Tony Park - Silent Predator

Their flight was called and they parted in the queue to board. He kissed her and told her he would see her at the other end.

Yes, she thought, but for how long?

‘ Wat doen jy? ’ Tom, lying on his back under the Land Rover, turned his head at the sound of the voice and saw a pair of small bare feet and skinny golden-brown legs.

Tom’s hand was drenched with hot black oil as he unscrewed the plug in the engine sump and let it flow into the tin bowl. His own legs, in shorts, were already starting to turn pink, he noticed as he used his elbows and feet to slide himself fully into the open. He recognised the young voice and the boy standing there, but had no idea what he was saying.

He held up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun’s bright glare. ‘Hello, Christo. Remember me? I’m Tom.’ The boy’s face was haloed by the afternoon sun. Tom wiped his brow with the back of his clean arm. The heat was a shock all over again after London.

The boy nodded. ‘What you doing?’ he asked again, in English.

Tom sat up, grabbed a rag he’d found in the garage, and wiped his hand as best as he could. The sump hadn’t been drained since the boy’s father’s death, and who knew how long before that. It stained his hand black. ‘I’m changing the oil. Have a look underneath. You can see it draining out.’

Christo shook his head. ‘This is my dad’s bakkie.’

Tom saw the boy’s frown and his little brow furrow in concentration as he tried to work out what was going on. Good luck, matey, Tom thought. ‘I know. Your mum’s letting me borrow it for a little while.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘On a bit of a holiday.’

The boy nodded. ‘Mom’s taking us to the Kruger Park for the weekend. Ouma’s coming as well.’

‘That’s nice.’ Tom guessed Ouma was Sannie’s mother, Elise, who had collected them from the airport, shortly after she had dropped Christo and his little sister, Ilana, at school. Elise had smiled when Sannie introduced Tom to her, but he detected no warmth in her eyes. It would take time — if he had it. He didn’t tell Christo that he was planning on accompanying them to the national park and setting off on the rest of his journey from there. He’d let Sannie break the news.

‘Are you coming to live with us after your holiday?’

How the hell should I know? Tom thought. ‘I don’t know, Christo. Hey, I’ve got something for you.’

The youngster’s eyes lit up. Tom left the sump draining and walked into the comparative cool of the converted granny flat in which he was staying. He’d left the airconditioner running, but it seemed to be struggling in the heat. As a last-minute thought he’d stopped in a souvenir shop at Heathrow and bought a football with Manchester United’s logo emblazoned on it.

‘Cool!’ Christo bounced it straightaway and kicked it, hard enough to reach the brick security wall. It bounced back at him and he dived across the grass to catch it, like a goalie.

Tom laughed as he pulled on a T-shirt. ‘Good work.’ He saw Elise watching them through the kitchen windows. A black maid was standing next to her, and Sannie’s mother was saying something to the woman but keeping her eyes on Tom. He smiled at her but she did not return the gesture. He mentally shrugged it off.

‘Mom will be home soon and then we can use the swimming pool, but not before,’ Christo informed him. ‘Ouma can’t swim,’ he whispered. Tom nodded, sharing the confidence.

Elise came to the back door. ‘Christo! Come in here and have some milk. I have baked some treats as well.’ She held a plate of biscuits, which Tom could smell from the other side of the swimming pool.

‘Yay!’ Christo forgot his questioning and his soccer ball and scampered for the house. Elise ruffled his hair as she steered him towards the house. She disappeared inside the kitchen again, but returned with a bottle of Castle Lager.

‘Here, Tom. It looks like you could use a beer after your work,’ she said. The corners of her mouth were curling upwards slightly. She walked towards him. ‘Come, let us sit in the shade.’

‘I’m not finished yet, not by half, but a beer would be lovely, thanks.’ He hoped this signalled a defrosting, but he wasn’t banking on it. Elise led him to a wrought-iron outdoor table and chairs, underneath a shady tree with red flowers.

‘Sannie’s husband loved that truck.’

Tom opened the beer and took a long, grateful sip. ‘It’s kind of Sannie to lend it to me. I’ll bring it back in one piece.’

‘It’s not the Land Rover I’m worried about getting broken, Tom.’

Well, he thought, at least she didn’t waste time coming to the point. ‘I’m not here to hurt anyone.’

She waved her hand, possibly shooing a fly away, but it also had the effect of brushing his words aside. ‘My daughter was just coming right after the death of her husband. I know what she did with you — for you — in Mozambique. I can’t forgive her for that, but it’s in the past. She knows she shouldn’t have taken such risks, with her life and her job, but she did it because of you.’

It was as much an accusation as a statement of fact, he thought. There was no way he could argue with the woman, though.

‘Don’t lead this family into more danger, Tom.’

He took another drink. ‘I won’t. Where I’m going, what I’m doing… I’ll be on my own.’

Elise nodded. ‘Good. That’s her car now.’

Sannie had gone into the office midmorning to report in to Wessels on the inquiry and her trip. She told Tom she had no plans to mention the Englishman staying in her flat, and he had agreed that was a good idea. She’d been released from work early, though, to spend some more time with her kids. Christo came running from the house, a biscuit in his hands. Ilana, who had avoided Tom so far, stuck her head out the back door and peered down the driveway. The electric gate rolled open and Sannie drove in.

She scooped up both the kids in her arms and plastered them with kisses, before setting them down and waving to Tom. Elise stood, nodded to Tom to ensure her warning had been received and understood, then waved to Sannie and retreated indoors.

‘Put your cozzie on and join us in the pool,’ Sannie called to Tom as she walked towards the house, a child clinging to each of her legs.

‘Let me finish with the truck first.’

Sannie waved and disappeared inside, while Tom crawled back under the Land Rover and replaced the sump plug. As he lifted the spanner to tighten it he realised the last person to have touched the tool before him was dead. It was odd, being among another man’s possessions. With his family. He couldn’t blame Elise for her suspicion or for her silent resentment of him.

He refilled the engine with oil from an unopened container he’d found in the garage. He’d do the filters, too, before dinner as Christo had laid in a good store of spares and consumables.

The Land Rover was fully kitted out for camping in the African bush and Tom could tell that Sannie’s late husband had been passionate about his vehicle. It was immaculate, inside and out, save for a layer of dust which had settled since it had last been driven. To Tom’s surprise it had started, albeit slowly, and he had left the engine idling for half an hour to warm the old oil and restore some more life to the twin-battery system he’d discovered under the bonnet.

On top was an aluminium roof-rack with customised fittings for two gas bottles, which Tom found under a tarpaulin with some other camping gear, and a pair of jerry cans. There was also a big rectangular thing on the roof, which he thought at first was a storage box, covered with a waterproof canvas cover. However, when he undid it, he discovered it was a fold-out rooftop tent. Inside, in the back, was a compressor-driven fridge-freezer which ran off the dual battery system. The fridge lid had been chocked open with a piece of wood to stop mould from forming, and when he worked out how to turn it on while the engine was running, it hummed to life and soon started getting cold. In the garage were plastic boxes filled with neatly packed camping essentials, including cutlery, plates, cups and pots in one box; non-perishable cooking basics in another; and a third crammed with portable lights, an air compressor and various electrical adapters. He’d expected that he would have to fit out the vehicle himself, but Sannie had already told him he was welcome to whatever he could find in Christo’s well-ordered trove of gear, tools and equipment.