Rory left the covered courtyard where most of the guests were sitting. The style was that of an Italian 17th Century palazzo, correct down to the tiniest detail. The tables were overflowing with tastefully arranged dishes and snacks, whilst a 3-piece orchestra played softly in the background. The host and his wife were deeply absorbed in conversation with a party of Kenyan and Chinese businessmen, to whom Rory had earlier been introduced - so Rory decided to make use of this space in time to have a look around the home.
The house covered a vast area and was one of the best-planned homes Rory had ever come across, aesthetically beautiful and obviously no expense had been spared to create something special, for Mr and Mrs. BEE. Mr. BEE’s study looked like a section of a gentleman’s club – soft lighting and elegant dark-oak panelled walls and bookcases to match. He noticed that one of the walls held photographs of the family members – there were quite a few teenagers – how could a man such as this, one who obviously loved children, promote and profit from drug sales to youngsters?. He shook his head in disgust…
After glancing around surreptitiously, Rory seated himself behind the huge oak desk, sinking luxuriously into the “nappa”-leather adjustable swivelling-chair – some people certainly didn’t stint themselves!
Glancing around once more, Rory tried one of the drawers in the desk – locked…as were the other five. He stood up behind the desk and walked rapidly to the door of the study and peered through into the house…he cocked his head and listened intently….”silence” ruled supreme….he took one more look through the doorway and then, strode rapidly back to the desk and seated himself once more. Feeling in his hip pocket, he brought forth a small, flat leather case, not unlike a key case. Opening up the case revealed a number of peculiarly shaped keys….he removed one and held this to the key-slot orifice on one of the drawers – not right….so he tried another, and finally found one that slipped within. With a slight twist, the locking mechanism released and he could pull the drawer open. He had just inserted his hand into the drawer when he heard the sound of footsteps in the passageway…! In his haste to close the drawer, he dropped his “skeleton” key, which fell into the foot-well area of the desk….
Mr. BEE’s uniformed security officer strode through the doorway into the study and saw Rory standing in front of one of the framed, embroidered Hunting scenes studying it absorbedly….’…hmmm…this is really exquisite….and a famous name too…….must have cost a fortune eh?…’ The security officer peered at Rory with suspicion.. ’..wouldn’t know about that sir….what are you doing here?….’ Rory chose to take umbrage and hotly replied….’…what do you mean, what am I doing here? - your boss invited me to look around…is that a problem for you?! ..if so I’ll call him and we can settle this immediately!..’ ‘…beggin’ your pardon sir, I didn’t mean to offend, ..just doin’ my job…I’ll leave you now sir..’ so saying, he strode rapidly away and down the corridor.
Rory heaved a sigh of relief, stepped to the doorway, peered out and then made his way back to the desk, where bending down he felt and searched the foot-well area, quickly recovering his dropped “skeleton” key. After donning thin surgical gloves he continued his study of the contents of the unlocked drawer…absolutely nothing of interest or suspicion.
Carefully locking the drawer, he moved to the next one, which also proved uneventful. Finally he reached the last two bottom drawers….’aa hah! - what have we here!’ – this drawer was crammed with porno magazines….very explicit…plus three magazines featuring child sex…paedophilia…absolutely disgusting…and this was a leader of Industry and a philanthropist!……this was one person that Rory was going to be happy to put away!. Then the last drawer - this one was stocked with condoms, lollipops and 3 tins of baby powder…what disgusting rituals were these items being used for?. Rory withdrew a miniaturised digital camera from his coat pocket and took photos of the drawers and their contents, with long shots of the desk to establish where it was located.
He carefully, withdrew all the contents of the last drawer and placed them on a large plastic bag, which he withdrew from his pocket and laid on the blotter of the desk-pad. He examined the collection carefully. The condoms were just that – condoms….the lollipops could perhaps contain drugs…but he dare not take even one away for forensic examination. The baby powder – mmm? – possible!. He screwed the cap off one of the tins and shook a minute amount of the powder into his palm. He smelt this cautiously…it smelt like the genuine article…he wet his finger and inserted it into the powder and then tasted it…sure was baby powder!. He opened another can, with the same results.
He opened the last can (sod’s law) and tasted the powder…yes! - a lemony taste. He took an envelope from his jacket pocket and poured some of the powder within…the lab would do an analysis for him. He replaced all the articles back into the desk drawer, which he closed and locked. He examined the desk-top carefully to see that he had left no evidence of his search and then left the study closing the door quietly behind him….
CHAPTER 37
Everything that he had done whilst in the study, had faithfully been recorded by the un-winking eye of the automatic video-camera surveillance system, carefully concealed in the ornate cornicing around the ceiling of the study behind the desk…
After having a “night-cap” with his hosts and thanking them for the evening, Rory drove off the property and commenced the journey back to town. He had just driven on to the highway, when he heard the sound of a siren approaching his vehicle at speed from behind. He peered in his rear-view mirror and saw a vehicle bearing a blue flashing light rapidly closing with him. The vehicle flashed its headlights and the driver opened his window and indicated that Rory should pull over to the side of the road. As Rory’s vehicle came to a halt and he opened his door, the uniformed driver of the other vehicle came striding up to him and grabbing his arm, started to drag him from his seat, and before Rory could defend himself, a baton came crashing down against his head. The last thing he remembered, was thinking to himself, that his assailant looked familiar….
Groggily Rory opened his eyes, telling himself, that he should really stop drinking…the smell of liquor filled his nostrils and he almost gagged. Then memory flooded back - and he became aware that he was still in his vehicle, behind the steering wheel and that he had a most vile headache – and the smell of alcohol pervaded the air – his clothes were saturated and so was the seat.
He remembered the glimpse of his attacker…he had seen him before…he was Mr. BEE’s Security Officer! His hand fled to his jacket pocket for the “evidence” envelope – it was gone! - well at least he had the photos he had taken….no way!.. the camera was gone as well!!
The sky had lightened considerably, so Rory started his car and set off for home without wasting further time…a Metro Police Patrol car, sped past him, in the direction from which he had just come….
Back in his office at “The Circle” headquarters, Rory, sat looking at the Progress report that he had written – didn’t look too successful at all, and the opposition had really shown him a point. Before this he had felt that he was at least making some headway.
Baby-powder, condoms and lollipops – what-the-heck?! ..The Opposition must have been on to him from the start! - or if not, they certainly were now - after finding the powder in the envelope and looking at the photos in his camera. His only bit of luck was the fact that the Metro Traffic Police had not found him unconscious in his car and reeking of alcohol! He might have been slung into a cell till the next day!….
Rory decided that he would have to play it very cool as far as his observation of Mr. BEE went, as they would now be on the lookout for snoopers. Everything was not entirely lost however – when he had bent down to pick up his “skeleton” key lying in the foot-well of the desk, he had unobtrusively stuck a self-powered, voice-activated transmitter-mike under the footrest-bar!. This extremely hi-tech mini-mike had enough stored energy to run for approximately three weeks. The mike was transmitting to a receiver set-up in Rory’s office. Whenever a transmission was received, it would be automatically recorded onto a digital hard-drive sound recorder and a LCD light on the casing would be activated…………
The transmitter started flashing much sooner than Rory expected – it seemed his snooping in the study of Mr. BEE had really caused an upset. Mr. BEE was talking very agitatedly to someone called…Hugh? ……someone who had a foreign accent, and who had evidently been present at the previous evening’s cocktail party…..he was saying….’…well this Hamilton, whom I introduced you to last night, seems to know or been informed about our cocaine distribution scheme…the video surveillance made that very clear….my man gave him a good beating and took the cocaine sample from his pocket and also his camera which contained photos of the contents of my desk…..I don’t like this at all ….something will have to be done about this man. He appears to be well connected, family-wise as well as business. The company that he works for is an Auditing and Private Investigation Bureau called “The Circle” – Hamilton being their Accountancy and Tax specialist – he is evidently a member of the illustrious Collett Family…his mother is a 50% shareholder of “The Collett Corporation”….one of my “informers” within the NPA tells me that the “Scorpions” had entered into a highly secret agreement with “The Circle” to investigate the “Drug Situation” shortly before we managed to have them closed down, but unfortunately a constitutionally-protected contract was put into place, which is still valid, besides which, it has been renewed by the present government’’………
Rory remembered then that he had been introduced to a “Hugh”, but spelt “Hu”,…a Chinese who was the owner of a clothing factory in KwaZulu Natal….Hu Lyang,..yes!… that was the name!….
Hu Lyang twitched with rage….it seemed that “The Circle” and members of the Collett Family were intent on meddling in his business affairs – first James Kane who was married to a Collett…and then this Rory Hamilton who was the uncle of the Kane wife – he would have to do something about the situation…..fortunately he was already ahead in the game, having James and his wife in the custody of Wei Chen who was bringing them to his Woodlands cottage for disposal.
Mr. BEE of course knew nothing of the “oilfield project”….and would continue to know nothing!…Mr. BEE suggested that they meet for a drink and further discussion the next day, but Hu Lyang said that he had already made plans to drive down to his Woodlands cottage for a day or two..Hu Lyang’s right hand never knew what his left hand was doing!
The Chinese were impatiently agitating for him to make an announcement regarding the “oilfield”. He would have to bring forward the plan to blow-up the “oilfield”, disposing of the Kane husband and wife simultaneously and then deal with Rory Hamilton who was endangering his biggest, potentially-permanent, income provider.
Rory listened to the tape again and decided that he should make some enquiries regarding the location of Hu Lyang’s Woodlands cottage – perhaps pay him a discreet visit tomorrow….even plant a few little electronic snoopers!.
_______________
CHAPTER 38
James was rigid with fear as he waited for the explosion that would end his life…instead, he heard a sigh, followed by the un-cocking of the pistol and then felt the muzzle being removed from his neck. Marianne gave a gulp of relief, and Wei Chen said.. ’..really Mr. Kane you do exasperate me….I’ve given you how many warnings, and yet you persist – no more warnings from now on, just the bullet!…..now come on back to the car, we’re already behind schedule…move it!’
They left the N1 highway at Bloemfontein going on to Aliwal North, by-passed Queenstown and then joined the N2 at King Williamstown. Drove through Grahamstown, by-passed Port Elizabeth, Clarkson and then a few kilometres before Woodlands turned left down a little country road to a small holiday cottage, surrounded by lush tropical foliage, on the beach, which was owned and used by Hu Lyang, when he was not staying at his Cape Town mansion – there were no other cottages in the area – the only other structure being a wooden boathouse which had its own jetty attached….two identically-painted small motorboats were moored to the jetty, bobbing up and down in the gentle swell, the setting sun creating a picture-book scene, tranquilly reflected in the calm sea.
Wei drove up to the boathouse climbed out of the car and producing a key from his pocket, unlocked the sturdy lock on the door of the boathouse. He let James and Marianne out of the car, still shackled together and ushered them into the boathouse…..’ Welcome to the luxurious “Woodlands Sun”…your suite has all the modern facilities that you will require….whatever else you might want, just give “room-service” a tinkle!….heh!…heh!’
Still chuckling, he pointed to two fold-up stretchers leaning against one of the walls, and told them how to assemble them. The “bathroom” consisted of two big plastic buckets, one filled with water – the “washing” facility, the other bucket was empty except for a new roll of toilet paper…this was obviously the “Loo”. There were blankets and pillows on one of the shelves, plastic knives and forks, plates and mugs, a plastic table with four chairs – and best of all a paraffin-driven refrigerator which was well-stocked with plenty of cold meats, milk butter etc., also surprisingly a bottle of Chardonnay (opened - with a plastic stopper inserted) and a bottle of Bell’s…the “Hotel” obviously knew quite a bit about their personal preferences….someone had done their research very well!. The lighting, plus a small two-plate stove, was powered by battery-back-up solar energy…yes..all the “modcons” were available!
Wei said….’Well I’m sure that you will both be comfortable tonight..so enjoy your meal and have a good rest… for tomorrow morning I will be taking you out to sea to the “luxury liner” for the start of an exciting trip!..’
The first thing that James did after Wei bade them a cheery “goodnight” and locked them in, was to try to use one of the plastic knives on their wrist manacle – it proved to be totally useless, and there was nothing else available, so they were still stuck-together…it took them quite some time, being handicapped by their bound wrists, to assemble the stretchers and make their beds….Wei had obviously thought of this…….
____________
Andrei had parked the Volvo behind one of the grassy sand-dunes, near the beach and had stealthily crept up to the boathouse and heard everything that had transpired within. When Wei left the boathouse he followed him to the cottage and got close enough to hear him making a call on his cell-phone. He appeared to be reporting the day’s activities to a superior, giving a detailed account of their journey and the imprisonment of James and Marianne in the boathouse, his next words chilled Andrei…’….I will take them out to the diving platform tomorrow and bind them to it. It’s quite securely anchored and there is no chance of them escaping – then when you give me the word, I’ll remotely trigger the explosives. Enough has been loaded to cause the sinking of the platform and not damage the bodies too much – we want the Sasol clothing and helmets to be found later and identified. This explosive charge is not connected to the charge in the submarine or in the diving-bells…that charge will be detonated when the Chinese make the final payment!’
Andrei went back to the boathouse and examined the exterior thoroughly – there was no way that he would be able to break open the door – it had been designed specifically to withstand any break-in attempts….and not having a weapon prevented him from accosting the kidnapper within the cottage, whom he had noticed was armed. He would have to try and find a stick or something to use as a club in the morning when it was light – it was difficult to see much in the dark now.
Andrei felt absolutely exhausted…it had been a long drive from Johannesburg and he could hardly keep his eyes open….he would have to doss-down in the Volvo and set about freeing Marianne and James in the morning. Luckily for him he had some time ago placed a picnic blanket in the boot of the car, with the intention of later inviting Marianne to join him for a picnic in the country, at some opportune time in the future. He locked the car doors, settled down in the backseat and covered himself with the blanket…..within minutes he was sleeping soundly.
He dreamed that he was choking and woke up panicking, to find that he was being pinned to the seat of the car by his throat….’..stop struggling or I will kill you…..turn over on to your stomach and place your arms behind your back - now! - or you are dead!..’ With much difficulty Andrei did as he was told and felt plastic manacles being attached to his wrists, binding them securely together. His collar was gripped and he was pulled upright to find himself under scrutiny by Marianne’s kidnapper.
‘ - now, who the hell are you….eh?..’. Andrei gazed into a pair of unrelentingly fierce, hooded eyes. ‘…what is going on… I am a Tourist and visitor to your country, why are you treating me in this way?….I was lost and too tired to try and drive further, so pulled off the road and took shelter behind this dune for the night….If I am trespassing on your property, I apologise…I did not do this intentionally!.’ The smack Andrei received caused a spray of saliva to fly through the air onto the surface of the seat.
‘…do you take me for an idiot!….’ this was accompanied by another vicious slap which snapped Andrei’s head back against the head-rest. ‘.you have been following me since Jo’burg, do you think I’m an amateur, eh?..’ He leant forward and searched Andrei’s jacket pockets, coming out with his passport, which he flicked open….
‘…..so, a Russian eh?…..what is your interest in my two guests?…..oh cat’s got your tongue eh?…..well I’ve got just the remedy for that!…So saying he took out his packet of cigarettes and slowly lit one……
Andrei had never been a physically brave person, and after a few cigarette burns skilfully administered, Wei knew all there was to know about Andrei’s purpose and exploits to date in South Africa. He was an unnecessary nuisance, but could join James and Marianne as “props” for the “oil-field” explosion – rather leave no loose ends!. He marched Andrei over to the cottage where after cutting his wrists free, he made him change into rig-worker’s clothes, after which new manacles were applied and he then pushed him into the boathouse to join James and Marianne with a curt …’..here’s your lodger Mrs. Kane!’….much to the mystification of James. He cut the manacles attaching Marianne to James and attached a new set to each of them separately, saying ‘I’m sure you’ll appreciate a bit of freedom now Mrs. Kane!..eh?!….’
An extremely red-faced Andrei managed to catch Marianne’s eye and give her a quick wink when he “introduced” himself to them, saying that he apologised for barging in on them, but that he had no clue as to what Wei’s game was and could think of no reason for his being assaulted and incarcerated - he was after all, just a Tourist.
James quickly commented that they too had no idea why they were being held. He had earlier on that evening explained about his “secret” life to Marianne and cautioned her to act as “unaware” of this as was possible in front of Wei….he noticed though, that Marianne also appeared slightly red-faced…..he supposed that it was the peculiar “lodger” reference made by Wei!….strange sense of humour this Oriental had!. However Andrei’s next words shocked James and Marianne to the core….’…I overheard him speaking to someone called Hugh on his cell-phone and saying that he intends tying you both to a diving-platform off-shore tomorrow, which will then be blown-up by remote control!…and I think that now includes me as well!…why, what’s it all about?....he’s really crazy this guy!!…..we’ve got to get out of here!!….’
Andrei was thoroughly spooked, eyes darting from side to side in an obvious panic-stricken funk!….. ‘Calm down Andrei, calm down, let’s sit down and try and work something out in a rational way!….’ said James.
Marianne, quite out of context, was thinking…’.thank goodness I didn’t start an affair with this guy….he’s just about wetting himself!...what a chicken he is!!…certainly not in the same league as James!!.’
Andrei calmed himself down with great difficulty…he wished he could tell Marianne that he had become involved in this situation because of her, and that he had been trying to think of a way to rescue her and her husband…but how would he explain the fact that he had been spying on them? - no, he would have to keep his mouth shut and have to live with the fact that she was probably thinking that he was a coward and a weakling – anyway, James was right… they would have to sit down and try to work out a plan of action. The first thing that he could practically do, was to bring his bound hands from behind his back to his front – he lay on the floor and with much grunting and groaning did just that – this certainly made him feel less restricted and able to apply his mind to the problem of escape.
Even after a good few rounds of Bell’s and in a much more relaxed atmosphere, they were unable to come up with a plan of action. Andrei started to get into a panic-mode again and began pacing up and down, muttering to himself in Russian and gesticulating wildly with his bound-together hands. One of his uncontrolled tied-hands movements caught the edge of the by-now almost empty bottle of Bell’s, lifting it up into the air, off the table-top. James dived desperately, just catching the bottle in the nick of time before it would have shattered on the concrete floor!. He stood up panting, saying ‘…damn you Andrei, there are still two tots left in the bottle…’, he poured one into Andrei’s empty glass and refilled his own – then his face broke into a beaming smile….’…that’s it!….that’s it!….the bottle!…we’ll break it and use the broken glass to cut the plastic manacles!….you’re a genius Andrei!’. Andrei however, was not responding - he had sat down at the table and slumped forward, his head resting on his manacled arms….his mouth fell open and he gave a loud snore!….James felt a peculiar numbness in his arms and legs and he managed to stumble across the room to his stretcher and collapse thereon…he noticed that Marianne appeared to be fast asleep on her stretcher already. The sly slant-eyed devil didn’t miss a trick, the drink had been doctored!… was his last thought as a wave of unconsciousness swept him gently away!.
CHAPTER 39
Rory had decided to make an early start the next morning, hoping to arrive at the Woodlands cottage before Hu Lyang and plant his little electronic transmitters. So he was a little dismayed to find a Hyundai sedan already parked alongside the cottage. He drove past the cottage and into the myriad of sand-dunes, behind one of which, he parked, making sure that his vehicle was out of sight of the road or cottage. He picked up his bag of “goodies” (electronic transmitters and magnetic “location” buttons plus digital screen) hung his mini-binoculars around his neck and clambered out of his vehicle. Walking very quietly and cautiously toward the cottage, he was further surprised to find a Volvo sedan also hidden by a sand-dune. Acting swiftly, he applied a “GPS location” button to the underside of the Volvo and then continued his walk towards the cottage. Most puzzling, what the devil was happening?……who was the owner of the Volvo, and where was he?. As if in answer to his question, the front door of the cottage opened, and an Oriental stepped out and began walking towards the boathouse, pausing for a moment to turn and survey the area behind and around him. Rory knew that he could not be seen standing within the shelter of one of the dense tropical-type bushes, and examined the Oriental with the aid of his mini-binoculars. The man was not Hu Lyang….however he was definitely not “a friendly” as he was carrying an automatic pistol in a very belligerent and professional manner.
He stopped in front of the boathouse door, produced a key after transferring the pistol to his left hand and proceeded to unlock the door and then entered the building, leaving the door slightly ajar. Rory made use of the time break to dash over to the Hyundai sedan and fit it with a GPS “location” button. He did the same with the two speedboats.