Chapter 25

 

Mhlongo moved carefully, not wanting his footsteps to sound against the loose pebbled earth that made up the roads of Lower Sabie. He’d climbed the stile over the fence. He spotted the yellow bakkie right away. Good fortune was with him, since she was parked on the camping side of the compound. Perhaps she would be in a tent. A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. She asked too many questions and was pushing in all the wrong places.

His foot crunched against the earth as he crept up the dark side of the bakkie. No camp site visible—she must be in the truck. Mhlongo pressed his face to the glass of the bed cover. He saw some of the golden hair spilling from a sleeping bag in back. He fingered the knife in his pocket. Her breathing was even, heavy with sleep.

The glass windows in back were small and would be noisy to break. It would be like trying to kill some animal still in its den. Mhlongo evaluated his options. He eyed the locks on the cab.

Noisy footsteps scuffed along the path toward him, growing louder.

Mhlongo ducked around the front end of the truck as some campers shuffled past on their way to clean up at the ablution block.

It would be okay. He would track her. He would find another opportunity to make this woman disappear so subtly that even Pieter would not notice, he thought as he melted back into the shadows toward the stile and the open dark veldt.