Sean and Tumi drove back to Christine’s farm together and Craig travelled by himself.
Sean was tired from being up most of the night; that and the strain of the last couple of weeks was telling on all of them. Sean called Christine from the car and filled her in on what had happened.
‘Craig assassinated David Li? Blew him up?’ Christine asked, the astonishment clear in her voice.
‘As far as we can tell,’ Sean said. ‘He didn’t answer the question directly, but as he said, “you don’t have to be a terrorist to rig up a car bomb”.’
Christine was waiting for them at the farmhouse when they arrived there several hours later. When Sean got out of the bakkie she ran to him and threw her arms around him.
‘I’ve got the money with me,’ he said, hugging her tight.
She kissed him. ‘I don’t care about the money. I just want you. And you, Tumi, it’s good to have you back safe.’
Tumi smiled and Christine led them into the house. ‘I’ve made coffee.’
Shikar wandered inside from the yard and bounded over to Tumi when she saw her. Tumi patted her. ‘Good girl.’
‘Where’s Benny?’ Sean asked, dread tightening his chest. They had all been through so much he was still on edge.
‘He’s fine,’ Christine said. ‘Though I think he was pining for you. He’s been acting funny since you two snuck off to Joburg. He was just sitting outside for hours yesterday, over there by the old Land Rover, like he was waiting for you. Eventually I half dragged him inside. He wouldn’t stop barking and carrying on so I locked him in the laundry.’
‘I’ll go get him, in a minute.’ Sean looked to the Land Rover, processing what Christine had just told him, then went to her and took her in his arms again. ‘I love you.’
‘Same,’ she said, blinking. ‘I’m proud of you.’
He shook his head. ‘I won’t let you down again, but I’ve got to go now. Tumi, come with me, please, let’s get our rifles. We’ve got work to do.’
‘I know. Good luck.’
‘Don’t go near that Land Rover for now.’ Sean went to the laundry where Benny, having heard his voice, was barking like crazy.
*
Christine held her hand to her eyes to shield them from the sun and saw Craig’s bakkie coming up the access road.
Li was dead, but her future was far from secure. She would need to replace Oliver, and Clyde the bloodhound, and it looked like Charles would be on convalescent leave and on light duties for at least another month or more. Everyone needed time off, but she couldn’t afford to let anyone go.
Craig drove up to her, stopped and got out. He reached into the passenger side of the bakkie and produced two bottles of French champagne from a cooler box.
‘We’re celebrating? Seriously?’ she said.
He shrugged. ‘Why not? Li is dead, and –’
‘About that, Craig. I never told anyone on my team to kill people in cold blood. You know our rules of engagement.’
‘I know his bodyguard had Tumi in the boot of a car and was about to start dismembering her. Li wouldn’t have stopped until he got your lions, even if it meant killing you. He came damn close with that attack by his guys on the farm, with Oliver as their inside man.’
She exhaled. ‘I don’t know how to handle this.’
‘Live in the moment,’ he said, his face serious. ‘We never know how much longer we’ve got left. It’s not too late for you and me, Chris.’
Christine looked behind her. Sean came out of the house, with Benny at his side. Tumi and Shikar followed. Sean and Craig nodded to each other.
‘We still can’t be sure we’re safe,’ Sean said, his rifle hanging loose by his side. ‘Li might have made arrangements that we don’t know about.’
‘Agreed, boet,’ Craig said. He leaned into the cab of his vehicle and put the champagne back in the cooler.
Sean turned to Tumi. ‘Take Shikar up the western fence line. Check for any incursions. Take one of the radios from inside the farmhouse.’
‘OK.’ Tumi went inside, came back with a handheld radio, then headed for one of the farm bakkies. She and Shikar got in and Tumi drove off.
Craig put his hands on his hips. ‘You taking charge now, brother?’
Christine looked to Sean and held her breath.
Sean locked eyes with his former best friend. ‘I think it would be good if you could go take a drive around the lion enclosures, make sure they’re safe.’
The muscles in Craig’s jaw tensed. He turned his head to Christine. ‘I’m still a part owner of this operation and, when I last checked, its manager.’
She gave him a small, sad smile. He was a handsome man, confident and assured. ‘Please do as Sean suggests, then, Craig. I’d like you to go check on the lions.’
‘Go inside to the gun safe and get your rifle,’ Sean said to Craig. ‘You might need it.’
Again Craig squared up to Sean, but just for a few seconds, before he turned on his heel and walked inside.
Sean went to Craig’s bakkie and reached in through the driver’s side window. ‘Have you got the Land Rover keys?’ he asked Christine.
She took them out of her pocket and put them in his outstretched hand. ‘Are you sure you want to go through with this?’
Sean nodded and walked over to the Land Rover and Benny followed him. When they got close, Benny sat down and Sean knelt next to him.
A few minutes later Craig came out of the house carrying his rifle. ‘Reporting for duty, sir.’
Craig made to walk past him, but Sean checked him by holding out Christine’s keys. ‘Take Chris’s Land Rover.’
‘That old banger? Why?’
‘Because I asked you to,’ Sean said.
Craig stared at him but walked on to his bakkie. When he looked inside he saw the keys were not where he’d left them. ‘What are you playing at, boet? You even want the boss’s Land Cruiser now?’
‘Please do as Sean asks,’ Christine said, her heart beating faster.
‘Chris,’ Sean said, ‘can you please go inside for a minute and radio Tumi.’
‘OK.’
Craig looked to both of them and shrugged, as if he did not know what was going on. Christine walked to the door of the farmhouse, but stopped when she got there and turned around. She had to trust that Sean knew what he was doing, but she would not let Sean do something he might later regret. She stayed close enough to hear what they were saying.
Craig went to Sean, snatched the keys out of his hand and carried on around to the driver’s side of the Land Rover. He opened the door and got in.
‘Stay here,’ Craig said, ‘like a good doggy and take care of the boss lady. See you in half an hour or so once Tumi and I have finished doing our patrols.’
Craig started the engine and reached down to put the Land Rover in gear.
‘Benny, voetsek, go to Christine!’ Sean commanded.
‘Here, Benny,’ Christine called. Benny looked back at Sean, but reluctantly walked away from the vehicle.
Before Craig could drive off, Sean darted around to the front of the Land Rover, raised his rifle into his shoulder and took aim at Craig. ‘Stop!’
*
Tumi stopped the bakkie by the gate that Sean had driven through to break the lock, the spot where they had both narrowly escaped death. Christine’s farm workers had made a temporary repair of the gate and fence, but it was far from secure.
Shikar jumped down from the back of the vehicle, eager to work or play. Tumi’s phone rang. When she looked at the screen she was surprised. ‘Hello, Dad. How are you?’
‘Fine, Tumi, and you?’
Where should she start? she wondered. ‘Fine.’
‘Your mother has told me what you’ve been up to.’
It was good to hear his deep voice again, after quite an absence. She assumed he was calling to order her to leave her job and come home and study some university course he approved of. ‘Dad, I’m sorry. It’s good to hear from you but I’m working right now. Can I call you –’
‘Just hear me out, girl.’
‘OK.’
‘Tumi, you know I didn’t approve of you studying vet science, and nor was I happy for you to become a dog handler, but your mother has convinced me that you are a grown woman now and you can make choices for yourself. Also, I have to tell you I’ve been worried sick since she told me what happened. How you were . . . hurt in that explosion.’
She thought she heard his voice catch. He was a proud man, traditional, and thought it weak for men to show their emotions. She was glad he didn’t know about the events that had followed that first IED.
‘Dad, I’m all right.’
‘I know you are, Tumi. I just wanted to say . . . well, whatever you choose to do in life I just want you to be safe, and I will support you, including financially.’
Tumi felt her own words stick in her throat. ‘I . . . thank you, Dad.’
‘Now go back to work. We can talk again when you have a free minute for an old man.’
She laughed. ‘I will, Dad, as soon as I can, tonight. I promise. Bye.’
She got out of the bakkie, smiling, and whistled to Shikar as she led the dog to the gate. ‘Shikar, soek.’
Tumi and Shikar made a thorough search of this part of the fence, as it would be the easiest place for an intruder to slip through.
Finding nothing of note, Shikar came back over to her and looked up at her lovingly, panting. ‘Good girl.’
They were on a rise and Tumi could see Christine’s farmhouse about a kilometre away. Tumi took out her phone. She would, she decided, send Charles an SMS and see if he wanted her to visit him this evening, after she’d had a good long talk with her father and mother. She had a feeling Charles would be very happy to see her.
When she had pressed the send button she looked back over the rolling grassy hills towards the farm.
And then a voice suddenly blared from the radio clipped to Tumi’s belt. ‘Tumi, Tumi, this is Chris, over,’ Christine said.
‘Tumi here, Chris.’
‘You can come back to the farmhouse, Tumi. The game’s over.’
*
Sean kept the rifle trained on Craig as he switched off the engine and opened the door of the Land Rover.
‘Put the rifle down, boet,’ Craig said as he got out. Christine was striding towards them from the farmhouse.
‘Take your gun out, Craig, slowly, and toss it to me,’ Sean said.
‘What?’
‘You heard him, Craig,’ Christine said. ‘Do as Sean told you.’
Craig forced a smile and slowly reached for his pistol with the thumb and first finger of his right hand. He slid it from his holster and dropped it on the ground. ‘OK, someone is acting crazy here. But I don’t like having a loaded weapon pointed at me, boet, so I’ll play along. What’s going on?’
Sean followed Craig’s movement with the barrel. ‘I had to make sure.’
Craig stood by the front bumper. ‘Make sure of what?’
‘That you weren’t trying to kill me,’ Christine said, glaring at Craig from Sean’s side.
‘Of course I wasn’t trying to kill you,’ Craig said, hands out. ‘Will someone please tell me what’s going on?’
‘Benny!’ Sean called. His dog bounded over to him. ‘Benny, find.’
Benny sniffed around the Land Rover, as he had been doing for the whole day, and sat down near the rear of the vehicle, ears up, tail straight out.
Craig looked to Benny. ‘He’s indicating like there are explosives under there. What is it?’
‘Take a look,’ Sean said, ‘nice and slow. I’ve got you covered.’
Craig walked around the back of the Land Rover, with Sean and Christine following him. When Craig got to where Benny was sitting he got down on his hands and knees and had a look under the vehicle. ‘Shit.’
‘You got that right,’ Sean said. ‘Benny found the bomb, Craig, under the Land Rover. He was indicating all day and Christine just missed the signs. He was barking, which was unusual when he found explosives, because he was looking for me, to warn me. Chris just thought he was pining.’
‘I still don’t understand,’ Craig said.
‘Oh, it’s not too difficult, boet. Someone, one of Li’s gangsters, I think, fitted a bomb with a mercury tilt switch; the same type that Zohair Mohammed used on a few Afghan National Army Humvees in Kabul and Kandahar.’
Craig tried a puzzled look. ‘Who’s Zohair . . .?’
‘Mohammed,’ Sean said. ‘He’s the bombmaker that Tumi and I helped the CIA track down in Mozambique, when we disappeared. The Americans thought he was already dead, killed in a drone strike, but the hat Tumi recovered in Maputo had his DNA in it. The Yanks only had one blurry surveillance picture of Zohair on file, so they needed Tumi and me to confirm his identity. They used a photo I snapped of him in Maputo to trace the fake passport he was travelling on.’
They both heard the noise of a car engine, revving high and fast, but Sean kept his eyes and his rifle on Craig as Tumi pulled up and got out. She took her LM5 from the cab of her vehicle and aimed it at Craig, saying nothing, but covering him.
‘Craig?’ Tumi said to Sean.
Sean shook his head. ‘No. I told Craig to get in the Land Rover and drive and either he’s very good at playing chicken or he didn’t know the bomb was underneath. At least we’ve cleared that up.’
‘Of course I didn’t place any bomb,’ Craig said.
‘That’s not true, Craig, and you know it,’ Christine said. ‘You did set several IEDs, but in your defence you didn’t mean to kill anyone, dog or human with those small IEDs in the bush, did you?’
Craig said nothing.
‘But you did, almost,’ Tumi said, raising her voice, ‘and Charles is still recovering.’
‘It’s OK, Tumi,’ Sean said, ‘let’s hear him out.’
Craig smiled and held his hands wide. ‘Look, this is all a mistake. I don’t know what you think I’ve done or why, and I’m sure we all have our conspiracy theories, but I’m not involved in any of this. You could have told me there was a bomb under the Landy before I got in. Now, let’s stop this pantomime and work out who did actually set this device. I think you’re right in assuming one of Li’s guys did, acting on orders before I killed Li. You’ve got nothing to tie me to any bombs, Sean.’
Sean looked down, but only for an instant. He hated to say what he was about to. ‘No, but the Americans have.’
‘What do you mean?’ Craig asked.
‘Jed Banks, the CIA man Tumi and I went to Mozambique with, called me soon after we helped him capture Zohair Mohammed. The Yanks sweated him and he told them that as well as supplying bombs to David Li he was dealing with a South African, guy, a Shangaan, bald head, about six foot two, military bearing, fit.’
Craig raised his eyebrows, a little too theatrically. ‘Oliver? We worked out he was a poacher and behind the attack on the farm, but I didn’t suspect he was planting bombs as well.’
‘Right. And you shot Oliver dead before we could interrogate him and find out who else he was working with.’
‘What are you suggesting?’ Craig said.
‘Christine and I both spoke with Tienie after the gunfight at the farm,’ Sean said. ‘There was too much that didn’t add up on that day. Tienie told me that he recognised Oliver from the air and told you, but you took aim at Oliver without even trying to talk to him; he thought that seemed like an odd thing to do to a guy you had worked with. I think Oliver realised you were going to double cross him and take him out, make it look like he was the real villain. Christine had fired him but she didn’t have a confession from him or even much to go to the cops with, yet you took it on yourself to draw down on him. Oliver saw what you were doing and he tried to take you out.’
‘Rubbish,’ Craig said. ‘He was a criminal and your bombmaker fingered him, he was clearly the big bald-headed guy.’
‘There’s more,’ Sean said. ‘Zohair was a cautious man – Tumi and I saw that for ourselves in Maputo, he tailed the people he was doing business with to make sure he wasn’t being double crossed. He told the Americans he followed the African man and saw him with another guy, white, same height as Oliver, black hair, also fit. Just like you Craig.’
‘Bullshit,’ Craig said. ‘That could be half the white male population of this country.’
‘Could be,’ Sean agreed, ‘but then there’s the dogs.’
Craig laughed. ‘Got statements from them? I’m done with this bullshit.’
He started to walk, but Christine blocked his way. ‘Stay where you are, Craig. The dogs are what really aroused Sean’s suspicions about you.’
‘Neither of them,’ Sean said, ‘not Shikar nor Benny, could pick up the trail of the mystery sniper you were supposedly chasing through the bush on the day of the gunfight here at the farm. That’s because you were the man shooting at Tumi, and later at Christine with a silenced rifle while you were supposedly checking yourself out of hospital. The dogs would have both picked up your scent, but they know you, as a friend, thanks to your program of selective detection training, your dirty socks that they’ve sniffed so often, so neither of them indicated when they picked up your scent. If there really had been a sniper in the bush the dogs would have found him straight away. Shikar picked up your empty shell casings, so she would have been able to follow an unfamiliar human scent easily.’
Craig looked to Christine. ‘This is nonsense. Dogs –’
‘Don’t lie,’ Christine said. ‘Tienie told me he picked you up inside the perimeter of the farm not out on the main road on the way from the hospital, like you claimed. Before that you were firing at Tumi, well-aimed shots with a silenced rifle to keep her out of the way while your other henchman came after me at the lion enclosures to deliver Li’s message and frighten me. Tienie said that after he picked you up he later dropped you off at your request.’
Craig shook his head. ‘He needed fuel, Christine, that’s why he put me down.’
‘No! Stop lying.’ Christine got in his face, her hands clenched beside her. ‘Tienie told me that he said to you that he could fly for another twenty minutes before he would need refuelling and that you should stay with him in the chopper to search for more bad guys. You told him to put you down and that gave you time to take bloody pot shots at me. I trusted you. And now I remember you asking me if I’d consider selling the farm. Who was your mystery American buyer who was going to rescue the farm, Craig, just another hunter who would be happy to sell off my lions’ bones once his buddies had mounted their heads on the walls of their trophy rooms? Why, Craig?’
He said nothing.
Sean kept his rifle trained on Craig. ‘I am trying to work this out, Craig. We both loved the bush, when we were kids out of school training to be guides, so what made you the sort of man who would organise a bombing campaign against dogs and people and shoot one of your girlfriend’s prize lions to force her to sell her farm? Was it just the money, Craig? I was fucked up after Afghanistan, but you . . . you were always the strong one, the one in charge.’
Craig exhaled. ‘If only you knew the truth, boet. We sweated our arses off in Afghanistan, risked our lives, for what? You think the money we made was worth it? It wasn’t. It seemed good by South African standards, but that place took our souls, man. Look at you. You’re a fucked-up gambling addict. I got into heroin.’
‘Seriously?’ Sean said, taken aback.
‘Yes, I kicked it. But I needed it for a while, after I was injured by that IED in Afghanistan. I couldn’t stay in the field, like you, with a dog. I was burned out, so I took that managerial job in Kabul, but even there I couldn’t keep it together without drugs. When I needed to score in Kabul there was a Pakistani guy who hooked me up. He’d had relatives in South Africa, got me to be a mule, a courier, and I brought that evil shit back here when we came home on leave. The Chinese triads were involved; that’s who I delivered to. I got help, though – remember when I took two months off? I told you it was because my grandmother died.’
Sean nodded. He did remember.
‘I was in rehab. I got clean. I turned my back on all that.’
‘Craig . . .’ He sensed his friend wanted to reach out, to confess, but he was stopping short of telling them everything. Sean wanted to believe Craig was innocent of the worst of this.
‘I’m not saying anything else,’ Craig said, ‘because that is the end of this story.’
Sean saw how Craig looked away, unable to meet his eyes. ‘Did they blackmail you, Craig . . . the Chinese, Li? Was David Li your contact who you delivered the heroin to? He wanted the farm, and you, romancing my ex-wife – was part of your plan to get your hands on our lions?’
‘Our lions, boet?’
‘Don’t call me that any more, Craig.’
‘She carried you, man.’ Craig nodded to Christine. ‘You don’t deserve her. You’re not half the man Christine needs. What she needs is someone stronger. A man who could get on top of his addiction and keep her satisfied, like I did, not a loser who gambled away everything she had worked for.’
Sean took up the slack on the rifle’s trigger. He clenched his teeth, but despite the pain he felt he would not succumb to the anger that was part of the reason he had become addicted to gambling in the first place. ‘I know what you’re doing, Craig.’
‘Tell me, you fucking loser.’
Sean controlled his breathing. ‘You want me to kill you.’
‘I’ll kill him,’ Tumi said. ‘He nearly killed my dog, and Charles.’
Craig shifted his gaze to Tumi. ‘I do believe you would. Sean taught you well. You’re a real warrior now. I wonder what it would take for you to pull the trigger?’
‘Just try me,’ Tumi said.
‘Why the IEDs that injured Gemma, Tumi and Charles?’ Sean asked. ‘Zohair supplied them to Li, but you and Oliver placed them. Did you think I’d break? Did you imagine I’d run away to the casino and self-destruct? Was that it? I’d be gone, you’d have Christine and the farm and what, with the business in turmoil you’d eventually convince her to sell?’
Craig stayed silent.
‘And the firebomb in the hut?’ Tumi said. ‘The car bomb in Maputo – I assume you got Oliver to set that while he was supposedly on leave?’
Craig just glared at him.
‘Pretty amazing,’ Sean said, ‘Tumi and I probably missed bumping into Oliver by only minutes. Did you do all this? You were trying to cover your trail and maybe you wanted Li dead. Jed, the CIA guy, said Zohair sold two car bombs to the African man, Oliver, and a couple of devices to Li to blow up the national parks Casspir. That was you trying to kill Li, twice, but not planting the bomb in Christine’s Land Rover doesn’t absolve you from all the others.’
Craig puffed his chest out. ‘Prove it was me and not Oliver acting alone or with Li. You can’t. Li was behind all the bombings, and other than a vague description of a white South African guy in cahoots with a black guy, you don’t have anything on me. As for the horseshit about me being the sniper, well, maybe, just maybe, your dog and Shikar aren’t as good as you think they are.’
Sean took a deep breath. He despised all that Craig had done, but he did not have it in him to assist his friend’s suicide. Nor did he want to see him condemned to the living hell of prison in South Africa, but he had even more to pay for than putting their lives and the dogs at risk. He had murdered a man who trusted him.
‘And Oliver?’ Tumi asked, taking the question out of Sean’s mouth.
Craig’s defiance wilted and he hung his head, though he still admitted nothing.
‘He worked for you,’ Sean said. It wasn’t a question.
‘And you killed him,’ Tumi said, her voice low, full of contempt. ‘You were both criminals, and he was a pig of a man, but he put his trust in you and you shot him dead, in cold blood, from Tienie’s helicopter to cover your tracks. Even if you didn’t actually try to kill me, or Gemma, or Charles, or Christine, you murdered Oliver. He kept quiet about you and you . . .’
Craig looked up. ‘I guessed that you had your suspicions about me, even though you can’t prove them; that’s why you kept me in the dark about your little trips to Mozambique and Joburg.’
‘You killed Casper,’ Sean said.
Craig hung his head now, his facade of defiance cracking under their onslaught.
‘You bastard,’ Christine said.
‘For all his surliness, Oliver was a soldier,’ Sean said, ‘and professional with weapons. When I checked his rifle he had been wandering around with a bullet in the chamber, and it had been recently fired. That’s because you had killed Casper and gave Oliver the rifle, just before you went into the bush to link up with Oliver’s neighbour, who brought the silenced weapon, and you started shooting at Tumi.’
Craig looked from Sean to Christine. ‘I did what neither of you could do, I got rid of Li.’
‘Because it didn’t suit you to work with him any more,’ Christine spat back, ‘because we weren’t buckling beneath your bombs and bullets. You would have just tried to get me to sell to someone less obvious.’
‘No,’ Craig said. ‘Li was the criminal in all this, man, not me!’
Sean looked down, but Tumi, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, kept her rifle trained on Craig, who remained still.
‘What do we do now?’ Tumi asked.
Sean raised his head and caught Christine’s eye. She shrugged. Sean lowered his weapon.
‘You’re not going to shoot me, are you?’ Craig said, and Sean thought there was a trace of disappointment in his best friend’s voice.
Sean shook his head.
‘You wounded yourself, didn’t you,’ Christine said to Craig. ‘That night Zali and I were out. It was nothing, just a scratch on your ribs. You must have just held the barrel against your side and pulled the trigger. You did it to put us off your trail, didn’t you?’
Craig just looked at her. Sean saw the anger rising up in Christine.
‘You killed Clyde,’ Christine hissed.
Craig lowered his head again. ‘Clyde was dying of cancer.’
‘And Casper,’ Christine said, the tears trickling down her cheeks. ‘You knew what he meant to me. And yet you killed him, to try and break me and make me walk away from the farm, and when that didn’t work you tried to intimidate Tumi and me by firing at us with that sniper rifle.’
Craig looked at the sky. He turned away from them and started to walk.
Sean slung his rifle and went to Christine and put his arm around her. Tumi kept her weapon trained on Craig’s back.
‘We can’t just let him go,’ Tumi said.
Sean heard a siren and they all looked to the main road. A police car and a bakkie turned onto the access road to the farm.
Craig stopped, away from them, and stood still, looking up the hill towards the lion enclosure as the vehicles arrived and pulled up. An attractive woman in plain clothes with a blonde bob got out of the car. Sean, Craig and Christine knew her well; it was Captain Sannie van Rensburg, who ran the anti–rhino poaching unit at Skukuza, in the Kruger Park. She greeted Sean and Christine and cast a glance at Craig. Sean introduced Sannie to Tumi.
Sannie, flanked by uniformed officers who got out of the vehicles, took a pace towards Christine. ‘You and your boys here have some questions to answer, Chris.’
‘How so?’ Christine asked.
‘You maybe don’t think so much of our bomb squad guys, otherwise you wouldn’t have sent a hat to the FBI in America. That’s a crime in itself, hiding evidence from the police.’
Sean held Christine’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
‘The fact is,’ Sannie said, ‘that the South African Police Service is not as disorganised as people like to think, and we do talk to our counterparts overseas. Although, between you and me, sometimes we are a little slow. I contacted TEDAC and told them I was investigating a bomb that was set to blow up a South African National Parks armoured car, which was full of rhino horn and lion bones. As you might have read, we foiled that attack. The guy who detonated the roadside bomb did so too early. The Casspir was damaged, but the crew inside were fine. They were stunned but opened fire on the bombers as they were trying to fix a limpet mine and then our guys responded and it was game over for the thieves. Shame, as we didn’t get to interview them. Anyway, Christine, your friend in America, Ruth, was very helpful. In fact, she just got some new information back about some fingerprints that our forensic people lifted off that firebomb that Sean found in the hut. There were six prints in all from two people, none of them from the Pakistani bombmaker they have in custody, but the others all belonged to two South African men they had on file, contractors who had worked on US military or embassy properties overseas, specifically in Afghanistan.’
Sean looked to Craig, who had turned and was now facing their way.
Sannie took a piece of paper out of the pocket of her jeans and unfolded it. ‘Those prints belong to Sean Bourke and –’
‘Me,’ Craig said. ‘I –’
‘You never touched that IED, Craig, on the day I found it,’ Sean said. ‘I took it to the police.’
Craig held up a hand to him, then looked to van Rensburg. ‘Sean defused the bomb, but I planted it. I’m the one you want, Sannie.’
Sannie looked to the uniformed officer next to her. ‘Arrest him.’
Craig walked towards the police, but stopped in front of Sean. ‘With Li dead and me gone they won’t come after you or Christine any more, boet, at least not for now.’
Sean nodded. ‘If they do, we’ll be ready for them.’
Craig reached out and clapped him on the arm. ‘Yes, I know you will. I didn’t mean any of that shit I said before about you being a loser. You’re strong, Sean. You’ll make it, boet.’
As Craig was led away, Christine turned to Sean and wrapped her arms around him. ‘I love you. It’s time to come home, Sean.’