Lunch at Tinga was every bit as good as Tom’s last meal at the lodge. This time they had kabeljou, a South African fish grilled and served with golden chips. A simple meal but very tasty.
It started with him and Sannie sitting down together to discuss arrangements for the afternoon, and ended with Carla joining them and taking over the conversation. He could see now that Sannie quite clearly couldn’t stand the woman.
Indira and Bernard popped in and out of the meeting at different times to make or take calls on their mobile phones, but for Tom and Sannie most of the afternoon was spent waiting. Carla left them to check on the guides for the afternoon game drive, but by that stage Sannie had already drifted away to read her novel, and Tom felt as though he’d missed another opportunity to talk to her. He went back to his room to change out of his suit into casual clothes for the afternoon drive.
They boarded the Land Cruisers at four pm sharp. Both VIPs seemed cheery and friendly to each other, so Tom guessed the afternoon’s lunch and meetings had been positive.
There were only two vehicles out on the drive. Indira and Bernard sat behind their respective ministers in the lead Cruiser, while Tom, Sannie and Duncan were in the second.
‘Nothing happened, you know, between Carla and me last time,’ Tom said quickly, getting it all out before she had a chance to interrupt.
Sannie looked at him. ‘It doesn’t matter, Tom. I told you before, I don’t care.’
He waited for her to say more, to fill the void, but she was a police officer too. She knew when to shut up. Stalemate.
On the private dirt road leading out from Tinga, they passed small herds of impala and waterbuck, and three kudu. The kudus’ delicate features, big ears and doe-like eyes made them look the most innocent of creatures, Tom thought. Sannie remained silent and Tom, disappointed, told himself she was not going to crack.
‘Christo wants to show you his scar.’ She looked straight ahead, dutifully noting the zebra that Duncan had just pointed out.
Tom smiled. ‘Greeves suggested on the flight over that if I came with him again, if Nick… well, you know, that I take some leave and spend a few days over here after his next visit. Perhaps I could drop in and say hi to the kids.’
‘That might be nice.’
He could see she was gripping the bar in front of their seat, even though the dirt road was well graded and there were no bumps. Slowly, he told himself. This is a big move for her. ‘Perhaps dinner.’
‘That also might be nice. Tom…’
‘Yes?’
‘Just friends, okay?’
‘Fine by me.’
‘Here comes the tar road.’
He focused his mind back on the job, though he felt a flutter of happiness for the first time in a long time. Instead of feeling as though he was being unfaithful, he thought Alex would have liked Sannie. They were both bright, articulate women who, unlike him, were good at expressing their feelings. Tom was sure that Alex, who had a passion for wildlife conservation, would have loved the African bush as much as Sannie did. Tom looked around as they turned onto the Tarmac. There was one car behind them, a white Corolla, pulled over on the side of the road. He saw the reflection of late afternoon sunshine on a camera lens. It was pointed their way, not into the bush. ‘We’ve got company,’ Tom said, reaching into the pocket of his shorts for a notebook and pen.
The car pulled into the road and accelerated rapidly, trying to catch them. ‘Duncan, how far to the turnoff to the concession?’ Tom asked as he scribbled down the licence plate number of the Corolla.
‘A kilometre.’
‘Get on your radio and tell the lead truck to put his foot down.’
‘It’s a fifty kilometre an hour limit in the park on tar roads.’
‘Then tell him to wind it up to fifty. Now.’
Duncan complied and Tom felt the breeze on his face stiffen as they accelerated. Tom looked around. The car was closing on them, and the driver had put on his right indicator.
‘Move right, Duncan, as if you’re going to overtake the lead vehicle. I don’t want this guy passing us before the turnoff.’
The four passengers in the lead vehicle all turned around at the sound of the Corolla’s horn, and Greeves looked puzzled at the sight of Tom and Sannie’s Cruiser driving on the wrong side of the road.
The Corolla driver steered with his left hand and held his camera, fitted with a telephoto lens as long as Tom’s forearm, out the window. The tricky manoeuvre caused the man to swerve, then overcorrect, losing speed in the process.
‘Maniac.’ Tom was pleased to see Greeves’s head snap around to the front, so he wasn’t facing the photographer.
‘Turnoff’s coming up, Tom.’ Duncan started to drift back onto the left-hand side of the road, then suddenly said something in his own language, which sounded to Tom like swearing.
Tom looked left and saw the photographer accelerating hard to overtake them on the near side. ‘Careful.’ Tom wanted to keep the photographer at bay, but certainly didn’t want to cause a traffic accident in the process.
The lead vehicle swung right, just as the Corolla pulled level with Duncan’s Land Cruiser. Duncan turned the wheel hard and they were off the sealed onto the dirt. The Corolla braked twenty metres up the road and started to reverse. Tom looked back as the driver started to turn onto the track and then saw the No entry sign. Tom smiled.
The lead vehicle rounded a bend, and when they were out of sight of the main road, the truck carrying the VIPs pulled over. Duncan acknowledged a radio call and pulled up beside the other Land Cruiser.
‘Looked like our friend was from the press,’ Greeves called to Tom over the idling engines.
‘Yes, sir,’ Tom said, unsure what Greeves would make of his actions. He had been a bit heavy-handed.
‘Well done, Tom, and nice driving, Duncan. Thank you.’
All in all, Tom thought, it was turning out to be a good afternoon.
They stopped at the same small riverside clearing where Duncan had taken Sannie and Tom previously. The two officers were on duty now, so alcohol was out of the question. She smiled at him over her glass of mineral water, then returned to her conversation with Indira. Tom was standing opposite Sannie in the circle of dignitaries and flunkies, intermittently scanning the clearing and surrounding bush. He noticed Carla walking towards him.
Carla had been at the drinks spot ahead of the main party, having travelled there in a third Land Cruiser, along with a barman and two maids who had already set up trestle tables covered in starched white tablecloths. The girls were ready with silver platters of biltong, droewors, chips and nuts when the other trucks arrived. Carla had changed into a green safari skirt which ended six inches above her knees.
‘Excuse me, Tom, I’ve got something to show you. It arrived by email while you were on your drive,’ she said, holding up two sheets of paper. Tom excused himself from the circle.
‘It’s very important,’ Carla added.
‘News about Nick?’
‘No, not quite.’ She led him to the end of the line of parked Land Cruisers. Darkness was falling rapidly and Tom wanted to make sure he could still see Greeves. They stopped on the far side of the lead vehicle and Tom took the papers from Carla. He noticed she was smiling.
The first page was a blank fax cover sheet with the Tinga letterhead. He looked at her quizzically.
‘Read the next one.’
He smiled and shook his head. On the second page she had written, in a bold girlish hand: I’m going to fuck you tonight, after dinner.
He laughed, but felt her take his hand. This was silly; though, he had to admit, slightly arousing. He felt himself begin to stir. Carla looked up and down the line of trucks and drew his hand to the hem of her skirt.
‘Stop,’ he tried, but he let her move his hand. She used it to raise the fabric. He felt her. Bare skin. The folds, the heat, the wetness. God, it had been so long.
Carla stood on tiptoes, letting go of his hand. He knew he should move it, but it was an intensely erotic moment, made even more so by the risk of getting caught. ‘No,’ he said, finally removing his hand. He thought of Sannie, the way he had finally broken through her resolve and convinced her nothing had gone on between him and Carla.
She ground her lips against his, trying to open his mouth with her tongue. Tom broke the kiss and turned at the sound of a footfall.
‘Time to go,’ Sannie said, emerging from between the second and third Land Cruisers.
Sannie sat on the bench seat behind Tom for the trip back to Tinga. She ignored his pathetic attempts to explain away exactly what she had seen. Fondling that bloody woman and kissing her while the man he was supposed to be protecting was not ten metres away.
‘What were you thinking? You’re a protection officer!’ It was the only thing she said to him for the whole drive.
‘I told you, she made the move on me. I told her to stop it, and I always had Greeves in sight.’
She ignored him. To think she had almost let him into her life and, worst of all, had almost let him into her children’s lives.
Sannie had meant what she said to Tom earlier, about taking it slowly and just being friends for now, but she had allowed herself the briefest fantasy about what he might look like out of his shirt. His skin was pale — typically English — but his face and arms were showing the beginnings of an African tan. With his dark hair and thick eyebrows she guessed he had some Celtic blood in him. She felt stupid now, not only for allowing herself to have feelings for the man, but for the way she felt betrayed by someone she had no legitimate claim on.
Tom tried to apologise again when they all met in the reception area for pre-dinner drinks, to convince Sannie he’d done nothing wrong. He failed, spectacularly. She turned on her high heels and walked away from him.
‘Lovers’ tiff?’ Bernard sauntered over with a gin and tonic in his hand.
‘Misunderstanding.’
‘I’d go for the raven-haired one, if I were you. Better dress sense and I think she’d go off.’
Tom smiled and shook his head. He, Bernard, Indira, Carla and Sannie were seated together for dinner, while the two politicians dined at another table with three senior officials from the Kruger National Park and one of the lodge’s owners.
Sannie took the seat opposite Tom, but an elaborate silver candelabra made face-to-face conversation with her impossible, even if she had wanted to talk to him. Instead, Sannie chatted to Indira, whom Tom knew she disliked intensely, and Bernard, who managed to make her laugh a couple of times over dinner.
Carla was seated next to him, and he was sure he caught Sannie giving him the evil eye at the precise moment that Carla was squeezing his thigh under the table.
Greeves stood, clinking his glass with his fork, and made a short speech of thanks for the hospitality shown to them all by the staff at Tinga, and the South African government and National Parks Board. Dule responded, alluding to the ‘positive talks’ the pair had had on a range of issues.
After coffee, Greeves and Dule excused themselves at the same time. Carla winked at Tom, but he ignored her, as both he and Sannie followed the lodge security guards who were allocated to escort Greeves and Dule back to their rooms.
‘Thanks, Tom.’ Greeves opened the door to his suite. ‘Good work eluding that photographer today. Go get yourself a nightcap and I’ll see you at six in the morning. Don’t be late.’
‘Night, sir.’
Sannie was walking towards him, having just seen her principal safely off. ‘If you let me buy you a drink I’ll explain to you that this was all a mistake. There’s nothing going on between me and Carla.’
‘Then why was she stroking your cock during dinner? Goodnight, Tom.’ She made his name sound like a four-letter word as she left with her guard.
‘Bloody women,’ Tom said to himself. He could have gone back to his suite then. Should have. ‘Take me back to the lodge,’ he said to the security man instead.
Bernard and Indira had turned in, but Carla was behind the bar. She waved him over, then bent down, out of sight. By the time he reached her she had a frosted glass of lager waiting on the polished counter.
‘I shouldn’t,’ he said.
‘Go on. One won’t kill you.’ She poured herself a glass of wine.
Tom picked up the now dewy glass and took a long drink. She was right, one wouldn’t kill him. ‘You were pretty outrageous today, out in the bush.’
‘You haven’t seen anything yet.’ The security guard was hovering nearby, near the reception area. ‘Thanks, George,’ she called. ‘You can leave for the night. I’ll see Mr Furey back to his room.’
They walked to his suite and, when they stopped outside, he kissed her. A beautiful woman wanted him to make love to her. Sannie didn’t want to speak to him. He felt light headed, but put it down to dehydration, and maybe her perfume.
He needed Carla, right now, but when they got inside she excused herself and went to the bathroom. He felt dizzy, and had trouble parting the mosquito net. He cursed and sat heavily on the turned-down bed. He put a hand to his eyes. No. This wasn’t right.
When she returned she was naked, her hairless body gleaming gold in the soft light of the bedside lamp. The protest died on his lips as she lowered herself to her knees and undid the buckle of his belt.