"Yes, but for different reasons. Your family members were conquerors of this land and its environment. My family helped to bring order and culture."
"Then we both have reasons to be proud," Danny said, taking Laurie by the arm and guiding her out into the brilliant afternoon sun. "We should be leaving soon."
"Can't we walk around the modem town a bit?" Laurie asked.
"I'll take you to a nice restaurant. The food is good, and you can sit out under cool trees in a walled patio to eat. There's an old trade store, too, that sells a hodgepodge of antiques and collectibles. It wouldn't be good to walk around town. Tourists have been robbed there recently."
"More unrest?" Laurie asked.
"We have a good and stable government, but there have been a number of changes in a short time. Sad to say, there are those who will take advantage. It's bad in Jo'burg and the surrounding countryside." Danny used the local name for Johannesburg.
"Bad how?" Laurie asked.
"You'll see for yourself."
Laurie noticed that Danny kept a close eye on her vehicle while they ate. They talked of other things over a tasty lunch and then set off in the Land Rover.
They arrived in Bloemfontein late that evening and found satisfactory accommodations. Over dinner, things started to unravel again.
"I have to meet with Rod Gillery, Danny. My paper expects it. He's a well-known name in big game hunting."
"He's not a hunter. He's a poacher. And you will not meet with him. He's a dangerous man."
"He couldn't have been that bad, or you wouldn't have gotten engaged to him. Your father would never have allowed it."
Danny played with her fork a bit and then spoke. "I went through a really rebellious and bad period after you left. I was angry at the world. I did some ill-advised things, including getting engaged to Gillery without my father's approval."
"What sort of things?" Laurie asked
"1 killed a man," Danny admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What? How?"
"There were six of us. Five guys and myself. We'd gotten very drunk and were out in the brush taking potshots at tin cans. I saw that one of the guys was going to shoot a dog, and I grabbed the gun. It went off in his face."
Laurie reached out and covered Danny's hand, surprised at how cold it was. "Danny, it was an accident."
"No, it was drunken stupidity. My father used his power and money to prevent me having to go to court on a charge of manslaughter. After the hearing, he marched me into his office and closed the door. I thought he was going to kill me. He looked absolutely furious. He stood behind his desk, looked me straight in the eye, and said, 'If you ever do anything else to shame me, I will kick you out and never let you use my name again. Now, get out of my sight until I calm down.' I never did anything wrong again."
Laurie rubbed Danny's hand reassuringly. "Why didn't you write to me about all this?"
"You were young, and I guess I wasn't very proud of the way I was acting and then... Well, how do you write about something like that?" Danny fought back tears.
"So you've walked a conservative, straight and narrow path ever since," Laurie said. "That explains a lot about who you are."
"I guess."
Danny looked away, and Laurie knew the conversation was closed.
They didn't sleep together that night. After Danny turned the lights out, she padded to the other bed and turned her back to Laurie.
Laurie lay awake for a long time. She knew now that in all, Danny had killed four people: a boy by accident and three poachers resisting arrest. Could she love someone with such a violent history? Would she want her as a role model for her son, after all?
That was what this trip was really all about, Laurie admitted to herself. She wanted to see if she and Danny could be the soul mates she had dreamed about most of her adult life. She wanted to take Danny home to her father who had looked on Danny as his own
I
child. Her father had, with bitter disappointment, accepted her divorce and her declaration that she was gay.
Like Danny, she wanted to do something to please her father again. She wanted to convince Danny to come to Canada and run the huge and successful Niagara winery. Her father had founded it, but he was now nearly too old to run it. Laurie was alternately filled with doubt, determination, cynicism, and hope, until the small hours of the morning when sleep at last claimed her.
* * *
Hector Abute had not gone far on the train. When it had pulled into Stellenbosch, he had gotten off, drawn by his old home like a magnet. He still had lots of time before meeting Gillery and the others. He had no need to rush. An idea was growing into a nasty plan in his mind, and he knew he needed to carry it out after Danielle Agia left Stellenbosch to continue her tour with Laurie Allen.
Chapter 8
Danny took Laurie to Durban next. She endured more shopping while Laurie explored the amazing blend of European and East Indian cultures in the city. They sauntered through the spice market and took in the bustle, colour, and scents of a world rich in images and culture quite different from their own. When Laurie felt she'd recorded enough of the city's contrasts, they moved on, leaving the coast again and heading north into Zulu country.
The flat land gave way to undulating hillsides of tall savannah grass baked to a golden hue under the African sun. High, steep mountain ridges framed the setting, and the village homes were round and neat. Here and there, colourful flags waved on poles over a house. "They're the shamans," Danny reminded Laurie. "African shamanism is still a vital and important part of decision making and health care—perhaps even more so with the devastating spread of AIDS through Africa. European medicine has failed. The traditional shamans give the people hope. The more flags flying over a house, the greater and more experienced the shaman."
"Is the spread of AIDS that bad?" Laurie asked.
"It's difficult to judge. In some areas of South Africa, we could be looking at forty percent of the black population being infected. The traditional African lifestyle, the lack of safe sex education, the lack of good medical facilities and financial support and yes, the total disregard for the well-being of the black African have all been factors in a situation that has passed critical. One out of every four children born could have AIDS."
Laurie listened as Danny went on.
"It's worse in other areas. The main trucking lanes through Zimbabwe have spread the disease there at a terrifying rate. The number of infected could be as high as eighty percent of the black population. So many people have died there that they're running out of wood for coffins and land to bury them in."
"How awful."
"Yes, I agree." Danny had worked hard to educate her own workers and to provide medical help, but still, there were those who were infected. Fortune, she knew, was worried that Hector might have AIDS. His wife in Cape Town had died a year or so ago, and no clear explanation had been given by Hector for the cause of death.
Nor was AIDS a problem of only the black community. Many whites, too, had contracted the disease. George Visser was a good example of that—individuals who were in denial and thought that AIDS was a disease only associated with fringe groups in society. Fools.
Danny couldn't bear to dwell on the medical crisis in Africa any longer. "Do you remember about Shaka?" she asked.
"Only a little. In North America, we don't learn about African or Eastern history to any great extent."
They stopped in a national park to hike up to some bushman pictographs. And as they walked up the hillside of the beautiful valley, Danny summarized the life of the famous war chief.
"Shaka is considered to be one of the greatest military minds who ever lived, and the Zulu Wars are seen as some of the greatest battles ever fought. He was born the son of a chief in 1787. The chief had many wives and children, and Shaka's mother wasn't a favorite. He lived with his mother in exile and was raised to feel bitter and rejected. As a young man, he distinguished himself as a warrior under Chief Dingiswayo. Even then, it was clear that Shaka had amazing endurance, incredible leadership ability, and a ruthlessness that made him greatly respected and feared."
"I've forgotten anything I knew about Shaka," Laurie said. "What else?"
"At the death of his father in 1816, Chief Dingiswayo gave Shaka the leadership of the Zulu. Shaka and his mother returned from exile in triumph and immediately set about making the Zulu nation the most powerful in Africa. He had observed British and French military practices, and he incorporated the methodology with his own knowledge of African weaponry and landscape."
Danny stopped to take Laurie's hand to pull her up onto a high ledge and point out the pictographs of running warriors and stylized animals painted in white and red ochre on the overhanging rock. They stood, hand in hand, drenched in the African sun, the scent of dust and dry grass in the air, as Danny went on with her story.
"He formed divisions and ranks and trained his troops in a rigid, tough manner. They trained and exercised for hours every day, and he would do things like running them through the thorn bushes to harden their feet. He conquered the surrounding areas and absorbed the tribes into the Zulu culture. Ultimately, he took on the British and won. Imagine that—spears against guns, and yet the name of Shaka and the Zulus terrorized the colonists."
"He must be seen as a great hero," Laurie said.
"Yes and no. Certainly, he's seen as a brilliant military mind, but he was viciously cruel, both to his enemies and to his own people if he felt they failed him. He tortured and killed many. He liked to impale his enemies on poles around his kraal, or fort, and leave them hanging there to die or be eaten alive by vultures. His cruelty was legendary. He was feared by all."
"Ugh!" Laurie let go of Danny's hand to ready her camera.
"When his mother died in 1828, he went over the edge, and his killing and torturing became random and widespread. His half-brother, Dingane, killed him and took over the leadership. The Zulu are of two minds about that. On the one hand, they realize that Shaka was a madman and very dangerous; on the other hand, he gave them pride and stood up to the Europeans."
They stood before the stylized animals that ran gracefully across the stone overhang.
"They're beautiful," Laurie said from behind her camera.
"Yes. Sadly, the bushmen who made them have died out, killed or driven off by the European cattlemen who came to this area."
* * *
They drove on after lunch and visited a movie set that had been built for the production of the movie Shaka Zulu. The set was a complete reproduction of the famous chiefs kraal.
Laurie took lots of pictures and interviewed the Zulus working there. Danny knew many of them and greeted each with a warm Zulu handshake. In the black South African way, their hands remained grasped as they talked. Danny saw Laurie take a picture of her with a group of men, their hands held informally in a silent bond of friendship. She realized that a world separated Laurie and her. Laurie was a North American, and she was an African.
They overnighted there in one of the round guest huts. They had a beautiful dinner on the open patio of the resort restaurant and watched the sun set red over the African savannah.
Danny told Laurie she was going out drinking with her African friends to give Laurie time alone to work on her notes.
It was late when Danny returned, smelling of the local corn beer. She showered well, making sure only the scent of soap and mouthwash clung to her as she settled carefully into the bed beside Laurie. Laurie seemed to be asleep. Danny didn't touch her and fell into a heavy slumber.
Over the next few days, they worked their way up to Kruger Park, one of the largest and best wild game reserves in Africa. Rather than staying in one of the main tourist complexes, Danny reserved a small lodge for them out in the park near Sirheni. Here the wildlife was dense, and they often had to stop on the way to the lodge to let herd animals cross the road. Despite Danny's careful driving, they were forced off the road when a pair of warthogs suddenly darted in front of them. Their vehicle came to dusty stop halfway into the ditch.
"Are you okay?" Danny asked.
"Yes. You?"
"I'm fine."
Danny put the car in gear and backed up onto the road. The vehicle lurched and bumped. Once on the road, Danny looked at the tire.
"Damn. The tire's damaged. This is lion country, so I can't get out here and change it. We'll have to drive on it the way it is. It's going to ruin the rim. Fortunately, we're not far from the lodge. Once we get there, we can use the lodge vehicles, and I'll call to have this one towed back to the main park centre for repair."
She drove on carefully, doing her best to miss the potholes in the rough dirt. Finally, they got to the lodge and the ranger came out to open the gate and let them through. The compound consisted of four small houses surrounded by a high fence to keep dangerous animals out. One of the houses belonged to the park ranger stationed there; the other two were for park guests.
Danny greeted the ranger like an old friend. While Laurie waited by the damaged car, Danny signed them in and made
arrangements to have her car towed for repair. Then they took their gear and walked down to the house that had been assigned to them.
Out in the African bush, Danny seemed to come alive, Laurie noted. Her normal conservative reserve vanished, and she was more playful and full of energy. Their first evening, after a day of photographing herd animals such as buffalo, impala, kudu, nyala, and hartebeest, Danny cooked steaks for them over the open grill, and they ate outdoors on a small patio overlooking the Mphongolo river.
Laurie was happy to have this very private time with Danny, but she wondered if Danny was regretting it. She was feeling very aroused out here in the African wilds, and Danny's closeness was driving her mad. If they went to bed anytime soon, Laurie wasn't sure she could be responsible for her actions. The problem never materialized. Shortly after dinner, Danny excused herself and walked down to the ranger's cabin to arrange a night tour of the park.
Over the years, the animals in the national parks had gotten used to being near the park vehicles. As a result, the humans inside were relatively safe from attack, even in an open vehicle. Nevertheless, Danny loaded both a handgun and a high-caliber rifle. It was best to be alert. The previous year, two people had been killed and eaten by lions. A tourist who had gotten out of his car to take a picture of a pride had been attacked from behind. His wife had sat in the car, helpless, as the huge beast had carried her husband's body away. A ranger, who knew of the dangers and who had carefully checked for lions, had been killed when a lioness had suddenly charged from the bush as he worked on some repairs to a water channel.
Laurie sat in the vehicle, the guns between her and Danny as they moved along the bumpy dirt roads looking for night game. Their first encounter was with a honey badger, white-backed and brown below, that scurried along, seeking shelter in the bush. Danny drove with one hand and swept a powerful searchlight up in the trees that they passed. It wasn't long before they were rewarded with the sight of sharp yellow eyes shining in the dark. Danny moved her light until it floodlit a leopard lying on a high tree branch. It licked its paw, displaying a long, rough tongue and sharp, white teeth. Over the branch in front of it hung the partly-eaten carcass of a young reedbuck.
Laurie was both appalled and fascinated by what she saw. She reached out and took Danny's hand. Danny didn't let go until it was time to move on.
Danny turned off the bush trail and bounced down a dead-end path to where a small turnaround afforded a good view of a ravine. They barely reached the bottom, however, when an angry wail arose from the bush and a massive bull elephant slammed out onto the road, effectively cutting off their escape route.
Laurie's eyes widened. Everything she'd heard as a kid about a bull elephant's equipment in heat was true. They had clearly caught the massive animal in the act of satisfying some of its harem, and the bull elephant was not happy in the least.
The huge creature flapped its ears and stomped its foot and then charged forward a few steps. Danny slipped the Land Rover into reverse and slowly eased back, letting the animal know that they were passive and not a threat to its authority. "It was a false charge," Danny said. "They'll do that three times, and then if necessary, attack for real."
Laurie nodded but said nothing.
Again, the gigantic animal flapped its ears, sending up puffs of dust like angry smoke rising above its head. The foot stomped and it charged again.
Once more, Danny rolled the vehicle further back. Now the wheels were on the very edge of the ravine. There was no where else to go if the animal charged for real.
"Be ready to jump if you need to," Danny said.
Laurie moved to the edge of the seat and braced herself in case she needed to jump clear of the rolling Land Rover. The bull elephant raised and lowered its head, its long ivory tusks shooting shadows through the jeep's headlight beams. It was so close that it towered over them, its grey, wrinkled knees even with the hood. With one final roar, the bull turned its back on them and ambled up the path, breaking through the trees to herd his females together and move off to a more private location.
"Wow! That was wild." Laurie tried to laugh, but it died in her throat.
"Sure was." Danny sighed, her relief evident. "That will be a story to tell back home."
"Oh, yeah, like I can describe what an aroused elephant looks like in polite company." Laurie said.
"Whatever do you mean? Just what were you staring at?"
Laurie batted Danny's arm and was surprised to feel the sting of her own fingers. Danny was all muscle. She had to remember that.
They drove on, capturing a number of other creatures in the beam of their searchlight before returning to camp. Danny looked around cautiously, then taking her handgun, she opened the gates, and they drove through into the compound once more. Danny was closing the gate behind them when the ranger came out of his house and walked over to them.
"Miss Agia, I had a ham radio message from Fortune Abute, your manager. He said it was very important that you contact him as soon as you got back."
"I'll walk ahead and meet you back at the bungalow," Laurie said, climbing out. "I need to stretch my legs."
Danny followed the ranger into his house. She sat at his radio and slipped on the earphones, then used the call signs to make contact with her estate. Almost immediately, a nearly sobbing Fortune responded. "Danny, please you come back immediately. Oh, Danny, the manor house is on fire!"
Chapter 9
In the early light, Danny Agia stood at the edge of the blackened, smouldering ruins of the home that had been in her family for seven generations. The old, dry timber and thatched roof had blazed in a massive fireball and then burned away to red embers. Nothing had been saved. The fire marshal told her there was reason to be suspicious. The blaze appeared to have started in several places.
"Come away, Danielle Agia," said Charles Abute. "You can do nothing here, and I do not want to see you burnt."
"Where is Fortune?" Danny asked through her shock and exhaustion.
"Lying down. The doctor has given him something. He must go for tests. The doctor feels he might have had a small heart attack."
Danny had a vague memory of leaping from the helicopter and running over to the already-dying flames of what had once been the beautiful manor house of her family. She was aware that Fortune had been trying to talk to her, to stop her from rushing into the fire. Then he had collapsed against her, and it had been Danny who had carried the small, wiry man clear of the smoke and flame.
"I'm sorry."
"It was not your fault, Danielle. He's an old man, and he loved this house. Its loss has broken his heart."
"And mine. I must see the insurance people... the police... fire... I don't know..." She ran a shaky hand through her hair. "I'll have to find the safe. All the papers are in the safe, Charles."
"I will look for it as soon as the fire department will allow us to enter the ruins. In the meantime, I'll see to things. You need to get some rest. You come with me to my house. My wife will make you tea and some bread and butter. Then you'll do me the honour of resting under my roof. Later, I'll come for you, and we'll see to things."
Danny let Charles lead her over to his home, his arm around her, knowing she grieved for this building as much as she would for the loss of a family member. By the time she had arrived, there was nothing left but a few black and twisted timbers, standing guard over an open, burning wound.
Danny didn't wake until the early afternoon. At first, she thought she'd been dreaming, but then the rancid smell of wet, burnt wood filled her consciousness. Tears welled in her eyes, and she wiped them away. There were things to do. She couldn't fall apart over this. She lay blinking at the ceiling and trying to piece the last twenty-four hours together in her mind.
For a second, she couldn't even remember how she had gotten home. Then the events of the night before seeped into her memory. She'd gone with the ranger to use his radio to contact Fortune, and on hearing the news, had taken his jeep and ridden like a mad thing to Sibasa to pick up a helicopter that Fortune had sent. Dear God! Had she told Laurie? She reached up and rubbed her dry, tired eyes. She couldn't remember.
"She's left? When, why, what's going on?" Laurie demanded of the startled ranger, who stopped nervously at her cabin door.
"I am sorry, Ms. Allen. I don't have any details. Her home was on fire, and her manager sent a helicopter to pick her up at Sibasa. She took my jeep and left about one hour ago."
Laurie took a few seconds to calm herself. It was senseless to get upset with the poor ranger. "Did she leave a message or anything?"
"No."
"Did she ask you to come and tell me?"
"No. But my wife, when I tell her of the events, she tells me to come here and let you know."
"Thank you. I do appreciate that. Please let your wife know I'm grateful. I was sitting up waiting for my friend to return."
"I'm glad you are not angry. It is bad enough that my wife is angry with me for letting Danielle Agia take the jeep. But what was I to do? She is a very important person who sits on the board that
governs this park. My wife doesn't understand. She told me that white South Africans couldn't boss us around anymore. She thinks that South Africa belongs only to black people now. She doesn't realize that people like Danielle Agia still have much power. She is a foolish woman, and she makes my home very unhappy with her bad temper."
Laurie smiled sympathetically. "You are not to worry. I'll make sure your jeep is returned and that Danielle Agia causes no more trouble for you."
Laurie watched the ranger go. It didn't matter what colour your skin was. Money talked, and Agia had lots of money. Maybe someday, it would be blacks who had that money, but she didn't figure it would change things much. There would always be those with power and money who would give the orders and those who would have to take those orders.
Danny, although from one of the oldest Boer families in South Africa, was known to have supported political reform. She was a good white, not a racist, and she treated her workers as equals. Still, Laurie knew that as far as the ranger's wife was concerned—and many other black Africans, embittered by years of apartheid, for that matter—there were no good whites.
Laurie slammed around the cabin. Did Danny think that she wouldn't care that the manor was on fire? Didn't Danny realize that she would want to be there to support her? Damn Danielle Agia all to hell anyway.
Danny was never going to get over her conservative Boer upbringing, and she would certainly never leave South Africa. To hell with her. Laurie slumped down in a chair then and let the tears come. Hard, painful sobs shook her body. She cried for the loss of a beautiful home and its place in history. She cried for Danny, and she cried for the end of a dream of love that she had cherished since she had left South Africa years ago.
Chapter 10
Rod Gillery wanted to kill Hector when the black South African phoned bragging through his drunken stupor about burning Agia's home to the ground. But after he thought about it, he realized Hector's pathetic need for revenge had triggered an excellent turn of events.
According to Hector, only Danny had returned in the helicopter. That meant that Laurie was probably still in Kruger Park, and no longer under Agia's protective wing. He needed to move fast. First thing was to check the park reservations and find out where Laurie was. Then, he would make contact. Once he had her as bait, he knew that Danny would walk right into his trap. Agia had always had a soft spot for Laurie. They were like sisters as kids. Upset by the loss of her home and taken by surprise at Laurie's disappearance, Agia would not be at her best. This time the bitch would make a mistake, and they would be rid of her once and for all.
It would be a real shame when he had to report having found the bodies of Danielle Agia and Laurie Allen. He imagined the interview with the media as he reconstructed the story of how the two had foolishly camped out and been attacked by a lion. "A sad accident," he could hear himself saying. Of course to the police he would be more graphic, explaining that the two had gone camping to be alone because they were a couple of perverts. The police would accept that story, whereas they might not believe that one of the best guides in Africa would be so stupid as to camp out alone in a known lion area.
Gillery smirked as he put his Land Rover into gear to drive to the Paul Kruger gate to check the park's computerized records of cabin reservations. They would still have to be very careful. Agia would be like a wounded animal in the wake of the loss of her home, dangerous and unpredictable. Danny was deadly enough at the best of times. No, they must not let their guard down. Gillery's
face hardened. This was it. Agia was determined to help the park rangers stop poachers like him. The battle lines were drawn. It was going to be him or Agia, and he planned on winning. Besides, the bitch had made a fool out of him by ending their engagement years ago. She had it coming.
Danny sat curled in the corner of the couch she'd slept on the night before. She held a mug of tea in her hand. Charles sat in a big easy chair across from her. "We'll need to get that mess cleaned up," Danny said
"Yes, but not yet, Danielle. I know it is important to you, but the harvest must come first. A month will make no difference. I have had some of the men string a wire fence around the ruins, and I'll post a man there at night to make sure we don't have any trouble with souvenir collectors, not that there is much left."
"You're right. I'm not thinking. Yes, the harvest must come first. We'll have to get the safe out, though."
Charles held up his hand. "Already done. I asked the fire marshal about it last night. He sent a few of his people in to pull it out of the wreckage. The papers inside were discoloured by the heat, but they were intact. I knew you would want things sorted out as soon as possible, so I took the liberty of calling your insurance company and lawyers this morning. They're working on things now. I hope that is all right with you, Danielle."
"You and your father have the power to make decisions about the estate in my absence. I trust your judgment completely. Thanks, Charles; I'm glad you handled it. I... I..." she swallowed. "This is so hard."
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