Pride of the Veld

they were being very cautious, not wanting Ronson’s very expensive attorneys to take advantage of Andrea’s absence as a strategy to shift blame.
    Andrea had technically hired Ronson and his crew to take him out to the area of the bush where the single-engine bush plane had been recovered, along with the remains of a pilot and a package of uncut diamonds valued at three million pounds sterling.
    Everyone was being very, very careful with the case, so careful that Geo hadn’t been allowed to see Andrea after those first moments in the emergency room. He’d been escorted out of the hospital once he’d given the head of emergency services a rundown on how the injuries occurred and the field medicine he’d employed to save the men’s lives.
    He was installed in a very nice hospitality suite not far from the courthouse that included a very nice man in a dark suit at the door who wouldn’t exactly say he couldn’t leave but then didn’t say he could. He’d just politely ask what Geo wanted and took down orders or messages, calling out on his cell before nodding to Geo pleasantly and reseating himself.
    So, there Geo sat for almost a week without further news, until he was suddenly offered a seat on the flight out of Rand Airport, eventually hitching a ride out to the reserve. The timing seemed lucky until he arrived, hot and dusty, with only the shirt on his back, to find that Oupa and Danie had flown out that morning for their own round of testimony in Johannesburg. They’d been planning on surprising Geo by meeting him there. Surprise, he thought.
    One hurried phone conversation with Oupa between meetings during the week wasn’t enough to satisfy Geo. He hadn’t spoken to Danie at all since he’d boarded the medevac flight, and he’d heard nothing more about Andrea.
    All of this was ridiculous. The man in the suit had found out about the other injuries for him. Andrea had broken two of Ronson’s ribs and cracked a third. The damage to Karl’s shoulder was so extensive that it was doubtful he would regain more than nominal use of it, and the third luckless thug had gotten himself a fine case of dysentery to go along with his heat stroke. All he got about Andrea was a “condition satisfactory,” whatever that meant.
    It seemed inevitable that he and Danie were back to playing employer and employee in front of Oupa. It was the only reason Geo could think of that would explain the lack of communication from Danie. In the end, Geo found himself stuck, waiting on someone else to give him information. He gave the staff grief for an entire day, until he finally took himself back to his rooms to mope in private.
    The evening slid quietly into the arms of night as Geo stood in the gloom, lost in thought. In the morning he’d go back out to the bush. It was the only place he’d found peace. The waiting was killing him, and worse― he wasn’t sure what he was waiting for.
    ****
    He intended to leave before dawn, taking one of the guest Range Rovers already packed with a tent and supplies. He wouldn’t need much on his own. So when he woke in the middle of the night he simply threw off his covers and started dressing without checking his watch.
    “Geo…” the voice whispered in the dark, beyond his bed, “what are you doing? It’s still the middle of the night.”
    Geo yawned, rubbing his eyes. The figure rose, looking as if it was formed of shadow, slowly becoming solid until it stood close enough to wrap a hand around his neck and tug him forward into a kiss.
    The kiss was slow and thorough, and Geo wondered if he was dreaming, or the victim of an African spirit come to visit him in the shape of his lover, brought forth by too much yearning and unhappiness. But the arms that now held him felt real enough, and the skin pressed against his nose smelt familiar and comforting.
    “Danie?” he whispered.
    “Yes, love.” And Danie kissed him again. The night wrapped around them, and Geo felt like he was enclosed in a bubble outside of time and space. Danie wasn’t really here, but the dream Danie was now nibbling down his throat and running his hands up and down the skin of Geo’s back. He shuddered at the delicious sensations and wondered when he would wake up.
    “I don’t wanna wake up, Danie,” Geo pleaded before being silenced once more with a kiss.
    “You’re not asleep, Geo, but you should be. Go back to bed, love.” The dream Danie finished unbuttoning his shirt, easing it off his