Dark Intent (26 page)

‘And I believed him all this time,’ said Teichmann.
‘Let me continue from where I left off. I will reward you handsomely if you retrieve the files for me, even if you have to kill Krige and Kallis. Each is definitely playing a double game. What is your answer?’

Steiner had prepared himself for this.
‘I will get them,’ he said. ‘You will be the first to know when I do.’

‘Thank you,’ said Teichmann, not quite sure exactly what Steiner meant but refraining from asking him.
He had no one else he could trust.

‘Goodbye,’ said Steiner.
‘That was very interesting.’ He turned and without a backward glance walked out of the house to his car. The meeting had taken longer than expected. When he reached his car he started it, did a three-point turn and, after checking his map, headed for Dalton’s house.

Near Pretoria

Fifteen minutes before Steiner met Teichmann at his home, John Dalton left his house in his car and picked up the ring road that led towards his smallholding.
He was soon at the turnoff he wanted and in another five minutes pulled up in front of the house where Kirsty Krige had spent the night. He went through the front door, down the passage and stopped in front of her bedroom door. He knocked, waited for a reply, and when it didn’t come he unlocked it, slid the bolts to the open position and entered the room. She was sitting on her unmade bed and staring through the window. He approached her and she faced him.

‘I’m sure you would like to use the bathroom,’ he said, trying to be as gentle as he could manage.
‘Did you sleep well?’ He grinned, his teeth crying out for dental treatment. He would have been the first to acknowledge he hadn’t been near a dentist in ten years.

She gathered her towel and without looking at him went through the door to the bathroom further along the passage towards the kitchen.
She had never felt so depressed and she looked forward to a hot bath that would at least help to lift her spirit. The man she trusted more than any other had let her down and not answered her cry for help.

She went to the toilet and then after running the bath stayed in the steaming water with no desire to leave and go back to her room.
After what seemed an age she got out, dressed and with one hand holding the partly torn shirt together at the front returned to where she had spent the last sixteen hours.

Dalton was there when she entered and he looked at her, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans.
She went to her bed and sat down, the same position she had been in when he arrived.

‘Are you still on a hunger strike?’ he said.
‘The sooner you accept that you will be here for at least a few days the better you will feel. You are acting like a child.’

‘I’ll never get used to this place,’ she said.
‘I’m not surprised you have given up on it and live elsewhere. I suppose it’s too much to ask who you are working for. You haven’t got the brains to be doing something as complicated as abducting a woman on your own. The sight of you makes me sick.’

The jibes were finally more than he could bare and he took a long step forwards, grabbing her by the arm and striking her viciously across the mouth, drawing blood that seeped from her red lips.
She cried out with pain, feverishly trying to break loose from the grip that held her like a vice. Her struggling only nurtured his desire and he knocked her other hand away from where it was shielding her proud breasts, revealing mounds that held him rigid under their spell. And then he suddenly went still, seemingly not knowing what to do, and after mere seconds thrust her back onto the bed.

‘You’re not worth it,’ he said with a sneer.
‘You remind me of a whore who can’t find a client.’ He walked to the door and turned. ‘I’ll be back later.’

Dalton left the room, locking and bolting the door behind him.
Moments later she heard him leave the premises in his car. The relief engulfed her and she broke down, crying unashamedly in her desperation, silently begging Steiner to come and remove the pain.

After leaving the smallholding Dalton drove faster than usual to his home.
He had got divorced several years ago and he found life as a single man vastly better than he had experienced when he made the mistake of getting married. He was in his mid-thirties, intelligent, streetwise and athletic with the strength of a hungry beast. For sexual gratification he favoured women in their early twenties, but sometimes when it was necessary to have an older woman they were also fairly good. He sometimes regretted leaving the South African special forces but he knew when he made the decision that by staying he would never have the good life he now enjoyed and for which he had craved.

As Dalton sped along the road his thoughts went to John Kallis.
When Kallis had asked him to do the job of luring Bosch to the slaughter and abducting the woman, he hadn’t realized Kallis was playing a double game, with his prime aim personal financial gain. He had no intention of returning the black file to the group, the file Dalton now believed Kallis had forced Bosch to give to him, and he was convinced Kallis was also intent on getting the white file for himself. The thought of Kallis disappearing into the sunset with the spoils was enough to drive him to distraction. He realized after speaking to Bosch that, ironically, he should have dumped Kallis, told Bosch that Kallis had asked him to persuade him to go where he could be killed, and joined forces with him. But even though he had lost his chance then, with Bosch dead and Kallis no doubt crowing, he was not finished. All he had to do was go with the flow and seize the opportunity of destroying Kallis and anyone else in his path when the opportunity presented itself.

When Dalton reached his house he parked his car outside in the road and went in through a side door.
He watched television for the next two hours and when he had finished his third whisky he left the house and headed again for the smallholding. He had decided to buy a pizza for Kirsty Krige and after he had stopped and bought one he resumed his journey.

Near Pretoria

When Steiner came to the road where Dalton lived he found the house and then parked round the corner in a neighbouring street.
From his position he had a clear view of the property. Dalton’s Ford sedan was nowhere in sight. He thought about trying him on the phone but it carried the risk of alerting him and he decided to wait.

Steiner didn’t have to wait for long before he saw the blue sedan drive up to the house.
Dalton got out and went down the side of the building, presumably to another door. Steiner felt his stomach tighten when he thought of Kirsty and he decided to give Dalton at most two hours before he went in.

Nearly two hours later when Steiner was preparing to move, Dalton appeared, got into his car and drove off along the road.
Steiner gave him a lead of a couple of hundred metres before he followed. After a kilometre Dalton stopped, bought a take-away and when he continued his journey, Steiner again took up position behind him.

As Steiner followed Dalton, the route twisted and turned progressively as if Dalton was taking a short cut, and he knew that to keep him in sight he would have to shorten the distance between them.
He closed the gap accordingly and Dalton continued at his pace until he reduced his speed, went through a gate and drove up to a small house. For Steiner it was now or never. He accelerated and followed. He was almost on Dalton and about to stop and get out of his car, when Dalton did a U-turn. He careered past Steiner, went through the gate and disappeared down the road.

Steiner ran to the front door, entered the house and when he saw no one went to the short passage.
Only one door caught his attention and he ran to it.

‘Kirsty,’ he shouted when he reached it.
‘Are you there?’

‘Steiner, I’m here.
Open the door.’

‘Keep back, I’m coming through,’ said Steiner, not seeing a key for the Banham.
He slid back the top and bottom bolts, took a long step back with his right foot and then without changing the position of his feet swung his hips, using the first two knuckles of his fist to strike the door above the lock with devastating force. The lock burst, the door swinging smoothly inwards, revealing Kirsty, standing well back, her hands held to her mouth.

‘You came.’
She rushed to him and they embraced, she smothering him with kisses, the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her shirt fell open but she didn’t care, holding him tightly, her head finally resting on his chest.

‘Why didn’t you come sooner,’ she said, smiling for the first time.
‘I thought you had given up and returned to Durban.’

He was glad she still had her sense of humour.
‘I wouldn’t have left you.’

‘What did you use to open the door,’ she said.
She looked at his hand. It was smooth, the skin unscarred after the beating to which it had been subjected through the years. ‘It’s all in the mind, isn’t it,’ she whispered. She stared at him with her beautiful eyes. It was so good seeing him.

‘Dalton must have gone,’ she said.
‘You wouldn’t be standing here if he hadn’t.’ She thought of the items Dalton had removed from her pocket and after telling Steiner, led him into the lounge. After a quick search she found them in the liquor cabinet. ‘Sorry for the interruption,’ she said. ‘I’m so glad he didn’t take them with him. Where is Dalton?’

‘I followed him from his house close to the front door.
He then showed initiative, went past me and shot off up the road.’

‘How did you get his address?’ she asked.

‘Teichmann. I’ll tell you more when we leave this place. Let’s go’

They went to his car, leaving the front door open and were soon on their way to the house.
When they arrived he made some tea and gave her a cup in the lounge.

‘How did Dalton treat you?’ he asked.

‘He twice tried to screw me,’ she said. ‘The first time he was disturbed by his cell phone and if I had had the strength I would have burst out laughing. The next time he unbelievably lost interest. That was when he went home and later returned.’

‘He was certainly working for someone else,’ said Steiner.
‘Your abduction fitted into a wider plan.’

‘Who’s he working for?’ she asked.
‘I bet you are going to say Kallis.’

‘Yes. You’re becoming as clever at deduction as I am.’

‘Actually, I think you have quietly been learning from me,’ she said, smiling. ‘Do you think Dalton will try and get me again?’

‘No,’ said Steiner confidently.
‘He had his chance and blew it.’

‘What do we do now?’ she said, not sure Dalton wouldn’t come again.
‘We must be nearing the end of this business.’

‘I will go after Kallis,’ said Steiner.
‘But first I must tell you what Teichmann told me.’

‘Go on,’ she said, wondering what Teichmann knew that they didn’t.

‘Yesterday, David Staples was shot dead in his home. The killer was not apprehended but a couple of things point to your husband, Krige.’

‘What things?’

‘A dirty Land Rover was seen near Staples’ house at the time of death. Vehicles like that are seldom, if ever, seen in the neighbourhood. Also, it appears Staples had been working on your divorce papers and that indicates Krige was there. Was it coincidence? No.’

‘What does Teichmann think?’ she asked.

‘He agrees with me particularly after I told him Krige had retrieved the file from Cartwright.’

‘He must have loved hearing that.
What’s going to happen next? Can there possibly be anymore?’

‘Yes,’ said Steiner.
‘Last night Rupert Bosch was found dead in his car in the car park of a restaurant. He had also been shot. Teichmann and I agree that this time the killer was Kallis. That makes sense for the simple reason that we believed Kallis forced Bosch to steal the black file to give to him. After Kallis received it Bosch became ambitious and Kallis killed him. Now comes the interesting part. Teichmann had asked Krige to help him get the files, as well as Kallis. But after the killings and after hearing from me that Krige surely had the white file before he killed Staples, he now believes each is playing a double game. Unsurprisingly, he wants to keep them on ice and bring in someone else. He asked me.’

She broke out laughing.
‘Did you say yes?’

‘I told him I would get them and he would be the first to know.’

‘That means nothing,’ she said. ‘I have to admit I am learning from you. Are we finished with Teichmann?’

‘Yes, unless something unforeseen comes up and I have to contact him.
Quite frankly I just want to retrieve the files and get out of here.’

She looked at him, an unusual expression on her face.
‘I must have a bath and wash my hair. I had one at Dalton’s house but I want another. I hope you don’t mind if I sleep for a couple of hours. The bed at Dalton’s kept me awake for most of the night. After that we’ll go for Kallis.’

‘I knew you would come up with that,’ said Steiner.
‘But we leave in two hours. I’ve a paperback I want to read again.’

‘What’s it called?’ she asked.
‘Is it about sex?’

‘No.
Its title is The 47 Ronin. Before I get to the end of this business I might do what they did.’

‘What’s that,’ she asked.

‘They committed
seppuku.
That’s the honourable term for killing yourself.’

She smiled, slowly shaking her head.
‘You, James Steiner, are the last person who would ever do that, so don’t talk bullshit. I’ve never known a man with your mental strength, the spirit to overcome anything that stands in your way. And, I’m sure you won’t leave me now.’ She smiled again and then left the room.