The Colour of Gold (17 page)

"I'll arrange
for two of my staff to come and help you arrange your possessions."
Misses Dadoo said. "I'm also able to help arrange finance for your
signage on the windows, electricity and water and any other needs
that you may have. Unfortunately the biggest problem facing the
tenants here is the dearth of shoppers. At the moment only an
average of a thousand shoppers visit the Centre every month and
this has resulted in almost thirty percent of the traders who moved
here going out of business within a year. I trust that you have
notified all your customers that you have relocated to the
Plaza?'

"Yes." Bala
replied. "I've also left a notice in the window of the old
shop."

"Of all the
businesses that have moved here, yours is probably more likely to
survive the change. I would guess that you are not particularly
reliant on passing trade." Misses Dadoo said. "I presume that most
of your customers reside in this area?"

"Yes. Hopefully
they will continue to support us." Bala said.

"Well, I'll
leave you to organize the layout of your shop." Misses Dadoo said
as she handed the keys to Bala. "I'll send my staff to help you
immediately. If there's anything else that I can do to help you
settle in, please come and see me in my office. Despite the
difficult situation that we all find ourselves in, I'm determined
to make a success of the Oriental Plaza."

Misses Dadoo
walked away. Bala and Fatima gazed around the shop.

"It's a lot
bigger than the old shop." Fatima said. "Perhaps we can stock more
readymade clothing."

"That's a good
idea." Bala said. "My biggest worry though, is that there are so
few shoppers. I only hope that our old customers continue to
support us."

***

"I received a
tip-off just after the attack on the Westdene police station that a
yellow Mazda 323 was seen in the vicinity a few days before it was
attacked as well as on the night of the attack." Captain Tiaan
Botha said to Brigadier van Tonder. "My guys have been keeping a
sharp lookout for it but it hasn't been seen again. If it was used
by the men who attacked the police station then it's quite likely
that it's hidden somewhere in Soweto and won't be used again for
some time. But, knowing the enemy's shortage of funds, I'm sure
that it will be used again in the not too distant future. What I'd
like to do, sir, is fly over Soweto in a chopper and see if I can
spot it. It's probably parked in a secluded yard behind one of the
houses and should be fairly easy to identify from the air."

"Good idea."
the Brigadier said. "Just don't fly over Soweto too many times or
you'll send out a message to the enemy that we're looking for
something. Also, you'll have to keep our expenses down. Perhaps you
should spread the search over several days so that the flights
aren't that noticeable."

"I'll do that,
sir." Tiaan said.

***

The helicopter
clattered across the sky three thousand feet above Soweto. Both the
side doors of the aircraft were open. Tiaan sat strapped into his
seat as he scanned the untidy metropolis through his binoculars as
it slid swiftly past beneath him while on the other side of the
fuselage another security policeman monitored the other side. Each
policeman had a high-resolution camera hanging around his neck,
ready to photograph anything suspicious or relating to the vehicle
they were seeking.

It was the
third flight in as many days and, although they had seen several
vehicles that appeared to be hidden purposefully, none of them was
a yellow Mazda 323. The two policemen had photographed these
vehicles in any case and also identified their exact locations for
investigation at a later stage. Now though, he needed to find the
yellow Mazda.

As the
helicopter flew over the suburb of Moletsane on the far western
side of Soweto, Tiaan sat up abruptly as a small yellow object
drifted into his view. It was definitely a motor car but it was
partially obscured by the roof of a small shack. He grabbed his
camera and quickly photographed the area. The aircraft flew on and
eventually returned to its base. As the rotors of the craft slowed
Tiaan jump out and, bending low, hurried to the nearby offices. He
dashed up the stairs to the photographic laboratory on the third
floor.

"Have this film
developed for me." he told the technician. "I'm especially
interested in the last five pics."

"I'll do that
right away, sir." the man said. "You can have then first thing
tomorrow morning."

"Thanks." Tiaan
said. "I'll collect them myself."

***

Tiaan and
Brigadier van Tonder studied the photographs spread out on the desk
top.

"From above
it's very difficult to identify the make of a car unless it's
clearly visible." Tiaan Botha said. "This image shows the vehicle
the most clearly but it's partly obscured by the roof of the shack.
I'm pretty sure though, that it's the vehicle we're looking for.
It's the only yellow vehicle that we've seen during the three days
that we've been searching."

"Where is it?"
the Brigadier asked.

"It's in Malia
Street in the suburb of Moletsane, sir." Tiaan replied.

The photograph
showed a yellow vehicle parked in a small yard behind a shack made
of corrugated iron sheeting. The surrounding shacks were all
situated very close to each other and formed an impenetrable
barrier that blocked out the view of the yard and its contents on
all sides. A narrow dirt lane led from the street to the tiny back
yard.

"Yes, it's very
likely the vehicle we're looking for." the Brigadier said. "What do
you plan to do next? Stake out the place?"

"No, sir."
Tiaan replied. "The neighbourhood is too closely knit. Any
strangers in the area will be quickly noticed. I believe that we
should take action as soon as we can and plant a bomb inside the
car that will go off shortly after the car is set in motion. I can
rig the bomb so that it explodes after the vehicle has travelled a
certain distance and is very likely to be well away from the
shacks."

"That's a bit
risky isn’t it?" the Brigadier asked. "What if it goes off when a
bunch of school children are nearby or a school bus or a taxi is
passing?"

"That could
happen, sir." Tiaan said. "But I think that it's unlikely that the
vehicle will be used during the day. I think that it will only be
used for the next attack that the enemy makes and that will
undoubtedly be in the dead of night."

"What about the
press?" the Brigadier asked. "They'll accuse us of assassinating
the people in the car."

"Yes, I've
thought of that." Tiaan said. "I'll plant the bomb inside the car.
Then we can say that the explosion was caused by one of the enemy's
own bombs that must have gone off prematurely. The press are well
aware of the enemy's incompetence."

"And if the
vehicle's not the one were looking for?" the Brigadier asked.

Tiaan shrugged
his shoulders.

"That's a
chance that we'll have to take." he said. "We can't fight this type
of war like gentlemen. Our enemy doesn't seem to care about
civilian casualties, so why should we? As long as it's blacks that
get hurt, I couldn't care less."

The Brigadier
nodded.

"You're quite
right." he said. "Go ahead."

***

Tiaan Botha
moved stealthily along the rutted dirt street his rubber-soled
boots hardly making a sound. He strained his eyes as he searched
for empty tin cans and bottles which might betray his presence if
he accidentally kicked one in the darkness of the moonless night.
Above him the stars glittered faintly through the smog-filled air.
A dog barked nearby followed by several others. Tiaan froze,
waiting for the cacophony to die down. Far in the distance he heard
the plaintive wail of a police or ambulance siren signifying that
the world was still functioning. Silence returned.

Tiaan's
greatest fear as he crept through the silent black township of
Soweto was the groups of deadly child psychopaths that roamed the
dark streets of the black metropolis throughout the night and would
murder him without any hesitation should they become aware of his
presence. Very few, if any, Soweto residents were foolish enough to
venture from the safety of their houses at night and most of the
child-killer's victims were dogs, cats and anything else that had
life in it.

With his face
carefully blackened and dark clothing Tiaan felt reasonably sure
that, as long as his progress was silent he could avoid detection.
To get to his destination, the suburb of Moletsane, he had
approached Soweto from the South and reached the railway line
between Naledi station and Meraff station via the empty ground
between the suburbs of Protea North and Mapetla. He had then crept
along the edge of the railway cutting until he reached the suburb
of Moletsane. From there it was only a short distance to the shack
in Malia Street where the little yellow Mazda was hidden.

Brigadier van
Tonder had agreed to arrange for a police fixed-wing surveillance
aircraft to fly over the Moletsane area to help drown out any noise
that Tiaan might make as he crept towards the target in which he
planned to plant his bomb. He reached the shack where the car was
hidden and crouched down amongst the long grass at the edge of the
rutted road. In the silence he heard dogs barking in the distance.
The smell of rotting garbage pervaded the still air. He waited
patiently for the aircraft to arrive. Faintly in the distance he
heard the drone of its approach. He glanced at the luminous dial of
his watch. It was exactly two o'clock.

As the
monotonous drone grew louder Tiaan pulled on a pair of thin black
leather gloves and adjusted the canvas bag that hung from his
shoulders and held the anti-personnel bomb that he planned to hide
in the yellow car. Above him the aircraft began to slowly circle
the area. He moved from his hiding place and crept along the narrow
driveway between the shacks, hoping that the owners on the shack
didn't keep a dog. He reached the car, the aircraft slowly circling
above effectively drowning out any sounds that he made. Very slowly
he unlocked the back door of the hatchback with a lock-pick and
carefully raised the hatchback door. With a small screwdriver he
quickly unscrewed the screws holding the back panel of the back
seat in place. He reached into his canvas bag and took out the
bomb. Carefully he placed it in the hollow interior, its magnets
immediately securing it to the metal base. He activated the
delicate rocker device that was set to trigger the bomb seven
minutes after the vehicle moved. Even the simple rocking motion of
the car as someone got in was sufficient to start the rocker
device.

Very carefully,
so as not to set the rocker device in motion, Tiaan replaced the
back panel of the seat and closed the hatchback's door using his
lock-pick to lock it. Quietly he moved away from the vehicle and
crept down the driveway into the street. High above him in the
darkness the police fixed-wing aircraft droned monotonously through
the night sky. Still very aware of the danger of the child killers,
Tiaan made his way back to the railway line and out of the dark
township.

***

"As all the
police stations in the country are now heavily guarded I think that
the next target that we should hit is a law court." Shadow said as
he handed cans of cold beer to Moses and Peter. "By doing that
we'll be hitting a target that's part of the white man's process of
suppressing us and is connected with the police and the military.
We'll also force them to spend more money and deploy policemen and
soldiers to protect the courts throughout the land and put pressure
on the manpower reserves of the whites."

The three men
stood outside Shadow's shack in the Sowetan township of Orlando
East, about six kilometres from the shack where Moses and Peter
lived and where the yellow Mazda was hidden.

"That's a good
idea." Moses said. "Soon the white bastards will have to protect
every building in the country and they'll have nobody left to
enforce their bloody apartheid laws. We'll be free and they'll be
tied down trying to protect their property and their people!"

"Which court
are we going to hit?" Peter asked.

"I think we
should hit the Germiston Magistrates Court." Shadow said. "I've
checked it out and it's an easy target. Getting there and away will
be easy and if we hit it late at night like we hit the police
station, nobody's going to get hurt."

"When will we
attack?" Moses asked.

"Tomorrow
night." Shadow said. "I've got all the guns and ammo ready here so
if you guys get here at one o'clock with the car we can hit the
place at two o'clock. Don't forget to bring the grenades. We only
need two or three. By the way, is the car in good order and still
well hidden?"

"Yes." Moses
replied. "We haven't moved it since the night we attacked the
police station. It's still got plenty of petrol and nobody can see
it from the street. In fact, not even the neighbours can see it.
All we've got to do is get in and come straight here."

"Okay. That's
settled then." Shadow said. "We'll hit the Germiston Magistrates
Court tomorrow night at two o'clock."

***

"Thanks for
providing the aircraft to cover me last night, sir." Captain Tiaan
Botha said as he sat down in front of the Brigadier's desk. "It was
a great help. The whole operation went without a hitch."

"Good." the
Brigadier said. "Glad I could help. Now we'll just have to wait for
the bastards to take themselves out."

Tiaan
nodded.

"I set the
timing device for seven minutes." he said. "Assuming that they'll
keep to the speed limit so as not to attract attention and leave
Soweto through Dobsonville they should be on Main Reef road when
the bomb goes off. If it's late at night, which I'm sure it will
be, there shouldn't be any traffic nearby."