?They have left the agency.?
?I want their details.?
?I will see what I can do.?
Then she unleashed her rage. ?No, Mr. Masethla. You will not see what you can do. You will have their details to me in sixty minutes. You will get rid of your attitude and you and your people will get to work if you don'?t want to become another unemployed statistic tomorrow. Do you understand??
He took just long enough to answer that she thought she had won this round. ?Fuck you, you white bitch,? he said. Then he put the phone down.
Captain Tiger Mazibuko was first out of the Oryx with a hand on his hat so the rotor blast would not blow it away.
In the pitch dark he saw one white van from the SAPS and one blue and white Toyota Corolla from the provincial traffic authority, blue lights revolving. They were parked beside the road, and a single traffic officer with a flashlight in hand stood on the N1 road surface. A few orange traffic cones indicated a parking area for vehicles. The officer was indicating an 18-wheeler truck to stop.
Mazibuko swore and strode over to the police van, saw one of the occupants opening the door. He stood directly in the opening, one hand on the roof and leaned in.
?What is going on here?? He had to shout, as the engines of the Oryx were still winding down.
There were two inside, a sergeant and a constable; each had a coffee mug. A thermos stood on the dashboard. Faces looked back at him guiltily.
?We are drinking coffee, what does it look like?? the sergeant shouted back.
?Is this your idea of a roadblock??
The two policemen looked at each other. ?We haven?t got a flashlight,? said the sergeant.
Mazibuko shook his head in disbelief. ?You haven?t got a flashlight??
?That?s right.?
The helicopter?s motors wound down gradually. He waited until he no longer needed to shout. And what are you going to do when an armed fugitive on a motorbike races through here? Throw the thermos at him??
?There have been no motorbikes so far,? said the constable.
?Lord help us.? Mazibuko shook his head from side to side. Then he slammed the door and walked back to the helicopter. The men had disembarked and were standing, waiting, their faces glowing in the reflected blue lights. He barked orders about weapons and equipment and their deployment. Four men must take over for the traffic officer, four must walk a hundred meters up the road as backup, four must put up two tents next to the road as shelter from the rain.
The truck crawled past him. The officer had not even looked in the back. He walked to the dark figure with the flashlight. He saw that the two policemen were out of the van, standing around aimlessly.
?What is your name?? he asked the traffic officer.
?Wilson, sir.?
?Wilson, would a motorbike fit in the back of that truck??
The traffic officer was tall and impossibly thin, a floppy fringe hung over his eyes. ?Uh ? er ? possibly, but??
?Wilson, I want you to pull your Corolla onto the road here. Block off this lane. Understand??
?Yes, sir.? His eyes glanced from Mazibuko to the helicopter and back, deeply impressed by the importance of the arrivals.
?Then tell your friends to pull their van there, in the other lane, about ten meters farther on.?
?Right, sir.?
?And then you sit in your vehicles and start the engines every fifteen minutes to keep them warm, do you understand me??
?Yes, sir.?
?Have you got a road map of this area??
?Yes, sir.?
?Can I look at it??
?Yes, sir.?
Pulsating white light suddenly lit up the night around them. Thunder grumbled above, a deep rolling from east to west. A few drops plopped on the blacktop.
?It?s getting closer, sir. It?s going to be a mother of a storm.?
Mazibuko sighed. ?Wilson.?
?Yes, sir??
?You don'?t have to ?sir? me. Call me ?captain? instead.?
?Right, Captain.? And he saluted him with the wrong hand.
Thobela Mpayipheli saw the far-off flashes of light on the northern horizon, but he didn?'t know it was the dance of lightning. Above him the starry heavens were clear, but he didn?'t see them, he rode at 150 km per hour, the headlights illuminating the road straight ahead of him, a bright cocoon in the night, but his gaze was on the
