Chapter1

#Chapter1

Prologue

The color of the suitcase catches her eye as it moves along the conveyor belt with the others being loaded onto the connecting flight to Port Elizabeth. She looks around to see where the supervisor is, as it’s been two weeks since she last helped herself to a passenger’s luggage. And this one was very tempting as if came off an international flight.

Quickly, with practiced ease, she removes the case and slips it into a dark corner of the loading area, ready to be picked up and taken home when she goes off duty. No one will say anything as airline luggage always seems to go missing when in transit.

She boards the taxi that will take her home, clutching the case with practiced ease, giving one the impression it belonged to her to anyone that might look her way. The contents of the suitcase feel the change in temperature as she holds it against her body and moves amongst the clothes, closer to the source of heat.

Her thoughts are filled with wild imaginations of what wonderful things she’ll find in the case and she hurries home so that she can inspect her ill-gotten gains, if there is nothing in there of any value she can always sell it to a neighbor. At least the only one to lose is the passenger waiting in Port Elizabeth for their luggage to arrive.

She throws the case on her bed; the jolt causes the contents to coil in defense under the clothes. The lock is broken and the suitcase opened. She plunges her hands into the clothes, her look of greed turns to terror as pain shoots up her right arm, she pulls her hand back and screams for attached to her wrist is a 73 cm Bush Viper, its fangs buried deep into her flesh.

Maria will not be helping herself to any more luggage anytime soon, for the venom of the snake works quickly. Its work is done, the snake moves off and slowly slithers underneath the bed and coils up, at rest.

Like a sauna, the Zambezi valley is hot under the African sun as Piet signals to the group following him through the bush to stop. Up ahead are what they have been looking for and the rumble from their bellies and the sound of breaking branches carry to the group. Excitement ripples through them as they have finally found a herd of elephant. Piet moves back to the group and quietly runs through the safety instructions with them once again, ensuring that they understand that these are wild animals and not some domestic dog that you can scratch behind the ear.

Slowly they move towards the herd, the group in awe at the size of the creatures just ahead of them. A young bull raises his trunk to the sky to test the air, followed by a few more of his relatives but Piet is not worried as they are approaching the herd from downwind and their eyesight is not that good either. The group gets into position and start shooting.

The soft whirl of the video camera, the click of a shutter as photo after photo of the elephants are taken, and finally when Piet feels that enough is enough he signals to them to backtrack slowly, and he leads his group back to the camp where an ice cold beer is waiting.

It was now two months since his return from the Congo and Piet had recovered from his knife wound and settled back into family life, his business is doing well and his only problem at the moment was to reject the advances of the young ladies in his group who thought a roll in the hay with the Big Game Hunter was all a part of the package.

/"Nee this bloody life is a joke, a man wanders around the bush without a ring on the finger and nothing, now they are like the bloody mosquitoes, and they can’t seem to get enough of me. Fok Peggy would give me a fokken snot klap, man I would rather wrestle with a croc, than tangle with her./"

***

Veronica had returned to her post as H.O.D. of the Department of African Culture along with Ben, and both of them had put the Congo behind them and buried themselves back in the work they loved.

She had chalked up her missing suitcase as just another victim to fall foul to the sticky hands that handle the airline luggage and put in a claim for the missing clothes. It was not the first time that some of her luggage never reached its intended destination.

***

Piet, saved by the bell hears the sound of an approaching vehicle and quickly excuses himself from the advances and almost clutches of the three young women and walks over to greet the driver.

/"Shit those three give man-eating a whole new meaning. They’re like the bloody Honey Badger around the fucking honey pot./"

The driver hands Piet a telegram marked urgent. He notices that it’s from the Congo.

/"To Mr. Piet Van Zyl,

It is with regret that we inform you of the death of Inspector Roger McCollins. He was attacked by a lion in his room and did not survive the ordeal. The indication is that the animal gained access to his room through the door and mauled him in his bed. The inspector was found dead the next day. No sounds of any struggle were heard during the night, nor was there any indication of how the animal gained access to the compound.

For any further information regarding this unfortunate incident, please contact us on the number below.

Regards./"