Countdown
Kate’s phone rang. David sounded anxious. He thought the kraal would come under attack and was on his way to a different pick-up point. He gave the new GPS coordinates. He said it wasn’t a proper landing strip but would be good enough, according to someone called Big John. Kate consulted her map and figured she could be there in under half-an-hour. She hoped Big John’s assessment of the situation was reliable.
She checked the plane. An assault rifle and a box of hand grenades lay on the seat beside her. The aircraft had been modified so that it could be used against game wardens and others who threatened the viability of Rodriquez’s business. Gunports had been inserted and there was a chute for grenades.
Kate eyed the line of baboons in front of her. They had returned and were blocking her path. She switched on the engines and the smaller members of the troop fled. The big male held his ground to the last moment and received a blow from one of her wheels. Seconds later she was airborne.
The truck bounced up the rough track. Big John said it widened at the top and was straight enough for a small plane to land and take off. David hoped he was right. He had known cases when planes had landed and been unable to get back into the air.
He wondered how much Big John knew about planes. There could be no doubt that he knew a lot about trucks. Right now he was driving. The track was steep and deeply rutted. Fallen stones and branches added to the difficulty. Wherever possible, he avoided them or smashed through. Valuable time was lost when they had to stop to clear the way.
The rendezvous with Kate was in ten minutes. David crouched in the rear of the truck with two of Big John’s men. Mario and Petra huddled behind them. A third man sat in the cabin up front.
Apart from Mario, all of the men were heavily armed. David had an AK-47. The man beside him had a grenade launcher and his companion had a sniper’s rifle.
‘Chopper!’
Mario yelled in his ear.
‘Where?’
‘Up there!’
Mario pointed and David craned his neck. The road was overhung by trees. There were occasional patches of sky. Then a glint in the leaves told him something was overhead. A moment later, a helicopter appeared.
Big John stopped the truck.
‘Helicopter!’
David ran to his side.
‘I think it’s the same one.’
‘Phone your friend. Tell her not to come.’
‘No.’ David shook his head. ‘She doesn’t have enough fuel.’
Big John stared down at him. ‘What do you want to do?’
‘Shoot it down before they have a chance attack.’
‘It might be tourists, David.’
‘Then why is it following us?’
‘We don’t know it is following us.’
‘Okay. You tell me what we do?’
‘We keep going, David. If they don’t get hostile we don’t get hostile. If they do get hostile then we blast them away.’
Kate flew low over the trees. She had seen other planes flying low and guessed they were safari planes taking tourists to see animals in the game reserves. Apart from zebras, she hadn’t seen any. The sun was high so that wasn’t surprising. Zebras and people are amongst the few mammals that wander around in the heat of the day. Zebras belong to the horse family and, like humans, sweat to stay cool. Most other mammals don’t sweat and have to hang out their tongues and pant.
Her phone rang and she heard David.
‘Kate. The helicopter is back and it’s following us.’
‘Shoot it down, David.’
‘Big John won’t let me.’
‘Why?’
‘He thinks it might be carrying tourists.’
‘What do you think?’
‘He could be right. We’ll have to see what happens. If they get hostile, we’ll blast them away. They won’t stand a chance. The chopper is not military. It’s not armoured.’
‘Is your truck armoured?’
‘No. It usually carries grain.’
‘Then make sure they don’t blast you away.’
‘I don’t think they’ll try. They probably want to free Mario and Petra. If Sipho’s right, they think I’m holding them captive.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m not sure of anything, Kate.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Come in low like you are a safari plane.’
‘I’m already doing that, David.’
‘How long before you reach us.’
‘About ten minutes.’
‘We’ll keep a look out for you.’
The truck left the shelter of the trees. There was clear sky above. David looked for the helicopter but couldn’t see it. Moments earlier, it was directly overhead. Now it was gone. He guessed it had swooped down to avoid being seen.
The two Zulus beside him spoke no English. Big John had briefed them on what to do. David decided not to interfere. His attempts at sign language had caused confusion. He figured it was best to let them get on with what they were doing. Right now, they were caressing their weapons and looking in all directions.
The truck reached the top of the rise and sped up. David stood on the tail flap and peered ahead. A half-decent stretch of road stretched before them. It looked as if Big John had picked a good spot for Kate to land. He glanced at his watch. She should have arrived but there was no sign of her.
‘Chopper!’
Mario saw it first. The helicopter had appeared from below. It came from a direction they had not expected and the speed of its arrival was impressive. Within seconds it was hovering over the road behind them. Ropes dropped from its belly and three armed men slid down.
David didn’t wait for Big John to give an order. He opened fire and the Zulus followed with their weapons. The three men dropped to the ground and the helicopter sped off.
Kate didn’t see what happened. She was playing at being a safari plane when the gunfire broke out. It rang in her ears and she saw a helicopter rise out of the trees and make off as if the hounds of hell were after it.
She wasn’t surprised that it wanted to get well clear of the action. The chopper wasn’t designed for a shooting match. It was the sort that picked up rich people from VIP lounges at international airports and ferried them to expensive holiday homes.
A brutal shoot-out was underway. She concluded that the people in the truck were on her side and the people in the helicopter weren’t. That might seem a trivial observation but it wasn’t when you had to decide who to kill and who to rescue.
She glanced at the hand grenades on the seat beside her. They were useful for catching fish and throwing at people on the ground. It was difficult to see how they could be used against a helicopter. The same went for the assault rifle. In the early days of the First World War, pilots shot at one another with hand guns. Those days had passed.
She returned her attention to the truck. It was speeding down the road towards a spot where it widened and straightened out. Her phone rang.
‘Kate …’
David’s voice crackled in her ear.
‘We are going to stop where you can turn …’
She struggled to hear him.
‘Fly on and come back towards us. We’ll give you covering fire if that’s needed.’
Kate figured that David wanted her to land on the road ahead and come back down it towards the truck. She watched as the truck skidded to a halt, throwing up clouds of dust. There was no sign of the helicopter. It had either fled or was hiding, ready to attack.
She cast a critical eye at the road. It was straight and there was no sign of potholes, wild animals or anything else that could cause a catastrophe. But the surface didn’t look firm. Long stretches were covered in sand or something similar. She identified a section as suitable for touchdown.
That part of the operation went smoothly. The next wasn’t so easy. The transition from firm to soft was abrupt. She had met something similar in Australia. There it was called bulldust. The powdery substance made landing and take-off difficult. She ploughed through it and came to a halt in front of the truck.
Four figures raced towards her. David was in front, followed by a coffee-coloured woman, a small white man and a huge black man. She guessed she was seeing Petra, Mario and Big John.
She threw open the cabin doors and jumped down ready to take on passengers. Big John was the first to arrive. He carried two guns. Kate assumed he was coming with them and wondered how his additional weight would affect the plane. Then, it became apparent that he intended to stay behind and the second gun was for her.
He thrust it in her hand.
‘My men will provide covering fire at take-off. After that you will be on your own. You will need this if the helicopter comes after you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘David says you can handle a gun.’
‘Not when I’m flying.’
‘Mario will fly the plane.’
Big John pushed Mario into the cockpit.
‘Hang on!’ Kate grabbed Mario’s foot. ‘This is my plane. You can’t just take it over.’
Mario stared down at her.
’I don’t know how to fire a gun.’
‘That doesn’t mean you can fly.’
‘I’ve been flying since I was ten.’
Kate’s blood boiled. ‘You can’t get a licence at ten.’
‘You don’t need one if you have a father like mine,’ Mario yelled back. ‘He makes the rules where we live. He has the police and the politicians in his pocket.’
‘You fire the gun and I’ll fly the plane.’
‘No. I’ve already said I don’t know how to fire a gun.’
‘You mean your daddy didn’t teach you?’
‘I don’t like guns.’
‘Sod, you …’
Kate yanked at his leg.
David intervened.
‘No Kate. It’s best this way. I trust Mario. If he says he can fly the plane then I believe him. I trust you to fire a gun because I’ve seen you in action. We need two guns. One on each side of the plane. We don’t know where that helicopter might come from.’
Kate took the point.
‘Okay.’
She held out her hand and took some spare ammunition clips from Big John then walked around to the other side of the plane and climbed into the seat next to Mario.
‘I’ll sit here.’ She gave Mario a reassuring look. ‘Then, if you get shot, I’ll be able to take over the controls.’
Big John moved to the side and Mario took the plane forward. Kate watched him critically as he taxied along the road and reached the firm stretch where she had landed. The guy was either good or he was copying her.
Mario revved the engine. The plane lurched forward and they were soon airborne. Kate decided he was good. All the same, he was such an insignificant little fellow, she felt justified in her initial impression … even if it was wrong.
The helicopter appeared almost immediately. It rose out of the trees and followed them. Kate’s trigger finger itched. The chopper was on her side and wouldn’t stand a chance. The crew probably thought they were safe. They didn’t know her plane had been modified for combat. There was no need to throw open the door. She could fire through the gun ports that Rodriquez had cut in the sides.
She held her fire. David had told her not to do anything until he gave the order. That was hard to take. Her plane had been commandeered and she’d been given a gun in exchange. To make matters worse, she’d been told she couldn’t use it until David said she could.
Kate wasn’t going to argue. She and David understood one another. In a different situation, she would be giving the orders and he would be doing what she said. He had been correct about Mario. The little guy knew how to fly a plane and he was making all the correct moves.
They were wearing headsets. She listened as Mario asked David for instructions. He couldn’t shake off the helicopter. Neither of them wanted to confront it. They hoped it would break off pursuit. Mario thought it would be forced to turn back through lack of fuel.
‘That’s nonsense,’ Kate broke into their conversation. ‘I know those planes and I know this one. I’ll make a bet that chopper has been fitted with extra fuel tanks. That’s what the rich sods do to them. We’ll run out of gas first.’
‘It’s not being aggressive,’ Mario tried to argue.
‘Of course, it’s not!’ Petra cut him short. ‘It’s not being aggressive because they want to free us. Sipho told them that we had been captured by David.’
‘What do you think we should do?’
‘Shoot them down!’
Petra undid her seatbelt.
‘Come onto my side, David.’
She wriggled across and pulled him into her place.
Kate opened her gun port.
‘I’ll fire first …’
She emptied her clip in a single burst and was fitting another when the door of the helicopter flew open. A man with a gun appeared. David brought him down with a single shot. Moments later, the helicopter burst into flames.