dogs rushed at Josha, then sat either side of him.

Wayne watched as his son reached down and fussed both of them on their heads.

He turned back to his men. ‘Right, move out in three minutes.'

‘Moeketsi, don't let the women come out from the shed,' he instructed.

‘Yes,
baas
.'

Wayne took a side arm and a rifle from Moeketsi, and extra ammo clips.

‘And these,' Moeketsi said as he passed him both a throwing knife and a hunting knife.

‘Thanks. Come on, Gabe,' he said as he ran to the front end loader, and climbed up.

Gabe stood at the bottom. ‘Am I inside or outside?'

Get in, hurry, don't let me regret this,' he said as Gabe clambered up and squished into the cab with him.

He started her up, and backed carefully out the shed.

He could see Hawk had finish tying down several sheets of corrugated iron to the front of the baler and was climbing into the driver's seat. Wayne started driving towards his mother's house. Looking back, he saw Hawk was following closely behind him. There were feet running behind Hawk's tractor and he knew that his men were there to back him up.

He drove through the gate, lifting the thick metal bucket in front as he went to protect the glass of the cab. Slowly, he drove over the grass, then over the rose bushes that Buffel had already destroyed. Looking out his side window he judged when he needed to stop outside the front door. If need be, he would be happy to drive the front loader right inside, but he thought he might try to talk to the man first.

He could see Hawk had parked and retreated from his baler and was with his men, now using the vehicles as cover. Some stood, others lay flat, but everyone trained their weapons on the front of the house.

Wayne opened the door on the side of the front loader and shouted out, ‘Potgieter. We have you surrounded.'

A short silence followed, and then a single shot rang out.

Everyone dived for cover but they could hear that the shot hadn't hit anything. It appeared as if he had only shot out the window, and upwards, aiming for nothing and no one.