FRACTURED TOGETHER CONTINUED...
‘This guy is crazy, going at that speed.’
‘Huh?’ Marcie was brought out abruptly from her dreamy state. An old beat up Mazda 323 had shot passed them leaving dust and gravel flying in its wake, some of the smaller stones bounced off the Beetle’s windshield. Sonny slowed to give the speeding car distance from them and also so he could see more clearly. The night was bright with the typical big African sky where stars give light to the darkness.
Suddenly, as the dust cleared, headlights on high beam blinded them. The driver seemed unwilling to dip his lights and the vehicle appeared stationary on the road. Sonny slowed down as the road was not very wide at this point. As they neared the vehicle Sonny and Marcie could see it was the Mazda which had passed them less than a minute before. There were two figures standing either side of the vehicle. Both had something in their hands. Sonny peered closer and saw that one had an axe, the type used for chopping wood but the other had what looked like a hand gun. Marcie began to scream but it died in her throat. Sonny felt a cold chill going through his body. They were in a land where hijacking, drive by shooting, rape and all kinds of other atrocities were common place, but mostly in the cities. In country towns and the countryside it was not that common although farm invasions were on the increase. Here, though, was a menacing situation and Sonny knew they had been ambushed at a clever location. He also knew he would not be able to engage reverse quick enough before the hand gun was used on them…The men were too close already! One of the men spoke to the other in what Sonny knew as the Tswana language. It was a language spoken widely in an area north of where they were so it was likely these two were not locals, thought Sonny. Sonny reached out to Marcie and squeezed her hand to reassure her but Marcie was rigid with fear. The one with the gun approached them. He was a plain looking man in his mid twenties wearing a t-shirt and black trousers.
He spoke in English, ‘Get out the car.’ They obeyed his demand and when they were standing alongside the Beetle the other man who looked to be roughly the same age and wearing a long coat and woolly hat came up to Marcie and spun her around, pushing her head down onto the hood of the beetle. He took out a zip tie and quickly tied her hands behind her back. Sonny’s hopes sank as he realized they were not that amateurish. Marcie was whimpering again and the second man took out a dirty looking rag to gag her mouth. Clearly they want us alive and quiet for now. Sonny’s mind was racing but his chief concern was for Marcie. His hands and mouth were secured likewise and they were bundled into the Mazda with gun man joining them in the back seat. Axe man returned from moving Sonny’s car off the road and down an incline, through some corn crops which were already over two metres tall that hid the car well.
They sped off in the direction they had come and once they had joined the national road turned for Ladybrand, which was over fifty km away. Sonny was also greatly concerned that they did not hide their faces. Kidnapping was a serious charge which carried a long jail term. Unless he did something, he and Marcie would not see this night through.
While Axe man drove, fast, Gun man held his weapon to Marcie’s side. Sonny knew he was helpless in this situation.
‘What do you want from us?’ mumbled Sonny but his words were incoherent. The two hijackers had not even taken anything from Sonny and Marcie. Neither had they looted the car. Sonny was mystified and where were they going?
‘Be quiet,’ Gun man said menacing, ‘or your girl gets it first!’
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That’s the window for sure. Shattering glass had pierced the quiet, apart that is, from the bugs. The sound of a broken window had come from the bedroom and now he heard someone opening the frame.
Mike’s mind raced. Sonny was out; the farm hands had all gone home. His gun was in the basement. It was seven forty five and Mike had been tired. He was preparing for bed. The dogs and cats were inside and he was making a final secure check of the house. Mike flipped the switch on and off a few times in the hallway. It was no use, the bulb had gone. He walked and felt his way across the kitchen, a kitchen he had known all his life. Here as well, he thought. Another power cut or power outage as the government called it. This was their way of rationing the output from the grid, a grid that had always performed well in bygone years. That’s when he heard the glass shattering and the dogs barking. That’s when he knew the power supply had been sabotaged. That’s when he knew he was in trouble.
The entrance to the cellar was a swing door leading on to a staircase that went down a flight of stairs to the spacious basement. Mike fled across the kitchen, barging through the swing doors and stumbling all the way down the stairs. Again his mind was flying. Did I put cartridges in the chambers? Mike was well organised and regularly cleaned his father’s twelve bore shotgun. A Remington, a gift from Mike’s grandfather to his son and now it belonged to Mike. He screamed silently, in anguish; oh how he needed that weapon in his hands …loaded!
One of the intruders who was first to enter through the window felt his way across the bedroom, stubbing his takkie(running shoe) on the large four poster bed that had been Mike’s parents’. He swore, in Tswana. His partner quickly admonished him to be quiet. They were young, not much older than Mike. The moonlight reflected brilliant white teeth on the second one. He was carrying a gun. It looked like a police issue revolver. Being a policeman was one of the most dangerous occupations in South Africa and many had been murdered simply for their weapons.
The two invaders moved silently across the hallway in darkness for it was they who had cut the main power cables to the house. Teeth man put his hand up to halt Takkie man. A faint sound had come from somewhere near. There it was again. It had come from the swing doors. The men knew Mike was the only occupant. It had been planned this way. The gang had spied Mooiplaas over some time and noted Mike and Sonny’s movements and routine. Saturday night was the best time for an attack as it was Sonny’s courting night with Marcie and Mike was alone for the early part of the evening until Sonny returned, often quite late. The labourers had gone to their separate homes in various villages in the district, and as Sunday was their day off, were not expected to be back at work until Monday morning.
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Few cars passed them by going in the opposite direction and when they came up behind a vehicle, Axe man pulled out wide and thrust his gas peddle down hard to the floor and shot passed. For a beat up looking car it had some power, thought Sonny. Off course not one of the other vehicles’ occupants suspected anything. Probably youngsters out for a good time. Gun man said nothing but kept the gun only inches away from Marcie’s side. Sonny had moved closer to her so that there was slight physical contact. He hoped it would give her some comfort but her eyes were wide with fright and shock.
The Mazda slowed down as they approached the small conurbation of Ladybrand. This stretch was always well policed by traffic cops and Axe man had done his homework. It was a Saturday night and speeders and drunk drivers were ripe pickings. Sonny despaired as he realized they were not going through the town but taking the by-pass…the road that eventually led to Mooiplaas. The road he had travelled on in the opposite direction only two hours earlier.
They climbed the steep mountain south of Ladybrand and when they had reached the summit travelled a little further before slowing down and making the turn on to the country road that led to Mooiplaas. Sonny let out a little gasp as he realized they must be going to the farm. ‘That’s right my friend, we are going to meet your boer friend,’ Gun man finally spoke. (He said it in a derogatory manner) ‘You will behave yourself and obey me.’ Marcie’s eyes began to tear up and her whimpering began again. She looked at Sonny with such anguish that it only increased the agony burning in his own heart.
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Mike leaned up tight against the wall. There was a dank and dusty smell to the cellar. It tended to be the least important place for the cleaning routine. Mike’s father had intended to start a wine cellar many years ago but found it would be a time consuming hobby and so it never got off the ground. Now it was used for storage purposes, of excess dry foods, extra furniture, fishing gear and some of Mike’s childhood toys and even baby equipment that was already three generations old, solidly made, to last and what Mike hoped would be used for his and Sonja’s children.
He had the Remington in his hands but it had only one cartridge. He remembered leaving the other cartridges in a kitchen drawer, Mike knew he would have to be very conservative and make a wise decision. His life was in the balance here. He wondered where the dogs were and realized with dismay that the intruders might have poisoned them, a favourite ploy amongst burglars.
Teeth man crept down the few stairs. It was dark and he sniffed the air at the dampness, He stopped and suddenly regretted making the noise, Takkie man collided with him and they both cursed under their breath. Slowly they continued down until they reached the floor, they were nervous. Nearly all farmers had guns and in these dangerous days it made this Boer a deadly man.
‘Come out Ferreira. We know you are here. We are armed with AK 47’s.’ Suddenly they saw the muzzle of Mike’s gun as they neared his hiding place. By now Mike was more accustomed to the gloom than the other two were. They were not prepared for Mike’s move. He swung the well-refined steel of the Remington across the gun hand of Teeth man who cried out in agony as his gun fell from his hand. Immediately he held his broken hand from the crushing blow. Mike then jammed the stock end of the his gun down hard on to Teeth man’s right foot and heard again the bone crushing effect it had. Teeth man collapsed, crying out in agony. Talkie man had seen enough. He turned and hurdled up the stairs, panicked. This was not going to plan. Mike stooped and picked up Teeth mans’ hand gun and ran up the stairs after Takkie man leaving the other rolling around and screaming in pain. He slammed the door shut and as there was no padlock he ran to a kitchen drawer and found a solid wrench which he jammed into the padlock loops. He then rummaged inside another drawer and found the box of cartridges. Mike quickly filled the other chamber of his gun and emptied the remaining buckshot cartridges into his waistcoat pocket. He felt much better. Takkie man had run back the way he had come. He had never liked the idea in the first place and now he was terrified with a mad Boer on his tail. He scrambled back through the broken widow and out into the yard and kept on running, terror driving him on. He thought briefly about his friend and how he would feel betrayed. But he was in no mood for hopeless heroics.
Now another alarming sense activated. Dimmed head lights from a car were making their way down the long drive at great speed. Was this the police already? How would they have known? A hundred questions and no answers. Then he remembered, off course, my two brothers who should have picked up Oktober and his woman!
The Mazda neared the house which was in total darkness.
‘Get your heads between your knees‘, clearly Gun man did not want the chance of Mike spotting Marcie and him in the car, realized Sonny. As they came within a hundred metres of the home a man came running down the road shouting something, it sounded like a warning but the car was travelling fast and was up to the running man quickly. The driver swerved to avoid the man only to realize at the last moment it was their colleague.
Both car and man had decided on avoiding each other by turning in the same direction. There was a sickening thud as Takkie man was launched from the hood, an arm crashed on to the windshield before his body landed behind the Mazda. Gun man swore and wondered where the other partner was. The whole incident took only two to three seconds but the commotion gave Sonny the opportunity to peek above the seats and see the whole drama unfolding.
As the car lurched forward and then swing into some bushes he took his chance and launched himself at Gun man knocking him hard against the old car’s door which burst open and the two of them went tumbling out on to the gravel. In the process he had pushed Marcie aside and she was now tucked up in pain where Sonny had bruised her ribs in his attempt. Gun man was shocked and stunned at the change of his situation and in the process had lost his weapon somewhere. Sonny was angry and ready and although bound at the hands had two very able legs. He was up first and landed a sickening kick into Gun man’s side then a quick second to his head.
Gun man squealed with pain, ‘please no more, no more!’
Axe man had recovered from the shock of running his own colleague down and now in the commotion saw his friend being pummelled. He reached over to let himself out from the less damaged passenger door and noticed Marcie bent and moaning in pain.
‘You come with me bitch.’ He jumped over the seat and forced Marcie out of the other back door.
‘Sonny, help me!’ she mumbled through her gagging. Axe man held her in front of him. The long, evil blade creasing Marcie’s neck. Some of her mascara had smudged onto her cheeks and it gave her a slightly eerie look. Sonny had just finished with Gun man and had broken his bindings in the process when he heard Marcie’ plea.