

# Revenge is a Killer.

Arran Fitzgerald

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Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Arran Fitzgerald

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# _

Set in 2007 in Zimbabwe with the back drop of political plunder. Kidnap and torture have become routine acts and murder is also on the menu as a government hit squad triggers a multi-national hostage situation. This fast moving adventure is a race through three African countries, creating a trail of murder and destruction that rapidly escalates into an international incident. With all three of those countries as well as the UK and USA all looking for both hunter and prey; this tight and stimulating cat and mouse pursuit is brought to a climate with the British SAS entering the game and the USA taking its own revenge. Alex Ward at the centre is an ordinary man, thrown into a conflict and personally pursued after being taken as a hostage along with 13 other first class airline passengers. Their escape leads to a pursuit by a grieving and murderous father who will stop at nothing to avenge the death of his son. In the midst of this, fate brings together Alex and a woman who could be too good to be true. As he flees his pursuers she fights a media campaign to bring pressure on the Government to help him; and around them the deceit, torture, murder and intrigue of the Zimbabwe political struggle of 2007 unfolds. As the world stands by Alex fights his own war of survival, alone in a foreign country, he uses his wits and prayer against the corrupt officials and henchmen pursuing him.

# Chapter 1

### In the guerilla camp

It was dark. Moving slowly and continuously watching all around for movement he advanced towards the base of the rock. The ground was damp and smelt of recent rain on earth. He was careful to avoid the puddles and any sound of splashing. Coming across a hut he could hear faint sounds of distant music. This was the radio hut and having found it he tried to steer clear of it, but as he turned he could hear noises inside and paused to take it in. Satisfied the sounds came from a radio station he moved on, keeping an eye on the hut and the light shining within. As he moved silently past he became even more aware of the stillness of the camp and the complete lack of movement. Even the air was still. He could make out a couple of people a good way off in the open but they seemed to be sleeping. He moved on quietly. Walking more naturally now, he made his way between two huts but was then startled, suddenly by a figure standing beside him.

The figure was a man, seemingly woken from his dozing by some unintended noise. Expecting to find one of the guards who were supposed to stay with the prisoners and to need to assert his authority he was astonished to come to the side of the hut and find himself face to face with a white man. At first he was completely taken aback but then in a low voice he exclaimed some well-rehearsed profanity just before the man hit him.

The first man, Alex Ward, heard a couple of words he did not recognise but it didn't matter. He was face to face with a man, a big man, and before he could pull away he realised the man was swaying, in fact lunging toward him, Alex pulled back his fist and hit him. It landed well but the noise of the man falling against a chair and then slamming to the ground seemed like a cannon going off, Alex was on the man before he could recover but this fellow was agile and twisted out of his grip, reaching behind him for something. In a split second Alex grabbed a large stone off the ground and careered into the fellow bringing his stone-laden hand up from the ground and smashing it into the fellow's face. This was only a nanosecond before the clump of wood the man now held landed on Alex's left ear and across the side of his head. The pain was excruciating and he grabbed at his ear. The wetness he felt in his hand was blood, his blood, but his attention was now fully on the other person, who had temporarily fallen back dazed and had hit his head on the wooden base of the hut, hard enough to stun himself. Alex was reeling in his own pain as he stumbled to the right and then turned full circle before rushing forward and pounded the head of his attacker twice with the stone. As the man died Alex suddenly realised his exposure. He stopped and looked around before instinctively ducking down out of sight. He was breathing hard but simply couldn't control his need for more air. The noise had seemed like the rush of water tumbling down a waterfall but it had not attracted any attention except a couple of dogs sounding off and being chastised by their owners. But the man was lifeless, he was indeed dead.

Shaken and bleeding from the side of his head, Alex paused and double checked the body before rolling it over to the side of the hut so that it was close to the wooden base. He didn't want to stay exposed there or create any more noise. But moving the body he could now see it was the body of young man, a boy even, whose height and age had been exaggerated by the wooden hut surround that had given him an extra 6 inches and made him seem much bigger, Alex felt sick, partly with revulsion and partly with fear and the realisation this lifeless body could so easily have been him. He'd never been close to killing someone before and he was surprised he didn't feel bad about it. He felt quite matter of fact, 'either he killed me or I killed him' he thought. He moved onto the wooden platform surrounding the hut and peered inside the doorway. No one else there, he walked in and looked around, a table about six feet by four and a couple of chairs, a make shift bed on one side. A large rifle lay on the table with a large half round magazine and a hollow metal shoulder grip.

Below the table were the bags used to take the passengers' possessions and one lay open on the floor, the contents spilling loose. Alex ran his hands through the contents but stopped, realizing he wasn't really interested. Near the door was an open bottle of booze, he picked it up and smelt it, a local hooch of some sort, then took a swig and winced at the awful taste. In the corner he could see some crumpled uniforms and an open box inside which he found two hand grenades, a broken mirror and an unmarked tin that looked like a sardine can. He left the broken mirror and pocketed the rest. At the doorway he waited, looking for signs of any movement. Seeing it was clear he went back in, covered the body with a blanket and then sat down with his head held between his hands. He leant back against the wall and tried to think how he got here to this, killing a young boy. The world was messed up. He didn't know by how much, but he knew he was now in Zimbabwe with 13 other hostages and no way of knowing what would happen next, what rules he'd need to follow to survive or even if there were any rules.

Earlier that night far to the north in Harare, two cars and a van pulled up at a house in the suburbs to the west of the city. The van driver stayed in his seat as the occupants of the cars got out. Eight men, armed and determined to do their job. Four of them went round to the back of the house and two walked up to the front door, the other two stay in the road in case of trouble. After a few minutes the men at the front door knocked twice. It was late and there was no immediate answer but soon enough there was a noise inside and the door opened on a chain. The men kicked the door open and burst in. The man inside was pushed back by their assault then grabbed and pulled to the doorway. He called out 'No, no. I've done nothing!'.

They hit him and dragged him away. At the top of the stairs his wife and three children look on in fear and silence.

The man is taken in the back door of a police station where he is then stripped and beaten. He holds out for several hours but eventually he cannot stand the pain any longer. Crying real tears he admits that he and his family were planning to leave the next day; but he manages to give them the wrong destination, even though he knows he will die for it. His was one of three families trying to get away, to get out, just to have some peace and make a better life for their children.

Back at his house, his wife had quickly gathered the last of her things and her children as soon as he was taken, She had told the children to wait at the doorway while she ventured outside. She had looked up and down the road then waved the children out to her without looking back at them. They had set off, knowing they would be at the rendezvous early but not caring so long as they were long gone by the time the police broke her husband and returned to capture her and the children. She was now in fear of their lives and she never expected to see her husband again. Inside she too cried but the safety of her children came before her own grief, Delores Coomine would mourn when they were safe.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 2

### Just outside Harare, Zimbabwe

On the 11th March 2007 the two Zimbabwean families met as agreed at 7 am at the back a small bottling plant just north of the town. Delores had been there most of the night with her children, they had slept a little but she had not. When they arrived she had taken the children and walked across and down the road, sat them down next to a broken down car and covered them with a blanket to hide them. As the other family arrived, the air seemed hot. The gradual build-up of heat started early each day, but in fact this day was a little fresher than some despite the tail end of the rainy season continuing to linger. The heat they were feeling came from within, a reaction to their desperate quest to escape the country and the oppression that they lived their daily lives by.

Originally they all had different plans for exiting Zimbabwe but they got nervous when some of them thought they were being followed. The news that Delores' husband, Kenna, had been picked up last night by armed men and not returned had travelled quickly but the fugitives reluctantly accepted their fate was already sealed. They must stay together. A good part of the night had been spent travelling between their homes and repeatedly discussing their options. They had decided to use a 28 seat bus to transport them out of Zimbabwe into Botswana and from there to South Africa. There would be 20 of them and those who were there had arrived with cases and belongings and there were still three to arrive but it was already obvious they would not fit everything into the bus. Some of the women used small fans, more from habit than in real need this early in the day. They all wore traditional clothes, old, drab-looking garments that would make sure they didn't stand out. One of their problems was making the journey overland without being noticed. It was some 490 kilometres (just over 300 miles) but they would need to travel more than double this distance to avoid suspicion. There were also a few regions still flooded from the recent rainy season so the remaining roads would be fuller and more likely to be used by the security forces too. The bus would use normal bus routes whenever they could and travel at normal traffic speed.

Three men talked quietly and quickly. Although English is the official language they spoke in Shona, the native tongue still widespread in Zimbabwe, but stopped abruptly as a green van arrived. It pulled up behind the bus, very close to the back of it. A young girl in her early twenties stepped out from the passenger side, she was one of the three they were waiting for, but the driver stayed in his seat. The party knew him but he was not one of them. Like the other women the young girl wore a head scarf and simple clothes but on her slim frame it looked very becoming.

A man wearing traditional clothes approached her, 'Who is this?' He said to her pointing to the driver, fear and disbelief written all over his face.

'He is with me, he is coming with us, if he can't come then I do not go! He has this van and fuel and we can take the bags, look there are too many of them. We will follow and stay half a mile or so behind. He is educated, a teacher. We will be together.'

Silently the man turned to exchange a look with the others; two of the women secured their fans in their belts and picked up their bags and made for the van. It was decided.

The first man walked to the driver's door. 'Do you know what you are doing?' The driver's face was young, lean and taut. He was in his mid-twenties but like many Zimbabweans he looked older. You aged fast and died young in a country where a man's life expectancy was only 37 and getting younger as AIDS and HIV spread. But it was the other life type traumas that really aged people. The political and social injustices that constantly intervened in people's lives. The driver gave a slow nod back but said nothing. There were now 19 of them, and as they loaded the cases and bags the last two arrived, 21 of them again.

It was another 20 minutes before they were ready to leave. Their plan was to drive a zig zag route southwards and when they were past the southern end of Maboto National Park they would meet a man who would help them dart across to the west and enter Botswana. They set off, all nervous and tense, looking out for anything unusual or threatening; when they spoke they spoke fast and in low voices.

They were used to tension. They lived by the grace of others and whereas things had once been manageable, life had gradually become decidedly worse and now unbearable. Since 2001 there had been a hardening of attitude from the government and even small indiscretions on the wrong day brought terrible penalties. So many of their relatives, friends and people that they knew had suffered beatings or even made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.

There were only two choices. Either you supported the government, proactively or passively, or you got out. The people could not give up their beliefs or pretend that the injustices and human rights issues did not exist, but it was impossible to try to voice dissent from within the country.

*

Their route took them threw some wonderful country. Wild nature at its best, untouched by plough or tarmac. The trees at the start of the journey were mostly mahogany and baobab, later they would see teak, knobthorn and msasa and the Hares were scarce here but in abundance once they were free of the towns influence. Occasionally they saw a giraffe but the more subtle signs of animals were lost given their speed and route along the main roads. The countryside, the new beginnings of life starting to sprout after the rains, were all lost on them. They were terrified to go and terrified to stay.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 3

### Heathrow Airport

For Alex it started at the airport. He walked into the airport departure area and looked for a seat. He was early as he had travelled down from Manchester the day before to avoid delays and looking around the lounge he saw plenty of empty spaces. He viewed the three departure assemble points at the gate. Only one would be used but which one? He looked beyond them through the floor to ceiling windows where a plane sat on the runway off to the left, and at the corresponding desk was a radio handset and clipboard. He moved over to the left and sat directly in front of the desk. He stretched backwards, encouraging his muscles to relax, feeling the pleasant ache of yesterday's workout. He had on a linen suit which he was not entirely happy with given it was already showing creases and lines of wear despite this being its first outing. His phone rang, 'Hello Anne, leave me alone,' he said in a straight voice.

A shriek of laughter came down the line followed by 'Oh please say something has come up and you can't come.'

'Believe me it is as much a regret to me as you. What am I doing? I must be mad! I'm only in the departure lounge and I'm regretting it already.'

'Yeah well it's too late, have you got my phone? That's the important thing, not you, just my phone.'

'Yes I have that piece of slate and chalk you claim is a phone, I nearly forgot it so it is in my pocket not my luggage. I just hope no one sees it and thinks it's mine.'

'You techno-pig, why we are all looking forward to seeing you I don't know. We'll be at the airport to meet you, I just wanted to make sure you were still coming. Lots of love!' She was gone. He had loved hearing the smile in her voice. Anne and Alex had dated when at university but had fallen out and then became friends again and kept in touch ever since, some 15 years now. He had always regretted their breaking up and he often felt she did too. It had happened when Anne had gone off on a work experience project and while she was away he had strayed and found another girl. On Anne's return he had stupidly told her and she decided that they were not strong enough to stay together and they agreed to part. He did not fight to keep the relationship going and so it ended. A year later she married a teacher and they had moved to South Africa, 9 years ago now. Alex had said he would visit sometime and this was it. The fact was he did not do single holidaying well and it was an easy choice. He had wondered if it was wise to go and to risk the pressures of meeting up and all that it might entail. He worried especially about the small part of him that hoped the welcome would be more than just friendly.

He found himself becoming preoccupied with the crumpling of his suit, it was linen and he made a mental note not to buy another one. He had wanted something that would be cool in South Africa and he was prepared to put up with being cold for a few hours in Heathrow. But looking tatty was not part of the plan. His phone pinged indicating a text. He smiled as he looked at the all too familiar text from his old company AtoZ Fitness the text was headed up 'Fit or What?' It was a reminder text he sent to all customers and registered prospects. Well, not 'he' any longer he reminded himself. His mind quickly went back to that chapter of his life, it was so recent he didn't think of it as the past. Three months ago the group of three fitness centres he ran as MD was acquired by a rival and he was made redundant as part of the deal. A good deal for him financially but still a mental wrench all the same. He had been there over five years and built the business from a low base of two under-utilised centres to three busy and profitable units. Now he was on holiday, a well-earned rest for six weeks while he gathered his thoughts, and looked for something new. At 36 and with a good track record behind him he was hopeful of a fresh start when he returned and to be up and running again within six months.

He deleted the text and leaned back, finding the hard wall just behind his chair. He allowed himself to dwell on the memory of his leaving do and as he waited, scrolled through the mental images, allowing each one to shine bright and clear in his mind's eye.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 4

### Harare Airport

The staff at the airport on the 12th March 2007 were used to disruption. They often saw scuffles as people were pushed into vehicles but today there was a larger than usual presence of police and government hard men. Some of the outside traders had decided to leave; the air was heavy in anticipation. A morbid anticipation, not helped by the dampness of the morning and large puddles of water left from the overnight rain.

Outside, Morgan Tsvangirl arrived and with the help of his close friends made his way to the check in desk, his luggage was checked and the pair at the desk worked quickly without looking at him directly. He tried to take stock of the situation and looked around; he was used to the extra attention and being followed. He was still suffering from the death of his wife. A failed attempt at assassinating him had cost her life only 5 days before while he escaped with minor physical injuries but a huge hurt inside. He was not waiting for the next attempt, he was leaving and he would fight his corner from outside of the country. He would canvas help on the international stage and then come back and oust President Mugabe. Or at least that was the plan.

On his way to the departure lounge he was accosted and marched into a nearby office. The lack of ceremony did not bode well. They pushed him about and then forced him out of a connecting door, along a corridor and into a store area. He was then bundled into a waiting vehicle and taken to Machipisa police station in the Highfield suburb of Harare. There he suffered a beating and was told he was not going to be allowed to leave the country and if he was caught trying again he and the remainder of his family would be killed.

The President had decided to keep his enemies close, he could have them killed at any time while they were within his grasp, letting them go might bring international aid to them and armed resistance to him. He was under pressure now from the inside as well as the outside. He was reasonably relaxed about the outside pressure as Zimbabwe had no real assets that could be harvested quickly or have a major impact on the west so he knew they would not invade and oust him. However, they might support an internal candidate to overthrow him if he gave them a chance.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 5

### Zott the guerilla base camp in Zimbabwe

Zott was a small dirt hole in Zimbabwe near the border of South Africa and Botswana, approximately 40 miles from each; South Africa to the south and Botswana to the west. It was home to two groups; the original inhabitants of bush families scraping their pitiful existence together from farming and hunting. Although to call it farming was way beyond any usual understanding of the term. There were about 70 of them barely surviving, along with their livestock and a few dogs and cats. The other group were the deserters and outcasts from the army, mostly bandits, drug runners and murderers who had taken over one of the few natural water hole villages in the area and set up camp. They were part time mercenaries and full time low lives, no families, no friends, no loyalties, loud, violent and without conscience. They called themselves the 'Land Legion Army'; the name came from the promise of land to men who fought for the Government but who were not in the official government. In fact not many of them had fought for this or any government they were just mercenaries. There were just over 140 of them but that included 14 children under 10, 38 women, and 14 elders. The rest being gun carrying fighting men, a very mean, experienced army of 66 murdering cutthroats, a reputation they enjoyed. Their leader was Gourner,. He had been accredited with some atrocious acts and gained a nick name of Mubiki (the Shona word for cook or baker), because it was said that he had people put in holes and then set on fire. Gourner did nothing to challenge these stories and enjoyed the fear and respect they brought him.

He was related to the President as a nephew, as were a lot of the government henchmen related in some way, but he did not sit in any of the luxury of government office. He was a convicted murderer in South Africa, trained on the streets of Zimbabwe and later in the French Foreign Legion for a brief period, and was allegedly the murderer of two reporters, one British and one American, in 1999. Since then he had been hiding in Zott with a band of men who knew only this way of life. He came out of this hide to carry any enforcement requirements of the government which were generally more than just beatings, he handled the disappearance and murder of people who spoke or acted in defiance of government policy or directives. Although he often took to a number of men, and sometime them all, with him he was always in on the kill himself.

From the air, the camp, this is what the village had become since the arrival of the LLA, was shaped like a 'Y'. The two tips almost growing out of a huge land mass that rose some 900 feet before slowly falling away to the north over several miles back to base ground level. There was a radio mast set just outside the snaking road that lead from the top of the land mass to the bottom where the camp huts, tents and vehicles were kept. The single leg of the 'Y' met a dried up river bed which was bridged by a wooden contraption. The rainy season was coming to an end and the river bed had already dried out a lot. As it was only shallow, the surface would soon turn to dust. In the top area of the two legs were a collection of huts, a water tower, well concealed against the hill background and a couple of old sea containers. To the east was a fuel tanker trailer, some parked up vehicles, troop carriers, jeeps, a couple of cannibalised vehicles, piles of scrap metal and the helicopter pad. While to the west was an assortment of huts, tents and evidence of a general living area. Some of the tents were large and some small, all camouflaged in colour and covered with branches to disguise their shape.

A helicopter flew low overhead and then seemed to drop the last 200 feet, circled the pad once and landed. It was small helicopter, not military in looks but painted blue and grey. The pilot stayed inside, the passengers consisted of three men. A suited man in his forties and two others in military uniform carrying uzi machine guns. They ducked as they moved from the helicopter to the two men waiting to meet them. The wind from the propellers produced a welcome blast of cool air giving relief from the gathering heat and humidity. In the summer a blanket of dust would be thrown up 60 feet into the air but now water droplets were scattered about and a cool breeze kissed their cheeks as the props slowed to a halt.

'Colonel,' he shouted above the engine noise, which drowned the sound of contempt in his voice. He didn't like the Colonel, he never had but the situation meant he had to go along with passing on the orders from higher up. They all nodded to each other and moved towards the rock base and the huts. The two army officers stayed outside and the three men entered a small hut. A bottle and glasses were on the table and there were six chairs littered around the room. The visitor sat down and waved away the offer of a drink, the other two helped themselves.

'You drink too much and now we need you sober and thinking straight. I don't want no cousin of mine pissed on the job you fuck head.' He had a voice which was much westernised. Gourner hated the pretence that the Colonel had come from anywhere other than the townships like him.

'Hey you have to be pissed to be here and you know that. You forget how it is here.'

'Listen man you're been over the border and thieving and murdering and it don't do us no good. There some heat on about the election so keep it down man. Do some local thing but no more. And we need you in about a week to go north and do some stuff to stop people going out on the streets so be ready. And where is that fucking mast, we can't talk to you with no mast.'

'Yea the mast will be back tonight'.'

'I have to come out here because you got no fucking mast. Okay I'm going now but you be ready and no shit and that comes from the man himself. 'Did you even know it was down? I bet you weren't even here?' He added even though he could see that Gourner was getting upset.

'Yea okay just local stuff for now, we gonna party some soon.'

'You didn't answer were you here when it happened?'

Now normally Gourner would have ranted at that but he heard the question and given his recent activities he was on his guard. 'We were all here no one has been out of the camp for weeks, the rain has had it impossible. Yes I was here.'

'The road don't look that bad from the air.'

Raising his voice 'Look we don't use the road do we!'

This seemed to satisfy the Colonel. They parted company, the helicopter throwing up more spray off the ground as it hovered before rising up and away above them and the huge rock and then disappeared. The Colonel was never sure of Gourner, and it didn't make things easy that he only had this job because Gourner had fucked up. However he knew that if Gourner was given a job, and he understood it, he always delivered. Gourner was a feared man, he had proven himself to be totally single minded, even beyond any band of reason. If he was told to clear an area, he cleared it of man, woman, child and animal. He got completely immersed in an event without any thought to the consequences.

The radio mast had been damaged when Gourner and some of the men had been returning from one of the marauding trips which he allowed from time to time. On their way back, drunk and careless they'd run into one of the supporting mast wires and because these were under too much tension it snapped and took out another causing the tower to topple. It had happened before and he wasn't too bothered, but this time the mistake was evidence of a bigger crime...

Three weeks before Gourner had been visiting a girlfriend when he learned from her of some valuables being taken out of the country by two couriers. They were going across the border into Botswana and then on to Namibia and away by sea. She told him how an overland route to the coast had been chosen to avoid as many custom checks as possible and a boat would take the valuables on to Switzerland, how flying out was not an option given the close attention paid to them and how outsiders needed to be used, introducing a trust issue. She had no idea who was behind it and he'd thought there might be a downside as the valuables were supposedly about half a kilo of uncut diamonds in assorted sizes including some big ones. Not exactly easy to sell without drawing attention but he'd decided to go for it and chosen three men to go with him. They were reliable and as bad as they come but he knew he could trust them. They'd set out to lay in wait for the two couriers at the border.

*

Their escort left them about five miles from the border and they drove their humvee to a well-known lookout point. It stood high above the borderline and the edge facing the border was crater-like for a half circle, then gradually fell away to the road. This allowed vehicles to drive right up to the crest and the occupants to get out and peer over the top of the crater wall. From here they could see the border for miles in either direction and wait their time to cross.

The couriers arrived soon after, the confidence and brazenness of their approach suggesting to Gourner they must be working for the government. Gourmer and one of his men were already in place on the border side of the crater wall the another two men were also ready, hidden either side of the approaching couriers, dug into the ground with tarpaulin and dirt covering them. Gourner waited for the couriers to get out of the vehicle and approach the wall. He himself was pinned with his back to the rock of the wall and crouched down on a small platform, looking at a mirror for the moment they came into view. He too could see the border was clear and he was not likely to be discovered. They came into sight and he decided to attack immediately, leaping up and firing at the couriers six times. On hearing the first shot the other men leapt up and start firing too. The men either side of the road launched themselves out of hiding but didn't need to shoot, the couriers were down.

Gourner climbed over the wall holding his gun ready to shoot at the lifeless men if they moved. He made his way to the nearest and checked his pockets and not finding anything he took his knife and cut through the man's belt and shirt. A small chain was revealed, strung around the man's waist, 'Get the cutters' he ordered moving on to the second man and carrying out the same process. He stood up and called to his men to cut the keys off the first man and bring them to him. He walked the short distance to the Humvee and opened the door. He surveyed the front seats and then the back and then popped the rear door from the driver's position.

*

By now his men were with him and they handed over the keys, 'Okay put the bodies in the back.' He felt the floor carpet and lifted it to reveal a safe compartment. He tried the keys and one of them worked. Opening the safe exposed another safe welded into the first. The other key opened this and he found the cylindrical casing originally for a bottle of whiskey. He pulled and helped the lid off to reveal a plastic bag full of diamonds.

'Hey man.' A low and long admiring exclamation beside him brought him back to reality. 'You drive, you two get in.' he ordered. He took the front seat and they followed the road back to their vehicle parked up in a well-concealed rock cavity some four miles away. On arriving the men got out and moved away the bushes and debris they'd used as camouflage. They drove their vehicle out and placed the Humvee into the hole instead. As they did, Gourner sat thinking about what to do. He now suspected he had killed two of the President's men and stolen the President's diamonds and he didn't trust his men's loyalty enough to risk them selling him out to protect themselves.

He placed the tube of diamonds on the jeep seat and called to his men, 'Hey check under the front seats there should be some money too.'

Dutifully they turned back to the Humvee and whilst they were walking towards it, Gourner pulled out his pistol, shot the first two in the back and the third in the chest as he turned towards the gunfire.

*

Unfortunately, Gourner knew his girlfriend could give him away too so her fate was now also sealed. In fact he had to wait a couple of days because he didn't want to be away from Zott any longer. So three days later he called in to see his girlfriend and did his best to make her end look like a rape killing. In reality, that's exactly what it was, but he wanted people to think it was a rape gone wrong, not an execution. Rape happened all the time.

On his way back to camp he realized he needed to conceal the diamonds and wait for the furor he'd caused to calm down before he could collect them and retire. He would be off and away for good. He decided how and where over the next couple of days and then he went off into the country and found a spot and dug three deep holes and placed the diamonds into water bottles and buried them. Then he needed some help so he picked a man he could trust. Damon was young, wanted to get on and did what he was told. Gourner told him to take his girlfriend and family and some money and valuables and set up a second camp as a bolt hole in case things got bad at Zott. He took him to the site and told him exactly where to place tents and how to make the camp ready. He decided he needed to wait at Zott and see what happened, see if anything was said and exactly who he had screwed. Now only he knew what he'd done and where the diamonds were. He knew there was enough money in those diamonds to keep him forever, he just needed to be sure he could get away and be safe.

But he couldn't stop thinking about the diamonds. He had begun celebrating, subtly but too much and letting others do the same. Hence the mast damage. If he couldn't be contacted by radio it meant he got a visit and he didn't want people coming around and finding out he had been away when the robbery went down. He needed to keep a lower profile than that.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 6

### Heathrow Airport departure gate

Alex was remembering the farewell do and his final goodbye to Shirley. They'd had an affair for 10 months but she'd ended it 6 months ago. She also worked at AtoZ Fitness as the telesales manager. He remembered how his lust for her had returned as she'd danced at the party but then she'd left early. He'd felt disappointed, he was over her except for the occasional pang of desire. He had wondered if there was a chance of a long and intimate goodbye but she had made it clear that wasn't on. Even when together they had kept their affair secret from other close work colleagues and she wasn't going to risk people finding out now.

In many ways she reminded him of his wife, or rather ex-wife, Joanna. Both were very egotistical and socially ambitious and unable to demonstrate, at least to him, a caring, needing, loving togetherness. Both relationships had been fast and furious and intense and great while they lasted but created big drops in self-esteem for him when they finished. Having a daughter had changed his wife. Shit he thought it had changed him too. But Joanna had, after Sarah's birth, become a doting mother and crusader of all things to benefit their daughter. Their parting had been down to Alex and his work. He knew he'd always put it first, and Joanna had met someone who didn't and that was that. He had wanted to put the clock back particularly when he saw his daughter growing up and he wasn't part of it.

'This is the final call for passengers boarding the Southern Hemisphere flight SA 9210 to Cape Town. Please come to gate 10 we are about to start boarding.'

There was no evidence that anyone was the slightest bit interested in the announcement from what Alex could see.

'Good morning ladies and gentlemen this is the Southern Hemisphere and we are about to board flight 9210 to Cape Town. We are boarding in row numbers so please only come to the departure desk when we have called your seat row number. Passengers in seat numbers 1 to 20 please come to the departure gate with your boarding pass and passports ready.'

Alex got up and was now fifth in line behind two couples who came from nowhere to get in line ahead of him. He wasn't bothered. He had decided that a trip of 10 plus hours called for first class and looking behind him he was pleased he had. The departure lounge was full and the usual array of mixed and disaffected families and groups and a few children too. "Yuck" he thought, "Yuck, yuck, yuck".

He liked the attention of first class and had during some flights fantasized about the odd hostess although he had never managed to make those dreams come true.

The first class cabin was not full, only about 14 passengers including himself. He took his aisle seat, refused a paper and settled in. He was pulling out the in-flight plane guide and so didn't notice some of the other passengers as they looked for their seats, including a rather attractive woman travelling her own. It was another 25 minutes before the plane was loaded and the first movement noticeable. The announcements came and went and he stretched out.

They nosed round to the runway, sped up, and that was it. For him the holiday had finally begun, the 11.55 flight was airborne only 8 minutes late.

'Champagne sir?'

'Why not, thanks,' he fixed his eyes on hers and smiled. The flight attendant's green eyes gave him nothing back but then you can't win them all.

The rejection of this obvious 'come on' was seen by the attractive lady who'd settled in a couple of rows behind him across the aisle and she and the air stewardess exchanged a knowing look, they both smiled to themselves.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 7

The President sat looking at the two men in front of him. All three were perplexed and worried, but for different reasons. The President was concerned that one or both of these men had betrayed him. Each of the men were concerned that the other had betrayed him and stolen the President's diamonds and that they might both face torture, for failure if nothing else.

The plan had been simple. A batch of diamonds were to be moved out of the country across Africa and then away by sea to Switzerland as an insurance fund for the President and his immediate cortège. Only the three of them knew exactly what was going on and all others involved were given a cover story about a treaty document being sent for signing. The ship had radioed to say the couriers had not arrived and asking for instructions. The couriers were missing and they had to assume that the diamonds were stolen. But by who?

The beads of sweat were forming on their faces as they waited for the next edict from their leader. One thing going for them was that the plan had been invented and resourced and executed so far without either of these two leaving the President's dwelling. Also he knew that for them to still be there when the news unfolded was either crassly stupid or they were innocent.

'How could it have happened? Who did you speak too? When was the house last checked for bugs? Who has left recently?' He spoke quietly and he was in no hurry. This was a very bad sign as what often followed was an outburst and violence.

'Sir the house is checked every week, nothing has been found, no one has left and I spoke to no one.'

'Nor I . . .Sir.'

'The couriers?'

'Both from your personal guard and both nephews. Devoted service. Both married. They were picked for their stable home lives and totally trusted.'

'Look at their families and find out who is missing, bring in their families, all of them.'

'Yes Sir, There is one other thing,' the man hesitated, 'They were going over the border just north of Zott, possibly they were stumbled upon after the escort left them.'

'How long would the escort have left them before the border.'

'Five miles.'

'Find a reason for the Colonel to visit Zott and see if anyone has been away or is celebrating finding my diamonds.'

'We already did that. The Colonel reports that Gourner said no one has been out of the camp because of the rains, but one of the Colonel's men spoke to the people in the camp and it appears Gourner and some men had been out several times and some of those men had not returned.' He let it hang and then added, 'It is likely that Gourner will be up here in the north soon to help with then town's rebellions. We could bring him in then and talk to him.'

'Yes if nothing has come up by then do it, but better be careful, he is a madman.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 8

### On board flight 9210 to Cape Town

Occasionally he looked up at the screen to see where they were on the world map; he changed the time on his mobile to the visiting time line, 2 hours ahead of GMT. He read a bit but mostly he just chilled, the second glass of champagne certainly helped with that. One of the films available was 'Where Eagles Dare' his favorite of all time. He set his phone to remind him to watch it. He had noticed that the there was a very slight buffeting in the last ten minutes and he change the TV station to the weather channel, the script read "Weather warning: Southern Africa" but no more information was given.

The film started and he settled back with his headphones on. A couple of times he was conscious of a buzzer calling a hostess and the delivery of some item of convenience. The first round of food came and went and he was reasonably impressed with his. He'd registered as a vegetarian as he always did on long-haul flights believing that somehow guaranteed a better quality meal. Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood were just parachuting into the snow when the film was suddenly interrupted for an announcement.

'Ladies and Gentlemen this is the Captain. My name is Darren Walterdon and I'd like to welcome you aboard this Boeing 747- 400 aircraft. We will be flying the 6730 miles at a height reaching 30,000 feet and at up to 450 mph. We have made good time so far but we do have a weather warning ahead and we are going to increase our altitude to try to make the flight more comfortable for you. Please stay in your seats and keep your seat belts on until you see the seat belt sign go off. I will keep you advised of our progress but I'm afraid we estimate we will arrive in Cape Town approximately 15 minute past our scheduled time. Thank you.'

Alex noticed the ride getting rougher and another announcement confirmed the pilot was doing all he could but they were heading straight into a storm and there was no way of avoiding it. They could divert and land somewhere other than Cape Town but the captain was hopeful of getting past the storm and through to Cape Town which was not suffering the same weather pattern. Their arrival time was still likely to be only fifteen minutes late. For Alex, being late was better than being sick or suffering the terrible uncomfortable feeling of nearly being sick. He enjoyed travel but comfortable travel. Rough flights and nausea weren't what he'd booked for.

In the pilot's cabin the Captain and flight crew were attentive to the job but complaining about the weather. They compared stories of other bad weather flights with each hellish tale proving more horrific than the last. A flashing light and a beeping sound from the instrument panel plus the slight veering of the plane to the left all happened at once and put a stop to their exaggerations. They immediately responded.

'What was that?'

'We have reduced thrust from the outer port engine number 1. It's mechanical, not electric or fuel.'

'Reduce revs to 50%, test the response. Anything?' He demanded without waiting.

'Maintaining 50% but fuel bypass in use. We have a mechanical failure diagnostics kicking in. Okay diagnostics is escalated to shut down. It is closing down in 20 seconds.'

'Okay don't wait, cut engine 1, isolate all electrics and fuel to it. Confirm action. Run a full diagnostics on the other engines. Just in case, where can we divert to? Give me the options, I'm reducing speed, let's get cracking with those options.'

*

The pilot knew the Rolls Royce RB211 engines had a remarkably reliable history . And if one or even two did fail, the newly redesigned fan and IP compressor should allow the plane to fly on just two of its four engines.

'Engine 1 isolated all electrics and fuel contacts severed.'

'Well our destination options are not great. If you want the nearest then it's southern Botswana but it's small. The runway is just about big enough for us because it's a military staging post. After that it's Johannesburg.'

'Alright David. Johannesburg is not a good option in the state we're in. Get Botswana on the radio first, condition 'security', then call home base and tell them we are an engine down in the storm, we need to divert and land, onward journey plan needed. And where is the airport in relation to South Africa?'

'The airport is 20 miles north of South Africa and 10 miles west of Zimbabwe, it's called Mucha Air Camp.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 9

### Zott guerilla base camp

The radio mast had been re-sited and was working again. Gouner picked up the handset and listened to the incoming transmission.

The voice said 'There are 20 rebels heading for the boarder to Botswana at the crossing at Dried Ferry. You must get them and we do not want them back. They are in a bus and a van. Two families, very bad news man. You get them.'

Gourner turned to his second in command 'Mee, get 30 men and two trucks and my jeep. Load up, we going huntin.' Gourner's low voice was always difficult to understand on a phone or radio, even those who knew him well often had to ask him to repeat himself. But when he had a job to do and he was barking out orders he used a higher pitch to his voice and an urgency came across that made him crystal clear.

Dried Ferry was about 30 miles North West of them. It was an unmanned border crossing and it lay 15 miles North East of the military airport. It was not manned because the Botswana military had a roving presence stretching out from the military airport which was a staging post and aid storage compound. The likelihood of being shot at tended to put people off using the route.

Gouner led his band into the stormy night at full speed. They arrived at the crossing but could not detect any signs of the group they sought. Then, approaching them at speed, came a long wheelbase military vehicle with eight soldiers in it. One of them got out. They knew each other and why they were there, 'We've been chasing them' the solider said. 'They must be over there, can't be far.' He pointed to Botswana.

'How far were you from them?'

'Not far, we seed them and then they went, we were in the storm, wind big shit.'

'Okay Mee that way.' He pointed over the border and they set off.

In the dark and with the storm worsening only the track was safe so they headed down it at speed. 30 minutes later they could see the airport lights in the distance to the right. They turned off their lights and proceeded more slowly. Off to the left were intermittent lights and occasionally the shadows of two vehicles came into view. As the pursuers got closer the vehicle lights suddenly went off but Gourner saw this was by chance not design. It looked as though the vehicles had parked up to the east, just off the road so Gourner had his driver slowly approach until he held his hand up to signal they should halt. They were concealed both by the storm and by a large protrusion of rocks.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 10

### Onboard the plane

On the plane the film suddenly cut out to be replaced by a notice explaining that it had been terminated and an announcement would follow. 'Ladies and Gentlemen this is the captain again I must advise you that we are diverting to an airport in southern Botswana as a result of reduced power in one of our port engines. I stress this is a precautionary measure and there is no cause for concern. Normally we would carry on but given the strength of the storm and the slightly reduced power of one engine, the safest course of action is to land, inspect the engines and then continue. We will be landing in 25 minutes time.' It was 21.15.

The hostesses were now moving around very purposefully and the mood in the plane changed. People who had virtually ignored each other were now talking and exchanging re-assuring small talk as though they knew what they were talking about. Sure enough, 27 minutes later they were touching down on the military air strip. In the context of the flight the landing was acceptable. They touched down with the front and port side wheels, bounced a little and then settled on all wheels. The engines gave off a massive roar as they were thrust into reverse to slow the plane. Once down and travelling slowly the plane was turned around and it taxied back to the middle of the runway and then over to the right nearer the buildings. The flight down from the announcement to the ground had been rough and a few people had been sick. Alex had located a sick bag just in case but he had managed to hold on to the contents of his stomach through the pitching and tossing and yarning of the plane. It was a relief to be on the ground although the view from the windows was not encouraging; 'airport' was a bit of an overstatement. Although they had landed fine, the ground looked sodden with large pools of water on either side clearly visible from the small portholes. These pools of water reflected the lights and appeared like stars in a dark sky of solid, dry ground. The airport itself was made up of three runways in a triangular pattern with each crossing over one of the others, and a large, single-storey, breezeblock building with five smaller buildings to its left. The small buildings had thatched roofs and beyond them was what looked like a vehicle dump or parking area. There were a large number of spot lights around the fence and buildings and once the plane had come to a stop the runway lights were turned off; causing the sky-like picture to disappear. There was a high fence around the buildings and parking area but nothing around the runways. An announcement told everyone that they would be transported to a town and then on to an airport to resume their journey. However it would be maybe three hours before the first transport would arrive, and they would do everything possible to make them comfortable.

In the pilot's cabin, the Captain was talking to the airport official who said they needed to board the plane to take various details and check the number of passengers. They would place boarding steps at the front of the plane, no passengers or crew could alight. When the boarding steps did arrive they were a little short of the plane's doorway and even when escalated to their maximum height left a gap of about 18 inches.

The talk on the plane was concerned but controlled. Some talked about the delay in meeting family and one or two had ongoing connections to make.

# Chapter 11

### Zimbabwe border

Gourner and his men had moved on to set up the attack on the occupants of the two vehicles they suspected held their 20 rebels. They got out of the trucks and Gourner split the men into two groups with quick gestures and a series of clear commands. This was what he was good at and it showed. Mee just kept his eye on Gourner and waited for his next command.

Mee knew Gourner well and waited for him to touch the left side of his head, a subconscious habit of Gourner's that came before any attack or fight. It was an instant giveaway caused when as a young boy he had been caught trying to steal a goat and the goat's owner had struck Gourner with the end of a stick and cut his head deeply. The cut had got infected and left a deep scar. It was this scar he rubbed before fighting ever since. Gourner had another old wound too, part of his left ear had been cut away and since both his ears stood out a little from his head, this missing piece caused a wavy line on the side of his ear. Gourner was very conscious of this disfigurement and he wore three earrings pierced into his left ear to hide the missing flesh.

As he got closer, Gourner could see a small bus and a van with an open cabin over the rear section. The people were mostly sat between the two vehicles but he could see a couple in the bus, definitely his game. He signaled to his men to move in from two sides and they approached silently, guns at the ready. The noisy weather protected the sound of their approach and they got to within twenty feet before they were seen, Gourner stroked the left side of his face with his left hand forefinger then fired and his men quickly followed suit. In less than a minute all the 'rebels' were dead. 5 men, 6 women and 9 children left lying in the dirt. The mercenaries moved forward and several of them checked their work. They then picked up the bodies, put them in the bus and got ready to drive their gory handiwork back to Zott.

Eighty feet away, Abee, the young girl who had brought her boyfriend at the last minute, hid in the bushes where she'd gone to relieve herself. When the shooting started, she had dropped to the ground, instinctively removed her bright headband and had held her breath as she watched the carnage. She now cried in silence and stayed very still knowing she had a three hour wait until the people due to meet her party would arrive and hopefully guide her to safety.

The LLA vehicles now came up from where they'd been left hidden to pick up the soldiers. 'Hey Gourner you see that?' Mee pointed across the road into the distance to the top of a large plane that must be sitting on a runway. It could just be made out by the dim lights of the airport. Gourner mounted one of the trucks where he could see more of the plane and a set of steps going up to it.

'Mee. Get their stuff and take my jeep. Rest of you with me. We gonna see what we got here.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 12

### Plane on the runway at Mucha Air Camp, Botswana

The cabin crew never saw the flashes of gunfire and although one of them thought they heard a car engine backfiring when the cabin door opened, the storm muffled the sound too much for them to hear more. In fact, now they were on the ground the wind was significantly weaker and it was the heat entering the cabin that took their interest. The Captain came off the radio and said he was going to do a walk through to assure passengers everything that could be done was being done and went out of the cabin. The navigating officer decided on a call of nature and exited too. So the co-pilot, David Samuel, stayed in the cabin and it was he who some ten minutes later first heard the scream as Gourner entered the plane through the forward door. The militia leader brandished a gun then stepped to the side to let his men through. The first two had open sacks and he demanded, 'Put your phone in the bag and fast and no one will get hurt.'

As the first two men passed through the passengers gathering the mobiles, others of his men pulled people from their seats and pushed them to the doorway. 'Move, move fast now or you get shot.'

The pilot cabin door opened and David found himself face to face with a black man in an old torn and dirty uniform then a nanosecond later a burst of bullets from the uzi crashed into his chest and killed him. It was surprise that made the man fire, he had not expected anyone to be behind him and when he heard the door open he turned and automatically fired. Instinct, fear, his response was the same as would have been those of any of the men with him.

There was no noticeable gap between the gun going off and the shrieks from the passengers but after a brief standstill everyone moved much faster. Alex was grabbed and bustled forward, he was in control enough to part company with Ann's phone and not his own. Finding himself at the open doorway, the heat and humidity hit him. He gasped for air as he was exposed to the full force of the African climate, without air conditioning. The difference was amazing. Although the cabin door had been open and he had felt the temperature rise a little he had been protected by the continuing air conditioning. He had to jump down the gap to the steps platform and he found himself feeling unsteady on his feet. The mobile phone in his inside jacket pocket he slowly moved to his back trouser pocket while walking down the steps. On the ground the wind was gusting a little which made it more bearable and made breathing easier but the humidity was so heavy he could taste the water. He looked back and saw other passengers following him just as he was following those in front. At the bottom of the steps was a large camouflage painted troop carrier and further on near the building was another. They were bundled into the back of the nearest vehicle and within seconds Gourner was shouting orders which set them on the move.

Inside the vehicle were the 14 first class passengers with six armed men all at the rear of the vehicle. Alex was near the front but all were crammed in tight. The road contours and unevenness were evident as the four vehicles sped along back to Zott. As carefully as he could he took out his phone and put the sound to silent, he had changed his new mobile about a month ago and was still learning about it. It was a pda xda IIi, a big screen, lots of processing power and lots of goodies to play with. He slid the apps to find the compass and watched it. They had taken his watch but the phone had a clock and he tried to remember the directions and time each took.

The trip took an hour and forty minutes but Alex quickly gathered from the various turns that they weren't taking the most direct route and at one point they stopped for nearly 15 minutes. This was when the guerillas removed the bodies from the bus and threw them into a deep cavern. A couple of times guns were fired and some of the kidnapped passengers gasped in fright. True fear is something which can be felt, smelt and tasted and the hostages were beginning to understand this, their control system, their existence was now under threat and they could feel their lives at risk.

They'd no way of knowing but back home, just before the end of the 9 o'clock news, the BBC reported that there had been an incident involving a Southern Hemisphere plane flying from London Heathrow to Cape Town. They report it had carried out an emergency landing in Botswana following storm damage and there are unconfirmed reports of a hijacking and hostages being taken. They had an unconfirmed report that 14 first class passengers were involved. No comment had been received from the airline but further updates would follow. The hostage taking had not gone unnoticed...

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 13

### Johannesburg, South Africa

He walked from the Elizabeth Sturrock Park along Enoch Sontonga Avenue into Jorrisen Street and took the lift up to the 11th floor Amnesty International offices. It was about a two and half kilometres and although the weather was starting to change, leaving the wet climate behind, it was still a muggy, warm and yet pleasant walk. He emerged from the lift to be met by two men. They had arrived early and waited patiently. Momentarily he eyed them and noticed the dampness to the armpits of their coats indicating they too had walked. It was now 14.20 on Monday March 12th.

'Hello I'm Peter Kayne,' he held out his hand to the older looking man.

'Eh hello, my name is Martin Seamoo and this is my son Raa.'

'Well thank you for coming. I have a room for us to talk in, please follow me, can I get you some refreshment?'

'Thank you we drink black tea, but not strong. Thank you.'

He guided them along the corridor and into the second door on the left. It was a basic room with a table in the centre and eight chairs around it. The window was ajar to let air come in and reduce the closeness built up by the occasional downpours of rain.

He excused himself and returned a couple of minutes later. 'The tea will be here in a moment. Mr Seamoo I have to make clear that anything said here is at this stage completely confidential and before any use is made of anything you do tell me we will have to validate the information. Amnesty International addresses governments, intergovernmental organizations, armed political groups, companies and other non-state actors. We seek to expose human rights abuses accurately, quickly and persistently. It can sometimes take months, years even, for the truth to out and even then they may be no justice seen to be done.' He paused and noted the look that was exchanged between the father and son. 'So would you like to tell me what has happened? From the start or just the reasonably recent events'

The tea arrived, brought in and placed on the table by a young girl who smiled brightly at the three men. The two men looked at each other and the son nodded slowly. His father began.

'Our family has worked on a farm for the last two generations, it is,' he stopped and paused and continued with a slightly shaken voice, 'was owned by a white family. There was a raid; well there had been several raids, by men working for the government. They would come and beat the workers and take vehicles steal the contents and once they set fire to a barn. The owner had his own men who would fight and it was not as bad as some places, I think he paid some money to be left alone. But the owner supported Morgan Tsvangirai and when Tsvangirai was beaten up, the very same day, the owner of the farm and his wife and two sons were killed. So were three other families of Morgan Tsvangira supporters. I had gone to visit my son, Raa, who was studying here in South Africa and I did not return to help my family in time.' His voice was shaking and he stopped to take some tea but then continued, 'My family and another family tried to run away and they were followed and although they got to Botswana they were killed there. There were 20 of them. The only one not killed was our niece and she was met and saved by other relatives who went to meet them, they told us what happened.'

'When did this happen?'

'Yesterday, last night and the men who did it were the same who took the hostages from the plane in Botswana.'

'Twenty people killed? Where? There's been no news of this? How did you get to hear of this so soon?'

The son spoke, 'Mr Kayne, you know Zimbabwe has been, and is, in a terrible mess. The economic catastrophe is nothing compared to the social injustice and total disregard to human rights. Theft, rape, murder and even genocide by the government or their appointed people have been going on for years. It has been known and reported for years and nothing is done. The Government is about to announce a new law called the Land Reform Program that will require all non-Zimbabwean nations to place 51% of their business ownership into the hands of Zimbabwean companies. There is a movement coming together to resist this and we fear there is going to be major bloodshed over the next months, anybody who resists will be killed.'

'Where does your family fit into this?'

'My uncle was going to stand in the next election with the opposition against the government and he had been attacked several times, each time getting more violent. He was very popular but he'd had enough and was trying to leave the country with Morgan but he didn't show at the airport. That is enough to have us and all our family killed, just being related is enough.'

'You mean Morgan Tsvangirai?' he got two nods. Morgan Tsvangirai's abduction and beating had already been reported and condemned by the international community. 'Okay where can I reach you? I will speak to my colleagues and we may want to talk to you again. In fact I am sure we will.'

'You may not be aware that we have already issued a statement on some of the events which took place on the 11th and 12 March.' He produced a document that was under a folder on the table and began to read to them:

' _Amnesty International today demanded an immediate investigation into the killing of Gift Tandare, a Zimbabwean activist shot dead by riot police yesterday at a demonstration in Harare._

' _The organization also expressed serious concern for the welfare of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders Morgan Tsvangirai, currently in detention at Borrowdale Police Station, and Arthur Mutambara, detained at Avondale Police Station. Both have been severely beaten while in police custody._

' _Other leaders, including Tendai Biti, the Secretary General of the Tsvangirai-led MDC; Grace Kwinje, the Party's Deputy Secretary for International Relations; and Nelson Chamisa, spokesperson for the MDC, have also sustained severe injuries while in police custody. Grace Kwinje is reported to have lost part of her ear as a result of the beatings._

' _Amnesty International called for all detainees who engaged in non-violent protest to be released immediately.'_

'Now I do genuinely sympathize with your situation and your grief and I am showing you this merely to make you aware that we do speak out whenever we can. It takes more than that to get things done, yes it takes the international community and it also takes the people who are being downtrodden to say enough is enough. We will seek out information and proof of the events you have reported and we may well again cite the circumstances or the individual.' He gave them the full transcript of the Amnesty press release. It was headed up:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, PRESS RELEASE

AI Index: AFR 46/001/2007 (Public)

News Service No: 049

12 March 2007

Peter Kayne saw the disappointment on their faces and decided to give them some time alone. 'I want to have a quick word with a colleague, can I leave you for a moment?'

They nodded and when he had gone Martin Seamoo asked his son what else the paper said.

Raa ran his finger down the words until he reached the part where Peter had stopped reading, he cleared his throat. _"We are calling on the Zimbabwean government to immediately release all those arrested for peaceful protests," said Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme. "The killing of Gift Tandare must be investigated immediately and the perpetrators bough to justice. The government must also guarantee the safety and well-being of all those in police custody. All detainees should be given immediate access to their lawyers and medical care."_

The killing of Gift Tandare took place during a protest against a police ban on all peaceful demonstrations in Harare's low income suburb of Highfield. The demonstration was organised by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign.

Lovemore Madhuku, chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), is in detention at Malborough Police Station and has also been severely beaten while in police custody. He reportedly has a broken hand and head injuries, for which he has received medical care.

Several protestors are reported to have sustained injuries following excessive use of force by riot police, who were attempting to disperse the demonstrators. Amnesty International fears that those in police custody may be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by police.

According to reports, over 50 people were arrested at the demonstration and remain in detention.

The state media has also reported that three policemen also sustained injuries while dispersing the protestors.

Lawyers have been denied access to all those in detention except for Lovemore Madhuku and Grace Kwinge.

The organization added that those arrested for engaging in violent protest should be guaranteed a fair trial.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the severe restrictions of freedom of expression, assembly and association following the blanket ban on rallies and demonstrations from 20 February to 20 May 2007.

Under Section 27 of the Public Order and Security Act, which is being cited by police to implement the three-month ban, public demonstrations can only be prohibited for a specified period 'not exceeding one month'.

_Public Document."_ He stopped.

'Son, we will get no further here. To do something we must return and fight. The only real help we will get will be what we make ourselves.'

When Peter Kayne returned to the office they were on their feet and announced that they were ready to leave.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 14

### Zott guerilla camp in Zimbabawe

It was just after midnight when they were told to get out of the vehicle. Alex was the second to last out. He could not see a lot at first save for a large tent nearby that they were pushed towards. The ground was wet, there was an earthy smell and immediately they could hear restless dogs barking and hard boots hitting the ground. Gourner shouted some orders and his men drove their vehicle off leaving a faint hint of diesel fumes hanging in the air. The bus and the van, newly acquired from the murder victims, followed too. Armed men stayed nearby displaying their guns and viewing the hostages intently. 'Mee, tell them to stay still and be quiet, we will find out what we got here tomorrow.'

A woman ran towards Gourner, 'Gourner you wanted at the radio.' She looked at the prisoners and stayed a while to see what was happening. He took off and the prisoners were ushered inside without ceremony.

Inside the tent there was nothing but a dirt floor. The part near the opening was slightly lower than the rest and still wet from the remnants of rain. The ground had been worn down from constant use and the wet weather. The tent was big enough to stand upright plus another 100 centimetres. It was square at the base with sides about 14 feet long. It had a central pole with metal and wood outriggers which supported the sides of the canvas circular roof. They were only a meter and a half above the ground so it was necessary to duck to avoid them if moving around. The lower part of the tent sides were still wet from the last rain and smelt of damp.

The prisoners looked around and at each other, lost and afraid. Some dropped down to the ground to rest, the couples holding on to each other tight. Alex walked to the back of the tent where it seemed darkest, 'Anyone see a lamp or anything?'

'We shouldn't do anything in case it upsets them.' A voice said from the dark. There was silence.

The group was made up of ten men and four women; there were three couples and one woman on her own, the rest single men travelling alone. As his eyes became accustomed to the lack of light Alex could see the tent was well worn in some places. There were parts of the seams split enough to make out the outside light. One or two cuts in the material although not large were big enough to expose the slight breeze outside. He moved over to the side near the entrance and tried to see through. The view was too restricted to make much out, a few people walking, a couple of other tents. He thought he heard a selection of dogs bark, but these weren't aggressive barks more like domestic greetings.

Again from the dark, 'It's not a question of doing something or nothing, we can't just vegetate and not be interested in what's going on and our survival. If there is any chance of bettering what we have we should take it.' It was a man, and as their eyes became more adjusted to the lack of light they could see he was holding a woman close to him. He stood no more than 5' 8", the woman was about 3" shorter. They were both in their forties. At first there was no response and then another voice came as a second man spoke up.

'We must try and stay together if they come to separate the women we must all refuse together.'

The woman with the man who spoke first looked up to her man, he felt her shudder.

'We may not get the chance, they have weapons,' and then a few of them were talking together and somehow the atmosphere seemed a bit lighter. A couple of the men also started to peer out of the small slits in the tent walls.

Alex turned back to view his fellow prisoners, they were not in massively bad shape, three of the men were obviously overweight and one women looked a bit heavy, none were very old and decrepit, but the body language showed they were defeated. The glancing away from each other's looks to hide their fear and the way a few of them sat staring into nothing showed they were aware of the desperate situation they were in.

*

Gourner picked up the radio handset and motioned to the man sat at the table to move. He sat down. 'Yes who's this?' he said in his low disinterested voice. He waited and shook his head. 'That's a day's ride man.' A pause. 'Yeah we go. You know we just back now no time to even piss. Yeah yeah. Okay' He kicked out at the table leg and put the headset down.

'Tell Mee we are going north tonight, now. Tell him all the men accept three to guard the whites. Give the women guns too. NOW right NOW. And tell Mee we'll leave Kama in charge, my son can watch hostages.' Gourner was back in his element, throwing his commands in that high determined pitch.

Kama was Gourner's favourite son. He was 14 and looked like a young version of his father. Kama would love being in charge. He liked lording it about with his gun and often mimicked his father, both in front of him and behind his back, particularly if he wanted to steal something. He even had the habit of rubbing the left side of his head, but for no reason other than copying his father.

Mee picked an old man who didn't travel that well and one of Kama's friends to stay and guard the hostages with Kama. Mee had wanted to go through the cases in the van to get first choice of a change of clothes for him and his woman. She was a good girl who looked after him well and didn't go with anyone else. When he could he tried to get things for her that other didn't have. He told Kama not to touch the van until he was back.

*

Alex could hear more than see the activity, but men were walking fast and he could hear one engine start followed by the sound of others. He saw the four men outside the tent being approached by a single soldier and then they all walked off. Walking towards the tent was an old man and a young boy of about 10 or 12, the man carried a rifle and the boy half-carried, half-dragged a large machete scoring the ground as he walked. They were beckoned to a tree stump by Mee and the old man dropped a rucksack then sat down on it beside the tree stump while the boy stood. Mee told them to stay there and promised them first choice in the van cases when he got back. Alex could not see or hear this but he knew there was still a guard outside. He could now see vehicles, lorries and jeeps, coming from his right and pulling up in front of the huts below to face the rock face. They were loading men and boxes into two of the trucks and eventually they drove off again to the left back towards the rock face, what rear red lights they had getting smaller as they left.

Alex became conscious of someone standing near him. He had been joined by a small man, or at least smaller than Alex who was 5' 9, this guy was a good two inches shorter. He had been a couple of seats behind Alex on the plane and he was dressed casually, and although he didn't look fat he was beginning to acquire a rounded shape 'Looks like they are off and leaving us with a token guard.' Alex voiced.

'Yes but how many and are they all around?'

Then the vehicle lights started to rise as they climbed the hill road and where both rear lights of one vehicle could be seen they were now merged together, showing the angle of the vehicles had changed and only one was visible. The truck must be side on to where they were standing. The procession of vehicles started up the dirt track road, heading along the snaking pass that would take them to the north road. Gourner lead in his long wheelbase jeep, he had a driver and another seven men with him. Mee followed in a troop carrying lorry, with eighteen men, and then more similar vehicles with another thirty eight men. They had full fuel tanks and each carried six twenty litre spare fuel cans, that gave them a range of 1400 miles.

Kama watched as the trucks were loaded and pulled out, he was keen for them to go and leave him in charge.

'When we got here how many vehicles did you see?' Alex asked the stranger.

'Well we arrived in four and I reckon there were another four or five already here. Could have been more but not less.'

'I count six individual sets of lights going up the hill. If the main army of men have gone and left some transport we may have a chance of getting away. We cannot be far from the border because it only took just over an hour to get here.'

'Are you sure? It seemed longer to me, and without a watch it's often difficult in strange circumstances to estimate time.'

'I had two phones, I only gave up one. I used the compass to see we went north, east and south. We stopped for about 15 minutes and then went north east to get here. We are directly east of the airport and the border is probably no more than 45 minutes away by direct route.

'Well what now, a recon I suppose,' He was virtually talking to himself. 'Out the back way? Did you see what was behind or beside us?'

'No not really, looked open, couldn't see anything even the horizon I suppose that might help, the darker it is? I don't fancy it myself; I'm not very quick on my feet if I'd known I was going to end up here I'd have worried more about the weight' he smiled, patting his stomach.

'I'll have a look, why don't you talk to the others and see if we have someone who can drive a large vehicle. We need a steady person, do you drive?'

'I'm an engineer, normally stuck in the office at a drawing board but if I had to I would; Trevor Reed by the way.' He offered his hand.

'Alex Ward pleased to meet you but wish it weren't here. Look it might help everyone to know I've got a phone so do tell them.'

'Yes okay I will, err do you have experience of this sort of thing, military or the like?

'No just the University of life, of course I was married and that was better than any military training I know of.' They managed a smile together.

Alex moved round and feeling the tent wall seams from the waist down he found a weak spot not quite opposite the entrance. He ran his hands over the ground and picked a sharp stone. Slowly he nicked at the tent seam and it gave way. He stopped and peered through. Nothing, darkness. He waited and then made the hole bigger. He could make out more now, although it was still dark and shadowy but he carried on making the hole big enough to get through. He heard movement behind him as Trevor moved amongst the other hostages but he was committed, he stepped through.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 15

### BBC World Service News

'Following reports of the attack on Morgan Tsvangirai, worldwide condemnation of the Zimbabwean regime has been voiced by political leaders along with Amnesty International and other human rights organisations. Klawole Olaniyan, director of Amnesty International's African Programme, said, 'We are very concerned by reports of continuing brutal attacks on opposition activists in Zimbabwe and call on the government to stop all acts of violence and intimidation against opposition activists. Other reports are coming out of Zimbabwe of further atrocities linked to protestors and political opponents of the government. The BBC is not allowed to report directly from Zimbabwe but we have been given access to a report, recently smuggled out of Zimbabwe, which contains some disturbing pictures and testimonies. But first here is a special report from our African correspondent Martha Pindu.'

The reporter took over. 'Once again the people of Zimbabwe face desperate circumstances, many only holding on to life by a thread, and yet around them others manoeuvre to gain even more control and personal wealth. Let's take you back to the origins. It was at the end of the Bush War, or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, also known in the local language of Shona as Chimurenga, which means revolution or struggle, when on 18th April 1980 the so called majority rule was put in place and the United Kingdom ceremonially granted Zimbabwe independence. The country has since been known by several names like RhoAlexia, Southern RhoAlexia and Zimbabwe-RhoAlexia.

For a decade the economy was run with strict government control on all aspects of financial management, wages, prices. Massive increases in government spending lead to huge budget deficits and that in turn lead to a 40% devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar. Some price controls were then lifted but the new policies did not change the core issues. It was too little too late and poverty spiraled out of control.

The end of 1999 saw the establishment of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lead by Morgan Tsvangirai. Shortly after this a referendum was held on a new draft constitution being proposed by the government. The constitution provided a charter to give President Robert Mugabe additional terms in office, granted government officials immunity from prosecution and authorised seizure of white-owned land, but it was defeated.

The elections in June 2000 were widely reported as being marred by localised violence and electoral irregularities. The opposition MDC gained 57 of the 120 seats available. In March 2002 another election was held and the world heard of many claims of widespread intimidation of MDC and the population at large. There was strong international criticism from the EU and America and a few sanctions were imposed but no substantial action was taken by the international community. The country suffered even further economic difficulty and social and political chaos.'

As the reporter spoke, a backdrop of photos changed from pictures of the main players to the sparse, barren landscape to images of Zimbabwean civilians with cuts and blood-covered clothing. The scene then changed again to show the refugee camps and people walking along dirt roads with bundles of possessions on their backs.

'The story gets no better as we come to the last few years' events that may go down in history as the most cruel and humanitarianly deprived period in the country's history. In-fighting in the opposition party, violence across all party domains and some evidence that the various leaders were aware of the violence if not condoning it outright. Rumour of specially created squads of so called 'war veterans' used to intimidate and pursue government opposition and then other opposing forces coming into play. Human Rights Watch identified the persecutions and eviction of people from their homes and businesses and the fact the resulting widespread disruption was interfering with the treatment of people with aids. This in a country where three thousand people were dying from the disease every week.

The dispute of land ownership was heightened when in September 2005 all land was nationalised and ownership rights were transferred into leases, leading to more forced evictions and terror. Today the economy has shrunk to a fraction of what is was two decades ago, and the terror and violence goes on. However it now appears that the lawlessness is spilling over into neighbouring countries, there is no telling where it will end. Martha Pindu of the BBC reporting.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 16

### Inside a tent in the camp at Zott

Alex crouched down. He could feel the wetness of the ground on his hands and while looking around listening intently he tried to keep his knees from touching the ground. With his back to the tent he looked right and saw a number of other tents and some people sitting outside them and others further away walking around. Everything seemed quiet, relaxed even. Nobody was looking in his direction. Directly in front of Alex were more tents but no activity that he could detect, he thought they were empty. To his left were two more tents and the ground fell away before rising back up again a few hundred metres further on and it was from that dip that the recently departing vehicules must have come. It was also the direction they'd come from after getting out of the lorry when they arrived. Keeping low he made off diagonally to the left. He arrived at the drop in the ground and he could now see this was an old waterway or maybe a small dried up river. The ground seemed a softer, looser texture and it was damp. He was concerned that his footprints would leave deep tracks or he might sink if it were too soft and there was always the chance that he would find real water or a stream too. He had no choice though so dropped into the low ground and again surveyed the scene turning a full 360 degrees. He could make out the two guards sitting low with legs on the ground, one with his back to the tent and the other at right angles to him resting his back on an oil drum. Alex remembered that there was an oil drum with the top cut off, half full of ash just outside the tent.

Alex kept still in the same position so that his back was covered by the rising ground behind him. He looked over to where the vehicles had come from and could make out the shapes of three vehicles, two of these he thought he recognised as arriving with them, a bus and a large open backed van, the other was further away and looked as though it was jacked up on one side. He ducked down and took his phone out, he checked his position and sent a text to Anne, then his sister in England, then to his solicitor. It read 'Party of passengers kidnapped in Botswana, held at lat=-20.396 south, lon=27.343 east, advise authorities and South African Airlines, this is not a hoax. Alex Ward.' He sent the texts and then decided to get closer to the vehicles and see if they were guarded, but first he took the battery out of the phone. Then, despite the wet ground and the mud, got down on all fours to slowly make his way towards the vehicles.

*

Back in the tent Alex's exit had brought even more tension to the already fraught atmosphere. Trevor Reed asked everyone to gather around him. 'We need to be very quiet.'

'What on earth is he doing, trying to get us killed?'

'Hang on and please be quiet,' Trevor beckoned them together, 'look the main group of men have gone off in trucks and that chap is going to see what sort of guard is left and if there is any way out.'

'My God you will get us killed, we should co-operate and do nothing, they are savages and will kill us. They probably don't need much of a reason, so why give them one.' A man offered and his wife agreed by nodding her head quickly and looking for others to back them up.

'I don't know what experience you have of Africa but I assure you killing you will be second on their mind to rape and mutilation.' Trevor said slowly and let it sink in. 'Now I do not know him, I've never seen him before today but that man had two phones and he only gave one away. He can call for help and give our position. If there is a chance of getting out each of us can decide to go or stay, it's up to you. Personally I'm for leaving.' He waited, 'Okay, now has anyone got experience of driving a large truck or lorry?'

Initially there was no response and Trevor gazed around thinking if it came to it he would have to drive. 'I have.' Said a lady in a clear steady voice, 'and I'm for getting out too.'

'Well I have driven a removal van but some years ago now' came from another man holding his wife's hand.

'Okay' he nodded to the lady, 'What have you driven please?'

'I drove a Red Cross relief vehicle people carrier, a 40 seater, and also a 32 tonne lorry with food parcels in India last year.'

'Okay well will you be our first driver and you sir our second?' They both agreed. 'That chap, his name is Alex, may return with good or bad news so I suggest we all think through what we want to do. We may not have a lot of time and it is up to each of us to decide.'

There was a general chorus of 'I'm in', 'let's go if we can', 'we're in.'

One person said, 'but where do we go, does anyone know where we are?'

'Well as I said Alex has a mobile with a compass and sat nav, which will give us direction. He also says we are directly east of the airport.' Trevor was pleased this did not bring other questions. He sensed a feeling of hope taking the place of despair.

'Okay then let's see what we can from the holes in the walls in case that adds to our information, one of us should look out of the hole Alex went through, '

'I'll do that', said a male voice.

'And then we can take turns in viewing through the other holes, agreed?'

They got organised.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 17

### A dark night in the gorilla camp

Alex had now reached the vehicles and went to their far side so that anyone at his back could not see him. He couldn't see anyone near but kept stopping to listen anyone, not trusting his eyesight in the near dark. The van was easy to look into, the back was full of cases and bags and a couple of boxes. The windows were open and he saw the keys dangling from the ignition. He carefully opened the door and leant in. He made out the light switch and confirmed it was off then took hold of the key and, stopped. If he screwed this up it could all be over but he needed to know if there was fuel, he had no choice. He turned the key one notch, a red and yellow light appeared in the speedometer. He quickly put his hand over those lights and looked around, nothing, slowly withdrawing his hand he peered down to find the fuel gauge. Yes he found it and the white indicator gauge was showing half full. He wondered if it could be believed. A lot of vehicles out here must be running on a wing and a prayer and there was no way of knowing if this one worked properly.

He got out and made his way to the bus. The door on his side was shut but the door on the other side, the side exposed to the main camp area was open. He moved to the front of the bus and knelt down, then edged his way round and in through the open door. He half crouched and half leaned into the driver's seat. The ignition had no key in it which was a blow but not insurmountable he thought. He had no experience of making a connection without a key but he knew it could be done. Then as he was looking for the light switch he saw a set of keys on the dash in a compartment well. He took them and tried a key in the ignition. It went in.

'You lucky bastard' he thought. He turned the light switch dial round to the left to make sure the lights were off and turned the ignition key once. To his horror a collection of lights lit up the dash, he leapt forward and turned off the key. This time he took his shirt off and made a cover over the dash and again turned on the ignition. Ducking down he could see the fuel gauge was at just over a third full but slowly rising, too slowly for him he decided there was fuel but he didn't want to wait to see the final setting. He turned it off and looked back into the bus. It was clear. He put his shirt back on and pocketed the keys. He had managed to get both wet and dirty and he picked some mud off his trousers while he looked around getting ready to move off.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 18

### A government building in Harare

On the third floor in a corner office in a government building a group of men met to discuss the next actions to be taken to squash any government opposition of any kind. They listed which gangs were assigned to which area and confirmed that Gourner and his men were en route to deal with an expected rally. He would seek out and attack anyone on a number of routes to Chinhoyi, where an uprising was expected. The mood was bad tempered and impatient and there was an element of fear, fear of failure and the consequences. It was agreed that when Gourner was done he would go to Harare and wait for instructions; it was possible that he would be needed to quell the locals too.

The recent closure of some bakeries had caused more social unrest and pockets of uprisings were happening all over. They had engineered for areas actively supporting the government to be supplied with more food than areas that sympathized with the opposition and concern about attacks on the privileged areas was growing. The government had created bands of people and special areas of great wealth and it was these that helped them hold on to power. In these places wealth and privilege were demonstrated with mansions, shops full of food and clothes, large expensive cars and luxury facilities like golf clubs and other extravagance. These places were guarded 24/7 and an intruder would be dealt with severely. The problem was not the few people in favour it was the masses. In some areas the people no longer cared about living and they were taking to the streets and demanding food and the release of their loved ones. There was talk in the international press of an uprising coming because the majority of people had had enough and decided that anything was better than the way they were being forced to live, even death. Young and old had been seen taking to the streets in absolute desperation. The government now needed to react and squash these mini revolts before they began to join up and escalate to full scale revolution.

*

The President was getting ready to leave his country house, and so were his two close comrades, the matter of the diamonds not yet resolved.

One of them, his oldest friend and colleague began as soon as he entered the room, 'Muorg there has been a development. We have found out that the first wife of one of the couriers was killed just after the couriers went missing. She was a whore who knew a number of the land legion army men, well the commanders not the men. She was well looked after and it doesn't make sense that someone who knew her would do this, she had protection.' He waited for a response; there was none so he continued. 'We know the couriers visited her three days before they set off, we are trying to find out who else saw her after that.'

'Someone will know, find out who. I have left orders for you both to stay here until you find my diamonds. You may find a reward for information will produce something.' He went.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 19

### In the guerilla camp

Alex went on to base of the rock and found the radio hut but steered clear of it, he could hear noises inside which may have come from a radio station but there was no light on. As he moved around he became aware of the stillness of the camp and the lack of movement of everything, even the air was still. He could still make out a couple of people a way off in the open but they seemed to be sleeping. He was quietly walking, making his way between two huts when he was startled by a figure suddenly standing beside him.

~~~

Earlier Kama had seen the trucks start off and then went into the hut and cleaned his gun, had a couple of drinks from a bottle of local home-brewed sprit and fell asleep, then he awoke and thought he heard something outside. The door was open and he thought it might be one of the guards who were supposed to stay with the prisoners. He got up and stood at the door, there was no one approaching from the front and so he stepped to the right and forward to the edge of the hut and then he came face to face with a white man. At first he was completely taken aback and then he exclaimed a well-rehearsed profanity just before the man hit him. In reply he went to grab at the man rather than hit him because he was completely taken by surprise.

~~~

Alex's heart beat increased and his chest heaved, he heard a couple of words he did not recognise and it didn't matter he was face to face with a man, one of his captors. Before he could react by pulling back he realised the man was swaying, even lunging at him or so he thought, Alex just pulled back his hand and hit him. It landed well through luck rather than judgement as he had no time to aim, but the noise of the man falling back, banging against a chair seemed like a cannon going off, Alex was on him before he could recover but this fellow was agile and he twisted out of his grip and reached behind him for something. They were apart and facing each other, in a split second Alex grabbed a large stone off the ground and careered into the fellow bringing his stone laden hand up from the ground and smashing it into the fellow's face. This was only a nanosecond before the clump of wood now held by the man landed on Alex's left ear and side of his head. The pain was excruciating and he grabbed at his ear to comfort it. The wetness he felt in his hand was blood, his blood, but his attention was now fully on the other person. Fortunately the man fell back and hitting his head on the wooden base of the hut, causing him to reach for that before fighting back. Alex was already reeling in pain and he stumbled to the right and then turned full circle before rushing forward and pounded the head of his attacker with the stone twice. The man's body went limp. Suddenly realising his exposure, Alex stopped and looked around before instinctively ducking down. He was breathing hard but he couldn't control his need for more air. The noise had seemed like cannons going off but it had not attracted any attentions accept a couple of dogs sounding off and being chastised by their owners. He was holding the man and he turned his attention to him, there was no movement. Alex looked at the damage he had inflicted. Kama was dead.

Shaken and bleeding from the side of his head he paused and double checked the body. He rolled it over to the side of the hut so that it was close to the wooden base. He didn't want to stay there exposed or to create more noise. Moving the body he could now see it was the body of a boy, when they first bumped into each other the boy had been standing on the wooden hut surround about 6 inches off the ground and so had seemed much bigger, Alex felt sick, partly with revulsion and partly with fear and the realisation it so easily could have been him. He hadn't ever even been close to killing someone before and he was surprised he didn't feel bad about it. He felt quite matter of fact, either he killed me or I killed him went through his mind. He moved onto the wooden platform surrounding the hut and peered inside the doorway. No one else there, he walked in and went down on one knee and looked around. There was a table about six feet by four, a couple of chairs and a make shift bed on one side. A gun, a large rifle, lay on the table. It had a large half round magazine and a hollow metal shoulder grip.

Below the table were the bags used to take the passenger possessions. One lay open on the floor, the contents loose, and he ran his hands through the contents before stopping and realising he wasn't really interested. Near to the door was an open bottle of booze, he picked it up and smelt it, a local whisky or hooch of some sort. He took a swig, and it tasted awful. In the corner he could see some crumpled uniforms and an open box. Inside he found two hand grenades, a broken mirror and an unmarked tin that looked like an unopened sardine can. He left the broken mirror and pocked the rest. At the doorway he waited looking for signs of any movement. Reassured it was clear he went back in and took a blanket and covered the body.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 20

### Inside the tent in Zott

Back inside the tent no one had heard the noise of the fight, they had heard a dog more than once but they knew nothing of what had happened. One of them had seen some movement outside but any noise had faded away. They could see one of the guards outside asleep but the other was out of view. Alex returned carrying the rifle and the grenades. In his pocket was the unidentified tin too. They gathered round.

'Did you have trouble? You're bleeding!' Trevor asked

'Well yes I'll tell you later, we need to get out.'

'There are two guards outside, an old man and a young boy, we should knock them out.' He was breathing and talking fast, he tried to slow down, 'There are two vehicles. One of them a bus big enough for everyone, do we have a driver?' He looked at Trevor who had been concentrating on what Alex was saying, but it was the lady that answered. 'Yes, me.'

Alex looked at the owner of the voice as she stepped forward and was pleasantly surprised at what he saw, but he just nodded.

'We have another volunteer, this gentleman,' Trevor offered, 'but he has less recent experience.'

'Okay,' Alex produced the bus key and handed it over to the woman. As she leaned forward to get it he could see more clearly an attractive lady and he wondered why he hadn't noticed her before. 'There is more than a third of a tank of fuel, you should put the key in and turn it one notch and let it be for ten seconds before starting the engine, its diesel so leaving it on like that will warm the fuel before it hits the igniters. Go with no lights at first but if anything goes wrong turn your lights on and drive off fast. First you will have to reverse back, it is straight back and then swing to your left as soon as you can see the side of the old river bed. Then run down beside it, once past that you can go over the bridge, you can just make out the tracks in the road we came up. You want to go down that road until it turns right then keep heading straight. That is west and will take you towards Botswana.' She nodded.

'Trevor will you ride shotgun bedside her? Act as another pair of eyes?'

'Of course.'

'Look,' it was the man of the couple who had spoken out against doing anything. 'Suppose they all wake up and attack us, A bus, for God's sake, we have no chance, we will be shot to pieces.'

'Listen all the main party of men have gone. They drove off earlier before I went outside. Now there is another vehicle, a van, and I will stay back, I will give you 15 minutes start and then follow on, I have this gun and two grenades', in 15 minutes you will be out of their reach, we are taking the last two vehicles. There is another one but it is jacked up and a wheel missing, so to chase us they will have to get a vehicle returning or from somewhere further away. This is a good chance but if we delay they may return. And you might as well know I have just killed a man so they will not be happy to come back and find us.'

'Good job,' said Trevor not knowing what else to say in the silence that followed that statement, 'when do we start?'

'Well I'm for going now,' Alex looked at the assembled group, 'outside there are stones on the ground we can use as weapons, I need some help in dealing with the guards, we should take them both at the same time. When we have done that the rest of you come out the back way. I will lead you down to the bus. Stay quiet. Oh and outside are the two bags of all our things that they took from us. I found them in a hut. One of you should carry those to the bus and dish them out once you are on your way.'

'I'll do that.' Trevor volunteered. 'Did you send a message on your phone?'

'Yes but people will be asleep now so there is no telling when they might pick it up.' He looked at the assembled people. 'Are we going?' They all whispered or mumbled yes.

Alex and three of the men crept out and hit the two guards and as they couldn't find anything to tie them with they left them on the ground. They took the gun and machete then returned to the back of the tent and the others came out. It was cold and the sky seemed suddenly alarmingly clear. The wind had dropped and the smell of the wet ground rose reminding them of their bleak surroundings. The trip to the bus was uneventful but it seemed to take an age to get everyone on board as it was single file through the door. Rachel Waldron, she'd told Alex her name as they crept through the darkness, did as he had said about turning on the ignition and started the bus, backed it up and then went forward. Slowly turning on to the wheel tracks and creeping off, no lights, slow and easy, with the door remaining open she could occasionally hear a splash as the front wheel dunked into a puddle. Trevor sat beside her with the gun they had taken from the guards, intensely watching the camp as they made their way out.

Alex watched them leave, reassured by their silent steady progress but then something happened that caused the bus to stop abruptly just after it crossed the bridge, it made a noise like a skid and the wooden bridge clatter made it worse. A dog barked and then another. Within what seemed like seconds a voice called out and then several others joined it, all coming from the tents to their right. A light, a torch, and then another, 'Oh shit' Alex thought as he jumped into the van and brought the engine to life. He backed up and drove onto the track and got out, gun in hand.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 21

### On the bus

Rachel had got off to a good start and she was taking it slowly down the track feeling quite pleased with herself when suddenly a dog ran in front, this on its own would not have been a problem but the wet muddy ground and the dog were close in colour and it did not show up until the dog turned its head towards the bus and it eyes reflected the lights of the camp. Rachel saw two eyes and then the steam of breath wafting up from the dog's mouth in a smoke like haze. She was startled and she slammed on the brakes and the occupants were thrown forward, some calling out as they fell. Fortunately Trevor had been holding two grab rails and he saved himself from being thrown forward. He called to Rachel to drive on and he raised the gun and shot into the air. Rachel had been thrown forward too, onto the steering wheel and had hurt her ribs but now she could see lights to her right. 'That's it' she thought as she turned the headlights on and put her foot down, and being in a low gear created even more noise as the bus took off. Well she put her foot down and it went a bit faster and a bit faster, never really taking off in a speed sense, they were too heavy. She held back from changing up the gears until they whined and then changed to get as much acceleration as she could. To her surprise she could only find four gears but once she cleared the immediate area she relaxed and focused on the steering.

Alex looked on and the first shot he heard was actually aimed in the air but he wasn't to know that, he raised the gun to his shoulder and aimed at one of the lights. He pulled the trigger, nothing. He pulled it again and still nothing. He held the gun in front of him and looked at it in disbelief. Then he grabbed the lever on the left of the gun as he had seen in films and pulled it back, up with the gun and he aimed and fired. There were more shots now and coming at him or so he thought. He was surprised how firing the rifle jarred his shoulder, he just wasn't ready for it and he found that if he just did a quick press of the trigger and let it go he fired several rounds off and it stopped. He did this to good effect, the people dropped to the ground and the lights went out. He continued firing occasionally, trying to judge when the 15 minutes he'd said he'd allow them were up. Then, deciding he couldn't risk staying any longer, he got in the van and drove down the track a couple of hundred yards to the bridge and stopped. He got out and fired the gun some more. He could see nothing and he felt scared, somehow it just wasn't right that a bunch of seemingly professional cutthroats had given up easily. He reached inside the van and took a grenade and pulled the pin, setting the gun down he threw the grenade towards the tents, he knew he was too far away to hit them and belatedly he ducked and then dropped to his knees. His fright stopped the wetness of the puddle bothering him as it soaked through his trousers.

The explosion seemed massive, the noise disorientating and when he looked up the flames from the ground and a bush showed several people on the ground, it took him a moment to realize they were soldiers who had been approaching him under cover of the darkness. His stomach churned. He went for the other grenade and launched it likewise then got in the van and took off. He stopped after another couple of hundred yards past the bridge. Aiming the gun low he fired into the darkness again, then left.

The people in the bus heard the gun fire and then the first grenade, 'We've had eleven of our fifteen minutes so far,' it was another minute before the second grenade went off, then silence until another round of gunfire. 'I hope he makes it out.' Trevor was still standing beside Rachel holding on to the rail even tighter and looking back, talking to himself. Rachel didn't hear, she was focusing on the road and steering. The bus was in fourth gear and she was determined to keep it there.

They made good progress and at the bend they swung to the right, shot across the track and headed west. They drove for about 40 minutes and then picked up a sign for the Dried Ferry. The sign was hand painted on a piece of wood as though a local had got fed up directing people. At the crossing they drove on and into Botswana, not quite cheering as they crossed the border but at least letting out a huge communal sigh in relief. They continued heading straight down the road which took them to the military air strip they had been at earlier and from where they were taken hostage. As they approached it they were pleased to see activity and lights and people. It started to rain but they didn't care. They got out of the bus, hugged and shook hands and finally allowed themselves to feel the relief of escape.

*

Alex did not have such an easy journey; in the van he was trying to race on behind his fellow hostages but he did not have the same speed, loaded down with the cases and other possessions of the 20 murdered victims. To add to this the van had had been well used in its life and the suspension was finished. After hitting a number of holes disguised as innocent puddles one particularly brutal pothole jarred Alex as well as the van and eventually a rear tyre gave out. It burst, momentarily throwing the van off course and throwing the van into a swerve. Alex slowed down but kept going and he finally arrived at the Airport two hours after the others. The military had been looking for him for an hour after the others arrived but had reduced their lookouts when he did not turn up. So when he did arrive he was at first surrounded by an armed guard, until an officer established who he was and allowed the men to relax. His arrival was a relief to all in the group, some even more than others, and Trevor and Rachel both made sure their congratulations were received. They were all safe, unharmed and amazed to be back to reality.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 22

### Gourner approaches Chinhoyi

The roads to Chinhoyi were not really roads at all but tracks that went from wide to narrow and back to greater width in places; and they were littered with rocks and holes and, in a couple of places, animal carcasses. The people were walking to a meeting which was in part a protest and in part confirmation of representatives to stand for change at the forthcoming election. There were two main routes into the town and they were both covered by Gourner's men. He had also placed some men covering an approach which cars would not take but people on foot might. Generally the locals would travel together for safety but there could be stragglers. There were some people who today would not walk away because they were known trouble makers and they had been warned before. Others would be beaten up and let go unless they fought back or got in the way somehow. Sometimes people got hurt and that served as an example to others.

The air was still, not even a gentle breeze, almost as though the world had stopped to mark the occasion. The first attack was on the west side of town, brutal, bloody and complete. The target was an official car and two escort vehicles carrying a would-be election candidate, two newspaper men from Harare and an entourage of supporters. All were left dead as a warning to others. The LLA men were divided into three groups and they plied their trade of death and brutality most of the day, breaking up the rally with the occasional rape, chopping off of hands, disfigurement and other inhuman acts.

Some people were herded into groups and individuals were pulled out for special treatment while the others were forced to watch. They were then released but knew they could easily be rounded up again if they were caught later. Lots of people tried to run away and some made it, some didn't. Children were abandoned. Injured people lying down crying or silently numb. Others trying to crawl to safety. Some of the LLA men would grab a few women and take them into a hut or just walk them off into the bush to be raped, always returning to their work of intimidation.

This was not new, it was the pattern of life in a country where the government did what it wanted and held the people in fear for their lives. It was deemed necessary to maintain a situation where the population would remain in slavery. A modern day feudal system of might is right. No one to help them, no rescue, no hope. The people were on their own.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 23

### BBC world service news

'And now a most amazing story of the escape of the 14 passengers from the Southern Hemisphere Flight from Heathrow to Cape Town' announced the BBC. 'Included in the passengers were seven British subjects and one of them is being hailed a hero tonight. Yesterday we reported how a Southern Hemisphere aircraft had been forced to make an emergency landing in Botswana at a temporary military air base in the south of the country. Shortly after landing the plane was attached by what is thought to have been rebels from Zimbabwe. The flight lieutenant was shot dead in the attack and 14 first class passengers were dragged off the plane and taken as hostages. No hostage demand was received but later in the night a daring escape, led by a British passenger, Mr Alex Ward, saw all 14 passengers back at the Botswana military air base. They are on route to a town in northern South Africa. Here is more from our political correspondent Martin Trent in Musina South Africa.'

'Yes Naomi, we are waiting for the 14 passengers to arrive from Botswana, they are coming to this rather out of the way place as a stopover for rest and recuperation whilst the authorities and the airline acquaint themselves with the details of exactly what happened and how best to reunite the passengers with their families. We do not have the details yet, just reports that they escaped thanks, as you say, to a daring plan and the bravery of one man who it is said to have stayed behind to delay their captors from following the other hostages. We understand that man, Mr Alex Ward, also escaped later and they are all together coming here today. And I stress that all 14 passengers are safe and well. Behind me is the Musina Rugby Club and that will be the view from their hotel windows, although I have to say that the railway which runs between the two can be a bit noisy. I do not think though that will worry them given what they have been through. We will bring you more news when we have it. Martin Trent in Musina, South Africa.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 24

### On the coach to freedom

The journey from the Botswana airport to Musina was as uncomfortable as it was uneventful. The passengers were more interested in each other than they had ever been before, their relief starting to show through. The coach was well worn and the air conditioning sounded as though it was working hard but was having only a small impact on the heat. On arrival they found the airline had made good arrangements and they were shown to their rooms with the minimum of fuss and were settled by 11am.

Alex got in the shower. He did not care for all the attention he was getting and he was pleased to be alone. His shoulder arched and he had some other small skin abrasions which had come to light since getting back to the air base. He had struck up a friendship with Trevor, Rachel, a couple and one of the men and they had found time to exchange their versions of events and a few jokes. One of them had relayed how Trevor had shaken the gun at the dog and one or two other comments from their journey back to freedom. Right now Alex was hungry and tired. He ordered meatloaf and potatoes and tucked in with a bottle of beer and then he slept until 14.00. He awoke to a knock on the door. Dressed in a towel, opened it and found a waiter waiting with a trolley of food and a wine chiller. Behind the waiter was Rachel who walked in holding two glasses. Their eyes met and they locked on to each other for a very meaningful few seconds.

'You didn't show for lunch and I realised I hadn't said thank you properly.' She smiled and continued to look him straight in the eye.

'Oh yes.' he thought, and instantly felt himself preparing for that thank you.

He viewed the food and then made for the bottle of Champagne. The waiter left and they toasted a number of things as they eyed each other; escape, then Africa, then airports, then storms, then friendship, then the universe,' each toast drawing them closer together until they put the glasses down and kissed. Alex went to the door and locked it then they met again on the bed and began to explore each other. As their clothes came off the pace and their heartbeats heightened. They traded touches, kisses, embraces and they found themselves aching for each other. They moved through a number of positions before Rachel laid back as Alex mounted her. They were moving to the rhythm of their desire for each other, creating a masterpiece building to a crescendo and finally they climaxed, bodily fluids mixing, hearts pounding in unison.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 25

### At Chinhoyi in the thick of it

Gourner had a satellite phone but he had been warned to only use it on 'company' business in an emergency. Often Mee carried it for him but today he had it himself. Only a handful of people knew the number. 'Yes who's that.'' He said in his usual disinterested manner. He enjoyed his work and he didn't want to be interrupted.

'Gourner there's been trouble at the camp. Bad trouble. . . . . Kama is dead,' it was blurted out. 'The hostages . . .' but he was interrupted.

'What the fuck you saying, man you saying Kama dead. No you fuck.' He yelled, throwing his head from side to side.

'Gourner, it's right man, he . .'

Gourner put the phone away, 'Go get Mee and all the men we leaving, now. Go! we go now. Move!' He looked around and saw a woman leaning against a tree crying, he raised his gun and shot her.

They were on their way back to Zott as fast as they could go. Gourner was one of nine children, but only three had survived into adulthood, and his two brothers were both killed in fighting when he was 12. He had six children himself. Three died young, one was killed in a robbery and one had run away five years ago after a beating. That left Kama. Kama didn't just look like Gourner, he acted like him. They liked the same knives and guns and cars and things. Gourner was raging, he could feel his anger and hate. On the way back one of their vehicles ran out of fuel and stopped but the others left it and kept going back to Zott. This was a first even for Gourner, it was an unwritten law that you didn't leave men behind, exposed as they would be, but he didn't care.

The last leg of the approach road to Zott from the north was a long and twisting track which took them from the high ground down to the camp. This last bit was an agonising journey for Gourner and even more terrible for the occupants of Zott. He stormed into the camp and shouted for people by name. Most had left, too scared to face him. The first of the remaining men to come forward was knocked to the ground.

From a safe distance a woman pointed to a hut and he moved towards it preparing himself to see Kama's body. He was indeed laid on a table in the hut. Someone had cleaned the blood from his face and covered the body with a cloth. Gourner stared at his son and vowed revenge.

The radio hut was only 100 meters away and after a few minutes he made his way there, 'Get me the colonel.' From the door he roared, 'Mee fuel up.' Turning to the radio he picked up the receiver, 'they killed Kama where are they?' A pause, 'you get me where they are, use the mobile I'm on the road.' A pause, 'they killed Kama the hostages did . . . . . . I didn't tell you about the fucking hostages, so what? You tell me where they are. Call me or I come to there and kill you all.'

Gourner flicked a switch and the voice of his employer blared through the static 'Wait is there something else you didn't tell me? The excursions from the camp? The men who have disappeared? I am sorry about your son but we will do what we can, we will send a helicopter for you, it will be the fastest way to the south.'

But he was talking to himself. Gourner had thrown the radio down and was barking orders for his men to move out. In the few minutes it took to get organised he had a moment to realise that he had been found out. All he could do now was take his revenge and the diamonds and disappear.

Mee was nearby and lowered his head on hearing this. He knew Gourner was capable of anything when railed but he also knew he was dispensable. Mee feared for his future.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 26

### The hotel room in Musina

'So Rachel, tell me more about you, you're in publishing?'

From the en-suite where she was drying herself, and for the first time for a long while, Rachel found herself thinking about her life. There was a silence which she wasn't aware of but Alex noticed the lack of reply.

Rachel stood 5'6 and weighed in at about 120 lbs, she thought she had a long back and short legs but in reality that was just in her mind. Her hair was brown but a fair brown, born blonde but turned much darker by the time she reached 10. She had a very slightly angular chin with a pronounced dimple when she grinned. Light blue eyes. Her disposition was generally on the sunny side. She was a bit of an optimist and her voice rose in pitch when she was angry.

Silence, she was saying nothing. 'Oh shit, okay forget it then. If it's a secret then tell me something else.' He wanted to talk to her and then get her back in bed so he stayed there, pulled the light cover back at an angle to make it more inviting when she returned.

She realised she had been day dreaming, she wasn't sure what he had said so she stalled. 'No it's your turn to tell me something. You said you used to be MD of a small fitness group and now you are out of work. A familiar story, what did you do before that?'

He liked that they were not treading on eggs shells. They could interact and be themselves without worrying about the infinite detail of getting everything explained. 'Well I was expelled from school at 17 and I got into a few spots of trouble then I got a job in a small boat yard and discovered I did have some skills. Sailing too, yes I discovered that, and later did some evening classes in navigation. I ride motorcycles as well, I've got two. So I was lead back to maths through the sailing thing and then more evening classes and somehow went on and got a diploma in business studies on a part time college course. One of the people I crewed for gave me a job as a salesman and I went on to become the sales manager. Then I moved to a health supplements company as Sales Director and eventually became the MD. I was head hunted to join AtoZ Fitness. That was five years ago and it was sold a few months ago and I am indeed out of a job. Now, let's try again, what about you?'

Alex was 36 but 37 in a few days and he guessed Rachel was around 30; in fact she was turning 30 in November.

'All right well I didn't do the expulsion bit in fact I was a good girl, I went to Southampton University and studied Social History and Economics. I got a first class honours degree and took a year off working for the Red Cross, went to India and loved it. In fact I went back last year and helped out again on a voluntary basis. I've done that twice now and enjoyed it a lot. I worked for a publishing group as a research assistant and then researcher for five years. I tried to get into radio and television in either research or presenting and I did do a couple of bits but couldn't make it stick. I now do research stuff but freelance on an ad hoc basis, I have some good contacts in the political party research arena, do a lot there; and I sometimes work for the charity sector. Research, reports, tracking events and things. I was taking time off to go visit a friend in Cape Town who had just had a baby, well three months ago actually. And then of course you arranged to get us kidnapped in order to get me into bed.'

'Damn was it that obvious? I thought I had covered it up well.'

'Well yes you did actually, in fact I didn't think you had even noticed me on the plane.'

'What? I was just playing hard to get. No, no I saw you alright.' He lied.

'Oh okay, so where was I sitting then?'

"Oh shit" he thought. 'You were behind me and did you say you lived in London now?' He changed the subject.

'Well no and yes, sometimes. I have a flat in Southend in Essex, but I often stay with two girlfriends if I need to be in London. It works well for me as I only contribute to the rent when I stay there; but to be honest with communications so easy now I haven't been there a lot for the last year for work, it's been more for social. I've travelled to the North East and Wales for work more than I have had to be in London.'

Pleased with himself he went on, 'What about family and boyfriends? Ever been married?'

'Married no, I was in a relationship for four years, he was in the navy and it was great when he was stationed in Gravesend but then his job changed things and he was posted aboard ship, in the med. We drifted apart over a year and parted 15 months ago. As for family my parents divorced when I was twenty. I am in touch with them both and I have a sister.' She came straight back with, 'Your turn again. You said you were married. Why did your wife throw you out?'

'Good guess. Marry in haste and all that. We were physically attracted at a young age but we didn't have the staying power. In truth we had a couple of good years and then a living hell. We both played the field and then one day she told me she had met the man of her dreams, and wanted a divorce right there, right then. We divorced. I have a daughter she is 16 going on something much older. We get on great but I only see her once a month or so. They live in Scotland.'

'What's her name, your daughter?'

'Sarah.' His mind flew off in the direction of his daughter and the last birthday when she'd looked so adult and so beautiful.

Rachel came through with a towel wrapped around her, he patted the bed and she obliged. 'So that's enough of that for a while, now what shall we do? Oh yes I have an idea.' He gently pulled her close, kissing her gently and they started to move in unison once again.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 27

### Government building in Harare

The Colonel was not happy and at a bit of a loss to know exactly what to do. He had no doubt that Gourner was mad enough to go to Harare and kill them all, or at least to try to. He'd heard the news of the hostages and their escape and now it all made sense. Gourner must have taken them when he dealt with the fleeing families. The colonel had problems dealing with one madman, let alone two. He called in a young man called Johan who made up their propaganda and was not only his aide but also family. He told him to find out what he could about the location of the hostages and their names, particularly the man who led them.

*

Chandera was one of the President's friends who were now in house arrest at the President's country house. The Colonel phoned him and delivered the news that he was sure that Gourner and some of his men had been out of Zott during the period Chandera was interested in. He also told him that Gourner's son had been killed by the escaping hostages and that Gourner was on his way south to take revenge. The colonel was nervous admitting he had not managed to stop Gourner but Chandera knew it would have been an impossible task. 'Where will he go? It's a big country.'

'I am trying to find out what will happen to the hostages and then I can tell Gourner and set a trap for him.'

'Be careful and make sure you get him.'

*

It was a simple job for Johan to find out about the hostages as some of the events were being reported outside of the country. Listening to the BBC World Service he heard a report on a plane and hostages and he got online to track the whole story down. The web connection was poor and it took several attempts to get it all, but he got the names of several of the people and the main man Alex Ward. He found they were in Musina at the hotel opposite the golf course. He phoned the airline as a family of one of the hostages and was told that they would be driven back to Mucha Air Camp tomorrow for onward flights. The hotel did not have any more information but were happy to take a message and they wished him a nice day. He was quick to relay the information on and the Colonel was very impressed. He started to wonder if he could in fact get something out of this situation. As it was he was indebted to Gourner at present, but he might be able to cancel that debt. It might even be that Gourner had gone too far or was about to and if he did, no one was safe. He had not finished the job in the townships, and he would be out of favour if he could not make it up. Rarely did you get another chance if you fouled up so this could be the end of Gourner. There was also this thing about being away from Zott, something else had happened and he instinctively felt it was not good.

'Chandera, I have some good news.' He explained the situation and the plan to hold the hostages until Gourner, and of course his own troops, could get there.

# Chapter 28

### The dining room at the Musina hotel

At the hotel, the ex-hostages were brought together to be told their onward flight plans. Rachel and Alex sat with Trevor as the three of them were all continuing to Cape Town with seven of the other passengers. The rest of the group had decided to change their plans or were on business and had had their plans changed for them. Spirits were high as everyone was feeling rested and safe in the knowledge they would soon be moving on. Alex had been told by the British representative who turned up for the last part of the briefing that the Botswana authorities wanted to ask him some more questions. He had been debriefed but it hadn't been a particularly searching debrief, at least in his mind, so he wasn't surprised to be needed again when they reached at the airport. He hoped it wouldn't take too long though. But as it was they all had some time here to relax.

Alex had opted to go into the shopping centre and had bought a casual linen jacket. Although he was not keen on linen this jacket had an outdoor, action man style that could take looking crumpled. It was light and comfortable, a light beige with four button down expandable pockets on the outside and two inner pockets. He could imagine Indiana Jones wearing it.

Sporting his new jacket Alex walked back stopping to watch the players on the rugby field who seemed to be training rather than actually playing. As he got nearer the entrance building he was called to from an upstairs window. It was Trevor beckoning him to go in. He didn't really want to but at the same time he had nothing else to do, except maybe Rachel? Ah well he would go in for 15 minutes. As he went through the door Trevor was coming down the stairs with two other men, one of whom looked like a rugby player all right, while his counterpart was a more normal physique, no bulging muscles and tense veins sticking out anywhere.

'Good to see you Alex. Been relieving yourself of some cash I see?'

Alex nodded feeling a little self-conscious, but he automatically sent his hand out to meet that of the more normal looking 'Jerry Bland, and this is Rod Butchermoor. Trevor has been telling us of your heroics.'

'Oh well' said Alex timidly 'we all did our bit and Trevor is a fisherman you know, he exaggerates a lot,' He tried to make light of it.

'Well come and have a drink.'

They went in and sat around a table near a large open window. A waitress brought them all half pints of beer. 'So how do you all know each other?' Alex asked.

'Well,' said Trevor 'I worked as a consultant engineer for a company that Jerry was GM of in Zimbabwe about 10 years ago, and Rod is Jerry's nephew. Jerry spotted me on the television news.'

'Moved here when it got too difficult in Zimbabwe some eight years ago, I'm retired now. I was telling Trevor how lucky you were to get out and I hope your luck holds.'

'That sounds ominous, we'll be on a plane soon enough.'

'Yes I know but whatever you do, don't go back to Zimbabwe. There is a very dangerous man there who is now your life time enemy.'

'Oh I can't see the president being bothered about me,' he said with a smile.

'No, no I'm not talking about him. I mean the one who runs their killer squad, he is called Gourner. He is the head of the president's murder squad. A man wanted for murder in a number of countries and a madman too, by all accounts. The word is you killed his son.' He said this very straight faced and even menacingly, his accent adding to the chill Alex felt. 'You will not be safe until you are out of Africa, and then only if he cannot find you. The media have been stupid to give out your location here. We are not that far from the border, the sooner you are away the better.'

Alex was shocked, he asked some questions about where this information came from and learned that Jerry still had a number of contacts in Zimbabwe, and that people were reportedly fleeing Gourner's camp too afraid to be there when he returned and found out what happened. This exodus had started to spread the story of the son, a boy of 14, being killed.

Alex said aloud, '14? My God he seemed older.' He paused 'They say we are going back to Botswana and the authorities want to speak with me.'

Jerry leaned across, 'don't go, it could be a trap, or you could just get caught by that madman. Listen in that situation any of us would have done the same, but now there is no need to risk your life.'

'Yeah man, people disappear all the time.' Rod threw in.

'Well I can't see how I can avoid it?'

'Maybe you could say you have a change of plan and need to go on somewhere,' Trevor offered, but Alex was thinking of Rachel and some unfinished business.

'Hmm well I'll think about it and call the embassy.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 29

### Botswana Ministry of Justice

The telephone rang and a male secretary picked it up and listened intently. He put the call on hold and rang through to the Minister of Justice. It was unusual for the Internal Minister of Zimbabwe to telephone the Minister of Justice of Botswana. Relationships between the two countries were always strained and the growing exodus of Zimbabwean refugees over recent years had increased the tension. A number of times Zimbabwe had insisted on the return of some persons who had crossed over the border to flee the country; and sometimes that request had been granted and sometimes it had not. The Botswana border was also used as an alternative by groups paid by the Zimbabwean government to enter South Africa. Smuggling was rife and attempts to stop these activities were often met with violence. However, Zimbabwe had helped in some border issues with foreigners and they had done some dirty work from time to time. So although Botswana owed nothing to Zimbabwe there was still a degree of neighbourly convenience which suited them both.

'Michael Boat here, what can I do for you,' the Minister of Justice said as pleasantly as he could.

'I have a favour to ask, not on behalf of Zimbabwe but on behalf of a lady friend of mine, a very personal matter. This is a time of tragedy for her and she has come to me for help and I come to you,' the voice said. 'First I ask that this matter is kept between us as it is very personal and there is no need to add more hardship to very difficult circumstance. I am not personally involved, I am just trying to help a friend of mine.'

'Well, let's see if I can help, and yes this is between us.' He motioned with his hand that the other person listening stayed where he was, and he waited.

'Recently there was a very unfortunate incident when some hostages were taken off a plane in your country. In their escape a young boy, my friend's son, was killed. He was only in the village delivering goats and got caught up in this bad thing. His mother has asked if she could meet the man called Ward to hear how he died.'

'Well I am very sad for the mother but the hostages have left here and are in South Africa, I do not see how I can help. And I heard the boy was the son of a wanted and dangerous man.'

'Unfortunately that story has been going round and that, in a way, has added to my friend's hurt. And I understand that they are returning shortly to be flown from Mucha Air Base. I have spoken to the South African authorities and it is too late to delay their departure for them to await my friend arriving. She lives in the north. I am requesting that my friend be allowed to travel to Mucha to meet him before he flies out, he has been told of this request and I believe he is happy with it. The family are not from either of our countries they are Namibian.' He lied convincingly.

Now that made a big difference, Namibia was one of the countries that land locked Botswana and that Botswana relied on for general trade and imports and exports, they had trading agreements and good relationships.

'Forgive me for asking but why does the mother come to me through you and not her own country?'

'That is part of the reason for the secrecy, her family is here to claim back ownership of a small farm in Beibridge. They will be successful in their claim but you know that neighbouring countries do not support the land reform activities. Unfortunately this family was chased away by the whites and now they are coming back to claim their rights. The boy was born in Namibia She feels we are more likely to help her and our families are close.'

'I will have to find out about the details of the fight you speak of, I will call you back. Who will accompany the mother?'

'One of her sons but she is happy to meet this man alone,' he lied again. In fact the whole thing was a careful and clever lie whose purpose was to detain Alex Ward until Gourner could get there to take him into Zimbabwe and torture him to death.

The phones went down. Michael thought for a minute and told the other man to find out what he could. He phoned the president and told him the story and although they were both suspicious, they did not want to risk causing friction between themselves and the neighbours that lay between them and the sea that was the lifeblood of their country's trade.. They agreed to allow the meeting and, if necessary, request a delay in the departure of the plane. Michael gave it an hour and then called his counterpart back with the news. 'I will call Mucha Air Base and tell them to hold either the plane or this man. We will provide alternative transport for him if the plane must leave. As the aircraft is civilian and we do not want an international incident we have no way of detaining all the other passengers. That is the only way we can help.'

The Interior Minister expressed his gratitude and then called Gourner 'The plane will be delayed or the man will be held until the meeting has taken place, but I hope it can be the former, you understand we want to help but not be directly involved.' Gourner grunted and put the phone down, he continued on his journey.

'Chandera, it is all arranged except for our army to be there too. I will leave that to you?'

'Yes but we have problems getting the men as the best candidates are already committed elsewhere. You go there and make sure Gourner doesn't leave until we get there, he can do what he wants but then keep him there.'

The Colonel felt sick.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 30

### Musina Hotel

Back at the hotel Alex tried to contact the airline and then the British Consulate in South Africa. The airline would call him back but he got through to the Consular who listened patiently to his explanation of wanting, needing to get back to England but said that the fastest way now was through the route which had been put in place. He conceded though that Alex could still opt to fly straight back to England if he was willing to wait. Alex said he wasn't. He listened for the rest of the call and played with a book of hotel matches. When the phone went down he walked away, absentmindedly putting the matches in his top pocket.

Everyone had boarded the coach and just before it set off an airline representative came aboard. 'Hello everyone, I am Martin Walker a Southern Hemisphere local representative and I just wanted to let you know that one of my colleagues will meet you at the military air camp as I won't be travelling with you. However, I have been asked to make a presentation to Mr Alex Ward to acknowledge his act of heroism. So Alex, if I may call you Alex, please come up and accept this token of acknowledgement from your fellow passengers.'

'Bugger he thought,' but encouraged by Rachel he went forward.

He accepted a wooden box with two bottles of champagne and mumbled a few words of appreciation. 'Oh no, that's not all, I have here something that you may want to keep as a memoir too. 'He produced the tin of sardines Alex had put in his pocket at the Zott camp site. This did bring a smile to his face and a laugh all round. He held it up and then slipped it into his side pocket.

The journey to the air base in Botswana had been hot and dusty at first where the ground had dried out but then wetter as they went north, but apart from seeing the odd distant animal it was uneventful. On arrival the passengers were held on the bus, tantalizingly close to their plane visible through the windows. It was smaller than the one they had come in on and they discovered later it was a Jet-stream 41.

'Hello everyone and welcome, you will be boarding just a few minutes.' announced a new southern hemisphere representative. He paused until he had their attention. He had a very lightly tanned complexion and a very heavy South African accent that was made broader by his deep voice. 'Will Mr Alex Ward please come with me? Mr Ward?' He looked around. His uniform was military, immaculate Captain's cap and side arm. He was lean faced and although the body did not show through the material of the jacket it was muscular and well exercised.

'That's me', Alex called out, 'yes?'

'Mr Ward, please come with me,' he turned and then waited at the open coach doorway.

Rachel and Alex had sat together and Trevor was on the seat beside them across the aisle. 'Listen my friend, make sure you get on that plane with us,' he said to Alex staring hard into his eyes.

Alex got up and put his bag on his seat. He had bought a couple of things; a book by Terri Ann laws called 'Help I'm going Crazy', he'd heard of the book but had not read it, a South African bandana head tie, and some post cards.

Before he got to the officer, the man said 'Oh please bring your bag and things too.'

Alex turned and picked up his bag. Rachel got out of her seat and kissed him on the cheek. He got off the bus. 'Who is it I'm seeing?' he asked as casually as he could.

'I don't know exactly. Someone from Zimbabwe, but I don't know who.'

'I was told it was someone from Botswana.'

'I'm sorry I just have orders to detain you.' This was unfortunate language, the words orders and detain did not sit well, and it was made even more worrying when Alex looked round to see the bus making for the plane.

They reached the main building and they were met by a more senior officer, the commander. After a brief discussion between the two military men in Shona, which Alex found both irritating and worrying, he was taken by the Captain and two privates who appeared from the side of the building to another building about 50 feet away. Approaching it he could see it looked about twenty feet long and ten feet wide.

On entering Alex saw it was stark. A table, two chairs and nothing else; the ground was like concrete but not smooth. There were odd stones showing on the surface, the walls were breezeblock and only about six feet from the floor to the start of the slanting roof. The roof was thatched, slanting to a peak no more than eight feet in the centre and there were two upside down 'T' sections of metal poles. These poles crossed to the side walls and then rose to the main roof beam to help support it. Across the top he could see a large wooden beam running from end to end. It had two windows one at each end near the peak of the roof so when the door closed it was much darker than normal light. Before leaving him the Captain took his bag and Alex started to object. 'I'll keep that thank you.'

'Mr Ward my orders are to detain you here until the delegation from Zimbabwe arrives. You will not be needing this bag, I have just been told you are under arrest.' He stood aside and spoke in Shona and one of his men stepped forward and took the bag. Alex was now dumbstruck. He was under arrest! They left and closed the door, a bolt being slotted into place on the outside. Although he could not see, he heard the stamp of feet as though the two men saluted and were on guard outside.

'Shit,' he thought. He walked forward to the table, he looked around, his hands started to shake and he felt sick, and he could not think, his mind paralysed by fear. He could no longer hear the coach driving off to the plane for the passengers to embark. Nor could he hear the protests from Rachel and Trevor which they made to no avail. He was left, in silence, alone.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 31

### On route to Mucha air base

Gourner was on the phone to the Colonel 'Hold him, you fucking 'old him'.

'Gourner I will fly there and see he is held. I will wait for you. I go now.' He called to his aide, 'get the helicopter ready, I am going to it, we go to Botswana.'

*

Alex leant against the wall and looked around; he knew he had to get out. He gazed up to the ceiling and started to stretch and flex his muscles. After a few minutes he swung his arms around and stood at the end of the table, placing his hands either side he picked it up and moved towards the door. Although the door was bolted from the outside it had a normal push down handle, he placed the table against the door and it fitted but the table top was too low below the handle to stop it being pressed down. He picked up one of the chairs and put it on the table. The chairs were metal with a canvas seat and back. The legs, seat and back support were all tubular metal and he wedged the bass of the chair under the handle on the table top. A tight fit!

He stood there, the panic rising in his throat realising there was no way back once he started to try to escape. Once he accepted that he became more determined than ever to get out. He tried a few exercises to warm up his muscles. He walked up and down fast, swung his arms, did a few jumps and then a few push ups on the side of the table. Satisfied he was ready, he picked up the other chair and stood it under one of the cross beams near the rear wall. He looked up and then walked back, now working on his mind, starting to convince himself he was going to get out, that he was in charge, that he was invincible. Standing on the chair he took a deep breath and jumped from the chair upwards, grabbing the cross beam and using all his strength to pull himself up on to the beam. Holding himself with one leg on the cross beam and balancing his weight he climbed up, first onto one knee, then the other, then a foot. Now standing on the cross beam he held on to the roof thatching. It was tough and strong, tightly held together and no doubt secured from outside with some kind of fastening. He pulled and pushed, then stopping he held onto the roof with one hand and searched in his pocket with the other. He took out the sardine tin, then holding himself steady with his head on the roof he opened the ring pull and emptied the contents of the can onto the floor. He bent the lid in half and started to saw away at the thatch. It was tough going but after several minutes he had daylight. A slight gap in the thatched roof and as he worked on, more and more thatch came away and he kept going, pulling the cut thatch away and making the hole bigger. Now he could put his head through and look around, he was facing the back of the camp and either side of him were more roofs but nothing directly facing him except the fence around the back of the camp. Eventually he had a hole big enough to get his body through, using the same technique to jump and pull himself up and out onto the roof. Steadying himself and trying to grip the roof he felt the push of the wind. Not too heavy but just noticeable enough to draw his attention. To his horror he heard helicopter blades cutting through the air behind him. Turning round he could see the blue helicopter landing a good 300 yards away to the right of the buildings. It was inside the fence and there was a chance that they had not seen him. He laid himself flat staying still until it had landed and the noise had stopped.

*

In fact they had not seen him. The Colonel was far too preoccupied to be looking at the buildings. He knew he had to ensure their prey was detained but also get out before anything started to happen. He was reasonably sure that Gourner would kill everyone there if need be but he needed to extract himself from any political issues. Zimbabwe had enough to deal with internally without creating more issues with their neighbours.

The camp commander sent the captain to meet his visitor and to bring him in. This was not a good situation to be in. He only had twenty men on site, and was only in command as it was his turn on the rota. The air base was not permanently in use so the troops were rotated in from the nearest army camp.

*

Alex crouched low on the roof and looked over the top towards the main entrance and the front of the compound. To his left was the large main building and to his right another building similar in size to the one he was on. Beyond that he could see a vehicle compound with a line of some eight or nine jeeps, some with trailers, and he guessed there might be more that were hidden by the rooftops. Behind them were a couple of large fuel tanks, a water tower and what looked like a training assault course with a scattering of soldiers along its route. He slowly moved to his right until he was two thirds of the way to the left-hand end of the building. The roof felt solid and he still had the improvised saw in his hand. He pulled a single piece of thatch and threw it into the air; the slightest breeze took it over the roof towards the front of the building. Perfect! Now he cut away at the roof again until the surface was broken enough to pull out the strands of thatch and cut a hole as deep as the depth of his hand. He found the hotel book of matches in one of his top pockets and he pulled off a match and struck it, quickly holding it deep in the hole. It started to light but then went out, he struck another match and this one burned long enough to catch light to the thatch. He waited until he was sure it was well alight and was startled by how quickly the fire spread. Moving much faster now but still carefully he made his way to his right and surveyed the distance from his roof to that of the next building. Although the walls were about eight feet apart the roof overhangs were much closer. He decided to jump for it and putting the tin lid in his pocket he gave himself a run up, stood quickly and ran to the edge before leaping the gap. He barely made it. Just enough of him landed face down with arms out to hold him on. He pulled himself up and walked crouched over to near the end of the building. He could see the next building was a good bit smaller and that he would not make that jump. He turned back and taking out the tin lid he cut another hole, pulled a match off and lit the roof. He found himself stifling a humorless, fear-edged smile as he thought that at least he would go out with a bang.

Next he lowered himself to the ground from the rear edge of the building. There was no gutter and the rain had run off and made an extra soft, wet gully around the buildings. His only concern was the loud squelching noise made as he landed in a puddle. Nothing happened and no one had shouted 'fire' so he assumed no one had heard and ran towards the vehicle compound. The vehicles were parked almost in line with the smaller buildings so they were not directly in sight of the main area or larger buildings. He got to the first and looked inside. The keys were there! It was a short wheelbase jeep, open at the back, with a two tone paint job of lighter and darker brown with a green strip band separating the colours. In the back there seemed to be camouflage nets and blankets or covers of some kind too. He took the keys from the vehicle and moved on to the next. It was a different vehicle, long wheelbase and covered, but again the keys were there. He ventured to turn the key to check the fuel, then removed it and went to the next. There were eight jeeps in all. The second to last had a trailer which looked like a water bowser at first but then he saw it had a fuel hose and funnel strapped to it. The last jeep was an enclosed vehicle with an extra-long wheelbase and was fitted out with bench seats in the rear between which lay a number of boxes. He got in the back and sorted through the boxes taking three bags of food rations, each one containing ten days of hard biscuit rations and a soft vulcanised water carrier. He also found a box of twenty grenades, a rifle, a dagger and a longer knife, almost a bayonet, and what looked like a rocket launcher. It was about four foot six long, seemed to weigh around twenty pounds and was in a box with five rocket cartridges. He put all these and the plastic instructions to the rear of the vehicle and got out. Running behind the jeeps he took the bayonet and slashed and stabbed at the rear tyres on all the jeeps but one. The one with the fuel bser that he'd selected to take. He was now aware that the smoke had been seen and there was a lot of activity and feint shouting going on. As quickly as he could he threw the keys of the vehicles into the back of the jeep with the fuel bowser and went back to load up the food and weapons. In the back of his mind he heard the fire alarm go off but he was more interested in the plastic instruction sheets on how to fire the rockets which he quickly skim read. He loaded the rocket launcher and then drove the jeep forward about ten feet. He got out and rested the rocket launched on the right side of the bonnet pointing at the helicopter he took a deep breath and fired. A second later the helicopter was no more. The burst of red and yellow flames were quickly engulfed in a plume of black and grey smoke before another exposition let go, creating a red and yellow blast of flame. By this time he had moved to the left of the bonnet and was taking aim at the perimeter fence in front of him and slightly to his left. Another pull of the trigger and away it went, but just to be sure he fired another rocket into the next post he could make out.

Setting the rocket launcher behind him he climbed into the jeep and took off, heading for the hole in the fence, across the fence line and onto the main airport area. He headed to the approach road and when joining it he branched to the right and kept going. He kept trying to look back in the rear view mirror but he could see no sign of a chase starting. All he saw was the escalating fire and smoke.

*

The first to notice the smoke had been a private who looked at it for some seconds before believing he was seeing smoke wafting from the roofs of two of the buildings. He hurried over to two other solders nearby and pointed and they all looked on then one of them shouted to a sergeant who was over by the main gate. He shouted and pointed and the sergeant yelled 'fire'. The captain returned from delivering the visitors to his commander to discover the mayhem of newly drafted troops running around with no clue as to how to tackle the fire. Eventually the fire alarm was sounded.

The commander apologised to his visitors and stood in the doorway to be told of the roof fires and before he could ask which building was on fire the helicopter was blown up. The blast caused him and the others near him to gasp as the air was knocked out of their lungs and they were almost blown over. In disbelief they struggled with each other for a place in the doorway to see what had happened. This explosion had sent everyone outside to the ground, they just hit the dirt hoping not to be hit next and when the next explosion went off no one was fighting any fires. Personal survival was all that mattered. Then another explosion, they were under attack but where and who from? No one even saw the jeep and trailer being driven through the hole in the fence.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 32

### Leaving Botswana

On the plane before it took off Trevor asked the stewardess to convey to the captain that one of the passengers had been left behind and that they wanted to telephone the British Consulate in South Africa. The captain came to see them and assured them he had contacted the airline and reported they were one passenger short. He had been instructed to continue on to Cape Town and to leave immediately.

Trevor sat with Rachel in the plane and asked if she knew anything of Africa and in particular Zimbabwe. When she admitted she only knew a little he went on to explain how the people of Zimbabwe had for years been downtrodden, bullied, starved, beaten and deprived of basic human rights. Between December 2006 and January 2007 dysentery and cholera had swept the city of Harare, supplies of bread had dried up after a poor harvest and many bakeries had been closed. The whole social and political infrastructure had since changed with a new energy of dissent and reform developing in the cities as well as out in the country. In addition the educational system was nearing collapse because of the knock on effect of the economic catastrophe. A large percentage of teachers, some say 25%, had quit the country, and school buildings were crumbling and standards plummeting. If you looked for it you could see children with no books or pencils trying to write in the dust on the ground, and this in areas near to main towns and cities. At one point school examiners had refused to mark exam papers because they were offered only 79 Zimbabwe dollars to mark each paper, this paltry sum was just enough to buy three small sweets.

The governmental corruption had found its way into the educational system with reports of some students who had not taken certain subjects or exams gaining high marks and qualifications in them. Then there was the other end of the spectrum with disused offices and storerooms being turned into brothels at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare by both students and staff. They were having to turn to prostitution to make ends meet.

Rachel laid her head back on her seat. This history lesson was doing nothing to calm her fears about Alex's safety.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 33

### BBC World news

The BBC was presenting the evening news bulletin when information about the detention of Mr Alex Ward in Botswana came through. 'News just in says that in a bazaar twist in Botswana, it has been reported that Mr Alex Ward, one of the 14 passengers who were taken hostage and later freed themselves has been detained in Botswana. No official confirmation has been received but his fellow passengers landing in Cape Town have reported he was taken from their company and held whilst they were flown away. We will bring you more on this as soon as we have it. Staying with news in Zimbabwe and in the same area and also highlighting the dangerous situation facing people in Botswana we have a report of a group of twenty people believed murdered trying to leave the country. Although they have not been found, their possessions and one of the vehicles they were believed to be travelling in has been found. In fact it was one of the vehicles used to gain escape from Zimbabwe by the Southern Hemisphere hostage passengers. The missing people were government opposition sympathisers. Amnesty International has again highlighted the increasing number of atrocities being both rumoured and reported and called for the international community to take action.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 34

### Mucha air base

Gourner arrived at the military air base three hours later to find the wreckage of the helicopter and the remains of the smoldering roofs. Troops were still scurrying around and the Colonel walked to meet him as he disembarked from his vehicle. 'What the fuck happened here? Man that your copter?' Without waiting for an answer, 'Where is he?' His anger building as his instinct told him his prey was behind this carnage.

'They think he is dead, in that building,' the Colonel lied pointing to the remains of first small building rather nervously, 'He was held there waiting for you.'

'What? How come?' They had walked towards the main building and Gourner's men were getting off the vehicles, fully armed. The commander saw them and went back into his office and pressed the general alarm. The captain shouted orders and the Botswana soldiers already confused by the fire and helicopter explosion ran in different directions, some to the armoury, some for cover. It was to no avail, Mee fired first, into the air and halted them in their tracks.

Gourner saw the captain and called him over, 'Where is he? De Englishman, where is he?'

'We don't know, he was in that building, probably set fire to it, blew up the helicopter and drove away. We are a jeep missing.' He paused and added, 'It's a hard back, long one.' He spoke what he thought was the truth but he was wrong.

All the short wheel base jeeps were soft back or no backs, and they only had two long wheelbase jeeps which did originally have hard backs, but because of the extra weight and the heat containment of the metal body of the hard backs it was decided to remove the metal and replace them with the soft canvas covers.

However, only one cover was available so only that jeep had been changed. The metal cover was on the ground behind the other vehicles and the Captain did not know this. Neither he nor anyone else had actually noticed Alex drive off because they had their heads down protecting themselves from the explosions.

The Colonel looked at the Captain in utter amazement and started to step to the side raising his hand to his head. Gourner very quickly pulled out his knife and clasping it in his hand like a dagger he drove it into the Colonel's throat. He pulled the knife out as the Colonel half staggered back and half fell to the ground. He turned to the captain, 'Which way?'

The Captain pointed to the road and the west, he stepped back a pace.

Before leaving they refuelled.

*

The three helicopters carrying the men who were to apprehend Gourner arrived thirty minutes after Gourner had left. Their commander radioed what he found at Mucha air base back to Chandera but the delay in getting through to him plus the slight exaggeration of how long Gourner had been gone led to a call back.

Chandera consulted with his colleague and then they phoned the President. 'Set up a watch at Zott, when he returns get him. I will send my car for you to join me, we have work to do.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 35

### Cape Town airport

By the time they landed Rachel had made up her mind to do something about Alex being left behind. Before leaving the plane she asked the other passengers for their contact details and if anyone would help in going to see the airline and authorities. Trevor led the way and two other men said they would help while they were there but they were travelling. No other takers. 'Well the next time you are in trouble I hope no one comes to your rescue!' she threw at them as they got ready to leave the plane.

*

Their arrival had not been widely publicised because the airline wanted to minimise the media coverage as the plane failure and then the kidnapping weren't exactly great publicity. There was by now an additional security issue given that Mr Ward's detention could lead to other passengers being accosted. They didn't want to take any chances. There was also the issue of a number of passengers having changed their plans and needing to be ferried to connecting flights.

'I know it is disappointing but very much human nature I am afraid,' Trevor tried to comfort Rachel as they waited to disembark but it only wound her up more.

'It's pathetic, animals would probably do more. Cowards, insufferable cowards.' She loudly voiced as they existed the plane.

The general mumblings from the other passengers were partly embarrassment and partly attempts at justifying their inaction to themselves.

Clearing customs, Trevor had waited for Rachel and together they went to the Southern Hemisphere help desk. Rachel was pleased to find a number of media representatives present. When they realised who they were the media swamped them.

Trevor pulled his shoulders back and in a loud voice. 'Okay we are not going anywhere, give us some space and we will talk to you.' This did calm things and one or two tried to ask some questions but Trevor would have none of it. 'Now listen we wish to talk to you, so you will get a story here but you will have to do it our way. One of our party has been detained in Botswana and we want to tell the world about it. Now please stand back and give us some air.'

At this point an airline official stepped in and asked if they would like to go to one of their offices.

'No that is the last thing we want to do,' said Rachel, by now fired up, she was grateful for Trevor's help but she wanted to make a scene. 'We want to stand here and get world-wide coverage of why a British subject has been detained in Botswana and why the airline allowed that to happen.' She heard the emotion building in her voice and tried to control it as she spoke and she felt the volume increase and a slight shakiness vibrate out. 'And I want a return flight to England for all of us, including Alex Ward, and we want to know what is going to be done about it, who is responsible? Who is going to get him back? Is this what happens when tourists come to South Africa?'

The airport security were now starting to converge on the group and this prompted Trevor to catch Rachel's eye and nod towards the men.

'Oh yes, is this the next stage? Are we to be arrested trying to get help for our friend. The man who rescued fourteen kidnapped passengers when the airline and the government did nothing to help him?' She pointed to some of the security guards for the benefit of the reporters.

Rachel and Trevor were approached by the senior officer. 'Hello my name is Ardo Benjamin. I am the assistant security director for the airport. We are not going to arrest you, but in the interests of safety and customer flow through the airport we will ask you to move, all of you including the press, to an office where you will be free to carry on this meeting.' He paused, 'I am afraid I must insist.' He held out his hand pointing to an open office door.

Immediately he was asked for a comment by one of the pressmen but he smiled, 'no comment, but you are all welcome to follow me to a safe area where you can carry on your discussion.'

In the room Trevor ushered Rachel to the back of a small table and they sat down. Ardo stood at the back of the room and allowed the media people to enter and he stood by watching. The meeting was from then on quite orderly with questions being asked and Rachel, mostly, answering them. Occasionally Trevor spoke up to add clarification or endorsement if Rachel stopped to gather her thoughts. After some twenty minutes a senior representative from Southern Hemisphere airline came in. He tentatively asked if he could speak with Trevor and Rachel about their requirements to stay or return to England.

'Yes well I think we are just about done here aren't we folks?' Trevor nodded and received back confirmation from the crowd of reporters. 'Perhaps we can have some contact numbers from you before we go?' Again a flurry of activity, they had never had it so good. 'Err, erm I think Rachel and I need a word before we speak to you about what happens next, so can we have a few minutes alone please?'

Everyone departed and Ardo told them he would wait outside and that he would like a word before they left.

'Rachel my dear I really do need to stay here for a while. It's job related you see, I am happy to be the involved in any activity and support however I can but I have commitments which is why I am here.'

'Oh Trevor yes I do understand and I am so grateful for your support and I know Alex will be too.' Saying his name jarred her somehow and she was suddenly tearful.

Trevor found himself holding a shaking and tearful woman and wasn't quite sure what to do other than hold her and stroked her shoulder. For Rachel it was a timely release of the feelings she had been holding in. She was completely confused by her feelings for Alex, she had always been sure of herself and forthright in relationships, if she was attracted to someone she felt no fear is showing it. She had noticed Alex in the departure area and had thought he looked self-assured and very casual. She'd guessed he was on holiday but was a little surprised he was on his own. On the plane she had noted he was sitting three seats in front of her and in the aisle seat as she was, and from there she saw how the stewardess had not responded to his come on. At the time she had not recognised why this had pleased her but she knew it now.

When they'd made their escape and she'd driven the bus she had not thought about Alex at all, which was interesting, just as when they arrived at the hotel she could not stop thinking of him. Her approach was typical of her, and she had suffered many times in the past from jumping in with both feet, but it really did feel right this time.

She moved slightly and Trevor let her go. She was regaining control and wiped her eyes. 'I am so sorry I don't know what came over me, the whole thing has been a nightmare and I think it has just built up.'

'Not to worry I feel quite emotional myself,' he lied, because being that close to her had given him other feelings, but he knew he wouldn't do anything about them.

'Okay so I am going back to England, you are staying here and that is fine. I will stay in contact and maybe we can actually do something useful.'

'Yes of course, I am sure we can. It will be important to keep this in the news and make sure there is no let up. If we can get the UK press to pick it up, maybe the opposition will lend a hand if it plays into them getting some good press. They're conniving bastards, sorry, but you know what I mean, politics is all about guiding peoples' perception and if they think they can score in that direction they will support us.'

'Yes,' she said thoughtfully, 'and if not they won't bother. As you say so eloquently, "bastards"!'

They looked at each other and smiled a genuine smile of the understanding between them. He understood her hurt, worry and want; and she realised he cared. They opened the door and invited the Southern Hemisphere representative in for an audience. Rachel said she wanted to return to England as soon as possible, and Trevor confirmed he was staying in South Africa but given the interruption to his trip he may need to delay his departure as he was on business.

After that Ardo entered the room and asked if there was anything he could do and if they had any complaints regarding the Cape Town airport. Rachel asked why they had the assistant director and not the director present, and she felt a little awkward on hearing that the director was away on compassionate leave due to bereavement in the family. They confirmed they had no issue with the Cape Town airport authority. He seemed happy with that and they were escorted into a public area near the Southern Hemisphere desk.

When they parted Trevor was moved to embarrassment by his feelings, he so much hoped that things worked out for Alex and Rachel both. He stuttered his farewell and left Rachel at the entrance to the departure area.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 36

### Lost in Botswana

Alex had driven along the road travelling west but he did not know what to do or where to go. He came to a junction which offered him to the choice to either continue westward, through Botswana to Namibia, or turn south into South Africa. He looked around and he could see a dense clump of low bushes and some large rocks over to the north. He had other choices to make too. He could carry on and find a road north but that meant travelling the length of Botswana, or he could try to cut back and go east through Zimbabwe and on to Mozambique. He needed time to think. He put his foot down and swung to the left, trying to leave clear tracks. Driving on for half a mile he slowed and turned to the right off the road. He stopped and got one of the covers from the jeep and went back and smoothed out his tracks, the tyre marks gave way and he was satisfied he had covered his turn off tracks. He then drove on back to meet the main road that he had turned off, crossed the road and went on until he could see the bushes and rocks he had seen before. Slowly he drove towards them until they lay between him and the road.

As he got closer he could see there was a dip in the ground and the bushes were just the other side, it looked like a man-made crater, a hole left by a bomb or perhaps a dig of some sort. He drove in at an angle and then turned the vehicle to face outwards, so it was almost in a 'V' shape. He got out and went to the rear, getting out the camouflage netting and laying it on the ground. It was heavy and large, at least twice the length of the vehicle even with the trailer, he was concerned he might be seen from the air but he could only do so much. The vehicle was close enough to the bushes to be part of them once he had the netting over it. He worked on despite feeling tired and covered up the jeep, then took what he thought was a blanket but which turned out to be a very large holdall bag and placed it across the windscreen. He didn't want the sun shining on the glass and giving him away. He investigated the food rations and had some water and sat in the jeep to eat and think.

He still had his phone, in fact he had them both but Ann's had no battery left, and he checked his to find the battery was at 74%. He took the battery out to save it; it was no good phoning or sending a message when he had no idea what to do or where he could be met. He tried to think what he needed to do. What or who could help him? Yes he needed help, but how to get it? He decided he would stay here for two days and hope that the pursuit that must surely be coming was either given up or extended out and he could move on. He would send text and emails giving his position and saying when he would turn on his phone. Which way? Well he wasn't going east to Zimbabwe as it would be the most dangerous route and the least likely area to get help in. North would take him all along the Zimbabwe boarder and then into other countries he did not know and which might also help Zimbabwe rather than him. South would have been his favourite route but the South Africans had handed him to Zimbabwe through Botswana, it did not make sense to trust them again. West across Botswana into Namibia and on to the coast, get a boat and sail home, that was his best chance. He allowed himself to think of boats and sailing and being free and not being here, the trouble was he was right here, right now and he needed to be somewhere else.

Ringing in his mind was the way he'd been handed over at the military base, and this gave him an idea. He was beside himself with disbelief and anger and fear but he knew the best form of defence was attack. He put the battery back in the phone and googled the Guardian newspaper for their email address and composed a text and then an email. When he had finished he took the battery out and settled down to try to rest. At first, sheer fear kept him reliving the events from the first attack on the plane through to elements of the escape but none of that compared to the absolute dread and worry he'd felt when he was arrested. Like a captured animal in a cage waiting to be killed.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 37

### Searching the Botswana roads

Gourner and his men sped down the road and came to the junction. They slowed and the lead car turned left towards South Africa. Gourner got on the radio to tell Mee to keep going straight on in case their prey had gone that way. Mee didn't turn off with his truck but kept going, and Gourner carried on with his two vehicles. Alex heard the approaching vehicles and got out to watch them pass. He kept low and did not use the binoculars he found in the jeep. He felt some satisfaction at them passing by him but decided to get the rocket launcher out just in case. He did this and slowly moved over to the left of where he had parked from where he could aim at any vehicle approaching either from the left or straight on. His watch said 15.50 and he decided he would give them an hour. If they were not back by then they were well past where he had turned back. He was worried though because there had been no other vehicles since he had turned off so his tracks may well be seen. However, they had not slowed so they were not trying to track him, just chase and catch. He had been parked up nearly two hours. Settling in to wait he kept looking to the left and straight ahead and then to his horror he saw a large hairy spider walking diagonally from his right to his left. He then saw that in placing the rocket launcher down he had disturbed a small mound, obviously a nest, and there was more than one spider out to explore. They weren't massive but bigger than anything you would find in England. The spider was on track to pass a few inches from where he stood, if he stayed there. He didn't. He feared spiders and even if his pursuers were returning he would have had to move. He pulled back leaving the rocket launcher there until the spider had gone and made a mental note to ensure the jeep windows were closed all night.

~ ~ ~

Alex's email was received with some skepticism at The Guardian Newspaper but they quickly tracked down the other recipients and went to work on the background story. Then they phoned the foreign office for a comment on the accusation that the British Government had colluded with the South African and Zimbabwe governments to arrest, and extradite Mr Alex Ward and effectively send him to his death. The story was going out the next day and it was backed up by other passenger witnesses. The British Consulate in South Africa had said Mr Ward was to be questioned in Botswana before leaving and he had been detained whilst everyone else had been freed and flown away. The fact Alex's pleas for international help specifically excluded the British Government in case they tried to kill him again had created quite a stir.

The government threatened a court order forbidding the publication and now word was passing from one media source to another. The Government made a statement that they had no knowledge of the events and that they would have the matter investigated immediately. The phones were hot, but the paper published and then the media took over creating a frenzy of activity and reports from all over Southern Africa.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 38

### Rachel flies home

Rachel's luggage had been retained in Cape Town along with the belongings of the other hostage passengers and the authorities now had to locate it and get it back to Heathrow. She had insisted that it was not necessary that her bags be on the same flight as her without realising the difficulties and implications if it was not, not least that she may never see it again. However, eventually it was confirmed that she and her luggage would be on a flight to Heathrow at 10.25 the next day 15th March. She would arrive in Heathrow at the local time of 20.30 the same day.

Rachel started to think of what she would do went she did get back. She composed some text messages and sent them on to her former employers asking for help and contacts of people who might be able to help.

She had been booked into a hotel for the night and on arriving she ordered room service and an alarm call. She wanted nothing more than to go to bed but she showered first and ate the meal, although by this time it was cold. She stopped to think about what and when she had eaten last and realised her calorie intake was well down on her norm. Then she hit the sack and slept until the alarm call.

The trip to the airport and through the checkout was littered with requests from media people to comment on the fate of Alex Ward. This pleased Rachel and she gave them as much time as she could. Then as she was going into the departure security queue a reported told her that a Guardian newspaper report had said that he had been handed over with the sanction of the British government and did she have any comment.

'Can you comment on the report that the British government was a party to the handing over of Mr Alex Ward to the Zimbabwe rebels?'

Shock entered Rachel's mind at hearing these words. 'What the British government handed him over?' This was genuine question posed in the heat of the moment but it was reported as a statement of fact. The media frenzy was in motion.

'Well I had no idea the British government were involved and I can only say I am pleased to be returning to England to seek support to free Alex Ward. If the British government were involved, and let me say I would be extremely surprised to find they were, then I am sure the British people will demand an explanation.' She was now at a mental loss, what did this mean? Was he something different than he seemed? Had she been duped and he was an international terrorist? These fearful thoughts ran through her mind and she felt very alone.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 39

### SAS

General Howard De-Havilland was asked by the government for a feasibility plan to rescue a person hiding in Botswana. He might have an hour of mobile phone battery left and he was not military trained. The General was a hard man who had seen service in Argentina with the commandos and he had been in intelligence gathering and on spotting missions in the gulf. Now an SAS man himself he was a good choice to find a solution. He had enquiries made regarding local and sea support and put together a plan. It was no surprise to anyone that it involved an SAS team.

The UK government had eventually been informed that a jeep pulling a fuel bowser was missing and there had been intercepted messages about sightings which suggested a westerly track across Botswana. Other information regarding local incidents had also been collated, some relevant and some not.

However the planned extraction of Mr Ward was daring and not without risk. Using three of a four man SAS team and two micro light two seater aircrafts with additional fuel tanks, launched from an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic off the coast of Namibia. The SAS had microlights called mantas available to them and the men could be flown out to join the Arc Royal, which fortuitously was 3000 kilometres away from the Namibia coast and could be in range of the south of Namibia in 4 days. Obviously the success of contact would rely upon the individual being able to identify and remain at a specific location, and more than that the range of the mantas' meant that he would need to be within a 20 kilometres of the Namibia border. At this point they had no idea where he was or what direction he was travelling; indeed he could have been captured or killed by any number of marauding gangs. On the basis that Mr Ward had absconded in a jeep with the fuel bowser and was still free then they were relying on the idea that he could make it across Botswana and the width of Namibia without assistance. The only reassurance was that he had proved very resourceful so far.

The plan was relayed to the prime minister and it was sanctioned. It was the unknown elements that made the plan so fragile. So little was known of Alex Ward. His temperament and mental makeup were so important. Luck too was a vital ingredient and he would need a good bit of it to traverse this sort of distance and survive the locals, the environment and his pursuers. Holding it together believing he could get through was a must, the men going to get him would depend on him keeping his nerve as much for their safety as his.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 40

### Hide and seek

Gourner had driven on and come across a number of natives and South Africans none of whom had seen a vehicle let alone an Englishman. Gourner phoned Mee who had found a group of farmers who had seen vehicle dust in the distance. This was 80 kilometres from the junction and while Mee had continued the pursuit he had not come across anything yet. Gourner decided to stop his search and join Mee. He headed North West to find him.

Gourner was aware that he had travelled about 80 kilometres and that Mee had done about the same. That plus the original journey out meant they were getting short of fuel. In fact the cross country journey to Mee was about 115 kilometres now even without Mee travelling further away. One of their vehicles had been left behind already on the journey to the airfield and he wasn't sure if it was because it had been hit with gun fire, had blown a tire or run out of fuel. He radioed Mee to ask where it was and where they were going to get more fuel. Gourner relied on Mee for anything that went wrong or to find answers. Mee was younger than Gourner but had proved himself to be very useful, clever even. On more than one occasion Mee had come up with an exit plan or seen a risk and protected them against it. Gourner trusted him, probably the only person he did trust. Yet Gourner did not have him on the diamond raid. It was almost as though he knew what the outcome would be. He would have found it hard to kill Mee and so he had left him out.

Mee knew it would not be easy to get fuel out here. The nearest settlement was a very small place called Tipo that had no real infrastructure so any fuel would be in a few fuel cans. The last time this happened they had to wait for 11 days for supplies to get to them because they were of course there illegally and they ended up with a fight and it cost them four men. Mee stopped, checked his spare fuel and poured it into the main tank. He radioed Gourner and told him he should transfer fuel and men to one vehicle, and this he did, abandoning the other.

Shortly afterwards Mee came across a nomad family, moving their small herd of goats, they also had one camel used to carry their tent and other possessions. He allowed his men to rape the two women, then killed them both along with the men and children then sent one of his soldiers off on the camel back to Zott. The man would need to find the other vehicle or some other means to bring them food and fuel. Then they killed some goats, had a feast and waited for Gourner. They were also short of water and he knew he had started with more than the other trucks. Before they killed the goat family the father had told him of a watering hole about 20 kilometres to the north east but said it was very low when they passed it.

There was something else to think about. They had not discussed it but both Gourner and Mee were aware that the satellite phone was not working and it hadn't been for some time. This phone was not so important to them but it was to their masters. Gourner had for years now, particularly since 2000 when Mugabe suffered his first political defeat, been at the head of the assassination and heavy arm people. He was given the most difficult and sensitive jobs to do, he was trusted, he had proved himself, they had proved themselves as a team. The phone was not working because it had been cut off.

To Gourner this was annoying because he needed it to get information and more help, but he knew he was being punished for killing the Colonel. He had angered his paymasters before and got away with it before because he was so useful and would do anything. He was confident he would get back into their good books again.

Mee had a different take on things as he knew that the current situation was the worst it ever had been. He was closer to his people and other people than Gourner. He knew that the lack of food, the unrest caused by the opposition, even a call to rebel was putting more pressure on Mugabe than ever before. Even Mugabe's relatives next to him in the cabinet were petrified to confront him with issues of famine and disease. Mee knew that in a bad moment Mugabe would have Gourner killed and that Mee would be dispensed of too. He hoped the phone came back on before long. The best thing would be for Mugabe to need Gourner soon.

In fact the phone was switched off because the Colonel's brother had heard the news of his death and a distorted story of how Gourner in a rage had killed him when he told Gourner to let the Englishman go and get back to work. The Colonel's brother, Darboo Christenden, was also in the government. He relayed it on to Mugabe through Mugabe's own brother and it was agreed that when Gourner returned he would be dealt with, and that he would be sent a signal. The phone was to be turned off. In truth Mugabe could not spare any men to go look for Gourner because he was already stretched beating down groups of opposition activists and maintaining the support of followers by selectively spreading food around, but the decision remained.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 41

### The media campaign

The flight home seemed to take forever. Rachel could not rest. Nothing made the time go quickly. She tried the films, the flight path, gin and tonic, ice cream. Eventually they were landing and going through the baggage and customs and then she was out. The media entourage was massive. She was quite taken aback by the amount of media waiting for her.

*

From Heathrow, Rachel took the train underground to Fenchurch Street and the last train to Southend Central leaving at 22.53 and arriving 23.50. She then got a taxi home getting in at 01.00 in the morning of the 16th March. Now she started to feel the cold and this inflicted another form of doubt in her. Feeling cold on the outside as well as the inside she longed for some peace of mind and reassurance that Alex was okay.

The next day saw an increase in public interest fuelled by the press and media responding to the defensive releases of the government. The opposition played the game as they always did; using the slightest leverage they could to attack the government. It didn't matter who was in government and opposition the game was the same, get at the opposite side regardless of how.

However there was some relief. Her parents both called and so did her sister and some friends. All genuinely interested although she recognised some level of nosiness too, and she found that while she found it easy to tell her sister and friends about Alex, she had held back with her parents. This was unusual for her and when she realised she had done this it made her wonder why. Perhaps she didn't want to disappoint them if things went wrong and perhaps she realised how much she felt for him. Or perhaps she felt it had all been too much too soon and she was on a helter-skelter with no control.

Rachel carried out interview after interview, television, radio and newspaper and some were good, some less so.

'Hello, is that Rachel?'

'Yes hello. Who's this?'

'I'm Alex's sister, my name is Patricia. I wanted to talk to you and thank you for what you are doing. How can I help?'

'Well hello. I'm not sure, I'm not sure what I am doing either, or what to do next. It's so difficult.'

'Well listen, Alex is stubborn and resourceful and if anyone can find his way out of that barbaric country, he can.'

Rachel was reduced to tears hearing this, she needed hope and this was music to her ears. Through sniffles she said, 'I don't know what to say. I feel so alone and there is no news and he is so totally alone.'

'Rachel, where are you? I'm in Essex and you're welcome to come here and rest up if you want.'

'Oh I don't know. You know I hardly know Alex we just met and he saved us. I just don't know what to say or do.'

'Well you have been doing alright so far. Where are you?'

'I'm at home in Southend.'

'Rachel, Rachel.' Patricia interrupted, 'I live at Leigh on Sea just up the road, my God let's get together. I'll come to you or you come here.'

'Well I've only got a small flat off Sutton road.'

'Okay do you have transport, I'll come and get you if not.'

'Yes I have a car, where are you?'

Thirty minutes later Rachel was ringing the doorbell and they hugged together. 'Hello, come in, isn't it amazing us being so close? We are alone, my husband Tony is away for two days on a golf thing, he is not back until tonight. So let's get comfy. Tell me how you met Alex but feel free to spare me any sordid details.' They laughed. A new friendship had begun.

Rachel relayed the events of the kidnap and escape, she didn't divulge the exact details of their meeting up afterwards at the hotel, but she agonized over Alex's detention and everyone else being flown away. They discussed some of the media coverage, which Patricia was well aware of, then sat wine glasses in hand. 'Okay I think we need some professional help. Tony knows solicitors and one of them will at least advise us.'

'I wouldn't be too sure about that. I have contacted a few who do not want to know. And I have asked ex-colleagues to help and they are saying this is too hot. I am so worried that Alex really is on his own out there. I can't think what else I can do.'

'Well I read about missing persons and other crimes which were not solved and the trick is to keep it in the media, keep it in the news. That is what we must do. What about a web site?'

'Oh my God yes, that's it we could get a web site and ask people to email the government or tick a petition. Of course that's it, its world-wide and we might get Amnesty to help.'

'Okay I know someone who could do the creation bit but he would need help with the content.'

'That's alright I can help there and I can get links to existing press releases and interviews.'

It was decided. Although it was late, Patricia phoned the chap who had helped with her daughter's web site and left him a message. 'Are you sure he will do it?' Rachel asked with a slight slur.

'He'll do anything if he is getting paid. Excuse me, I'll just phone my husband and let him know what we need.' The mobile was being dialed, and she spoke to the answer phone 'Tony this is your wife here. Hope you are enjoying yourself darling. Rachel, Alex's friend is here, and we need the email addresses of everyone in the country, so before returning home have your rotary friends oblige. We are setting up a web site inviting the nation to petition the government to free Alex. I don't care where or how but get us the addresses or your life will not be worth living. Love you.'

Rachel looked and laughed, 'I hope he has a sense of humour.'

'He is the best man in the world. He'll do it.'

'Better than Alex eh?'

'For me yes. You two have only just met, and you've obviously hit it off but will the humdrum of everyday life maintain your bond, and to the heights I get the impression you reached in that extreme situation? I hope so, I really do, and I'm sure you are a good judge of character. I think that a man needs to be what a woman wants, and if he is, then he is great to her. The trouble is knowing what you want.'

'So what does a woman need to be to a man?

'Well if we knew that life would be so much easier. Certainly in different circumstances, mother, friend and lover come to mind.'

Rachel felt confused by what seemed to be a contradiction. On the one hand Patricia was clearly concerned and loved her brother, but on the other this seemed like a warning that he was a cad. She was too tired and too drunk to think on it. She didn't protest when Patricia offered her a room for the night and fell asleep as soon as she was alone.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 42

### Botswana government move in

The Botswana government met with Tebogo Masire, the head of the army. They had a total of twelve thousand men and this included some women available for the country's defence. They met now because they was growing pressure from the UK to explain what took place at the military air base. Tony Blair himself had phoned the President and demanded an answer. There was a threat to future aid and the USA was also showing an interest because a known international terrorist, Gourner, was now in Botswana and they wanted him. Michael Boat shuffled and told the story as he knew it. The phone call and the instruction given to the air base commander had obviously been misunderstood and they'd gone too far in detaining the Englishman the way they had.

Festus Gontebanye Mogaeu was the president and he spoke to Tebogo, 'If we have people carrying out murder and atrocities in our country we must demonstrate that we will not tolerate it. If we do not then we could become a dumping ground for mercenaries from everywhere. Tebogo gather what information you can and find these men and this Englishman too. He must not be hurt. This man Gourner will be returned to Zimbabwe and they can deal with the governments of other countries. We do not want other countries coming here on our soil making an even bigger mess. Michael, we, you and I, will call Mr Blair and explain the misunderstanding and our embarrassment, and our desire to put things right.'

Tebogo spoke with a low but clear voice, 'Why is the man being chased like this? It makes no sense. There is more to this than we know and I hope we are not doing someone else's dirty work and end up with the blame.'

No one had as yet told them of the detail of Gourner's son's death.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 43

### Rescue

The Arc Royal received orders and set course for the Namibia coast. Whilst the Royal Air Force set about loading the two Manta micro light aircraft into protective cocoons to protect them from a parachute drop into the sea from a Hercules C-130J C4 aircraft. The RAF has a number of 25 C-130J C4/C5 aircraft. The C4 is the shortest of a range of 'C' aircraft. The C-130J had been modified and upgraded to include new turboprop engines and Aerospace six-bladed composite propellers. The new engines and advanced propellers, coupled with a new digital engine-control system, give the C-130J increased take-off thrust and better fuel efficiency. A separate air loadmaster station had been established in the cargo hold of these aircraft and they were cleared for wider use in tactical roles and as in this case used for operational missions involving parachute ops of support equipment. The Mantas were a fairly fragile piece of kit, if all its parts weren't delivered intact and ready to be re-assembled then the plan was a none starter.

The Manta micro light was a two-seater weight shift trike with a 2 cylinder, 2 stroke fan cooled engine. One of the advantages was that there was no shell or body work to speak of and therefore less to damage in an air drop. These particular planes had an extra detachable fuel tank fitted to the back of the front seat that the rear person could remove and throw away if required. In addition the wings had been enlarged and the double surface fabric was extended to 90%. The engine was bored out, and the carburetors, there were two, had been refined to increase the fuel flow. Although this reduced flying time it also increased the carrying capacity.

With a background of the press demanding statements and the public being stirred up about a British hero being fed to a bunch of murderers, the government were in a hurry to get a result. The SAS were briefed and four men sat to discuss their equipment needs and their plan.

Carl Bennett, Bernie Pipe, Ray Cook and Dave Burns sat around a table. They were a team of four and only three could go as the two micro light seats numbered four and their target was going to have one of them on the way back. It was decided that Bernie would stay aboard the Arc Royal and man the comms as he had the least flying time. The plan was to get to the Arc Royal by plane and then leave it flying the mantas to Namibia and wait for a location. Or if one had been arranged by then, fly directly on to the collection point, pick up the target and fly out in one go, back to the ship, which would have closed with the coast to reduce their distance and flying time.

They looked at the skimpy information they had on Alex Ward. Born 18/03/1971, 36, 5' 9", weighted 76 kilos, divorced, one child, a girl of 16. The fact he was ex MD of a fitness company and the two escapes he had affected suggested he was mentally alert and could be fit too. No military or known associations with martial arts, no police record, clean driving license save for three points for speeding on a motorcycle twelve years ago. A member of amnesty international but no other memberships apart from his old company.

They wanted an easy and quick entry and the micro lights were great for that. They could fly low and not be detected by radar, but there was also a restriction to the amount of kit they could take because of the weight. Although these mantas had been modified to take extra weight it soon mounted up when you added a gun and ammunition, first aid kit, torch, camouflage netting and night sights.

Part of the briefing had covered the man thought to be chasing their target. Gourner, also known as Mubiki which was Shona for cook or baker. He got that name because he had a habit of putting people in a hole and setting them on fire. He was wanted for murder in all the countries surrounding Zimbabwe and also by the USA for murder of USA citizens working in Africa. Apparently their target had, when escaping the first time, killed Gourner's son and he was out for revenge. Gourner had a scar on the left side of his temple down to the top of his cheek and his left ear was disfigured by a piece missing which he disguised with three pierced earrings.

The weapons agreed on were the Sig Sauer P226 with extended 20 round magazines, MP5SD's, this was shortened version of the MP5 and had a suppressor fitted, two grenades' each and a knife. Binoculars, two gps receivers, night glasses, rations for two days, a satellite phone and a two piece uniform in camouflage for their target completed their kit list.

The text and email sent by Alex was brought into the meeting room and Carl read from it, 'I will turn my phone on at 0600 and 1800 hours each day. Battery now at 71%, no means of re-charging.'

'Okay, so tonight we send "Head west for Namibia border, arranging to meet and collect you in four days, 18th March. We will require your position. Only use phone 6am to save battery. Collection code word "Birthday" reply "Young Man".'

'Hell yeah it's his birthday,' said Ray.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 44

### Government under pressure

Tony entered the room, momentarily escaping the morning rush to get ready for school. 'Rachel, just to let you know I have given Patricia an email address of a friend who had access to a list of some fifteen thousand email addresses. He said that if you write a compelling piece and email it to him he will send it on through his mailer, whatever that means, and also to other obvious organisations which are active in the human rights arena. The email should ask everyone to forward the email to all their friends and colleagues so it could reach hundreds of thousands of people in days. He's also got Tony Blair's email and a number of the opposition contacts too. I hope that helps.'

Rachel thanked him and almost immediately felt a surge of emotion at receiving this help.

'We started on a few words but you can carry on and if you want email me during the day and we can get some independents to see how it looks.'

A chorus of "we're ready" came from the girls waiting at the front door. 'I must go. Talk to you later.'

A few minutes later Patricia opened the door and said to join her. They went through to the kitchen diner and Rachel was given a choice of breakfasts.

'Oh I don't always eat breakfast and I am happy to just get on.'

'Well you should eat, today we have a lot to do and your blood sugar levels will quickly deplete and then your mind will slow down. Why not just have a piece of toast or some cereal? We can still start straight away.'

She was already getting bread out and starting to toast it so that seemed the easiest option. Rachel smiled to herself and a little outwardly at Patricia adopting this concerned mothering approach.

They spent a couple of hours trying to find hard hitting words and phrases, then they went on the web and searched for some emotive pleas from 'good causes'. This was a good idea and they came across a poster which reminded them that 'a picture is better than a thousand words'. Patricia disappeared to get some family pictures and Rachel trawled the web for pictures of anything to do with the atrocities in Zimbabwe.

Patricia returned with a selection of photos but they struggled to find one which portrayed Alex as a helpless innocent. Rachel had an idea that they could get a friend of hers to doctor a photo by making it slightly out of focus and making the face look a bit whiter. Rachel made a phone call and they scanned the photo in and sent it off.

In the mean time they looked through the Zimbabwe news and pictures that Rachel had found. They were horrified at what they read and saw. 'A chap on the plane told me about some of the back ground but I did not imagine that it was really this bad.'

'My God I feel sick. How can this be going on and for so long? Why hasn't anything been done about it?' said Patricia.

'No oil I suppose, and a lot of the useable and valuable assets already stripped out of the earth. No one wants to know if it doesn't pay. This is a sick world.'

They fell into silence as they scrolled through the sad and violent history of the country since the 1980's. Quite apart from the political brutality and reports of genocide, the country was in a famine situation that it was claimed was brought on by mismanagement and greed of those in power.

They came across a report which said _'The Zimbabwean government is refusing to allow outside agencies to carry out crop assessments but the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) used satellite images to make an assessment and came up with a frightening picture of crop failure._

The government has said it plans to import 565,000 tonnes of cereal—only 60% of the projected deficit.

It is thought that a slight increase in national maize production produced exaggerated claims of supply, and higher prices for South African maize, together with Zimbabwe's shortage of foreign currency due to its economic crisis all lead to the causes of the lower levels of imports.

Zimbabwe has been gripped by a severe economic crisis for more than six years and has one of the world's lowest rates of life expectancy and the highest annual inflation rate - more than 1,200% (January 2007).

President Robert Mugabe has been outspoken about the cause of the economic failure and blames an international plot to remove him from power.'

They read on to find that in January 2002 new laws were passed to bar foreign correspondents and that local journalists had to formerly seek accreditation or risk imprisonment or worse. A year later the Daily News and the Sunday version were closed down and in January 2004 the Weekly Times shut too, only months later the Tribune was gone. No voice left for the people.

Then they came across a recent report which caused then even more concern and reinforced their determination to get back into the media circus to keep Alex's plight in the news.

Patricia was making tea and Rachel read. _'A report smuggled out of Zimbabwe says that on March 11th the Zimbabwe government imposed a ban on political rallies. Zimbabwean riot police broke up a "Save Zimbabwe" rally in Harare using tear gas and water cannons and assaulted rally leaders and participants. Over 100 activists were arrested on the day and other arrests followed over the next 48 hours. Amongst those hurt in the rally were Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who sustained a head injury, and the chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, Lovemore Madhuku, injured with a broken arm. Sadly one young alleged activist, Gift Tandare, was shot dead at the rally._

A statement thought to have been issued on behalf of Mr Tsvangirai says that groups of youths from Zanu-PF and officials of the Central Intelligence Organisation have been targeting known MDC supporters and activists. It is also said that another 35 MDC members—on top of the 50 injured when police broke up the rally nine days ago—have been taken to hospital with fractures, cuts, severe bruising and even gunshot wounds.

This behaviour is reported to have been repeated across the country and hit squads of mercenaries are said to be moving from town to town and village to village beating, killing, raping and looting to cause fear and quell any thoughts of uprising.

With the country sinking into political crisis and the Zimbabwe government threatening to expel any ambassadors voicing serious criticisms, it seems the government has reached a depth from which it cannot recover.'

Patricia returned with the tea. 'And Alex is in the middle of this!'

The phone rang. 'Yes I'm Alex's sister, sorry who are you again?' She repeated aloud, 'Mr Stone from the home office, yes what can I do for you?' Exchanging a look with Rachel, who moved to the phone as it was offered slightly away from Patricia's ear.

His voice was cultured and clear, educated and reserved. He was phoning to say that the government were doing all they could and that that they were trying to contact Rachel Waldron to assure her too. Did she know of her whereabouts or how to contact her? The girls mouthed to each other and Patricia handed the phone to Rachel.

'This is Rachel Waldron, what exactly are you doing to free Alex?' She listened as he repeated his claims and after a short while she added. 'Well I'm sorry but I do not find what you are saying reassuring or comforting. If you cannot explain exactly what you are doing or give me some specific time scale then I have no intention of handing the matter over to you. In fact we are about to launch a new initiative and seek the whole population to join us in demanding his release.'

'Miss Waldron I can only hope you will accept that the wrong sort of publicity may antagonize the perpetrators of these kidnapping crimes and we do not believe the Zimbabwe government were directly involved and we are therefore having to create links with other organisations to gain local assistance.'

'Bullshit, if you look at the political struggle in Zimbabwe, even the limited amount that is reported you should not be in any doubt that the government are behind the mercenaries who took Alex and who he is hopefully still trying to evade. And let me remind you that he himself has said through his email to the Guardian that he thought the UK government was involved in his handover to those murders. I will only stop when Alex is free.' She hung up.

Rachel had built herself up and was now shaking with emotion and Patricia hugged her.

They completed the email wording and had it off by 14.30. They were very happy with the content. It wasn't too long and it showed a couple of ghastly pictures of tortured bodies and then a slightly hazy shot of Alex. These were surrounded and followed up with emotional phrases and a cry for help. It was a bit in your face but that's what they decided they needed. A reply came back that the emails were being sent by 15.05, a link had been provided for people to 'tick' their support, and another to direct a standard email to a number of UK politicians.

Rachel had received a number of calls from her previous work contacts and from the media wanting interviews. She decided to go to London and stay with her friends and be there as it might then be easier to keep talking to the media and prevent their initial interest from dying away. On parting they both thanked each other and with tears in their eyes they assured each other that everything would be alright. They would both think positive and exchange any change of events.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 45

### Rachel's confusion

After leaving, Rachel drove around the corner and stopped to clear her eyes before heading off for the A127 and London. She had called her friends who had heard of something but had not related it to their friend Rachel. This she found every concerning because it showed how disinterested people could be.

Rachel phoned her sister while still sitting in the car. 'Hello Liz, can we talk?'

'Yes of course, this is good timing, I was going to ring you in a bit. How are you and what's going on, any news?'

'Well I have been with Alex's sister and we have got a web site and a campaign of interest and support underway. Remarkable how she and her husband have helped and it's all been done so quickly. I am just travelling up to London to be nearer the media base but I am overwhelmed by everything. I don't feel it is actually any real help, it's just keeping me busy but might lead to nothing.' She burst into tears.

'Oh Rachel. Maybe you need to let it out, the whole thing, don't forget you were kidnapped too. It's been a rough ride. And there is nothing wrong with keeping yourself occupied, whatever your efforts create is a piece of creation and will make a contribution. From what you have said Alex is practical and self assured. He'll be doing the right things.' She stopped to see if there was a response. Nothing. 'Why don't you come and stay with me for a while?'

'No thanks but I want to be near the television stations and in London where I can create a stink. But I'll call you.'

'Yes do, you must.'

They rang off and Rachel sat and thought of her sister. They had always got on but they were so totally different. Liz had always needed security and constants and Rachel was the opposite. Liz could offer that feeling of security and everything being alright but she had no way of actually delivering it. The slightest threat to her controlled life and she herself fell apart. Rachel had often been Liz's source of confidence and helped rebuild her faith or belief when things had gone wrong for her.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 46

### 160 miles on

Alex put the battery back in his phone a couple of minutes before 1800 and turned it on. The text pinged through and he read it with mixed feelings. He had made contact and they were coming for him, great. But he had to survive for four bloody days, and get across the country whilst being hunted down by a complete fucking madman. He had planned to just stay still and lie low for two days and he had no ideas how long it would take to drive across Botswana. He didn't know how far it was and pulling the bowser was slower travelling. If he only travelled at night then he would have say 50 hours safe travelling time and at just 25 miles an hour that gave him 1250 miles. That mileage could use 50 gallons of fuel at 25 miles to the gallon, another guess. He thought about the map on the wall at the hotel and he thought it had shown Botswana to be about 700 miles across, and another 300 to the sea past Namibia. So he could guess he had to travel about 900 maybe 1000 miles. So the time frame was okay, in fact he could have time to spare, subject to no nasty delays. He got out and went to the bowser. It was cylinder shaped, about 4' 6" long with a 3' diameter. It was something like three quarters full so he thought that if he halved the diameter to 1' 6" and multiplied that by 1' 6" and then 4' 6" he would get the volume of the tank, roughly anyway. This obviously was only a guessimate and because the radius was bigger than the portions of the square he was calculating he knew his answer would be on the low side. He used a stick and did his multiplications' in the dirt. The answer was 10.125 cubic feet, he increased that to 12 to make up for the rounding of the half cylinder.

Now he needed to know the amount of fuel per cubic foot. He had been amazed in his boat building days how much water fitted into a water tank on the boats he built. He was fairly sure there was just over 6 gallons to a cubic foot. So he multiplied the 12 by 6 and got 72, then he divided by 4 and multiplied by 3 to allow for the fact it was only three quarters full. The answer was 54 gallons of fuel. That plus the just over half tank of fuel in the truck meant he had enough, if he was right about all his guesses.

*

He took the cap off the jeep fuel tank and then got the hose and pump from the bowser. He had to hold the base of the pump on the ground with his foot and hand pump the fuel through. It took three pumps to get it starting to flow and he filled the tank, a bit spilt because he did not stop pumping in time. He opened the bowser to see how much the fuel had dropped. It was just about halfway down. It was now 19.50 and getting dark, should he move off tonight? He went to eat and then rearranged the weapons so he had them all ready beside him in the cab. He removed and folded as best he could the camouflage netting and put it in the back of the jeep. It was dark enough to get going, so he did. Slowly backing out of the natural enclosure he manoeuvred around the bushes and the dip in the ground and drove on for the road, such as it was. He turned right and increased his speed, no lights, and windows three quarters closed. Despite the warmth of the night he'd still rather not have had to put up with the draft but he wanted to hear any outside sounds so he put up with it.

He drove for four hours and started to look for somewhere to hide during the day. About an hour and a half later he saw in the distance to the left that the ground fell away and there were some dead trees and what turned out to be elephant bones.

He arrived to find what must have been a small hollow rather than a dip. He was where running surface water had worn away the ground, now dry or dryish. He thought that at this point there must have been a converging of flowing rain water and maybe this part of the ground allowed water to seep away creating this hollow. It was not deep enough to cover the height of the jeep but it would hide about half its height and the netting could do the rest, with a bit of luck. He didn't want to go on and risk not finding anywhere better. By the time he had covered the jeep and filled the tank again it was 3.40 and he was ready for a rest. He had to be awake for 6 am to turn his mobile on and send his position, he walked towards the road to see how well camouflaged he was. He didn't go too far but he was satisfied that the lay of the land beyond the jeep acted as a good camouflage itself and then the netting didn't show, just seemed like bit of rough ground. On getting back he tried to eat and waited. He found it quite hard to eat as he didn't really feel hungry. He was tired, even exhausted, but knew it was mental exhaustion and the strain of worry. He had travelled only 160 miles and this concerned him because if he had 900 miles to cover in four nights, he would have to do 250 miles a night for the next three nights. That would take 10 hours driving a night; the bowser was slowing him down too much. He was also aware that he was driving very cautiously. He remembered the bus tyre bursting and how he'd got away with that but if it happened here and now he was in real trouble.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 47

### No return

Gourner had transferred to the troop carrier and was heading in the direction of Mee. They spoke every 3 hours or so as Mee was getting doubtful about the sighting and their ability to catch up with it. He was also afraid that Gourner had gone too far killing the Colonel. Although the Colonel was no use and he had only got the job though Gourner having to lie low, Mee knew that others would see Gourner as a threat and that if he was not held back he might kill others and make more powerful enemies. Mee relied on Gourner and although he didn't like him he knew he was safe with him and he would always be provided for. They would meet up within the next hour or so and he knew that Gourner would expect a plan of some sort. He had sent his men out to look for tracks or signs or someone who might have seen anything. All he could do was to wait. He was hoping that the man he'd sent to get men, supplies and fuel would be on his way back and that by tomorrow they would be better fitted out.

Gourner met up with Mee and they sat together in silence for a while before Mee approached the subject of finding their prey. It was just after 5 am and quite light. The heat of the day not yet rallying but there was no breeze and the dry air carried the sounds of the wakening day all around them.

Mee knew not to be weak in making suggestions, 'Supplies will come here tomorrow, maybe the next day. We leave two men here to wait and we come back after searching the area. Sweep round in a circle and return here. We can see for long way. If he is on the road we see 'im.'

'Why did we not find him on the roads? We no see him so far? Has he gone? Is he hiding? We need help a helicopter to search and tell us where he is.'

'The Colonel's copter gone, no Colonel either now! No help here, in Zimbabwe different. The Colonel had friends too and even there we may not get help.'

Gourner ignored him, 'we will take one truck back to the west road then go along that and then come back here like this,' he drew a triangle in the dirt. 'I'll go you stay here, I take six men to save fuel.'

When they left Zott they'd had 66 men. 18 were left with the broken down vehicle and should now be back at Zott. That left them with 47, or 46 accounting for the man Mee had sent back on the camel. If the authorities were out looking for them it would not be easy to hide 39 men and the truck, and defending their position in a fight would be hopeless. 'I shoul' go, you stay with the men, they look to you, an' I've been resting waiting for you.'

Gourner said nothing but slowly nodded his head, it was decided. He knew he could trust Mee.

Mee took his vehicle and five handpicked men and set off just before eight o'clock. He headed south east and kept going until he came to the west road that went through Botswana into Namibia, it took four hours and it was uncomfortable driving. He then turned left and drove for nearly five hours along the road. Mee had driven this part of the journey himself handing over just before they turned right and headed north-west to return on the last leg of their search and to his starting point. They had turned right and were a few miles from the road running diagonally away from it and Mee was dozing off in the heat. One of the men in the back of the truck saw a long wheel base soft top jeep pulling a bowser on the west road driving slowly. He was confused as he had not seen it 'arriving' there, it was as though it just appeared. He pointed it out to one of the others, who shook his head. It was a soft top and had a bowser. Also it was going so slow that it wasn't running away or trying to hide. They drove on. Three hours later Mee was again looking out when he saw some dust in the distance to their right. He had the truck stopped and took out his binoculars; he could just make out some animals running. He climbed onto the back of the truck to be sure, 'notting to see, notting here all day.'

'We see more than you Mee,' said the first man.

'Yeah what you see then?'

'Only a soft top pulling a trailer.'

'What? Where?'

'Near the road heading west but real slow.'

Mee squared up to him, 'Why didn't you tell me? You fuckin' bitch, you see it and do nothing?'

They argued it was the wrong jeep and had a trailer but Mee straighten his back and spat abuse at them. He called to the driver to get to the camp fast. On arriving he jumped from the truck and told Gourner the story. Gourner called for everyone who could get on his truck to do so. Mee suggested they used both trucks heading for the west road but at different angles. It would give them a chance to catch him in the middle. Gourner agreed he would take the longest route and try to get ahead and Mee the short route picking up the west road first and driving along it until they met and their quarry should be in between them.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 48

### Ambush

Tebogo was the Botswana General appointed by the Internal Minister to solve the problem of the Englishman and his pursuers. He in turn had appointed a major to the task of finding the fugitives, Major Delli Oske, who had under his command 400 men and two Eurocopter AS 350 helicopters. In fact he also had a number of country wide data collection points which traversed the country and regularly fed back information on climate, road disruptions, animal movements and any other notable issues. He awaited information, but had decided to mobilize his force and send them south to the border with South Africa and prepare the helicopters for reconnaissance. He would have one and the other would search when he had narrowed the area. It was possible that Gourner had already exited Botswana and was now in South Africa, in which case he could do nothing but prepare a trap in case he returned.

One of the first things to be given to Tebogo was the information that Gourner's son had been killed by the Englishman when he made his first escape. This was not good news as he knew the reputation of Gourner and he now had no doubt about how far he would go to extract revenge. Then news of the explosion reached Tebogo within hours and he considered the map and what it might mean. He had no first hand evidence and he knew how stories got exaggerated so he dispatched a helicopter to view the site. He also send a captain and forty men from the nearest dispatch point. Now he had something to play with, he directed the troops already on the road to points west, central and east of the explosion point. It was not simple and it was not quick to transport his command here as the road links were not good and there had been some early rain causing some routes to be under water. He had no doubt that Gourner would never be taken alive, and for him the first thing was making sure the Englishman did not die at Gourner's hands.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 49

### Too good to be true

Alex had taken a chance and set off at 17.15. Although it was still light, he could not see anything from the dip and he had taken less time to uncover the jeep than he thought he would. He didn't want to just sit there so off he went. To his horror as his jeep climbed out of the dip he saw a large truck driving off to the North West. He immediately slowed and then turned onto the road. He kept watching them but they didn't stop or turn around. He could make out four men in the back and it just carried on, they didn't pay him much attention as far as he could see. Although nothing happened he didn't feel good about this and he slowly increased his speed, but he did keep his cool and didn't slam his foot down. The previous night he had bettered the 25 mile per hour but the bowser not only jumped and bumped it swung from side to side as his speed increased. The lighter the thing got the worse it bumped around. He drove on but kept look back in the mirror and from side to side, he realised he was feeling paranoid and getting more tense as he went. He started to breathe deeply and try to control his mind, looking forward and accepting that there was no one following him.

It was as dark as it got and around midnight, he was driving without lights and every now and then he would rub his eyes as the tiredness caused him to have to refocus. The roadway was uneven and every now and then he hit a bump or mound he had not seen and that gave him a fright thinking the jeep was breaking up. Ahead he could see a dust storm gathering and getting closer quickly, very quick, and given the ground was still quite wet in place he figured it was manmade, or more to the point vehicle made. Then he could make out stars at ground level, no they were lights and it was definitely dust from a vehicle. 'Shit' he thought, starting to slow. He couldn't just turn off, he couldn't run, it might be alright. Of course it was. They were coming from the wrong direction he just had to sit tight; he might even give them a wave. He drove on slowly until finally he could make out a large truck with a stream of dust bellowing out after it. He had the advantage on them because he had no lights on, but they were soon upon each other and then they passed, but he knew, he just knew that these guys were after him. They passed each other and they saw him but too late, they gave a shout which he didn't hear, but he soon heard the shooting and sensed the slamming to a halt of the truck before it turned to follow him. He had instinctively put his foot down, bowser or no bowser.

He was running for his life. He suddenly felt fear, his throat dry and tight, his heart pounding. He didn't know where to look, ahead or behind, his eyes darting quickly, seeing but not taking everything in, not that there was much to take in. He was being chased and that was that. He did it anyway, he could see their lights and they were coming but not gaining that much. He realised he hadn't heard any more guns going off either, but that could have been because he was too far away and the sound was masked by the roar of the engine. He kept going and wondered how long it would take him to stop and get the rocket launcher ready to aim and fire. He ploughed on trying to open the gap. When he managed a longer look back he was convinced he was very slowly pulling away. Then he did hear the sound of shots. Something in that surprised him, and when he realised he thought that was funny because of course they would be firing at him even if it wasn't a heavy constant burst of gun fire. Yes of course, they were trying to hit the tires. He started to swing from right to left a little, it made the bowser swing worse but he felt better doing it.

On the truck Gourner had been in the cab and had not seen the oncoming dust off the road until the men in the back shouted out. He had yelled to stop and turn and then he heard the gun fire. He opened the door and shouted to stop firing but when he realised the jeep was pulling slowly away he shouted for them to shoot at the wheels only he wanted him alive. The men knew all too well it would not be good for them if they killed this man before Gourner had tortured him so they aimed away from the jeep, firing now and then into nothing.

The west road did not go completely straight from east to west, there were minor deviations to the north and south but essentially it then came back onto the west route. The reason was the road makers had taken the route of least resistance and particularly soft or hard ground was avoided, it was this and rocks in the way that had dictated the exact course taken. It mattered not on such a distance that the road meandered and the end result was the same, it still got there. However, Alex was coming up to a small transgression which took the road slightly to the right, and then back to the left, over a distance of some half a mile. He had to slow to take it and he was glad he had, firstly there was a camber which tilted him and the bowser the wrong way and then the weight of the bowser nearly took him off sideways.

The road building had indeed accommodated a slight incline banking the road to the right away from the rock form which it was avoiding over to the left. This was the opposite banking one would expect on a left hand bend, the first bend going to the right a left hand bank would help the trip round it, but a right hand bank as was here would accentuate the vehicle lean and the roll of a vehicle passing over. This worked in Alex's favour as to start with the truck should slow down to take the bend allowing him to get a little further ahead, the question was how could he take advantage of that.

Alex entered the first slight turn and for just a very brief moment as he swung round the next turn he had made up his mind, they were out of sight now and this was his chance, dropping a gear he kept his foot down and accelerated before slamming on the brakes, he jumped out.

In the truck Gourner was shouting to go faster, and they turned into the right hander, the truck started to roll and the men slipped and tried to get back to the left of the truck where they been aimlessly firing into the distance. The driver feared he had lost it on the bend and they were nearly turning over and he braked hard. The truck held upright, they were alright, albeit stopped but just for a moment, and everyone in the back was thrown forward. Gourner roared. They got going again and turned into the left hander. A smile came upon Gourner face as he saw the jeep ahead was stopped. He opened the door and stood on the foot guard holding on to the open door and rubbed the left side of his head with his fore finger and gloated on his success. It was then that the rocket hit them.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 50

### Back from the dead

Mee had joined the west road and motored along it, he was doubtful that they would find and catch the man but there was a small chance. In his truck he had ten men with him, the others all going with Gourner. He knew that at some point they would have to leave a vehicle and make their way back to the camp where they expected supplies to arrive. It was past midnight coming up to 1 am when he saw a flash and then another and a continuing red glow in the distance ahead. It took another 45 minutes to get there. Pulling up he was in shock and disbelief at the scene. They looked for anyone alive, but only Gourner and one other had survived. Gourner had burns and cuts to his left side and head, the other man was in a bad way with the lower part of his leg blown off and some fingers missing, he had lost a lot of blood and would not make it. Gourner's rage was carrying him through; he had a drink of water as he demanded they load up, they set off in pursuit, now about an hour behind Alex, but more determined than ever.

Alex had fired and not waited to see the result, if it had hit he would be okay, if it had not he could not waste any time. Driven by the desire to survive he moved as fast as he could. Even before he closed the jeep door the first of two explosions went off. This was the rocket making contact with the truck and the second was either the fuel tank or ammunition they were carrying blowing up too. He felt elated, free, he shouted 'YES!' as loud as he could but he did not delay. He went for it. After two hours he stopped and refuelled, and then drove on still apprehensive and looking back. He wanted to get to the border. His guess was that he had covered 400 miles and he reckoned it would be another 200 to the border, then 300 more miles to the coast. It was 4 am and he decided to drive until he found a good place to stop and if he didn't he would just drive on. In fact he drove on for another four hours and then came across a village sign post. He drove off the west road and along to the village before stopping and viewing it through the binoculars.

He could see it was of a reasonable size and it had a fuelling depot as well as some sort of outside camping area. It looked like a refugee or red-cross camp, ring-fenced and organised. He turned to scan the horizon and the hairs on the back of his neck rose and his spine started to tingle when he saw in the distance behind him the clear sign of a vehicle kicking up dust on the road. It was maybe 15 or 20 miles away, that was all, and obviously closing on him. He was on high ground and had slowed as he'd come off the road. While they probably couldn't see him yet, his tracks would be clear when they arrived at the road sign. There was no other traffic and they would know it was him. He couldn't go back to the road the same way because it took him closer to them. He decided to drive on through the village but did not rejoin the west road. He ran parallel to it hoping that the village would hide the dust of his vehicle until he was out of eyesight. Then he would join the road and keep going.

When his pursuers got to the village sign the jeep track marks were not as clearly visible as Alex had feared they would be. Mee had them go in to get fuel because they needed it. Gourner had fallen asleep partly due to the effect of the impact of the explosion and partly the pain he suffered earlier had depleted his energy. The adrenaline only lasted so long. Awakening, his wounds were hurting more, the adrenaline having fallen away and the constant buffeting of the truck was taking its toll. The men got out and asked around but there were not many people about. They formed a protective ring around the re-fuelling depot without making any kind of effort to hide themselves and they stole what they wanted. They learned nothing but had full tanks and set off again. Mee had climbed up the water tower and seen unsettled dust in the distance; he could see it was settling and therefore fresh, the vehicle having moved on only a short while ago. He thought it was 20 plus miles and he was about right. Their stop had cost them time but they had re-fuelled and now it would be a straight race.

'We need to go faster, we should leave men here or change vehicles, but there is nothing here.'

'He had a fucking rocket and he may have another... we go on.' That was it, and they did.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 51

### A well-earned rest

Alex had gone back on the west road and he was feeling very jittery again, constantly looking in the mirror, trying to get hold of his thoughts and slow them down. He was also looking for a hideout. He had been on the road 15 hours and he was feeling tiredness creeping in, certainly the sight of the truck had given his alertness a kick but he could not keep going without a rest at some point. He came to a four way junction and the signs in all directions gave a number of destinations. They were all hand painted and he stopped and he saw that the direction to the right gave among other names the village he had just come from. It was a chance, and maybe his best one. He drove on and then slowly turned right, stopped and got a cover from the jeep then ran back and used the cover to hide his tracks. He shook it all over the ground and went beyond the tracks he had made turning off because the ground was wet and he could see the marks he now made did not look natural. Getting back to the jeep he climbed on to the bonnet and used the binoculars but could not see the pursuing truck. He got down and back inside then drove off to the north, expecting to come across another sign directing him east back to the village. It was a good 12 miles before he came to it and to his surprise it was a better road and it had traffic on it. He followed it to the village and pulled up by the perimeter of the refugee camp. Only then did he realise he had forgotten to turn his phone on at 6 am. He cursed himself, and just about everyone and everything, worrying they might think he was dead and call off the rescue if they didn't hear from him. Tiredness was taking its toll.

He drove the vehicle in close to the fence and behind the tents, using them to hide behind. He took out the mobile and put the battery back, checked his GPS position and sent a text. 'Missed 6 am time, heading, position, being chased, will continue to border and coast when dark.' He took the mobile apart and was putting it back in his pocket when he saw a man approaching from the front. He wore a dirty white coat with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows; his shoes were grey with dust and dirt.

'I am a doctor here. This is a government refugee camp for people unsettled and made homeless by the wars.'

'Oh, which wars? Alex asked.

'Any of them. Here or neighbouring countries.' The man spoke with a French accent, his white coat hung loose and he had an arm band round his left bicep. 'There were Zimbabwe rebels here earlier today, looking for an Englishman travelling alone. They went off on the west road to Namibia, maybe two and a half hours ago.'

'Yes they are chasing me, to kill me.'

The Frenchman looked at him. Alex hoped he would appreciate the honesty. 'I was kidnapped and escaped and a man was killed. They are after me for that.' He waited.

'If they come back and find you here, you and others will die. You should go away, head east or north.' He spoke very matter of factly with no emotion. But why should he show emotion, he saw death and suffering every day.

'I have been on the road 18 hours I need to rest, can you help me, I am alone.'

The Frenchman turned and looked behind him and waved for two young natives to come to him. The pair looked around 15 years old but the speed with which people aged in Botswana they could have been even younger. They came forward, the doctor spoke to them and they all moved off. 'They will watch from on top of the water tower, if they see the rebels coming back they will wake you and tell you. You can get eight hours rest, but then go.' He offered his hand and they shook. 'When you get to the boarder there has been some late and heavy rain in Namibia if you try to go direct to the coast on the west you will meet the flood. To get through you must normally turn right to go over the high ground and then west again, they have probably gone that way as it is a known and signposted route and so they will be in front of you. There is another route, a pass to the south, not easy to find when it is dry but the flood water forms an edge you can follow to the south, this will be a shorter route by some 70 kilometres through to the West coast. But it is likely there will be wild animals on the path so do not stray from the vehicle.'

'Thank you,' Alex said thinking how inadequate it sounded. They parted and he tried to settle. He didn't know if he could trust them but what choice did he have. Eventually he slept.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 52

### Trapped

When Gourner and his men got to the four way junction they stopped then decided to go on. In fact other vehicles had come down from the north and headed both west and east along the west road so they had little chance of seeing Alex's tracks. They drove on, catching one lorry loaded with ground vegetables which they stopped to ask whether the driver had seen their prey but he reported no sign. They got to the border at 10.30 and stopped. The road had petered out to nothing several miles before they arrived. There was no border to speak of, no official crossing or check point, the one country simply blended into the other with just a sign marking the boundary.

In the distance to the south were a number of signs of life which they went to investigate. They came across an extended family of nomads from South Africa. They plied a north-south line trading in anything they could and getting grazing for their few animals. They reported seeing three vehicles in two days, well the dirt and dust of them, travelling east to west. The first was the day before early and the other two within two to five hours. The last one could have been their man but he would have had to have speeded up a lot to get that far ahead. He could have dropped the trailer, that might have made it possible. The head of the family said that late rain fall had flooded part of east Namibia and that stopped anyone getting through on a straight route for more than five days on foot into the country. Mee decided that five days on foot meant something like sixty miles. It was now midday and Gourner said they would stop and go on at night, no lights.

The prey and the hunter both departed at the same time the next morning, 75 miles apart with the hunter still in front of the prey. Alex set off feeling rested but apprehensive. He had filled the tank again from the bowser and it was now only about a third full, lighter to pull and whereas he had noticed it had become less steady as it was losing weight, it now seemed more stable again.

It took him nearly three hours to reach the border which he only identified by luck. Remembering what the Frenchman had said he didn't keep heading west, he turned a little to the south to try to pick up the edge of the flood. He carried on and sure enough he came to a glimmering layer of water, shining out with the moon above it. He steered to the left and kept going until the water gave way then went around following the water's edge until he was once again heading west. He now needed to correct the distance he had travelled south so when it was possible he headed North West. The flood had created a massive circular pool which he had driven round to the south. He realised that he had only covered maybe a third of the circle so it made sense that the northern route had been the twice as long but then again it would have been on better formed roads. In the morning he saw the sun coming up behind him and he slightly adjusted his direction now going directly west. To his left was a fairly flat plain of clear and uninteresting land mass that rose in the distance to a mountainous ridge. To his right he had higher ground and large hills that were much closer than on his left. Certainly not mountains but still much higher ground. He realised that for the first time for days he felt almost normal. It was 4 am and all was well. He had not seen any threatening animals close up although a couple of times he had seen animal shapes in the distance. He gave it an hour and stopped to eat, refuel and put the battery in the mobile. He found his position and prepared his text as it was coming up to 6 am by now. He checked the battery level and it was down to 44%, at 6 am he sent the message and waited. Today was the day, the 18th, his birthday. He smiled as he gazed out all around him, then a flash of light caught his eye. He looked again and yes, there it was. A definite flash, a glimmer, but more than one. The sun was hitting the binocular lens of someone looking in his direction and he saw it. He suddenly had that terrible sick feeling again. The position of the flashes was nearly directly opposite him on the high ground, fortunately a long way off but clearly they were still coming. They had gone the northern route and come round but since they had of course been ahead of him at the start he had caught them up by going the shorter route. If they both carried on as they were they would likely meet on the same road.

He jumped into the jeep and started off as fast as he could.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 53

### Closing the back door

Major Delli received new instructions from Tebogo. He was to set up a wall of steel along the border with Namibia for five kilometres from where it joined the border with South Africa and then 10 kilometres north. He was a military man first but a politician second. He hoped that he could demonstrate he'd done everything he could but that the fight went into Namibia and out of his hands. If Gourner returned they would be there but otherwise he was out of it.

Tebogo then put a call into Michael Boat to tell him that he thought the Englishman and Gourner had already entered Namibia and that he should call the Namibia government and tell them. They did not discuss it but they were both relieved.

On receiving the call from Michael Boat the interior Minister informed the President of Namibia of the situation and it was agreed to form an action committee to decide on action and response. They had already been warned by the UK Foreign Affairs Minister that their territory might become involved. At that point they had decided to wait and see as they expected that either the matter would be resolved in Botswana or one of the other nations involved would deal with it through their own hit squads. However, now they had to face the fact that their soil had been invaded and they had to take action. The British intelligence had offered their expectation that the fugitive, the Englishman was probably trying to get to the sea. This was not a good situation for them as they did not want foreign trouble and they respectfully pointed out that if an Englishman was in their country without a visa he would be arrested. The British government said that was fine as long as they offered their protection to the individual until they could resolve his entry issues. A diplomatic debate followed but it did nothing to help.

The Namibian government were concerned that they could be in the middle of two African nations and the UK and USA and they wanted none of it. They decided to use whatever information the British were supplying and local knowledge of events and then act to protect themselves from international criticism and secure their frontiers.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 54

### All roads lead to Rome

Gourner had taken the northern route when he came to the flood as there were a number of other tracks going that way. They had caught one vehicle, another vegetable carrier. The route was twisty and uneven and it took time to get to the highest point and not seeing anything they kept going, knowing that as the land fell away they would have a very long view of the ground. They got to the edge of the flooded area and stopped to view the low ground ahead of them through the binoculars. And then, only seconds before he saw them, they saw him. Now for the first time they saw he was in a soft top and he was still pulling a bowser. That's where he got his fuel and why he had been able to keep going for so long. Although a long way off, they could still see him look up and jump back into his vehicle. They were about eight miles apart but the pursuers were high up and the ground between had no road to speak of, only rough terrain, so they were forced to continue on the road. He was on flat ground, still no road, but ahead of him were motorways if he could find them. Instinct lead Alex to steer south west which was slightly away from his pursuers but he didn't want to go too far south in case he missed the main road. He was banking on hitting the B3 motorway.

He grabbed for the mobile as he had an incoming text but it was almost impossible to read while driving across the rough terrain. Even though his pursuers were a way off, he felt the pressure. He got the first part of the text about heading south to pick up the B3. Well thank goodness for that. He almost felt light headed.

He travelled about an hour with the gap between the vehicles staying much the same and when he reached the B3 he skidded to a stop to read the rest of the message. It gave directions to go on the B3 until it joined the B1, then turn left to Nooderwer on the South African border. From there he was told to turn right and go all the way up north to Witputz. They would be there from midnight. He couldn't believe the directions, it was miles and miles added to his journey, it had to be. Well so bloody much for a birthday pick up, he ranted. Suddenly he was worried about the fuel so he got out and filled up, constantly looking for the truck to appear.

In fact the journey plan added another 200 miles to Alex's route and he did have enough fuel, but of course he didn't know that. He had no choice but to keep going. In his panic he forgot to take the battery out of the phone.

The traffic was slight and the journey was easy, almost too easy. On one stretch he could see back miles but there was no sign of them. Given they had kept popping up this made him feel uneasy, he didn't know the country and they might have another route to cut him off. His inside ached, he wondered if he had developed an ulcer.

Gourner had seen Alex drive off and knew he couldn't just go straight to him, but he also knew that once they reached the motorway it cut through Namibia diagonally. He would ideally have cut across the high ground but the rocks and terrain just didn't allow it so eventually he picked up the B3 a few miles before the B1 turn off and only three miles behind Alex. Now the B3 made a slight right turn to meet the B1, and the reason was to avoid the town of Grunau, but there was a small dirt track that led straight into Grunau and this was the road Gourner took. In the meantime, Alex continued on the long way round on the B3.

Gourner needed fuel but he could get that and still be waiting for Alex when he turned left to take the south road to the coast. He could not get there by going north. He had him, he fucking had him. Gourner rubbed his sore arm and prayed for the time to pass quickly so he could get his hands on this man.

When they got to the town, Gourner bought fuel and told his men to behave. He didn't want any trouble. Mee sent some to get some supplies and arranged to pick them up at the town's main junction. It took longer to get supplies than it did to re-fuel and so the truck was waiting at the junction for 15 minutes until the men returned. They moved off waiting 15 miles outside of the town on the B1. He had his men dig in, literally digging shallow holes to conceal themselves either side of the road and he told them to only shoot at the wheels and only when he said so. They waited.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 55

### Goodbye to the jeep

Alex got to the B1 and turned off to the left. He drove along and into the town. He thought it would be a good idea to re-fuel, knowing that if the bowser ran out he could finally unhitch it. And it was only then that he remembered the mobile and not taking the battery out. He stopped immediately to get the phone out and hit the steering wheel in frustration at being so stupid. Shaking his head and holding the steering wheel he looked up and saw the truck. Straight ahead of him he could see the rear view of the truck and the rebels loading themselves and their supplies onto it. He froze, his mouth dropped open. He looked at them and then from side to side to see if he could escape somewhere. But they were on a mission and moving fast. They loaded up and then drove off without looking back to where he'd pulled up. He waited for a few minutes and then started off after them. He let them get half a mile ahead and kept following. When they were out of the town and roadside buildings he stopped to let them get further ahead as he didn't want to be seen by some bright spark looking backwards. There was a long bend and he drove off the road and walked up a hill and looking through the binoculars he saw them stop and dig in either side of the road. He watched as they prepared and he tried to see who was in charge, tried to see the father of the son he had killed. When they were settled he went back to the jeep and drove back to town.

He found the fuel depot and looked at the stores and knew he had to get past the truck and the men with it who all looked heavily armed. They were waiting for him and knew what he was driving. They might stop all vehicles, they had the fire power to do that and if they did so he was stuffed. He pulled up opposite the fuel depot and saw a number of vehicle parts and motorcycles including an old Russian motorcycle and side car. He couldn't take a bike on its own because he needed to carry more fuel than the bike's tank would hold, but a combination, however much of a pig to ride, would carry the extra fuel. The combination bike was a Ural M-67, a 650 cc flat twin motor just like the BMW but less reliable, less fast and less everything. It looked grey but closer inspection showed it was just caked in dirt. He needed local clothes and scarf, tins for fuel and some luck.

'Errh English, speak English?' He asked one man then another. A brief shaking of heads and then some pointing. A man appeared in a long flowing robe and a red hat. He spoke English and was happy to help sell a motorcycle. Alex explained he wanted to swap and all the other things that he needed. He asked the distance to Witputz. He was relieved to find was about 300 kilometres or 200 miles. It all took a while, Alex asked to change the clothes that were first produced because they looked too new, so it took even longer, over two hours to get the fuel into the eight tin cans, then safely packed into the side car. They took the windscreen off the sidecar and the rocket launcher was hung on the top covered over with a few sacks. He only kept some of the food rations but all the water. They refilled his water containers which concerned him as he had no idea of where the water had come from and if it was safe to drink. As a matter of local custom they insisted they had tea together before he left. It was now 11 am. This was a good time for him because the day was now getting hotter and the longer they had to wait the more tired they would be. He had one more thing to ask, 'You see I am just a little nervous, err I'm worried about starting off when I ride out would you follow me say for ten miles just to make sure I am okay on the bike?' Given that they had such a good deal in the trade they were more than happy to do that.

They wanted to wait until the afternoon but Alex insisted they went then reassuring them he only needed ten miles to practice and that they would be back in no time. They unhitched the bowser which was now empty and followed him down the B1 in the jeep he had driven all this way and of course was known to his pursuers. He had arranged to wave at them when he felt secure, and at that point they would turn back. As he approached the ten mile mark he started to sweat inside his new clothes, he could not swallow, he turned the twist grip and opened it up, coming into view of the truck he shook his left hand at the following jeep. They slowed hooted at him and then gradually turned around and headed back to town. Great timing, almost perfect. He was up to the truck now and the heads he could see were all looking beyond him at the jeep. He motored on and then he was past them and could just make them out in one of the shaking mirrors. No one was interested in him.

He didn't hear the cursing as Gourner shouted for his men to mount the truck. It took a few minutes for them to load up and then they drove off towards the town in chase of the jeep. The men in the jeep saw the truck when they turned around. It and its occupants had been noticed when it was in the town earlier. They had been no trouble but everyone was pleased to see them get their suppliers and move on. Now though they were returning and yes they were firing at them. The men inside asked each other what was going on and they quickly decided to speed up and try to get away. They were very pleased with the jeep's response. It showed a good turn of speed now that it had no bowser attached and accelerated into the town. They drove past the unmanned police station and swung around the side roads that they knew so well and into a garden, they jumped out and then ran the jeep into a lean-to barn. They pulled the makeshift door across the opening and ran away.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 56

### Outsmarted

The salesman who spoke English and who had done the deal with Alex was also a town elder and his brother ran the 'car lot'. They went to find help and get armed. They formed a small but very experienced team of fighters used to dealing with outsiders coming to the town to steal, rape and pillage, they knew where to group and they waited for the truck to appear.

Gourner could not believe his eyes as the jeep approached and then stopped and turned back. He was enraged and he chased it into town and then it had disappeared. He was now driving slowly down the main street. He was beside the driver but hanging out of the door, Mee and the men on foot, guns at the ready. The town's people fired first, and there was an exchange of bullets for several minutes. Mee saw two of his men go down and another shrieked in pain behind him. He called the retreat and they got behind the truck and it backed out. Gourner had fired off his gun until it was empty, they were now only nine men and Gourner and two other were wounded.

A shout came to them from the villagers in Shona asking what they wanted.

'I want the Englishman in the jeep. I will come back and kill you all if you do not give him up.'

'You are too late he is gone on the bike, he passed you on the road.' Nothing else was said. Gourner's men took Mee's instruction to get on the truck. They loaded up and departed.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 57

### So near and yet so far

Namibia is governed by a national state government with the country then broken down into 13 regions or states. The west coast has four of these regions; Karas, Hardap, Erongo and Kunene. The fugitives could cross any or all of these to gain access to the west coast and each had its own policing and staffing issues. None of them could deal with a mercenary insurgence; they would need help from the national army and the type of help would depend on the objective the government set. It was a given that they were not being told the whole truth by the British, and the Americans had now voiced their interest as they were after an assassin who had killed one of theirs. Botswana were happy for any conflict to take place somewhere other than Botswana and Zimbabwe were saying nothing. Whatever they did they needed to appear to be a facilitator and not an instigator of anything, and they did not want to appear to be supporting Zimbabwe to the outside world. But they also did not want Zimbabwe to take offense. If they could capture the Englishman and hold or send back the Zimbabwean mercenaries then they could hold their heads up. They decided to place a military presence at the junctions and outlets which gave access to the sea on the west coast. There were not many outlets and they could use their Casspir personnel transporters to get their army to the various locations. These trucks carried two personnel plus twelve soldiers and they had 20 trucks. These would be backed up with armoured patrol vehicles and tanks. They would deploy 100 men to each of the five locations to be protected.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 58

### The chase was on

If Gourner was ever going to have a heart attack it was now. He was so totally incensed with rage he banged his head on the dash and nearly knocked himself out. They were again in pursuit but some 60 minutes behind their prey and in a slower vehicle. He had just left his dead in the town, a sign of yet another failure and as time went by he dwelt on those consistent and repeated losses while the hatred hardened and grew inside him.

Alex was travelling fast and well on his way. He didn't know it but he was halfway to Noodoewer and only three hours from Witputz. It was just past 13.00 and the bike was going well. He found it pulled to the left but he thought that was just the sidecar effect. It was still faster than the jeep and he even ventured to overtake the odd vehicle he came across. The terrain was now quite different. It was no longer flat, but hilly and even mountainous and the road climbed and dropped its way forward. At Noodoewer he turned right and immediately he could see the incline laid out in front of him with the mountains rising up to his left. If he broke down in this rugged country he was stuffed. He continued on and seven miles outside of Klepneuvel he entered a canyon which the road ran through. It was the only route and here he could not only feel but hear the wind tunneling down. Five miles outside of the town turn off, the road rose and went over high mountain rock and it was on the way down the bike's engine spat for the first time. By the time he was the bottom it was spiting and lurching. He had to stop.

Tebogo now learned of the casualties suffered by Gourner and his men. They could not identify some of them and it was possible that the leader himself was dead. He ordered an air sweep of the area but the helicopter had already started its journey back so they continued back to re-fuel and then set off again. This delay meant that when they did sweep the area, Alex and Gourner had already moved out of their radius of search. Reporting back a negative find, Tebogo stood the helicopter down and awaited other developments.

Now, Alex did not know a lot about engines. He looked behind him and couldn't see anything coming but then he didn't have the advantage of a clear view as the bloody mountain was in the way. Taking care around the hot engine he opened the fuel tank to top it up even though there was fuel already. He checked the fuel switch in case it had moved with the vibrations. On these old bikes they had a turn switch to let fuel flow from the tank to the carbs so he looked for a fuel leak, nothing. This bike had a coke which he made sure was right off. Now when they had started the bike they had gently tapped the side of the carbs saying that it had been stood awhile. He did the same. He tried the engine and it started, hesitantly at first but then better and better. He put it in gear and away he went. This strange occurrence happened again 12 kilometres past the town and again on a downhill run. This time however, it did not correct itself so easily or quickly. He noticed a smell of petrol and then spotted that the fuel line, a piece of rubber tube, was held to the extruding metal inlet of the carb by a small wire clip, or at least it should have been. The clip was in fact not far enough down the hose to hold it on the inlet. The only thing holding it there was the pressure of the bend in the hose. He carefully undid the clip and moved it along then refastened it. He opened the choke and started the engine and after an initial cough it ran smoothly. He felt better for having found a reason and it made perfect sense that this caused the fuel starvation letting air instead of petrol through to the carb.

The delays meant that Gourner was catching up. As Alex got to the far end of another canyon with a straight run for three kilometres he saw a truck in the distance. They were so close but Alex could now motor on, and he did. He was concerned that when he had to stop he would be an easy target for his pursuers, or he might have another breakdown. He knew he would have to use the last rocket and hopefully this time finish things.

He rode on for 70 miles and came to a bridge. It was essentially wooden with metal straps holding it together. It was very substantial in that it could certainly take two vehicles crossing abreast and it was about 40 feet long. It was originally laid flat and the years had created a slight dip near the centre, this was shored up with what looked like a concrete pillar which could well have been added after the original build. The height above the river was some 25 feet and the river bed contained a number of large boulders and dead tree roots. He rode over the bridge and the river running below was well fed with water from the nearby mountains, not a fast flow but steady and clear. Riding on just past the bridge he stopped and looked back, no sign of them yet. He surveyed the area and decided to park up and wait for them. He would hit them when they slowed for the bridge.

There was no way of concealing the bike from where he wanted to fire the rocket so he rode on and found a small clearing. He cut the launcher free and took it with the rocket back to the far right side of the road. From here he had a good view of the approaching road and the entry to the bridge. In fact he could see the whole length of it, and the river below. Having found his spot he went back to the bike to collect a blanket cover. He considered the cut down camouflage netting but rejected it as it was the wrong colour in this environment. Here it was far greener, so he took the shovel and binoculars and went to prepare, knowing he didn't have long. If he had travelled 70 miles and was going say 30 miles an hour faster than them then he had a maximum of 20 minutes and he had already used up 10 of those. He picked up a couple of biggish rocks and placed them near a natural high clump of ground. He set the rocket launcher down and the blanket under him. He moved the rocks so that they were diagonally between him and the start of the bridge. He loaded the rocket and then lay down and waited.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 59

### Last ditch effort

They had been taking turns at driving and Gourner and Mee were in the back of the truck checking the guns and ammunition. Mee had also tried to help with Gourner's wound but they had nothing with them but a few bandages. He had cleaned the cuts and wrapped it as best he could. The driver saw the bridge and rather late decided to check his speed and braked and changed down, this caused them to jolt and slow very quickly. Once he had a better view of how sturdy the bridge was he put his foot down and being in a lower gear momentarily raced ahead. From the corner of his eye he caught a flash and the next thing he knew he was looking at the sky and the truck was in the air. He grabbed the wheel and watched in horror as the truck changed direction and headed straight down to hit the river bed rocks nose first. He was killed instantly.

In the back the first thing they knew was the noise. An ear-piercing twang to which huge confusion was added by the front of the truck being launched into the air. Then came the physical pain of being thrown first back and then forward into each other and the back of the cab. They were only just slightly aware of the gun going off. Gourner had Mee and another man who had fallen on him and it was him pushing them that got them to stir. Several minutes passed before they untangled themselves and push one of the dead men out of the way.

Alex was surprised to see how fast they seemed to be travelling when they came into view. He didn't need the bins, he simply leveled the launcher and focused on the road just before the bridge. He kept looking up above the sight to keep them in his eye view. Exactly what happened he was not sure but just before the bridge they seemed to jolt and slow quickly and then pick up speed and they were on the bridge before he knew it. He panicked and for no reason he turned slightly to the left and fired. He hit the bridge in front of them and it was smashed into match sticks, the front of the vehicle was first thrown in the air some six feet and then came down breaking through whatever was left of the bridge and headed nose down into the river bed where it dug in. The impact sending the engine into the cab trapping and killing the driver. As the truck crashed into the river bed rocks the occupants were thrown into a bundle of arms and legs at the back of the cab.

One of the men at the bottom of the pile of mercenaries had his leg broken and reacting to his pain he grabbed and pulled the trigger of his machine gun, killing two of the men. It was only one of them falling on him that freed the gun from his grip. The truck was now nose down, rear end lodged against the side of the riverbank at an angle of 55 degrees.

Alex's first reaction was to run but he needed to know if they could recover. Certainly the truck was done but were they firing at him? He risked raising his head and he was fairly satisfied. He could see the driver was dead, no doubt about that, and one man was hanging down from the side of the truck his belt caught on something, his lifeless body slightly swaying. No other sign of life. A gun slithered down from the back of the truck as it settled a bit more, it fell into the water.

He got up, left the launcher there, gathered up the blanket, bins and shovel and walked back to the bike, every now and then half turning round to make sure no one was following him. He filled up with petrol and he was away. He now felt he was free and rode on, still looking to make a good speed, he found himself smiling as he passed a water purification plant set off to his left about 20 miles up the road.

The driver and two others were dead and one had a badly broken leg, that left five men standing. Gourner wounded and the others well shaken. One of the men started to inch his way up the side of the truck, half walking on his knees, half pulling with his hands, holding on just. The angle was steep but with care he managed to get to the top. Mee had taken the straps off the guns and linked them together; he threw it up to his man. He then moved back on the end of the truck, the tail board had gone, blown off or broken and that meant that he could sit on the angle of the side and floor of the truck.

He gripped the strap and the next man used that and the side of the truck to make his way up. Gourner was hurt but it was his turn next. Both Mee and the other man knelt down so he could stand on their cupped hands, then they heaved and pushed as he pulled himself up with his one good hand. Again they pushed higher and then the men on top grabbed at him. Together they pushed and hauled him to the point that he could use his remaining strength to be balanced with the top half of his body on the side of the truck with his legs dangling down. They rested and from there they hauled him the rest of the way. They all rested and then Mee threw up the guns and some ammo and the other two climbed up.

They were all so shattered, angry, hurt and demented there was no discussion. They were all totally united to go on. They started walking.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 60

### Wrong place, wrong time

In that environment where peace and quiet abound, nature allows the fall of the land and height of the hills to dissipate wind, air and sound. In the case of the explosion, it was carried along the valley and gradually faded but not before reaching the ears of those in the water purification plant housed in a low lying area between the mountains. The manager called his assistant and they agreed the assistant would take a car and go south along the road to see if there was an accident or some natural disaster. He took the firm's old land rover and got going.

About half a mile before he reached the bridge he came across a group of men who were obviously hurt and in distress, he stopped. They dragged him out of the land rover and killed him. They were mobile again.

Alex arrived at Witputz at 21.50. To get there he had turned right off the C13 highway and travelled two miles on a small track. To the north and south and east it was hilly and desolate, but to the north-west it was flat and there were even some small ploughed fields. He could be met from midnight onwards. He put the battery in his mobile and found his exact position, prepared a text and thought there was no harm in sending it now. He mentioned the motorcycle and side car to help with identification. There was very little there, a village and a few out buildings. A large brick wall dominated the entry to the village. It was the remains of a building with only one full wall and half of a right-angled wall attached in the corner. It stood about 20 feet high and was uneven on the top where some bricks had fallen away. It leaned away from the road but still stood in defiance of gravity. The rest of its support and adjoining walls were somehow done away with in the passage of time. Beyond the wall the road was clear until the small buildings started, many not used now.

Alex could have parked behind the big wall but for one thing he thought that was too obvious and for another it did not look entirely safe. In some parts there seemed nothing holding the bricks together, so he parked up behind one of the smaller buildings. He had something to eat and then checked the fuel. He didn't need any more but he thought it interesting to see what was left. There was one full can and just about a tank full in the bike. Not bad that, he felt pleased with himself.

Haalenberg was a small village now left abandoned, it lay 500 yards from the B4 which ran through the mountains and was surrounded by 'Sperrgebiet', a no go area. This was desolate country and was sometimes used for military exercises. The road had been cut into the lower side of mountains to the north and sandstone to the south. This was the perfect place to set up a road block, between the two natural elements was the road and a run off area of no more than 30 metres in all. This was where the captain put his tank and troops and they created a blockade facing east and further backed this up with their camp directly behind and to the west of it. They needed a proper camp because this area was known for the blisteringly harsh winds driving in from the west, finding this valley to blast down and making it cold and harsh. It was not a comfortable place to be. When he had received his orders Captain Noa Deepee had only been a few kilometres away and although he didn't have a tank with him he had 120 men from three divisions which been assigned as a work party on a rock fall near the B4 further to the east. The tank had been dispatched and would be with him in 12 hours. In the meantime, he would get the camp set up and be ready for anything. It was not beyond the possibility that this was a test or that a general would come along to see how well prepared he was. He roused his men and barked orders. He would be ready.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 61

### Help at last

The two mantas flew in over the rough terrain and came into sight of Witputz at 22.45. They had seen the aerial photos but circled once to check out the area and then brought them down in the flat area to the north-west, about 500 yards metres from the lonely wall. From where they were the wall appeared almost end on except for the half wall that faced them directly. They parked the micro-lights facing outwards and some 20 metres apart before collapsing the wingspan and securing them with tie down ropes. They had Alex's message, got their bearing and noted that he would be just into the village. Carl was staying with the mantas and Ray would hold back on the edge of the village with Dave going forward to make contact with Alex. This was always a very risky part of any operation. There were two critical elements they needed to be careful with. The first was coming in to land, as they were then at their most vulnerable seen flying in low and almost defenceless until they had landed, stopped the planes and got their guns ready. Although they were not expecting a welcoming party a local gang might decide to attack first and find out what was going on later. Secondly, they were going to meet an unknown civilian who might be jumpy or dead or replaced by an impostor. They could even find themselves approaching the wrong person altogether with unforeseeable repercussions.

Gourner arrived at the junction of the C13 and the right hand turn into the village of Witputze at 22.45 and to his amazement he saw two circling micro lights. He had the land rover stop and waited, seeing them come down. He had the Land Rover park and he and his men made their way on foot and then on their hands and knees as they crawled and watched the SAS do their thing. Gourner motioned for Mee and the others to spread out a few feet apart. Before they made their final approach, he called in a whisper to Mee and told him to get round the back of wall that was off to their right which would give him the advantage in having a cross fire on the plane crews. He waited and the pause gave his body a chance to remind him that he hurt. His side was aching and he felt weak from the loss of blood lack of food, but that all paled into insignificance now. He knew that these guys were probably the SAS come to rescue the man who killed his son. He had stopped carrying a machine gun and only had a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. He took it out and as he brought it up level with his head he clanged it on an old tin can laying on the ground in front of him. He was too tired to notice the slight noise it made but looking up he realised the man by the planes had disappeared. He slowly moved his head scanning the area for movement but he couldn't see any.

Mee withdrew and carefully tracked backwards and then off to the far end of the wall. He wasn't happy with this long wall and the hidden space beyond it, but walking to the end was the only way to get behind it. Once he was at the end he felt more relaxed as he only had to watch 180 degrees rather than 360. As he looked round the wall he found his prey. Alex was already in discussions with another man but they were a good way off.

It was 23.10 when Dave slowly moved along the back of the row of closed buildings. He had seen a man leaning against the end of a wall, across from him and to the left was the head on view of a motorcycle combination and he hoped it was Alex. Silently edging nearer he then uttered, 'Birthday boy?'

Alex had not heard him coming and jumped at the sound of his voice, 'err "young man"?' He didn't know what else to say, 'that you?'

'Yes Alex. Relax we are here and we'll have you out of here in no time. Follow me.'

He waited until Alex reached him, they nodded and then shock hands, not something that Dave felt easy with as it tied up a hand for a few seconds. They started to walk away together. They advanced and met Ray, the two SAS men nodding to each other. Ray led them behind one of the buildings and back out to the main road, then across the road and then back again. All the time the two SAS men kept a 360 degree vigil. As they got to the side of another building Alex could make out something in the field but he was not sure what. Suddenly Ray and Dave dropped to their knees and Dave motioned Alex to do the same. They were searching ahead with their eyes and obviously not happy about something.

Carl had watched his comrades walk off and took up a position to the left and slightly behind the two mantas. He had with him night vision glasses but was holding station without them on. Then he heard the clang of Gourner's gun on the tin and he dropped to the ground and put the night vision glasses on. He saw Ray, Dave and another man approaching from ahead, all well there, but then off to his right he saw some movement and he could make out a number of shapes on the ground. Three, four, no five men lying low about four or five feet apart and looking between him and the wall, they were armed.

'This is Oskar 2, hold and down, we've got company, four armed radars on your left 20 to 30 metres away, open ground spread over six metres.'

'Copy that Oskar 2, this is Oskar 1' Ray paused, he and Dave exchanged signs and Dave made off back along the side of the wall that was facing the armed men who had been spotted, he kept close to the wall to use it as cover, 'Our target here with me, Oskar 3 arranging a side door.'

Their position was not ideal because both Carl and Dave were in front of Gourner and his men, if Ray went behind them then there was a danger of Ray's gunfire hitting Carl and Dave, or the other way round. Ray going back and then coming at the five men from the side he was in no danger of hitting his own men and they would also be firing at a right angle to his position. However, they also needed to protect the mantas'; therefore Carl would be the last to fire and then only if he needed to as they did not want him to draw fire towards the planes. The SAS had a big advantage in that they had night vision glasses.

'This is Oskar 3, in position, confirm four radars, but they are pointing directly at the birds.'

'This is Oskar 1, Oskar 2 hold back, Oskar 3 on your mark we will engage.'

There was silence, Ray moved crawling forward a few feet, Gourner's men were still waiting for their prey they did not move, but then Ray saw one man, the furthest from him wave the others forwards and they all started to crawl. This was the best chance because on the move it was harder for them to fire.

'Oskar 1 lets go.' He opened fire and his silenced machine gun tore into the men and the ground. It was quick and silent but after the first two coughed and rolled and fell the others realised they were being attacked, they tried to turn around firing and kept turning firing until they fell dead from the murderous volley unleashed by the professionals.

Dave moved out of cover and fired into the target area but then Gourner opened up with his gun from his position off to the side, firing nine rounds at Dave and then dropping to the ground dead as Dave return fire. Some of the gun fire hit the wall and it started to fall from about a third of the way up, bricks being blown apart and pushed on top of Alex, falling on and around him. The wall continued to collapse down its full length and created a cloud of dust as it settled. Then nothing.

Mee had been slowly moving up the length of the wall and he was more than halfway along it when he heard gun fire and the wall started to fall all around him, he tried to hold it with his back but it came down on top of him, too hard and too heavy and pushing him to the ground.

Carl had seen Dave go down and he too joined in with a volley into the men on the ground, he and Ray ran towards the crumpled men and to check they were dead, they shot them all again.

'Dave's been hit,' he informed Ray, and it was then that one of the Mantas caught fire and exploded behind them.

Dave had gone down and when Alex saw him fall he went forward and pulled him behind the wall. Alex took his gun and waited but bricks were now falling on and around him. He didn't get a chance to fire the gun but he saw that the others had things under control.

Ray and Carl ran to the surviving manta and cut the ties and walked it away from the fire. Carl stayed with the plane and Ray ran back to Dave with a first aid kit.

'Fuck it,' Dave hissed. It was his lower calf, two bullets fortunately straight through but bleeding and, according to him, hurting.

Ray cut the trouser leg and opened a packet of power and poured it on, he took out a syringe and a small bottle and offered it up for Dave to see. 'No thanks mate not that bad and I want to stay in control. The worst is probably over.' They looked at Alex's head where a brick had caught him on the left side of the temple, not seriously but a small cut that they dressed.

Carl had moved forward and was taking photographs of the dead men. He confirmed Gourner was among them by the ear rings and scar. 'So,' he said to Alex 'that was the man who was after you. No doubt about it 'revenge is the killer.'

Alex met his eye and slowly nodded.

'Okay, did you see we lost a manta?' Ray spoke to Dave.

'Yeah, that fucking Carl couldn't babysit a fucking corpse.' He smiled.

Ray and Alex helped Dave to the manta and they went through a brief greeting for Alex but really talked to each other.

Ray got a map out and outlined their options, they put a number of things forward but Alex wasn't happy as they all revolved around him being taken off now and two men, one of them wounded, staying and making their own way back. He said he couldn't go and leave a wounded man behind. If Dave could not fly and might pass out on route then one of them had to take him out and the other stay with Alex. The second party would ride to the coast on the bike. They didn't need to discuss this at length as they all knew it was workable and a good option. The map showed a road route to the north west to a place called Ludentz and just past that was a point standing out in the sea called Shark island. It was decided Ray and Alex would drive north, pick up the B4 and then head west past Haalenberg and on to Ludentz and Shark Island.

They loaded Dave into the manta and Carl got in behind him. They discarded everything they could in the way of weight and they took off. They couldn't radio ahead until they were airborne because of the mountains. It was 1.30 on the 19th March, Alex had missed his birthday but he was still alive.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 62

### Another enemy

The B4 was a road that followed the line of a mountain to the north and it had been cut into or run around solid sandstone to the south. Ray insisted on riding with Alex as pillion and they made good progress until they were about three miles from Haalenberg. Fortunately Ray saw the road block and pulled up.

'More friends of yours?' he asked.

'I don't know I thought they were all dead. Maybe they are not there for us?'

'Yes you are probably right, and my other name is Mary Poppins.'

They were on slightly high ground and behind them the mountain was providing good background camouflage. They pushed the motorcycle combination backwards and Ray told Alex to stay with it. He went off to take a closer look. Alex did not feel entirely comfortable with this as he could be discovered and he too wanted to see what was going on but Ray insisted he needed to get close. It seemed like an age before Ray returned and he did not look happy.

'Okay out there is about 100 soldiers and I would guess they are Namibia army. There is a blockade across the road and their camp is directly behind it, so they are here to stay. The road is maybe 30 metres wide at its widest points and either side is impassable with the banking mountains, for the bike anyway.' He paused, 'We have about a cup of water each and a few biscuits. Our firepower against theirs is a joke.'

'So there is a chance then?'

They grinned stupidly at each other, 'There's always a chance.'

'Really?'

'Oh yes, to start with they can't have been here long by the way the camp is still not finished. The latrine is in use but completely exposed, and there are tents on the ground not yet erected. They have a blockade guard but no outer camp guards so if we can get through the main blockade we can walk right through and no one will notice us.' Ray was sounding enthusiastic.

'Right yes I think I see. Just one small point, won't the guards that are there feel it's their duty to stop us?'

'Well yes if they see us they will, but they won't because we will crawl up the side of the mountain and slip over them and down into the camp, and away. We will be better off going into the camp and using that as our cover and then seeing if we can get to their vehicles and borrow one. When we get closer you will see they have angled the blockade to face the road and that is a weak point because once we are past on that side of the road, and slightly up the mountain we are constantly out of the direct line of vision of the guards who face outwards. They are facing down the road and away from the mountain. The guards are not walking back and forth in line with the blockade, they are just stood, sat or learning on it facing down the road. Ever been mountain climbing?'

'You'll be surprised to know that I haven't.' Alex said with a feeling of dread as he wasn't good at heights.

'Never mind we only have to get across this road, climb up about 30 feet or so, very quietly, and then I'd say it's 3 miles or so to the blockade. We then drop down into the camp and we are through, easy as that.'

'Yes but aren't we still 25 miles from Shark Island even then?'

'Yes that's why we will borrow one off their vehicles, time is pressing now, come on.'

Alex just went with it; it was not as though they had a lot of choices.

Before they took off, Ray cut some of the material from the robe Alex was wearing and he then cut the ends so these could be tied to their shoes to help reduce noise when they got near to the blockade. They walked back a few hundred yards and over the road then they started to climb the side of the mountain. It was actually quite easy, they were almost on all fours for the start and then they could crouch, crawl and walk along the side of the mountain. There were the remains of a walkway which may have been created for the engineers when the road was built. This path cut into the rock and its base was below the most forward edge of the rocks. Alex was thankful he could keep up with Ray as while he did keep himself fit he had not had the correct food or rest for days and he was all but done in. Right now the adrenaline was definitely kicking in and this helped them as they moved on together.

About 30 metres before the blockade, Ray stopped and motioned to Alex to wrap his feet in the cloth before they crawled the next 60 metres to beyond the road block. It was the most uncomfortable bit so far but soon Ray was heading down into the camp. He stopped at the road kneeling as he waited for Alex. They took off the shoe coverings and Ray stood up and walked bold as brass out and past the tents. Alex followed and caught him up. Ray put his hand to his mouth, to indicate no speaking and they reached the far side of the camp.

Parked on the south side of the road on level sandstone were a good collection of army vehicles. Ray pulled Alex into the cover of them and walked along behind each vehicle. It was too dark now to see exactly what was there so they walked along until Ray found one he wanted. It was a short wheel base land rover. He carefully opened the door and went under the dash and freed up some wires, gently pulling them out. Ray reappeared and motioned to Alex to get close.

'Alex,' he whispered, 'we are going to push this out and down the road a bit.'

And with that Alex saw him put his weight behind the door and push, Alex went to the back and gave it all he had and to his delight the Land Rover moved off, very slowly at first and but gradually gathering speed. When they were about 300 metres away, Ray stopped and pulled free the wires he had previously loosened. He looked back at the camp then, satisfied they were not being observed, he twisted the wires together and the dash came alive with lights and the engine started. They got in and drove off, amazed that no one had heard or seen them.

The drive was uneventful but also uncomfortable. Alex found himself wanting to look back all the time and the uneven road jostled them around on the basic seats. They eventually arrived at Shark Island at 7.45 and sat and waited in a natural lay-by near the water's edge. They knew they might have a long wait and Ray was concerned that the missing vehicle would be discovered and searched for. He decided to drop it in the sea so they drove it back a couple of miles to a small raised edge of ground and pushed it off into the water. They slowly walked back to find a spot where they could conceal themselves and have a sight of the road from where they had come. It was a long wait but they talked about their escape and Alex told Ray some of the highlights of his journey since being taken hostage. Ray was genuinely impressed at Alex's ingenuity and he said that what they had done together was kid's play compared to the rest of Alex's story. Alex expressed his sorrow at leaving the jeep behind because it had saved his life.

'Don't worry it's in good hands. Some local will either love and cherish it, or sell it or break it up for parts.' He knew this wouldn't help but thought Alex should get real, he had survived and the jeep should be a non-event to him.

It wasn't until 23.00 hours that Ray got a call. He told Alex to stay still then got up and checked out the surrounding area. He was gone about 15 minutes then returned and they walked down to the sea together.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 63

### The Arc Royal

A 30 foot inflatable boat came into sight pushing a white wave in front of it. There was a helmsman and four other seamen on board. Ray and Alex got a bit wet but within seconds of being on board they were heading out to sea, and being buffeted as the boat pushed the waves aside. It was eight miles to join the Arc Royal, but a little out to sea they met up with another boat the same in looks and manned the same with a helmsman and four crew all armed. It let them pass and then took up position behind them as both inflatable's sped off. Alex didn't feel entirely comfortable or safe. Although he enjoyed sailing in craft of this size, the speed they were travelling at and the buffeting they were taking all seemed too much. He hung on and watched the other men in his craft for signs of concern or something to warn him of impending danger. Five minutes into the journey he realised he had been so tightly wound up for so long that he was just on edge. He loosened his grip on the hand holds and tried to relax and enjoy the rest of the trip.

When they reached the aircraft carrier the sea was not too bad. Both vessels were moving and it took a degree of skill to leap from the boat to the small platform. Well, it did for Alex. And then a great deal of stamina to climb up all the steps even to the level at which they could enter the ship, which was nowhere near the deck level. A small reception party met them. A few nods and back patting took place between the crew before Alex was ushered to a medical area and met a doctor who said it was standard procedure to have a check over. Alex thought it was a bit over the top but when he took his shirt off he was shocked to see the huge blue bruising on the top of his right arm, shoulder and into his chest. His upper legs and left side also carried marks of impact and rubbing but he had no idea where from. He nearly didn't recognise himself dirty, bearded and hair in a mess, and he looked tired. The rings around his eyes told their own story. Then there was a graze and the start of another bruise on the top of his left arm, where he had helped pull Dave in behind the wall after he was shot. The left side of his head looked like it had been in a war all of its own. The cut from the first fight had cleared but the brick falling on him later had created a cut and bump. The doctor asked about all of the bruising and Alex felt an absurd pride in explaining that he had used a rocket launcher five times. The Doctor asked about pain levels but as much as he ached and was noticing it more now he was starting to relax, he was not actually in pain.

The x-rays didn't take long. It was not like having to wait in the hospital as he was the only one being attended too. He was shown to a bed and told to rest and they would see how he felt in a couple of hours after the shock had either worn off or set in some more. He didn't argue. They brought him a cup of tea too but he nodded off before getting to it.

Although he found he had no trouble dozing off, he was continually awoken by dreams. The incidents of extreme fear, panic and relief all came flooding back as he relaxed into sleep. Physically safe now from the chase and harm he was beginning to be tortured by the memories. At one point he awoke and wondered where he was, then remembering he went straight back to sleep. However, the all too vivid memories of being taken from the plane, the camp and the fight; the young man's lifeless body, a mere boy dead, and at his hands. He knew he only did what he had to do to survive but now he was reliving the thoughts and fears all over again. Seeing the truck coming at him and the feeling of uncontrollable sickness, hopelessness; he awoke again in a sweat. The bridge he fired at and missed and could so easily have met his own end then, he had been so lucky. Now in the night, his first night of feeling really free and safe he relived his fears and he started to feel the pains in his body. He fell back exhausted, and struggled on with his fitful sleep.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 64

### Catching up with news

He was woken with a cup of tea and an omelette. He felt awful, aching all over, and not finding it easy to wake up. His eye lids heavy, he managed to express his thanks and sat up. The tray placed beside him. Again the tea had bloody milk in it. He smiled at his own irritability, a sure sign he was alright.

'Well if you would like to eat and shower we'll find you some clothes and the Commander has invited you to the Bridge and then lunch in the officers' mess. You'll find a razor and a few bits and smelly stuff there if you want to use them' the seaman announced.

Alex didn't say anything he just nodded and drank some tea, it was not hot and it wasn't too bad, even with milk in it. He gradually regained his senses and got himself going. He was amazed that his body did not ache more as parts of it looked grim with bruising.

At lunch, the Commander introduced Alex to the officers and said that they had no idea he'd had such an ordeal crossing Africa. He was invited to give them a summary, which he did and as he unfolded the events they grew more attentive.

'Well you won't be aware of the very significant campaign that has been organised on your behalf by one of your fellow captive prisoners. She has got thousands of people to sign a web petition and shame the Government into action to get you freed.'

'She?' he quizzed.

'Yes we may have some recorded news but I expect it will still be going on until we announce you are safe and well. What do you think Doctor, can we announce him well?'

'I'd say so but he shouldn't be taking any flights for another 48 hours. Although there are no broken bones, I want to see the muscles relaxing a little and check for any more bruises coming out.' Turning to Alex, 'you can expect a bit more discomfort as your body relaxes and then the bruises will start to hurt.'

Alex ignored this 'Flights?'

'Yes we will fly you to the UK on Thursday 22nd, two days away. You can rest up and if you want, make use of our facilities. Gym, computer, telephone, once we get HM clearance that is. There's going to be an announcement later today, probably late morning, it's a political thing. The PM will tell the world you are free and safe.'

He had some wine with lunch and while probably not a great idea he felt pleasantly mellower after it. He returned to the sick bay bed and dozed off into another fitful sleep, covering similar ground to the night episode.

At 11.30 a rating fetched Alex and took him through the ships corridors and decks to a mess hall where the television was on. A group of people were looking at it and others were doing their own thing in the large room.

'Ah Mr Ward,' it was the first lieutenant, 'There's going to be a news announcement and the Government have arranged for you to speak to your family in advance, they will be on the line in a few moments. Just for a short while to say hello and confirm you are safe and well.'

The phone rang, 'that's for you now.' He picked up the receiver and handed it to Alex.

'Hello,' he said tentatively.

'Alex is that you? Thank God you're safe! It seems too good to be true I just didn't believe them at first.' It was his sister.

'Hi Pat, yes I'm fine.'

'When will you be back? Where are you now? Have you seen the campaign to get support for you? Rachel has been amazing. We have been working together, a lovely girl.' It was interesting that she spoke of Rachel in these terms.

'No I haven't seen anything. I have no idea where I am other than on a royal navy ship and if I did know I couldn't tell you without then having to kill you.' There was an exchange of laughter. 'Thank God I travelled first class can you imagine what it would have been like if I had gone tourist?'

'Stop that, are you really okay? I can't explain how worried we've been.'

'Yes I'm fine a few bruises but I've had a full medical and passed. They are looking after me well.'

'When will you be back?'

'I'm not sure, a couple of days, love to everyone.' It was over, he felt he hadn't said enough but given that a large part of the world would hear it he thought it was probably as well.

After this telephone call Alex said he had some calls he needed to make and they gave him a phone and he again called his sister and Ann in South Africa. They didn't speak for long but it was more private. Patricia explained that Rachel had stayed with her and told him of the email campaign and that Rachel had fought so hard to get his case noticed.

'Pat this is a bit more private than before but still not secure would you call Rachel and tell her I will phone as soon as I am back. Tell her I'm looking forward to seeing her.'

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 65

### Rachel finds out he's back

Rachel's arrival in London had started what was to be a three day whistle stop tour of television, radio and newspaper interviews. She had refused no one and had had to enlist one of her friends to help with making diary arrangements.

The government were continually responding with platitudes and sympathy but they could not deliver anything concrete or really positive. Then on the 19th March, before all the scheduled media meetings were complete, the government announced that Mr Alex Ward had been rescued and was en route home. Rachel was phoned by her friend to say she had just heard an announcement and that Alex was free, her phone rang again, it was Patricia.

'Rachel! I have just spoken to Alex, he is free, the government sent in the SAS and they got him out. I had no notice, the phone rang and said he would be on the line and I put the phone down and it rang immediately again. I didn't have a chance to call you.'

'Oh I don't know what to say, how did he seem?'

'Well. Trying to joke, you know how he always does that so it is not easy to say but he said he was alright. He had some bruises but he had a full medical and he was coming home. To be honest we didn't get a chance to talk as it was a put up show for the media to link into the government announcement.'

They talked some more then when the phone went down, Rachel let herself plonk into a chair. She felt relieved but exhausted, and in some way confused that she had felt so driven to do what she had done yet now had nothing but a slight hollow feeling. Maybe it would have been different if she had spoken to Alex herself, what would he be thinking, if anything, about her.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 66

### Revenge

The Zimbabwe army spotters had set up at four points around Zott. Their main force, some thirty men, camping in wooded ground off to the east. The high rock face to the north provided good cover and the foot of the radio mast was particularly useful as it protruded slightly and gave a 270 degree view of the approach. Communications with their commander and the main force were provided by radio and they had made two dummy runs in to check the time it would take to converge on Zott when Gourner returned.

The road to the south had two machine gun posts dug into either side with good natural camouflage. They waited.

The commander of the unit put down the radio phone and walked to the opening of the tent, his gaze stopped on two men leaning against a jeep. He didn't call out but waved them towards him when he caught one of them glance over to him. He returned to sit on a canvas collapsible chair and waited, he was troubled by his latest orders.

'Sir.' From both of them.

'I have been ordered to send out three scouts to find and report on a new camp that we believe Gourner and his men have set up. They may return there and not to Zott. You will be working out of a car with no contact to anyone but me and no one must know what is going on. I can only trust you two and anyway there is only you two who could do it and get away with it if you are found out. You both know and have been with Gourner and if he thinks you have deserted then you should be safe. Gourner has done something wrong and he is wanted by the man himself, so this is deep shit.' He paused and saw the look between the two men. 'Let's look at the map and see some places to look at and the number of days you need.'

'Are we just looking here? What about SA?'

'Well we start here or maybe a circle of 50 miles.'

The two men were brothers, both captains and they had been with the Major for nine years. They had undertaken a number of special assignments and he had been on some of them too. They had also worked with Gourner and knew he could be okay one minute and mad the next. He ran his men by fear and if they came across each other he wouldn't hesitate to kill them if he thought they were looking for him.

There was only one civilian car instantly available and Luke said he would take that and load up with supplies and set off within two hours. Davi, his brother, would take a ride into town and get another car. They had agreed the range and first target areas. In fact Davi helped Luke load up and he was away in just over an hour.

Luke headed immediately south west across country without the benefit of roads. They had decided to use cars and not jeeps because it would be more believable that they had deserted. No deserter would steal and keep an army jeep. The going was slow and he kept heading for higher ground and stopping and scanning the horizon for signs of a camp.

~~~~~

The F-117A Nighthawk was launched from the American aircraft carrier positioned on the Indian Ocean side of Africa. It was the world's first operational aircraft designed to exploit low-observable stealth technology, a quantum leap in stealth technology and perfect for this mission. Air refuelable if necessary, it could employ a variety of weapons including guided rockets and was equipped with sophisticated navigation, tracking and attack systems integrated into a state-of-the-art digital avionics system that increases mission effectiveness. There was also a forward detailed planning system for missions into highly defended target areas to reduce human error. This was accomplished by an automated mission planning system developed, specifically, to take advantage of the unique capabilities of this aircraft.

The plane flew in from the direction of the far west in a zig zagging path until it was south of Zott, it then turned north to pass Zott on its west side. The pilot received confirmation the mission object was a 'go' and he turned on the automated positioning device and sat back for the system to do its thing. The aircraft made a slight alteration to its direction but maintained the low level of flight for another 12 minutes then gained height and tilted to the right. The rockets, four in all, were released in a predetermined order and they flew on to their target, the aircraft continued to rise and levelled out for no more than three minutes, just long enough to capture the destruction of Zott, in its entirety. The aircraft dropped to a lower altitude, veered off to the right again and swung round 180 degrees tracking its way back to its ship. The pilot confirmed the objective was successful.

Zott had suffered four direct hits of rocket fire all focused within half a square mile and the resultant devastation was complete, including the Zimbabwe army task force. Within that area there were no survivors or humans or animals, the camp was entirely reduced to rubble. The radio mast collapsed from the combination of the vibration and the shock wave and the burning materials produced smoke and ash that tried to rise but was then forced back to ground level by the rain which started to fall minutes after the attack. As though it was nature's attempt to help wash away the memory of what had been there before.

The sound of the explosions was greatly muffled by the distance so Luke didn't hear so much as feel the tremor of the ground and air as the shock wave travelled towards him. He stopped and looked around until he saw the huge black and grey cloud rising into the sky line from the direction of Zott. For a few moments he stood and watched as the cloud reached a peak and then he saw it ballooning outwards as it exhausted its upward journey. Over to his left he saw something small and incredibly fast moving through the air. He swallowed hard and started to return to Zott.

# Chapter 67

### At last they talk

Alex phoned Ann and told her he would not be going back to South Africa for a while, maybe even a life time. She understood and was even relieved. She and her family were too close to Zimbabwe to be involved. Although they didn't discuss it they both knew that they were unlikely to see each other again unless she visited him.

He was nervous of talking to Rachel until he had got his head straight and knew what he wanted to do next. She was lovely, they enjoyed each other and he had often thought of her despite the circumstances he had faced. Deep down, Alex knew that the relationships he'd had since breaking up with his wife were all short term flings and yes sometimes more than flings but he had never contemplated another 'life time' commitment. He knew that he could with Rachel but he had his daughter to think of and wasn't sure he knew himself well enough to know this was _love_. His experience with human nature was that it was consistently unreliable and often hurtful; he just didn't want to go there again or take anyone else there either.

A recording of the first telephone call Alex had made from the Arc Royal was used on radio and television following the Government's announcement that Mr Alex Ward had been rescued from the hands of the Zimbabwean rebels and was en route to England. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, advised the house just 15 minutes before the news media were given the story. The opposition tried to get the issue of exactly what happened in Botswana investigated but the government had the upper hand with his rescue.

Alex stayed by the television in the ward room and heard the triumphant announcement of his rescue and then references to the campaign launched by his sister and Rachel. He was amazed thousands of people had logged into and signed a web site demanding the government explained their actions and did something to rescue him. Rachel had become the spokesperson and he recognised his lust for her growing. She would be one of his first ports of call for a number of reasons, not least to recapture the physical intimacy. He was just starting to get back feelings, or to be more exact a randy feeling. He found himself wanting to watch every detail of her face, reaction and just make sure she was how he remembered her.

The report showed different aspects of the atrocities happening in Zimbabwe. Smuggled out footage of burnt out villages, bodies in the roads and people crying and in shock. Reference was made to the van in which Alex had made his first escape and the personal belongings of unknown people contained within it. A picture of Alex followed and a summary of the plane landing and the original hostage taking, their escape and the accusation that the British Government had agreed to him being handed over to the Zimbabwean rebels. It was quite compelling stuff. He started to feel guilty about not contacting Rachel sooner but he had no immediate way of doing it, he decided he would call his sister and get her number.

His flight back to the UK touched down at LATCC(Mil), Swanwick, Southern Hampshire at 20.20 on Thursday 21st March and Alex was met by a Government representative. He had been 'debriefed' on board the ship but the details had raised a number of questions and he was required to provide more information. It was interesting in that he felt a certain pressure and almost a prisoner until the questions were answered.

He stayed at a house nearby and was then offered a car to take him wherever he wanted to go. He decided on home. He was on holiday but he could decide what next from there and he had his car there and he would feel in control. Control was an issue because he still wasn't sleeping and the nightmares were as frightening as ever. Some of the events of the first encounters with the kidnappers, and then the fight at Zott, being chased and sense of real fear were all very vivid in his mind. Particularly when he closed his eyes and tried to sleep or was lightly dozing, he just didn't seem to have any control, memories just opened up.

He got his mobile out and phoned his sister and asked for Rachel's number and called her.

'Please leave your message after the tone, Ping.'

'Err, hi there, err Rachel this is Alex, hello and thank you. I'll call back,' he left his mobile number and hung up.

The drive home was a nightmare all of its own. The M25 nose to tail and the road works made heavy going of it, then the M1 and more road works on the M6. They had left at 09.00 and arrived barely five minutes before 22.00. The driver had refused to stay for the night and he departed. Alex was left alone, completely alone for the first time since his rescue. He sat down and after ten minutes he realised he was shaking. He looked at his hands and stopped them moving and then got up to make some tea. He made the tea and then abandoned it for a bottle of red wine, a Chianti. He poured a glass and sat. He had not had a call back from Rachel and he checked his phone again. He had somehow turned off the ringer and there were five messages for him. He wanted them to be from her and was delighted two were but while he wanted to talk to someone, to her, he also wanted peace and quiet and to be left alone. He took another drink.

He had never been a great television addict but he turned the television on and fell back on the sofa. He used the background sound as a diversion, he put the glass down and fell back to try to sleep.

Patricia was on the phone to Rachel. 'Hi Rachel I just thought I'd let you know Alex is now back and he called me for your number about fifteen minutes ago so you can expect a call. I know he will thank you but I can't say enough how wonderful your help was, and I do hope we can meet again soon.'

'Actually he has already called and left a message, I phoned back and left a couple for him.' She paused.

Sensing the silence Patricia threw in, 'Well he may be just catching up on sleep, or he may have forgotten to turn the phone on.' They parted.

Rachel had a lot to do but she also wanted to have contact with him and understand if they would get together again, even for a brief reunion. Since her many radio and television appearances on the campaign, interest in her from her ex-employer had grown and she had other parties approaching her too, particularly as her campaign was now a great success. She had become an 'acceptable', even a recognizable, person with the public and it was generally being reported that the Government had been forced to act because of her actions. The adage that there was no smoke without fire was in the air, but the accusation that the government had colluded with Zimbabwe was not taken seriously in the political arena. That did not stop the opposition from making the most of the story of the handover of a British subject to another country, let alone a brutal regime like Zimbabwe.

The phone was ringing and then answered, 'Hello?'

'And hello to you too.' Alex tried to hold his voice normal.

'Hey! Good to hear from you, how are you?'

'Yes I'm good, pleased to be back and looking forward to seeing you. I must thank you. I have only seen some of your magnificent things and the effort you made to help me. I'm sure I would still be there or dead if you hadn't got stuck in.'

'Well don't forget you got us out originally, so we are sort of even.'

Alex wasn't sure this wasn't a 'push off we're even' comment, but then she followed it up. 'Where are you? Manchester? I'm in London but I might be coming up to the Granada Studios, we could meet up?'

'Yes great, when? Do you know because I am free and easy and so I could come down there? '

'Okay look I'll make a few calls and call you back, I'll know within an hour or two. I almost have an offer to do some television presenting, on the back of your campaign I'm suddenly in demand. I'll call as soon as I know. We must catch up and we've got some unfinished business.'

She heard him say, 'I'll not move from the phone.' And it made her smile on the outside and tingle on the inside.

Rachel made her calls and she was indeed invited to attend an interview for a job as a UK roving stand-in reporter, a sort of stand by for a trial period and then maybe something more permanent. The good thing was she could do it in conjunction with her normal work and it added another string to her bow. She called Alex back and said 'I'm coming up tomorrow. I've got to be at the studio for 11 am.'

'Why not come up now?'

'Well how long will it take to drive there?'

'From London, hmmm, about three to three and a half hours.' Have you got a sat nav?'

'Yes.'

'Okay I'll give you my post code, that is only if you can come today.'

'Yes I can, I just need an hour to sort a few things.' She rushed and it only took 35 minutes to be in the car and on the road. She hadn't felt this happy and excited for so long it felt like a completely new feeling.

~ ~ ~

# Chapter 68

### Face to face

Rachel arrived and Alex was waiting for her. They met on the driveway and fell into each other's arms, neither made any attempt to hide their joy at being reunited. Rachel had brought with her two bags, one a single overnight bag, and the other enough for about a week and a half. She took in the overnight bag to test the water.

'Is that all you have brought? Do you have to rush back?' She was quietly pleased by this and said that she did have a few more things in the car. Alex had planned to provide refreshments, some time to unwind and then see how the atmosphere seemed but it was not long before they were entwined and enjoying each other. After making love they spent some time adjusting to this new situation. They were now more conscious of each other than ever before. It seemed different now that they were here in a controlled environment, in a house and alone. There were no restrictions or conditions and this could carry on if they wanted it to but they now had the chance to decide on just that. There was nothing to stop them other than themselves. They were both in a strange dream world of happiness, disbelief, relief and hope, neither of them voiced their concerns, their past experiences or their expectations. They just accepted what was going on between them and each silently hoped it would carry on.

# Quoted Sources

Notwithstanding the fact that this book is a total and complete work of fiction the following press releases are real and are reproduced here with the kind permission of Amnesty International. The events portrayed in the rest of this story were partly inspired by these releases but are entirely fictitious.

*

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PRESS RELEASE

AI Index: AFR 46/001/2007 (Public)

News Service No: 049

12 March 2007

Zimbabwe: Calls for investigation into killing of activist and release of peaceful protestors

Amnesty International today demanded an immediate investigation into the killing of Gift Tandare, a Zimbabwean activist shot dead by riot police yesterday at a demonstration in Harare.

The organization also expressed serious concern for the welfare of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders Morgan Tsvangirai, currently in detention at Borrowdale Police Station, and Arthur Mutambara, detained at Avondale Police Station. Both have been severely beaten while in police custody.

Other leaders, including Tendai Biti, the Secretary General of the Tsvangirai-led MDC; Grace Kwinje, the Party's Deputy Secretary for International Relations; and Nelson Chamisa, spokesperson for the MDC, have also sustained severe injuries while in police custody. Grace Kwinje is reported to have lost part of her ear as a result of the beatings.

Amnesty International called for all detainees who engaged in non-violent protest to be released immediately.

"We are calling on the Zimbabwean government to immediately release all those arrested for peaceful protests," said Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme. "The killing of Gift Tandare must be investigated immediately and the perpetrators bough to justice. The government must also guarantee the safety and well-being of all those in police custody. All detainees should be given immediate access to their lawyers and medical care."

The killing of Gift Tandare took place during a protest against a police ban on all peaceful demonstrations in Harare's low income suburb of Highfield. The demonstration was organised by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign.

Lovemore Madhuku, chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), is in detention at Malborough Police Station and has also been severely beaten while in police custody. He reportedly has a broken hand and head injuries, for which he has received medical care.

Several protestors are reported to have sustained injuries following excessive use of force by riot police, who were attempting to disperse the demonstrators. Amnesty International fears that those in police custody may be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by police.

According to reports, over 50 people were arrested at the demonstration and remain in detention.

The state media has also reported that three policemen also sustained injuries while dispersing the protestors.

Lawyers have been denied access to all those in detention except for Lovemore Madhuku and Grace Kwinge.

The organization added that those arrested for engaging in violent protest should be guaranteed a fair trial.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the severe restrictions of freedom of expression, assembly and association following the blanket ban on rallies and demonstrations from 20 February to 20 May 2007.

Under Section 27 of the Public Order and Security Act, which is being cited by police to implement the three-month ban, public demonstrations can only be prohibited for a specified period 'not exceeding one month'.

Public Document

*

DOCUMENT - ZIMBABWE: OPEN LETTER FROM AI'S SECRETARY GENERAL IRENE KHAN TO PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement

AI Index: AFR 46/006/2007 (Public)

News Service No: 058

20 March 2007

Zimbabwe: Open letter from AI's Secretary General Irene Khan to President Robert Mugabe

Your Excellency,

I am writing to express my grave concern about the killing of **Gift TANDARE** , shot dead on 11 March 2007 by riot police while protesting the ban of public meetings. The ban was imposed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) from 20 February to 20 May 2007.

I am also gravely concerned by the reported torture of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and civil society leaders and supporters, including **Morgan TSVANGIRAI** , **Lovemore MADHUKU** , **Sekai HOLLAND** and **Grace KWINJE** , following their arrest and detention at Machipisa Police Station and other police stations on Sunday, 11 March 2007 in Harare, after they attempted to attend a meeting organised to protest a police ban of a prayer meeting. The meeting was organised by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of religious and civic organisations, in Highfields, Harare.

Approximately 50 activists, including leaders and supporters of the MDC and civil society, were arrested either at the venue of the prayer meeting or on their way to it, and detained. They were severely beaten during arrest and while in police custody. Many suffered broken limbs.

The organisation is also disturbed by reports that three people were later shot by police at Tandare's funeral wake in Glen View on 13 March. Police reportedly fired randomly at the mourners. Two of the three, **Nhamo RUSERE** and **Dickson MAGONDO** , were shot and needed hospitalisation, while a third, **Naison MASHAMBANHAKA** was grazed on the arm by a police bullet, and was not hospitalised. However, when Naison Mashambanhaka went back to the funeral wake later that day he was shot a second time on the same arm.

The government has repeatedly failed to investigate reported torture and excessive use of force by the police and to bring to justice suspected perpetrators.

I am also deeply concerned by the reported failure by police to comply with a High Court Order compelling police to facilitate the lawyers of those detained access to their clients as well as access to health care. Amnesty International has documented in the past cases where police disregarded court orders thereby effectively denying victims of human rights violations protection of the law.

Amnesty International believes that the three-month ban from 20 February to 20 May 2007 on demonstrations and public meetings is in breach of Zimbabwe's obligations to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly, enshrined in international and regional human rights treaties to which Zimbabwe is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The ban is also in breach of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the very law that was cited to justify the implementation of such ban, Section 27 of the Public Order and Security Act, stipulates that public demonstrations can only be prohibited for a specified period 'not exceeding one month'.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Grace Kwinje and Sekai Holland, who were reportedly tortured by police following the events of 11 March 2007, have been prevented from seeking further medical attention in South Africa on Saturday 17 March 2007, when they were prevented from boarding an air ambulance and forcibly taken from Harare International Airport to Harare Central Police Station. There, their travel documents were confiscated and an ambulance was instructed to take Kwinje and Holland back to hospital where they were placed under police guard.

On Sunday 18 March 2007, Nelson Chamisa, national spokesperson for the MDC who was also beaten by police on Sunday 11 March, was attacked at Harare International Airport sustaining a fractured right orbit and a sub-conjunctival haemorrhage (under the lining of the eye) as well as multiple lacerations on the face.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the government of Zimbabwe has repeatedly failed to protect and respect the rights of citizens to engage in peaceful demonstration and to enjoy freedom of expression, assembly and association. The government has also failed to implement the recommendations contained in the resolution adopted by African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in November 2005 as well as those contained in the report of its 2002 Fact Finding Mission.

The events that started on 11 March represents a further deterioration of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe and require that the government take effective measures to bring to an end the ongoing and grave human rights violations. I therefore call on you to:

1. Immediately lift the ban on public meetings imposed by police on 20 February 2007.

2. End the human rights violations by the police and other law enforcement officials and ensure that police officers abide by the highest standards of professionalism and respect for human rights. The Government of Zimbabwe must cease to use the police and other law enforcement officials for political purposes, including for the suppression of peaceful public assemblies and the persecution of opposition parties and human rights defenders.

3. Ensure that the police conduct their duties in a manner consistent with respect for internationally and regionally recognised standards of human rights and policing, without discrimination. Police officers should operate in a manner consistent with international human rights law and standards, including the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) Code of Conduct for Police Officials, Article 1 of which states that: _"In the performance of their duties, police officials shall respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold all human rights for all persons."_.

4. Institute an immediate, impartial and independent investigation of the killing by riot police of Gift Tandare on 11 March, the shootings of three people by police on 13 March and allegations of excessive use of force by police while dispersing demonstrators attempting to attend the public meeting on 11 March. Those suspected to be responsible must be brought to justice.

5. Institute an immediate, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations of torture of MDC and civil society leaders and their supporters. Those suspected to be responsible must be brought to justice without further delay.

I would very much appreciate being informed of the measures that the Zimbabwean authorities would take to address the matters raised in this letter. I have also written about these matters to the Minister of Home Affairs, the Hon. Kembo Mohadi.

*

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PRESS RELEASE

AI Index: AFR 46/007/2007 (Public)

News Service No: 061

28 March 2007

Zimbabwe: End harassment, torture and intimidation of opposition activists

Amnesty International expressed outrage at today's dramatic events in Zimbabwe, including the arrest and subsequent release of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The organization called for an end to the continued harassment, torture and intimidation of opposition activists in Zimbabwe.

"We are very concerned by reports of continuing brutal attacks on opposition activists in Zimbabwe and call on the government to stop all acts of violence and intimidation against opposition activists," said Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme.

The organization also called on African leaders meeting in the region to take action in response to today's events.

"African leaders have allowed the government of Zimbabwe to operate outside the international human rights framework by deciding to adopt a strategy of quiet diplomacy — a tactic that in this case has left the victims of human rights violations to suffer without protection," said Olaniyan.

"Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders meeting in Tanzania must now send an unequivocal message to the government of Zimbabwe that human rights violations in that country will no longer be tolerated."

Amnesty International obtained the following information regarding recent attacks on opposition activists in Zimbabwe:

1. Morgan Tsvangirai, President of Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party, was arrested today at his office in Harare together with at least 20 MDC party workers and members. Lawyers were denied access to those arrested and some were also threatened with arrest. Police are reported to have closed all roads leading to the offices and eyewitnesses report seeing police loading furniture into trucks. Tsvangirai was subsequently released.

2. In a raid early this morning police arrested Paul Madzore and his wife Melody Kuzvinetsa at their home. They also assaulted other occupants in the house. Paul Madzore is a Member of Parliament (MP) for Glen View, a constituency in Harare. Their whereabouts are unknown.

3. Also early today, police arrested Ian Makone and his wife Theresa Makone at their Borrowdale home in Harare. Ian Makone is a member of the MDC's National Executive Committee. Theresa Makone is the MDC chairperson for Mashonaland East Province.

4. Police are also reported to have today arrested Pineal Denga and his wife in Marondera. Pineal Denga is the organising secretary of the MDC in Mashonaland East province. The couple's whereabouts are also unknown.

5. At 12.00 pm on 27 March, Last Maengahama was abducted outside the Borrowdale Shopping Centre in Harare by people in plain clothes who are believed to be security agents. Maengahama was returning from a memorial service for Gift Tandare, an activist who was shot dead by police in Harare on 11 March 2007. Maengahama is also an MDC activist. He was later dumped by his abductors in Mutorashanga, some 100 kilometres from Harare. He had been severely beaten and is currently receiving medical treatment at a private hospital in Harare.

Amnesty International called on the Zimbabwean government to ensure that all those arrested have immediate access to lawyers, doctors and their families and are promptly brought to court to review the legality of their detention.

The government must also guarantee their safety and well-being and immediately investigate any allegations of torture.

"Anyone detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression or assembly must be immediately and unconditionally released," said Olaniyan.

Public Document

Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org

For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org

# Authors Acknowledgements

Who knows where the imagination comes from and how we arrive at one train of thought rather than another. I tend to subscribe to the theory that we are who we are through our own individual experiences. I will not be surprised if one day we have undeniable proof that we have certain genes which promote, control or initiate some behavioural aspects more than others. What's that you say, already done? Oh well there you are I was right all along. However, I do think that regardless of all that, without the fundamental make up of certain of our fellow human beings, including myself, then such a story could never be conceived let alone believed.

No, if we didn't have politicians who lied, cheated, lined their own pockets with private and public money, and who only followed the money then probably no body would believe this; and no if we didn't have people who could create fear and despair and who were prepared to maim and kill and reward others with position and wealth for doing their dirty work, this book would be so far removed from real life that it would be too ridiculous for anyone to bother reading. So yes, I thank the world leaders who rule with not a care for the slavery, oppression and the governmental muggings that continue today. I thank the church for sitting in their ivory towers surrounded by immense wealth doing nothing, I thank the demigods and madmen who are allowed to steal and keep positions of power. Without you all this book would probably not been possible.

I also want to thank my Sister and her daughter Helena who has provided very practical help of ideas, proof reading and great help.

Other acknowledgements:

Amnesty International for being there.

The open documents published on the web.

# About the Author

I left school at 15 and I was unable to read, I had the basics of writing but it was not pretty and not always joined up. Certainly I knew the alphabet and I could get through simple words but I could not read anything like a passage right off without stumbling over words. Reading out loud was just not possible. I was never formerly diagnosed as dyslexic and that caused me a number of issues, struggling with school work and particularly exams. Fortunately I excelled in maths and I managed to get into college and progress from there. I eventually got three o levels but opted out of a diploma course in business studies to try to earn a living.

My natural bent is in selling and I can often see the wood from the trees and I went on to become the managing director of a handful of companies and for a brief period of breaking it up I was chairman of a plc too.

My favourite past-times are motorcycle riding, sex, day dreaming and sailing, and I enjoy new things and travelling in particular. I have come to writing after finding that my age is an invisible but very strong barrier to gaining work.

# The next book in the series:

Research Disciples

06.30, 19th March 2007

1

The dust had settled and he lay, listening. He wasn't sure how long he had been unconscious or how long he had waited. He thought that when he first awoke he had heard an engine, possibly a bike rather than a car, but he wasn't sure. He had laid there still hoping he would not be seen or noticed. He knew there had been a fight. He had seen it start from behind the wall. He saw a man shot and go down and a man behind him had leapt forward and pulled him back. Within a few minutes of the fight starting, the wall had started to come down on him and he fell against it to protect himself. He was buried under the falling bricks and dust. Now he knew if Gourner was alive he would have come looking for him. Mee knew Gourner was dead and that he was probably on his own. The men would have given up but not Gourner.

Slowly he started to move the bricks and rubble that covered him. He breathed in some clean air and sighed. His arm and shoulder hurt and his right wrist now hurt bad. He pushed more rubble away and looked about. There were noises but not near enough to hear exactly what they were at first but then yes, people and an engine. He carefully proceeded to push away the bricks and dig himself out of the mess. In doing so he stirred the dust up again. On his feet he assessed the damage. His right wrist was obviously broken. His right side hurt and he was cut on the head and knee. His trousers were ripped open and dried blood mixed with dirt could be seen through the tear. He put his hand out to steady himself and stumbled over the rubble to a clear bit of ground. His legs were weak and shaky. He sorted through the rubble for his gun, and found it then sat and with difficulty removed, checked and then replaced the magazine, cocking the gun ready to fire.

Setting off he walked slowly to a piece of wall which was near his height then advanced to peer over. He could see a group of people standing around looking at bodies, two were on phones and there were three vehicles off a way. He backed away and walked towards the end of the wall from where he had originally come and more importantly away from the people. He was in doubt now. Gourner and the men were dead; Gourner had saved Mee's life by sending him off to attack from the rear but now he had to save himself. At the end of the wall he saw the small buildings that flanked the village and decided to try to hold up in one of those until nightfall.

Stopping to listen for anyone approaching he checked out each building and then decided on the middle one. He yanked away some wooden boarding and opened the window with his left hand. He put his gun in first and then climbed in and sat down, now he started to feel the pain of his wounds. His knee hadn't hurt much before but it did now and everything seemed to ache or have its own painful feeling. His eyes started to adjust to the lack of light and he could see the room was empty; the ground was thick in dust and above him was a number of slanting holes in the roof through which he could see daylight. He lent back on the wall and closed his eyes. Silently he moved his head from side to side, he felt lost, he didn't know what to do.

So often as a child he had been chased and had to hide. He might stay hidden for a whole day, knowing that if he came out too soon his pursuer might still be there. Getting caught could mean a beating or even a hand being chopped off, but Mee was a survivor and he had come through his childhood with both hands. He would wait and he would then find some transport and make his way back to Zott. He would contact the army and tell them what had happened and he would go back to work. Unlike Gourner, Mee was not wanted for murder or anything; he could get into the army or one of the services and survive. He preferred the army; he knew exactly what was required. He rested and when he could he slept.

He woke up often and when the light no longer shone through the slants in the roof he got up, went to the window and climbed back out. This was not so easy as climbing in. His limbs and his wrist were now much worse than when he had entered the building. The gun was a nuisance but he didn't feel safe without it. He could see his wrist was swollen too. He had seen many wounds and he knew he had to get some sort of splint and make the wrist straight. He also needed transport. He had considered giving himself up but if he chose to surrender to the wrong people he could be shot and buried with the others. He thought about the man they had killed when taking the Land Rover and that he had to go back past there on his way home. They could have patrols out so it would all be so much more difficult now.

The night outside was mild and he looked around to find houses. There were none close by so he had to walk further on past what he thought was the old village centre and then he found a huddle of houses. He carefully watched, looking for signs of life and vehicles. He found a broken wooden box and he pulled it apart by using his good hand and his knee. This gave him two pieces of flat wood he could use to strap his wrist. He looked further and found some wire and rope tied to a fence. Undoing the rope he parted it so that the three strands which it had been made up of were now separated, and each was about half a metre long. He made a loop at one end of each of the separated ropes and leant his arm against the fence with one of the pieces of wood, then he placed the looped rope around his wrist and the wood, and put the other piece of wood into the lose loop. He tightened it up holding the rope in his mouth and the used another loop on the other end. Gradually he bound his wrist and despite the piercing pain every now and again he got it done.

He again surveyed the vehicles, it seemed he had a choice of a few but he must get something with a good bit of fuel in it, one that would take him a long way. There was a three wheeled car, or cart, three small cars all very old but looking as though they were working. The three wheeler was steered by a tiller bar, it had a bench seat in the front and an open flat back for carrying things. It looked in good condition and he checked out the tyres and seeing from where the dust was that it was not in regular use. The good thing was it would go a long way on fuel and while it might not be the fastest vehicle it was small enough to make it easier to hide than a large car.

He was beginning to get a plan together but he needed to rest his wrist, and as the hide he had already stayed in was okay he returned there and let the next day come and go.

During the day from time to time he heard noises outside, vehicles and people, he didn't investigate but stayed still, hand near his gun. Once again when the light had gone he went outside and checked the vehicles position. They were all there in the same or similar places. He had decided on taking the three-wheeler but he wanted to check it for fuel and get some extra fuel cans too.

Leaving his hide in the dark, he walked around and broke into a couple of sheds belonging to the different houses and found two cans that could hold fuel and outside one house he found a large plastic container that would also do. Now he needed a hose. He looked everywhere but couldn't find one. He had to get a move on so he went to the largest car and got underneath. He yanked at the brake pipe with his good hand until it gave way then went to the other end of it and did the same, twisting it from side to side until it eventually came away. He blew down one end to push out as much brake fluid as he could then undid the car's fuel cap, bending the brake pipe so that he could feed it down into the tank, then bending it downwards into the can. Then he got down on his knees and sucked the fuel through, spitting it out and letting the fuel run into a can. It worked. He carried on with the other can and plastic container until they were full and then he went to the three wheeler and topped up the tank. It didn't need a lot. He made one more trip to completely fill the can he had used and then he was all set. Well, almost. He went round the nearest vehicles and stabbed a hole in one tyre on each vehicle as a message not to follow.

He placed the spare fuel inside the cab, put the gun on the seat and let the hand brake off and pushed the car along the road. He pushed it a good hundred yards and then pulled the wires from under the dash. He traced them back as far as he could to the starter. This car had a key which turned on the ignition and then an engine push button starter. It had five wires but three were thicker than two. He used a piece of stone to bare the wires of the thick cables and then touched two of them together making the dash light up. He sighed, he was feeling tired a few minutes ago but now the adrenaline was kicking in. He was his own man and a lucky man too, he always had been. He smiled a big smile, and then touched the third wire onto the others and the engine fired into life. As he jumped in he picked up the gun and placed it on the floor then was on his way. Nice and steady and then a bit faster, out towards the wall and the scene of the fight and back down the road from where he had come. Mee was on his way home. It was 3 am on 21st March 2007 and he was now very hungry.

He didn't want to waste any time. The top speed was about 45 miles per hour but he kept it to 40 so that he didn't risk the engine. Where the road was particularly bad with holes or ridges he slowed down. He did consider the owner of the vehicle coming after him, despite the message he'd left, but he thought it was more likely the army would come. His choice of the three-wheeler could go against him because it was easily recognised but he would change it as soon as he could. With any luck he would have travelled the 135 miles to the South African border before anyone was aware that he had stolen the car. He had decided to go straight south and into South Africa some 40 miles and then turn east, travel through South Africa and then head north into Zimbabwe. It was a route he knew and on the way he would change vehicles a few times. He would cross into South Africa at Kortdoorn, and keep going to Holgat. He knew people there and he knew there was a small twisted road heading east that would take him to the main highway.

He approached the border about four hours later and stopped to see what was going on. He was about a kilometre away when he parked up off the road and close into a rock face where there were a few thin bushes. He walked back to the road and on until he could see the border and check if it was manned. All looked quiet but he went off to his right and knelt down, waiting. If the army were there they could be dug in. He had done the same himself before, dug in and hidden until your enemy was 20 feet away and it would be too late to evade capture or a bullet. After 30 minutes he moved again still moving to his right, slowly advancing another 100 feet, down again and waiting. There were no birds in the sky, he looked for wild life, a sure sign that he was alone would be to see some animals running around, this was a desolate place but there were hares and other animals.

He didn't know the exact time but he guessed it was around 7 am. Time didn't matter so much here but it told him that the animals would have been and gone mostly. However, he was rewarded for his patience. Over to his left just the other side of the border he saw a hare run and stop and run again then returning and repeating the movement. He was satisfied the border was not manned. Returning to the three-wheeler he jumped in and drove off.

He was in South Africa and still going south, on route to Holgat. The main road, such as it was, passed near Viagiesfontein about 20 miles further on. This was a town which often had an army presence and he knew to avoid it. However it could supply him with another vehicle so he would wait and go in at night and try his luck and see if he can find something to eat. The terrain was bare and he knew it would not be easy to hide. He started looking for a place from about five miles out and after two miles he found a large hole which had at some point been excavated and he could just drive in. He didn't go into it too far because he wasn't sure about how steep it was and if the three-wheeler could drive itself out of a big slope. Once again he waited for dark, trying to sleep but only managing to doze a little.

When it was dark he walked into town and down the main street. He watched carefully as he approached the makeshift buildings on the outskirts and then the bigger buildings and houses nearer the centre. Walking on he was pleased not to find any army vehicles and the area used as an encampment by the army was empty. He was hungry and thirsty and he found a watering hole by a large, empty cattle corral where he drank his fill. He considered breaking into a house and taking what he wanted but he didn't want the South Africans after him and he decided not to risk it. He had been hungry before and he knew he could wait. He continued his search for a vehicle and he found an old Morris van. He knew these engines well and he knew it was a hardy car. He checked out the surrounding area and approached it. The passenger side window was open by an inch and that was enough for him to get a purchase on it and push it down with his good hand. The door was soon open and he next opened the driver's door from the inside, carefully closing the offside one behind him. Under the dash he pulled the wires out and identified the ones he wanted to start the engine. He took the handbrake off and with his foot on the ground felt the weight of the car. 'Easy' he thought. He was still strong enough to push it and he slowly nudged it on and away from the building. Once he was clear he got out and pushed it from behind. He did not want to risk the sound of the engine too near the house. When he was satisfied he was far enough away he sat in the driver's seat and with his nail he bared the wires, put them together and started the engine. The fuel gauge came to life and showed the tank to be just over half full, he put it in gear and drove off, a quick look in the mirror showing no change behind him. He relaxed a little and settled driving back to where he had parked the three-wheeler. He took the cans and filled the fuel tank then undid the fuel hose by yanking off the carburetor and refilled the cans, transferring the fuel to the car. When the job was done he set off.

