Dark Intent by Brian Reeve

Krige, baulking at the irony. ‘Ultimately we must live together. There’s enough here for all of us.’
    Dalton shrugged in disgust. ‘That’s what I want, peace. These animals don’t make it possible.’
    ‘They do,’ said Krige. ‘Many of them want peace. Unless you and others like you change, you’ll be the hunted, erased from this earth until you become a forgotten tribe.’
    ‘Never,’ said Dalton, stroking his gun.
    ‘You can’t stop it,’ said Krige softly. ‘But we digress.’ He examined the area around the room. Finally he fed the glasses into their case. ‘No sign of anyone at the house or the room. There is nothing else we can do here. Let’s hide the car and go for the Zulu.’
    They drove the vehicle down a deserted track that led further into thick vegetation. It was out of sight to anyone who wasn’t deliberately looking for it. They took their weapons, the rifle in its scabbard to avoid attention, and started along the path to Shozi’s residence.

Chapter 21
     
    Malakazi township
     
    Shortly after the doctor showed the guerillas to his sister-in-law’s house he removed the bullet in Ngubane’s shoulder and wrapped him in a bandage that all but hid his chest. He promised to return the next morning and for the remainder of the day Nofomela and Ngwenya stayed alongside their friend as he slept. The house was only of three rooms but the woman had no children and her husband was in prison for burglary. She gave them a room at the back, her manner curt and formal and she made it clear she was housing them under sufferance.
    ‘I want to be amongst our own people,’ said Ngwenya, standing at the window that overlooked the encroaching bush. It was early evening and they had been out to get something to eat. ‘I hate having to watch my trail constantly.’
    ‘We’ll soon be out of KwaZulu,’ said Nofomela. ‘The ANC is at last in central government and that’s where we will go. Inkatha will die like a cancerous limb.’
    ‘They’ ll never relinquish their warring instinct,’ said Ngwenya. ‘Look at scum like Shozi . He reviles the Xhosa, calls them cowards, pigs.’ He rolled a globule of saliva with his tongue and spat it onto the concrete. ‘If only we had the men to take him and put a necklace over his head.’
    ‘Forget Shozi,’ said Nofomela. ‘We didn’t kill him. He’s too well protected. We must be calm and now that we are back in this country wait for the call to help the objectives of our comrades.’
    Ngwenya squinted at Ngubane, lying as still as a board under the grey blankets, breathing noisily. ‘We’re bound by him,’ he said coldly. ‘For days we’ll be harboured in this miserable room, with Inkatha gangsters digging into every crevice. Our safety lies in the bush. How do we know the doctor and Dhlamini can be trusted? They might be leading them to us now.’
    Nofomela moved wraith-like over the floor and patted his colleague. ‘These thoughts will destroy you,’ he said philosophically. ‘Ngubane will recover and in a day or two we’ll be gone from here. Patience, my friend, he needs us.’

Chapter 22
     
    Near Moses Shozi’s house
     
    Before four, Krige and Dalton reached Shozi’s valley, out of sight of the house and 100 metres from the path that joined Umbali and Malakazi. The wind that had fanned the feathery-green grassland through the day had abated, giving in to solitary silence.              When Krige, walking ahead, reached the path he crossed it and steered for higher ground, climbing to the crest of a hill.
    ‘There’s the target,’ said Krige, coming to a halt and turning to Dalton. ‘This would’ve been perfect but the range is too great. I want to be sure of a shot through the head.’ They shielded themselves behind some scrub and 800 metres below them they had a bird’s eye view of the house and the guards’ quarters at the rear. There was no one in sight.
    They concentrated on the buildings for a while longer