Scent of Fear by Tony Park

Author:Tony Park
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2018-10-24T06:19:52+00:00

Chapter 15

Christine broke the speed limit. Even by South African standards her driving was maniacal.

She had been on her way to the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, to meet with Craig at Lion Plains, when Tumi had called. Tumi gave her directions to the huts they had been staking out. Craig was also en route, although he was coming from deep within the Lion Plains property where he and a forensics team had been investigating the death of yet another rhino.

Christine had asked Craig not to tell the police about the bomb Sean had just found, and while he had been initially hesitant he had eventually agreed to her wishes.

Christine gripped the wheel hard to stop herself from falling apart. She could not shake the feeling that if something terrible happened to Sean it would be all her fault. Why, she asked herself, had she been irresponsible enough to tell him to start acting like some amateur sleuth? Sean and his dog Benny had been trained to detect IEDs in Afghanistan, and while Sean had said that what he’d found was a ‘simple’ IED, she was already starting to regret not calling for the South African National Defence Force bomb squad that was temporarily based at Skukuza.

She raced past the turnoffs to the settlements of Belfast and Huntington, and the back of her bakkie went into a drift as she took the turnoff to Shaw’s Gate at a dangerous speed. She was thrown against the door as she fought to regain control of the vehicle, then geared down, planted the accelerator and tore up the dirt road that Tumi had described to her.

‘Please, God,’ she said aloud as she bumped along the track.

Tumi was standing about fifty metres from the pair of huts, Shikar and Clyde sitting obediently on either side of her. Christine drove up as close as she could and got out.

‘He’s still in there,’ Tumi said.

Christine did not know Tumi well, though she thought she detected a slight tone of resentment, which made Christine feel even guiltier. ‘I told him he didn’t need to try and disarm it if he didn’t want to.’

‘I said the same thing to him.’ Tumi put her hands on her hips. ‘He told me you wanted us to do our own investigating. I know I’m the junior on the team and it’s not my place to say anything, but I hope to God you know what you’re doing.’

‘Me as well.’ Christine started towards the huts, but Tumi grabbed her arm.

Christine shook off Tumi’s hand and glared at her. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

‘Sean gave me strict instructions that no one – not even you – was to disturb him.’

Christine took a deep breath. ‘All right. Sean told me on the phone that you’d been tailing a suspect, possibly the person who planted this bomb.’

She nodded. ‘I’ve got his name and phone number.’

‘Good work.’

‘I’m sorry for speaking harshly just then, Christine,’ Tumi said. ‘Sean told me before that we’re partners, him and me, and it’s tearing me up thinking of him inside with that thing.

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