Bush Whispers

Chapter 1 - (1971)

The first thing I felt was a slight throb in the side of my head, then came a bit of nausea so tried to open my eyes. When they did open, I wished they had not, as my whole world fell away and the nausea hit me big time.

I immediately closed my eyes and felt slightly better. What the hell was going on? I lay there just letting the feeling come back into my body, arms and legs and decided to keep my eyes shut a while longer and figure out what had happened. As my mind started to clear it all came back to me, very slowly and then only in dribs and drabs.

I was supposed to be on holiday in South Africa and here I was lying somewhere not feeling too good. I had left Manne my home in Botswana, on Thursday to travel with Josh to Francistown to catch the train to Johannesburg. I had never been on a train before and that was my reason for choosing to go by train. Then there was that cryptic message from the Swamp Spot, Colon had said that soon after I had left, there had been someone who had come looking for me but had left without any explanation. I remember feeling uneasy at the time but what the heck, I was on holiday so no need to freak about it.

Then on the trip down I had a weird sensation that everybody was watching me and when I got off the train there was that guy who came up to me and told me he was from BOSS the Bureau of State Security and he wanted me to go with him because they wanted me to do some work for them. Scary bloke that but in a quiet way, not good. They knew about my special ‘talents’ as he put it and they needed me to help them. I had told him I was on holiday and that I did not want to work for anybody for the next four weeks. I had just come from the bush, I had things to do, places to see, girls to chase and hell I was only twenty-two years old and that was what I was going to do. He had nodded and walked away leaving me feeling extremely wary. But being the young man I was, carrying some beef, I was about 220 pounds, fit and able to look after myself I was not too worried. All I knew at that point was that I was hungry and it was time for lunch so had wandered into the first restaurant I could find which just happened to be in the hotel where I had been booked for four days, the Imperial Hotel. Nothing had come up on my ‘whisper’ radar, so did not worry too much. It should have warned me but there had been nothing.

Reading through the menu was unbelievable, what they did not have on it was scary, especially being used to our little hotel and the Swamp Spots usual fare. Then I remember noticing the woman, a pretty good looking woman watching me but then she had turned away and was talking to some other guy. After my meal I wandered around Johannesburg and then took in a movie and was again blown away by how big the movie house was, huge, really big. I remember going back to the hotel, changing to go out on the town and walking around until I saw a little pub called ‘The Madd Irishman’ and knowing old Colon back home decided that was going to be the first stop. I was looking through their choice of pub grub when someone had walked up to me.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

As I looked up, there was the good looking lady from the hotel and my immediate thought had been, what does she want? Then she had said quietly.

“What are you drinking? I know you are on holiday so would like to buy you a drink. Oh, I work at the Imperial Hotel as the Restaurant Manageress, so that is how I know”.

“A Lion lager, please.”

Now I was feeling slightly chuffed that I was being offered a drink by this exceptional looking woman and this little interchange had dulled that funny feeling I had earlier when I saw her watching me. She sauntered over to the pub to get our beers and when she got back, I thanked her, we cheers’d all around and I had a good slug or two of my beer and do not remember anything after that, until now. Damn, where were my ‘so called’ bush whispers, they should have warned me but there had been nothing, not even a twitch.

I heard someone come into the room where I was lying and slowly opened my eyes to see the guy who had spoken to me at the station, the man from BOSS and my beautiful lady.

“Oh, so you are awake” said the man and walked over.

I tried to get up to confront him and came over all weird again.

“Woah guy just take it easy” said BOSS man “sorry we had to do this to you but we had to talk to you as we have a particularly sensitive and critical issue on the go. We could not take the chance you would turn us down. We really need your special abilities to help us with this problem”.

Feeling as mad as a snake I said

“You drug me and then expect me to help you guys, what planet do you come from?”

Then it was Miss Beauty South Africa’s turn to chip in.

“Look we have said sorry but if you give us a chance to tell you the reason, I think you’ll understand”.

“Look Miss charming this is not the way” and by now I was yelling “to treat anybody and I don’t give a damn what your problem is....”

I did not get to finish my sentence.

“Oh, grow up, there is more than holidays and fun out there and our President’s wife has been kidnapped.”

The BOSS guy had cut in very quickly.

“Margy are you nuts, what the hell are you doing. You can’t just tell him that. You have just told this unknown person a state secret that nobody but a few insiders know about. What happens now if this idiot here does not play ball with us, huh?

That jerked me back into reality.

“One, who the hell is the idiot here and what the hell is that about your President’s wife being kidnapped?”

“Yeah, she has and that is why we needed your abilities to try and help us find her before anything else happens.” He quietened down then continued “We think it could be one of the radical groups, possibly the ANC, PAC or one of them but we are not sure. No damn idea who. We have used all our on the ground resources and come up with zilch, so that leaves you” pointing at me.

My mind went quiet and realized that these people knew about the whispers and were hoping that I could use them to help find their President’s wife.

“OK, OK but you need to know that it does not always just work like that, it is not something I can switch on and off, sometimes it’s there and sometimes zip.”

“Mr. Rath, we do understand that but you young man are unfortunately our last option and would not have done what we did, if time was not on our side and it was not in the interest of South Africa and not a state security matter. We will make it up to you but need to get onto this quickly.”

“Ok I’ll hold you to that but first I need to clear my head of whatever you fed me and that feels like it is going to take a while, so, some coffee and some alone time, please.”

With mumbled apologies they left me trying to sort out what had just happened to me and went off to sort things out, me I just flopped back down.

I started thinking back to where this had all started and unknown to me then was that dreamland was going to run a full-length feature movie of my childhood past me and waiting in the wings was the Sandman who promptly chucked a truckload of sleepy sand into my eyes and the lights went out.

Chapter 2 - (1960)

My name is Doggan Rath (pronounced Do-gan), my friends call me Dogg’s, I’m 10 years old and boy, am I in big trouble. My friends Brinn, Helah and I were playing claylat (which is throwing clay balls at one another with the use of long whippy sticks) after school and I hit a passing truck. I think I broke a side window but we were not hanging around to find out, we ducked into the bush and ran. Hitting anything other than your friend or nothing was a total fluke because where we lived there was generally nobody around. You see we all lived in Bechuanaland in a small village group of about 18 to 20 people in a place called Manne, alongside the Thamalakane River in the Okavango Delta better known as the Okavango swamps. We were about 45 miles upriver from the town of Maun and the only time anyone came here, it was usually by boat or plane and that would be to go on safari but there it was, someone had come by truck and twit that I was, I had hit it.

I soon found out that yes, I had broken a side window of a Land Rover driven by the Maun Hotel owner Daphne Riley and sure that I was going to get my tail whipped for my troubles. That did not happen as Mrs Riley had said she hit a branch of an overhanging tree although I think my dad seeing my face knew what had happened and that I had a hand in Mrs Riley’s ‘accident.’ The visit was to bring us our new water pump that my dad had ordered through Riley’s store in Maun. She stayed for lunch and left shortly thereafter. She was really nice and I remembered the talk that she had lost her husband in the floods of ’55 and that she was maybe moving to South Africa. Pity, we needed more people like her in Bechuanaland.

Needless to say, Brinn and Helah had hightailed it to wherever but I now needed to wash the dishes, one of my ‘all of a sudden’ new tasks which I am sure was payment for the broken Landy window. As I came out of the kitchen, I found my Mom and Dad, Ann and John Rath, Josh Broom and Don Weskob sitting on the veranda drinking whatever and listening to the news on the radio, something about a plane that had disappeared on route from Johannesburg in South Africa to Maun in Bechuanaland and that the search parties had started to comb the areas between Gabarone, Mahalapye and the dried up, Lake Xua.

Josh the owner of Long Boat Swamp Safaris was an old hand at search and rescues in our area and was discussing the possibilities with Don an ex-policeman and now one of his crewmen about the time frame of where the aircraft could have come down given range and a whole lot of other stuff I did not understand. Mom was saying something about a woman being on board with a young child and was panicking about what could have happen to them I don’t know why but I said “They are not even in Bechuanaland, they are fine and next to some mountains and a river.

I had shrugged and went off to find Brinn and Helah. I did not hear what Mom said but what I did hear was not to be late as we were eating at Colon Swaze’s place tonight which was great news. Colon owned the Pub and Grub place ‘The Swamp Spot’ next door to my parents Eden Riverside Hotel and always cooked venison, spuds and mealies (corn), my kind of grub. The rest of the day went well with lots of fishing and later lots of eating. Remembered going to bed that night a real, happy chappy.

The sun was just coming up over the river and I had breakfast as quickly as I could because today was Saturday and I was going with Josh and a small party of people including two kids on a short five hour swamp safari where we would show the city folk elephants, hippos, crocs, zebra, all kinds of birds, hopefully some lions, buffalo and maybe even a leopard. Helah was also coming but Brinn was helping his mom. Five hours later, tired, sunburnt and starting to feel hungry, we got back after having seen just about everything and more, much to the delight of the townies. What they were also happy about was Helah pointing out animals and telling them what they were in Setswana, his native tongue

“Tau” he would say pointing out lions drinking or “Tlou”, elephants and even some “podi”, goats at a small village we passed.

As we walked up the small pier still talking ten to the dozen, my Dad called me over with a worried look on his face and walked me down the side of the river. He looked at me and asked a question that was going to change all our lives in the coming years although we did not know it at that time.

“Son, when you said that those people in that plane were going to be OK and where they were, how did you know? Did you hear about it before we did?”

“No Dad I just sort of said that, don’t know why. Why? Were they found?”

“Yes, son they were and they were still in South Africa, near some mountains and next to a river just like you said. Their engine failed and they made an emergency landing but damaged their radio in the process.”

I just shrugged and we both turned back towards the pier and started walking back but could see my Dad had something on his mind, so said nothing.

Two weeks later school broke up for the summer holidays, which meant spending hours fishing and getting up to all sorts of things. As we left our one classroom ‘school’ our teacher Miss Selman, told us she was very excited as she was going up to the Chobe by plane for two weeks and was flying with our local mad hatter bush pilot Feelan Roberts who owned Kavango Air Safaris. He flew a ‘self’ converted Super Cub that could take off and land on a sixpence and he could probably do it with his eyes closed. Yup, he was that good or so my folks and half the country would say. We all wished her well and that we would see her when she got back and not to frighten all the animals. Boy oh Boy, it was time to start the fun and so we did.

Being ten years old with crazy friends and living in the bush as we did with lion, leopards and the like, right next to a big river full of fish, legavaans (water monitor lizard) and crocs, it is a wonder more of us did not get eaten by one of them. Well, most of them but not the leggies, they just scared the heck out of you when you came up on them in the grass and they shot out from under your feet. We liked fishing at an old stump at the bottom of a high embankment, which gave us shade and was next to the reeds and this is where you could catch big bream, pike and occasionally a decent sized tiger fish. We were so engrossed with our endeavours of sitting quietly with our lines in the water we were not aware of the danger lurking slightly behind us.

He was old and battling to find easy prey but as he came up to the embankment he slowed and slowly approached the edge on his belly. He wormed his way up to an overhanging tree and peered over with a minimum of movement and saw three of the human things, small ones. He started gathering himself to pounce when he noticed a movement in the reeds and we sitting quietly below him also heard this movement in the reeds, so with bated breath sat very, very still. A young Letchwe moved out of the reeds stepping carefully in ankle deep water. She was wary for crocs and looking at the river and did not notice us. In a flash of tawny brown and black spots the leopard had changed its target and hit the unsuspecting small buck in a huge splash of water and squeals which stopped quickly. He then dragged it out of the water and quickly pulled it up the bank and disappeared into the bush behind us. Three young boys sat routed to the spot until the leopard disappeared from sight then yelling and performing, leaving our rods where they where, we took off as one for the Eden, which was about 400 yards from where we had been fishing. Seeing the commotion and total panic of three small boys running hell for leather towards the hotel, Hezi Sezwa, Helah’s Dad yelled for John my Dad and the two of them came running, Dad carrying his rifle. After blabbing to them what had happened, they had a look around and found the stealth marks made by the leopard while he was stalking us. Fishing at the stump became an almost no-go zone for us for the rest of the holidays. Hey there were other good fishing spots, right? Right and probably better ones too.

Chapter 3

With safaris coming in almost every day time went past too quickly. We helped show them around and fetched and carried suitcases for tips, which were coming in handy for the extra sweets and cool drinks but hey those were the necessities of all young boys. Feelan dropped some new passengers off at the airfield which we called the ‘flat spot’ and asked to be topped up with fuel as he was going up to the Chobe to get Miss Selman. He helped carry the new guest’s bags to the hotel (which by the way only housed about twelve people) and to have breakfast and then said “I’m off the woods” and added “to fetch little Miss Red Riding” and then he was gone.

Feelan and Demi (Miss Selman) were expected back around 4pm that afternoon and it was 5.30pm and they had not arrived yet. Budge Weskob, Don’s brother and local ranger for one of the big safari outfits ‘Dumela Afrika’ was waiting for them to get back so as to ask Feelan about a party that was to be picked up from the village of Maun the next morning and was starting to get edgy. My Dad was behind the pub and said he would radio Chobe to find out if and what time they had left. He disappeared into the office and came back a short while later looking worried.

“They said that he and Demi left on time and should have been back at least an hour and half ago. Damn I hope nothing has happened.”

“Hell’s teeth” said Budge “and we don’t know if they had plans to go anywhere else before flying back here either.”

I was just sitting on the steps and said.

“Dad, Feelan said he was coming straight back” and then added “they not going to be back soon because they have crashed in the reeds but they are OK.”

Dad jumped up off his stool and came round the side of the pub at me like a bulldozer in high gear

“What did you say?”

Budge jumped up and headed Dad off.

“He was only buggering around, John, no need to take him out, OK?”

“No, you don’t understand Budge, Doggan knows things, can’t explain it but he knows stuff like that.”

Budge turned slowly and looked at me kind of weird

“So where are they then Mr all seeing eye?”

Trying to explain how I knew or what I had in fact said was difficult but with two adults glaring at me I tried to explain.

“Well dad I sort of just get a feeling, you know like a little breeze going around me and I sort of get an idea of what has happened but I don’t know if it’s real or not. It’s like I’m dreaming or something, you know?”

The look on their faces was like looking at buck’s eyes in the headlights, big and surprised. Budge’s voice was quiet when he said to Dad

“So this has happened before, huh?”

“Yup once before when that plane went down about four, five weeks ago, he said they were still in South Africa, near a river and some mountains and the next day that is exactly where they found them. Pretty weird huh?”

A few minutes later Dad had contacted Maun and asked if Peter Flemming was there with his aircraft and was told yes, he was and they would find him and get him to radio back. Half an hour later with almost the whole of Manne now sitting in the lounge area talking about what had happened, Peter Flemming radioed back and was told about Feelan and Demi going missing on route back from Chobe. He said he would refuel and the next morning at daybreak he would fly the normal course up to Chobe with a spotter. As nothing could be done then, all us kids were shunted off to bed so the adults could talk.

Fortunately, the safari guests that had arrived with Feelan that morning had already left with Josh and Don on their river safari and would be away for five days and no more safaris where due in until the weekend. We all had woken at the crack of dawn and just sat around doing nothing. Even all us kids had gone quiet which was unusual but think we realised what was happening and the possible problems, that is all except me. I just knew they were OK but did not understand why, I just did.

About ten past nine the radio in the pub crackled to life and it was Peter Flemming reporting back

“Found them but can’t land, they have crashed in a huge patch of papyrus at the bottom end of the Chobe just at the start of the Thamma, you know where it gets wide. You are going to have to get Josh up there with his boat to go find them and get them off.”

Dad answered back that he and Hezi would go up with our big boat as Josh and Don were out on a water safari. As they ran to fuel up extra jerry cans, load a tent, some supplies and the first aid kit, I walked up to my dad and said

“Dad I had better come with you as I know where they are and which channel in the reeds to take.”

He spun round ready to choke me off but stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at me. Slowly he nodded and said

“OK,” just like that, no arguing, no nothing.

Mom was not too happy to hear about it until dad told her what I had said then she added.

“Just keep him safe, OK?”

We went up the river as fast as we possibly could without having an accident ourselves, especially not riding over any of the hippo pools with young ones and with only one missed turn we came up to the junction of the Thamalakane and the channel offshoot where the river got to be about a mile wide but so covered with papyrus you would not have known there was water under most of it. There were big channels which were open making it easy to get through. We had made good time in getting there but it was getting close to four in the afternoon. We were still about 400 yards from where they had come down when we spotted the tail of the Piper sticking up out of the reed bed like a flag. As we cruised up so as not to cause a wake, we saw both Feelan and Demi standing next to the Piper waving at us. As we pulled alongside the papyrus island, we noticed that the reeds had been pulled and tied together with ropes and that the ‘island’ looked almost like a big raft. It also looked like Feelan had been cutting away the roots that anchored the papyrus as he was wet all over with bits and pieces of papyrus hanging from his panga (machete).

They were happy to see us and both were fine except for Feelan’s left hand which had been slightly hurt in the crash, which he carefully explained was not a crash but a controlled put down or something to that effect, typical bush pilot. He told us that there was an opening in the reeds about 200 yards further up where we would find a small island where we could camp for the night. He explained he was not leaving his plane so we had to tow his ‘raft’ to that island, which after some bickering and arguing, we did after he had cut the last of the roots still holding the ‘raft’ in place. An hour later as the sun went down and lit up the swamps with a beautiful fiery sunset we beached at the island and tied the reed raft to some trees. We pitched camp for the night and Dad contacted the Eden and told mom we were all OK and would hopefully be back the next afternoon. He had to explain the reason for taking so long to get back what with Feelan and his plane - Mom was not amused. In that time Hezi and I had got a decent fire going and sat until latish talking and find out what had gone wrong with the plane. We also noticed that Feelan and Demi were cuddling up to one another. Chalk another one up for the swamps.

We finally came up to the hotel at three thirty which was pretty good going seeing as we were towing a huge papyrus raft and an aircraft. Fortunately, the whole gang and about ten other people including Josh and his safari group were there to help pull the raft to the side and then with the Land Rover and Fords winches we were able to pull Feelans broken Piper out, raft and all.

Needless to say, we had one heck of a party that night with even the safari guests saying that was the best part of their tour even though they had come back early to possibly help search for Josh and Demi. During the celebrations word got out that it was my whispers that had made it known that they had in fact crashed and then had more or less led the air and water search with the description of the area. My insights about the plane going missing the first time was also spoken about with one of the safari guests taking more notice than the rest. Unknown to us then, she was going to be the cause of my gift or whispers becoming known to the rest of the world and bringing all sorts of people, cranks, gamblers and crooks to our neck of the woods and making major problems for me in particular. It was also going to be the start of many future adventures.

Chapter 4

Brinn, Helah and I got a surprise two days later when my Dad said he was going through to the Maun Exhibition the next day. It was some big show they had once a year and that the three of us were going as well. It was like a huge extended party with tents and stalls on the airfield next to Riley’s Hotel. The truck and tyre people were always out in full force as where the craft people who sold all sorts of things. There was also a tent and open area where the Bushmen showed guests their way of life and how they made things from bones, skins and wood. This was one of the shows attractions I wanted to see. Even before we got there, I started getting a tingly feeling about what was going to happen but just could not put my finger on it. It was a feeling that something very different was going to happen and in particular to me.

We got there about nine the next morning and first made a stop at Riley’s garage to book our Bedford truck in for a service before we walked over to the show ground. My Dad had said to stick with him until we got to know where everything was and to see if our friends from Maun were there, so we did. As we approached the area where the Bushmen were doing their thing, the old Bushman Shaman, Medicine man or whatever he was, looked up from what he was doing and uttered something that stopped their whole show dead in its tracks. He slowly stood up and pointed in our direction and said something to the translator who then walked over to my Dad and whispered something in his ear. I saw the look of astonishment in my Dad’s face as he turned to me and said

“The medicine man wants to see you and just you.”

“What does he want with me Dad?”

“Don’t know son but he says that he needs to see you up close and maybe even touch you. Yeah, I know, it’s kind of weird but it’s OK isn’t it? You said you wanted to see them and check them out up close and personal, huh? I’ll be right here so nothing will go wrong, OK? Go on.”

By this time everyone was watching what was happening and I walked up to him feeling a bit self-conscious.

As I got to him his face lit up and he slowly put his hands on either side of my face and started a faint chanting sound in the back of his throat that got louder and louder. This went on for about a minute. Then he stopped, took his hands off my face, turned to his people behind him and went off ten to the dozen with clicks and clacks and telling them whatever. I had not understood a single thing he had said. When he had stopped, he turned and said something to the translator. The translator came up to me and my Dad who was by then standing close to me and told us what the medicine man had just told them.

“Xi has said that your son is to be a special man and hear messages from the world in the wind because he is at one with the bush.”

As old as I was, he then said something that hit me quite hard as I had already called these feelings, ‘my whispers’. He looked directly at me.

“He says, you must open your heart and mind, listen to the bush whispers, they are there to help you and those you wish to help.”

He turned and went back to the group. They huddled for about two minutes then went back to their routine of making bows and whatever else they were doing but me, I was in my own world trying to fathom out what had just been said. It was when I looked at my Dad, that partial understanding came. He had this huge smile on his face and then bent down close and whispered.

“Now we know what was happening with your whispers. Don’t understand it but there you have it you hear messages and things on the wind.”

There was no trace of Dad being sarcastic or sceptical, just bemused.

Needless to say, that day was just a blur as I tried to come to grips with what I had been told. For crying in a bucket, I was only ten and half, almost eleven and I did not know how to handle this news. Brinn and Helah were as jealous as all heck and teased me about being some hoodoo, voodoo priestie type but after a while they slowed it all down and said that it was great to have a weird friend like me. They still sort of looked at me sideways from time to time and got this faraway look in their eyes but after a few days it was down to playing claylat and fishing again with the whispers relegated to the back of our minds. We were busy having fun and then things went south with the arrival of some tough looking people in suits and fancy black Land Rovers.

Chapter 5

As they stepped away from the Landies they fanned out and walked towards the hotel. When they got to the front door, they all stood back and let an older grey headed man go through first. Don was sitting on the veranda and saw them coming in, stood up and walked over to the group.

“Hi Mr Foster, long time no see and you too Tom” talking to one of the other men.

Playing host, he asked

“What can the Eden do for the British High Commissioner today, lunch?”

Mr Foster answered quietly

“Hi Don as you say, long time, no see, what’s it been, two years since you retired from the force? Lunch it will be but where is John Rath, I need to speak to him on some urgent matter?”

“He is around” said Don and called for Hezi.

“Hezi find Mr Rath and please ask him to come to the veranda, Mr Foster wants to see him chop chop, OK?”

Hezi nodded and left at a trot towards the sheds near the river. Shortly thereafter Dad walked in and greeted everybody and spoke directly to Brandon Foster.

“Hi Mister High Commissioner what gives?”

“Still teasing me you young wally.”

The two of them packed up laughing and hugged one another.

“Damn it’s been a long time John.”

“Yes it has and I think I have an idea why you are here, let’s take a walk” he turned to Don and asked “Don, please ask Mama Africa to bring us two Lion lagers, thanks.”

Don nodded.

Without waiting for a reply, the two stepped off the veranda and walked down to the river and sat on some old stumps that had been made into stools and a small table.

“What’s up Brandon?” said Dad.

The older man sighed and said

“It is still going to take a few years to set up but you do know that we are busy setting up Seretse Khama to take over in a couple of years when we hand Bechuanaland back to the people of this country but we have a slight problem in the form of some political interference from one of the tribes down south. We don’t know who is stirring them up though. These blighters are getting themselves ready to do something, maybe even something violent to disrupt the BP (Bechuanaland Protectorate) and we need to find out what and soon. You get my drift?” He left that hanging in the air, shrugged his shoulders and opened his hands wide.

“And you want me to do what Bradon?”

“Damn it, John, you know as well as I do what I want but it has got to be with your OK and blessing. We have all heard about Doggans whispers.”

“Brandon you cannot expect me to OK something if it could put my son at risk, he is just about to turn eleven and you want this?”

“No John that is not what we want but have been forced to find other options. We don’t expect him to come down to Gabs, he can stay here and we could keep this very quiet and communicate via radio and then he can do his thing.”

“You do know that this is not something that can happen at the drop of a hat. It has got to come from him without any coaxing from us.”

There was a pregnant pause while the beers arrived. As Mama walked away Brandon Foster said

“Understood, so we will have to play this by ear John and do it your way. Just feed him the info and see what comes up. Please John we don’t want a local war at this stage of the game, OK?”

“OK but we do this slowly and very quietly, nobody besides you and I and maybe someone who you trust in Gabs to send the radio updates. Let’s set this up after lunch. Oh, and Ann does not get to even hear what we are up to, otherwise no deal, OK.”

The High Commissioner of the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland nodded.

Two days after the Land Rover brigade with entourage had left, Dad, Mom, Don and Budge were sitting at the pub when Colon walked in and said he had just heard from someone in Gabs (Gaberone) that there was some trouble with one of the tribes talking about taking over their area of Bechuanaland from the British so dad said he would contact a friend in Gabs and find out more. He walked into the office and got onto the radio without anyone seeing him change the band. I saw him do it because I had sidled over to the window to watch. He spoke to someone and I suppose he asked if there was any news and could see someone had immediately answered. What the answer was I did not hear too well so just sat back and waited for dad to come back out. He came out and told us that this tribe had started fighting with others in the area around Gabs and that men, women and children were getting hurt. I was watching dad as he told us and realized he was watching me and as I was about to make a comment, saw him slightly shake his head. Then with his eyes and a slight movement of his head he showed me he wanted me to go outside. He got up and said

“ Doggan could you come and help me with something quickly, guys we will be back shortly, just remembered I need to get a few things from the storeroom, should not be too long.”

As we walked to the storeroom Dad said.

“Doggan, what were you going to say in there?”

“Dad its Chief Sanziwe that is doing that, I remember his name from school. We did a class on the different Chiefs of the Tswanas and Bangamwatos and he is the one making the trouble.”

“OK son that is good but I don’t want you to say anything about this to anyone, not even your mother or your friends, OK? This is very serious.”

“OK Dad but why the big secret?”

“Because Doggan the information I gave in the pub came from the High Commissioner in Gabs and you, me and him must be the only ones who know how he got this information. He and I set this up when he was here the other day so that we might get this exact type of information from you but we did not know if your whispers would, you know, talk to you or whatever they do, you know what I mean. This could be very dangerous to you if the people making the trouble knew it was you who had pointed them out, OK?”

I just nodded and said nothing, the whispers had done what they need to and Dad soon got back and radioed the info back to the capitol Gaberone and in particular to the High Commissioner, Brandon Foster.

A few days later we heard on a radio newscast that Chief Sanziwe had been taken into custody and that the uprising had been stopped but had unfortunately been the cause of eight people losing their lives. The newsman had said information from an undisclosed informant had led the police and army to the place where the Chief had been hiding out and he would be facing charges but not too much was known how, why or when this information had been received but that the case was ongoing. Dad turned to me and winked.

Chapter 6

Brinn’s Mom had taken him to Maun to do some shopping or something, Helah was helping his Mom and Dad at home with whatever and I was bored out of my tiny mind and ready to start something, anything. As I walked through the hotel from our little house behind the hotel, I saw two new people sitting and chatting with my Dad. He called me over and introduced them to me.

“This is my son Doggan and this is Mr and Mrs Palmer son.”

I extended my hand first to Mrs Palmer who said

“Hi, I’m Heather” then handing my hand over to Mr Palmer she said “and this is Dave my hubby.”

I shook his hand and said “Nice to meet you” coming over all polite.

Just then a young girl of about eleven or twelve came onto the veranda and boy was she pretty.

“And this Doggan is our daughter Brigitte”.

I just stammered out

“Hi, I’m Doggs”.

She giggled and said “I’m Briggs”.

Both of us laughed and walked down the front stairs down towards the river chatting. Heard my dad say in the background

“Well is seems they are going to get on fine” and all three adults chuckled.

It turned out Dave Palmer was here to set up a base camp for Dumela Africa Safaris with Budge and to extend our flat spot airfield into something a bit more airfield like so as to accommodate bigger aircraft, things like the De Haviland Rapide, six to ten seat Pipers and possibly even Dakotas. A company called WENELA was hiring local people for the mines in South Africa and then flying workers out in Daks. This was going to be fun with more people coming to our spot at the edge of the swamps and more guests for Mom and Dad’s hotel. This could only be good. And then of course there was Brigitte.

Over the next four months with the extension of the flat spot, a small extension to our hotel, a new veranda for The Swamp Spot which connected to our veranda, school, fishing and teaching Brigitte claylat, all was quiet on the water’s edge as regards my whispers.

The fearsome foursome, Brigitte, Brinn, Helah and I had just got back from school when we heard the roar of a plane overhead and looked up to see a Dakota come low over the hotel. As we ran to the flat spot, we saw almost the whole of Manne standing at the gate of the new small petrol depot put up for refuelling the planes and an old tonk tonk hand operated petrol pump for the vehicles and realised that the plane had just done a fly over to check the field, the wind direction on the weather sock and chase any wildlife off the landing strip. The Dak did a slow turn and started its decent. The pilot was good. He barely went over the tops of the trees at the far end of the strip and put it down gently. With a slight bounce he held it down with dust coming off the wheels and dry grass and dust being stirred up by the props and wing wash. The Dak rolled to almost where we were standing, slowed, then he turned and parked it just in front of the fuel depot and switched off. The whole of Manne exploded and clapped and cheered, our first biggie had just landed.

On board the Dak was a group of people brought in by Dumela Africa to come and see the new camp set up and see what was on offer by Manne in general. The consensus was that this was going to be a popular camp with good amenities and could only bring success for all concerned. That night around a boma fire in front of the hotel and being fed and refreshed by both the Eden and The Swamp Spot the party had been good with lots of laughing and stories. All us kids had made our own plans with our own fire and were doing our braai (barbeque) thing, mainly with boerewors and pap (spicy sausage and maize meal) and also telling stories. We went over the leopard saga, the ditching of Feelan’s plane in the swamp and then Helah told Brigitte about my bush whispers before I could stop him but she took it in without too much fuss and asked me how it worked. Needless to say, I did not know how to answer her but sort of got the general idea across.

The next morning was Saturday and no school so were up early fishing next to the boat shed which had produced some pretty big bream. When Brinn overheard two people talking on the other side of the barn he motioned to us to keep quiet and crept around the side of the shed to get closer. We just carried on fishing until I got a really big fish on the line and we could not keep it down. With squeals from Brigitte and come on’s from Helah, I was battling to hold it, then a tiger of about ten pounds erupted from the water. The two men who had been talking had come round the front of the shed to see what the commotion was about but failed to see Brinn. He popped up next to Helah and all watched my fight with the tiger. I knew this was probably going to end with me losing it as my line was set up for bream. I actually landed it to the surprise of all as the hook had embedded itself in the side of the tiger’s vicious mouth. We all ran up to the hotel to show off my catch to my Dad who was the big fisherman of the area. Dad was not there but I showed everybody else anyway. After all the excitement we went off to get cool drinks but Brinn pulled me off to one side looking worried.

“I think we had better find and speak to your Dad Doggs”

“Why Brinn, what’s up?”

“Those guys that were talking down by the shed” and his voice just trailed off.

“What about them Brinn, what?”

“They were talking about your whispers and something about horse races. I don’t like it, did not sound right.”

I looked at him and said

“OK but we just tell Dad everything word for word, sort of and then let him decide what to do, OK?”

“Cool”.

We walked back into the Hotel and to Dad’s office. He was there. When I had finished showing my Dad my tiger, I said

“Just going to give this to Mama A but really need to talk to you.”

Looking at both of us Dad’s eyebrows went up a fraction and then said

“Let’s take a walk along the river to the stump. See you there in about five, OK?”

We both nodded and walked to the kitchen now trailed by the gang. Once there I explained to Helah and Brigitte that Brinn and I had something serious to discuss with my Dad so they stayed in the kitchen to bug and hassle Mama Africa for something to eat. We said we would be back shortly. As we walked out so did Dad. We got to the stump before anything was said.

After explaining to Dad about the two guys, my whispers and the racing connection I could see he was pretty mad.

“OK but nothing to anybody else OK? Not even to Helah or Brigitte, understand?”

We both nodded. I could see the wheels turning in Dad’s head.

“I want you to be very careful guys but if one of them approaches you with anything to do with horses just tell him your whispers don’t work that way, OK?”

“Cool Dad, no problem, they don’t do that anyway.”

Dad looked thoughtful then added

“I think I know what they want and it’s got to do with a pretty big race in South Africa called the Durban July but that is still a few months away. Maybe they want to test you out before that. They may even offer you a lot of money.”

When my eyes opened wider Dad just shook his head and said

“Don’t go for it Doggan, these people could put your life on the line and ours and possibly even your friends lives, OK, so don’t be tempted. You have got to tell me even if they just suggest something OK?”

I nodded again and saw Brinn also nod.

“OK Dad, don’t worry I won’t, ah we won’t.”

We learned that the two guys and one woman were travel reporters and they had heard about me from another reporter who had been here at the time of the Piper in the Papyrus Caper as we called it by then. She was the one that had taken the most interest in my whispers when it came out. It seems that she had written a story for one of the international travel magazines and had laid it all out. The area, river, aircraft, Manne and the little boy who could tell people things that were going to happen. Dad said he thought she had maybe overdone the reporting on that to stir up interest in her article but was not certain as he had not seen it, just heard about it.

Sunday came and went with most of Manne sitting on the deck between the Eden and the Swamp Spot, eating and playing cards, with us kids doing what comes naturally, getting up to all kinds of things. Mom called me over later in the afternoon and asked about the end of year exams that were coming up in the next few weeks and I said that everything was under control. When I got back and told them they all pulled faces and said that my mom should have left it till tomorrow to talk about school and exams and stuff like that. I just shrugged but then saw Brigitte looking at me all funny so said

“What?”

She moved closer and asked

“Do you know what the questions are going to be for the exams?”

I laughed

“Briggs, guys, my whispers don’t work for things like that. Seriously they don’t. Wish they did but nope, they don’t.”

Chapter 7

While at school the next day we heard at least three planes come in. We could not wait to get out, to go and have a look and as school ended, we all shot out of the room and ran all the way to the flat spot. Our airfield might have got bigger and fancier but was still called the flat spot and probably would forever. There was another Dak, a dark blue De Haviland Rapide and what we found out later was a brand new, aircraft, a 1960 Cessna 172A Skyhawk which had come in from South Africa and was privately owned by some rich guy. We must have spent at least 2 hours walking around and looking at the planes and asking what I suppose were dumb questions of anybody who looked like they had anything to do with them. Brigitte got tired of the planes before we did and said she was off to have some lunch. Helah and one of the other kids also decided their stomachs were more important than aeroplanes. Ah well their loss.

Brinn and I were still inspecting every detail of each aircraft when one of the guys who were interested in my whispers and the racing thing came out onto the flat spot, saw me and walked over.

“Hey Doggan, understand you get premonitions about things that are going to happen, is that right?”

I looked at him confused and said

“A prema what?”

“Premonitions are like feelings you get, you know?”

“Oh them.”

I tried to sound nonchalant.

“I sort of get them every now and then but it only comes when it wants to but can’t make things come to me.”

“Oh that is interesting.”

I saw the interest in his eyes more than what he was saying then he said laughingly.

“Oh, so you are not going to be able to tell me which horses are going to win this weekend, rats.”

“Nah, I have never been able to see or feel that type of stuff and like I said it only comes when it wants to. I wish I could because I would be rich but I suppose that’s not going to happen is it.”

I think I saw smoke coming out of his ears as he said

“Can’t you just try it. Let me give you some information and see if something comes up, what do you think, I could pay you.”

“I wish but I know it’s not going to do anything, so it is not really worth doing.”

“Just think about it OK.”

He turned and walked away. Brinn and I looked at one another and started walking towards the hotel to see Dad.

Later that evening after our chat with Dad we did not see the guy that had spoken to me or his friend so that was good news for me. I saw Dad talking to Don and soon after Don came up to me.

“By the way Doggs, after school tomorrow you and I are going to be starting some special training and if the gang wants in, they must also come with you. We start at two thirty OK?”

I said OK and then added

“What sort of training?”

He just laughed and said

“Something that, if you do it well, will stay with you for the rest of your life” then added a bit more seriously

“And maybe one day even save your life or the life of someone close to you. Seriously guys, no jokes here. Just be there, OK?”

“OK and thanks Don, we will be there.”

If my Dad had heard me call him Don, I would have needed whatever it was that he was going to teach us to save myself from a belt or something worse, like maybe a quince switch.

Walking home the next day from school was filled with that ’what’s gonna happen’ feeling but we were excited at the same time. We had a light lunch as we had been told to do by Don and just before two thirty the four of us trooped in to find out what was going to happen and stopped dead in our tracks. There in front of us was Don doing some very slow dance like moves with his arms flowing all over but seemed very controlled and pretty cool. We just stood and watched until he did a turn, saw us, finished the movement he was doing then stopped and said

“Tai Chi, that is what I was just doing and that is what you are going to learn. Once you have got the basic moves and can control them properly, we will go to the next stage, the martial arts side of Tai Chi.”

“Martial arts Don, what’s that?”

“A martial art is a fighting technique from either, Japan, Korea, China or sometimes from other countries but Tai Chi is a fighting technique from China which I learnt from a Tai Chi Master, Master Pang and studied with him for twelve years. How quickly you learn will be up to you. Get in line and follow.”

We did as we were told and an hour later, were out on our feet. What had looked easy was not but we were all jacked up after the session. Little did we know how we were going to feel the next day, one word describes it well - stiff.

Each day we not only went to school, studied for our exams and did Tai Chi but still tried to get in some fun stuff without all the control. We had started learning words like Taolu which was hand and weapon routines, Neigong and Gigong which was breathing, movement and awareness exercises, Tuishou which were response drills, Sanshou which were self-defence techniques and using what Don called Neijia which was controlling everything, as he said from within or something to that effect. Funny enough I was having a great time as I enjoyed the movement. Brigitte, Brinn and Helah had started to crumble and moan about it being too tough and boring anyway, so within a week all of them had stopped.

After they had left Don really started to push me even though by that time, we were writing exams. By the start of the holidays Don had begun teaching me the fighting side of Tai Chi. He told my Dad that if there was ever a natural Tai Chi exponent, it was me. I still had to ask my Dad what exponent was and then felt chuffed that Don thought that of me. After that I started to put everything I had into learning and carried on all through the holidays. The gang was not too happy with that though and I missed out on some good old-fashioned fun, fishing, claylat and playing around on the Mokoros with Hezi showing them the ropes of how to punt the Mokoros with long poles. Mokoros are wood canoes made by digging out the wood from the inside of tree logs.

Chapter 8 (1971)

I woke with a start. Where the hell was I, then I remembered. I opened my eyes and looked around I did not feel nauseous so guess whatever they had drugged me with had worn off. I could not tell what time it was as I did not wear a watch and the curtains were still drawn. I gingerly sat up and padded over to the window and slowly opened the curtain. All I saw was some beautiful old trees, some huge grassed areas with a round driveway and a little way down the slight hill a high fence and not much else. I walked back to the bed, found my shoes and pulled them on. I went over to the door expecting it to be locked but it was not, so wandered through and down a short passage to where I heard some music. As I came to the end of the passage, I could see the beautiful lady, who now had a name Margy but no sign of Mr BOSS man.

She saw me coming out and smiled

“Hi Doggan, rest well? We brought you some food earlier as you had asked but you were fast asleep so left you. Want something to eat?”

“What so that you can slip me something again?”

“Hey I said I was sorry and anyway we are now working on the same side. Come on no hard feelings. Let me get you some late breakfast. Maybe we should say brunch, eggs, bacon, tomatoes, chips with some wors (sausage), some steak with loads of toast, marmalade and coffee afterwards.”

“Sounds like my kind of meal. Yup let’s do it.”

She walked off and stuck her head through a door and said ‘A full brunch with the works” then she turned to me and yelled “White or brown bread?”

I said brown which she told someone in the kitchen and as she walked back to where I was standing, I noticed what a good looking and beautifully built lady this really was. I estimated she was probably about twenty eight, a bit older than me but who was counting.

I was nearly finished with brunch when the BOSS guy got back. He walked up and said

“By the way, I think we started off on the wrong foot, my apologies again. My name is Morgan Fairchild, ex Rhodesian army, now head of Special Services for the Bureau of State Security and I’m in deep.......” his voice trailed off “Sorry, I’m in a bit of a fix with what has happened, even if it was not my guys looking after Mrs Voster. You know what these people are like?”

“Nope I don’t but can understand being held responsible even when you are not. So where do we stand right now?”

“We need to take you to where she was taken and fill you in so that you can get your feelings or whatever working, that is the way it works isn’t it?”

“Sort of” I said with a quizzical look on my face.

“What do you mean, sort of? I thought this was how it worked.”

“Well, someone did not do their homework properly because like I said before, it’s not a damn switch that gets clicked on, it is just a feeling I get, a very strong feeling and if I’m invested in it in some way, it gets even stronger. I have a small confession to make about now and that is, since I have been in South Africa my whispers are almost non-existent and when I was in Johannesburg, in the city itself, I did not feel anything or I would have picked up on your intentions towards me Margy but did not, not even a flutter.”

I watched as Morgan turned slowly and quietly said

“So you have not had none of your ‘feelings’ none at all?”

Punctuating that in the air with his fingers.

“Nah, zilch, absolutely nothing.”

Then my mind went back to what the old bushman had said about it being ‘bush whispers’ and wondered if that was the problem, so I brought it up.

“Maybe because those feelings only manifests itself when I am in my comfort zone and in the bush. Maybe that is why I can’t feel anything here.”

“So just maybe we need to get you back there once we have shown you where she was taken and given you the background story.”

I nodded “Let’s do it asap but how am I going to get back to Manne, my ticket is only for three and a half weeks from now.”

“Leave that to me to organise” said Margy “and if you don’t mind, I will come up with you so I can relay the info once we have it. Is that OK with you? By the way my name is Margy Rainsford”

“Hi Margy Rainsford and like I said, let’s do it.”

I finished off the last few crumbs, swallowed my coffee and standing up as one, we walked towards the vehicles.

We were standing at a crossroads outside Pretoria, the South African capital where the kidnapping had taken place and where as I then heard, two policemen had been killed, one of them recently married and the other leaving a wife and two children behind. That burned me, people getting killed for doing their jobs and little ones also getting hurt in the process. We were all so involved in scoping out the skid marks and everything else we did not see the Ford truck approaching us slowly. I had just stepped into the road to get a better feeling for where she had been when the attack took place, when I heard the roar of a V8 engine and turned in time to see the truck coming straight at me. I did not even think as I dived off the road and rolled into the grass embankment while twisting myself to possibly see who was driving and saw two white guys with bandanas pulled up over their faces speed by. I saw the wide-eyed looks of Margy and Morgan on the other side of the road and Morgan pulling a handgun and loosing off a couple of shots at the tail off the speeding truck. I got up and dusted off my pants and shirt and walked over to them.

“That was too damn close for comfort and those guys were white so the question goes a begging, are there white guys in the ANC or that other group you spoke about.”

“More than likely but I don’t think they would have exposed themselves like that if they had been ANC or PAC too dangerous for them at the moment as we would have then rounded up anyone connected to them in any way.”

Then simultaneously I saw the look of comprehension on Morgans and Margy’s faces

“Bloody hell, are you thinking what I’m thinking Margs? This could be white radicals opposed to Vorster talking to Kaunda but they have said nothing as yet.”

“Morgan that is exactly what I was thinking and if that is the case, we might have more trouble than we bargained for coming our way. We got to get Doggan to anywhere where he can see if anything comes up on his radar or whatever it is and we got to do it now and pronto.”

We all ran back to Morgan’s Land Rover and took off in a cloud of dust.

“See if you can radio command and organise a flight to Botswana like yesterday Margs, you two need to get up there now.”

Margy was on the radio to command, wherever that was and within two minutes had organised a flight up to Manne. By the time we got to the Waterkloof air base everything had been organised, even the necessary flight plans and official entry permission and permits into Botswana.

On the flight up I was allowed to contact my Dad on their radio but using our frequency. Dad was surprised to hear me and that we would be landing at about seven this evening and that we needed some runway lights of some sort so that we could put down, sort of in the dark. I also told him I would radio him again when we were a couple of miles out so that they could light it up and he said OK. Dad was pretty cool because he did not even ask why, he accepted what I had said and said it would be sorted by the time we got there. After about an hour the pilot informed us that we were flying into a strong head wind and that we would probably only get there by eight, maybe eight thirty so we got onto the radio again and let Dad know. He said

“Want the kettle on or do you guys need some beers?”

I automatically said beers and did not get any argument from either Margy or the pilot, in fact saw a slight nod from Clive the pilot and a broad grin. We lapsed into silence and our own thoughts.

We had been flying for quite a while and I was still tired from the day. I was just nodding off when Clive said

“Manne in about fifteen minutes guys.”

Both Margy and I sat up straighter and I fumbled for the radio. Clive pulled the mike off its holder and handed it to me.

“Manne this is Sierra Tango Zulu, come in.”

“Manne here, we got you.”

“Dad our ETA is about ten minutes from now and you might even be able to hear us by now. Light it up so we can zero in on the lights. Also, can you make up some lights that can show the wind direction, thanks.”

“Will do, out.”

About a minute later we saw lights coming on in the distance, we were almost home. As we flew over the flat spot we saw the lights were from about 10 trucks parked along the perimeter and some of our portable lights strung out over the whole length of the flat spot and just off to the side was an arrow made up of torches or something but at least we then knew the wind direction. Clive banked just past the end of the runway, made a quick decent and planted the twin-engine Cessna down and quickly came to a halt. We saw Dad showing us where to park and within a few minutes we were getting out, stretching and saying Hi to almost everyone from Manne including my three compadres, Brinn, Helah and Brigitte. Mom said nothing as she threw her arms around my neck with worry all over her face. Dad just said

“Thanks everybody. Guys there are beers inside, let’s go.”

He shook Margy and Clive’s hand and ushered them into the Landy and drove the 100 yards to the back of the hotel as the rest of us brought up the rear yakking and laughing. This was quite a night for all, plus a first night landing at Manne. If this type of thing was going to continue, we would probably need some proper runway lights.

Chapter 9

Leaving everybody in the lounge and the pub and going into the office I formally introduced Margy to Mom and Dad and quickly explained the reason for us coming back, leaving out the part where I got drugged. Didn’t think Mom or Dad would have been too pleased. Mom sat with big eyes as the story unfolded but Dad was being, well just Dad and took it in his stride.

“We are going to have to come up with a story pretty quickly about why you guys are here and why the late landing, something that is going to sound feasible. Got any ideas?”

“Yup I sort of worked through this one out on the flight back Dad. The so-called official reason for us being here would be for Margy to get to meet some of the Chiefs to compile information from them that has something to do with the Chiefs and the Government of South Africa, sort of Government stuff. The reason for the late flight is we were flying to Gabs anyway and had decided to come here first. We had changed our flight plans, flew into some very strong head winds, which was the case anyway. Do you think that will float?”

“Yup I think that will work, I’ll just say it is not for us to know and as you say it is Government stuff and just leave it at that, no one will argue or ask anyway.”

We all agreed and went out to the rather rowdy party that was in full swing. Brigitte cornered me and asked why I was back and I gave her the official version but could see she did not buy it. Then I said I was asked to help out because of my whispers, she nodded.

“You could have just told me that you Wally.”

I laughed and pulled her into the passage and kissed her. She pulled away slightly and said

“What about your girlfriend in there?” obviously meaning Margy.

I just looked long and hard into her eyes and said

“She is good looking but you know as well as I do, there is only one girl, sorry, woman that does it for me and that is you.”

I then pulled her close and kissed her again, this time with her snuggling up real close.

“Only one problem though Briggs, we got to get going early tomorrow morning so might not see you for a day or two and then I’m going back to South Africa to finish my holiday and you I take it are still busy huh?”

She said nothing and pulled me closer mumbling

“Well tonight is mine OK.”

For sure I was not going to argue with that one. This was going to be Briggs night tomorrow was another day.

We left early the next morning about 6am using my Ford F150 which was good because it put me at ease and this was what was needed. Margy had brought a special radio to keep in contact with Morgan. We had also packed some supplies and an old 6 x 6 army tent which gave us lots of space to move around. I also took my trusty old Lee Enfield .303, my Colt 45 and just to be sure, my crossbow which I had made myself and which worked extremely well, plus my fishing rod. Margy smiled at my toys and said laughingly

“You expecting a war or something?”

Me, I just smiled and nodded

“Never can be too careful in the bush and the crossbow is for food. Why waste a bullet and scare everything for a few square miles around you? Also lets anyone in the area know where you are.”

I had already decided to drive down to the Matlapeneng low level bridge where the fishing was brilliant, the game plentiful and there was an area with a lot of Marula trees and there was a spot there where we had always camped – my ultimate comfort spot.

By lunchtime we were not only there but had unpacked and set up the tent which had been fun with just the two of us but we had got it done. I was still putting the ground sheet into the tent when I heard Margy on the radio letting Morgan know where we were and that I would hopefully be getting to it soon. I straighten out the ground sheet and tied up the ends to the poles about a foot and a half above the floor to keep the scorpions and other small critters out. By this time Margy was watching me and surprised me when she said

“You sure know your way around a camp site Doggs.”

I laughed at her

“You learn my nickname from one of my traitor buddies huh?”

She giggled and blushed at the same time, something I did not think she was capable of, knowing who she was and what she was, that picture did not gel.

“So, Miss M, who was the blighter that told you?”

Again, she giggled and preening, mockingly said.

“It was not one of the young men of the group sir but the lady Briggs sir.”

This time she laughed and it came as a surprise, she had this beautiful deep timbered laugh that came from way inside her, it was like music to me. I had never heard anyone laugh like that and it stirred something inside me. I immediately felt guilty and thought of Brigitte, she was my girl but this woman intrigued me so say the least.

After a light lunch which had been packed for us by Mama Africa, Margy and I went over the information we had about the ‘case’ but this time she had pulled out photographs of the scene where the kidnapping had taken place and some shots of the two dead policemen. Again, the sight of that and what I knew of the two policemen got me going again. I abruptly stood up and walked down to the river my mind spinning and then it happened. At first, I could not believe what was happening because the images in my head were so clear it was like watching a movie. I think Margy must have seen my agitation because the next minute she was standing next to me holding a cassette recorder towards me.

“It was two young white guys, one with a short beard, both with short brown hair driving that same Ford that nearly took me out yesterday and another vehicle. It was a car that I have never seen before with another two guys. One was an older white guy with greyish hair and an Indian man of about 40 or so.”

I let my mind drift so that I could take in what was there

“The number plate of the car is”

I thought for a few seconds, Margy’s eyes widening

“T, um J, 588 and the last number is either a 5 or a six. Aagh, damn I’m not sure of that last number.”

“It does not matter Doggan because we can check both and if it is an unusual make of car, we will still be able to find out who it belongs to and make the necessary arrangement s to have them followed. I’m going to send this info to Morgan right now and let them get onto it quickly.”

Turning she ran to the tent, where by now she had set up the radio and contacted Morgan. She walked slowly back down to me

“Morgan says he will get his people onto it right away but let me know that they had received a note from the kidnappers and that one, no discussions were to take place with Kaunda, so we were right about that and the second thing they wanted was two million Rand, so now we know it is a right wing group”

As she said that I knew she was wrong but needed to think about it.

“It is not a right-wing group Margy but just give me some time to figure it out OK? Let me walk with this one again.”

As I walked along a higher part of the river embankment with my mind in neutral and just taking in the quiet and the feeling of the sun on my back, I spotted a movement on the other side of the river and stopped. A small herd, otherwise known as a dazzle of Zebra was coming down to drink with a few frisky foals in amongst them. As I watched two foals decided to have a short race along the river bank. At the same time, I felt a slight breeze pick up and just as it had happened a while back the whispers came back with a rush. I could see a horse race which slowly morphed into a building with people playing on machines and money being thrown around and then just as quickly it was gone. I stood there trying to figure out what the heck I’d just seen even though I was still standing on the side of the Thamalakane River. This one sort of threw me because of the multiple things I’d seen. I walked back to the camp site and I think Margy could see something was bugging me.

I told her what I had seen, saying

“I really don’t know what the hell I saw there but it was short, sharp and to the point. It’s never comes to me like that, it had nothing to do with the kidnapping at all or maybe it did. I just got to figure it out that’s all.”

Margy had already turned the radio back on and was reaching for the mike when I said

“What’s up, why are you contacting Morgan, I’ve still got to figure this one out.”

She just looked at me and asked

“Have you ever been in a casino?”

“No, but what has that got to do with any of this?”

She shook her head slowly and her eyes almost glazed over

“Horse racing which morphed into a building, machines being played, lots of money. It has got to do with gambling Doggs, the buildings you saw represents a casino and I already know who the culprits are of the kidnapping. We have had these guys on our radar for some time now. The older man with the grey hair is Pete Dempers and the Indian guy is Batchwa Nerdeth Moonsami and they are into all sorts of illegal gambling and have been pushing for the Government to legalize casinos in South Africa for quite a while now. With the kidnapping they are trying to muscle the President into pushing it through quickly.”

The radio squawked and brought us back to reality. She leaned over and kissed me on the lips then turned back to the radio.

Chapter 10

I don’t think I heard what she said to Morgan as my mind was all upside down. That kiss had stuck a spoke in my wheel of reasoning and I was feeling hot and flushed. Talk about being side swiped. I felt as though a ten-ton truck had just hit me and the stupid part of it was, I had a huge smile on my face. I got up and started to walk towards the river when my reasoning came back in a hurry. Something was not right. I stood quite still and slowly looked around and saw a large male lion standing about 30 yards from me and just behind him a young female. Fortunately, the male let out a deep rumbling cough and then heard from somewhere behind me someone rack a hand gun and the next instant a shot was fired between me and the lions. They both turned and disappeared in an instant leaving behind a small dust cloud of where they had just been standing. I turned to see Margy white as a sheet with a handgun, her hands were trembling.

“Damn, I’ve shot at bad guys but this is a first...” she mumbled “I nearly had a heart attack, thought you were lion lunch.”

She had just managed to say this with a small nervous smile, holding it together. I walked over to her to say thanks and the next minute she was hanging onto me as though her life depended on it.

“I was so scared that I was going to lose..” her voice trailed off and she just hung on to me, tears running down her face. I slowly picked her up and walked back into the tent.

Later we were sitting around the fire I had built waiting for some decent coals so as to start the braai (BBQ). I had some thick Impala steaks that Mama Africa had packed this morning before we had left, loved her for that one. I scratched some of the bigger coals off to one side and put the small three legged pot onto them and quickly poured some water into it and added the maize meal. I was going to feed Margy with some standard Botswana bush fare, Putu and Nama (Stiff maize meal porridge and meat). It was about 8pm and the moon had just risen and the whole area was bathed in a soft glow. Our beers were cold and the meat and putu was tasty and I for one was enjoying the company and the relative bush silence. When one stopped talking here, there were no intrusive sounds except for normal bush sounds. It was magical and very different from the towns and cities constant hubbub and noise. We had been quiet for a few minutes just taking in the sight and the sounds when we were startled when the radio crackled into life. It was Morgan. They had found Mrs Vorster and arrested about 12 people including Dempers and Moonsami. Everything had gone off like clockwork and it had been done very quickly and efficiently. Morgan and all parties concerned had sent their congratulations on a job well done.

Margy took a gap and had asked Morgan if she could stay a day or two longer and was promptly told to take a few days off. He also told her to contact him again when we needed to fly back, said he would send Clive again to pick us up. We had to get back to Pretoria by Friday as the President and his wife had invited us to dinner. Well, we still had five days before we flew back and that suited me just fine.

We stayed at Matlapeneng for the next two days just lazing around, fishing and watching the herds of buffalo, elephant, zebra to huge herds of impala with the occasional lion, hyena and the one night a young leopard that just sauntered past our camp within the lighted area with not a care in the world. That was really special as they were usually very careful of man. Needless to say I was not looking forward to leaving but we decided to go back to Manne for the last two days before we left.

It was about 3pm as we drove up and noticed three Chevy trucks parked at the flat spot with a few hard looking guys sitting and standing around. Dad was also there with Don and I could see lots of arms waving around and it looked like these people were getting agitated so pulled in behind the fuel depot and got out. As I walked towards them I saw one of the guys take a swing at Don and the rest of them jump up and advance on Dad. I sprinted the last few yards and confronted two of them just as they got to Dad and Don.

“Back off guys, right now” and set my legs.

The big guy closest to me started a round house swing at me but never got anywhere close. I stepped into him and slipped a straight hand jab to his throat and he went down. At the same time started a small step to the right to get closer to the other guy and kicked him in the stomach with a short front kick, he folded in half and lost interest in the proceedings. I turned to see if I was needed and there was nobody else standing except Dad and Don. Boy they had cleared the other guys quickly and efficiently.

“OK, Dad what the hell is going on?”

As I said this Margy walked up to me, shaking her head.

“Well, these bozos thought they were going to stop the Dak from WENELA landing because of some dispute they have with them. Don and I were just letting it be known, that was not going to happen today. Let us call it a slight difference of opinion.”

Margy was still standing there looking at me when Don said

“Hey Doggs, was that the first time you have used what I taught you?”

“Yeah, not too shabby huh?”

“Nah, not half bad but you could have just stepped a bit further towards the second guy and used your elbow on him.”

“I’m saving my elbows for another day Don and hey you old guys were not too shabby yourselves, took a while though, slowing down a bit?”

I ducked a swing from Dad who was chuckling. Don shoved me in the back and said something about the youth of today and Margy chipped in saying all this testosterone had made her hungry but still looked at me with new eyes. “So, what are we going to do with this lot Dad?”

Don spoke up

“Colon and the boys will be here shortly to keep an eye on them. He has already contacted the police and they should be here within a few hours. They are coming up from Maun. They are going to take these guys in because they have already caused mega trouble in Gabs and Francistown and are going to put this thing to bed before someone gets hurt. Thanks for the help Doggs that was pretty neat.”

Chapter 11

As we walked into the hotel, Briggs and Brinn were walking past the window chatting up a storm and laughing about something. As they walked in and saw me both stopped laughing, then Brinn said

“Thought you guys were going to be away for longer, when you get in?”

“Just got in.”

Briggs was looking sheepish and said she needed to use the loo. She turned at the door

“Need to chat with you later if you got some time, OK?”

“Cool, see you later then.”

As Brinn walked to the pub I turned to Mama Africa and asked what was for lunch.

“Just for you and the lady, we have the Bream with chips, is OK?”

“Hey Mama, that is good and some extra chips please.”

She smiled and nodded. I walked over to the pub where Brinn was standing with Don and Margy. “You guys going to have lunch?”

Don answered

“We have all eaten, it’s almost suppertime boyo, you and Margy go eat.”

I ordered two beers for us and took them into the dining room. Margy walked in and sat down. She was looking at the river and asked

“Has there been a rise in the river level since we were last here?”

“Yes, it looks like it. I wonder if there has been rain in South West Africa or Angola, the Okavango River comes down from that side. I’ll ask Dad later. Grubs up.”

I had seen Mama Africa come through the bat wing doors bringing us our bream.

“Thanks Mama, looks good.”

She left us with two plates of food that could have fed half the Botswana police force, two big portions of bream and lots of extra chips. I was hungry.

Everyone from Manne was sitting round the pub and lounge playing darts, table tennis and Scrabble with Don and Budge arm wrestling with comments flying in from all corners.

“Just remember what happens when you are forcing Budgie.”

Dad’s comment went over well and getting a good laugh except for Mom who glared at him mockingly

“You Mr Rath need to learn some manners.”

That brought down the house even more with everyone then getting involved. Hezi burst into the lounge from the kitchen shouting.

“River Rat, has taken Miss Briggs come quick.”

Everything went quiet for about 2 seconds then everyone exploded out of their chairs. Chairs and tables went crashing as we all dived for the front door and ran down to the river. We could faintly make out an engine going upstream and realised there was nothing we could do right then as it would not have helped, we would have been going in blind even if we had spotlights. This was something for first light. Mom was pacifying Heather Palmer when we got back. Dave, Briggs Dad was away either in Rhodesia or Zambia on business.

Everyone looked my way but I was already in dolally land and my face must have given it away because the next moment an expectant quiet came over the Eden Hotel. I was aware of nothing as my whispers did their thing with me and what I saw was not comforting to say the least.

“We got major hassles guys. Not only has the Rat got Briggs but the river is going to be coming down in flood, a big one. We got about 36 hours max to do what we need to do and get the hell off of the river.”

“Got an idea of where his base is, that’s IF he has one?”

I shook my head and could see the strain on Dad’s face as he asked that and total panic in Heather’s eyes and the fierce determination in everybody else’s. Feelan stepped up

“I’ll go and fuel up now. Don, Brinn, Hezi come give me a hand. I’ll get up there at first light. You can do the guiding thing from the boats Doggs.”

Dad called to Hezi as they started out the door

“Hezi get the double spots out to the fuel station, they going to need lots of light.”

Talk about controlled pandemonium. We all shot out of the lounge on our way to prepare for the next morning. Margy blocked my path

“Who or what is the River Rat? Is it as bad as it sounds?”

“River Rat is a white guy who has been living in the swamps for the past 10 to 15 years, nobody knows for sure. He is sort of a pirate and lives off the land and is as mad as the proverbial hatter and is dangerous. How dangerous we don’t know but has shot at some people on a few occasions, never hit anyone but close enough to scare them away.”

I saw Margy shake her head and walk off to her room.

There was no way Feelan was going anywhere the next morning, not until later maybe. It was 5.30 and it was still dark and to add to the darkness the rain was lashing down in a huge thunderstorm with some pretty lousy winds with it. A decision was taken that we would not leave until there was some light on the subject because the Thamalakane was not a river to go play in if the weather was against you and you could not see what was coming your way. Fortunately, we had not pulled the boats out of the shed the night before or they would have been full of rainwater. We started packing in a few supplies and needed goodies, like a first aid kit, a few flares, some food, tent, two pangas and needless to say weapons. Josh’s two long boats and our one were packed and ready to go and looked like the first offensive vessels of Dunkirk. All we would have needed to confirm that, would have been a twenty five pound artillery piece, some shells plus everything painted in camouflage.

We all trooped back to the hotel for some quick breakfast which was hot oats porridge and spoonfuls of sugar and honey. We were going to need all the energy we could get for this and maybe for a few more days, so now we ate. A while later Hezi came in and said that we could start as there was enough light to see the water for about a hundred yards up river. As we all walked back to the sheds Margy came out dressed like a ninja, all in a black outfit which she told me was a waterproof outfit.

“Margs you don’t have to come, this is not your fight and not what you are used to, don’t get me wrong, it’s...”

I did not get much further

“Yeah I know Doggs but you stuck your neck out for us and we had drugged you, remember? Might not be my fight but I’m coming with you OK?”

Then I saw a slight smile on her face

“You never know when there might be a lion around........ anyway I’m not letting you out of my sight while I am here. Just found you and yeah I know about you and Briggs but...... well you know.”

I just nodded. Felt damn good though but then remembered what all this was about. We walked down to the shed as Hezi and the guys were pulling the boats clear. I saw that Hezi had rigged some tarpaulins to cover the boats as much as possible to keep the rain out and that was going to be a bonus. Today was going to be wet, miserable and not good at all. Damn I loved the rain but not today.

It was getting lighter and the rain was letting up so was not as miserable as it had been an hour before. We got a call from Feelan saying he should be up in about half an hour to an hour’s time. We told him not to take any chances as we did not want this to turn into a double rescue. He had chuckled and said OK but would contact us when he was up. He was going to take his bushman friend as a spotter and that was good. Xua was not scared of flying and was one of the better scouts in the area so would see things he would not. This was all good.

About an hour later Feelan came through again and said they were airborne and it looked like it was clearing up. That was also good news. It was bad enough trying to find two people in hundreds of miles of water ways, papyrus and small islands without having to contend with rain and storms. Just prayed that the flood waters held off for the day but I think I was daydreaming. The water had already started to surge slightly so we knew this was going to be tight. I sat at the front of the boat trying to get my whispers going but nothing was coming to me so after about another half hour I yelled to Dad to pull over to one of the small islands, which he did. The others saw us turning in and followed suit. Feelan had just radioed in to say he was going back to the flat spot again to fuel up and would let us know when he was back in the area.

We were close to midday so Dad broke out some of the pre-packed sandwiches and a big flask of coffee. I took a walk to where I could not hear them and just looked out over the water. One could see the water was rising literally minute by minute and getting stronger and I stared into the distance and thought about Briggs. I felt the breeze and then the whispers came. I don’t know how long I stood there but it felt like a few seconds. I started to walk back to where they were all sitting looking at me and Dad said

“Damn son, that took a while.”

“It did? Only felt like about a minute for me but I know where they are.

Dad got hold of Feelan on the radio then handed the mike to me.

“Feelan, they are still on the move and they are going up the offshoot up towards the Nokaneng area. Remember where Bobby Wilmot shot that big croc that had taken a few of the locals? That is almost where they are now. What I want you to do is fly closer to the Nokaneng side of them and then fly patterns getting closer to where they are so he will either stop and hide up or move back closer to us. That will give us some time to catch up. We don’t want to spook him into doing something stupid. Can you do that and how long can you stay up there?”

“Can stay up for about another hour and a half before I have to go back to refuel. Should be in front of him within 15 to 20 minutes so you guys had better get a wiggle on Doggs.”

“Thanks Feelan, will do. Let us know if there are any developments, good or bad, over and out.”

We had left the island in a hurry and as I gave instructions of where to go the sun came out. Man, it was good to see the sun again and with the wind from our speed we would start to dry out quickly and we needed that about now. We came to an open patch where the papyrus thinned out and the river showed itself. It was starting to flow quite strongly and was starting to get dirty which meant it was flowing strongly beneath the surface which was not good as that would start to loosen up the papyrus clumps which could slow us down. Then we heard a strong motor but not an outboard, more like an aircraft motor of some sort. Then out of the papyrus shot a swamp boat which saw us and slewed around and headed for us. There were two guys on it and as they came up to us Dad called over.

“Hi you two scaly wags, what you doing in that thing so far up here? These two are Pete and Bryan Holding from Shell guys, say Hi.”

We all mutter our Hi’s.

“We got a message from Feelan when he flew over us a while back to say you needed some help with a little problem, what’s up?”

After some quick explanations the brothers said that we should take the swamp boat but Dad said that we did not have the necessary skill to pilot it. Pete, who had been in the driving seat then said that two of us should go with him and Bryan could come up on our boat and meet up with us later. We were in radio contact so that was what we did. Man oh man, that thing was fast and went over the papyrus patches in long leaps which would have been fun had it not been for the seriousness of what we were trying to do. We were almost in range when there was a particular strong surge of water and we could see some of the papyrus islands starting to tear up their roots and start drifting, this was getting serious now because if anyone went into the water now it was tickets for them and their body would never be found what with the crocs and other critters in the water and surrounds.

We saw Feelan’s plane flying circles around an area and realised something had happened. Pete opened up the motor and we really started flying. Within 2 minutes we were more or less under the spot where Feelan was circling. We saw him fly over and point to a small island up ahead and show us that River Rat had a rifle. I grabbed the mike off the radio and called him up but just got static.

“Damn his radio must be out but maybe he can hear us. Feelan waggle your wings if you can hear me.”

We saw him waggle his wings.

“Fantastic, OK, Feelan fly away and come back at the island from the other side and fly directly towards us and see if you can make that puddle jumper of yours really make a racket. We need to hide the noise of the swamp boat OK.”

He waggled his wings and started turning past the island. We then saw him turn and start flying at the island dropping down to almost water level. We heard the Piper really start to howl as he opened her up. Pete accelerated the swamp boat and rode up the back of the island and over some papyrus in the middle. By this time I had my Colt 45 out and as we came out of the reeds we saw Briggs tied to a stump and the Rat facing towards Feelan’s plane still coming at him. He raised his rifle and took a shot at the plane then realised there was more of a racket coming from behind him. He whirled round lifting the rifle at the same time. As the rifle got to his shoulder I shot for his legs and he went down. Pete stopped the motor and almost immediately the swamp boat came to a shuddering halt. I was off the boat and at the Rat before he could right himself. My bullet had taken him in the top of the thigh and he was bleeding badly. I kicked the rifle away from him and turned towards Briggs. Dad had already started to untie her. She fell into Dad’s arms crying. We knew then everything was going to be OK.

By the time the other boats got there the water had almost covered the whole island and Feelan had left and flown back to Manne. Mom and everybody had already been told that Briggs was safe and Heather had said a few words to Briggs and was then in tears. While we had waited for the rest of the gang to get there, Pete and I had stopped the bleeding from the Rat and bandaged him up as best we could with what we had in the first aid kit. The wound was not too bad but would need stitches. We loaded everyone onto the three boats. Pete and Bryan decided to go with us as the water had started to get really fierce. We went as fast as we could and made good time but by the time we got back to Manne it had been dark for about an hour and we had been using spotlights to show were the river was running and where the banks were. As we came up to Manne everybody was there to help us from the boats and to pull them from the water to much higher ground.

The police had a medic and a vehicle standing by to take the Rat off our hands and transport him to Maun where there was a small hospital and enough policemen to guard him through the night. By the time the guys all got back into the hotel, Briggs and her Mom had been put into one of our rooms with a bathroom and Mama had taken them something to eat. We would see them the next day. We trooped up to the pub and a good bottle of Whiskey was taken down from the shelf. When I saw it was Dad’s special bottle of ten year old Dewars I knew we had hit the jackpot. Needless to say, that bottle did not last too long and a few other bottles disappeared in the next few hours with plate loads of Boerie (Boerewors – spicy sausage), pap and a gravy of onions and grated biltong (jerky). A little before the bewitching hour we all went our separate ways to get some needed sleep. Well, most of us did, Margy slipped into my room and we hit the shower.

Chapter 12

Margy and I missed our dinner date with the President of South Africa but with our explanation to Morgan about the rescue of Briggs and the fact I had shot someone which needed to be investigated by the police he said he understood. He had then come back and told us the President and Mrs Vorster understood and with congratulations from all for the rescue. Margy had spoken to Morgan about staying longer and had then taken her annual leave so would be staying for a further three weeks. Needless to say, I cancelled the rest of my holiday in South African. No guessing why?

The next morning most of us were having breakfast when Heather and Briggs came into the dining room. We all got up and clustered around Briggs and were met with a huge smile from both of them. After about two minutes Mom shooed us away and gave them some breakfast. Briggs showed me with a slight hand signal she wanted to speak to me after breakfast and I nodded. Margy watched this exchange and I could see doubt come up in her eyes.

I just whispered “We are OK, just need to speak to her and that’s all.”

She smiled and saw her mouth OK.

When I saw Briggs finish her breakfast, I got up walked out the front door and started making my way towards the stump. I was almost there when I heard her call for me to slow up, which I did and turned round. At the front of the hotel, I saw Brinn standing watching us and suddenly realised what was going on. Briggs walked up slowly.

“Hey Doggs, did not get a chance to say thanks for yesterday.......” her voice trailed off “I was so scared but knew you would find me” she looked down “I wanted to speak to you the night before about something that has happened” her voice going quiet.

“Yeah, I know and it’s OK. You love him?”

She was taken aback “How did you know? I only realised what I was feeling after you left for Matlapeneng with Margy. I thought I was going to be jealous because we had, well sort of being getting on so well but I was OK with it.”

She paused with her face all emotions “And I was OK with it Doggs. I could not figure out why but when Brinn tried to pacify me by saying everything would be fine, it actually hit me that my feelings for him were stronger than I knew. I’m so sorry Doggs.”

I laughed quietly and ruffled her head then gave her a hug while showing Brinn to come to us. He walked over not too sure of what was going on.

As Brinn came up to us I kept a hold on her and said “Group hug you big dummy, it’s OK and I’m cool with it.”

“Man, I thought you were going to kill me Doggs and I did not want to mess with our friendship, neither of us wanted that, you know what I mean?”

Breaking up the huddle and leaving them holding onto one another, I stepped back shaking my head

“You guys are not going to get rid of me that easily, we are and always will be the ‘Fearsome Foursome’ OK? Helah might be away at varsity but he will be back right. Damn right.”

I could see relief show on both their faces then softly Briggs asked me the question I knew was coming

“You and Margy?”

I looked at both of them and shook my head.

“I don’t know one hundred percent for sure but we like one another big time. She is staying on for another three weeks and I’m sure we will know by the end of her holiday, one way or another.”

Just before lunch Dad got a call from Clive Wells the Chief of police stationed at Maun with some surprising developments as regards the River Rat. Once they got him to Maun, they had taken him directly to the small hospital, stitched up his wound, shaved him and cleaned him up before admitting him to one of the wards under guard. This morning they had gone through to question him and found out he was a British subject but he would not or could not give them his name. There was a party of four from the High Commissioners office in Maun at the time and they were asked to come in to see him and to maybe start trying to find out who he was. As they walked into the room one of them said that he knew who the River Rat was, he was Edgar Blane Fitzimmonds the son of a wealthy tycoon or something from England. He had been missing for over twelve years and his father had spent a lot of money and time trying to find him. There was even a print from a photograph of him at the High Commissioners office in Gabs. His father had died two years ago and had left his entire estate to him, which was being handled by his mother until he was either found or declared incompetent or dead.

There was one more bit of news which possibly explained everything about River Rats behaviour over the last couple of years. He had a growth on the back of his skull that the doctor said could be the cause of his instability but only an operation could determine that and they needed to contact his mother to find our if she knew about it and what the possible cause was. Briggs said she would wait for all this to happen before she laid a charge as he had been kind to her except for him tying her up. A call had gone out to find Mrs Fitzimmonds which they did and she was on her way.

Chapter 13

Margy and I spent the following eight days driving around in the bush, camping and taking in the wildlife. We could not do any fishing as the flood waters were still strong and probably would be for the next two to three weeks. Not that it mattered too much as this was what living was all about, the peace and quiet, fresh air and beautiful nights. We kept in contact with my folks so that the minute any news came in, we would know about it. Then the call came, we were needed back at the hotel. Mrs Fitzimmonds was coming to see us and would be there the following evening. Feelan was flying her in from Maun.

We were about a five hour drive from the hotel, give or take an hour or so, so decided to stay out one more night and leave the next morning after an early breakfast. I had built a decent sized fire early and after eating the two of us had sat back with some wine and were chatting and finding out more about one another when I heard a high penny whistle note and someone saying something. Without even thinking I started laughing and waved my arm to show whoever they were, they could come on in knowing they would be small people. I was right because Xi and his small band of bushmen came in slowly, shuffling only as they could. From the look in Margy’s eyes I could see she was very uneasy until I told her they were friends. I had remembered the penny whistle from the show ground in Maun. Xi made a huge fuss over me and had to tell the lady with me exactly what he had said to me in Maun those many years back, this all through the translator. I could see the wonderment in Margy’s eyes. She looked at me sideways with a smile on her face.

“So, I’m with the special one, am I?”

Now it was my turn to smile, I just shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes.

I was surprised to see the translator who I knew was also a bushman but now he was dressed as they were in loin cloths. They were carrying meat wrapped in skins which he said was a big Kudu bull they had just taken down. It had happened late and as they were getting ready to pitch camp, they saw our fire about a mile away, so came over. They asked if they could use the fire to cook some meat which I said was OK. They settled in around the fire and as they were cooking and eating, they danced and were thanking the spirit of the Kudu for having given his life so that they could eat and go on living, this being translated for us. They had already done this when they had cut him up but now, they were doing it properly. The translator had again done all the explaining of what was happening and then shortly after eating they had stopped dancing, rolled up where they were sitting and were asleep in no time. I had heard about this but was still surprised and Margy, she was totally taken aback and in awe, then I saw tears in her eyes.

“That was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen....... Thanking the buck’s spirit for helping to keep them alive...” then she was silent.

We were sleeping in the caboose, this was Dad’s ‘special’ bush truck with a big covered canopy with the whole works built in. By the time we extricated ourselves at about seven the next morning the bushmen had already left but immediately saw the rolled skin with some meat hanging from the back of the truck high up, that was so no hyenas or anything else could get to it before we did. It was their thank you to us. I unrolled the skin and found about 10 pounds of the best cuts from the Kudu. They had honoured us, as this was their lifeblood and every pound of meat was worth a lot to them. These were decent, honest people and man I loved this part of the world and the people in it and I think I could see Margy falling in love with it too.

We had packed up and about six hours later, after fixing one puncture we had got back to Manne. We were just too late for lunch so Mama Africa made us some sandwiches with cold meats, some pickles and a bowl of salad. I had grabbed two beers from Dad and we sat on the veranda and enjoyed the food, sun and the view over the river. Mom came out and told us that Brinn and Briggs had gone up to Maun two days before for some sort of inquest into the River Rat saga which had now been resolved but did not know the details. We would no doubt find out when Mrs Fitzimmonds got here. We did not have to wait too long as we heard Feelan’s plane fly over the hotel, so we all took a walk up to the flat spot.

Mrs Fitzimmonds was an elegant lady and a total giggle. She was funny, quick on the uptake and a very down to earth person and I took to her immediately. She had been greeted by Mom and Dad and had asked for me. As I stepped up to her, I was wondering how she was going to react to me shooting her son.

“Doggan I have to thank you for shooting my son in the leg” she paused and started to laugh when she saw the surprised look on my face “and for not shooting him in the head or somewhere just as fatal. I totally understand the reason for you shooting him but I think you are going to be pleased that you did not kill him. You see they did the op on him three days ago which was successful. He came to properly yesterday afternoon and knew me but was totally confused as to where he was and what the hell was he still doing in Bechuanaland and where were the thugs that had tackled him in Francistown? It seems he has no recollection of where he has been for the last twelve years and that Bechuanaland is now Botswana and where he has lived in that time. That growth was from his injuries sustained in the attack on him. He is still weak and it will take a while for him to recuperate and the best news is, Brigitte Palmer is not going to lay any charges.”

That was good news. It had been the first time I had shot at any human being and the fact that I had not killed him was a bonus. Thinking about it gave me the cold shivers. We had come over the top of the reeds at a hell of a rate of knots and were bouncing all over the place and I had just loosed off a shot at his legs to put him off shooting us. I could have missed him completely or just as easily have shot him through the head and with a 45 would have been pretty final. The leg shot was a brilliant outcome for both of us, probably more so for him though. Anyway, I was sure that we were going to get a visit from him as soon as he was discharged and I looked forward to meeting him, as he was now, and not as the River Rat but it was going to be weird to say the least.

Mrs Fitzimmonds stayed for a few days and then got a call from Maun which informed her that her son needed to have some specialised post op treatment and was going to have to go to Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital in South Africa. She was told he was recovering well and that everything looked good but to make sure, he needed to go to Cape Town. She asked Dad if they could come back once he was discharged and he had given her an open door invite and said it would be a pleasure. He had said to her.

“You don’t need a golden invitation to come back Moira, you have an open door invite” then he chuckled and added “Just bring the cake and we will supply whatever we are drinking with it.”

She had smiled and given all a hug then turned to Feelan

“Would you be ever so kind as to fly me up to Maun Mr Roberts?”

“When do you want to leave? She is fuelled up and can leave now, say in half an hour. Will that give you time to pack?”

Moira Fitzimmonds nodded “Half an hour then.”

We all went to the flat spot to see her off.

Chapter 14

Feelan was back later that afternoon and told us that Moira and Edgar were leaving for South Africa the next morning and that she had chartered a Cessna twin from a company in South Africa. He said that Brinn and Briggs were also flying down with them and were going to spend a week or two touring the Cape and that Briggs needed the time to kick down a bit after the whole affair. This had been an invitation to them from Moira. For me that was good to hear as it showed no hard feelings from either side. Good for them.

We left the next morning to continue our own private viewing safari but this time with a request from Dad to bring back some impala meat for the hotel. They had loaded a deep freeze into the back of the Caboose which ran off the battery of the truck so would be an easy task. I would do the shooting on our way back so as not to disrupt our trip. Venison was a necessity for a bush hotel but was sure he would share with Colon. Those two always shared.

Margy and I had a total blast. I had started to teach her the intricacies of bushcraft, how to track spoor and then finally on our way back after shooting the needed impala, how to cut and skin them and also how to cut up the meat properly. This was Botswana and this was the way of the bush. After about a week we started to make our way back to Manne and nearing the hotel my whispers had started playing tag with me but were not letting me get the whole picture. I was about to find out why that was and it would make total sense that my whispers could not have told me even if they had wanted to.

As we pulled up to the hotel Dad came out with Hezi and Mama Africa to help us offload the impala meat and for Hezi to take the truck and clean it up. Mom smiled as we walked in and sitting behind her was Moira Fitzimmonds and another man who I instantly figured out was Edgar our River Rat because of the bandages on his head. They both stood up as Margy and I walked over.

“Doggan, Margy this is my son Edgar. Ed this is Margy and this is the man you must thank for not shooting you in the head, Doggan.” She smiled widely at her last remark.

As we closed up to shake hands, he just stepped closer and hugged me and then quickly pulled away (I suppose as men will always do) and simply said

“Thanks Doggan.”

You know how it is with us guys, no soppy stuff, no histrionics, no drama just straight forward ‘how’s your father’ then get on with it. I chuckled.

“No problem, my pleasure.”

Both of us packed up laughing at the formalities which was cut short as he started to chough. I think it was probably a nervous reaction or something. We ordered some tea and scones from Mama Arica and settled back to talk.

They had come here so that Ed could recuperate at the hotel and had booked in for two weeks with Moira asking if they could extend the time if needed. Obviously, there was no problem from Mom or Dad as Moira had insisted that they pay their way and would not take no for an answer. We came to realise quickly that Ed was a very bright guy with a quick mind. We played chess and cards and found him to be a better than average player giving us all major carrots by winning just about everything. Margy was the only one to take a few games off him but only a few. A day or two had ticked by when he had said he needed to speak to me privately. He had looked thoughtful and I wondered why.

He and I took a slow walk to the stump chairs and table with instructions to Mama Africa for two beers. I think his mother would have killed him if she knew he was taking a beer instead of tea but he said he needed one. We talked about our rescue of Briggs from him and that he was really impressed with the response that the whole village had shown. He said something about small communities always pulling together and then started to lay out something which again would change all our lives in a short space of time.

“I want to start something, I don’t know, maybe form a company or group that does rescues and finds people and” he looked thoughtful “and I want you and your friends to be part of it but would need you to lead it. I would supply the resources, back up and financing, you know, supply everything you would need to do the job.”

He paused to see my reactions.

“That sounds pretty terrific but how is it going to work? We don’t have people going missing all the time in Botswana and what would we do in between jobs?”

He looked at me and said

“Doggan, this would be an International thing. I would want this to work anywhere in the world. You do know that the businesses I have inherited from my father are in the telecommunications and the media field and we work all over the world. From the little I have heard so far, the media side is always getting in stories of people going missing, from children to wives and husbands, from leaders of industry, to you name it” he paused “With your special ah ‘insights’ into these types of things we could possibly be very effective and from time to time depending on who was missing, pretty profitable.”

I thought about what he had said then came up with the crux of the matter

“You do know of course that my ‘bush whispers’ cannot just be turned on and off and they basically only work here in the bush, well properly that is, that I know of.”

He looked at me with a hint of a smile creeping into his eyes

“Yes, I have heard that from Margy....... very nice lady that and you are a lucky man” he chuckled and added “I have thought about this for a while now, obviously I don’t have all the answers as yet but would like to test something out. I have been following one of our media feeds since I have been here and there is a particular person who has gone missing, happened two days ago. One Rodney Marsh, a distant friend of mine. He had been travelling in Europe and got to Germany and has just well, disappeared. I would like you to go to Germany. We will fly you there on our company aircraft and take Margy with you so that she can do the messaging and supply back up. I will arrange for someone to meet with you in Germany, give you all the information that they have, sort of bring you up to speed, show you photos, take you to the last place he was seen and…” He looked thoughtful again “take you into one of the forest areas and see what happens with your whispers. What do you think?” he looked expectantly at me.

“I suppose we can only try but I can’t guarantee that anything will happen. You want to spend that sort of money just to find out?”

He nodded then finished the last of his beer “Cheers lad.”

Chapter 15

I had collected as much information from Edgar while we were setting up our flights, hotels, car hire and finances. Margy was taken aback by Ed’s offer and had contacted Morgan to let him know what was going on. He thought it was a brilliant idea and he would cover for her if needed. I grabbed a beer and took a walk to the stump. As I sat in the shade sipping on my beer, I allowed my thoughts to wander thinking about Rodney Marsh and felt the breeze come up and knew my whispers were going to do their thing. I saw a forest with a very high mountain in the background and then nothing. That was it. Then again, I had no connection to Rodney Marsh and no feelings to go on. I rectified that by going to see Ed.

I told him about the forest and the big mountain and the lights went on in his eyes.

“It’s the Lemberg mountain range, it’s near where he was staying in Rottweil, he loved that area. This is in the lower South West of Germany. I think I must fill you in on who he is and what he is, well as much as I know that is and about his family and let’s see where that takes you.”

We went over as much information as he had and I then took the walk to the stump again. This time I just sat and really let my mind wander and it came to me slowly. He had been injured in a fall while walking in the mountains and could see the cottage he was in but nothing else. A day later Margy and I were on our way to Johannesburg in a charted Cessna twin and then onto Germany in Ed’s company Boeing B737 – 100. We got to Stuttgart very early the next day.

Rolff Schmidt our contact met us the airport and fortunately spoke good English. As we walked out, we found ourselves in a heavy mist.

“I have a Hughes 500 helicopter and we will leave as soon as the mist lifts but until then, we go have coffee, good?”

We both nodded and Margy asked where the loo was so as to go neaten up and do what women do. Both Rolff and I laughed as I teased her. What she whispered to me would have made a seaman blush so I gave her the hairy eyeball. She twittered and as she walked away, she exaggerated the swing of her hips and saw the look on Rolff’s face. He rattled something off in German then realising I was standing there looking at him with amusement

“That is one hell of a woman Mr Rath if you don’t mind me saying so?”

I was smiling when I answered him

“Rolff, it’s Doggan not Mr Rath, that’s my father and yes she is one hell of a woman and then some.” I paused “Oh and by the way, this is going to be my first flight in a helicopter.”

He smiled and assured me I would enjoy the experience.

We were ready to lift off about an hour later after telling him in detail where we were going, the area around the bottom of the Lemberg Mountains and about the isolated cottage we were going to be looking for and who we were looking for. He had put in a flight plan and as we lifted off, he said it would be a flight of about a half hour as the area we were flying to was about 80 kilometres from Stuttgart. As we got some height, we came up just over what remained of the mist and with the sun coming up, the sight below was absolutely stunning. The flight to the Lemberg was way too quick but we still had some flying to do to find that cottage and then the flight back and I was looking forward to our time in the air. This was something I needed to do, learn to fly choppers and different aircraft. My resolve was set to do just that when we returned to Botswana.

When we got there, we immediately started flying grid patterns starting from a marked out point just North of the Lemberg and flew down South just past the mountain then turned and flew back 200 metres closer to the mountain. On our fourth pass we had just crested a ridge and I saw what had seen in my whispers.

“It’s here, we are somewhere close” and saw a sceptical look on Rolff’s face. Then as we went over another small ridge there was a cottage and there was a man standing in front of it waving like mad. Rolff did a slow turn and came in over an open field just in front of the house and set the Hughes down.

The old man came hobbling over to the helicopter as we were getting ourselves out. He indicated to the house and was rattling away when Rolff asked him something and all I understood was along the lines of ‘Ja is goodt’ then he turned and said

“He is here, the old man found him just off the ridge and thinks he might have fallen from the path that goes up the ridge. He came around about five hours after he got him here but he must be concussed or something as the old man says he is not talking but at least has eaten and has had some water.”

We walked as quickly as the old man could towards the cottage and allowed him to open up for us. As we entered it was like going back about a century as everything looked about that old and very well used. It was neat and tidy though and as we went through to another section of the old house, we saw Rodney Marsh lying on a large cot with bandages around his head.

After getting Rodney into the helicopter, we left Heinz Zeitsmann, the old man with about 100 Deutsche Mark which he insisted was not necessary but we had said it was to cover what Rodney had cost him in food and care. He thanked us then stood back as we took off. We flew to Rottweil and found a landing spot and set down. It did not take too long before some policemen approached us and we left the talking to Rolff. One of the policemen ran off down to the police station and returned a short while later carrying a backpack with a woman walking with him. It turned out the woman owned a small guest house where Rodney had been staying and when he had not returned after two days had reported that he had not come back and handed in his backpack to the police. There had been a search of sorts but nobody was sure where he had gone to and they were not sure he was in fact missing.

Rodney owed about 15 Deutsche Mark which we paid and thanked her. We arranged for the police to take his hired vehicle back to the hire company then took off for the nearest hospital that could do some checks on him and that was the US army hospital based at the Panzer Kaserne in Boeblingen. Rolff had contacted them and asked if we could bring him in and they had said yes. After we had landed and transferred him to the emergency casualty section, we were allowed to contact his family who said they would be there within a day to pick him up and pay for any treatment. I had spoken to his brother but his Mom and Dad had not been there. Before we left, we found out from the doctor treating him that he was badly concussed and would probably have to be in hospital for a week or two. Our job here was done.

We left an address where we would be with the hospital and left for our hotel which again had been organised by Rolff. We contacted Ed through Dad’s office radio and although the sound was tinny and sounded like someone scratching on sandpaper, we told him the good news. He said he had already been in contact with Rodney’s family and heard they were coming through themselves with one of the new air ambulances to pick him up. They had asked to meet us and Ed had said we should wait for them at the hotel. They had said they would come and see us first then go and pick him up for the flight home. We met them and amidst many tears and thanks from all we finally packed up in Stuttgart and were ready for our flight home.

Ed had again chartered the Cessna twin engine to fly us back from Johannesburg which was great as both Margy and I had had enough of sitting in airports. We landed at the flat spot with a good crowd from Manne on hand to welcome us back. They had all been told of our exploits in Germany and wanted to hear all the details from us. Needless to say, after Margy and I had gone over what had happened in Germany with Ed, he was over the moon. He said that our little trip had done three things. One my whispers worked outside of the African bush, two the whispers had been pretty precise and had led us there without too much drama and the third was that we were going to be paid for our services much to my surprise. I said as much to Ed who said

“That did not come from me asking them. I got a call from Rodney’s family who also own a rather large company in England saying that the doctors had said that had we not found him and picked him up and got him back to the UK when we did, he would have probably been dead within two days. Something to do with a blood clot on his brain that was starting to break up, so we got a pat on the back and a pretty tidy sum from them which not only covered our costs but gave us about fifteen thousand pounds of profit. I think this actually calls for some champers. What say you guys?”

Then he said “I had to come up with a name and chose Rescue Response International. RR and a small I.... maybe” he smiled “RR, rhymes with River Rat, cute huh?”

We all laughed then I put in my five pence worth

“So we are now officially Rescue Response International but to us we are the River Rats and I’ll drink to that.”

From having our chat with Ed, we went to the lounge and started up the party. As I looked round, I was suddenly smacked on the back and heard the chirp

“So that great hoodoo, voodoo priestie one is back” and turned to see Helah standing there laughing “You go off and have adventures without the rest of the fearsome foursome, huh? What kind of friend are you Doggs?”

I picked him up and swung him around, then putting him down I said

“Have to introduce you to someone Helah. This is Margy and that now makes us the fearsome.......... ah five.”

Heard a cough from behind me and turned to see Ed with his hands open and outstretched.

“And me, where do I fit in huh?”

I started to laugh and then said

“We will have to change that name to simply ‘The River Rats’ and that will cover any more who join us, sound good?”

All chimed in with their comments of brilliant, cool and the like. We were now operational and ready for our next job.

Chapter 16

The next day we called a meeting of Ed, Margy, Helah and myself. Brinn and Briggs still had not got back from their Cape trip but would be home shortly. We sat in the corner of the lounge around two tables that had been pulled together and were chatting about the vision that Ed had about what RRI was going to do and what he felt we should not get involved in. He then asked Margy if she was going to be available full time but to think about it before she answered and to let him know. He asked the same question of Helah. He then asked what we thought of each idea and if we agreed with him or was there another way to approach what we intended doing. He asked each of us to make a list of our strengths and weaknesses so that he could do an assessment of each one’s role in RRI. Things were starting to get serious and we all buckled down to the task at hand. I was watching Margy’s part in the discussion and realised there was no way she was going back to BOSS or to Johannesburg and that I might get a small visit from Morgan to let me know what he thought of the matter. I looked forward to seeing him though.

Mom walked in and broke up our pow-wow saying it was lunchtime and that we needed to eat, so we all disappeared in all directions to do what was necessary and to wash up. We all sat around a big table made by pulling a few of the smaller tables together. Mom, Dad plus Feelan who had just landed, Budge and our whole crew sat and all had a Jungle omelette. Each omelette was made with three eggs beaten to within an inch of their lives with a bit of milk, shredded and browned venison biltong (jerky), crisped bacon, spring onions, tomatoes, some cheddar cheese and a whole lot of spices, then browned on top by putting the pan under the grill. Needless to say, a few good beers were needed to wash down the omelettes. As we sat around after the meal and liquid refreshments, we had all got ourselves a mug of coffee from the urn in the corner. Ed let everybody know what we had just set up and what we were planning to do. As was local custom each one at the table put in their five pence worth about what was going to be needed to make this work out. By two thirty we were still yakking away and having a ball. This was not just like family, it was family, and it felt really good. I looked around and thought to myself that these were the kind of people I wanted to work and play with, some more so than others though.

We had broken up our lunch ‘meeting’ about three thirty and each of us was busy doing what needed doing when Don pulled in with one of the long boats. I could see he had his ‘purposeful’ walk going and that could only mean some problem somewhere so caught up to him as he walked into Dads office.

“Hey Don what’s up?”

“Hey when you guys get back Doggs?”

“We got back yesterday. Was a successful trip and got our guy.”

“Fantastic, glad you found him. We got some elephant troubles up near the old bridge on the bend. Seems like we have a rogue and he has torn up that small encampment set up by WENELA a couple of years back. Damn thing hurt a few of them, one pretty badly. Fortunately, Pete and Bryan Holding had been flying over the area with one of the Shell choppers and saw there was drama and landed. They have taken the woman who was badly hurt through to Maun but we need to go up and find that big bloke and sort him out.”

Dad said he was expecting a safari group in later and would Helah and I go with Don and hunt down the Ellie. We all hated the idea of hunting any elephant but this was one of those jobs that had to be done and we could not walk away from it as people could get killed. Dad gave me his old Mauser 357 and insisted that Don take his one off, Krupp 45 Nitro Express, said that between those two rifles we would get the job done quickly and efficiently. We did not argue and both picked up two boxes of shells. We both left to change into our tracking gear, boots and our floppy hats. Margy heard what was going on and said she was coming and wanted me to let her take my Remington 30.06, I was not about to argue with that so she also went and togged up. We went out the back of the hotel and found that Hezi had already packed a couple of provisions on my Ford F150 and that Dad had told him to come with us as Helah had gone fishing down river with Josh that morning. Margy sat up front with me while Don and Hezi stood at the back of the cab, hands on the roll bar. Within minutes we were on the sandy tracks leading up to the bend in the river old bridge. This we were not looking forward to, not one little bit. Rogues could be a handful and extremely dangerous but this big guy needed to be taken down as quickly and as humanely as possible, people’s lives could be on the line.

We made good time and we got there mid morning and saw what Don had been talking about. The rogue had totally flattened about five huts and knocked down one of the Nissan huts that had been erected by WENELA. There were a few other things that had been smashed and saw a few of the villagers that had been hurt. We stopped and did what we could to patch up those that had been hurt but had not got treatment this morning from Don, Pete and Bryan. These people had run away when the rogue had gone through the middle of the village, scattering into the surrounding bush. We told the headman we were going after the elephant and he said one of his sons would track for us. We left about midday to go find our rogue.

We had not been on the track for long when our tracker got us to stop, got off and looked at the tracks and dung left by our quarry. He said he was here about an hour ago and was probably still in the area. We decided to take it easy and drive as quietly as we could giving our tracker time to trot in front of us and track at the same time. We had driven about half a mile when the tracks turned down towards the river and we saw the long reed beds up ahead and I muttered

“He would have to go into the reeds wouldn’t he? Damn that is going to be ruddy awkward and dangerous, that’s if we can’t pick him up from the outside. Don, I don’t think we should drive any further, we walk from here.”

I saw him nod in agreement but also saw him heave a sigh

“Always knew that one day I would have to track one of these blighters into the reeds and today is that day. Still, I don’t feel like dying so we are going to have to do this clever, OK?”

It was my turn to nod in agreement.

“Right, here is what is going to happen, as far as we can predict......”

I felt a breeze come up and stopped dead in my tracks. Margy, Don and Hezi saw my pause and knew what was happening and said nothing, my whispers were doing what they did.

“Guys, I’m going into the reeds almost in front of where we are now, not right in but enough to hide me. Don, I need you to go down to that old stump, down there” showing him an old stump about 100 yards up river just at a small clearing

“And Don I want you to line up on him down the reeds towards us. Hezi you and Margy are to stay with the truck and Margy I want you to slowly drive towards the river once we are in position along that sandy patch but do it slowly. I want the Umfaan to stay on the back of the truck and not to get off. When I give you a fist in the air, I want you to rev the truck so that our Ellie hears you. He won’t charge until he has come out of the reeds and found what is making the racket. He will be still for a few seconds while he decides to attack. That is when we all open up on the poor blighter. Margs, you and Hezi” who had my old Lee Enfield 303 “will fire at his knees and Don you and I are going for just behind his ears from either side. We will be shooting up so should not be a problem, us being on either side of him. As soon as he starts going down stop shooting and I will go in and finish it off. Are we all on the same page?”

They all nodded. Hezi then explained to our young tracker what was going to happen and saw him nod, he understood. I spoke Setswana and could have told him but Hezi handled it.

I allowed Don to get to his spot at the log and waited for Margy to line up with the river at the sandy strip and then stepped out and walked slowly and carefully towards the reeds. I stopped just at the reeds and showed Margy to start driving, then stepped back slightly into the reeds. I did not want that big old fellah coming out, seeing me and stomping me into the grass, not my idea of fun. The Ford inched its way towards the river. I waited until she got to a patch I had marked as the spot then stepped out and showed her a raised fist. She gunned the motor three times and stopped. I heard him before I saw him and damn, he was pretty close to where I was but if he had heard the truck, he was not going to be looking for me, so got down on my haunches.

As the old bull stepped out of the reeds, I saw that one of his tusks had broken and split right up to base of his tusk and was swollen and knew why he had gone rogue, he had been maddened by the pain and probably could not think straight. He stood for a few seconds shaking his head from side to side and before he could move forward I loosed off the first shot. We all did what was needed and within ten seconds he was going down. I had shot three times as had Don and heard later that Hezi and Margy had also fired three each. He had gone down hard but I still ran to where he fell and put one last bullet into his brain to make sure he was gone and quickly. I waited for the crew to come up to him and we all stood and just looked. Seeing one of the giants of the bush down had a quietening effect on all of us. I saw tears in Margy’s eyes and understood the feeling all too well. This was the second elephant I had seen being shot. The fact that both were rogues made absolutely no difference, these were beautiful, majestic animals and to see one like this still left a hole in your heart.

We dropped off our young tracker and told the old headman where we had found and shot the Ellie and knew they would go there and bring back meat for the village. He thanked us and we left. We got back to Manne just as the sun was setting and all first went and showered, changed and went through to the pub. Don went into the Swamp Spot to see Colon. As we walked into the hotel pub, I saw Brinn and Briggs sitting chatting to Dad. Both got up and came over, Brinn hugging Margy and Briggs hugging me.

“Heard what you guys had to go and do and know how you are feeling right now. You guys OK?”

We nodded and heard Dad say “Come on guys, beers are cold or do you want something with a bit more vooma?”

I looked at Margy and she shrugged “Dad give us two double Pussers and Coke, lots of ice and a squeeze of lemon, please.”

Pussers Rum was one of those drinks, it calmed the mind and quelled the raging beast at the worst of times and knew we both needed that double. Dad did not even blink, just poured them and slid them over to us. That first sip hit the spot and I saw the same reaction from Margy. She just settled into that stool and for the rest of our sundown period, hardly said a word.

After supper I got us both a single and we wandered down to the stump chairs and table and plonked ourselves down on the double seat. It was a beautiful evening and we just sat with our own thoughts until she quietly said

“I really don’t want to ever do that again. Next time if there is one, I’m not going with you guys. Don’t think I could handle it” she went quiet.

“Yup I know. It is always rough but we just had to do it. If there had been any other way out, I would have taken it at the drop of a hat but that was not going to happen today was it?”

We both went quiet after that then she leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder.

“What are we going to do as regards us Doggs? Stay as we are or are, or are we going to take this further?”

I had been expecting this discussion for some time now so said

“How far do you want to take it? You know that you mean a heck of a lot to me but didn’t want to push the envelope and mess things up. I need you to talk to me.”

“I was feeling the same way and I suppose we should just keep everything just ticking over as it is for a while. We really don’t know one another all that well and we are both young, still have lots of time, right?”

“Right, just as long as you are comfortable with it, OK? If anything changes or you want more, as I said, talk to me. We cool?”

She nodded, sighed and cuddled up closer.

Chapter 17

Over the next few days, we had sat with Ed and gone over the why’s, where’s and what we were setting up as regards RRI, Rescue Response International. He had come up with an operational system of how we were going to approach each case and needed our individual inputs. This took quite a while to sort through as each of us had ideas and suggestions that needed to be assessed and looked at by the whole group, he called it ‘think tanking.’ Some ideas where accepted and some rejected but all of us were starting to get an idea of how this was going to work.

I had brought up the question as to who was needed full time in the business with Ed and he had asked what I thought.

“Ed, seeing as we are still setting up and finding our feet, I don’t think it is fair to you to have to carry salaries and all sorts of costs when there is not much work coming in yet and how many of us are really needed right now.”

“I understand your concern Doggs but the reality is that to set up a business like this one does need man and woman power. How many people do we have anyway?”

“Well, there is me, Margy, Brinn, Briggs, Helah and you so far. Am I leaving anyone out?”

“As far as the core team is concerned, no, but we still have to ask each one of them if they want in and then to let them know what they are going to make each month as a basic before operational payments and expenses. You know that is the right way to go. Then there are people like your Dad, Mom, Don, Josh, Feelan and maybe even Colon that can be brought in on a case-by-case basis as needed but we will chat with them as well.”

Ed and I spoke to each one of them separately and Margy came in first. Her answer was a straight forward yes, she was in but needed to go back to Pretoria to speak to Morgan and put in her resignation and we agreed. We then asked her if she could do that as soon as possible because she was going to be a main cog in not only what was going to be set up but in assessing how we approached each job that came in. This had been one of her main tasks at BOSS directing on the ground operations so would be the right person to run that side of our operation. She had said that this was her ideal opportunity and was looking forward to working along with us. Both of us had said we were glad she was on board and to also working along with her and that was doubly so, as far as I was concerned.

Brinn and Briggs were in but Helah had said he had already taken a position with ‘Dumela Africa Safaris’ but that he would have a chat with the owners about being on standby for us in Botswana if needed. I was disappointed but understood. At least he could stay close to his family and keep an eye on them as well as help look after them financially. Dad and the rest of them had said they would be happy to come in when and where needed. Dad had also added that vehicles and accommodation would be looked after by the Eden Riverside Hotel while in Botswana and if we needed an operational base, we could use the two big storerooms on the side of the hotel. He would just need to clean them out, put in proper lighting and make other plans for the hotels stock. We took him up on that offer and negotiated a price for their hire. Had we let him get away with the rental charge which was peanuts anyway, he probably would have given it to us for nothing but Ed would not hear of it.

The next few days had seen Margy leave for South Africa, Helah go to Maun to get trained and fitted out by Dumela Africa and Ed, Brinn, Briggs and I along with Dad and Hezi began sorting out, painting and doing what was necessary to make the storerooms into some pretty decent offices, backroom and weapons storage areas. Even though it was probably not necessary we had added burglar bars to all the windows and gates to both doors. Even though Ed was still supposed to be recuperating and still had a plaster on the back of his head he had made arrangements to fly to Johannesburg to, as he said have a medical check-up and while there was going to arrange for some furniture and some ‘other goodies’ to be flown in from the UK. He left with us wondering what the heck the other goodies were but knowing him, it was going to be something big.

I was left with not much to do, so I spent the next day fishing, just cruising up and down the reed beds trawling spinners and going after tigers, pike and hopefully some hungry bream. After a good mornings fishing and bagging two decent sized tigers, one pike, four bream and a squeaker which is a small catfish and one giant sized barbell (catfish) called a Vundu. I had battled to get the Vundu on board but get him I did, then cruised back to the hotel. Mama Africa, Hezi and Lena were really happy about the barbell and the tigers. I had asked them to clean all the bream and the squeaker specifically for my Mom as payment for the barbell and tigers. Hezi had laughed and said they were getting them anyway and that I was a real chancer and was taking advantage of them. I nodded and said that it was fair advantage and left with Mama laughing and muttering something about rat poison in my food later that evening. This was turning into a good day, a very good day. Man was I in my element and I felt really comfortable.

Chapter 18

I walked in to the pub to get a beer and in walked Feelan having just come from dropping off two guys from Dumela Africa in Maun. I broached the subject of him teaching me to fly and he said he was in fact a flying instructor and had worked for about three years at Baragwanath airfield or as he had called it Bara G, just South of Johannesburg before buying his own plane and coming to Botswana. He was originally from Serowe, a Bechuanaland boykie.

“When do you want to start? Today? I don’t have a flight until tomorrow morning, unless something comes in this afternoon.”

I perked up “That would be great. Let’s have some lunch and go do this thing. Oh, what you going to nail me per hour or how does it work with you?”

He just smiled “You don’t have enough to pay for me so I’ll make it easy. You pay for the juice we use, two beers after the lesson and we can call it quits.”

“Yeah right, likely story but this is how it goes. I pay for the juice plus I pay you five quid and you buy the drinks. How’s that sound?”

With Feelan still muttering something about young brash impossible people we had wandered into the dining room for some lunch. As I had said before, this was a really good day for me and it was about to get better.

It was about three in the afternoon by the time we had finished lunch and chewed the fat with Colon who had also come for lunch at the hotel. He had also muttered something about being tired of cooking for himself. As we walked up to the flat spot Feelan was going over some basic stuff that I needed to know and when we got to the plane, he showed me what he was talking about. It was what he called a pre-flight routine which every pilot had to do before taking off. He did a visual check to see that everything on the plane was still where it was supposed to be and in good order, checked the movement of the flaps, ailerons and the tail, then opened up the engine compartment and checked the oil and fuel lines and then showed me a small glass fitting he said was probably the most important check item. It was a filter that bled water out of the fuel lines and was necessary to empty before starting the engine. We did this and then climbed in. He took another control stick from a box behind the two back seats and fixed it into a slide on the floor in front of me. He unclipped and pulled down two things that looked like foot brakes which he explained were for controlling the tail rudder. He then proceeded to tell me that this was a new Piper 180 HP Super Cub that he had had altered by a firm in Johannesburg to carry four people and that it could do stuff that other aircraft could not. I just laughed and told him to get on with it. He started the motor and taxied out onto the flat spot.

In no time we were up and climbing hard and as we got to about a thousand feet he levelled out and promptly told me to take the stick in hand and put my feet on the rudder controls which I did and then he just let go his controls. I nearly had a heart attack but he just said to hold it like that and if the plane started going left to slowly push the right rudder until it came back onto the line I wanted to fly. If the nose started to go up, to push the stick forward but to do it gently and if we started to go down, I was to gently pull back on the stick. I did what he was telling me and without knowing it, was in fact flying the plane. I was controlling the plane quite well so he then showed me how to accelerate the motor and how to do gentle turns. It felt as if we had been flying for a few minutes when he told me to do a turn and to start going down all the while giving me instructions of how to do it and the direction we were to go. Then he told me to throttle up then started to crank something he explained was to bring the flaps out for landing and suddenly felt the lift and the plane go light. He told me to start throttling down but again to do it slowly. We started to go down and after getting me to adjust our direction slightly showed me where the flat spot was and told me to continue the decent and aim for the hotel as that was our landing direction.

Just before we got there he said “I’m going to land it but just keep a soft hold of the controls and keep your feet softly on the pedals so that you get to feel what I’m doing, OK?”

I nodded. We drifted in over the trees at the end of the runway, touched down and he cut the throttle and started using the brakes to slow us down. As the tail came down, he braked harder and slowed it almost to a stop, then opening the throttle slightly he taxied to just past the fuel depot and turned off the dirt runway. As he switched off, I felt great.

“So why so little time upstairs Feelan, you hooking me?”

I was grinning by now and had that warm feeling all over.

“We have been up for just over an hour Doggs. You youngsters don’t know when to quit while you are ahead. By the way that was very good, you are a natural, no flitters or freekies, no drama and you were smooth, good one.”

Our next stop was the pub and a cold one. Dad smiled when he heard that I had done my first flying lesson. Mom just looked at me, no comment..!!!

Chapter 19

The next day I helped Josh and Don out with our long boat as they had got in quite a big party for a water safari and we had taken them pretty deep into the swamps. I for one was glad Josh knew all the channels and ins and outs amongst the reed beds and small islands. These were all birders from England and wanted to see the swamp birdlife. They got their wish and saw just about every bird that lived in these parts, even I was staggered by the different species and I was a local. Josh had pushed on till we got to a particularly large island and decided to camp there for the night. We unpacked everything and set up camp.

As the sun was going down birds were coming in from all over to nest in the trees on the island and realised why Josh had picked this Island. It was home to thousands of twittering, chattering and clucking birds, ducks, geese and then to the surprise of all, two huge Spurwing geese flew in and landed near some reeds and promptly walked into the reeds. These are the biggest geese to be found anywhere in the world and were starting to become endangered. This was instantly the talking point of the group with them trying hard to get photos of them in their nesting area without disturbing them. Nobody was concentrating on anything but the Spurwing, they had to get the photos.

One portly guy was standing about five yards from the water edge with his attention on the reeds when I noticed some slight movement on the water and twigged what I was seeing. As I started running towards him and the others, I shouted for them to get away from the water. Josh immediately grabbed his rifle and Don his old Webly Bulldog 45 pistol and started running towards the group. I had almost made it to them when the water behind them exploded and a huge Nile croc came out of the water going for the portly guy. We still don’t know why the croc did not get him fully but think he must have stumbled just before the croc hit him and he was just flattened by the force of the impact into his lower body. The croc had slid right over and past him and was turning when Josh fired the first shot and a second later Don’s Webly exploded and sent a bullet into the crocs side. Whatever the reason, the two shots hitting him or the fact there were other things coming in fast at him, the croc lunged past him and slid into the water and disappeared from sight. He was hurt but would live to see another day.

As quickly as it had happened it was over, just a slight ripple on the water. All the birds had flown up after the two shots and were still flying round. The portly man was still lying flat on his face when we got to him. Josh reloaded to make sure no more attacks would come in from the water. Don and I got the man up after first checking nothing was broken or too damaged. The croc skin had rasped him badly and he was bleeding from where the teeth and claws had raked him. His back was sore and he was feeling nauseas. Fortunately, that and some shock was the extent of his injuries. Almost instantly everybody had moved back from the water and was standing around the camp where a fire was just starting to take. As we cleaned him up there was hardly a sound from anyone. Methinks the Okavango swamps had just given another pertinent bush lesson. Do not stand too close to the water edge if you don’t have to, dangerous things could and will happen and extremely fast at that. Here one of the biggest African laws had just been read loud and clear ‘Do not try messing with our local crocs, you are going to lose.’

We had kept tubby and the rest of the party well sedated with a number of bottles of wine and two bottles of Jameson’s premium Whiskey and fed them well as we were going to have to go back to Manne the next morning so that tubby could be seen to. We had contacted Dad and given him the news. He said he would have the doctor flown in the next morning from Maun to check him over and should be waiting for us when we came in. Most of our party had hit the sack early but Josh, Don and I had sat up until a bit after midnight in front of the fire just enjoying the bush. We all agreed that we had been damn lucky today as those big fellahs usually did not miss and even if they did, they caused so much damage it was not funny. This could have turned out badly.

Early the next morning we packed up and left with tubby not feeling at all well. We checked his wounds and were going to put clean bandages on and saw what could be a bit of septicaemia setting in, as all around his wounds his flesh had gone reddish and was hot to the touch. As we had pushed off Don had got Dad on the radio and brought him up to speed with the portly guys injuries and possible problem and had been told the Doc would be landing any minute. Don had said we would be home within two hours or so as we were not cruising but coming in hot.

As we came up to Manne, we could see quite a party waiting to help. As we slid the boats up to the wooden pier Hezi helped tie up and hold the boats close in, as everybody got off. Don and I lifted the portly guy out of the boat and put him on the waiting stretcher. Don, Budge, Hezi and I each took one of the handles, lifted it and walked towards the hotel. Mom directed us to one of the rooms where the doctor was waiting for us. Everybody else went straight to the pub. Once we had deposited our sick traveller with the doc and found out that it was not too bad and that he had everything under control, we too wandered into the pub to pay for the drinks and to do a little damage control with Josh’s clients. Surprisingly all they had was praise for how we had put ourselves at risk to stop the croc from an easy mealtime. Within a few minutes there was laughter and giggles coming from the group. Plans were set aside to find out if their injured companion was going to hospital or going to stay, so reserved the right to go out again. They all promised to stay well away from the water’s edge this time out and to listen to our instructions. All was good.

Chapter 20

Later that afternoon Dad called me over and said that Ed had just radioed him and asked if I could come through to Johannesburg. He had said he needed some help with a few things. We radioed him back and we were told that a Cessna was already on its way up to Manne and we would fly back the next morning. About an hour later the Cessna landed and to my surprise it was Clive, the same pilot that Morgan had arranged for Margy and I to fly here and back when we did the President’s wife kidnapping job. He was glad to see all of us again, saying that this part of the world agreed with him and his health. We arranged for Brinn and Briggs to help Josh out on the water safari while I was away. We all settled in, had supper and watched a movie which Dad showed on the back wall of the lounge. Thinking back to the movie house in Johannesburg, this was really primitive movie viewing. I preferred ours. The portly guy had also come out, thanked us again and then also settled in to watch the movie. The doc had already left for Maun earlier with Feelan who was flying back tomorrow with some hotel guests.

Clive and I flew back to Johannesburg early the next morning and flew over some of the most beautiful countryside anywhere in the world. There were only a few places in the world where you flew over a countryside filled with herds of buffalo, elephants, buck, giraffe and wildebeest with rivers, open lakes and greenery all round. The silvery shimmer of the mist lifting off the earth below and the sun coming up made for a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns that boggled the mind. Man, this was living and I said as much to Clive. He just smiled and said that was why he flew and never got tired of it. I told him I was taking lessons which made him smile even more. We touched down at the Baragwanath airfield and as we taxied to the hangers saw Ed waiting for us on the apron. We all said Hi with me introducing Clive to Ed and the two of them laughing and saying they had already met. As we got closer to the Mercedes waiting for us the door opened and out climbed Morgan. What the hell was going on but then saw the smiles and relaxed. This looked like it could get interesting and it did.

We drove into Johannesburg and being mid-morning, the roads were not all that busy so got to our destination relatively quickly but also thanks to Morgan driving and knowing all the short cuts. We had been talking about everything but what Morgan was doing with Ed but I kept myself from asking, knowing they would tell me when they got to it. We had driven through the city going towards Pretoria or so the signboards had indicated and were getting to the suburbs on the outskirts of Johannesburg when we pulled into a long driveway and drove up to a very imposing house. As we were getting out and collecting our luggage from the boot, I heard a familiar voice.

“Look what the River Rat has brought home.”

I turned to see Margy dressed in jeans and a tight white top and then remembered why she had got to me so quickly.

“Well, well looks like living in this part of the world suits some people!”

She laughed, walked up to me, put her arms around me and kissed me.

“Missed you Doggs, really missed you.”

I was about to tell her the same when we got some muttered and derogatory comments from Ed and Morgan.

“Think you two should get a room” that from Morgan.

“Take the whole day off before we try to do some work” chipped in Ed.

Margy and I broke our hold of one another and gave the chirpy two some withering looks. Margy smiled “Shees guys, jealousy won’t get you anywhere.”

After our bags had been unpacked, we had been asked to get together on the patio round the pool. When I got there Ed and Morgan were going over some documents.

“Come on over and have a look at these Doggs. Ed and I have put a few things together, operational wise and want your input.”

I walked over and picked up the document.

“Has Margy seen this?”

“Margy just got here before us so when she comes out she will also have to go over it as it concerns all of us and especially you two. Morgan has already added his bit” then looked expectantly at me.

“So, Morgan, either one, you are here to lend some ‘other’ kind of support or Ed here has talked you into joining us. Hopefully the latter as we would probably need some of your spy type tactics somewhere along the line.”

As I asked that, Margy walked out of the house and before he could answer she quipped.

“I also hope you are joining us, really do.”

I watched as Morgan turned and looked at Ed.

“Are you going to do the honours chief?”

“Well guys, meet your new team mate. Morgan has been good enough to take me up on my offer without me having to resort to anything violent.”

We all laughed and waited for more.

“He is going to be our intelligence officer, supplies person” chuckling at the last one “and will be our ‘go to person’ for any Governmental connections we need to make all over the world as regards the police, army etc and then more importantly Morgan is going to be one of our main operatives. We are going to need someone to carry out these rescues with you guys when there is an element of danger or if you are going into an area of conflict. I know that you two can look after yourselves” looking at Margy and I “but there is going to come a time or an incident where you are going to need all the help and firepower you can, to get out alive.......that is where Morgan comes in. You guys OK with that?”

We obviously were in full agreement with Ed and welcomed Morgan with open arms. We had also just found out that this beautiful house we were standing in belonged to Morgan and this would be our base camp, a safe house, a recuperating house and our launch site for all our operations. HQ would still be in Manne because that is where the info would have to come through to, for me to do my whispers thing, if required. Here we would have full access to phones, radio and faxes, plus quick access to the main airport in South Africa. It was while talking about the radio access that Ed said

“I think it is time for these two to see our new toys, what you think Morgan?”

“I think that would be a pretty good idea Chief. Get them acquainted with the latest in communications technology, straight from your factory in the UK.”

Both Ed and Morgan smiled and told us to follow them.

We all trooped into the house and went through to a room near the entrance to the garages, three of those but who was counting and walked into what looked like a storeroom full of boxes on one side and a communications centre for a full-on army or air force base. There were so many gadgets, radios, wiring and screens in that room it made us both wonder what war we were going to start.

“This is our communications room with separate feeds coming from all corners of the earth via Ed’s media centres and reporters. We also pick up ‘other’ signals from here and can also keep out finger on anything you guys are going to be doing from anywhere in the world and that through small high output radios you will be carrying. This is pretty damn neat huh?”

“And all these other boxes in here? And I suppose Margy and I will have to get to know how to work all this stuff?”

I obviously still looked worried because Ed said

“The other boxes are destined for our base at the hotel and yes you two are going to have to be experts with all of this.” He looked amused then added “But you two are pretty quick on the uptake and should have this stuff down in no time at all, trust me.”

Both of us laughed but were still worried at the same time.

“Heck, and here I was thinking I had finished with schoolwork and this type of studying. Looks like I was wrong.”

Chapter 21

Two days later the four of us flew back to Manne in a Piper Navaho Chieftain twin and again our pilot was Clive. I sat up front in the co-pilots seat and haggled with him until he gave me the controls about a half hour out but only after telling him I was going for my solo once we got back, when Feelan had some time. Clive muttered something about Feelan being a brave sole to allow me to do my solo flight in his plane. I took a swing at him but he had already ducked....... chicken. He took over just before we landed at the flat spot, again saying he did not feel like explaining to the owners why he had allowed a wally to land their plane. I had threatened to feed him to the crocs or at least to a lion or something. Chuckling we all climbed out and headed for the Eden.

All our high-tech goodies were being flown up to Manne by one of the Daks from WENELA the following day. We would probably be busy for a few days with installations of the equipment and antennae. I knew Dad was going to try and hustle us to have his radio connected but he was in for a surprise. Ed had already told us he had brought in a new radio for him which could double as a field radio, if and when needed. The pub was definitely going to look a whole lot more fancy what with that on its own back shelf. We had all climbed in and got to work early the next morning making space for everything. By the time the Dak landed we were ready to install. By late afternoon we had most of it installed, now just had to fine tune it all and make sure we had good reception. Dad’s radio was coupled up and working fine by the time we walked in later. Ed had made sure of that. It was the first time I had seen Ed looking so upbeat and full of life. Amazing what a bit of time and good health could do for one. The bossman River Rat was back and operating.

After presenting Dad with his new radio, we were all treated to a slap-up supper out on the veranda with Colon supplying the venison and corn and the Eden supplying the veggies, pap and pudding. Both supplied the drinks. Ed had insisted on paying for everything and said he had a surprise in store for all of us. He had waited until we had finished eating and the decks had been cleared and were sitting with our specially doctored coffees and quietly nattering amongst ourselves and relaxing when he stood up cleared his throat, looked around, smiled and said

“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please” pausing for the chat to subside “Tonight is a pretty special night and I want to tell all of you why.”

By now everybody was silent and looking at him expectantly.

“It is with great pleasure that we as Rescue Response International are now fully registered as of today and are operational, as of now, a toast to all.”

I stood up and the rest also got up and as we stood there smiling, we toasted the official launch of RRI which shortly thereafter was re-christened as the River Rats Incorporated by me. This was a good evening for all involved.

(1972)

Ed and Morgan had left a month before, Ed going to London and Morgan back to Johannesburg. It was the end of the year and people were getting together with loved ones for Christmas and others just to spend time with their families and go on holiday. Before leaving, Ed had told us that he was going back to the UK to set up links to us from all his media stations worldwide. Morgan would also receive the same information coming in to us at Manne so everyone was on the same page. He said that he and Morgan would make up some working documents, passwords and the like before leaving for London. He gave us an idea of the things that were to be discussed. He felt that each job that came in, regardless of who, where or what, we were going to approach each one with tactical military precision and planning. We were going to be going in to whatever, very ready indeed.

He personally would pick the jobs we were to do, liaise with Morgan, he would then send us the packaged information. These packages would have a Target (person to be found), Direction (what needed to be done on finding the target), Reason (Why the target needed to be found plus the consequences of finding or not finding him or her), Politics (If there was any Governmental involvement plus which Governments were involved), Outcome (What our best and worst case scenario would be), Position (If there was to be any danger involved in the case and what could be done to circumvent it if at all possible) and finally, Needed (What supplies were necessary which included any weaponry – the latter to be supplied by contacts in the country in which we would be working). Sounded like no chances were going to be taken by any of us and that was good news. There were of course all the normal things that were needed, currency of the country that we were going to, how we were getting there, hotel or other places to stay amongst a host of other details like vehicle, chopper and light aircraft hire to clothing. I wondered how much of this documentation would really ever be used. Time would no doubt tell.

What would happen if a case was taken would follow a laid out plan. The first thing would be to send me as much information on our target as possible. This would hopefully give me enough to get my whispers going. If it did not more information would be needed and Ed and his people would have to supply that plus any titbits that could make it more personal. If after everything I still did not get anything from my whispers, Ed and Morgan would make a decision whether to move forward with it. The second thing that would happen would be Margy and I would go to the country where the target had disappeared armed with the info and see if anything came up on my radar. All cases would be dictated by my bush whisper abilities. No whispers, no case and RRI would turn down the job unless more information could be got in, that turned them back on.

Chapter 22

Margy and I were sitting down at the river on the wooden pier chatting and I was supposedly fishing. I think my mind was in low gear and just enjoying the relative quiet and the sun. Something started tweaking my mind but could not get a handle on it. Margy saw I was otherwise engaged, not saying too much.

“You seem a hundred miles away Doggs, what’s up?”

I was not sure so said “Not sure, something is playing tag in my head but....”

She nodded and said “The quiet is getting to you. You need something to happen, don’t you?”

I laughed “Nah not really but something is coming and I don’t know what.”

Margy looked at me “So, have you never had pre-event whispers or feelings?”

“Nope, never. Except once or twice when I was a kid but did not really know exactly what or why, just inklings. I am sort of getting things running through my head at speed and it does not make sense, like mountains, snow and a hell of a lot of water. Ah well, I suppose we will find out soon.”

It was getting close to lunch so walked up to the hotel and into the pub when I heard Briggs calling for me, thinking I was still down at the river. She stuck her head into the hotel front door and said

“We got a live one, move it.” And then she was gone.

Margy and I had not even sat down so turned and trotted next door to the office. As we walked in Brinn and Briggs were both fielding paper from the fax machine, tearing off and folding each ten sheets into an easy read folder. I grabbed the first one and as I opened it all I saw was ‘Highly Confidential’ RRI staff only. Doggan Rath – Margy Rainsford – Brinn Douglas – Brigitte Palmer.

I then started reading. I think the widening of my eyes told Margy that this was a real biggie. She looked quizzically at me and extended her hands.

I stopped reading and waited for the fax to stop then asked them to sit down while I walked to the door and closed it.

“Oh, elephant droppings this looks serious” said Briggs plonking herself down. “That look on Dogg’s face does not bode too well.”

“Nah, well maybe but it’s highly confidential and just for the four of us. So, we start with the cloak and dagger stuff straight up, no messing around.”

I sat down and opened the first folder and started reading. I had just started to mentioned the target when the radio crackled to life. Brinn leaned over and clipped off the mike. Using the straight forward radio talk we had been given he answered.

“Manne here, go ahead.”

No codes or nothing just straight talk.

“South here, read, discuss and give immediate feedback, out.” It was typical military Morgan and he wanted to know if all pages had got through. He wanted us to read the information and make an assessment of the job and if there was any added info needed to ask for it. As I said, nice, simple, no names, no major info discussed and get to the point quickly.

Our target or should I say ‘targets’ were two US Army intelligence analyst officers that had gone missing while taking a week break from duty in Germany. One was Lieutenant Jeff Brogan and the other was Lieutenant Barbara Wells both 27 years old and skiing fanatics. They had gone to the small village of Tarviso on the North West border of Italy to do some skiing in the surrounding mountains which they had heard had good snowfalls. These mountains were on borders of three countries, Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia, the last one having a Communist regime in power. The US military did what they could in the first two days of their disappearance but were hamstrung on how to proceed further without causing an international incident. The news had got through to Ed via his media station in Germany and he had approached them with an offer – to send in an RRI unit to help.

Ed had initially been turned down, until he had told them to read the reports of his escapades and the part that the whispers had in the outcome. They had come back to him within seven hours and asked if they could meet with him. He had agreed, flown into Frankfurt airport and been picked up by a US military helicopter and flown to the Lindsey Air Force Station at Weisbaden. There he had met with some of the top intelligence brass and found out what their specific problem was and it had all boiled down to the cold war and politics and who could do what and where. They were over a barrel and said they had to get the two back and quickly and safely, due to the kind of work they were doing. Needless to say, what they had been working on was not discussed, just that it was not in the interests of the NATO forces in Europe to have these two individuals fall into the hands of any of the Communist countries.

Ed had told them what was needed from our side and was then asked to sign a non-disclosure document that stopped him from saying anything to anybody. He also realised that they had been doing their homework on him and brought in a file which the brass had gone over before getting him to sign. It had taken the pen pushers about an hour to get the required information and then was given a file with about forty pages to it. He was then taken to another building where he met with some tactical response unit heads and given an update. Their two charges had gone skiing and had simply disappeared. They had searched around some of the mountains, passes and forests until they had got close to the border with Yugoslavia where they had been met by a Yugoslavian army unit dressed for war. They had turned back from this position and had been watched all the way back by the Yugoslav army from some of the surrounding peaks. This had not happened before so they were more or less positive that they had either been snatched or had maybe gone too far into Yugoslavia and had been arrested. Nobody knew, period.

The rest of the files were about the missing two and I went over them a second time in detail, trying to get who they were. Once done, had a short discussion with the gang and explained that this was going to be a tester for us to keep the information we had under wraps. Because it was a military ‘thing’ that we were dealing with, we could not afford to make any slip ups and in fact might not actually get to go. All they wanted first up was an insight if possible, to where they were, only then there was a possibility of further action. As we broke, Brinn put all the documents into a wall safe and locked it. He and Briggs had gone for some late lunch while Margy and I had grabbed some sandwiches and two beers and gone to the stump chairs and table.

We slowly ate and did not say much until Margy suddenly sat upright.

“You do know of course that this damn thing could get out of hand and you could get hurt?” she was already simmering on medium heat.

“Yup I do” then smiled at her “That is why I am going to be taking you with, you know, my Lion chaser.”

“Not bloody funny Doggs” and now was instantly operating on high heat “You think that you are always going to get away with it, don’t you?”

I was quick to quell the fight in her.

“Hey, hey woah girl, I’m only pulling your leg, why so upset with me, huh? You do realise we are not going into any combat situation unless there is, one, a damn good reason, two, that we know we will have success, three, that there is sufficient backup from all parties and that most of all, I am not going to put you into anything that might hurt you or for that matter me. OK?”

I said this quietly with no anger and watched her face soften

“I just have a lousy feeling about this. We are supposed to find lost people not get pulled into some West fights East situation and something still sounds off.”

I laughed and told her she need not worry as I had also had that feeling.

I finished off my beer then got up and walked towards the stump. Margy watched me go without following, she knew I was going to try and get my whispers going and needed some peace and quiet. I just sat at the stump for about fifteen minutes and nothing had happened. I could not focus my mind on what I needed to, so walked back.

“Think we need to take a ride down to the Matlapaneng I’m distracted here for some reason. I think we should take the boat down the river this time.”

Margy got up and walked with me back to the hotel. It took about half an hour to quickly pack what we needed onto our long boat. I had also asked Hezi to put the two big Evinrude motors on so that we could move it. Those motors made the long boat pretty quick and we needed a dash of speed to get us up to Matlapaneng before total darkness. We took our new field radio so as to send the needed info back to Morgan.

Chapter 23

We were really travelling and already past Maun when we came to a section that had a few more reeds beds so slowed to wind our way through. As we cleared the main clump of reeds and came through the other side, we found ourselves in the middle of a hippo pool with about fourteen hippos all around us who had already heard us coming. Within two seconds of coming out of those reeds I knew we were in trouble as they had little ones and there is nothing as dangerous as a hippo protecting her young. I swung the tiller to point the motors away from the hippos and immediately opened them up full. The long boat launched itself for the opening in the reeds to our right and prayed that there was open water on the other side. The water just behind us exploded and this huge head emerged with mouth wide open, huge stubby teeth bared coming at us like an oversized torpedo. If I had opened those motors two seconds later than I did, I think we would have had another passenger on board with us, two tons of mad Momma hippo and that would have been that for both of us. The long boat almost jumped through the opening and we found ourselves in open water with the mad bunch behind us, disappearing fast in out wake. Thanks for buying those big Evinrudes Dad, was my thankful thought as I eased off the throttle. Damn that was close. We needed to be a bit more aware. Here, not being aware could kill you pretty fast and sometimes real ugly. I looked at Margy and she was as white as a sheet. I think she had just looked down the throat of mad Momma, so really did not blame her.

I waved her over to come and sit with me. As she slid over the seat I could see she was still shocked at what had just happened.

“That was not fun, was it?”

I shook my head and smiled which I think made her mad instead of scared.

“So, Mr laid back thinks that was funny?”

Again, I shook my head “No it was not but here we are still cruising and both still in one piece, think that is a pretty good reason to smile don’t you?”

I could see the thoughtfulness behind her eyes.

“You Doggs are possibly the most laid back and infuriating person I have ever met and these things don’t seem to faze you. Now I am starting to understand what that old bushman said about you, you being at one with the bush. Damn it, while you are out here, you seem to be able to keep calm and stay in control of yourself.”

She shrugged then smiled “Damn it makes me so, so.......”

“Yeah, I know, jealous hey?” and poked her in the leg.

She was still lying back with her head on my shoulder as we came up to Matlapaneng and sighed.

“Really liked it the last time we were here.”

I swung into the low bank and gunned the motor. As we slid up the bank, I stopped the motors and pulled them up and locked them so that the props did not catch on the ground. We climbed out and pulled the boat a bit higher onto the bank, tied her up to a tree and started unpacking. I put some rocks and a few old logs under the sides of the keel to steady the boat as we were probably going to sleep in it. I then rigged a tent frame over the boat and pulled the main tent cover into place. It worked well and we would be reasonably comfortable. I got a fire going and then we settled down to cook some supper. Margy broke out a bottle of Pussers Rum and popped open a coke. It’s funny how the small things in life are so pleasing. We sat and talked till quite late, then made up the stretchers, climbed in and lay there till we fell asleep.

I woke early and slipped out of the boat leaving sleeping beauty to rest. I stood for a while watching her and realised that this woman had got to me big time. Man, oh man she was really something else, she was beautiful, clever, wide awake and very sure of herself. I got this feeling that I wanted to protect her from the world but knew we still needed time to work out things between us. I walked slowly down to the river and went to sit on a tree stump when a leggie shot out from under the log and into the water giving me an instantaneous wake up call. Now I was really wide awake and buzzing.

It took a few minutes for my heart rate to come back to normal but by then I was going over the report of our two missing Lieutenants in my head. I felt the breeze pick up and sat very still. A few seconds later the whispers started up and what I saw was disturbing to say the least. Our two skiing partners were in a funny looking cave like structure that I had never seen before. They were low and looked as though they had been specially shaped and were reddish brown in colour. I saw a mountain range in the background with a few small rivers converging into one bigger one and lots of trees and dense bush. The whole area was covered with snow. It looked like there were three or more people standing around the outside of the cave structures wearing cammo, then the movie stopped.

I sat and made notes of what I had seen but as usual nothing made sense until I remembered about the army patrol that had stopped the search for them. Now the camouflage outfits made sense, they had been taken captive. But where, that was the question? I was trying to draw the shape of the mountain range when I heard Margy climb from the boat. I turned and saw her looking my way.

“Hi sleeping beauty, get enough sleep?”

She muttered something under her breath and I packed up laughing.

“What? Now what have I done Miss R ?”

She shook her head and produced a tooth brush and next minute was brushing away totally ignoring me. Was this great or what?

By the time she had got herself dressed and organised I had got the pan on and had started to cook bacon and eggs. This time I had brought the gas cooker, clever boy that I was. In no time we had finished breakfast and were drinking our coffee when I told Margy what the whispers had let me in on. She gave me the beady eye, took another sip then said

“Well we know where they are supposed to be, in the mountains, in the snow, surrounded by forests but what the heck are those cave thingies you saw? I wonder if the people, soldiers or whatever you saw were their own people or someone from the other side?”

I shrugged “Don’t know but have got a pretty good idea of the patterns on their cammo. We will have to get some feedback from the US boyos in Germany, I’m sure they would know. Maybe they could also let us know what those cave-like things are, could possibly help me pin them down to a specific area.”

We talked through what we sort of knew and then contacted Morgan. Morgan asked if we could send a fax with the info and the drawings and had to tell him where we were and that we could do that within a couple of hours once we were back at the Eden. We also explained the delay was due to us having come by boat and were going back the same way. He asked that we do this as quickly as possible and for us to also ask the questions on the fax that were needed to help clear up what would help me. This info would be relayed to them quickly and hopefully get an answer quickly.

We had told Morgan he would have the information before lunch that is if we got home without any mishaps which we did not expand upon. We made good time and had made sure we missed the hippo pool and the unwanted aggro female hippos and got in just as Feelans plane flew over to land at the flat spot. Margy went into the hotel to order some lunch for us while I ducked into the office and prepared my report with the accompanying drawings which Briggs drew out for me. I then checked everything on the fax and told Briggs to send it. Once that was done, I asked Briggs where Brinn was and was told he had gone through to the WENELA camp where our rogue had danced on the furniture and had taken some medical supplies through to them. He was due back any minute. As we walked out to go for lunch Brinn drove up behind the hotel. He met us inside and we brought him up to speed. Mom, Dad and the rest of the gang had their noses slightly out of joint because we had not said anything to them about what we were doing. After lunch I strolled over to the pub where they were all sitting and said

“Mom, Dad, guys, sorry we can’t tell you anything about this case, it’s just one of ‘those’ jobs where we are not allowed to let anyone in on it because of the sensitivity and because it involves something we can’t control, OK?”

All nodded their acceptance and I walked out and into the office.

“Anything come in yet?”

Nothing had, so grabbed my rod and walked slowly down to the shed. It was time to slow things down a tad and fishing worked that way for me.

Chapter 24

I had just got out of the door when Feelan called me.

“You my young friend need to do your solo so that you can get your licence. And another thing, if you are still going to be here tomorrow Pete Holding is flying in with the Shell chopper and asked if you wanted a quick lesson?”

“Is that a question or what? Of course, I want a lesson on the chopper but what is it going to cost me? And last but definitely not least, when do you want me to do my solo?”

“If you are not too busy your lordship, would this afternoon suit you?”

I think my smile gave it away and he then proceeded to tell me to get my raggedy tail up to the flat spot immediately if not sooner. I nodded and started to walk. Margy had fallen in step with us on our way up muttering something about me not parking it on a soft fluffy cloud or in the trees or something maybe a bit harder. Good friends I had, right?

Feelan went up with me first just to check if I still remembered everything allowing me to take off and land. He then promptly got out of the Piper and waved me off. He had instructed me to take off and take it up to 1000 feet fly towards Maun for 2 or 3 miles then turn and make a normal approach to the airfield taking into consideration the wind and first checking no one was on the runway blah de blah de blah...... I had laughed and said OK, OK. He had added one more thing, to please not wrap his aircraft around anything hard or to break the landing gear on touchdown. I’d punched him for that one. Margy waved and showed a sad face and these were friends? Yeah right.

I took off and climbed to 1000 feet and flew out about 3 miles and was enjoying the fact that I was flying all on my little ol’ ownsome. I did my turn and started back. As I approached the flat spot I could see something was wrong. Hezi and Margy were waving their arms and I could see Feelan lying on the ground. I realised something had happened and without thinking put the Piper into a dive, came round quickly at the bottom of the flat spot and put her down and taxied up to them as fast as I could. I then saw Dad and Colon running towards the flat spot. Looked like bad news all round and Feelan was still down with Margy trying to help him. Hezi had got hold of a box or something and was scrabbling round in the dirt. What the hell was going on?

As I stopped and jumped out, Margy yelled to me.

“A scorpion has stung Feelan, he is going into shock and is battling to breath. Your Dad is bringing an antidote or something but we need that help right now.”

As I got to them, Dad and Colon also got there. Hezi came back and almost shouted.

“This is not good, not good, not good. It is a sand fat tail and this one can kill a man easy. Mr Feelan must get to the hospital very quickly.”

Dad had already pulled out a syringe from his first aid box and pulled up Feelans shirt sleeve and gave him the injection.

“That should start to work pretty damn quick but he still needs to get to the hospital in Maun like now.”

I could see Dad was extremely uptight, so said

“I’m flying him up to Maun right now and no arguments from anybody. I should be able to get the hospital on the radio on the way up and they can be waiting for us. Help me get him in the plane.”

Nobody argued and Dad and Colon picked him up and started towards the plane. Hezi pulled me over and showed the scorpion he had caught in a box and said I should take it with so the doctors would know what had stung him.

I got Feelan strapped in and was getting ready to take off with Dad asking if I was sure about flying to Maun and I had cut him off

“Dad we are wasting time and Feelan can’t afford that, so I’m off and yes I’m sure and yes I know the direction for Maun so stop panicking. We will get there in one piece, OK?”

Dad had closed the door on Feelans side and I had started the engine when Margy opened the door and climbed through into the back seat that Feelan had put in to accommodate two more passengers. I saw the look on her face so said nothing. I was probably going to need someone to look after Feelan anyway.

I did not take her up too high but rammed the throttle fully open and set our direction for Maun. Once flying and making sure we were going in the right direction I got onto the radio and put the channel onto the emergency hospital channel that Dad had given me and contacted them.

“Alfa, Zulu 424 to Maun Hospital. Are you reading me?” I repeated it twice.

“Maun Hospital reading you loud and clear, what is your emergency? I repeat, what is your emergency?”

“We are flying in from Manne and should be landing within ten minutes or so and are coming in hot. We have a scorpion sting patient who is battling to breathe properly. The scorpion is a light sand scorpion with the fat tail. The patient has already been given an antidote shot but still requires assistance, over.”

“Maun hospital. We will be waiting for you. Taxi towards the gate area as that will allow us to transfer the patient quickly, out.”

I acknowledged them and put down the mike.

We had been flying for about ten minutes and could see that Feelan was starting to go into shock and was convulsing slightly. Margy was holding him and using a wet towel she had brought along to wipe the sweat off his face. I could see her trying hard to keep him under control when I saw Maun up ahead so started climbing so as to see where the airfield was and almost immediately saw the straight ribbon of the runway. I flew straight across the runway checking for the wind sock then turned down wind, slewed the Piper round and brought her in over the runway. I flew down the runway almost to the point where I was to turn before I put her down and stood on the brakes, released them and gunned the motor towards the ambulance standing by at the gate. As I came to a stop there were three people waiting for us, one being the police chief that I had seen at Manne when we brought in River Rat. Within two minutes Feelan was transferred to the ambulance. I had given them the box with the scorpion and they were gone leaving us with the police chief.

I parked the Piper near the main hangers and asked them to top the Piper up with fuel and went with the police chief Dennis Madendorff through to the hospital. When we got there, we were informed that Feelan was going to be OK but that they wanted to keep him in hospital overnight for observation. After filling in some paperwork for his admittance we were taken through to Riley’s Hotel by Chief Madendorff. This was the first time I had been into the hotel and was saddened that Mrs Riley had upped quite a while back and moved to South Africa. Margy and I booked in, then walked through the hotel to the front porch, sat and ordered two Pusser Rums and Coke. Today we needed them. I half smiled at Margy

“You do know that you took your own life in your hands today what with me being an unlicensed pilot and all.”

She just smiled

“Did not get too much time to think about it. As for flying back with you” she paused for emphasis “I think I’ll walk or get someone to drive me back.”

If it were not for the choked back chuckle she would have been in big trouble. I rolled my eyes and said she was quite welcome to walk and hoped she had brought her big lion taming gun with her. I proceeded to tell her that with a 45 mile or so walk ahead of her in the wild swamplands of Africa, she was going to need it. I think my smile spoiled the effect. I winked at her and she smiled.

We contacted Dad through the hotel’s radio and told him Feelan was OK but needed to stay in hospital at least for tonight and I added, maybe a couple of days more. Also told him we would be flying back the following morning. I suggested that Dad contact Morgan and let him know where we were and the reason. We also told him if he needed us in a hurry to come through to the hotel on their radio. Dad said he would do that immediately and wanted to know how the flight had gone. I told him and he seemed pleased. Margy and I took a walk along the Thamma in front of the hotel and walked mostly in silence. Today had been one of those days. One that had again drawn us closer together and so far, all was good.

We got back to the hotel at about 6 and found some guests already going in for supper so decided to do the same. One of the ala carte foods that was laid out on a table seemed to bemuse Margy who asked what it was even though there was a small sign that said ‘Grilled Mopani Worms’. I said

“I thought you townies could read. It says Grilled Mopani Worms and that is what they are, grilled wormies that breed and live on Mopani trees, very nice with rice or mashed potatoes or maybe just dipped into some Worchester Sauce or....” by now Margy who had been inching away from the table was now holding her nose. “Eeuw! You are not serious, really?”

I had expected the reaction and was by now laughing.

“Oh, hell yes, that is exactly what they are, very good for you and they are very high in proteins and have some good roughage. Here, this is pretty high-end gourmet you know.”

I picked one up, dipped it in some sweet chilli sauce and popped it into my mouth and munched away quite happily. The look on Margy’s face was priceless. I was really in my element now and the day only seemed to be getting better.

“Eeuw no way” then came closer and whispered “You think you going to kiss me tonight, think again buddy, eeeeauw” this coming out like a low growl.

“Yeah, we will see about that one.”

Chapter 25

We both woke early and after showering and dressing went for breakfast. I was tempted to offer her some Mopani worms but my better judgement kicked in and ordered some bacon and eggs, sausage, fried tomatoes and some fried Makowe mushrooms. Margy ordered the same. We helped ourselves to a good sized slice of water melon and a few slices of brown toast. This kind of meal set you up for the day and when you got a chance to eat, that’s exactly what you did.

After breakfast we asked to be dropped at the hospital which the hotel organised for us. We got there to find out that Feelan was going to have to stay for a few days longer as the poison in his system was still causing problems. He had not got to the hospital quickly enough and this had allowed the poisons to slightly affect his nervous system. This was not good news so went in to see him. He was propped up in bed talking to a nurse. We had hardly been there two minutes when in walked Demi Selman who I had heard had moved to South Africa about a year after the ‘Plane in the Papyrus Caper’. She ran up to Feelan and was kissing him and muttering about all sorts of things then realised we were there.

“Oh did not see you guys there, sorry aah” she looked sheepishly at Feelan.

“Um Doggs, did not tell you the reason I have been spending so much time here in Maun but I kind of guess you now know. Demi was only away for three years and then came back to Botswana but got a position here in Maun to teach English. We have been going out for about five years now and I try to get up here as much as possible. We were just keeping a low profile.”

“That is fantastic you old rogue, why the heck did you not tell us? Demi, it’s good seeing you again. Margy meet Miss Demi Selman, my teacher about 100 years ago and was the lady who crashed in the swamps with Feelan, literally.”

When I had got to the 100 years ago bit Demi had playfully swung her bag at me and missed.

“Hope this ragamuffin has proposed Demi, and if he hasn’t let me know what I can do to him to change that.”

We were all laughing by this time and it felt good to be there. Then I saw Feelan’s eyes go wonk and stopped everyone and called the nurse who came in and shoed us away. As we started moving out Feelan said

“You guys are going to have to fly back home Doggs as it looks like I might be here for a bit. Do me a favour please and ask Peter Flemming to come see me about flying my clients for me while I’m down. Oh, by the way Doggs, you passed your ‘solo’ yesterday with flying colours. I will do the paperwork once I’m out, OK? Congrats. At least you will get in a few more hours airtime now.”

We took off about an hour and a half later after contacting Peter Flemming and asking him to go through and see Feelan which he said he would do right away. On taking off I flew up the Thamma pointing out all the different spots we had crossed when we went down to the Matlapaneng bridge by boat and saw a lot of wildlife. It was too short a flight so decided to fly past Manne to the bend in the river bridge and see the WENELA village from the air. As we turned at the bridge, I heard two shots below somewhere further up the river so turned to find out who was shooting and if we could help spot for them from the air if necessary. As we flew up the river I saw a big herd of elephant running away from the river so turned towards where they had come from and just as quickly saw an elephant down, one with huge tusks and four men with a truck. As we flew over two of them raised their rifles and shot at us. I heard one shot punch through the wing and immediately threw the Piper into a tight turn and gave her full throttle. I marked the spot in my head and got onto the radio. I heard two more shots but did not hear any hit.

“Doggs to Dad, Doggs to Dad get on quick.” I was breathing slightly harder.

“On Doggs, Josh here, what’s up?”

“We got poachers just short of the bend in the river bridge and they have just taken down a bull elephant and I hope I’m wrong but it looks like Methuselah but did not get a good look. They took four shots at us and got one through the wing. Get the police from Maun and ask them to come up with a chopper if possible and maybe you guys can box them in till they get here. I can fly your eyes if necessary.”

I then heard Dad on the radio

“How long can you stay up Doggan?”

“About another hour and a half Dad and don’t worry I won’t get too close. I don’t want to explain to Feelan how I got his plane shot down but you guys are going to have to get a move on. There are four guys and it looks like they are driving one of those big one and a half ton Fords. It has a dark brown cammo type pattern and has heavy roll bars on the back.”

“OK we are on our way, we will come ready for war boyo and we will get hold of Pete Holding and ask him if he can supply some air support for the police, that is if they don’t have their own chopper. You stay out of range Doggan we are coming, out.”

I turned the Piper back towards the spot we had seen them and started climbing. I was still climbing when Margy pointed them out

“Over there Doggs, they are still stationary and busy with the tusks from what I can make out. Pity we did not have binoculars.”

As she said that I remembered the small binoculars in the compartment just behind her seat.

“There are a set just behind you Margs. I want you to see if we can get their licence plate if they have been stupid enough to leave them on.”

I saw Margy look at me funny then felt my whispers go into high gear.

“We don’t need their number plate I know who two of them are. They booked into the hotel about two weeks ago and their base is in the area round about Makalamabedi, that is more or less 50 miles South, South East of Maun. They are part of a bigger crew of seven people.”

I got onto the radio and told Dad of the whispers and he had said he would inform the police and they could split their forces and cover both. We flew around for another twenty minutes then saw dust coming from Manne and also saw a chopper come into view also coming from that side. The cavalry had arrived.

As the chopper got close, I waggled my wings and led them directly to the poachers who had by this time heard the chopper and had decided to run for it. The chopper flew parallel to them and the used a bullhorn to tell them to stop but was met with a flurry of shots. The chopper veered away then flew to a spot in front of them and just hovered. We saw the truck stop under some bush scrub but were not going to remain hidden as we were flying on one side and the chopper was in front of them. I got on the radio and guided Dad and his crew into the immediate area then told them to stop. They were about three hundred yards from where their truck had stopped. As they bailed out and I flew over them I saw Brinn, Colon, Josh, Don and Hezi with Dad and they were well armed and started towards where the truck was. As I pulled up, I saw the chopper go low and three guys jump out at about eight feet off the ground. These were three policemen from Maun. They fanned out and started towards the truck. Both sides had been warned about the others so we were not going to have any crossfire incidents.

They had moved in about half the distance when the shooting started. I saw all our guys go to ground. Then more firing but this time from the three policemen and it was automatic fire, these boys had brought in the big guns. I saw one of the poachers go down and the other three return fire. As Dad and the crew heard the firing they moved about 20 yards nearer and they also opened fire. As we watched, one of them broke cover and ran for the bush and looked like he might have been unseen as nobody shot at him. I dropped the nose of the Piper to just above the thorn bushes and flew straight at him. As I got to him, I dived straight at him and saw him dive for the deck and as I pulled up and threw open the throttle I gave him a sand shower. We got a bit of height and I pulled the Piper round to have another go at him and saw him rubbing his eyes, I had blown dirt into his face and before he could see properly Hezi ran up to him and knocked him flat. I flew past just in time to see Dad and the others covering the last two as the policemen arrived at the truck. Job well done but for the guy who was down. The radio crackled to life and it was the chopper pilot who said they would land and sort out what needed sorting and thanks for the assist.

We were flying around making sure everything on the ground was OK and they did not need further assistance when Dad came on the radio and told us to fly back to Manne and that they would see us shortly. The chopper was going to be used to fly the wounded poacher back to Maun and would come back for the other three later. Dad and the crew were going to take the other three back to Manne and keep them in custody till the police came to collect them. We turned towards the river, hung a right and flew back to the flat spot where we put down without any incident. Man, oh man, over the last two days I had put in more flying time than I had over the last month and I was feeling really good. As we rolled to a stop Briggs came up from the hotel to meet us. There was good news and bad news. I hated that, why could we not just get good news for a change?

Chapter 26

The good news was that the US intelligence people had verified what I had said about our two missing Lieutenants but had been told by the Yugoslav army that it was not troops under their command that had possibly snatched them and that was the bad news. If they were dissidents that was going to open up a whole new can of worms. I thought to myself it could not get worse, then Briggs said.

“That was not the end of it unfortunately. The police in Germany had just received a note from the RAF group, the Rote Armee Fraktion or in English the Red Army Faction but they are better known as the Baader, Meinhoff Gang and they want some of their people freed from German jails or they are going execute those two army types. Nice guys huh?”

I looked at both of them then asked

“What were those cave thingies I saw, did they let us know?”

Briggs said “They are known as karst caves. They were formed by underground rivers or water courses, something like that. The whole area at the top of Yugoslavia which was Slovenia or something is in the mountains and there are hundreds of streams and underground rivers and to add to that is heavily forested. That should make for some pretty nasty fun and games?”

“Yeah, just what we needed, fun and games in a difficult area with some yoyos that have a beef to grind with society and carry guns around, absolutely damn well brilliant.”

We walked into the hotel and Mom called me over.

“The police just came through on our radio and told us that they have caught the other three people involved with the poaching just before Makalamabedi and have them in jail and are waiting for Gabs to come and pick them up. The guy that was shot died from his wounds and they should be here shortly to collect the others. I told them Dad and the others have not got back yet” she paused “So MR bush pilot what the heck were you doing up at the bridge on the bend anyway, galavanting all over the country in Feelan’s plane?”

“Aw Mom, Feelan said I could and fortunately for us we were there but I think they might have shot Methuselah, damn idiots they...” I did not get further.

“No Doggan it’s not Methuselah but an elephant is an elephant and by the time you guys had got there they had hacked the tusks off. Dad said they are huge. I really don’t understand why they are doing this it’s disgusting.”

After pacifying Mom, we went into the dining room and asked Mama Africa for two plates of sandwiches and three coffees and if she could bring them to the office. As always Mama had said it would be her pleasure. Man, I loved that old lady, nothing was ever too difficult a task, she always made a plan. We got into the office as the radio came alive, it was Morgan.

He asked how the poaching roundup had gone and when I finished, he said

“Ed contacted me about half an hour ago with an update of what the US intel guys have come up with and it looks like we are going man hunting in the mountains of Yugoslavia. Pack your winter woollies guys. You, Margy, Clive and I are going fishing, so as soon as you guys are ready to fly let me know and I’ll get Clive to come fetch you. If you would, please get a move on.”

As I answered in the affirmative something dawned on me

“What do you mean Clive. What has he got to do with our set up?”

“Sorry forgot to tell you. Clive was, ah is one of my best operatives and between Ed and myself we asked him to join us. Sorry Doggs should have told you but this only happened a day or so back and you guys have been kinda busy lately.”

I answered saying it was not a problem and signed off. There was quiet as we took that in. I looked at Margy but Briggs broke the silence first.

“I think Brinn is going to be disappointed he is not going but I suppose he will get used to the idea. He needs to keep me company hey?”

I smiled and said

“Brinn will have his cases to come on Briggs but this is in Europe and the reason we were going with just a few people is because it is pretty sensitive stuff, you know that. Morgan, Margy and we now hear Clive, have done this type of stuff before and I get to tag along because of, well you know what. And as you say, you and Brinn will be here because we have got to have a presence here in Botswana, just in case something comes up, you OK with that?”

“Yeah, so don’t worry. I’m sure we will come up with tons to do, like fish, drink, party, eat....”

She ducked my swing just in time but Margy poked her in the backside and we all laughed.

We had just had our food and coffees when Dad and the crew with their poachers got back bringing the tusks with them as evidence of what they had been up to. Dad locked them up under the fuel depot awning. They would not be moving too far as they also had cuffs and leg restraints on. They were given water and Dad left Hezi standing guard over them. He had my old Lee Enfield .303 with him so doubted very strongly that they would be trying to escape anytime soon. If they knew what I knew of Hezi, they would not have even thought about it but I think they got the message loud and clear... Don’t.

I told Mom and Dad that we were going to Europe on a case and they just nodded and told us to look after one another. Brinn was brought up to speed and knowing Brinn as I did, he made no fuss about being left behind. He said something about it was going to be a lot more peaceful without certain people being around stirring up all sorts of trouble. I poked him in the ribs and said it was about time for a beer or three. Before we left the office, we contacted Morgan and told him to send Clive first thing tomorrow morning. He said he would and gave us a list of what to bring. We signed off and fell into the pub.

Margy and I kept the drinks down to just two each as we knew what tomorrow was bringing. Mom tried hard not to show she was taking strain but after I pulled her to one side and told her not to worry and that we would be safe she settled down. I think both Mom and Dad would have had babies had they known what our mission was going to be.... but they never would. Margy and I went to bed reasonably early for Manne but only got to sleep after packing what we were going to need as per Morgan’s wish list. I had a feeling we were going to need all the sleep we could get in the coming days. Usually spot-on feelings.

Clive flew in around 7.45am and after some quick breakfast and with the plane topped up with fuel, we were back in the air by 8.30am. We climbed to our cruising height quickly. I had not said anything yet to Clive about him joining us in RRI so I brought it up.

“So, Clive, I hear from Morgan you are now part of the River Rats?”

He smiled and answered quietly.

“I was asked not to let either of you guys know that I worked for the bureau, you know, just in case I was ever needed and would then come in from left field and maybe catch people on the hop.”

He looked sheepish as he said this and I think it was mainly for Margy and to put her mind at rest. She had worked a long time with Morgan and he had kept it from her. I saw her nod.

“I should have picked it up a while back but did not. Welcome to the gang.” And that was that. We flew to Lanseria airport just outside of Johannesburg with Clive bringing us up to speed on where, what and when everything was going to happen. When we touched down, we were ready to rock and roll.

Chapter 27

What was waiting for us was pretty special. The US army had sent a new jet to pick us up. Not just any jet but one of the first deliveries to anyone in the world of the Cessna Citation 650 twin engine. Clive and I were very impressed and both had expressed interest of taking the controls at some stage. Needless to say, that was not going to happen. As we boarded with all our gear, we found that there were ten very plush and comfortable seats and a stowage area where we packed out kit. We had hardly sat down when in walked Morgan and sat down.

“Sorry for the rush and not letting you guys have some time to stretch your legs first but we need to move it. I will give a briefing once we are airborne.”

With that he nodded to the pilot. They closed up the door to the cockpit and shortly thereafter heard the motors start to wind up. This was going to be a long flight but at least the seats were wide and extremely comfortable.

Twenty minutes later we levelled out and you could hear the motors smooth out and drop a few revs as they slotted it into cruise mode. I could not believe that a jet could be that quiet, it was fantastic. Then Morgan’s voice interrupted my daydream.

“OK guys, listen up.”

He waited for all to turn and listen then said

“This is going to be a longish flight as we are flying directly to the North of Italy and we are not stopping over anywhere. This aircraft has been fitted with extra, long range tanks so that is not going to be a problem.”

He reached into his briefcase and pulled out five folders, handing one to each of us. He indicated we should read and allowed us to do so until we had all looked up from the files.

“Right as you can see this is going to be one of those assignments” he emphasised the ‘those’ with an added roll of the eyes “And we are going to be given help but only just. The reason being is this is a bit of a political hot potato, with everybody and nobody wanting to get involved. The US intel guys are getting a lot of help from the Germans since they now know it’s the Meinhoff boyos that are involved and it is sort of their backyard problem” he paused looking thoughtful “We are going to be doing this job very carefully and up to point X and then if things don’t go the way we plan it, we will then stand down.”

He then turned to me “Doggs, you are going to be the lynch pin in this whole scenario. Your whispers are going to dictate where, when and how and if you cannot get a full bead on it, that’s it. Oh, this comes from Ed by the way. He says he does not want to put any of us into a dangerous situation that we do not have control over, period. He also let it be known that we are not a front-line tactical fighting squad and that under no circumstances are we to engage in any fire-fights if at all possible, taking into account the area we are going into. He does not want us starting world war three with the Commies. Understood guys?”

We all nodded in agreement.

We went over the new information we had and discussed it at length. Morgan then gave me two other files and said they were the personal files on our lost twosome and for me to go over them but not to reveal anything about them to anybody including him. He had told them I needed that kind of information to get more involved with who they were and that would help with my ‘abilities’.

They all settled back while I went to one the back seats and settled in to read. It was obvious that these two were not only exceptionally good at their work but that they carried enough information to possibly cause a lot of damage to the NATO forces in Europe. It also became quite obvious from the scuttlebutt notes with the file that these two were in a relationship and just that fact was a dangerous situation as the one could be used as leverage on the other to divulge things that they normally would not have a problem with...... under normal conditions. This unfortunately was not normal. The people they were dealing with were fanatics who thought nothing of shooting and bombing innocent people to get their way and to add to that now was the fact that they had tied up with a breakaway faction of the Yugoslav army with possibly money, extortion or a possible sale of classified info involved in the deal.

I put down the file and closed my eyes. I was tired so let myself drift towards sleep. It could have been a dream or my whispers but the movie that ran in my head was pretty vivid and clear. They were in a small encampment in the forest using eight camouflaged tents and netting pulled over everything to make them even more invisible from the air. I saw a patch of forest where there had been a fire and all the trees were dead with a huge rock formation just above a very strong flowing river. There was a mountain range behind them that had two unusual shaped rock faces that were also of a slightly different colour to the surrounding mountains and then there were those funny shaped karsts things or old water courses just to the side of the encampment. I then got almost an aerial view of the area they were in regards to where we were going to be in Tarviso. I sat up quickly and saw all of them watching me.

“Are you OK Doggs? Were you having it out with someone or were your whispers letting you in on anything?”

I just sat there surfacing, coming back to reality slowly.

“Morgan, got a map of that whole area? I have enough info to put us down on their doorstep.” I shook my head, it still felt fuzzy.

Morgan disappeared and was back as the others clustered around. He handed me the map and I quickly found Tarviso and the borders of the three countries. I then stuck my finger on a spot in the mountains of where they were on the map.

“They are here.” And proceed to tell them what I had seen.

“Morgan you are going to have to get hold of the US boys and ask them if they can pinpoint an area that has a biggish patch of burned out forest that is in that area and if they can send us a close up map or aerial photo so that we can see the terrain. At least that way we can plan what is needed.”

Morgan left us and went to the cockpit. Five minutes later he came back and said it was done and that the info would reach us by midmorning tomorrow. Clive and Morgan got up and went back to their seats. Margy stayed behind. We chatted for a few minutes then both fell asleep.

Just before we touched down, we were informed we were landing in Venice as the runway closer to Tarviso was not long enough for our jet. From here we would be flying up by chopper which suited me to the ground. Damn, still wanted to fly one of those things. I would and soon, if I got my way. We were met by an army chopper pilot shortly after we landed and transferred all out kit to the chopper. I was told it was a Bell something or other but was being distracted by Margy who was saying that I was not to try my hand at flying it just yet and to back down. She was muttering something along the lines of she really did not want to die young.

We flew up with no incidents and not much discussion as the Bell was pretty noisy. We all had headphones on but only Morgans headphone was connected to the pilot. We all sat back and watched the countryside skid past which was pretty spectacular as we were flying along the coast then started climbing slightly as we flew towards some low mountain range.

We were shown Tarviso from the air as we flew over and it looked really quaint and very colourful. We flew about seven to eight miles past Tarviso and put down in a clearing with nothing about but trees, grass and snow. As the Bell settled onto the grass and snow two vehicles came out of the surrounding forest. They were military styled Jeeps and had camouflage paint jobs and both just had the drivers. We slowly unpacked our equipment with their help and once loaded, thanked the chopper pilot then left for destination unknown. We did not drive too far before we came to a small encampment with army personnel and perimeter guards who were armed to the teeth. Snazzy looking automatic weapons these guys had, nothing I had ever seen, even saw Morgan have a quick look and nod in appreciation. Things were starting to look ominous but then again, I figured that was how operational army bases were supposed to look.

As we climbed out of the Jeeps, we were met by two official looking guys in uniform who turned out to be the Officer in charge of the US unit a Major John Leonnard and an Italian liaison and support Officer, one Captain Luigi Brettini. We were ushered into a large tent and asked to be seated. The Major asked if we would like coffee and all said yes. While we waited for the coffee, we were brought up to speed by both officers. They explained what had happened up to this point, where each country stood in relation to the politics of the situation, what support we would get if required and what was out of their jurisdiction and not within their orders. It was made extremely clear that beyond a certain point, we were on our own. Neither country was willing to get embroiled in any over border contact and would deny any such allegation of their direct or otherwise indirect participation. Wow, just what the doctor had ordered, a no holds barred dog fight with no good guys to come and help.

Chapter 28

We walked to the tents we had been allocated and split ourselves up accordingly. Margy took the tent next to me and Morgan and Clive took two almost opposite us. We each dumped our kit in the tents and then took a short walk to the edge of the forest but still within sight of the camp.

“This looks like we are up against a rock and a hard place Morgan” this coming from Clive.

“It certainly looks that way guys and I for one don’t like the inference. Methinks old Ed won’t like it either but before we say or do anything let’s see what comes up. Once we have those close ups and the layout of the area we can see if there is anything we can do before calling Ed.”

“Think we had better contact Ed in any case and let him in on what we are thinking before we chuck the baby out with the bathwater. What do you guys think?”

All nodded with Margy saying “Yup, he needs to at least know what’s coming down the pike. He is paying for a chunk of this upfront and needs to be brought up to speed.”

With consensus Morgan and Clive got up and walked back to pull our radio from their kit. We saw them speaking to the Major who called up a guy standing next to a tent to help them. The tent was obviously the radio ‘shack’ because of the antennae sticking out the side of it with wires all hooked up to a tree trunk quite high up. We saw them go in and a few minutes later come out and walk to the mess. Message delivered. We would find out shortly.

Margy looked at me and I could see concern in her eyes

“You think this is going to work for us? I really don’t like this set up Doggs. There are just too many things they are not telling us because of secrecy or whatever, I don’t know, just too bloody iffy.”

“I agree but you know what, we are not going to do anything unless one, we get those close ups and map of the area and two, I can’t come up with what is going to happen etc, etc, OK? So let’s just park and wait.”

I stood up to stretch and all hell broke loose. There was gunfire coming at us from a bit higher up in the forest. With bullets splattering all around us, my first thought was Margy and turned to see her diving into the snow behind the stump we had been sitting on. I joined her in a hurry and just about flatten her as I screamed in. We heard return fire from the camp with the army Joes really laying down some heavy fire. We stayed where we were not even sticking our heads up to see where it had come from, why would we? We were not armed. That had to change and soon.

The fire fight did not last too long and everything went quiet with the army unit going up the slight hill to follow and mop up. Margy and I walked down quickly to where Morgan and Clive were standing looking concerned.

“You two OK, nobody hit?”

We shook our heads and walked the last few yards.

“Really think we need some artillery Morgan. Are we going to get anything, because if this is how it’s going to start, I want something to throw back at them, whoever the hell they are, know what I mean? Pity I did not have Dad’s 30.06 with scope, they would have known a thing or two by now.”

As I said this, the Major and the Captain came back into the camp.

“We got one of them and damn it was a young woman of about 25. She has just confirmed our intel though. She had a cammo Parka on with a red star and a H&H subby embroidered onto her top pocket. They are definitely RAF. There were about six other sets of footprints in the snow. By the way do you guys know who we are talking about?”

“Unfortunately we do. Baader Meinhoff. Any weapons left behind?”

Both nodded. I then asked them something that made them look at me funny.

“I need to have a look at the woman and the weapon and I need some space with no one around while I do that. You guys OK with that?”

Again both nodded. They had obviously heard about my whispers and were not about to stop that from happening.

Morgan and Clive went back into the radio tent to let Ed know what had happened. I walked up to where our terrorist lady had been shot with the Major in tow. As we got there he gave instructions to the unit to fan out and to cover the area while I inspected the body and the weapons. The Italian Captain was by this time on the road a mile from the camp to make sure that anyone coming up to see what the shooting was about would be turned back. He had already contacted his base and informed them about the attack. They were sending some Italian troops to the area to help contain the problem. After checking that nothing had been moved the Major walked back down to the camp leaving me to my unenviable task. I watched as a Jeep came up to the encampment and two guys got out and the next minute all were trooping into the mess tent, obviously our maps and close ups had arrived.

Looking down at the bullet riddled body of that young woman and trying to come to terms that she was a terrorist and someone who was capable of murder and mayhem was difficult as she seemed so at peace. Then again a lion was a beautiful animal but while on the hunt was absolutely fierce and deadly. No arguments here from me, she died as she had lived, violently.

I put my hands on her clothing and then almost picked up her rifle. I was thinking, but why would anyone leave a rifle behind when the whispers came to me almost instantaneously. The first thing I saw was a man standing over the body of a woman and putting what looked like a grenade under the body and setting a booby trap. I then realised it was the young lady at my feet. I looked under the body and there was the grenade with a very thin wire attached to the rifle. I moved away slightly and sat down on a fallen log. Luckily none of the soldiers had moved anything or we would have buried a few of them today. These were very warped and dangerous people. It was starting to get very cold and under the trees it was even colder but at least here there was no snow on the ground. I relaxed myself and the whispers came back.

I saw the peak of a mountain through some snow laden trees and an old cart path or road going up towards the mountain. Then the path turned right and went through a pass and as my whispers showed me what was over the hill I saw my original whisper of the burnt out patch, the weird shaped rocks plus everything else. Wow we were really close. I kept sitting and as more came to me I saw the exact area where they were camped but it looked like they were packing up the tents. Damn they were going to be moving and quickly.

I called the Major and some of his unit that were close by. When they got to me I explained about the rifle booby trap. Everybody moved back and a guy they said was an explosives expert got the grenade out and made everything safe. While this was happening Morgan and Clive walked up and I told them about the whispers. Morgan gave out a low chuckle as he watched the Majors expression as I told them what was going on. As I finished the Major whistled.

“Damn you have just described the area behind that grove of trees. Once you come through the other side you will see what you have just explained. That mountain range and pass is unfortunately the border between Italy and Yugoslavia and we, I mean our unit would have to stop right there. We can’t go further without some major political fallout. We have been warned by the Commies, no official troops, US or Italian, done and dusted. If I did not know any better I would have sworn you had already had a peek over that side. This is kinda weird but dang it works. How you do it? ”

I shrugged my shoulders but was watching Morgan and Clive’s reaction to the Major’s little speech so was not surprised when Morgan asked more or less what I was thinking of asking.

“Are you guys able to ‘loan’ or give us some decent and reliable weapons for us to take over there. We are not going over that mountain, around it or anywhere without some sort of hardware in our hands. Those boyos on that side are not going to let us walk in there like a bunch of boy scouts selling cookies are they? They are going to lay down a real warm welcoming party just for us if we just pitch up.”

The Major did not say a thing and said for us to walk with him. We walked down to the camp and went directly to a big wheeled armoured type vehicle with an enclosed rear end. He walked round the back and with a set of keys opened a back door. Inside was an arsenal made up of every discerning warmongers pick of weapons. I immediately stared to laugh as I saw the surprise on Morgan and Clive’s faces. Margy pushed up front and just smiled.

“See you have been told about our favourite pieces Major. Ed?”

The Major grinned “Very convincing man Mr Fitzimmonds and very wide awake as to the needs of his, aah people on the ground. He also told us that you guys would probably be in need of a few things like this to help you on your way. Hope you approve?”

Morgan then told us that Ed had left the decision to us whether to go or not but if we did to be careful.

Chapter 29

We quickly kitted up with some snow outfits supplied by the US army and was told they were commercial outfits with no markings on them. We included some skis with our kit and a choice of weapons we were probably going to need. The three ex ‘BOSS’ types took all their favourite automatic weapons, fold down AK 47’s and standard Star 9mm handguns. Me I took a big old Colt 45, a Walther PPK 9mm in a shoulder holster and a beautifully engraved Sako 30.06 with a really good looking scope on it. Morgan and Clive took six grenades each and told Margy and I to take a couple as well, which we did. We also took a couple of boxes of ammo for each of our pieces. Then the Major pulled out a backpack and showed us what was inside. He said they were rifle grenades which fitted onto the three AK’s that Morgan, Clive and Margy were carrying...... What he explained as a little extra boom at distance. Clive was all smiles.

Morgan grabbed four portable walkie talkies from his tent which we checked and set on our channels. All worked well. Morgan then set the guidance beacons on each one giving us which signal belonged to who and how it worked. These were some of Ed’s companies new toys. If any of us went missing, the others could track us down following the beacon pings when set on the beacon setting. There were no markings as to what that switch was and once activated could only be put off by punching in a specific code then flicking the switch to off. We all liked that bit, knew that could come in handy.

The Major came over and said the Italian troops would be arriving shortly and that maybe it would be a good idea to get moving now. We all agreed and started the trek up the hill where we had just had the fire fight. A couple of the US unit were tasked to keep us company until the pass, then they would find cover and settle in for us to get back. We indicated that we would come back in daylight and that we would give them ample opportunity to know it was us. We did not want any friendly fire coming at us when we were on our way home hopefully with our two lost souls. They agreed.

As we came out of the trees there was my whispers scenario like I was watching a movie rerun, perfect in every way. Clive whistled quietly

“Damn that is exactly what I was waiting to see and Doggs, my buddy you were spot on. The only way it could have been better would have been to give me a photo of what we are now seeing.”

Morgan nodded at Clive’s chirp and turned to follow the path. I stopped everyone in their tracks. Something was tickling my mind. Everyone stopped and was watching me. My whispers came through and I showed everyone to hunch down until I got a better idea of what was bugging me and it came pretty quickly.

“The buggers have laid a few mines on the road guys. We are going to have to go straight towards the mountain and then when we get to the pass we will have to go over it the hard way. They have sown a couple there as well. There is a small cave near the pass which will help hide you guys from the snow and wind. We will come back the same way. We stood up and moved towards the mountain, me taking the lead.

It took us a lot longer to get to the pass than we had at first thought and it was starting to get dark. Once we got just above the pass we found the small cave and decided we would all stop right there until early the next morning. No good chancing our arm on a trek across some nasty mountain in the dark and I was sure that our targets across the pass would also only leave the next day also not wanting to move in inhospitable surroundings at night, well I hoped so. The cave was a bit bigger than we had at first thought and extended quiet far into the mountain and was well shielded from the elements and was at least dry. We need some light and some heat and were thinking of lighting a small smokeless fire when three of the army types pulled small bottles of gas out of their kits, screwed in adapters and connected small cookers and small lamps. They lit the lamps and cookers and before we knew it we were all having coffee and some dog biscuits. The dog biscuits were standard K rations and I think we had all had our fair share of them over the years. We certainly would not starve tonight. After chatting for a while we put the lights out and slept.

Well most slept but I did not for quite a while. I started getting whispers of tomorrow and that for me was unusual. I usually got feelings of things that had happened and sort of figured out what should come next but this was definitely different. I saw us moving down into the valley between the two close together mountain ranges and then us stopping to check where we were in relation to where their camp was yesterday. I then saw their group about a half mile down the valley moving slowly, they had wounded with them and it was slowing them down. I then saw a pathway along our side of the range running parallel with the forests edge and that we could come up to them easily without being seen. Then someone in their group had seen something and at that moment the whispers died on me. I was frustrated but decided to let it go and get some sleep. Margy heard me sigh and quietly asked what was up. I told her and could feel her eyes on me wide eyed.

“That’s something new Doggs and it could come in handy, big time handy.”

She then slid up to me and cuddled.

“Just need some warmth and TLC.”

That was fine with me as I also needed a little reassurance. Today had been tough.

I woke first before there was any light so just lay there and thought about the day that lay ahead. My whispers came slowly and frustrated me, I still could not see what was going to happen once they saw what I suppose was us coming off the mountain and that frustrated me. The next thing that came to mind was us backtracking to the pass with our two missing Lieutenants but what had been done to get us there was a blank. I got up and flicked on my mini torch and lit two of the gas stoves and put water on to boil. Morgan and Clive and two of the support unit woke next and sidled up to the light and slight heat. Within a few minutes we were all awake and ready for some coffee. I wandered to the cave mouth to see what the weather held in store. It was an overcast day with light snow flurries which was good for hiding us but maybe not so for the climb we had waiting for us.

We parted company with our support guys and told them to hang in there for the day and hopefully would be back later or at the worst hopefully tomorrow. They stood and watched as we moved towards the pass. We stayed off the path and climbed along the side of the ridge away from the possibility of things that went boom under your feet. We climbed and scrabbled our way over the pass and then started our decent staying well above the path. It was tough going and about midmorning we started to see the forest on the other ridge opposite us. Before we left the cave I had told them of the whispers and the gap in the unfolding story. When we started the decent I had reminded them to look for that pathway on our side of the valley that went off to the right so that at least one of us might pick it up before reaching the bottom. We realised we had missed it as we got to the valley floor. As we looked around I was standing right in the spot I had seen in the whispers. It felt really weird.

We stopped and looked around and saw a few things. Up ahead was a cleared out area that had been hacked open under the trees and knew that was where their camp had been. They had obviously left in a hurry as there were discarded tins and other bits and pieces lying around. That was fortunate for us, as we had not picked it up until then. Had they still been there we would have probably walked into an ambush of our own making. I said as much and added we had got to be more observant and on our toes. Yes we had the advantage of my whispers but there was still that gap that could be dangerous. Margy pointed behind us and slightly to the left

“That is why we did not see the path Doggs, it only starts up just over there” pointing to an opening in the trees “And if you look further down you can just make out where the path runs.” We started for the opening of the path then heard a muffled shot from ahead of us. We all ducked down then realised it had not been a shot at us.

We moved quickly to get off the valley floor and onto the pathway. As we entered the pathway we saw that it gave us very good cover as it was pretty overgrown and that suited us. We quickly but silently moved along the path keeping our eyes peeled for any sign of them. We had gone about half a mile when I saw Clive who was at the front give us a hand signal to stop. Morgan got to him and the two of them moved about slightly until they could see better down onto the valley floor. Then Clive showed us to come and join them. As we got there we heard someone start yelling and looked between the overhanging branches of the trees and the undergrowth and there they were including our two targets.

There was one man who was really agitated and doing the yelling at another man who stood with a small handgun pointing at the yeller. Seeing as none of us spoke whatever language we were not at all sure of what was going down. The guy yelling then started un-slinging his rifle and the other one shot him. Bang and the man went down. It was easy to see that there were two factions below us and next minute everybody was pointing their weapons at someone on the other side. This was a turn up for the books and a dangerous one for the two hostages but they saw what was happening and promptly sat down behind a log.

The standoff below us had got heated and there was lots of gesticulation and shouting at one another. One man stood up tall, lowered his weapon and yelled harder than the rest. It went quiet. He proceeded to say whatever and saw everyone nodding except for two guys who still did not look too happy. They had different cammo outfits than the others so decided they were not the rogue army guys but the two people from the RAF. Mr ‘Quieten down everything’ finished off and paused. The guy who was not happy said something and everybody still stood tensed. Then Mr Quieten down said something back and the whole troop shouldered their packs and weapons and walked towards the forest leaving the two and our targets behind. Everything was quiet for about five minutes as the two talked quietly to themselves keeping their two hostages in front of them. They were still sitting behind the log but had not moved. The two then pulled out a radio but could not contact whoever it was they were trying to call. They sat down to figure out what they were going to do next. This could only benefit us. We stayed low, now was not the time to move as the army rogues were still too close for comfort. For us it was time to park and watch.

Chapter 30

The two RAF boyos had decided that they needed to think things through so made a small fire and had put a pot onto the fire. They sat and were obviously discussing what their next move was going to be. They were in unchartered territory and this was not their backyard. What had just happened to them was not going according to plan. Their army rogue group had dropped them like hot potatoes and just walked off. They killed the fire, made their coffee and poured some for their two hostages, then sat down to talk some more. We had waited until they had drunk their coffee and rinsed their mugs in the small stream before we made our move.

We had slunk around finding a path down to them where we would not make too much noise. We then started moving slowly towards them putting each foot down on solid ground and watching for branches and bushes that could move and give us away. We had chosen to do the slow creep up and try to do what was necessary without firing any shots. We really did not want the rogue army guys to hear shots and come back. That would not stop us but would certainly make things more difficult and at the moment, being in someone’s back yard where things could still get ugly for us, the quieter the better.

Clive and I were ahead of Morgan and Margy both taking slightly different routes towards them when we heard something we did not want to hear, a chopper. This could only be a Yugoslav army or air force chopper and we basically hugged the deck and took cover as best we could. As I looked down to the two RAF guys I watched as they also hit the deck next to a log and lay still. Our two Lieutenants stayed where they were crawling as close to the log as they could. As the chopper flew over everyone froze and the chopper sped past without a hiccup. All knew this was not in anyone’s game plan and did not need official Governmental intrusions at this point in time. We all waited for the sound to disappear down the valley. The two RAF boys started getting up and congratulating themselves for not being seen and surviving to fight another day when I saw Morgan show by hand signals we should tackle them now while they were still not too steady and not concentrating. He put his finger to his mouth showing we should if at all possible, do it quietly.

Clive and I were approximately thirty yards from them. Keeping low we both came off the ground and started moving towards them, both holding pistols ahead of us. I saw that Clive had a silencer on his but did not have one for the Colt 45 so decided my man was going down with a tackle if need be. The one guy saw Clive when he still had about 15 yards to go and started raising his rifle. Clive shot him square in the chest and he went down hard. As I saw this happen I got up and sprinted the last couple of yards for the other guy and hit him low in the stomach as he turned, he went down like I had shot him with a shotgun. He was moaning and wondering what had hit him. Clive stepped closer and picked up his rifle then between the two of us we stripped him of his handgun and other weapons. I rolled him over and tied his hands behind his back. He was coming with us. Margy and Morgan had by then got to our two hostages, untied them and got them up. They looked dazed and happy at the same time. With thanks from them we were ready to go home.

We quickly decided to go back to our pathway rather than walk down the valley just in case our chopper decided to come back this way. We had pulled our dead RAF member under some bushes so he would not be seen from the air and maybe give away that we were in the area. Morgan had produced a small camera and taken two or three photos of our downed guy and we had got moving. We had made sure our prisoner was securely bound and that he was not going to cause any problems for us. We had told him in English that if he were to yell or do something to draw attention to us I would either stuff one of Clive’s socks in his mouth or I would shoot him in the leg with my 45 and leave him for the wolves. He had nodded his head rigorously and in English had said he would not cause problems. I don’t think he liked the idea of Clive’s sock or it was possibly the other alternative.

Twice on the way back to the pass the chopper had flown past. We had decided that the rogue group had possibly radioed in and given our position with news that the two officers had important info they could divulge and was the reason they had gone along with the RAF guys. Well that was all supposition on our part but was probably closer to the truth than we knew, otherwise why was the chopper doing the run up and down the valley. This could get tricky once we got to the pass area as there was not that amount of cover for us. We got there and decided to wait and see what happened. I pulled off to one side and sat down. The others saw what I did so said nothing.

After the excitement and adrenaline rush of the last hour or so, it took me a while to calm myself to the point of relaxing. I looked over the area ahead of us and the beauty of it and felt myself go calm and almost at the same time my whispers came to me. I saw us sitting where we were for a while. Then the chopper flew past and disappeared down the valley. I saw us getting up and following back in our footsteps with no problems. As we got to the top a man had appeared before us and as he brought up his rifle. I had shot him. We had then started to move quickly and as we crested the pass into Italy the chopper had come back but just hovered there watching the seven of us climb down the other side, then our army unit guys had appeared and the chopper had veered away and we were home safe.

I stood up and told the others also to stand up but to stay under cover. A few minutes later the chopper flew past going down the valley. I led them out and we hurried to where we had come down off the pass. I took the lead on the climb and just before the crest I pulled my 45 and continued climbing. Morgan sidled up to me and asked why the 45 was out and I told him, he pulled his Star and we continued the climb. As we got to the crest a man stepped out almost like it was choreographed in my whisper. He had the same RAF markings on his jacket as our prisoner. He was startled and tried to get his rifle to his shoulder but did not make it before my 45 slug knocked him down. This time though my feelings about shooting someone seemed dulled and did not know if it was because of who he was or because of the cold. Maybe it was a combination of both but it did not worry me too much. Morgan quickly took two pictures of our dead terrorist.

Just then behind him three faces popped up from behind a snow drift, it was our army backup team. They came over, picked up the RAF guy and the body and we hoofed it over the border. Just then we heard the Yugoslav chopper come up behind us and hover over the crest. I turned to see if what I had seen in the whispers was correct. To my surprise I saw the pilot give me the thumbs up as did his co-pilot. With that done the chopper veered off and flew back down to the valley and was gone.

We had fulfilled our mission. Now all we had to do was get back to camp, hand over our two missing army types and our RAF prisoner and it would be ‘home James and don’t spare the horses.’ Well that was supposed to be what happened but we were in for a surprise trip that each of us would remember for a while. As we got back to the camp there were about eight choppers standing in the clearing, two real biggies, five smaller ones and a gun ship. It turned out we were on our way to Germany and Ed was waiting for us there. A proper paid holiday was just what the doctor had ordered. That was what I hoped for anyway. Time would tell.

By now all the equipment plus the vehicles had been packed and driven into the big Chinook heavy lift hellies and the troops into four of the Eurocopters. One Eurocopter was reserved for us and a Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk was there to supply backup on our trip back. Seemed like the US army types were not going to take any chances with their two lost people or us for that matter and that was good.

Chapter 31

The flight back to Germany was uneventful and peaceful. We all lay back in our seats and dozed. Funny how stress and nervous tension coupled with little sleep could affect a man or a woman. Me on the other hand had all sorts of things running through my head but thankfully could not pinpoint what and soon enough fell asleep.

We had left pretty late in the day so it was dark when we arrived back at the Lindsay Air Force base. They had really lit up the area where we were to land with huge light pods and had a few units ready to meet us. As we landed the two Lieutenants and our RAF prisoner were bundled into two separate vehicles and driven away. Ed was standing there with what looked like a General as he had three stars on his cap. After hugging each one of us we were introduced to General Murchison. We shook hands all round and walked to two Mercedes Benz limousines. As we got there the General told us that all our kit would be brought through to our quarters but now we were going to a meeting with some intel people to debrief and have supper. As it turned out we ate first then filed into a conference room where we found five people waiting for us. We were soon into our debriefing.

We were thanked for getting their two charges back healthy and alive. They had then told us that tomorrow was the date given for their execution had the German Government not released three of their comrades in arms. It looked like we had just made it. Secondly they told us that the RAF guy we had brought back with us plus the two guys that had been shot in Yugoslavia were on the top wanted list for the German, French and US Governments. They had been responsible for a few bombings in Germany and France where US personnel had been concerned. That felt good. We were then asked about where we had picked them up and about any interference from Yugoslav forces. They were surprised about the smiles and thumbs ups we had got from the chopper pilots at the pass but reasoned that their military were not like their Russian counterparts when it came to helping people like the RAF and other terrorist groups, unless it was to their benefit. We went through a whole barrage of questions before they were satisfied. They asked us to please remain after they left as there were two officers that wanted to speak to us. What about, we were soon to find out.

The two officers soon arrived. One was a woman officer who seemed to be in charge. They were introduced as Lieutenant Commander Gerritson, the lady officer and Lieutenant Hammer. They were from a specialised services unit delving into different forms of ‘unusual’ phenomena like ESP. They were interested in talking to me to find out what made my whispers work. Unfortunately for them, this was not going to produce anything for them to work on as I could not tell them why, just that it did. We sat for about half an hour or so before they came to realisation that no usable information was forthcoming. She then pulled out a document and handed it to Ed. He read through the three page document making some notes on his pad and at one point chuckling. As he finished reading he handed it to me which I immediately saw was not what LC Gerritson wanted but she said nothing. It was a combined request from the US Intelligence Department and NATO Command for RRI to allow for my ‘services’ to be used from time to time.

I looked at Ed

“No problem from my side Ed with one proviso” and saw his eyebrows arch “I do my bush whispers at home. The only time I go to any away area, is if it is one hundred percent needed. Then I get what I require to do the job properly, just as they did for this last one, full backup.”

I saw all present nod in agreement, including the two officers.

“Oh and one more thing” all turned back to me “I will only go if our crew gets to go. If I feel that all of us Morgan, Clive and Margy need to go, then that is what happens. If it is just two of us needed, no problem.”

I saw the hesitation from the two officers.

“Mr Rath, that won’t go down with certain parties as some of the things that we would approach you to do, could be sensitive information. I don’t think command would allow carte blanche use of your people, sorry.”

I shrugged “Then Commander you have just lost my services, simple as that. Our crew gets to play or no way” I smiled at my rhyming “Methinks you should have a chat with the powers that be. Let Ed know what the outcome is, OK? Oh and one more thing. We are RRI and that stands for Rescue Response International and that means we, as a crew, as a company find people who are missing or lost. We don’t do the espionage thing or find out where you can bomb things etc”

I looked over at a smiling Ed

“Sorry Ed but that is what we started RRI for was’nt it?”

I saw him nod “Actually Commander, Doggs here is quite right. We are only available for rescues and would now only give you information pertaining to a lost aircrew or something similar. If it were to involve us going into an area of conflict, we will turn down the request. We will however then give you the information so you could react on it. In fact, now that I think about it, this last little sortie we just pulled should not have been done by us. We should have given you the information and allowed you guys to get on with it. One of my people could have been killed in your war with the Commies and that is not on. So, please give our terms to the powers that be and they can let us know how they wish to proceed from here. Thank you.”

As he finished he got up and we followed. We shook hands and walked out. I was sure we would be hearing from them sooner than later.

We were met by the General as we walked out and invited for a drink at the officers mess which we accepted. As we walked in we felt out of place as all the officers present where well dressed and we still had on our ‘combat’ kit. They all clapped as we came in and it looked as they had planned this just for us. We soon got with the program though and had drinks of our choice in hand. The General introduced us to his command and soon we were in different discussions all round. Margy and I found ourselves in a discussion about the RAF and got all the skinny on who was doing what to whom and where they thought it would all go. After our second toot we all took our leave stating we were tired after our exploits and needed some shut eye. We were shown to our quarters and soon after taking some long hot showers had bunked down and slept.

Ed was already bouncing when we got to the mess for breakfast. It was seven in the morning and he was already there. As we walked in he pulled us over.

“We got our next case guys and you are going to the US of A. Got some heavy hitters from the Governor’s office down in Florida smoothing everything out for our flights, transport and the like. They have two movie stars that have gone missing from a movie shoot and there is a major upheaval about it. You guys fly from Frankfurt in three hours. We are getting a ride there courtesy of the US military. I am going back to London. So guys eat up and let’s get moving.”

He looked at me “Doggs I have a preliminary report for you to look through once you are up, see if you can get a bead on it before you guys get there. There will be a special flight waiting to pick you up from JFK International to fly you down to Miami. You are going back to what you know, swamps and alligators and things. That should cheer you up.”

We got to the Frankfurt airport and were whisked through like royalty with nobody even asking for passports. We flew first class and were all chuffed about that. Two hours later with us at cruising altitude I pulled the file out and started reading. I wondered who our two stars were. Soon found out.

Meredith Mayer, the actress and daughter of Governor Chem Mayer of Florida and her leading man Jeremy Blackman, a well healed and connected actor from California. Both were in their mid- twenties and very much on the rise, the future for them looked rosy, only now they had gone missing. The file also showed them as a couple away from the lights. Their car was found abandoned on the road leading South on the outer limits of Miami. Doors were closed and locked but nobody around. It was two days before the whistle was blown and they were reported missing by their agent. The only reason he had done so, was that the studio had been harassing him about his charges no show on the first day of shooting two days before. Nobody knew where they were or why they had not pitched. There had been nothing from them, no notes, not a call, zilch.

The movie they were supposed to be working on was a period piece about the slavery days and the lawyers of the studio thought that it was that reason they had been abducted. The police had wanted to know how they could possibly say something along those lines without evidence and obviously with the Governors daughter being involved there were conspiracy theories flying around but nothing concrete, no evidence and no ransom notes and only confusion which was made worse by the media hype surrounding the whole story. When one looked at this from the outside, it looked like a major publicity stunt. It was the studio though that had heard from Ed through his media wing in the US and had immediately employed RRI to find their two missing stars, so maybe not a publicity stunt after all.

There was not too much information on their private lives but the little the studio had released and that amounted to zero. I thought that my whispers had gone into lock down as nothing even fluttered, until I pulled the last two things from the file. It was two photographs of them taken on holiday four weeks before on a Jamaican beach. Then I felt a gentle breeze around me and slowly my movie came to light but still could not figure out what was going on, too jumbled.

I looked at the photo of two youngsters more or less my age and there was a connection. I closed my eyes, lay back and let myself drift. It was not long and I opened my eyes only to see Margy and Morgan hovering over me like two vultures, although two good looking ones. I felt the question before it came.

“You having a nightmare Doggs or are you and your whispers having a chat?”

I saw Morgan smile as he asked the question. I was not going to answer him but also saw the look on Margy’s face.

“Think you had better give Clive a yell, he will also want to hear this firsthand.”

Margy slipped away and came back as quickly. Clive came down the aisle like a man sleep walking, yawning, scratching his side and then stretching.

“This had better be good or I am dropping you guys out the front door, no chutes.”

We sat in an area where the seats faced one another. I checked to make sure nobody was in earshot, took a sip from my drink from earlier then dropped a small bomb on them.

“Unfortunately guys it looks like we have a political kidnapping, abduction or whatever you want to call it on our hands and are going to have extra drama because there are local cops involved or so it seems. So it looks like we are going to be hamstrung and hung out to dry where the local help is concerned.”

I paused to let that bit of info sink in and saw some slightly wider eyes from all with Clive now fully awake. I watched as the three of them assimilated the info and put it all together. Morgan was the first to add his voice.

“Shees, that’s all we bloody well need. You know how difficult it is going to be to try and keep what we know from them. We can’t work with the cops then. We are going to have to find a way to work round that and do it carefully. These are not our people and they are already going to be looking at us all weird right up front before we start because we are outsiders. We also won’t know for a while which cops are involved and which are not. Aaargh! ”

Margy spoke up next

“Guys we are going to have to contact Ed and let him know what we are up against and that this could get ugly pretty damn quick.”

Clive and I both nodded in agreement with Morgan just sitting back with his eyes closed. It looked like we were walking into a hornet’s nest and I for one hated hornets. The little buggers were not like bees, these boys could continue to sting without let up and these particular ones were foreigners.

Chapter 32

We were scheduled to land at JFK at 6 in the morning and landed at 7.35 in a slight drizzle. The weather had played quite a part in our hold up but then again we were not in any hurry. As we were getting our things together we all heard a muffled explosion but it was not near us so continued our walk to the exit. As we got to the exit we heard the sirens of some emergency vehicles and then saw three fire tenders go hurtling by down the runway then turn to towards some buildings, then we saw the flames. Whatever was burning it was cooking on gas as the flames were visible even though it was raining by now. We were not involved so moved through to the entrance of the arrivals area. Almost immediately we saw three men standing to one side, one with a placard reading RRI. They were our welcoming committee but boy could they not smile a bit more, they looked like funeral directors.

The three waiting for us turned out to be the pilot and co-pilot from the aircraft that was waiting to take us to Miami and the third guy was an FBI agent who introduced himself as Mr Jackson Smith. At this I turned away to cough and to hide my amusement at the name...... really, yeah right. I turned and we all shook hands. Just then another similarly dressed guy as Mr Smith walked in quickly, pulled him over to one side and whispered in his ear. I saw the shock register in his face, obviously not a good poker player this guy. He turned and looked at our party.

“Lady and gentlemen, I think we had better step into those offices” pointing to the airports security area “We have a problem.”

He did not wait to hear our response but walked into the security area and flapped his FBI credentials to the guard who had stepped up to stop us.

“Is there an office we can use right now?” he emphasized the right now.

We were shown to a large office while another guard called it in. Within a minute we were in the office. The agent that had come in and informed Mr Smith about what had happened talked to the head of security and he immediately reacted by issuing orders, then chaos reigned with security personnel running for the exits.

Mr Smith turned to us “Sorry for all the drama but as I said, we have a slight problem” he looked round at us then “which one of you is Doggan Rath” that coming out as Doe gone Raath.

I stood up “That would be me. What’s the problem?”

He indicated another office “Think we better talk in there.”

“I don’t think so. What you want to tell me can be said right here. We all are RRI and in one way or another, all involved.”

He fortunately was not a stickler and just nodded.

“The aircraft you were about to fly to Miami in has just exploded and burnt out completely” he waited for the reaction and the why’s then added “We should have been airborne about 50 minutes ago.....” he trailed off allowing us time to realise what he was saying.

“Sorry folks, it looks like someone does not want you down there, real bad.”

Shees, was that the understatement of the year or what? As I looked at all of them, what I had said on the plane as being extra complicated had just surfaced with a vengeance. This was going to get sticky. Then I felt the whispers starting up and excused myself and walked into the next office. Morgan stopped Mr Smith from following me. I heard him somewhere in the distance telling him why and the ‘I don’t believe it’ muttered response.

After what felt like about a minute I walked back out. Just Margy and Clive were still seated. Both looked up at me expectantly.

“We got more problems than we thought guys but where is Morgan?”

Margy answered “He and ‘Mr Smith’ went to arrange another flight to Miami, maybe on one of their planes and to send in a report to his boss and for Morgan to let Ed know what has happened. Don’t think Ed is going to be all that happy. How the hell did whoever know we were coming and set up that little, welcome to America present?”

“Like I said guys, things are not what they look like. Think about it, who knew we were coming to help?” and left the question dangling.

Both looked at me hoping for obvious answers.

“A few people actually, like the top cop from Miami, the FBI, the movie guys and the Governor and I don’t think too many others, unless someone has spilt the beans and talked because they have kept it under wraps and nothing to the media in general. If it was a publicity stunt arranged by the movie guys it would have been all over the news but nothing from them. The cops could be involved but what would they gain from it? The FBI people are not going to grab them unless they are terrorists, which just leaves the Governor and what would he gain from it? I am not going to give this info to the FBI just yet so let’s keep this close to home for a while, OK guys?”

Both nodded in agreement and in walked Morgan and the FBI, all five of them.

Morgan looked at me and I gave him the slightest of head shakes then put my finger to my lips with my hand holding up my chin.

“So Doggs, anything?” lifting his eyebrows.

“Nah, it’s still too fuzzy. We need to get more info then maybe.”

I saw the derisive look on Mr ‘FBI original’ Jackson Smith’s face. Boy would he be surprised if he knew what I knew but that was not going to happen just yet. We were informed that we were going to be flying to Miami on one of the FBI aircraft and would have the services of the five agents until such time as we got there then Mr Smith would remain with us and the other four would return to New York. We sat around for about an hour and a half before we got the call. As we walked out onto the apron we saw our plane. It was a big glossy black executive jet which we found out was a Hawker Siddeley A400. Very nice and just for us, so things must have been hotting up down South.

We had an uneventful flight with the weather clearing up. We flew over the Everglades, turned south of Miami then as we came into land we could see the beaches and the high rise buildings on one side and open scrubland on the other, it was beautiful. We rolled past about five terminals and to a building and hanger off to one side. We were told that it was the FBI’s little piece of privacy on the MIA airport. MIA was explained – Miami International Airport. That solved plenty. With things having gone wrong already these boys were not taking any chances. I wondered who was paying the tab and why the in your face presence of the FBI. We would again soon find out.

The pilot had rolled the jet straight into the hanger then stopped. Within ten minutes of arriving, we were off and unpacked. We walked into what looked like a small conference room with soft seats and a big mahogany table, very official looking. Waiting for us were three people. The big man rose and introduced himself.

“Welcome to Miami, I’m Chem Mayer, Florida Governor and this is Police Chief Mickelson and the young lady is my PR lady Beth Warne. Surely hope you guys are going to help us find my young un and her man.”

Morgan took the lead “Thank you Governor for the welcome and I sure hope we can do what is necessary to find them quickly.”

The Governor looked round and then asked “Which of you is Doggan?”

I stepped up to him with my hand out stretched.

“That would be me Governor, good to make your acquaintance sir but would rather have met under different circumstances.” I was learning quickly.

“Yes, yes but things are what they are and hopefully will turn out for the better. Have you been able to put anything together yet?”

“Well not completely but I would need to get to where they were staying just before they went missing. That will give me a better feel of what is going on.”

I noticed that both the Governor and the Police Chief were sweating and wondered why but then again they were both big guys and it was warmish. Mr Smith’s knowing smile was there again and I was tempted to tell them but restrained myself. Damn, no fun in that but my time would come.

We drove out of the airport in a small convoy of black Ford panel van type vehicles going to the Governor’s house as this was where the two had stayed before leaving that morning for the shoot. The shoot had been scheduled to happen between Miami and the Everglades but they had not even got anywhere near before they had parked her car and done the disappearing trick. I was still thinking about everything when we pulled up at his estate. This was one fancy looking place, a whole lot bigger and fancier than Morgan’s house. I nudged him in the ribs and told him what I was thinking. He just scowled at me and grumbled something uncouth I did not fully catch. As we stopped an elegant woman stepped onto the front porch and walked down the stairs. She looked totally distraught and drawn. The Governor introduced her as Catherine his wife.

“I certainly hope you are going to find out who took my baby girl and Jeremy and chuck them into jail and throw away the keys.”

She mumbled and extended her hand to me.

“That we will do Mrs Mayer plus will give you a guarantee on that outcome. The throwing away of the keys though, well we will leave that for you to do, fair enough?”

She nodded vigorously and saw the Governor raise his eyebrows but say nothing.

Chapter 33

We had been asked to stay on his estate through his wife’s insistence but I declined and told them that other arrangements had been made for us by the Movie studio people. Also where we were going to stay was closer to where they had disappeared so would be more helpful to us. I saw the disappointment in her eyes but saw she understood. I explained I just needed to see her daughter’s room and get a feel of who we were looking for. I saw the surprise in her eyes and realised she had not been told about my whispers.

“Mrs Mayer, it is just to get an idea of the person your daughter is and that will help us get to the bottom of this a lot quicker.”

I saw her nod “Oh well let me take you up to her room then. Would you be so kind as to make sure our guests have something to drink” this towards her husband “We will be down shortly.”

We all got a ride to town after my room visit and some coffee. We needed to do some shopping and to hire a vehicle or two. We hired a small Ford 4x4 pickup with a canopy for Clive, a Camaro for Morgan and a 500cc off road bike of unknown origins for me but I knew it could go and was well built. It looked like a Bultaco but I was not sure. The bike was my choice and all had looked at me sideways but I knew what I wanted and the reason for it. The swamp area we were going to be riding around had some spots that were pretty narrow and the bike would work well. We also got police permission and licences to carry concealed firearms. Morgan had arranged for our normal choice of those with the only change being a Remington 30.06 with a scope and bi-pod for me. The hand guns and other weapons were what we would have normally carried. The FBI had obviously smoothed the way as our police clearance and licences had been waiting for us. This was unheard of in the US of A but someone high up had made the right noises and obviously to the right ears. Good for us, we needed them.

We had contacted the Movie guys and asked where we could stay and they suggested a Motel where a lot of their crew was staying and said they would book us in. It was their responsibility to set us up and they did it in grand style. The Motel was clean and was situated next to an area close to an open stretch of water which we found out was Biscayne Bay. We were on the bottom end of Miami on the main road going down to Key West. After booking in Clive and I took the bike and truck for a ride and got the directors assistant to shown us where the car had been found. We thanked him and then drove down the road towards the Everglades along the Key West road. We had driven about fifteen miles and saw a sign that said Pa-Hay-Okee swampland farm. We pulled off the road to speak to a man standing in a field working on a tractor. We found out his name was Bobby Joe. We asked about the Everglades and where we could find a place to hire swamp boats or as they called them, air boats. He was a pretty decent guy and we got a lot of information from him.

We said good bye and were walking back to the truck when a woman came round the side of the barn screaming and ran up to Bobby Joe. We turned back to see if we could help. She was in a state of total panic.

“It’s Pete, Bobby Joe. He got bitten by some kinda snake and he don’t look too good. He was filling his plane with fuel and the dang critter nailed him at the fuel drums. Come quick.”

We vaulted the wooden fence and ran with them round the side of the barn. We could see a guy sitting against some drums with a plane further on. As we came up to him Clive took control. He asked a few questions and realised the man knew what had bitten him and it was poisonous. We did not know the type of snake but was told he needed to get to hospital or he would die. We needed to move and quickly. I asked if they had a phone. The answer was yes.

I ran to the aircraft which Clive said was a Stearman Bearcat, used for crop spraying. It had two seats. I ran back and told Bobby Joe to phone the airport and tell them we were bringing in a snake bite victim and to have an ambulance ready for them. Clive and I picked Pete up and got him to the Bearcat. We put him in the front seat and while I put on his seat belt, Clive got into the rear seat and buckled up. Pete was still conscious so we told him that we needed clearance to fly to the main airport in Miami. He said it would not be feasible but to take him to the airfield just off the highway as you got into the outskirts of Miami. It was a fly in gated community with a long airstrip. Clive said to go change the instructions to Bobby Joe and he fired up the Bearcat. Man that big old radial could really growl. In no time they were climbing and turning towards Miami. I ran back to the house and delivered the message. Thank goodness they knew the place as they delivered vegetables to clients there. He got through with the message and was told they would have an ambulance by the time Clive landed. I ran back to the road with Bobby Joe and brought both the bike and the truck into their yard. Bobby Joe and the lady got into the truck with me and we took off in a cloud of dust, destination the hospital.

Bobby Joe, Mavis and I arrived at the hospital to find Clive mooching around in the lounge area of the emergency section. Did not look like there was any news yet from the doctors as Clive and Pete had only arrived 15minutes before we had in the ambulance. Well it stood to reason there was no news. We all sat around for another 20minutes before the doctor appeared and gave us his report. Pete was OK for now and they had him sedated. He was going to be here for the next couple of days as the poison he had got hit with was a haemotoxin which attacked and broke down the red blood cells in his system. The snake that had bitten him was a Water Moccasin which from our part of the world was a pit viper. If we went playing in the Everglades he was one to keep an eye on.

We left a message with the nurses that Bobby Joe and Mavis would be back later and drove back to the estate to pick up the Bearcat. Clive flew her back with Bobby Joe and Mavis drove home with me. She explained that she had been in a plane accident with her Dad when she was young and did not go up with anybody and that had done her for flying. As we drove up to the farm we saw Clive sitting on the fence with a Stetson on trying hard to make like a cowboy but it did not work. We drove up to the house and Bobby Joe and Clive came walking down to meet us. We went inside and had some coffee. Bobby Joe asked if we could help him push the Bearcat into the barn so trooped off to do our bit. As we pushed the plane into the barn and our eyes got accustomed to the shade we saw something that got both Clive and my attention and then some.

There were two small aeroplanes. Well they looked like planes. Bobby Joe saw what we were looking at and said

“Those are Ultra-lights, some call them Micro-lights. These two are Eagles, pretty neat huh? These are canard type aircraft with the tail up front. Two 125cc motors, centrifugal clutch with one prop.”

We both whistled

“How fast are they? What sort of flight time Bobby Joe?”

He smiled “We modified these two babies with some long range tanks so can stay up for about 4 hours and they do close on 40 mile an hour top cruising. We can knock them down and stick them on our truck and carry them anywhere but it takes about half an hour to put all the bits and pieces together and make sure everything is tightened up and secure. You want to try?” then eyed me “I know he can fly but you also a flyboy?”

I nodded my head “Oh hell yes and yes again to the offer.”

We wheeled one out and Bobby Joe went over the controls and what made it go up, down and turn.

“That thingie there is a wind speedometer and your take off speed with these babies is about 20 mile an hour or above and she lifts off pretty quick. When you put her down come in at about 25 mile an hour and you should be OK. Keep her about ten feet above the ground till the end of this field then pull her around slowly but keep your speed to about 30 and she will fly around sweetly. Ready?”

Clive did not need any prompting. He pulled on a helmet and some goggles, climbed in and Bobby Joe strapped him in and went over the control system once more.

With that done Clive opened her up and within 35 yards had come off the ground and he started to climb. He took it up to about ten feet and levelled it out. He started his turn at the end of the field then saw him climb to about 30 feet. As he came towards us he dived slightly and did an upward turn and slid the Eagle round and took off back down the field. I watched Bobby Joes mouth drop open.

“Holy cow that boy can fly, never tried that move before.”

I thought this was an ideal moment to ask him something.

“Bobby Joe, Clive and I with two others are down here on a aah search and rescue mission for one of the movie studios and I have a feeling that these two babies of yours could come in handy at some time” I let what I said sink in.

Bobby Joe did not miss a beat “Sure thing Doggs. Oh hell, it’s OK if I call you that? Heard Clive.....”

I cut him off “No sweat it’s cool.”

He smiled “Like I said no problem, any time man. We kinda owe you for getting Pete to hospital so quick and probably saving his life. You just let us know where, when and we will make a plan and be there.”

“Only on one condition Bobby Joe, we are going to pay for using your kites and no arguments OK?”

I saw him think about arguing then “OK, I’m cool with that.”

Clive landed and rolled up to where we were standing.

“Wow that is totally mind blowing. You got to try this Doggs.”

“You are kidding right. Get your tail out. You are stealing my air time up there, move it, move it.”

As he got out he took off the helmet handing it to me, I told him of the deal that Bobby Joe and I had come to as to possibly using the two Eagles to do some spotting over the Everglades or wherever we needed to. Before he said anything I pulled on the helmet and goggles, strapped myself in and opened the throttle and turned her around. The next 15 to 20 minutes I flew around climbing hard, slewing it around, then diving and generally having a ball. I was definitely taking one of these babies home to Botswana with me.

By the time I got down and we had stowed it in the barn it was just starting to get dark. We phoned Morgan at the Motel and told him we were on our way. We walked out and as we got to the truck and my bike, Bobby Joe stunned us.

“So you guys are going to go looking for them two actors that went missing huh? If they are in the Everglades, good luck to you as it’s a pretty darn huge area to cover. You possibly going to need some help and I’m in if you want.”

We both looked at one another and chuckled.

“We would be honoured Bobby Joe but how did you know about them?”

“Everybody knows. Wer’nt in the papers but we know. Word gets around especially if the police tell you, then tell you not to say anything to the newspaper people. That way it spreads like wildflowers, people just can’t shut up. You know how it works.”

He just shrugged his shoulders and waved as we pulled away.

Chapter 34

It was dark when we pulled up at the Motel and we parked in the garage we had been allocated. We think this was one of the reasons the movie people had stayed there because of the garaging. We went into our rooms and found nobody home so showered and changed, then went looking for Morgan and Margy. We heard the noise coming from opposite side of the road from the Motel before we even saw them. It was the whole movie crew so walked over. As we walked into the diner we saw Morgan and Margy at the counter eating and chatting with all and sundry. Seemed like a fun bunch of people. They saw us coming and made space for us.

“We were starting to wonder where the hell you guys had got to and what nonsense you were creating.”

Margy chipped in “Or if you had met some ladies on the way. Thought you two were just taking a ride to straighten your legs out after the long flights? What happened?”

We said we needed chow first then we would let them in on what happened. We fed them a titbit to get them thinking.

“Everybody knows that our two lost ones are lost.”

We both then clammed up and ordered. We finished eating and were about to order something else when Morgan paid our bill and steered us to the door. As we got outside he started walking down the road and we followed. Now it was our turn to wonder what the heck was going on. After walking for about five minutes we got to a hotel and went inside. Morgan walked through to an outside deck and walked towards a man sitting by himself. It was Ed.

We all said Hi and sat down. He was not smiling and got to the point quickly.

“Guys I think this is a bit more than we bargained for” he paused “What with you guys nearly getting blown up before you even got here. Something is not kosher and it worries me. There is something happening and nobody seems to want to give us any information. Morgan, do you know where the hell Mr Smith is and have you seen him since leaving the Mayers?” Morgan shook his head.

We all just looked at Ed. Then I spoke up.

“Ed my whispers have indicated this is a political thing but for now have not had time to ah....... contemplate about it. We got ourselves a bit busy today saving someone else which we will tell you about later but here is the kicker. One of the people involved in our escapade from this afternoon told us as we were leaving that everybody knows that those two are missing. Someone in the police has started the story going round and told everyone to stay away from the media. That ties in with my whispers from the plane but like I say nothing concrete just yet. I am going to where we were today but a bit further into the Everglades and then I’ll sit and do my thing. That is if you don’t have something else you want us to do.”

Ed sat deep in thought then got up and walked to the railing.

“Guys I have been over our structures and come up with something I need feedback on and it’s this.”

He handed each of us a file and continued

“Open and read it. When you are done make some remarks on the space provided and then hand it back. Don’t talk about it amongst yourselves as I want some direct input from each of you as individuals. Right now would work for me as I have to leave for New York tomorrow morning about 11am. Humour me guys because we need to do things right.”

Ed said nothing about what we had told him and now this?

It was questions like who is best suited to taking the lead? Who is the go to person to buy or get things for our missions? There were some pretty hairy questions that Ed had compiled and I did not have a clue as to why the twenty questions and what he needed them for, so just answered as best I could. It took us about half an hour to do and as we finished we put them down in front of him. He looked up

“Guys I know that seems pointless at the moment but it gives me a bit more info on what we can and can’t do and who gets to do what. This is the start of our business and I need to clarify those points. What comes out of the business has got to be shared in a proportionate way and this will help me sort that out. But now there is going to be stuff that needs doing. Oh and Doggs, my Mom had a surprise waiting for you when you got back home but she changed her mind and told me to tell you now. You are having two new toys delivered while you are here” he paused letting the anticipation grow “You my young friend are now the proud owner of the latest Piper Super Cub and as I have learned today and from those in the know, what they call an air boat and from her lips, ‘because you shot me in the leg’ amongst other things.”

I think if my ears were not in the way my smile would have gone all the way round. Ed still had not said too much about what had happened or anything else for that matter.

“Oh guys, I might look like I have not been listening or reacting to what you have told me but I have and I am assimilating all of it from a distance. This way I can stay detached and look at everything with new eyes. If I get too involved I might get in the way and then will just pull you all out” he paused “That was one of the reasons for the twenty questions earlier. You will see what I’m talking about soon.”

We had a drink with Ed and said good bye to him and walked back to the Motel. Just before we got back I got tingles in my head and stopped. They all knew what was going on but Morgan twigged the possible why and immediately drew his Star. Clive and Margy were not too far behind. They made no overt moves to show it and kept their weapons out of sight. They slowly moved away from each other and started looking around. We had a welcoming committee of four waiting for us and I got a general idea of where they were.

“Guys, they are in a car just past our rooms and have the engine running. Looks like a long car like maybe a Lincoln or something, not sure. There are four of them.”

I had just finished telling them when a car pulled out quietly from a parking bay and came towards us. Forty yards from us the engine roared and the black limmo leapt at us but we were ready for them. As I jumped behind a palm tree I drew my 45. Within a second they were ten yards from us we heard the muted stutter of a machine gun and bits and pieces of the tree I was behind started to splinter. Then I heard multiple single shots and knew that one or more of them had hit the guy with the stutter gun because it stopped. The car screamed past us and onto the road with more shots coming from us, I got off two. The car slewed round and bumped up onto a pavement and into a hedge. One person exited and ran. Other than that nobody else came out of the car. The whole movie crew spilled out to see what was going on but kept their distance.

By now we could hear sirens from just down the road, it looked like someone had called it in and the cavalry was on their way. As we walked slowly towards the car Margy came up next to me.

“They were after you Doggs because nothing came our way, nothing. They want to take you out of the equation.”

She sounded slightly panicky so I patted her on the arm and felt my hand all sticky. “You’ve been shot Margs, where?”

At this Morgan and Clive stopped and quickly came over. I saw Clive looking at me.

“Nah Doggs, it’s you that took one in the arm, there’s blood all over your shirt sleeve and your arm.”

It was only then I felt the sting on my upper arm.

Margy pulled me around so that I was under the glow of a street light and pulled back my shirt sleeve.

“Just clipped you but it’s going to have to be looked at, they might even give you a few stitches or something.”

Three police cars came out of the night and skidded to a stop. As they piled out of their cars I saw the Chief yell at them.

“Not them, not them guys keep it cool. Check out that vehicle over there” pointing at the limmo “Why did I just know, that you guys were going to be in the middle of this.”

“Yeah I wonder why Chief. We have only been here one day and it seems to have brought out the bad guys in your town and it’s starting to piss me off. Someone is feeding these nut jobs info about us and all of a sudden it’s open season on us.”

I saw Morgan, Clive and Margy stare at me open mouthed as they had never seen me go off at anybody let alone me almost directly accusing the Chief of aiding and abetting whoever was behind our attack.

“You know what Chief? First our plane is blown up in New York and now this little attempted hit on our group. Methinks someone does not want us looking into the disappearance of those two actors. Now I’m saying this loud and clear...”

My mind slipped into my whisper before I even knew what was happening and I went quiet. I saw all of them watching me. This was really weird and ethereal. Nobody moved and nobody said a thing. I came back to the present and calmly looked at the Chief.

“Chief, would you be so kind as to call your bomb demolition squad please. We have a situation that needs clearing.”

I saw the look of surprise on his face and knew that he was possibly in on the happenings of the last few minutes but now was not the time to confront him, plus no solid evidence.

Chapter 35

The bomb disposal guys arrived within minutes and with directions from me entered my unit through a window at the back and disassembled a bomb that was attached to the front door. The squad leader was taken aback about my knowledge of the bomb and then told us that it was set so that anyone entering the room would have stepped into the room and would probably have been closing the door when it went off. He had said, that without first taking it apart but purely from the external look of it, it was a small package of C4 with a basic timer which was to be triggered by the door opening and then said.

“Whoever set this thing wanted to kill you pretty dang bad because it had 4 inch nails wrapped all around the explosive and we would have had to pick you up with a shovel. Sure as hell hope you know who you are up against because this boy knows his stuff. It was simple but absolutely deadly.”

They had found three guys in the car. Two of them were dead and said it would be a miracle if the third guy made it till morning. They were still doing a search for the fourth guy but were not hopeful of finding him. While this was being discussed I was checked by a paramedic from the ambulance that had arrived and told no stitches were necessary so they applied a bandage and gave me some pain tablets for later. I changed my shirt and chucked the bloody one in the trash. I don’t think I’d get to wear it again.

We decided to move from the motel to the hotel where Ed was staying and told the Chief, that if they wanted our statements they knew where to find us. We were going to move so that we did not put any of the film crew in the line of fire. We also took our vehicles after the bomb guys had first checked them. We parked in the hotels underground parking and walked up the stairs and walked straight into Ed.

“Just heard what happened and I’m not happy. I was thinking of pulling you guys off this case but I think that this is going to have to be your call Morgan and I mean your call.”

Morgan looked from Ed to us and could see the wheels turning behind his eyes.

“What you want to do guys? Me I think we stay and kick some ass but you are involved, so call it.”

“I’m in just because I don’t like people shooting at me or at you guys, this is unfinished business” I looked at Margy.

“I’m also in and just from the look on Clive’s face would say he is also in. You OK with our decision Ed?

He smiled “Like I said guys, your decision and you know what? I feel sorry for whoever it is. They are in for one hell of a ride if your faces have anything to do with it. Don’t know about you guys but I need a drink about now. I’m buying.”

We all followed him into the bar and plonked ourselves down.

After the drinks arrived Ed cleared his throat.

“OK I went over those files I asked you to fill in and this is how it works. Morgan you are in charge of all our on the ground operations, the buck stops with you. You decide to go in or pull out with no arguing from me. Clive you are going to handle arranging anything you need in conjunction with Morgan. Margy you are going to be our communications person and anything that is needed from accommodation, to cars, money or whatever will come from you directly to me. I will grease the wheels and arrange what is necessary. That leaves you Doggs and most of the decisions that get taken will revolve around your ‘thing’ and as you can see nothing has changed. Now though it’s official as per the business we have set up. I was going to apportion monies according to what you did but that has also changed. I have set aside one million Pounds to run RRI and pay for resources and added people. I will recoup from each job what is required to keep that amount intact. What remains will be shared between the five of us equally. So, any complaints, send them to our communications office but be warned, she has been given orders to chuck them all in file 13, understood?”

We all laughed and sat back and relaxed.......... a bit.

We all woke early and met at breakfast. Ed gave us a phone number in New York where he would be staying for a week. He asked that we give him a heads up on anything new and if we needed anything. He left shortly thereafter to get to the airport. Morgan said he needed to go and sort out our previous evening’s fiasco with the police. If we were needed for anything he would make the arrangements with them for us to see them later. He looked at all of us quietly.

“Guys you know they are gunning for us and now for you in particular Doggs. So from now on, every time one of us goes anywhere there will be at least two of us. If we can swing it, we all go. For now though I’m going to see the local fuzz and you Margy are coming with me so you can relay what is said and done to Ed. Doggs, you and Clive go back to that farm and find some quiet place for you to ‘think’ and come up with something for us to work on. Any questions?”

There were none except I saw Margy look at me and sigh. Before we left I pulled her over to one side.

“Hey, I would also have liked you to come with me but think we need to sort this thing out quickly. I don’t want to stay around here for too long and I’m worried that one of us could get hurt and if it was you....I’d flip, OK?”

She nodded. I kissed her and walked towards a waiting Clive.

Clive and I decided to take the truck and leave the bike for now. As we drove out we talked about the Eagles and the pros and cons of the machines. We were both packing as per Morgan and Ed’s orders plus I had brought the Remington as an added precaution and a long distance equaliser. We got there about 10am and found Bobby Joe again busy with the tractor. He beamed as we drove up and Mavis walked out to greet us. It was good to see them looking so up and about. Mavis told us about seeing Pete the night before and that he was going to be fine. She said she was going to put the coffee on so not to go a wandering. We promised we would not. Both Clive and I had dived right in and helped Bobby Joe with the tractor and even before Mavis returned we had it going.

We sat and had our coffee and then I decided to recount the shootout we had the night before. I watched Bobby Joe as I got into it but it was only when Clive mentioned me going off at the Chief that I saw sparks in his eyes.

“Me, I don’t trust that flea bitten mangy dog one little bit, he is always on the take, hustling everybody. He’s a damn crook and gets to wear a badge and that aint right.”

Mavis nodded at everything Bobby Joe was saying. Clive and I looked at one another. Then came the break we needed.

“That damn man came past our side gate about a week back going at a hell of a lick and stoking up a dust storm fit for the desert. Had a whole lot of people in that fancy Bronco of his. They were probably going fishing during work hours and then still getting paid for it. He must have left some of them there, because when he came back past here about five in the afternoon and chucked up a whole mess of dust again, it was just him and some other cop. He do that again I’m gonna take a shot at him, messing up our veggie garden.”

Clive was the first to react.

“If they were going fishing, where would the best place be?”

“There’s a whole lot of places they could have gone to but if they was fishing it would probably be......” he trailed off then looked at both of us “Hot diggerty, he was’nt going fishing was he? Those other people, was probably them two that went missing. That was about that time when they disappeared. You think it was him?”

I held up my hand

“Hang on Bobby Joe, that is what might have happened but we can’t be sure but I would not put it past him. How many places are out there where they could be holding them, a farm house or cottage or something?”

“Man, there are hundreds of places and some of them are real stuck away in the mangroves and others are hidden by the trees and vines. If they are out there, they could hide them for the next hundred years and nobody would find them.”

Chapter 36

While Clive stayed with them I took a walk. It was a peaceful setting but still took the Remington and wandered down to a small stream at the bottom of the farm that Bobby Joe had told us about. It was beautiful in a different way to the beauty of the Okavango but it was quiet and that is what I needed. I sat down on an old stump and went over everything that had happened since we had got to the US and what we had just heard and felt the tug of a breeze. Hello whispers and just let them come to me.

Again it felt as though I had just sat down and my mind cleared. I heard two shots coming from the farmhouse and ran up the small bank and flopped down with the Remington pointing in that direction. I pulled the cover off the scope then set the focus quickly. I scanned the farmhouse and saw nothing till I centred on a window and saw Clive looking my way. He probably realised that by now I would be scoping him so showed me with a hand signal which side the shots had come from and made like he was holding a steering wheel. So they were in a vehicle. I turned the rifle to point in that direction and saw a truck with one guy driving and two standing on the back both with rifles. They had open sights and no scopes so that was in my favour but I really did not want to kill anybody just yet so aimed for their tyres. Two shots and there were two flat tyres and three guys biting dirt.

I watched as Clive and Bobby Joe come out a window at the side of the house that shielded them from the vehicle, both had rifles. Now these boys had themselves a problem. Clive did a crawl to a set of trees towards the main road and Bobby Joe got himself up the side of the house and onto the patio roof to get some height. That was a clever move as he would be able to pin them down. I started to move towards the roadway that led to the Everglades and heard another vehicle coming up fast. I just got to some cover when another truck with two guys also standing on the back with rifles screamed past my spot. I shot out the back right tyre and watched as the truck fishtailed and hit the side bank of the road throwing one of the guys off. Don’t think he was going to be interested for a while as he took a hard fall. The truck skidded to a halt and both guys bailed and dived into the scrub. They were out in the open with no trees anywhere close.

One guy stuck his head up to look in my direction and I put a 30.06 slug just past his head and he bit sand again. I crawled closer without showing too much of myself and got about 40 yards closer. I crawled up a slight embankment and could see all of them quite clearly. I yelled at them.

“Hey guys you are now surrounded and we have got the high ground. You want to die, please try something. If you are clever you will leave your weapons on the ground, get up....”

I did not finish my sentence when one guy started shooting in my general direction. I heard a flurry of shots from Clive and Bobby Joe and then the third world war broke out. These were stubborn and dangerous people and needed something to think about. Shots rained from both sides.

I lined up on the aggressive guy that had taken the shot at me and shot him in the leg leaving him screaming and rolling around. The other guy almost stuck his head in the sand. I changed my target to the original vehicle and got a view of two of them. One was a guy I had seen jumping out of the police cars from the night before, a cop but he was not in uniform so today was a civilian. I hit him in the top section of his leg. I could do that as I was only 400 yards from where they were so it was an easy shot. Everything went quiet except for the moaning and bellowing of the two guys who had been shot. Then I heard Clive.

“We told you guys we have you surrounded, now before anybody dies leave your weapons on the ground and walk onto the road and stop. Take your wounded with you. Any weapons on you, you die, nice and simple, now move.”

The last bit was screamed. We saw both groups start standing up sans their weapons. They picked up the two wounded and shuffled onto the road.

This was one up for the good guys. I got up slowly and walked to where the guy had fallen off the truck. He was not going anywhere ever again. It looked like he had broken his neck from the angle his head was from his body. I walked past onto the two nearest to me and herded them towards the first vehicles occupants. About five or so minutes after the fire fight had started it was over. Clive came down the side of the road with his rifle trained on them and shortly thereafter Bobby Joe walked up also carrying his rifle loosely pointed towards them. The three of us just nodded at one another.

“Clive phoned Morgan. He, Margy and some fellahs from the Feebies are on their way out. Did not phone the cops though, did not think that was a good idea right about now.”

We did not have too long a wait before we heard the wop wop of a chopper coming in fast. No doubt a few vehicles would also be arriving shortly. Bobby Joe lit a flare and saw the chopper turn and come towards us. Mavis had come out of the house and showed them where to land. They landed and out jumped Morgan, Margy, Mr Smith and two other very well armed guys. They walked over to us and could see they meant business. The two guys took control of our prisoners, restraining them with cuffs and getting them to sit on the side of the road. All were quickly introduced and Margy and Mavis went back to the farmhouse to get a first aid kit to patch up our two wounded guys. We pulled the driver of the second vehicle off to one side. Morgan, Mr Smith and I stood in front of him looking him up and down.

“You do realise you guys are in deep shit so I want some answers and I want them quick. Where are the two actors?”

The driver was a slightly built guy and was nervous.

“Man, they did not say anything about us getting into gun fights or anything. We just had to stay with them two spoilt stuck up actors and babysit them. They were just sitting around like they was Mr and Mrs Muck, all hoity toity and all.”

“Where are they and how far from here?” that from me.

“I can’t say, they will kill me and they got mega muscle on their side and they can make me disappear man.”

I left Morgan and Mr Smith to continue with him and walked back down to the other vehicle and had a look around. I was still looking and felt my friendly breeze start up again so leaned against the truck and let myself drift.

I was travelling down the road in front of me. The next flash was of huge old cypress tree much bigger than the rest of them off to my left and then further on a wall or culvert of some sort. Then I saw a wooden cottage on a wide strip of water and there sitting on a deck two young people dressed in casual clothes both reading. There were four other people on the grounds around the cottage all carrying weapons. I pulled myself upright and walked towards the house. Morgan saw me coming and walked to intercept me, Mr Smith quickly following him. Clive waited for me at the fence. We all got there about the same time.

“What you got for us Doggs?” this from Morgan.

I explained what I had seen. “It’s down this road somewhere. Then there was a break for some reason then this huge old Cypress tree, then another break then this wooden cottage on the water. The funny part of this, which sort of fits with my other whispers is that they are not really hostages but look like they are on holiday. There are four armed guards of some sort but not guarding them, sounds weird but that’s it.”

I again saw the funny look on Mr Smith’s face and was not going to leave this one alone.

“So, still the unbeliever hey Mr Smith?”

He stopped smiling.

“I will give you a thousand to one bet that they are not hostages. They are being held by her father the Governor and that not only is the one guy back there a policeman but the police Chief is also up to his weathered grizzled neck in this and is also working for the Governor in some way. The Chief has had plenty opportunity to get to know all the hoodlums, con artists and general baddies around and that’s where he got his crew from because they suck at what they do. You want to take this bet or not MR Smith?”

I saw a smile creep into both Morgan and Clive’s face and then heard Margy say as she walked up.

“I would decline that bet Mr Smith if I were you. You will lose your shirt. Doggs here does not make mistakes. He might be fuzzy around a few things every now and then but he can generally give you the where, why and whatever and so far has been spot on” she turned to me “Why so sure Doggs?”

“Had this niggling feeling every time I got the whispers but they would not give me everything. It just dawned on me while I was standing by the truck. They have not been kidnapped, abducted or whatever and that is what kept throwing me. The info we had was based on an assumption that they were in danger and it did not read well, so no clearly defined picture. With them there of their own free will, I got no feedback from them, zilch. So it has got to be like that and the only people who get anything out of this?” I paused to see if anyone would take up on it, then Mr Smith laughed.

“Rats, of course. We are in an election year and the Governor is taking a bit of a hiding in the polls, he needs the sympathy vote and this would do it for him. The kids have gone along with it because his spin doctor has probably told them it will give them raised status and visibility, even before they start shooting the film. The Chief gets to stay Chief even though he should be out to pasture and the local hoodlums get an easy payday” he paused “But why the bomb in the plane, the attempted murder a few times. Who the hell gets anything out of that? If they get caught they lose everything and they lose anyway.”

Margy saw it before I felt it. Mr Smith was about to launch into something else when Clive took his arm and stopped him.

I shook my head “There is a woman involved in this and I can’t figure out who just yet and there is something familiar about her. Damn, it just does not want to clear.”

“What about Mrs Governor Doggan?”

I look at Mr Smith and let out a low whistle.

“I think you hit the nail on the head but why the hell would she go to those extremes?” then the penny dropped “She wants out but does not want to lose the bucks. If the Governor gets caught with his hands in the cookie jar so to speak with this charade and there have been a few deaths along the way, he maybe gets sent to the big house for murder or at least with conspiracy to murder and Mommy goes free with his estate. She is not involved and is seen as one of the victims of her husband’s goings on, so even maintains face.”

Chapter 37

I turned to Clive

“See if Bobby Joe will let us take both Eagles for a quick flight and if so to get them fueled up. Can you please settle with him Morgan but don’t let him give this to us mahle, OK”

I saw the dumb look on Mr Smith’s face “Maha what?”

“Mahle is Zulu for nothing, sorry just reverted back.”

He nodded “Have you got any way we can keep in contact with you?”

“I brought three of our long range walkie talkies, they are in my tog bag in the chopper, good idea. We will rig them so they can keep in contact while up. Let’s go do this thing.”

Morgan walked off to the chopper to go and get the radios while Clive, Mr Smith and I walked to the house. Bobby Joe walked out on seeing us coming towards the house.

“You guys need anything?”

I pointed to the barn “We really need to get up in the Eagles to do a bit of surveillance before it gets dark and before they realise their guys are missing.”

Bobby Joe was already starting to walk towards the barn before I had even finished talking. Margy walked out and joined us. Just then four covered vehicles arrived. It was the rest of the FBI guys. They would clean up and remove the dead, half dead and the prisoners.

“I knew you guys would be in need of our babies so had already fueled them up and got everything sorted, just look after them OK?”

“If we bend them Bobby Joe we will buy you some new ones and you can then doctor them up.”

He smiled

“Then prang them if you want, just don’t get hurt.”

We rolled them out and waited for Morgan to get to us. Morgan took the radios out of their boxes and fiddled around with ear pieces and some external mikes. We got the radios hung around our necks with the ear pieces in one ear and the mikes on what looked like Alice bands over our heads. We put them on the same channel then checked if we could hear one another. They worked well with Clive and I setting the volumes just right. We pulled on our helmets. I leaned over.

“Morgan we are going to fly down the road, check for that big Cypress tree and then see if we can find the cottage. If we find everything we will call you and guide you guys in. We will have to take our chances that those four won’t do anything stupid but we will play it by ear. Talk to you soon.”

They turned us in the right direction and we fired them up. We looked at each other and I opened her up. As I bounced off the ground and started climbing I saw Clive climbing to the right of me. While we were still climbing I turned towards the road. For now it was IFR, I Follow the Road. I levelled out at five hundred feet so that we could still get perspective on the trees as I needed to pick out the big Cypress tree. That did not prove to be a problem because we saw it from where we were so flew directly towards it but still following the road. I radioed back to Morgan and told them how to get to the Cypress tree and said we would update them as and when. I also suggested they maybe take one of their vehicles so that they could get closer before too much happened but they would have to change some shot out tyres first.

As we flew over the Cypress tree the road below us forked. I immediately got on the radio.

“Clive, you take the right road and I’ll take the left and keep in touch. We are high enough to still see one another but keep in touch bru.”

He waggled his wings and took off up his road. I flew down mine. From here you could see the patches of land and dense trees to open patches with lots of long grass and long winding stretches of waterways. They reminded me of our elephant grass and waterways from back home. The reed beds also reminded me and I really wanted to be back there flying over herds of elephant, buffalo, wildebeest, zebras and all the other wildlife of the Okavango. Then about half a mile ahead I saw a cottage so climb to about 1,000 feet. The Eagle seemed to lift easily and then realised the whole area was covered with good thermals, hence the lift. Before I could really enjoy what I was doing the cottage came up and I flew past it and then started a lazy turn to fly back. There were three of them on the deck so waved. I don’t know if they saw me but they waved back.

I got onto the radio

“Found them guys, we got them. When you get to the Cypress take the road to the left and the cottage is about two miles straight down that road. Clive I think we can stay in the area in case they get on an airboat, we can then follow them until the FBI chopper can take over from us.”

Clive came on and said cool but to stay away from the immediate area of the cottage so we would not spook them. With that sorted we flew up and down the road past the Cypress tree until we saw the posse of four vehicles. They had repaired the one truck which was in the lead. It looked like they were going in hot. We hung back just behind them.

“Morgan I think Clive and I should fly over them at about five hundred feet and fly down into the Glades away from them, hopefully their attention will be on us and not the road. We can also start to climb just as we get to them and really open the throttles of both and make some covering noise.”

Morgan said for us to go for it and they would ride just behind us and for us to give them a go call. We acknowledged them and opened up slightly while they slacked off to drop behind us. The house was coming up fast.

About 200 yards from the house Clive and I started to climb and opened up the throttles fully. As we shot over the cottage below us there were five of them on the deck watching us. I then looked back to see Morgan and the boys arrive and start baling. Hearing them the three hoodlum types turned and ran for the side of the cottage. I pulled the Eagle into a sliding turn to dive back at the cottage, caught Clive on the hop but he too had pulled a turn and started down but from a slightly different angle. I pulled my 45 and as I got the Eagle’s nose pointing down I pulled off two shots straight into the reeds. I saw the three guys whirl round, now confused they turned to see where the new threat was coming from and before they could do anything they had five FBI agents and Morgan standing covering them. Today there would be no further bloodshed and I for one was glad.

We flew around making sure everything was being tidied up, then Morgan came onto the radio.

“You guys did good. Take them back home guys, see you at the farm.”

We waggled our wings and took off for the farm. I think Bobby Joe was going to be disappointed that we had not broken one of their babies. I said as much to Clive over the radio and added that maybe it would be a good thing if we got them two of the latest Eagles anyway. I was sure Ed would approve that for all the help we had got from them. Got a thumbs up from Clive and a major wing waggle. Yup that’s what we were going to do.

The flight back was all fun. We played follow my leader all the way back twisting and turning trying to lose the other with Clive coming closest to getting it right but I caught him just in time. As we flew over the farm we saw Bobby Joe, Mavis and Margy come out of the house and wave. There was by now a whole fleet of FBI vehicles parked every which way. We both touched down and rolled to the barn and switched off.

Chapter 38

With everything that had and was still happening we only left the farm late. Mavis had fed as many as she could of those who had remained. I told Morgan what we had planned about the possibility of getting two new Eagles for Bobby Joe and Pete. I added that they had played an integral part in our success with even Mavis doing her bit and felt it would be the right thing to do to pay them ‘operational fees’. Morgan agreed, said he would arrange it with Ed. He looked at me.

“I think not only will we do that but think we need to get one or two of these new fly toys you guys used today and ship them back home. Never know when we might need something like that. Bobby Joe said that there is another crowd that make a different plane that also uses floats so they can take off and land on water. What do you think?”

“You really need to ask?”

There were smiles all around as we said good night. We promised to come through to the farm before we left.

We drove for about 5 miles and were flagged down by Mr Smith. We pulled over and all met on the side of the road.

“Sorry to hassle you now guys but we have one more thing we need to discuss and sort out” he paused to see if we were on the same page “I have sent everybody to a safe house including our prisoners. I sent the wounded to a clinic to have them patched up and we have sent guys to keep them under lock and key. We are not letting anyone know we have sorted this thing out and we are going to try and play it out. We need not only to find out who set the bomb and the attempted hit but to take them down and prosecute them.”

“Well we know through Doggs who the players are but we need to make sure we reel them in” Morgan looked around “Any thoughts guys?”

I spoke up “You have just said reel them in and I like that” I saw them all look at me sideways “We go fishing guys, send out a lure, a come on to whoever. We set the trap and see who goes for it. Mr Smith, how long would it take your tech boys to set up a phone tap on the Governor’s phones?”

I saw the surprise in his eyes and the start of a denial.

“You want to catch all of them Mr Smith?”

“What have you got in mind?”

It did not take too long for us to hammer out a storyline that would be fed to our targets but had to be done in sequence. We all left with our own stories. We were going to wait for our Mr Smith to first set up three phone taps and until then we were going to continue with the farce.

The next morning we all met for breakfast with the news that Ed would be joining us in a few days. He wanted to meet all the ‘participants’ as he called them and thank them properly. It seemed that Morgan had already put our suggestion forward. We were finishing up when in walked the Chief and his second in command.

“Morning all, have you guys come up with anything as yet?”

Morgan answered

“We have a few things we are still going to follow up on today but Doggan here needs some peace and quiet for him to do his side of the trick. Got any ideas Chief of where he can go sit without interruptions, somewhere out of the way?”

And so it began.

“Yup, there is a pretty deserted section of beach on the Virginia Key and it’s not that far to drive. As you get on over to the Key you will see the first turn off on your left, the signboard says Hobie Island. Just follow that dirt road and you come out on a section of beach that faces Miami central.”

I thanked him, said I’d use my bike and would go there about 12 and soak up some sunshine while I was there.

Morgan phoned Mr Smith and told him we had set up the first part of our operation, we had just baited the Chief. He said he would have a few people in the area but that I would not necessarily see them but would be covered from any angle. Margy and Clive said they were going to the hospital to go and see Pete and meet up with Bobby Joe and Mavis. Well it looked like Morgan would do what Morgan did best. We did not have a clue what that would be and that was maybe a good thing.

Morgan suggested I pack the 9mm Walther instead of my bulky 45 and to carry it on a belt back holster. He also suggested I wear a Hawaii type loose shirt so that it covered the whole shooting trip. About 11.30 I walked out of the lobby and down to the garages, got on my bike and rode out to the Virginia Key. I had been given directions by the Chief so more or less knew where I was going. I had seen a guy at the hotel watch me leave and as I drove past the front of the hotel saw him get into a car and drive off, probably part of my welcoming party on the Key. I took my time on the drive across and was surprised to feel my whispers nagging at me. As I got to the causeway I pulled over and made as if I was checking the bikes chain. While stopped my whispers let me in on what was to come. Even if the FBI were going to be in close proximity it was good to know what was coming. The part I did not like was that I would have to shoot at someone again but supposed it came with the territory.

As I rode across to the Key I enjoyed the view with water all around me. Boy these Yanks certainly knew how to build causeways and bridges and things and I was duly impressed. Got to the turn off and rode down the road till I got to a small beach. I stopped and propped the bike against a tree as the side stand would not have held on the soft sand. I slowly walked onto the beach and wandered towards some rocks. If the FBI or the bad guys were already here I did not see them so continued to walk as if nothing was bothering me, yet every muscle and nerve in my body was set to go off at the drop of a hat. I remembered the rocks from my whispers so as I approached them I slowed down. It was time to rock and roll.

As I climbed onto the rock two guys appeared in front of me from the other side of the rocks and one stepped out of the surrounding brush just behind them, all packing. I slid down the rock and the same time pulled the Walther. As I hit the bottom the nearest two lifted their pistols and saw the one guy go down with a neat hole in his forehead. The other ducked and came up firing. I waited for the two tap shots from him and stood up and shot him once in the chest. I was looking for the third guy but saw him sitting on the sand holding his side. They must have been pretty sure of their surprise attack and knocking me off nice and quick. They had silencers on all the pistols so would have done it quietly.

As I watched five FBI guys appeared, three with green type cammo on and the other two with sandy coloured cammo who had appeared off the beach. Again I was duly impressed, these guys were good. Found out afterwards they had trained with the Marines. The two guys at the rocks were dead and the other one had a side wound that would heal but he was going to know all about it for a while. He was the same guy I had seen at the hotel. I walked over to him.

“Nice to see you again. You my friend should have stayed at the hotel and not come here. You definitely should not have listened to the Chief, he set you guys up. Nice one for you huh?”

“That stuffed pig set you up you needle brain and told us you were easy pickings. I’m gonna kill that.....”

He suddenly realised he had said too much. Tough life when you could not keep your mouth shut when needed. He immediately said he wanted a deal.

He wanted to tell all.

Right there and then they took a statement from him observing all the correct protocols and getting him an ambulance. He gave us the Chief, the guy who had got away from the attempted hit you name it. He gave up names, phone numbers and the where’s and when’s. As he finished talking the ambulance arrived plus a mortuary van. The FBI contacted Mr Smith who it turned out was the head of operations for the area around Miami and also for the greater part of Florida. Ho boy I had been raging on the wrong boy. He knew a whole lot more than I had given him credit for...... and then some.

When I got back to the hotel, Morgan, Mr Smith, Margy and Clive were waiting for me. There were two very official looking guys with them. They turned out to be two prosecutors from the DA’s office and they wanted to talk. After we had given them the run down on what had happened, they also got the statement from the last guy standing at Virginia Key. Shortly after we finished we were asked by Mr Smith if we wanted to be there when they took the Chief and his second in charge into custody. We accepted and drove through to city hall. This was going to be good. I wondered what they would have to say for themselves.

We all trooped into the main police office. The Chief and another officer were talking off to one side. He turned to us

“What can the Miami police do for our overseas guests and the FBI?”

He looked shattered seeing me standing there.

“Chief where is your second in command, I’d like a chat with him and you if you could make some time for me.”

Mr Smith could be the absolute gentleman when he put his mind to it and sounded so in charge.

“This is my second Lt Quail, come lets go into my office.”

We walked in behind him and Lt Quail and let him first sit.

“Mr Rath here has a question for you Chief. Doggs all yours.”

I was standing in front of his desk with Lt Quail next to me.

“Did you tell anybody about where I would be at midday today? I mean like Lt Quail here or anybody for that matter?”

I saw the indecision in his eyes.

“Not that I can remember. Why would I tell anybody, it had nothing to do with......” then you could see he realised what was happening.

“We told you Chief” I paused “And only you, yet when I got there I had three gunmen try to take me out. Men that had been sent by you,” then I took an out and out gamble, turning to Lt Quail “or your co-conspirator here Lt Quail.”

I will give him full credit for being fully awake, our Lt Quail was not a wussy and certainly backed himself to get out of any problem. As I accused him he jumped away from me and tried to pull his service pistol. I was as quick if not quicker to follow him and did a forward jump kick to his chest. He cannon balled off the wall and I stepped into him and hit him with an elbow. He went down like I had shot him.

I slowly turned to the Chief and he had not moved but had gone a sickly shade of white.

“It looks like you will be joining some of your jailbirds Chief for an extended stay.”

He said nothing and just shook his head.

Two FBI guys had walked in shortly afterwards and cuffed Lt Quail while Mr Smith had made sure that the Chief had no access to a gun and left him sitting in his chair.

“So Chief you have a little problem. You are going to be facing attempted murder charges and conspiracy to commit murder and will have a good few deaths of people who worked for you on your plate. Now we could get you a bit of relief if you give us ‘you know who’ so that we can tie up this problem and put it to bed....... quickly. Are you going to cooperate or do you want me to chuck everything at you? Your choice but you only have a few seconds to give me an answer. Your police attorney walks through that door before you give me an answer and it’s no deal” Mr Smith crossed his arms and showed wide open palms.

“This was not supposed to go this far and I don’t know anything about the bomb and the attempted hit. I was asked by the Governor to take his kids to a spot on the edge of the Everglades to an old fishing cottage he used from time to time and that was it. I did exactly what he asked and even picked them up just on the outskirts of town where they had parked their car” he was winning by now “The next minute I hear from the movie guys and my second that the kids have been kidnapped and are missing. Their car has been found parked in a strange place and they were gone, just missing. I knew I had been set up and could say nothing. Things just got out of hand from there and it just got worse and I was prime target number one.”

As I was listening to this my whispers came back and I walked to the window. Mr Smith and all of them except maybe for the Chief knew what was happening. After a while I turned “Chief, how well do you know your second in command? Do you know who he worked for before he came here?”

“Yes I do, he was an army type, did those covert type op missions. Not sure if he was a marine or what but he was based somewhere in California. It’s all in his file. He was a decorated soldier with lots of gongs for different things”

Mr Smith picked up the police chief’s phone and called someone and asked if they could check Lt Quail’s military history and any supportive information. While he was on the phone he also got updates on the phone taps. We did not know that but he was about to fill us in on the details. He got another of his men to take the Chief into custody, cuffed him and walked him out. The office was as quiet as a church.

He turned to us “Guys, Mrs Mayer phoned someone and told them to clean up everything and to disappear. She had told them to wait for ‘the man’ before they did anything. She did not say why or what was to be cleaned up or who the man was but whatever it was or is, it is going to be cleaned up so that nothing points back to her. Why she was spooked I don’t know but I think she read the writing on the wall and decided out was a good option” “I can help you with that. After what has just happened, you will find the number she phoned is Quail’s home number and whatever they are going to clean is there. I could not figure out who it was but took a chance and Quail fell for it. He knows what the penalty would be for the bomb and the attempted hits and for the deaths of the guys who worked for him. All we need now is his home address and get your people out there asap.” We got the file from one of the officers and found his home address. Mr Smith picked up the phone and gave some terse instructions to whoever was on the other side and said we would meet them there.

Chapter 39

On the way over he had instructed us to please stay in the van until the take down was completed and only then would be allowed to come in. We acknowledged his ask. When we got there all the FBI people had congregated round the corner from Quail’s house and were trying hard to keep everything low key but there were people already peering out of windows and doorways. Fortunately they did not know which house was going to be the target. Once Mr Smith was there, he gave orders of what he wanted and one of the other agents then took charge. He was the tactical agent and quickly laid out what he wanted. As he finished they all broke away and started getting into position with some going round the back way. Then they moved and did it quickly. We heard the bang of the front door being hammered open and then just two shots and all went quiet. It was a full 15 minutes before they came back and called us. We got out and walked round the corner and they had three guys down on the front lawn in cuffs. As we walked into the house there was a body lying in the passage. One of the guys had obviously tried to put up a fight and had gone down to a double tap. The others had given up instantly. They did not want to die today.

We walked around trying to put things into perspective until it came to me that we would have to push the ladies buttons for her to do something that would incriminate herself.

“By the way Mr Smith, what the hell is your first name again?”

He smiled “Jackson, Jackson Smith.”

He saw the amusement in my eyes.

“OK Mr Jackson Smith. Could you phone one of your people and get them to phone the Governors house. I don’t want the call coming from this house. Ask them to tell the Governor that the police Chief and Lt Quail have been arrested and that it would be to his and his wife’s benefit to come down to the police station when they have the first opportunity to do so. It would be helping you to find their kid or something to that effect. I can almost guarantee you that within 15 minutes or faster this phone will ring and it will be mommy Governor telling whoever to clean up real quick and get the hell out.”

It did not take too long for Jackson to set it up and as we waited he started to outline something that made all of us sit up and take notice. He was about to drop some deal on us when the phone rang. They started the tape and one of the agents lifted the phone and just said “Yes’

It was mommy Governor and she was operating on jet fuel and firing on all cylinders.

“Get that place cleaned and burn it down to the ground and do it now, Quailly is down and he won’t say anything but they might find something there. Do it and get the hell out.”

He acknowledged her and put the phone down. Gotcha. They had also tapped her phone on the other side so there was no way out for her.

We left and Jackson stayed on to direct the search of the house. They wanted to find anything that could be tied directly to Quail or Mrs Mayer or for that matter anybody who was involved. We drove back to the hotel and all went into the bar. We were sitting there when in walked the director of the movie and asked if we had found them or not. I told him we would be coming through to him tomorrow as the FBI and the Miami police were tying up a few things and until then were not in a position to reveal anything. We assured him he would be told everything by tomorrow. He left saying something about having to pay for people to sit around and drink on his tab. Miserable blighter. Morgan said if that was his take on things, that movie was going to be really dreary. For the first time today we all laughed. We were almost wrapped up here and I had the need to be with Margy and back home in the Okavango somewhere.

We came down for breakfast and found Jackson sitting there eating. We collected what we wanted to eat and came and sat at his table. We chatted about a few things before he said “We arrested both Mr and Mrs Mayer late last night and two other people who were there. Mr Mayer for setting up a false kidnapping and putting people’s lives in danger plus a few other things and Mrs for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and about four other charges brought up by the State Prosecutor’s Office. Methinks the Mayer’s are done. It will be all over the news by lunch time. We found out from the youngsters that Daddy dearest had told them the movie had been set back for a week or so and that he was going to make it easy for them by taking them to the cottage so that they could be together and catch up on sun tanning and reading and just to kick back until the movie started. They were totally in the dark so have been released. They are going back to the movie set later on today after going to see Mom and Dad. Hell I would love to be a fly on the wall in that room. I think that there are going to be some difficult answers to some even more difficult questions.”

With breakfast behind us, Margy and I climbed onto the bike and went through to see the director. We explained what had happened and that his two stars would be back shortly after lunch and left him a happy camper. We took a ride out to the farm to visit Bobby Joe and Mavis. As we rode up we were nearly knocked down by some idiot buzzing us in a plane. On his second run at us I saw who the culprit was, Clive in the Bearcat. He did a few more aerobatic spins and turns then brought it down and rolled up to the barn. Bobby, Pete and Mavis were sitting outside the barn watching him. We got offered a beer and accepted. Well it was midmorning and we were now in cruise mode. Talk had soon turned to Micro-lights and the like and were chatting up a storm when a pretty big truck turned into their driveway.

“You order something Bobby Joe?”

“Nah did you?”

We laughed and said we had. When the truck stopped and the guy opened up the back doors, the look on Bobby Joe and Pete’s faces were priceless. There in front of them were two new, semi constructed Eagles with Xenoah motors and three bladed props. I had chosen the wing fabric colours (the Reb flag colours) and I think they approved.

We were still putting their new kites together when Mavis came out and called Clive to the phone. He came back out muttering about peoples timing. “We got to shift guys, Ed’s just landed and wants us to meet at the hotel in about an hour. Bobby Joe, Pete we will come back and see you guys probably tomorrow, try not to crash these things before we get back.”

We all left and went back to the hotel. As we arrived we saw Jackson arrive with what looked like some pretty heavyweight people. This was going to be one of those meetings where we had to behave and act like gentlemen.

I bumped into Ed on the way up to our rooms to change. He pulled me to one side.

“Doggs have Bobby Joe and Pete got their new kites?”

“Yup they got there while we were there and those two good old boys could not have been happier. We had started helping them put both together when we got the call about this meeting. What’s up? And the heavy weights with Smith?”

“Yeah well, you will soon find out as will I. Those big hitters are some of the top brass from the Feebies and I think they want to put a proposal to us, ah well to you but we will see. Just keep your mind open though Doggs. They could give us some big business in the future but if they suggest anything skewed please don’t hold back but tone it down. It would make sense to play nice as we never know when they could be of help to us and I’m talking about anywhere in the world.”

“OK, I’ll play nice but will also look to you for some cues.”

Chapter 40

We did not have to wait too long for the answers. Jackson introduced the FBI guys as we came into the small conference room.

“This is Deputy Director Jameson and Field Director Fox of the Eastern Division of the FBI.”

He then introduced us individually with the final introduction to me. Both looked at me with a hundred questions in their eyes but waited until the basics were discussed. The proposal was very basic and straight forward. They wanted to be able to use me from time to time when someone went missing or when there was a National problem and they wanted to find the ‘bad guys’ as they put it. Ed wanted a bit more clarity on their definition of bad guys.

FD Fox answered

“From time to time we have people who commit a crime or crimes and are then wanted by us. The crimes they commit or have supposedly committed would be sent to you along with all the other information required by you” indicating me “as explained to us by Mr Smith. If you need to go to a particular place, city or country to do what you do, not only do you get the fee we agree on but we pay for everything else to supplying the transport, accommodation, vehicles and entry permits or whatever is necessary.”

I saw Ed and the others nod but decided to add one request.

“It looks as though Mr Fitzimmonds and the rest of us are in agreement but I would like to add one thing to this agreement if possible” I saw Ed look at me questioningly “If we as RRI need some help or backup at any time, we would like to know if you or any agencies you work with would be willing to help us and come to our aid, and obviously all of this would be within certain bounds.”

There was no hesitation from either of them, they agreed.

We were still in the process of wrapping up our agreements when an agent knocked and came straight in, walked quickly over to FD Fox and handed him an open file. He read it.

“Well it seems we still have a problem with your last case gentlemen. Our Lt Quail has escaped from custody, killed two officers that were transporting him for a pre-arraignment and stolen their weapons and vehicle. The vehicle was found abandoned in Fort Lauderdale about two hours ago.”

DD Jameson was quick on the uptake.

“Have all routes out of the State been closed” he paused “Well that was a bit stupid. There are so many points to cover” he stalled then “It is about now we need that first contract with you Ed, we need this guy found and pronto.”

Ed looked at me.

“I’ll get onto it right now, you tie up what needs tying up with Mr Jameson and Mr Fox Ed. I’ll take a walk.”

As I started for the door the whispers hit me fast and to the point.

I turned and yelled for them to get away from the windows and to get down and dived for Margy pulling her down just as a fusillade of shots came through the big window of the conference room scattering glass all over us. Morgan and Clive recovered first and were at the window in seconds. Morgan pulled off two shots. I untangled myself from Margy and looked around. Ed, FD Fox, Jackson and the agent who had brought the news were OK. DD Jameson had taken a round in the lower chest and was bleeding pretty badly. I pulled the tablecloth off the table scattering knives, forks and basically everything onto the floor. I tore a few quick strips from the tablecloth and started to stem the flow and to bandage a wad of material to the wound. Within minutes we had the police, FBI and an ambulance attending to the scene. I looked over the room and felt anger come up and at the same time my whispers nailed me again.

“He’s going for Bobby Joe and them at the farm.”

Before I had finished, we were all making for the door. Jackson ran with us and as we got to our vehicles he pulled up.

“I’ll get our chopper up and over there before you guys can and they can take a reaction squad with them. You guys go I’ll sort out this side, go, go, go.”

We needed no incentive. As we got to him I pulled up.

“Phone Bobby and them Smith, give them a heads up so they will be ready for him.”

Then I floored it. We came out of the hotel like a rocket almost causing an accident as we exited. I hoped no traffic police would intervene and none did.

A few miles out we heard the chopper go over and prayed they got there before Quail did. I have driven fast many times in my life but this was something else. Corners were taken at stupid speeds for half the way there before some sense came back and I lifted, slightly. It was not going to help for us to wrap ourselves around a phone pole or something else hard. Margy, Morgan and I in the Camaro were way ahead of Clive and the agent who had run to the cars with us. I wished I had the Remington with me then remembered it was in the truck with Clive behind the seat but that was not going to help me now, handguns would have to do. As we came up to the farm we heard gunfire and pulled over in a cloud of dust and exited just as quick. With weapons drawn we were still trying to see what was going on when a few shots came our way, two punching holes in the Camaro and one kicking up dust in front of us. We shot back behind the Camaro.

We were taking quick stock of what we were going to do when Clive screamed up and pulled over behind the Camaro, seeing that we were taking fire from the house side. We heard an exchange of shots from the farmhouse side and came to the realisation that Quail had brought some backup. I ran to the truck hunched over and got Clive to hand me the Remington and a box of shells. I checked the mag, took the cover off the scope and ran back to the Camaro. I moved over to a small culvert next to the wooden fence making sure I did not get unwanted attention. I snuggled down and extended the Remington in front of me. I scanned the surrounds and picked up where the FBI guys were and in which direction their weapons were pointing then adjusted my scoping area. Almost instantaneously saw Quail with another guys sprint towards a knoll at the side of the road. Quail was carrying what looked like a bazooka. I let the others know and kept watching where they had gone down. I fed a round into the chamber and waited.

There was another round of shots from both sides but did not participate. I was waiting for Quail and his bazooka. Then I saw a tube come out from behind the knoll and knew that Quail would have to lift his head to get in the shot and I would not have too much time to take the shot. Our guys had joined the fray by sending over a few shots to let them know that there were more of us to fight. I only had to wait about twenty seconds or so when I saw his head pop up to aim and shot him through the head. The bazooka or whatever it was belched smoke and flame but it went over the house to one side and landed with a crump of flames in Bobby Joe’s empty field. Missed you bugger was my thought. Another fusillade from our side, the FBI and from inside the house, then everything went quiet. We all heard one of them shout that they were putting down their weapons and coming out. They stood up one by one and walked out onto the side road that went past the farm. World war three and a half had just ended. I wondered what casualties there were as we ran to the farmhouse. As we got there Bobby Joe, Pete and Mavis came out as did the four well armed FBI chopper guys. There were no casualties on our side and that was a big bonus for us.

Chapter 41

I walked over to where Quail was lying. He would not be shooting or bombing anyone any more. As I was walking back to the farmhouse a whole fleet of vehicles arrived at the farmhouse and I’m sure they could have taken down a few smaller countries they were so well armed. Jackson climbed out of the lead vehicle and walked directly over to us.

“Where is Quail? We have a few things we need to ask him.”

I think he knew from the look on our faces that was not happening, well not today or for that matter any day soon.

“Sorry Jackson, did not know you wanted him alive. He was about to put a rocket into the house and I was not about to let him, so....”

I gave him the open hands.

“As long as he is not going to foul up anything else that’s cool with me. We will just have to go through his home and everything that has anything to do with him, see what we can find. Oh, DD Jameson is OK, they took him to the hospital and we got a call before we got here, he is going to be fine. He is going to be hurting for a while but nothing that a short paid leave won’t sort out. Nice one guys, we owe you.”

He looked at me.

“I think now is the time for me to say sorry to you for not believing. I am now a believer my friend, a big time believer. I think a few of us would have bought the farm today had it not been for you getting our asses down as quickly as you did.”

He stuck out his hand and we shook. The sun finally went down. This had been one of ‘those’ days, time to park.

The FBI asked us to stay on to help with finalizing everything and to have statements done to cover us for what had happened and for the people who had died in the specific incidents. They were going to pay for the damage to the vehicles plus other incidentals that were not to be covered by the movie studio. While statements were being taken from the movie studio people who had been on hand shortly after the attempted hit on us, I again bumped into the director. He had obviously been told what had happened and that he was fortunate to have such dedicated people working to find his stars. Whoever it was had really laid it on heavy and when he saw me could not thank me and the team enough. He pulled me over and asked if they could set up a movie about me and before he got too involved I had turned him down. I had told him this was one secret that need hiding and he had accepted that reasoning. He then said he was adding an extra fifty thousand Dollars to our fee. I thanked him and left.

Ed called for a RRI meeting and we all trooped in to find a meal waiting for us. He had ordered steak, egg and chips with a fruit salad type desert. There were a few bottles of wine and two bottles of champagne. This was the right way to start a meeting. He said we all needed to tuck in and while we ate we chatted about what we had accomplished and where we had made mistakes and what we needed to do to cut them out on future missions. Even though we were sort of celebrating there was an undertone, knowing that people had died. That was never good but I think we all understood that. Ed told us that he had just spoken to the director and been told about the extra fifty grand we were going to be paid.

“Seeing as we all did good, that will be split as we agreed with ten grand going to each of us so that we could buy whatever we wanted before going home.”

He explained that one of his cargo aircraft would be used to transport them for us. There was one slight modification though and that was what he was going to do with his ten grand.

“That ten will be going to Doggs guys for not only saving my ass but for also making sure that none of us got hurt today. What say you?”

All were in total agreement. I knew what I wanted and that was one of the three axis control, dual seat Eagles and maybe one of those other kites with the pontoons and wheels. Choices, choices but it was good to have choices. Then again maybe I would buy something different as Ed and Morgan had already agreed to buy two for RRI. I smiled.

Chapter 42

DD Jameson, FD Fox, Jackson, Bobby Joe, Pete and Mavis came to see us off. These were all great people but I had a soft spot for the ‘farm gang’ these were my type of people, open hearted, down to earth and friendly. I was going to miss them and I think so would Clive. I told them all that they would be welcome in Bechuanaland if they ever decided to come that way. I think after they saw the pictures of our home at Manne, the Thamma, the wildlife and the beauty of the swamps and bushveld plus what we had told them about the people I was sure we would be getting visits from some of them. We walked through the gates and onto the plane. We had a short stop over at JFK and then it would be onto London then home. I could not wait.

The flight to JFK and to London went well with a lot of sleeping and reading being done by all parties. Ed was also on the flight and made a suggestion that we spend a few days in London at his home as his mother would really like to see us again. We really did not need much persuading from him and accepted his offer. The Okavango could wait a few days. Ed’s Mom had arranged three cars to come and pick us up from Heathrow. The drive through London was hectic and even though we saw some of the main tourist spots when we hit the countryside again I felt better. I definitely could not live and or work in a city, it killed my soul and depressed me badly. I needed wide open spaces, water and bush, lots of it.

We drove for quite some time towards the sea along the road to Margate then turned off. Our destination was just outside the village of Grain at the mouth of the Thames Estuary. Ed had his home away from the city which was surprising for us but I don’t know why, I think we thought of him as a city type with some mansion tucked away in some fancy area. When we got there we saw a decent sized house but nothing that we had imagined. There were barns and sheds off to one side and was really well laid out. As we drove up to the house we could see the estuary and a small cove with a pier jutting out into the water and a boat shed. This was country living at its best. Our man Ed kept surprising us.

Moira came out to greet us and welcomed us into her home. She got us each to drop our kit in a bedroom that had already been set up for us then proceeded to give us the grand tour. Both she and Ed looked pretty proud of their home and to say it was magnificent inside was an understatement. Nothing was ostentatious or over the top but was neat and beautiful. We sat down on their enclosed balcony overlooking the bay for as he termed it for ‘a spot of tea’ with scones, clotted cream from Devon and strawberry jam. I had heard about this from my Mom. This was just so special, I felt right at home and at ease.

Moira was smiling and chatting and glad to see Ed back home but I could see something was worrying her, it showed in her eyes. I think Ed could also see it so very gently asked

“Anything the matter Mom, you seem a bit distracted?”

She smiled “Yes I am slightly” then looked out to sea “Rhona from next door says she saw boats coming past last night that were keeping too close to the shoreline and that suggests they are not local fishermen. It is the first time we have heard about anything like this but suppose it’s nothing.”

Being relaxed and in good company I was cruising. Listening to Moira about the boats I felt my whispers tickling me and excused myself and walked out the balcony door and down towards the pier. Once there, I sat down on the heavy old boards that made up the pier with my back against a pillar. My eyes went to the house and could see them all watching me. As my whispers came to me I saw boats at the pier with a few men coming off the boats and they were carrying weapons. I watched as they sneaked up to the house under cover of darkness then the lights went on. I walked back to the balcony and stepped inside. They all sat up as I walked in sensing I was not a happy camper.

“How many weapons do you have here Ed?”

They all came up out of their chairs like one person.

“What the hell did you see Doggs? What’s going on?”

I looked at Ed “We or should I say you, are getting unwelcome visitors tonight and they are coming in armed to the teeth. Got any enemies that we should know about Ed?”

“I don’t know but this could be anybody, maybe a gang out to raid people along the coast. Last night’s run was probably a tester?”

I saw him worried for the first time “We need to stop these people first time out with no come backs. If we don’t we would not know when they could strike again.”

He took us down into his ‘hole’ as he called it. It was a sizable room beneath the house which housed radios and an office. On one wall were enough firearms to do what we needed to do. We went over the weapons and made suggestions to Ed that maybe we needed a bit more firepower of the automatic variety. Ed said he would be back shortly and took off leaving us to pick weapons and pack out ammo. We would be ready for them when they came either with or without autos. We at least knew they were coming so should have the upper hand. In case of eyes on us we all had to remain inside from now so as not to let them know there were more of us. No problem.

Ed got back an hour later. He drove his Bentley into the garage and opened the boot. Did not want to know who his friends were but what he had brought was pretty neat and was definitely going to give us the upper hand. He had brought us five Heckler & Koch autos with what looked like silencers on them. There were about twenty boxes of ammo with three extra clips for each weapon. There were two boxes which he lifted out and put them on the garage table. Smiling like a crazed Chestshire cat he opened the one like he had just been given an early Christmas present and pulled out a big H&H machine gun with a bi-pod that ran a belt feed. Wow he was on a roll.

“Shees Ed, if this is what’s in this one what’s in that one.”

He laughed “These will give us a totally unfair advantage’ then he looked serious “But I’m so pissed off at the moment as to who wants to do this and flipping well why?” He opened the other box and took out what looked like binoculars but with a head band and some other gizmos on and around the lenses. I saw a wicked look on his face.

“Night glasses. We will see them in almost total darkness. If they also have them we will take ours off and switch on the big spotlights outside and blind the buggers, then we can take them to the cleaners.”

“I think I need to take a walk even though we are trying to stay out of sight, maybe I can get a better grip on it.”

I walked to the door, turned and asked Ed one final question.

“As a matter of interest Ed, do people get kidnapped for ransom in the UK?”

He turned and looked at me.

“Yes but so few and far between as to not matter, well that we get to hear about anyway. Why, you think that this is what it’s about?”

“Not really but think about it Ed, times are getting tough, you probably don’t have too many enemies business wise unless it’s someone who had a beef with your old man so what does that leave us? Not a hell of a lot now does it? Are you going to let the authorities know about this before the dog fight?”

“And what am I going to tell them Doggs? Oh gentlemen I have a guy here that can tell the future and he says.....”

He gave me the roll of the eyes and the spread palms. I heard someone laugh behind us, it was Margy and Moira.

“I’d like to see the look on their faces, what about you Moira, I think it would be an absolute hoot?”

They both turned and wandered down to the kitchen chuckling. I think Margy was spending time with Moira to take her mind off what was happening and I loved her more for that one.

Morgan had a look around the house and was figuring out shooting lanes and what covered what. He then walked round the property making notes then came back inside and between Clive and himself chatted about what would work best and what would afford the best cover. Ed watched them.

“Know something guys? Every time you guys get to go anywhere trouble seems to find you.”

Morgan turned to him.

“Nah you got that one wrong Ed. We go looking for trouble and they just keep getting in the way. We got what we call a ‘trouble-o-meter’ and it works just fine. You have a point though. We can’t seem to stay out of the deep end, can we? Anyway Ed we got ourselves a reasonably easy place to defend, depending on how many and how well armed they are. We will soon find out won’t we?”

We all met in the kitchen for some coffee and to plan tonight’s defenses. There was one thing worrying me.

“Ed, this is your back yard and your cops and other authorities are pretty anti what we are planning. Do we shoot to kill or what? Are we going to let them dictate how that goes or are we now going to take a fixed decision to take them out, period?”

I saw Morgan, Clive and Margy nod and look at Ed.

“Guys I have been thinking about this and my thoughts are, we let get them close to the house and away from the boats, stick the spots on outside and ambush them. Have them out of the game before it even starts. Two of us can be close to the pier but covered so as to cover anyone still in the boats.”

“I think that might be a good way to work this. We don’t want to shoot the heck out of these guys and have your Bobbie types having hives and fits. If they pull the triggers after us having them cold, they get what they deserve” I saw nods all round

“One more thing Ed, show us where their best landing spot would be and lets rig some lights in that area, maybe up in a tree or two, something like that, really give them something to think about. All their so called plans opened up and messed before they even get to play. It would put me off big time. That’s unless these guys are pros.”

That is what we did with the light faltering as only it can in England. We worked quickly and finally had everything set as we wanted it. Clive and I would take the spot near the pier and we would have radios and ear pieces to keep in contact. We then had a light supper with loads of coffee to keep the mind in high gear. Moira made a few thermos flasks of coffee and a couple of extra sandwiches in case we got hungry. Once it got dark enough, we kitted up warm and worked our way to our selected spot. Clive carried one of the H&H squirt guns and a Star. I had picked out a beautiful old Winchester Model 94 which carried 8 cartridges of .30-30’s. It had an octagonal barrel which did not weigh too much though. Ed had said it was based on their first ever rifle the ‘Yellow Boy’ and was a special edition but it shot well. I also took a 45 just in case. We tested the radios and turned them down until they were quiet but we could still hear any call. We pulled the tarpaulin over us and settled down to wait.

Chapter 43

It had got cold and my nose and ears where probably getting frost bitten. Clive got under the tarpaulin and looked at his watch, it was 2.30am. He whispered “These buggers had better get a shifty on, I’m getting frozen here.”

He blew on his hands. I felt the breeze and then the whispers started. It was dark so Clive was not aware of what was happening.

”They are almost here Clive but there is something not kosher but I can’t figure it out” I was whispering “Just got a flash heads up and something is weird because I’m not getting any feeling that this is going to turn out bad, no aggro or anything.”

Clive ducked under the tarpaulin again and spoke to Morgan on the radio telling them what I had said. He voiced what I was feeling.

“When I say throw the switch, do it but nobody shoot until they do. Doggs says he does not feel any aggro coming from them, says it feels kind of weird.”

Morgan said he would spread the word.

I heard the swish of oars and then the sound of a boat being beached, it sounded like rubber dinghy’s coming in. It was black as pitch so quietly pulled on our night glasses and peered over the slight mound in front of us. Damn they also had night glasses on and they looked like soldiers and moved like them. I suddenly got the feeling we needed those lights on right now and ducked under the tarpaulin and quickly told Morgan. I got Clive to take off his night glasses and did the same. About 10 seconds later the lights came on and it was daylight. All the soldier types howled and pulled off their night glasses and we yelled at them to stop right there. They all froze in an instant because I had added

“Or we shoot the crap out of you where you stand.”

They all put down their weapons. The group leader stood up.

“Gentlemen our weapons are not loaded. We are a special ops group from the army and are carrying out an assignment to test the powers of one Doggan Rath I believe the gentleman is called. I did tell our commander that this could go really badly if you guys pulled triggers before we could explain what was going on but nobody thought you would be ready and did not listen. Our humblest apologies.”

They all stood dead still not moving an inch. The next thing I heard was Ed coming down from the house and he was not happy. He was letting them know in no uncertain language what he thought of them.

“Do you bloody idiots know that this could have ended really badly. We have H&H autos and one heavy machine gun. We have an assortment of rifles and what would have really been worse for you, all our people can damn well use them. We would have cut you to pieces in seconds. Now walk away from your weapons and towards me and I’m not joking.”

We all heard the sound of a heavy motor coming in towards the coastline and out of the murk came a coastal patrol boat flying all their colours. A speaker on the boat came alive.

“Please stand down gentlemen, this was an exercise handed down from Army Headquarters and we apologise for the inconvenience. May we come ashore?

Ed yelled for them to come on in. By now we had all come out of the house and our rabbit hole in the ground still carrying our weapons. We heard a few of the soldiers whistle.

“Shite we would have got ourselves blown to hell and back.”

The small cutter from the patrol boat pulled up to the pier and tied up. Three officers got out and walked to where we were standing.

They introduced themselves and explained what had just gone down and the reason behind it. It was to test me.

“What I would like to ask on behalf of her Majesties armed forces is this, how did you know we were coming?”

Ed was fighting for control about now but answered quietly.

“Gentlemen, neither I, or anybody here is going to tell you squat right now. It is damn close to 2.45am and we have been awake waiting for your goons to pitch up so that we could shoot the crap out of you then go to bed. You are so fortunate that our man got us to back off and not use you for shooting practice. If you bloody well want to know anything about the why’s and how’s you are going to have to come here in a bloody normal way during daylight hours and ask us properly. Bring your top brass with you, those same idiots that thought this was a good idea. Now gentlemen, we would appreciate you buggering off so that we can get some shut eye. Good night.”

Ed turned on his heel without waiting for an answer. We all walked back laughing and chatting up a storm. I think there were enough bright red faces amongst the soldiers and the officers to light their way back to their ship. Not a peep came from them as they left. We got back to the house and found that Moira and Margy had got the coffee on and had some biscuits out. We sat down on the balcony and had coffee. We had just witnessed how a true blue English gentleman got pissed off and gave all a piece of his mind without resorting to too colourful a language, well sort of.

“I wonder which bright spark at HQ thought this was a good idea. Well I suppose we will find out later this morning, what that was all about. Why the hell did they not just ask us to come in and have a chat. It would have been a hell of a lot simpler and a lot safer” he looked at me “It looks like we are probably going to get a similar offer from them as we got from the Feebies. How that will work I don’t know but today we will find out. I’m off to bed, that damn thing has been calling me the whole night. Cheers.”

Chapter 44

We had all eaten breakfast when we heard the choppers coming in. We walked outside and the weather had got rainy and slightly miserable but saw two big black helicopters coming towards the house from across the estuary, looked like our visitors did not like the idea of driving out to see us. There was enough space around to have landed 30 of them so sat and waited for them to touch down then Ed and Morgan took a walk down to meet them. There was a heck of a lot of flash on their shoulders and caps and they were greeted and then ushered into the house. They all introduced themselves and sat. It was the Brigadier who started.

“First and foremost we would like to extend our apologies for last night. Secondly we would like to know where you got your weapons and do you have the necessary licenses and permits.....”

He got no further “Excuse me Brigadier” emphasizing the Brigadier “Before you go off at a tangent and demanding anything at all, who the bloody hell do you think you are. Do you think for one second that all that bird shit on your caps and shoulders gives you the right to walk in here and start demanding answers?” he interrupted the brigadiers attempt to answer “You send your bloody troops to my home, a respected UK businessman, in the middle of the bloody night to do WHAT?” the last word was shouted.

The look of shock from all five of them was priceless.

“Gentlemen, I own all the firearms that are here and they are licensed. I was given a heads up before your midnight escapades of last night and went down to a certain gentlemen you are acquainted with and asked to borrow a few pieces of equipment and also gave him a reason for the ‘loan’. That person’s name is Major General Bellingham and you can clear that with him. As of now you are not welcome in my home and I am asking that you take your leave. Good day and I’m sure you know the way out.”

As they walked away rather stiffly Morgan added.

“And don’t let the door hit your asses on the way out. Shees Ed you did not even give them time to ask Doggs here anything. That is going to burn their butts. Why so aggro?”

“It was something Doggs said a while back. He said we are a rescue team and not a war team. He does not mind finding a downed pilot who happens to be military but when it comes to helping the military out with something to do with warfare or finding someone who they need to kill, then we should be out and that is basically what I did now. These blighters wanted to use Doggs to tell them when would be the best time to make an attack and I know that just from their attitude” he paused to take in some air “Something you guys don’t know about me guys is that before I landed up in the swamps and all screwed up, I was at Sandhurst becoming an officer. That attitude unfortunately has stayed with the British forces for way too long. Everything for them is a bun fight they want to win...... at any cost. I was not going to let them anywhere near you guys, period.

I don’t think they will be back any time soon. Now today I need to return some military hardware to a friend of mine and you guys and lady need to unwind and have some fun. There is a Jag sedan in the garage if you need to go to town or on a jaunt and she is full of gas. There are fishing rods in the shed, please feel free to use what you need. I’ll be back around 12 noon.”

Ed left and we drifted around just mooching. I walked down to the shed with Margy in tow.

“I know exactly where you are going but where to throw your line. That I have to see.”

“I have already figured out where the fish are but it remains to be seen if they are like our fish in the swamps. Then again, they are English or lost French fish so maybe I won’t know.”

Margy punched me on the arm then giggled.

“Let’s find a quiet cove somewhere.... a very quiet cove.”

Now that sounded just fine for me except it was still dripping wet.

“You mind wet grass?”

I winked at her.

We spent the next three days lazing around while Clive and Morgan went to town twice to do whatever. Moira being the lady she was, kept surprising us with her cooking which reminded me of my Mom’s cooking, so was really looking forward to going home. That soon came to be as we travelled to Heathrow to fly back. Moira had said her good bye at the house and Ed drove us through in the Land Rover. We got there early and went and sat in the first class lounge. We were flying first class and were looking forward to the large and comfortable seats.

We had been there about half an hour when the doors opened and in walked two high ranking army officers. They walked straight up to our party and asked to speak to me. As I had done the last time, I proceeded to do again.

“Gentlemen anything you want to speak to me about can be done right here. We are all RRI or better known as Rescue Response International and anything you want to say to me affects them as well. Now, what can we do for you?”

One of them stepped forward

“We came to apologise for certain people’s behaviour the other day and to ask, if at any time one of our armed forces chappies goes missing, would your group be interested in finding them for us? If at all possible we will carry out the follow up and rescue part. All we need from you would be to point us in the right direction. We heard from a Major General Bellingham that we should not ask if it involves anything to do with our wars, fights and tribulations and would that be in order then?”

“I am sure we will be able to do that for you. You do know where Ed lives and I am sure you also have his phone number. Let him know and he will give you what we need.”

Chapter 45

After saying cheers to Ed we finally boarded the plane to fly back to Johannesburg and from there to Bechuanaland. Damn this had been a long workout for us but had been worth it. It did not take too long for me to fall asleep and for a change no whispers interrupted my drift into oblivion.

I woke up as we were approaching Johannesburg and we were asked to put our seats in the upright position.

“Wow Doggs, you kipped the whole damned way, you must have been bushed. Nothing on the radar, so you died. I also slept but not like you.”

She snuggled until just before landing trying hard to behave herself. Yeah right. That was not going to happen any time soon.

We had a surprise waiting for us at Johannesburg. As we walked into the airport arrivals there was a guy holding a signboard for RRI. We went over to him and found out there was a plane waiting to fly us to Maun. We were told that there were a few extra passengers that were going to fly up with us. They were already there waiting for us in the lounge. As we walked into the lounge, we found my Mom and Dad, Feelan and Demi sitting drinking Cokes or should I say, what looked like Cokes. This could not have been planned any better if they had tried.

We took our leave of Morgan and Clive and invited them up to Manne for a few weeks to come and fish, rest up and do a safari. They had both accepted and said they would let us know soon. We flew back to Maun and I was wondering why Maun and not straight to Manne. They had arranged another surprise for us. Josh and Don had brought the long boat up to Maun to fetch us. We were going home on the river. This was what living here was all about. Family, good friends, the quiet, the bush sounds, the Thamma and basically the Okavango opening her arms and welcoming us back. Damn it was good to be home. Margy leaned on me and sighed. I think she now felt it too. Nothing more was needed, not by us anyway.

As we glided into the pier at Manne I was overcome by such strong feelings I swallowed hard. I did not realise how this place, as humble as it was, had such an effect on me. We started walking up to the hotel, I stopped and waved them on. I stood looking over my home and felt a slight breeze come up. Not now guys, not now, we have just got home. The breeze tugged at my mind but nothing came up. Then I realised it was just my bush whispers welcoming me home. Smiling, I walked up to the Eden. Home at last, man what a feeling!!!