Anthony froze in horror and his throat constricted as the scene played out at the far end of the car park. It was unreal, like watching an action movie. He was shouting, though he realised no sound was uttered. As quickly as it began, all went quiet. A bulky figure sneaked up to Jenny's car and looked inside – then jumped up and looked around in alarm.
Anthony dived behind the bench: how had they known?
‘There is only a woman here. Jenkins has gone.’ The person called to someone else still in their vehicle.
‘Phone the doggies, I will look around. He can't be far.’
‘The woman?’ another voice inquired from the car.
‘Nah. She's dead.’
I must move, move away from here, and fast. Anthony leopard crawled deeper into the shadows, then jumped up and ran off in no specific direction, anywhere away from immediate danger. A few blocks away, out of breath, he collapsed into some undergrowth in an open garden. He lay motionless, taking a while to recover. He had to keep moving. He was unsure of the time: knew it would not be long before dawn broke. Once the dogs arrived, and in daylight, it would not take very long for them to track him down. Where to? The only person other than Jane that I trust is dead and . . . Jane, where are you? Are you safe?
Even if there had been someone else to turn to, it was clear these people did not give a damn about life. I can't involve any one else in this, it wouldn’t be fair. His thoughts were interrupted by two vehicles passing at high speed, going in the direction he had come from. Those will be the sniffer dogs. Taking a moment to orientate himself, he leapt up and ran towards Zambezi Road.
Sprinting down the road, he heard dogs barking in the distance, unsure whether they were from the dog unit or dogs from the neighbourhood. I cannot keep this up much longer.
He reached an intersection where a freight truck was waiting for the traffic light to change.
Cautiously, he approached it from behind – out of the driver’s vision – and threw himself onto to the back of the truck, uttering a sigh of relief as it started moving. With no idea where the truck was heading he felt temporarily safe, and should be at least until the dogs tracked him and his pursuers realised what he’d done.
The truck carried a load of crates and Anthony made himself as comfortable as possible between them as they headed out of the city along the road to Cullinan. The faint glow of the nearing dawn lit the horizon in the east.
On the outskirts of the city, Anthony sensed the truck accelerating and was relieved to feel it put some distance between himself and those following him. He knew that, once they realised what had happened and gave chase, it would leave him more vulnerable. After a while the truck reduced speed and turned off onto a side road, proceeding slowly along it. Moments later came the sound of wailing sirens, and he was trapped on the back of the truck.
Then Anthony spotted blue lights flashing as the car sped past on the national road, and he breathed a sigh of relief. This was short-lived, however, as the patrol car’s brake lights flashed bright red, followed shortly afterwards by the sound of screeching rubber on tar, and then the car was weaving and swinging around. They must have seen the truck and will be here soon, I’ll have to jump.
Click Follow to receive emails when this author adds content on Bublish
Comment on this Bubble
Your comment and a link to this bubble will also appear in your Facebook feed.