Death Dealing (12 page)

Ryder immediately began spinning one
hundred and eighty degrees counter-clockwise to his left in time to stretch his
right leg as far across his body as he could manage
,
to trip the fifth man as he left the starting blocks. Then, as he saw the man
drawing a flick-knife while struggling to get back onto his feet, Ryder grabbed
him by the left ankle with both hands and swung him in two full
three-hundred
and sixty degree circles before letting him
go. The man’s back broke in two places as he landed against the tree. Before he
hit the ground Ryder was off in pursuit of number six, who had been in such a
state of panic that he ran straight into a refuse bin, testicles first. He
gasped in agony and bent forward, clutching his genitals. Ryder caught up with
him then walked casually in front of him. As the man lifted his head Ryder saw
a dagger in his right hand. He immediately brought his right knee up into the
man’s chin, knocking him upright just in time to knock him flat down again with
a right roundhouse that shattered his left temple and made him permanently deaf
in the left ear. The massive brain damage would see him taking his meals
through a straw for the rest of his life, however long the rest of his life
might be.

All around the park the fleeing
illegals had stopped and turned to watch the spectacle. The six men lay strewn
across the battlefield like broken dolls. Pillay, Koekemoer and Dippenaar each
walked in slowly from their positions on what they had planned to be an outer cordon
meant to contain the envisaged action.

‘
Jeez
,
Jeremy,’ said Pillay. ‘If you don’t need me to help you, just say so and I’ll
stay at home watching daytime television.’

‘
Yissus,
ou boet
! Jeremy, why didn’t you tell us to just wait in the car, man?’

‘Sorry, Dipps.
I thought that waiting for you to help would be
like waiting for the Sharks to score a try. Only eighty minutes to a game you
know? Got to score early. Maybe next time?’

‘I never seen you so fast, man,
Jeremy. I reckon maybe you could give Navi a go at the hundred metres, hey?’

‘I don’t think so, Koeks. No-one’s
faster than Navi.’

‘Don’t you believe it, Jeremy. I
reckon maybe Koeks is right. Maybe we should test you on the track. I’ll take
you on, any day.’

‘No way, Navi.
Your record’s safe. I’m too chicken to try it on
with you.’

Sirens and blue lights started
arriving. The crowd of spectators, realising that they were not the targets of
these cops, began approaching closer to the scene. Koekemoer shouted out at
them to back off, to keep clear of the men on the ground.

‘If any of you come closer than ten
paces to any of these men on the ground, we’re going to ask you for your papers
and passports. OK?’

That did the trick, and the
approaching men - they were all men, Ryder noticed - stopped at a distance that
created a natural circle around the scene of the action.

The uniforms started pouring in. An
ambulance pulled up next to where the detectives had parked their cars. The
medics ran in with stretchers.

Ryder and Pillay were looking at the
scratches on the arm of the man who had pulled the pistol, and on the forehead
of the last man that Ryder had taken down. Numbers one and six, as Pillay
identified them to the medics. She gave specific instructions about how she
wanted them to treat the wounds of those two, especially. Then she turned back
to Ryder.

‘Mr and Mrs Khuzwayo are going to
derive some satisfaction, Jeremy.’

‘Some
satisfaction, Navi.
A little.
Maybe.’

Pillay noticed, as he spoke, that
tears were welling in Ryder’s eyes.

07.45.

Nyawula’s concentration was broken
by a loud guffaw bubbling up from the car park through Cronje’s window and the
inter-leading doorway.

‘Where’s everyone, Piet?’

‘They’re in the car park, Captain.
When I came in they were telling the guys from Dietrich’s team all about
Jeremy’s hand-to-hand combat skills.’

‘Hand-to-hand? I heard it was more
like hand-to-head.’

‘
Ja
.
You’re right there, hey, Captain. Some of the guys from other teams have been gathering
to hear the details. The news spread quite quickly. I think Dipps has told the
story three times, now, and each time it gets more exaggerated. By lunchtime
he’ll be telling the
okes
that Jeremy
single-handedly took down the whole of the KwaZulu Mafia in one fist-fight.’

Nyawula emerged from his office to
join Cronje and, each holding a mug of tea, they moved outside to listen and
observe. Dippenaar, Koekemoer and Pillay were holding forth at the foot of the
stairs leading into the car park. They had an audience of detectives who had
gathered, along with a few uniformed constables, to enjoy the sun and the
camaraderie, the jokes and the laughter. KoeksnDips were regaling them with the
previous day’s action. Word had got around to other units, and Ryder was the
toast of the station. Comparisons with boxers ranging from Mike Tyson to Floyd
Mayweather peppered their talk.

‘
Ag kak
, man, Dipps.
Mayweather would be no match for Jeremy. He just
back-pedals and runs away. He defends all the time. Jeremy attacks, man. Old
Floyd would find no place to hide in the ring against Ryder.’

‘Ja, Koeks, I reckon you’re right,’
said Dippenaar. ‘Navi told me she’s thinking of letting Jeremy take over her
martial arts group.’

‘Rubbish, man, Dipps,’ said Pillay.
‘Jeremy will have to learn to kick higher than his own head before I let him do
that.’

‘Twice as high as you, Navi?’ said
Dippenaar. ‘That’s not fair.’

Pillay punched Dippenaar on the arm,
hard, in response.

Mavis Tshabalala came from the far
end of the car park to join them.

‘Howzit, Mavis, what news you got?’

‘I was just with Pauline at
Forensics, Detective Koeks. She said they’ve already matched the shoes of four
of the six men from Albert Park. They were definitely at the Khuzwayo house in
Glenwood.’

She paused momentarily for the
cheers and high-fives, before continuing.

‘She said they still have a lot of
work to do, and it’ll take a couple of days, but it looks very clear to her
already. But that was Pauline. And you know Nadine. She won’t say definitely
until the full report is in. I was also talking to another one of the team
there. The first report from the hospital is that two of the men have brain
damage and two of them are paralysed. All of them will live. One of the
paralysed men is also one of the brain damaged ones. He’s also the same one
with scratches on his forehead from the Khuzwayo girl. Then there are lots of
broken bones...’

‘And headaches all around, I bet,’
added Dippenaar. ‘
Yissus
, you should
have seen some of those punches,
okes
.’

The hubbub of chatter and commentary
finally subsided, and they all started trickling back into the building except
for Tshabalala and Pillay, who remained behind. Nyawula and Cronje followed the
group back into the building, leaving the two women alone in the car park.

‘What else did you get from Pauline,
Mavis?’

‘She said they worked late last
night…’

‘Nothing new for Pauline and
Nadine.’

‘That’s right, Navi. But Pauline did
say that she was worried about Nadine. She thought maybe she’s working too
hard, or something, because apparently, according to Pauline, she keeps on
crying. It was strange. Pauline’s really quite worried.’

‘That doesn’t sound good. You know
Nadine. She works through the night. Can’t be good for anyone to keep going at
that pace.’

‘I agree, Navi. Anyway, Pauline says
the two guys with scratches are definitely the two who attacked the girl, and
all the fingerprints have been matched to somewhere in the house, and…’

‘Open and shut case?’

‘Pauline said they’ve already got
more than they need but Nadine’s still asked them to go on with some more
tests.’

‘Thanks, Mavis.
That’s great. Why don’t you come along with me
and let’s see if Jeremy is back from IPID. He’ll be pleased with the news.’

‘OK, Navi.
But a case like this will keep Jeremy going for more
than a week with IPID, I’m sure. Here. Have a look at this. It’s the notes that
I took when I was speaking to the people at Forensics.’

Pillay took the page from her and
once again was impressed with the young constable. Mavis had numbered each of
the six men taken down by Ryder, and had recorded the names of four of them
next to the relevant numbers. She explained to the detective that Forensics said
they were still trying to establish the names of two of the men.

Pillay read with fascination the details
that Mavis had recorded. Number one had scratches on his arm, seven broken
ribs, a fractured sternum and a broken nose.
One strange
thing in addition.
The notes also indicated that the medics had found
that a thin splinter of wood appeared to have penetrated number one’s soft
palate. They thought it was a toothpick or a matchstick or some other thin
object. Whatever it was would have to be removed surgically, according to the
notes. Because number one was one of the two men whose names had not yet been
ascertained, the medics were temporarily referring to him as ‘Mr Toothpick’.

Number two had permanent brain
damage. Three and four had nothing more serious than severe headaches and very
bruised throats. Five was paralysed. Six was paralysed, had brain damage, was
deaf in the left ear, and had deep scratches on his forehead. There was another
sentence scribbled down by Mavis where Pillay could only decipher the word
nyaope
and found the rest of the
handwriting difficult to decipher. Mavis clarified.

‘Sorry, I was writing quickly while
Pauline was talking. She said the hospital told them they did tests on all the
men and all of them had smoked lots of
nyaope.
I was thinking that maybe you and Jeremy want to investigate where the six men
got their
nyaope
.’

‘Sounds like a good idea, Mavis.
Let’s see what Jeremy’s thinking.’

They went up the stairs into the
building.

09.55.

Nyawula, seated at his desk, had
called them together for a quick update. Koekemoer and Dippenaar were standing
with their backs up against the wall next to the window. Ryder stood leaning
against the opposite wall, arms folded. Pillay and Tshabalala were sitting in
the two chairs that had been pulled back a metre from in front of the Captain’s
desk so that the group formed a rough circle.

‘Thanks, people, for responding so
quickly. I know you’ve each got a lot on the go, but following a suggestion
from Mavis Jeremy and I have been discussing the report from the hospital on
the
nyaope
that these six bastards
consumed before he took them down. Jeremy?’

‘The Captain and I have some other
news, too,’ added Ryder. ‘Who do you think of when you think of
whoonga
?’

‘Thabethe!’ Koekemoer, Dippenaar and
Pillay chorused the same response half a second before Mavis spat out the words
Skhura Thabethe
.

‘Dead right,
everyone.
Our
favourite Durban
skelm
.
I’m
very pleased to see that you all have him still lodged there uppermost in your
minds. I’m going to ask Jeremy to give you an update on our slippery little
friend.’

‘Wait for it, guys,’ said Ryder.
‘Thabethe broke out of prison in Westville on Saturday morning.’

The cacophony that greeted Nyawula
and Ryder was worse than they had imagined it would be. The detectives were
outraged. Pillay’s response was the foulest by far in language, but the volume
of the responses from Koekemoer and Dippenaar was enough to bring Piet Cronje
to the door.

‘It’s OK, Piet. KoeksnDips are just
busting a gut over the news of Thabethe’s escape, and Navi’s rewriting the
dictionary.’

‘
Yissus
,
Captain. I thought they were lynching you. I’m sure the sound will travel up to
the Brigadier’s office.’

Cronje closed the door and retreated
into his office as Nyawula continued.

‘Jeremy was speaking to Warrant Officer
Mphe at Westville. She says that Thabethe made the break on Saturday along with
the same guy that was originally jailed along with him. What’s his name, Navi?
The one you took down three months ago?’

‘Mgwazeni,’ replied Pillay.

‘That’s the one. Jeremy, you want to
tell them what you found out?’

‘Westville told me that Thabethe and
Mgwazeni broke out along with a third guy whose name they weren’t sure of. They
named him as Mofokeng at first,
then
said they weren’t
sure. There appeared to be some disagreement about who he actually was. So
they’re on the case and will let me know soon who we’re looking for. Anyway, I
understand that the prison was undergoing massive renovations and extensions
and that the three of them were housed, unusually, in a relatively deserted
wing off the beaten track. They managed to overpower a guard, take his keys,
and steal a vehicle.’

‘They killed the guard,’ interjected
Nyawula. ‘With Thabethe’s trademark choice of weapon.’

‘
Omigod
,’
said Pillay. ‘Not a bicycle spoke?’

‘Not quite,’ replied Nyawula. ‘A
wheelchair spoke. One of them managed to smuggle into their cell a spoke from a
wheelchair being repaired on the premises. Sorry, Jeremy. Please continue.’

‘The Westville prison guys are in a
bit of a shambles and still not very clear about what exactly happened. The
cops from Westville Station Command have been looking at the scene. One of the
detectives I know up there, Mpho Mphe, told me that because of the renovations
just about every single protocol at the prison had been ignored. Three gates
were not only unlocked but left wide open. Two of them were actually propped
open against their retracting springs, if you can believe it. Looks like the
three thugs had everything except the red carpet helping them on their way.’

‘You say they stole a vehicle,
Jeremy?’

‘Yes, Koeks,’ Ryder replied. ‘A
couple of the vehicles had keys in the ignition. There was so much coming and
going with builders and planners and various deliveries of construction
materials that whoever was in charge was simply overwhelmed by it all and basic
security was shelved for the day. Whether Thabethe and his cronies planned this
or whether they just got lucky on the day they chose to make a move,
no-one
knows.

‘Any news on where they went,
Jeremy?’

‘Yes, Dipps.
The car was traced to KwaMashu. Abandoned in
Section K, according to Mpho. Westville have got two constables making
enquiries in the area and are following up a possible lead with a reported
sighting of three strangers from someone living in a place on Sikwehle Road. An
older woman heads up the local Street Committee and the guy reported it to her
rather than to the police. She’s quite fierce, apparently, and reports about anything
out of the ordinary go to her in the first instance. The Captain and I have
been talking about picking this up, guys. We think that Thabethe won’t spend a
lot of time mucking about, and will be
back
soon onto
his old
nyaope
customers. We need to
get out and about and make some enquiries at his old haunts, and see what we
can find.’

‘Thanks, Jeremy,’ said Nyawula.
‘Koeks, Dipps, can you do two things? Firstly, see what information you can
pick up from the six patients Jeremy put in hospital. I can’t ask Jeremy to do
that, for obvious reasons. Might cause heart attacks, too, and then we’ll be
sued. Be careful. Only light questioning. Make sure you speak to them with
their legal aid present. See if you can find out where they got their
whoonga
. See if they react at all to the
name Thabethe. Secondly, after that, can you get out to Nomivi’s Tavern and see
whether you can pick up any information on whether Thabethe has been seen since
Saturday?’

Koekemoer and Dippenaar chorused in
affirmation.

‘Navi, can you get over to the
Westville cops on duty in Sikwehle Road? Jeremy can give you the cell-
phone number for the lead person who’s making the
enquiries out there.’

‘Sure thing,
Captain.’

‘Mavis, will you do
something for me, please? I need some information on this third guy who broke
out with the other two. Mofokeng or whoever he is. Speak to Piet. He’s in touch
with his opposite number at Westville and they’re going to pull the file on the
guy. But I need you to go beyond the file and see what else you can find about
him.’