Cobra by Deon Meyer

Author:Deon Meyer [Meyer, Deon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
ISBN: 9781444723755
Goodreads: 21282358
Publisher: Hodder
Published: 2013-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-One

Zola Nyathi, the inscrutable, stood there, his intense gaze fixed on the fat captain. For perhaps the first time Griessel saw emotion on the colonel’s face, rage that was gradually replaced with something else. Regret? Shame?

The Giraffe suddenly turned his back on them and raised his eyes to the stretch of Market Street that was visible between the rear wall and the vehicle entrance. He clasped his hands strangely in front of his chest, almost as if in prayer.

Silence, just far off the sound of traffic on Voortrekker Road, and an ambulance siren on the way to Tygerberg Hospital. Seconds passed while Nyathi stood stock still.

He turned back to them. “What do you think,Vaughn?”

“I never thought I’d say this, Colonel, but I’m with Mbali.”

Griessel thought he actually had no right to ally himself politically with his colleagues. He had been a law enforcer under the former regime, and he couldn’t pretend he’d been something he wasn’t. But Nyathi did not spare him, he looked him in the eyes and asked, “And you, Benny?”

“Sir, I don’t think we have a choice. There is a young woman in Stellenbosch who might be in real danger, and we are the only ones who know…”

“What young woman?”

Griessel told him.

“Jesus,” said Nyathi. Another first, as far as Griessel could remember.

The colonel raised his hands in frustration, and dropped them again. He looked at the three of them, then in the general direction of the entrance to the building. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave…”

“Amen,” said Mbali.

“And have you thought how you would approach this?” Nyathi asked Griessel.

He hadn’t.

“Sir,I…” His thoughts raced as he spoke.“I want Mbali and Vaughn on the team, sir.” Then his discomfort and suspicions found words and he said, “And Bones. Because we need to try and find out why State Security wants control. It’s about Adair, that’s what this case is really about, and Bones is the only one… Just the four of us. We’ll report to you. Here, where no one can listen. But we need to get to Stellenbosch fast, and we need to get clean cellphones.”

“I can get the cellphones,” said Cupido.

“Where from?”

“You don’t want to know, sir.”

Nyathi was quiet. He shook his head as if he was about to do something crazy, like jump off a cliff. Then the expressionless mask was back, control restored. “This is not just about losing our jobs. If they find out, they will prosecute us. Aggressively. At worst, they’ll send us to prison. Or permanently ostracise us, at best. We will never work for the government again. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I have children. So do you, Benny.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m going to try and keep the brigadier out of this. For as long as I can. I don’t want to destroy his career as well. So you’d better get it right. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Switch off your phones. Check your cars for tracking devices. Get moving.”

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