Even from where Cooper was sitting, with all the noise of an African forest resonating around the SUV, he had to smile to himself, acknowledging it was actually Rosedale’s snoring which reverberated most loudly and echoed through the darkness of the storm-filled night.
He stood up. Stretched. Shook off the rain which trickled down his neck. Then walked towards the thick groves of the banana plants to take a leak. His mind on both Maddie and Ellie.
About to undo his buttons on his go-to faded jeans, his movements became slow and deliberate. He leant forward, listening to a new sound coming from far to the left of him. It was the sound of an engine. A truck, but an old one.
Unusually he was easily able to distinguish the make. He wasn’t an expert on cars and trucks but he knew a few things. And he knew it was a British Commer. Nicknamed the Commer-knocker due to the distinctive noise it produced. The unmistakable sound of a two-stroke diesel three-cylinder horizontally opposed piston engine. One hell of a classic bit of engineering. Of course, distinguishing the make of a vehicle didn’t explain why the hell a truck would be out here in the middle of the night, but then, like anything else, there was only one way to find out…