Pride of the Veld

approved. Ronson was a snake waiting for the first opportunity to strike. He stayed carefully out of Geo’s line of fire while he trussed the man with another set of zip ties. When the last one was in place, linking his cuffed wrists from behind his back to the ties around his ankles, Danie stepped back satisfied.
    “Okay, call Oupa back would you? So he doesn’t have a heart attack? Oh, and remind me I need to find the other phone… I buried it under a bush somewhere.” Geo gestured vaguely as he headed back into the tent, pausing only briefly to check the status of their other prisoner.
    “Geo, I need to go back for the third soon. I’ll find their jeep and go get him before the animals do,” Danie called out as he disappeared. He waited for the grunt of acknowledgement to come before heading off.
    ****

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    George Christiansen had done one better than they’d hoped for. While Geo worked to stem the blood loss in camp, Danie had rounded up the other prisoner, finding him wandering through the bush in circles. If he had had to guess, he would have suspected sunstroke rather than a concussion, though the jaw was probably broken from Danie’s blow. The man was so grateful to be found and so terrified of the area wildlife, that he made no trouble at all while being cuffed with more of Danie’s zip ties.
    Geo had shoved him in the tent along with his other two patients. He’d activated a chemical cold pack, placing it next to his spine to cool down his core. Danie watched him work in silence. Andrea was sleeping. His color had improved, but the arm still oozed blood.
    More worrisome for Geo was the stranger Danie had shot. The shoulder wound was large and serious. Geo could see shattered bone in the entry wound, and there was probable nerve and ligament damage. He kept it packed, but Danie could tell he wasn’t happy.
    He entered the tent to give Geo an update. “George just called. They should be here within the hour. He managed to get us a military medevac. Will you be ready to go?”
    “Me?” Geo looked up, confused.
    “I’ll stay here and help repair the Rover, get our stuff packed and hauled out. They may call an inquiry before I can get back, and your word has more weight than mine.” He paused to reassure Geo, running his hand through the blonde hair. “Besides, these are your patients. You’ll just drive me up a tree worrying about them.”
    Geo made an effort to smile a little. Danie leaned forward to kiss him. The moment was broken by the sound of rescue. Geo darted past him to watch the brown-and-tan camouflaged helicopter land a short distance away.
    The first man out of the sliding doors was George Christiansen, standing like a tower against the brilliant South African sky, his white hair gleaming as he lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the glare.
    Danie watched Geo race across the space and fling himself into his grandfather’s waiting arms, looking more like a child than an adult. To date, the elder Christiansen had been the one male constant in Geo’s life.
    Danie hoped that he would be the one to change that, though maybe that wasn’t so true anymore, given the deep affection he’d spotted between Geo and Andrea on more than one occasion. So much had happened to them all, and in such a short amount of time, that the three of them had formed a deep bond. Danie couldn’t predict what would happen with it in the coming days, weeks, or months, so he stopped worrying about it.
    Danie watched the helicopter depart with a heavy heart. George seemed to sense his sorrow. Standing next to Danie, he slung an arm across his shoulders before patting him in consolation.
    “I brought whiskey” were the last words either of them spoke for a long time.
    ****
    Geo stood on his balcony overlooking the compound, gazing far into the bushveld and the coming violet of twilight beyond. He watched a winged changing of the guards: the last of the birds flew to their nesting sites, settling in for the night, while bats rose, flapping heavy wings against the sky, feasting on the mosquitos and flies that rose with the moon. He sighed.
    Yesterday he’d returned to the compound from Johannesburg, where he’d been giving testimony in front of the magistrate about the events in the bush.
    Andrea was being held in a secure hospital suite until he could be cleared of charges of trespass, poaching, and collusion with a criminal enterprise. No one really believed that Andrea was guilty, but