Chapter 11
Afrikaans glossary:
'n Moerse probleem - a fucking big problem
Alles in sy maai - It's a bloody mess
Verdomp! - Damn!
So'n helsem! - What a bastard!
Fokken donder! - 'Fucking thunder', a very strong and vulgar expression
of disgust or unpleasant surprise.
**********************
Brodie was proved right - it took exactly twenty-three minutes and twelve seconds for all hell to break loose.
The first burst of automatic gunfire came seconds after the dog, who had been sprawled out in the back seat of the jeep twitching happily in slumber, awoke with a growl, ears pricked and hackles raised.
Brodie straightened with a curse and caught up the sawn-off shotgun he had resting on the tailgate of the jeep. He dug around for his binoculars and peered upwards, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening higher up in the gorge wall. At first there was nothing … and then he saw them. A darting swarm of brown furry bodies, scampering with deadly ease down the incline towards the lower cave.
"SHIT! They were waitin' for 'em!"
Davis was beside him, his own binoculars trained on the mass of baboons moving with frightening speed towards the lower cave where van Guelder and his men were no doubt in the process of laying explosives in and around the entrance. The sporadic sound of gunfire became more frantic and Brodie knew that van Guelder and his team were in deep, deep trouble.
"Godammit all to hell!"
Brodie lifted his stick, and shotgun in hand began to head off up the sharply-inclined, almost invisible track at a hopping run, the dog at his heels.
"Brodie! Brodie! Get your ass back here! You can't do anything, Brodie …" Davis hurried after him and caught Brodie by the shoulder, but the big man shrugged him off with a succinct curse and kept going. "Frank!!"
Brodie heard Davis holler at him, heard the desperation in the young man's voice … and realised he was right. He stumbled to a halt, already exhausted by the effort of trying to climb up the path, his bad leg failing him, the wrecked muscles sending sheets of agony through his thigh and hip. He had to lean against a rock to catch his breath and Davis came to stand beside him.
"You'll never make it, Frank. I'm sorry … but you just can't get up there - and before you say anything, no, I'm not sending the rest of the men up there after 'em. We need them here to guard the trucks, you know that. We can't help them, but Pieter's not a dummy - he's been in tight spots before, and I know he'll - "
But before Davis could continue the gorge was shaken by a large, booming explosion.
Both Brodie and Davis flinched and ducked at the deafening sound and they looked
up to see a huge plume of rock and dust blow sideways out of the gorge wall.
For long moments the gorge was a mass of flying debris and shards of crumbling
stone, the sound deafening as it reverberated around
the enclosing
walls.
"Jesus! They did it!" Davis hunkered down beside Brodie as a shower of rock shards spattered into the trees around them.
Brodie looked back down the incline to check on Tara, and was relieved to see her crouching beside the ambulance with Dervla, both of them looking shocked but all right. She saw his gaze and smiled, reassuring him, noticing how his shoulders relaxed with the knowledge that she was safe.
Turning back to gaze up the hill, Brodie heard more bursts of gunfire, only this time they were closer, and within minutes he saw figures - this time human - slowly but desperately work their way back down the shale path towards the convoy. Even without the binoculars Brodie and Davis could see there were casualties, some of the figures being propped up by the able-bodied men. Brodie could hear Davis counting.
"Eight … nine … yes! Ten! They all made it! Jesus, Brodie, they did it!"
Using his stick, Brodie levered himself to his feet and lifted the shotgun, resting it on his shoulder. He suddenly realised he was grinning with relief. He turned to look at Tara.
"Well, ladies, looks like they made it. But I think you might have a few customers!"
As Tara acknowledged his words, Brodie could hear cursing echoing faintly down from the party of mercenaries.
"So'n helse! Verdomp! Alles in sy maai … fokken donder!"
Pieter van Guelder was one severely pissed-off South African.
It took van Guelder and his team ten minutes to reach them, by which time Tara and Dervla had headed off up the track to meet them and see what they could do for the wounded men. The sorry band of ex-soldiers wandered painfully down into the gorge bottom, several of them bleeding profusely and all of them pale with shock. Luckily none of the wounded seemed badly hurt, and a shaken van Guelder finally made his report after he finished seeing that his men were cared for.
The big man eased himself into the lead jeep, relaxing with a groan back into the seat. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly but noisily, gathering his wits.
Brodie saw van Guelder had a cut on his cheek, probably from a stray rock chip, but appeared otherwise unhurt.
"You okay?"
Van Guelder was surprised to hear the concern in Brodie's voice.
He nodded.
"Yeah. The bastards jumped us! I can't believe those bloody things are so fucking clever!! They were waiting for us, dammit!"
Brodie allowed himself the smallest of smug grins.
"Yep. They may not be Einstein, but they sure ain't stupid. I take it you blew the cave …"
Van Guelder had to grin, despite his anger.
"Blew it to Kingdom Come!"
He looked at Davis and Brodie … and began to laugh. The humour was infectious. The stress began to flood out of them as all three men roared with laughter, the fear draining from them, van Guelder having to hold on to his ribs as he tried to catch his breath.
"You … you should have seen the buggers! Surprised? You have no bloody idea …"
The thought sent the three of them into more gales of laughter.
Tara looked up, curious to find out where the laughter came from as she dressed a deep bite in the leg of one of van Guelder's men, the man hissing with pain. She shook her head in disbelief - all of this destruction and those silly fools were laughing like drains.
But before she could say anything they were suddenly under attack!
A shower of well-aimed stones hurtled downwards from the jumble of rocks, bouncing off the bodies of the vehicles and sending the team scurrying for cover. Tara quickly helped the man to his feet and shoved him into the ambulance, and noticed Dervla attempting to do the same as the Ulsterwoman helped another wounded team-member stagger over from the shelter of a tree towards the ambulance.
She saw Brodie and Davis take shelter under one of the larger scrub trees on the incline, and van Guelder exited the jeep and ran back up the incline, aiming his M16 at the baboons high above, spraying bullets around them, trying to force them back and allow his team to reach safety.
Then Brodie was beside him, the shotgun booming, and Tara saw dirt and stone erupt as the buckshot dug into the wall above the baboons. There were shrieks of anger and pain as the two men drove back the animals, giving Davis time to help the wounded men to safety in the trucks.
"Brodie!! Pieter!! Get your asses down here and lets get out of here, dammit!!" Davis roared at the two men as everyone took refuge in the vehicles.
Brodie flipped open the shotgun, slid in two more cartridges and aimed carefully at a small outcrop a few feet above the animals. He let fly with both barrels, demolishing the crust of dirt and stone which crumped down onto the group of baboons below. Roars of agony rent the air and Brodie reloaded, intent on taking a final two shots before getting back to the jeep.
But the dog suddenly let out a wrenching bay of warning and a huge male baboon loped out of the undergrowth and barrelled into van Guelder, sinking his teeth into van Guelder's shoulder, the weight of the animal sending the South African into an untidy sprawl.
Van Guelder screamed in agony as the huge canines crunched viciously through the muscles, but the baboon suddenly let go as the dog chopped powerful jaws around its haunch. Bellowing in pain it swung around, seeking to tear the big dog to shreds but it came face to face with Frank Brodie instead. The dog felt the swoosh of the beast's teeth as it missed clamping onto his neck by a hair's breadth, and with a yelp of effort the dog careened off the baboon's heavy body and skittered out of the way. Wounded and furious, the baboon turned on Brodie.
For long seconds they stood, gazing at one another, and for a moment Brodie had a strong sense of déjà vu. It seemed only yesterday that he had stood in the centre of the compound, the tower ready to blow and light up the dark night. He had stood and looked at the old alpha male, the one that crippled him, and known that it was kill or be killed.
He grinned wolfishly at the memory and stared into the pain-ridden amber eyes, crazed with the lust to kill. He lifted the shotgun and aimed.
"Remember me, you sonofabitch?"
The shotgun boomed, and the double blast of double-ought buckshot punched into the six-hundred-pound animal and tumbled it in a bloody, shredded mass of fur and bone until it slammed up against a rock. The baboon was dead before it hit the ground.
But Brodie didn't wait to see the result of his shot. He turned and hooked an arm under van Guelder's shoulder, and using the empty shotgun as a brace, helped the wounded man to his feet. He turned a stress-lined face to the big South African.
"Are you set?"
Van Guelder grimaced in pain, but nodded.
"Yeah … I'm set."
Between them they hobbled down the short incline to the trucks and Davis and Tara met them, Tara pressing heavy gauze padding against van Guelder's wounds. Relinquishing van Guelder to Davis and Sylvester Logan, another of the team, he turned back to see the baboons melting back into the hidden places amongst the rock, and in seconds they were gone.
The dog still stood next to the dead baboon, growling softly at the carcass, his hackles raised in both fright and anger. Brodie grinned. God, the animal had guts!
"Hey!!! Moron!" The dog pricked his ears and turned at Brodie's voice. "Get your hairy ass back here, you nutcase!"
The dog gave the dead animal one last, rumbling growl and trotted back to Brodie, tail now wagging with pleasure. He jumped easily into the back seat of the jeep and landed a slurping lick on Brodie's face before the big man could stop him.
"Jeez!" Brodie wiped the saliva from his moustache. "You're disgusting, do you know that? I don't know why I keep you around, you cretin!" But he gave the dog's ears a gentle tug in affection as he swore at the unrepentant beast. "You've got shit for brains, dog! You could have got yourself killed, and it would have served you right." The dog grinned happily at Brodie, knowing that he was saying nice things to him because Brodie's voice had a soft edge to it even as he cussed the animal out.
"I reckon we should get out of here, don't you?"
Davis materialised beside him.
Brodie gazed up at the remains of the cave, and then studied the dead pile of flesh that had been the big male baboon.
"Knocked 'em for six, I reckon." His voice was soft. "They ain't gonna forget this, Davis. I think we're in for a pretty crappy night, so I hope to hell all that sensor stuff you like so much is ready and workin'."
Davis clapped Brodie on the shoulder.
"Yeah … well, the sooner we get rid of these bastards the better, huh? C'mon, Frank - let's get out of here."
Brodie wandered over to the ambulance to see Tara as Davis checked on the rest of the team.
She looked up from her job of bandaging van Guelder's wounds and smiled at him.
"Hey …"
He grinned back, his face softening at the sight of her.
"Do you want me to ride with you, girl?"
Leaving Dervla to continue caring for the semi-conscious South African, she
reached over and touched Brodie's face.
"No, Frank … it's okay. I'll see you back at the camp. Are you all right? You're not hurt?"
He shook his head.
"Nope. I'm fine. Not a scratch, for a change!"
She leaned over and kissed him, her eyes shining with pride.
"You did good, Frank."
Brodie's eyes twinkled at the love in her gaze.
"Thanks. I feel good, Tara. Better than I have in a long time, and it's all thanks to you, girl." He stroked her cheekbone and kissed her lightly, sweetly. "Love you."
Then leaving her to get on with her work, he limped back to the jeep and settled in the passenger seat. Davis shifted the vehicle into gear and slowly led the convoy out of the gorge and back to the camp in the ruined compound.
*******************
There were five of the team injured, but only one seriously - Pieter van Guelder. The baboon had managed to break three of his ribs as well as mangle his left shoulder pretty severely, and Tara had told Davis that van Guelder had been lucky - the huge baboon's teeth had missed the vital artery in van Guelder's chest by a hair's breadth.
As night fell, the sensor equipment finally hummed into life and Davis doubled the guards, several of them manning spotlights shining out into the sub-tropical undergrowth.
The rest of the team, including the walking wounded, sat around the chow wagon and filled empty bellies made nervous by the thought of the night to come.
Brodie sat drowsily, looking into the flames of the campfire as he pondered the day's events. He knew van Guelder and his team had dealt the baboons a major blow, and the explosion had destroyed dozens of them in the cave. But the remainder would be pretty pissed, he reckoned. Well, there was nothing they could do about that now.
Yawning, he was about to finish off the rest of his supper - fajitas, as Petrowski had promised, and damn good they were too - when Tara dropped into the seat beside him, glass of root beer in hand. She reached out with her free hand and grasped Brodie's, their fingers linking as the big man watched her relax.
He saw the tiredness in her face, weariness showing in every movement of her body. Brodie squeezed her hand gently.
"Tired, huh? It's been a long, hard, shitty day, girl. You should go get some rest - I'll be along in a little while."
Tara smiled at his concern.
"Sorry, Frank - I have to relieve Dervla soon and keep an eye on our patients. Pieter's feeling a little sorry for himself, but he's tough. He'll make it. But I won't be getting much sleep tonight, I bet."
Brodie grimaced. She needed to sleep.
"Can't Monaghan do it?" Brodie could never bring himself to call Dervla by her first name - she had stuck too many needles in him and submitted him to the dreadful indignities of a catheter far too often for him to forget it.
"She'll relieve me at one in the morning. Then I can get some sleep and crawl in beside you - I hope you'll keep my side of the bed warm for me! Anyway, we'll have to change Pieter's dressings soon, and Dervla will need a hand, so I can only sit with you for a few minutes."
Brodie thought for a moment, then made a decision.
"I'll come with you - I want to see how that stubborn sonofabitch is doing."
Tara looked at him thoughtfully. Brodie and van Guelder had never got along, but she saw something in Brodie's face that she never thought she would see in relation to the big South African. Brodie was concerned about him. She sighed. Well, perhaps it was about time they sorted out their differences, but she would have preferred that it hadn't taken one of them getting hurt to do it. Ah well. It was up to Brodie and van Guelder - she was too tired to be bothered with their little war.
Leaning forward she snaffled one of Brodie's fajitas and began to eat, Brodie settling back in his chair to watch her with satisfaction.
For the next fifteen minutes they sat companionably, not speaking, but just enjoying each other's presence and reveling in the fact that they had lived through the day. Now all they had to do was survive the night on this godforsaken island.
*******************
Pieter van Guelder had to admit to himself that he was bloody sore. Every time he took a breath it was all he could do to prevent himself yelping with the pain, and his shoulder throbbed with a sickening ache that made his stomach churn. He was wired up to a I.V. line feeding him antibiotics to combat the unavoidable infection from the bite, his ribs were on fire, and on top of everything he was downright disgusted with himself for managing to get himself hurt.
He looked over at Dervla, sitting beside his bed here in the hospital tent, the neat little nurse munching on an apple and reading the National Enquirer. Occasionally she would read him a snippet with undisguised relish, her beautiful green eyes twinkling with mischief. Van Guelder also had to admit she was gloriously beautiful, even though she seemed to take a perverse pleasure in sticking needles in him. He shifted slightly and let out a gasp of pain as his shoulder objected to the movement. Dervla stopped munching for a moment.
"Hurts, does it? Pretty sore when you move, I expect. Still, I suppose there's nothing we can do about it, is there, seeing as you won't have a painkiller."
Van Guelder was about to give her a stabbing, rippingly acerbic reply when the tent flap lifted and Frank Brodie limped in followed by Tara Matthews, the girl looking tired and stretched to the limit.
Dervla smiled at Tara, scowled at Brodie and stood, allowing Tara to sit down and begin checking van Guelder's bandages.
"How's he doing?" Tara busied herself by looking at the stitches in van Guelder's shoulder.
Dervla grinned.
"His wounds are all right, but I can't say his temper's much improved. All he seems to do is moan and bitch about how he's all right and he doesn't like all of this fuss. Oh, and he seems to think that me sticking needles in him is some sort of masochistic tendency on my part - just like somebody else who shall remain nameless but not a million miles away." She glared at Brodie.
Brodie caught van Guelder's eyes and grinned.
"She's as mean as a snake, to boot. Don't ever let her near you with a catheter."
Van Guelder snorted, then winced.
"Yeah - I can guess. Her hands are always cold, too."
Dervla chortled unrepentantly.
"Cold hands, warm heart, they say."
Brodie glowered at her.
"What heart? I bet there's nothing in that chest of yours other than a whole bunch of ice cubes."
Dervla just smirked. She looked at van Guelder and her smile softened a little, her concern for him taking over. She touched his hand.
"I'm going for a bite to eat and a bit of a sleep, then I'll be back, okay? Stay still, get some rest and I promise I won't be long."
Van Guelder watched with longing in his brown eyes as Dervla left the tent and headed off to the chow wagon for supper. He looked at Tara as she gently checked him over.
"She's nice. Stroppy and bad-tempered … but nice."
Tara smiled at the interest in the big man's voice.
"That she is, Pieter. She's a good-hearted, decent woman, so you be sure to treat her right, okay?"
Pieter nodded, then grunted in pain as Tara inspected his bruised side. He watched Brodie lower himself gingerly into a chair and stretch out his game leg, and he noticed how grey with pain Brodie's face was.
"Hey, Brodie - that leg still hurts, doesn't it?"
Brodie nodded, his lips set in a thin line of pain as agony coursed up his hip and back.
"Yeah, it still hurts. Always will, the docs tell me. But some days are better than others, and this one's been one of those … until now, that is." He shifted uneasily, trying to get more comfortable.
Tara finished her inspection and stood, touching Brodie on the shoulder.
"Can you watch him for a moment for me? I have to go check on the others, and then I'll fetch your pain meds, all right? You look as though you need them …"
Brodie nodded.
"Yeah. It's gettin' a tad sore, girl. But don't worry - I'll keep an eye on Captain Invincible here for you."
Tara patted him on the shoulder affectionately then gave him a peck on the cheek.
"I won't be long -I'll leave you guys to talk Man Talk."
After Tara disappeared outside to go and check on the walking wounded, the two men looked at one another, each needing to talk to the other but both of them unsure about how to start. It was Pieter who finally broke the silence.
"It's been a hard day."
Brodie nodded.
"Yeah. Pretty hard." He sat silently for a moment, then sighed. He had to say it. "You, ah … you did a good job today."
Pieter raised an eyebrow.
"Thanks. But it didn't quite work out the way I planned. I nearly got my men killed, Brodie - hardly what I would call a successful day."
"But you didn't, and they all made it - plus you blew the cave. That'll have rattled the bastards."
The two men nodded sagely, then Brodie studied the tired lines on Pieter's face.
"You're hurtin' I bet. Those goddamn things have a bite like a crocodile."
"Yeah. It hurts all right." Pieter took a deep breath … then wished he hadn't, as his broken ribs objected. "I should have listened, Brodie. You were right - they are intelligent. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes … they stalked us, Brodie. Stalked us like we were a herd of gemsbok, like we were meat, and it was bloody frightening, I can tell you!"
Brodie waved a hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about it - shit happens. And it wasn't me got himself bit this time, so I'm happy." He shifted again. He was uncomfortable with all of this 'male bonding', 'honesty' stuff, and God, his leg was hurting him tonight. "Where the hell's Tara - I need those meds …"
Right on cue, Tara appeared in the doorway and handed Brodie a couple of bottles of pills.
"Here. Take 'em and stop damn well complaining." She leaned down and kissed Brodie full on the mouth, making the big man's eyebrows raise in appreciation. When they broke apart Tara's eyes were luminous with desire. "Go to bed, Frank - your leg's hurting and you need your sleep. I'll come to bed in a little while, okay?"
He smiled and stood up, leaning heavily on his stick. Taking a couple of the pills he washed them down with a mouthful of water from Pieter's glass beside his bed. Finally he turned to leave, but Pieter's voice stopped him, reamed with pain though it was.
"Brodie?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for saving my arse." Pieter grinned at the faint hint of embarrassment on Brodie's face. "You did pretty well out there yourself."
Brodie snorted.
"Yeah … well … it just means you owe me, van Guelder. Maybe I'll get a chance to collect one day and you can save my ass in return."
Pieter grinned sleepily.
"Maybe I'll do just that, Brodie. Yes, maybe I will …"
The two men caught each other's gaze and nodded. The matter was settled. Although they didn't see eye to eye most of the time, at least they had come to a peaceful agreement.
Pieter watched as Brodie limped painfully from the tent and headed towards his bed and a good night's sleep. He looked up at Tara as she adjusted his pillows.
"He's a tough bugger, your man."
Tara just grinned.
"Yeah. He certainly is."
But Pieter van Guelder didn't hear her because he was fast asleep.
**********************
The evening turned into one of those clear, warm nights with a sky full of the drift of stars and the sound of cicadas filling the air with soft, insistent chirrups as the camp fire burned down to glowing coals. The dog lay sleeping in his usual place in front of Brodie and Tara's tent, and the guards swept the darkness with the huge spotlights.
Tara lay ensconced in Brodie's arms, the big man welcoming her drowsily into bed just after one in the morning. They had both fallen asleep almost instantly, Tara snuggling against Brodie's broad chest and listening to the comforting beat of his heart.
At four am precisely, the alarms went off.
***********************