Текст книги "Rage"

Автор книги: Wilbur Smith

Соавторы: Wilbur Smith
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Текущая страница: 53 (всего у книги 53 страниц)

'Matatu was leading and he took the first burst in the belly.

That made me fairly bitter and I went after the gooks with the old .577. It was five miles to the river and they ran like the clappers of hell, but I polished off the last two in the water before they could reach the Zambian side. When I turned around, there was Matatu standing right behind me. The little bugger had backed me up for five miles with his tripes hanging out of the hole in his guts." ú Across the camp fire the little Ndorobo's face had brightened as he heard his name mentioned, and Sean told him in Swahili, 'Show the Bwana Makuba your new belly button." Obligingly Matatu hoisted his tattered shirt tails and displayed for Shasa the fearsome scars the AK 47 bullets had left on his stomach.

'You are a stupid little bugger,' Sean told him severely, 'running around with a hole in your guts, instead of lying down and dying like you should have. You are bloody stupid, Matatu." Matatu's whole body wriggled with pleasure. 'Bleddy stupid bugger,' he agreed proudly. He knew that this was the highest accolade to which he could possibly aspire, uttered as it was by the godhead of his entire firmament.

While Shasa was still packing his books and paintings for the journey to London, Garry and Holly moved into Weltevreden.

'I'll be over there for at least three years,' Shasa said. 'And when I come back we can talk again, but I shall probably get myself a flat in town. On my own the old place is just too big for me." Holly was pregnant, and prevailed on Centaine to stay on to help her 'just until the baby is born'.

'Holly is the only woman that Mater can stand within half a mile of her on a permanent basis,' Shasa remarked to Garry as the two ladies of Weltevreden began planning the redecoration of the nursery wing together.

Isabella's love affair with Lothar De La Rey survived in stormy seas and wild winds during the monhs of the enquiry into the death of Moses Gama.

The commission of enquiry exonerated Brigadier Lothar De La Rey with a verdict of 'No Guilt'. The local English-language as well as the international press jeered cynically at this verdict and an emergency meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution calling for comprehensive mandatory sanctions on South Africa, which was predictably vetoed in the Security Council.

However, amongst his own people, Lothar's reputation was greatly enhanced and the Afrikaans press lauded him as its chosen hero.

Not a week after the commission made its findings public, Isabella woke in the bedroom of her luxurious Sandton flat to find Lothar already fully dressed, standing over the bed and watching her with an expression of such deep regret that she sat up quickly, fully awake, and let the pink satin sheets fall to her waist.

'What is it, Lothie?" she cried. 'Why are you leaving so early? Why are you looking at me like that?" 'There will be a by-election in the Doornberg constituency. It's one of our safe seats. The party organizers have offered it to me, and I have accepted. I'm resigning my police commission and going into politics." 'Oh, that's wonderful,' Isabella cried, and reached out to him with both arms. 'I was reared on politics. We will make a great team, Lothie. I'll be an amazing help to you – you'll see!" Lothar lifted his eyes from her naked breasts, but made no move to touch her, and she let her arms drop. 'What is it?" Her expression changed.

'I'm going back to my own people, Bella,' he said quietly. 'Back to my Volk and my God. I know what I want. I want one day to succeed where my father failed. I want the position he almost achieved, but I need a wife who is one of my own people. A good Afrikaner girl. I have already chosen her. I am going to her now. So we must say goodbye, Bella. Thank you. I will never forget you, but it is over now." 'Get out,' she said. 'Get out – and don't come back." He hesitated and her voice rose to a scream, 'Get out, you bastard.

Get out!" He went to the bedroom door and closed it softly behind him, and Isabella snatched the water jug from the bedside table and hurled it at the door. It shattered and she threw herself face down on the bed and began to weep.

She cried all that day, and at nightfall went into the bathroom and filled the bath with hot water. Lothar had left a packet of razor blades on the shelf next to her douche bag, and she unwrapped one of them slowly and held it up in front of her eyes. It looked terrifyingly evil, and the light glinted on the edge, but she lowered it until it touched the skin of her wrist. It stung like a scorpion and she jerked her wrist away.

'No, Lothar De La Rey, I won't give you the satisfaction,' she Said angrily, and dropped the blade into the toilet bowl and went back into the bedroom. She picked up the phone.

When she heard her father's voice, Isabella trembled with the shock of what she had almost done.

'I want to come home, Daddy,' she whispered.

'I'll send the jet for you,' Shasa said without hesitation. 'No, hell, I'll fly up to fetch you myself." She was waiting on the tarmac and she ran into his arms. Halfway back to Cape Town he touched her cheek and said, 'I'll need an official hostess at "Highveld"." That was the ambassador's residenc ú in London. 'I'm even prepared to renegotiate your salary." 'Oh Daddy,' she said. 'Why aren't all the men in the world like you!

Jakobus Stander was hanged in the Pretoria Central prison. Sarah Stander and her husband were waiting outside when the death notice was posted on the main gates of the prison.

The night that they returned to the cottage in Stellenbosch Sarah rose once Roelf was asleep and in the bathroom she took a massive overdose of barbiturates.

She was dead in the bed beside him when Roelf Stander woke the following morning.

Maned and Heidi went to live on their farm in the Free State where Manfred raised pedigree merino sheep.

At the agricultural show in Bloemfontein Manfred won a blue ribbon for the champion ram on show three years in succession.

Always fleshy, Manfred put on a great deal of weight, eating out of boredom more than appetite. Only Heidi knew how he chaffed at inactivity, how much he longed to walk once again the corridors of power, and how pointless and frustrating he felt his existence had become.

He suffered his heart attack while wandering alone in the veld and shepherds found his body the next morning lying where he had fallen. Centaine flew up in the company jet to his funeral. She was the only member of the Courtney family present when Manfred was buried with full honours in Heroes Acre, surrounded by the graves of many other outstanding Afrikaners, including Dr Hendrik Verwoerd.

When Shasa Courtney was driven back from Buckingham Palace in the ambassadorial limousine after presenting his credentials to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the streets were wet with the grey London drizzle.

Despite the weather, the demonstrators were waiting for him in Trafalgar Square with their placards: 'The spirit of Moses Gama lives on' and 'Apartheid is a crime against humanity." As Shasa alighted from the limousine in front of the embassy, the demonstrators tried to push forward, but a line of blue-uniformed London bobbies linked arms to hold them back.

'Shasa Courtney!" Half-way across the sidewalk Shasa stopped dead in his tracks at the familiar voice, and he looked around.

He did not recognize her at first, then he saw her in the front rank of the demonstration and he turned back. He struck a tall elegant figure in his court dress and top hat. He stopped in front of her and spoke to one of the constables.

'Thank you, officer, but I know this lady, you may let her through." Then, as she ducked under the constable's outstretched arm, he greeted her, 'Hello, Tara." He found it difficult to believe how she had changed. She was a blowsy middle-aged drab, only her eyes were still beautiful as they blazed at him.

'Moses Gama lives on. The monsters of apartheid can murder our heroes, but the battle is ours. In the end we will inherit the earth." Her voice was a screech.

'Yes, Tara,' he replied. 'There are heroes and there are monsters, but most of us are ordinary mortals caught up in events too turbulent for any of us. Perhaps when the battle is over, all we will inherit will be the ashes of a once beautiful land." He turned away from her and walked into the entrance of the embassy without looking back.

The End

Author's Note . !

Once again I have taken some small liberties with the timetables of history, in particular the dates on which the Umkhonto we Sizwe.and Poqo movements began, Nelson Mandela was acquitted in his first treason trial, and Harold Macmillan made his 'Winds of Change' speech.

I hope that you, the reader, will forgive me for the sake of the narrative.

Wilbur Smith The Courtney Novels:

WHEN THE LION FEEDS 'Mr Smith is a natural story-teller..."

(The Scotsman)

THE SOUND OF THUNDER 'A violent sage-type story set in Boer War Africa and told with rigour and enthusiasm."

(The London Standard)

A SPARROW FALLS 'He packs humanity into a bag already overflowing with adventure, excitement, and realism." (Yorkshire Post)

THE BURNING SHORE

'... Courage, drama, love and revenge on land, sea and in the air towards the end of the first world war are blended in fine style. Mr Smith's research into events and places'is spot-on, as usual."

(Bolton Evening News)

POWER OF THE SWORD '... A stupendous story, written in the grand old manner, from the master of thoroughgoing adventure." (David Hughes, The Mail on Sunday)

The Ballantyne Novels:

A FALCON FLIES 'There is throughout Falcon Flies a genuine sense of excitement and wonder." (Sunday Telegraph)

MEN OF MEN

'A splendid read." (Financial Times)

THE ANGELS WEEP

'... action, adventure and romance..." (Yorkshire Post)

THE LEOPARD HUNTS IN DARKNESS

'... big, bold and bloody' (The Scotsman)

Also by Wilbur Smith."

THE DARK OF THE SUN 'If the phrase "a man's book" has any meaning, it describes this powerful savage story." (Books & Bookmen)

SHOUT AT THE DEVIL

'A fast and thrilling adventure." (Northern Echo)

GOLD MINE

'... violent action and informed technical detail...

Mr Smith is at his liveliest and best." (The London Standard)

THE DIAMOND HUNTERS

'A gem of a suspense/adventure novel." (Mirror)

THE SUNBIRD

'A splendid panoramic piece of writing, with colourful characters woven into an enthralling plot." (Oxford Times)

EAGLE IN THE SKY

'Wilbur Smith ... rarely misses a trick ... Terribly competent." (Sunday Times)