I came to, disoriented, unsure of what hurt more, my head or my shoulder. I readjusted my goggles and slowly looked around. Pieces of tree and buckled metal stabbed through the passenger side.
Jon was holding his leg, groaning in pain. I could see that his thigh was badly gashed and bleeding heavily.
He grimaced in agony.
I fumbled under my seat for the first-aid kit. I was frantic. “You’re losing a lot of blood!” I pulled out a bandage and started wrapping. “We’ve got to get you to a hospital.”
Jon shook his head, dizzy with pain and loss of blood. He pressed down on the bandage.
I looked down the airstrip behind us. There was a simple solution to all of this. BDF and the rangers could handle the rest of this operation. I wasn’t going to risk losing another person on my watch. “I’m going to get the other plane.”
The door on my side of the plane was untouched and easy to open. “I’ll be right back.”
I opened the door and stepped down. I checked my hip to make sure that my revolver was still in the holster. I wanted to be prepared for the worst.
I stood by the side of my smashed plane for a few seconds to make sure there was no movement around Geldenhuis’s plane. I needed to get there first.
When I was certain that we were alone on the airstrip, I slowly approached the plane. It was a Cessna Caravan 208 with an underbelly cargo pod for extra cargo. I opened the door to the pilot’s side. Everything looked in order. I was sure they’d have enough gas to get back to the Caprivi, as that’s where I had assumed Geldenhuis would head after the shipment was delivered.
I climbed in and sat down. I’d have to drive the plane as close as I could to the crash site in order to minimize the distance for Jon to walk.
Suddenly, I felt a hand grip my shoulder from outside the plane. I spun around.
“I’m impressed.” Geldenhuis growled and pulled the night-vision goggles from my head and threw them on the ground.
I was temporarily blinded as I tried to readjust my eyes to the darkness.
He pulled at my dead weight. “Now, step out.”
I was desperate. All I could think about was Jon and his bleeding leg. “I’ve got to get Jon to a hospital. He’s bleeding badly.”
Geldenhuis smiled coolly. “Ah, the little biologist with a cause.” He heaved me effortlessly out of the pilot seat and threw me on the ground.
There was only one way out. My hand shook as I slowly reached for my revolver and pointed it at him.
“Give me that,” Geldenhuis said with unnerving coolness, reminding me what he was capable of.
I shook my head. “I’m not going to let you get away with this.”
He laughed. “You’re not a killer.”
“No…but I know what you’re capable of.” I gripped my revolver with both hands. “I saw what you did to the witch doctor.”
Geldenhuis had a look of genuine surprise on his face. He slowly walked to the side of me. Then he lunged at me, knocking the pistol out of my hand and it fell to the ground. We both grabbed for it, cracking our heads in the process. I shook my head to clear the stars and black spots from my vision. I had to move fast. It was him or me, and there was no way I had the strength to outmuscle him.
I grabbed the revolver and stood over him with my finger on the trigger.
He put his hands out in surrender. “You can’t stop this, you know.”
“I can stop you.”
“Me,” he scoffed. “I’m just the bloody pawn. By tomorrow, the ring leader will be halfway to Hong Kong.”
“You mean Mr. Lin.”
He smiled. “Ah, yes, blame the Chinese shop owner. Better go back to detective school, Ms. Sohon.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mr. Lin is just a triad puppet. It’s impressive what a man will do when there’s a gun to his son’s head back in Hong Kong.”
“You’re lying.”
He jumped up with surprising speed in an effort to tackle me. I had no choice but to pull the trigger.