97. Commission of inquiry
Flabbergasted Joss and Leo stare down on the seriously mutilated, bloodied body in front of them between the bushes. His arms are severed from his body and gone. His shattered legs scarcely carried him from the farm gate up to the place where he now lies. The head remained on the body in one way or another but it is a bloody mess almost unrecognizable. It is one of the farmworkers who were in the back of the cab. The other two are missing.
Leo frightens when he sees the lips moving and hears a rasping sound. “He is alive!”
Joss plucks out his pistol and shoots him precisely at the centre of where the two eyes should have been. “What the fuck!”
He turns around scrutinizing the vicinity. “Where are the other two fuckers?”
It is clear the cab hit a few lethal land mines at the farm gate. It is shattered by the enormous explosion. It is torn in two with the backside and canopy torn apart. The contents and two farmworkers are missing. The front end is smashed in with Rasta and Marco singed inside the cabin.
Joss looks at John’s white face: “Take your guys and go and search for the other two and if they are in such a bad state as this one, relieve them from their agony.”
John winks at his two men and they leave on their mission to find the other farmworkers.
Leo shakes his head: “I’m not sure anymore, Joss? Do you still think it is Hunter?”
“Well, it now looks like a well-organized army. Are you dead sure the Eastwood Estate knows of nothing?”
“Paola was adamant, Joss, but what if they heard the explosion and send someone to investigate and they come upon the wreckage and this crater in the ground in our farm’s entrance? They then might be able to discover our camp.”
“You are right, Leo, we will have to clean up and fill in this hole so that no sign of the explosion remains.”
Startled they hear quite a few shots one after the other. They look to where John and his men are coming back.
Astounded John shakes his head when they join Joss and Leo. “Wasn’t a beautiful picture! They were not lying far away from each other and we shot holes in them to make sure they are dead.”
Joss gives instructions: “John, go and fetch a team with picks and shovels. We must have workers here as soon as possible. We must fill in the crater and carry the pieces of wreckage into the bushes and hide it before the Eastwood Estate maybe come down the road and find that the explosion took place at our gate.”
John frowns. “It could only be them, not so?”
“According to Paola they don’t know about us, but if they have heard the explosion, they might come and investigate.”
Puzzled John wonders: “Who else could it be?”
“Hey, leave that for us. Move your ass! Time is tight! Leave your men here. We can, in the meantime, carry some of the wreckage away.”
John nods and jogs to his cab.
Leo asks: “What do you think, Joss? Is it Hunter or maybe a new group?”
“I don’t know anymore. I don’t want to leave our camp alone now, Leo. Let’s clean up here and then we will go and make sure our men are all set for a possible attack by an unknown force. I’m going to hide sentries at the gate with night vision and a radio on shifts to warn us when this fuckers who did this, come again. Just to make sure they don’t plant another landmine.”
“What if it is Hunter?”
“Look, Hunter will be alone with those defenseless people, so we don’t need a whole army. Let’s get ready and organize everything just in case it wasn’t him and we secure our base tonight and tomorrow morning before sunrise early we go and have a look what’s going on at Hunter’s.”
***
Mrs. Kennedy smiles at Martie. She has once again messed up and is now handing her knitting work to her. “It is so nice to have you here, my girl.”
Quickly and skillfully she unravels the mess Martie made and gets the knitting needles ready for Martie to continue.
Martie watches her closely and sees how quickly she does her knitting. “How does auntie do that? It is unbelievable!”
Kennedy laughs out loudly: “Years and years of practice, my child. Goodness, it seems to me you want to do everything perfectly the first time. But I’m impressed. You learn quickly.”
“I want to knit that little, cute patterns that you do so easily. I become bored with the simple routine.”
Kennedy shakes her head: “First learn to do that simple thing perfectly. Only then you will qualify for the next level. It will be too difficult and if you make a mistake, it will be more work to correct it.”
Despondently Martie shakes her head, takes up her knitting work out of Kennedy’s trembling, crooked but ingenious hands, and starts over. Kennedy enjoys her cute facial expressions as she concentrates and watches her clandestinely. Yes, she enjoys the presence of this beautiful, intelligent, young girl who alleviates her loneliness here in the woods. She has been inquisitive about everything from the moment they have arrived. Her granddad is also an interesting man and very hardworking. He helps Robert with everything. They were all amazed at how quickly he picked up sign language from Robert and Hunter. He must be a very intelligent man.
Last night she taught Martie how to make fishcakes from tinned sardines and dough and bake them in the wood-fired stove and now the girl has surprised her by showing up early in the morning and, sitting down at her feet, requested her to teach her to knit.
Martie looks up from her knitting for a moment. “Can I call you Grandma? I’ve never had a granny.”
Amazed Kennedy looks at her and then smiles happily: “Of course, my dear.”
Martie jumps up, hugs her, and plants a kiss on her wrinkled cheek. “Thanks, Grandma. I learn so much from you. Thank you that you have accepted us so heartily. It so nice to be with you on this island in the secluded woods away from all those scary things.”
She has scarcely uttered the words when they hear a soft growl and they look at Batista, the massive Boerboel, lying on the wooden floor near them. Buddy, near him, now also lifts his massive head; his ears erect.
Terrified Kennedy’s eyes widen. She only hopes that her fears won’t become reality today. Are gruesome things going to happen here?
She shouts in the direction of the corridor: “Robert! Robert, the dogs are hearing something.”
As she shouts, the dogs rise and run down the corridor to fetch Robert.
Worried Martie looks into Kennedy’s eyes. “What is wrong, Granny?”
“These two dogs have been thoroughly trained by Uncle Hunter, my child. They are our security. They are now going to fetch Uncle Robert. It can only mean they hear something threatening somewhere at a distance that might endanger us.”
“And now, Granny, what must we do?”
***
The forest is ominously dark here where the six of them are standing between the giant blue gums and peeping through the trees to the opening in the woods in front of them. This is the place where the Baxter brothers had been surprised and arrested years ago. There is a timber cottage with a massive log house opposite each other with an opening between them with a well and a big bell in the middle of the yard. They were surprised to have found the original bush path to the island overgrown and wondered whether people still live here. If so, where do they let vehicles enter and leave the spot? Maybe the sly Hunter deliberately allowed the bushes to overgrow the path as to confuse unwelcome visitors. That is his style, they decided, and they have left their vehicles behind and walked all the way through the woods up to here.
Hopefully, they are now going to surprise Hunter and his four guests here. They don’t expect more people here. Maybe the old lady and her mutilated brother whose place it was years ago. So, two ladies, the professor and his grand daughter, the old woman and her brother, and Hunter at the most. The main force is Hunter and the old man with his gun. The sun has only peeped over the horizon and they hope to surprise everyone still sleeping.
Joss whispers to Leo next to him: “We are at the right place just behind the log house where I suppose everyone is sleeping. I suppose they will now use the ghost house as a store. This back side of this house is near the woods, so I suggest we just kick down the back door, rush in and overpower them in their rooms before they know what is happening.”
He looks at Rambo on his other side: “Get your tommy bar out and ready. You must bend open the security door quietly and pull it away. Then I will kick open the door and you and the guys simply barge in.”