Dark Intent (29 page)

‘What do you want them to do with the three bodies?’ asked Teichmann.

‘Tell them to follow your standard operating procedures,’ said Steiner. ‘That is, make the bodies disappear. It is probably smart to make a brief statement in the press concerning their disappearance but all I am really interested in is that there is never any reference made to Kirsty Krige or me in connection with this case.’

‘I understand,’ said Teichmann.
‘I’ll get onto it straight after this call. Now tell me about the files. You said you have retrieved them.’

‘Yes we have,’ said Steiner.
‘But we are not going to return them to you. If you want to be an acceptable political organization with something to offer this country you should exclude this kind of stuff and your insidious methods from your portfolio. There is no harm in compiling racially unbiased, well-documented evidence against people, black and white, who you believe have committed serious crimes against humanity but the group should not be the judge, jury and executioner. The evidence should be submitted to the National Prosecuting Authority. We are giving these files to Peter Smith of the DSO.’

Steiner terminated the call.
He faced Kirsty. ‘I’m glad that’s over.’

‘You were brilliant,’ she said.
‘I felt proud of you.’

‘Thank you.
I’ll remember that. I suggest we do a bit of cleaning up before we leave. I don’t want to meet those guys, at your place or here.’

‘Nor do I,’ she said.
‘Let’s get started.’

Pretoria

Steiner and Kirsty Krige left the farm an hour after Steiner had made the phone call to Teichmann.
They had dragged Krige and Kallis into the front yard, next to the verandah steps, and had locked the house after extinguishing the lights. There was no sign of foul play, they had the files and, as Steiner had told Teichmann, he was going to give them to Peter Smith of the Scorpions.

When they reached the house, they sat in the lounge, Kirsty with a gin and tonic and Steiner with a glass of water.

‘Do you think you will ever drink anything stronger than water?’ she asked.

‘No.
If you drink you have to control the amount you take. I decided it was it was easier to give up. I prefer using my mental strength elsewhere.’

‘You’re so disciplined,’ she said.
‘But tell me a bit more about yourself. Why have you never married? Don’t you like women?’

‘Some of them are great. They just don’t give me
a chance to get to know them.’

‘When are you going back to Durban?’ She stared at him.

‘I was thinking of sometime tomorrow afternoon. There’s nothing in Pretoria to make me stay longer.’

‘Isn’t there?’ she asked.
‘What’s wrong with me? I thought that by now you would have known I’m in love with you.’ She smiled. ‘I hope you’re not embarrassed.’

He smiled and said:
‘When I first saw you on the farm I remember saying to myself that you were the loveliest girl I had ever seen.’

‘You were as cold as ice but I knew I wanted you even then.
Do you still think I’m the loveliest girl?’

‘Yes,’ he said, smiling.
He got up, walked over to her and touched her on the cheek. ‘Would you like to come to Durban with me? You can stay in my flat. I’ve got two bedrooms.’

‘That sounds perfect,’ she said, giggling like a precocious school girl and rubbing her cheek softly against his hand.
‘When do we go?’

‘I’ll wait for you.’

‘I haven’t heard that for a long time,’ she said, holding his hand. ‘I’ll be ready tomorrow. Don’t try and leave me behind.’ She came to her feet and held him in her arms. She kissed him softly on the cheek and slowly moved her lips down to his. ‘I love you so much,’ she whispered. ‘You are everything to me.’ She took him by the hand and said: ‘I’ve made my bed.’

Late the next day Kirsty and James Steiner travelled to Durban. They arrived in the morning and after breakfast were sitting in the lounge when Steiner looked up from the newspaper he had been skipping through.

‘We should go and see Peter Smith and get rid of those files,’ he said to Kirsty.
‘The sooner I give them to him the better I’ll feel.’

‘What will he do with them?’ she asked.

‘When I told Teichmann we were going to hand them over to the Scorpions he knew exactly what that will mean and I’m sure he is now a very scared man and going through an intense process of damage limitation. The DSO will inform the National Prosecuting Authority or NPA of what they find in the files and prepare cases for prosecution. When the DSO acts, I doubt the group will have the time to prepare for what the DSO has in mind, even if they had been tipped off by Teichmann. They would be caught napping with no time to hide and the heads would start rolling. All the records collected by the group and referred to in the files would be sequestered. The white and black files would become documents for prosecution rather than protection and persecution.’

Steiner walked over to
the phone. ‘I’ll give Smith a ring. If I tell him it’s urgent he will drop everything and see us.’

‘Do I have to go?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ said Steiner. ‘If it was not for you the DSO and NPA would still be creeping around in the dark. From what I’ve heard they don’t even know File B was stolen even though they might vaguely be aware of its existence.’

When Smith heard Steiner on the phone he was surprised.

‘Where the hell have you been?’ he said. ‘I thought you were only going out of town for a day, not a week. I have heard from a very reliable source that the black file you once said existed has been removed from the group offices. Apparently it is even of greater value to the group than the white file.’

‘A friend and I would like to see you urgently,’ said Steiner.
‘Can we come round now?’

‘Certainly,’ said Smith.
‘I’ll see you in a few minutes.’

‘Let’s go,’ said Steiner to Kirsty after he had replaced the receiver.
‘He’s waiting for us.’

Ten minutes later Steiner and Kirsty were at the DSO offices and were taken up to Smith.

‘Good to see you,’ said Smith ‘Who’s your pretty friend?’

‘Her name is Kirsty.
It’s nice meeting you.’ She smiled.

‘Please sit down,’ said Smith.
‘Now tell me what’s so important.’

‘A few minutes ago you told me the original of a valuable black file was stolen from the group,’ said Steiner.
‘I also know you haven’t found the original white file.’

‘How do you know that?’

Steiner placed the two packages he was carrying on Smith’s desk. ‘In these packages you will find the originals of both files.’

‘Where did you get them?’ asked Smith.

‘We’ll tell you the story later,’ said Steiner. ‘We’ve just returned from Pretoria and need a break. I thought I was going on holiday but I got diverted. You will find them more than interesting.’

The following day, Kirsty took steps to change her surname to her maiden name of Callard. She also contacted her two sons at Bishops and told them of their father’s death. She didn’t say she had killed him, and arranged to fly to the Cape to see them.

Steiner phoned Sophie Carswell and told her about his relationship with Kirsty.
They agreed to meet.

After a few months in Durban, Steiner and Kirsty started spending most of their time in London where he had a mews house in Knightsbridge.

Examination of the files resulted in the prosecution, conviction and incarceration of a number of leading figures who had committed serious crimes during and after the apartheid era. For them, there was no place to hide.