Chapter 23

 

Their footsteps crunched in the dry sandy earth, each scuffling step sounding loud and disturbing. Dust kicked up around them as they scraped the skin off the young giraffe.

“I can’t believe you’re so bloody stupid.” Johanne grunted between gasps for air. “This one is heavy, must be more than 1,000 kilos.”

“Who is saying it is me who did this thing? There are other poachers in the park besides Pieter. And there’s that crazy conservationist,” Mhlongo said.

“Him? He’s pathetic. But you. You were pissed when he sent you off. Your type always get revenge. Stupid arse.” Johanne’s tongue shifted from side to side on his lip as he concentrated on his task.

“So one more rich man in Austria doesn’t get to kill a giraffe. Does it make a difference to you?”

“It might to my cut of the money. Pieter is going to go ballistic and I’m going to blame you for it.”

“Like Pieter would pay you one Rand more than he absolutely has to,” Mhlongo muttered.

They almost had the skin free of the carrion. Mhlongo made a few more skilled swipes with the knife, then carefully wiped the blade on a rag. He was surprised that Christopher had killed it. He must have taken Mhlongo’s advice. Mhlongo turned to Johanne with arm and knife extended.

Johanne jumped to his feet, arms out. “Stop that, Mhlongo.” The tremor of fear in his voice made him cough to hide it, but the glint in Mhlongo’s eyes showed he sensed it.

“I said back off.” Johanne raised his voice.

“We could make a good team, you and me,” Mhlongo said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “We could sell the pelts and ivory ourselves.”

Since he hadn’t been killed already, Johanne’s confidence rose. “Shut up, you don’t have the contacts.”

“You could steal Pieter’s little book, and I would use it to find the right contacts.”

“You could never pull it off. Put the knife away, man.” Johanne, in a show of bravery, started to turn away.

Mhlongo darted at Johanne, slitting his shirt open and leaving a minor scrape on the skin of his abdomen. Johanne shoved full force at Mhlongo, pushing him over backward. The much bigger man sprang upon Mhlongo. A dust cloud rose around them as they wrestled for the knife.

Mhlongo threw the weapon into the tall grass nearby and began laughing into Johanne’s face. Johanne froze in place.

“You are a big man only in your body. I would not hurt you. You might change your mind about going into business together and steal the baas man’s contacts.” Mhlongo laughed again, his yellow eyes narrowing in contradiction to his mirth.