“There’s really nothing you can do, Lea,” Kruger said, almost like he cared, like he wasn’t in control of this madness. “Besides, don’t you want to see how much Khufu likes the latest flavor of Kit-E-Kat, Chicken and Dork?”
Lea tightened her jaw to stop from crying in front of Ryan. She had been in situations like this before and she knew from experience that you only survived if you fought dirtier and harder than your enemy. They were ruthless and wanted her dead. They would kill her without batting an eyelid. You had to think like them if you were to get through this and come out the other side.
“Get them in the bakkie!” Kruger yelled.
Lea was confused and for a moment hope flooded her heart. The bakkie meant the pick-up. Had Kruger changed his mind? “What’s going on?”
The arms dealer looked at her like she was a child. “Can’t do it here — this lion’s had its fill on that bastard Julius. We need to drive out a way until we find Khufu.”
“Khufu?”
“The pride male.”
“I thought…”
“That the animal you just saw kill Julius was the pride male?” Kruger let out a deep belly laugh. “That was Huruma. He’s not even a fully-grown adult yet. Just a pup. Name means compassion. If you thought that was something, wait till you see how Khufu does it.”
You sick son of a bitch.
“You men over there, grab the boy and bring him over to the bakkie right away! It’s not a long drive. I want to see him torn apart right in front of my eyes and yours.” He looked at Lea with narrowing eyes and a greasy smile.
Venter grabbed Ryan by his shoulders and bundled him out of the observation area and toward a Hilux pick-up. They paused while Kruger and Blankov exchanged a few words. “It’s just over there,” Kruger said, pointing out across the savannah. “He’s been resting somewhere under the shade of that mopane tree over there. Don’t worry, when we turn up he’ll soon stir back to life. He’s very hungry.”
Hands still bound behind their backs with cable-ties, Scarface pushed them toward the trucks, a submachine gun in his hand. “Give me any trouble and I’ll tear you in half with this thing before you’ve taken two steps toward me.”
“Fair enough,” Ryan said. “But your body odor precludes any normal human from getting that close anyway, so why waste the ammo?”
The guard’s response was savage, pistol-whipping him with the stock of his weapon and breaking open the skin on his cheek and temple. Ryan plunged to the ground and collapsed in the dust.
“You’ll pay for that,” Lea said.
“Shut up and get moving,” Venter said. “You too, Superman.” He kicked Ryan hard in the ribs and sent him tumbling over in the dirt. “For the last time, get moving.”
Ryan dragged himself to his feet and winked at Venter. “Thanks for that. Now I can kill you without bothering my conscience.”
Venter laughed. “You? Kill someone? You couldn’t kill a catfish if your life depended on it, you domkop. Now get moving! You have an appointment with a lion and he’s very hungry.”
Lea’s mind was busy planning their escape as Venter and his guards force-marched them through the scrub toward the Hilux. Memories of Joe Hawke drifted into her mind, each one a reminder of how they had escaped with their lives from a hundred dead-ends. Rather than give her ideas they simply brought back how much she felt for him and how hard it had been since their bust-up in London.
Had she reconsidered her feelings for him during their break? Yes and no. She knew in her heart there was no way she wanted to live without him, but the way he had reacted when he saw her with Danny had surprised her.
“I said move!” She was brought back to reality by Venter. He pushed Scarface out of the way and did the job himself, bringing the stock of his MP5 down hard between her shoulder blades and knocking her to the ground.
It was a shocking display of raw, animal violence that she hadn’t expected, not even from him. She cried out, her pain heard by everyone as she crawled in the dirt with an acute, electric stabbing sensation radiating across her back and up her neck.
For a moment, she thought she might pass out from the pain and she was dimly aware of Ryan struggling forward to help her. With his hands tied behind his back he was easy to push back and silence.
Venter dragged her back to her feet and shook her like a knitted doll. “Are you going to behave yourself now, bitch? Or do you want some real man stuff?”
Her head was still spinning with the pain, but she managed to glance at his groin and raise an eyebrow. “Not sure you’re up to real man stuff, Venter. You couldn’t catch a fish with what’s in your pants.”
Venter’s face turned red with rage.
“You hear about that, Ry? Last time Venter here went into a fishing tackle shop they mistook his dick for a bait worm.”
“You bitch!”
“I will bet,” she said, leaning into his face, her Irish accent hardening, “that your dates need to bring an air pump with them.”
Ryan laughed. “Certainly not enough down there to hang a hat on, that’s for sure.”
“I don’t think Barbie could hang her hat on yours, do you, Venter?”
He finally snapped and belted her, knocking her off her feet again.
She crawled back up and he dared her to go another round, but this time she kept quiet. Her plan to delay them had only bought a few seconds and she was no use to Ryan if this bastard knocked her out.
They continued through the pitiless sunshine of the veld until they reached the bakkie’s tailgate. Ryan was also searching for a way to escape, but Lea already knew a man like Kruger would leave them no escape route. Flashing in the sun out on the perimeter was another ten-foot high electrified razor-wire fence running the length of the enclosure. The mopane tree was clearer now and so was Khufu.
Kruger smirked. “The only way out is if you kill your way out.”
The first bullet hit Scarface. He had been standing next to Venter and now a high velocity round blew a fist-sized chunk of his shoulder into mush. Blood pumped out of the wound as he passed out and crashed to the floor.
Everyone hit the deck in a hurry and Kruger and his men pulled their weapons as they desperately started scanning for any sign of the shooter. Out on the veld, Khufu bolted and ran into the long grass behind the mopane tree.
“What the hell is this, Kruger?” Blankov yelled. “I thought you said this place was secure?”
More incoming fire forced them deeper into cover, away from the bakkie and back across the scrub into the doorway of the safari lodge’s main building.
“Over there!” Venter said. “But I don’t know how many.”
Lea looked up and squinted in the sun.
Camacho.
“Thank God,” she muttered.
Ryan gave her a look and winked. “Looks like the cavalry has arrived.”
And about time too, she thought.
Kruger wanted to fight, but Blankov ordered a retreat back inside the complex. Venter dragged Lea to her feet and one of his men grabbed Ryan and hauled him along too. “We’re going inside, hurry up!” he yelled.
More gunfire struck one of the Athanatoi and blew half his skull off. He died before he hit the dirt, but the effect was to send everyone running in different directions as they desperately tried to protect themselves.
The every-man-for-himself strategy had left Lea and Ryan without a guard and they peeled off back around behind the Hilux.
Camacho and Kim sprinted down from the bluff behind the complex and skidded to a halt beside them, a cloud of dust billowing up in their wake.
“You two okay?” Camacho said, hurriedly cutting the cable ties.