Chapter 14

I shook my head. Clearing my mind. I’ve got to concentrate on the task at hand. Laura by my side.

“What are we looking for?” Laura whispered.

“Signs of a human passing through here. Look.” I said, pointing at the ground. “See the grass is flattened here ... and there.” Pointing out the tell-tale signs that someone has stepped on the grass, leaving the grass blades bent.

“Someone passed here not long ago. Less than an hour ago. Not more. See how the grass has not returned to normal?”

“Wow. I would not have even noticed that!” One of the girls said.

“Look through the vegetation. Don’t look at it. Look through it. Focus your eyes beyond what you see before you.” I said.

“Like you look at those 3D dotty pictures?” One of the lady Cops asked.

“Look! That tree twig is broken, Hanging on by just the bark!” Laura said, pointing with her finger.

“Good.” I said “Very good. Someone stepped here, left foot, then there, right foot. The left hand pushed the branches away, breaking that twig. Now we have a direction! Someone’s walking, not running.”

“You say ‘Someone’, not Tracy?” Laura said.

“Never assume it’s the person you are looking for, that made the marks. Count the footprints in a normal human stride. One set assumes two to three humans. Count two sets of footprints, assume three to four humans. Look for curves in the way the footprints are showing, it will give you the general line of flight, Ah ... direction.” I said. “I’ll learn you more, later, if you want to.”

“I WANT to learn too. This is a science all by itself” Amelia, Cop # 2, said.

“Apply for the course. You get it for free, and it is very handy in your line of work.” I said. We moved on. Slowly. Looking for signs. I was in front. Laura behind me. Amelia and one girl on my right, Cop # 3, and the other girl on my left. Thus, were made up for my impromptu Tracking Search Party. I got a general direction. I looked at the ground, saw another group of bent grass blades.

“You said ‘line of flight’, why,” Laura asked?

“Remember, the person or persons you are tracking, does not want to be found. They are usually fleeing the scene of a crime. So! Stay awake!”

“So, you’re not sure it was Tracy going through here? Laura asked.

“At a better time, I will tell you how, during our course, we tracked the wrong person, by assuming it was the perpetrator,” I said.

“Love to hear that one!” Laura said.

The vegetation becomes quite thick here. Why had she taken this route? The lodge is diagonal with her sudden left hand, 90-degree turn. I suddenly got the realization that Tracy does not want to go back to the lodge. I recall her frantic trauma back at Joe’s office. She thought we were going to send her away. Now Suzie just told her she’ll be deported. Shit! The girl is confused and believes we are going to send her away to where she does not want to be. She is not going back to the lodge. The sea! She is heading for the sea! What the hell is she planning?

I took out my cell phone, opened the GPS application. I had to set my location locator to on. I got the map of the area. I looked where we were. I draw an imaginary line from our position, through the marks on the ground, to the beach. It crosses a stream, then comes out just past the cove on the beach. On the other side of the cove! Tracy is not going back to the lodge. What the hell is she planning?

Laura saw my expression on the realization that Tracy is planning something drastic.

“What’s wrong Don? Why are you looking like that?” Laura asked. Before I really had time to think, I said: “Tracy is planning ... suicide...”

“WHAT?” Laura exclaimed. the whole group froze.

“She’s not going to the lodge. She’s taken a direct route to the beach. She’s going to drown herself!” I said and started to walk at a fast pace. The group is struggling to keep up. I looked at the signs left by Tracy. Drawing the imaginary line further along trying to establish Tracy’s end position, where she will end up on the coast.

A rocky patch ahead. I walked into the clearing. Faint scratch mark on the big flat rock. Slight discolouration from the normal brown of the rock. Definitely man-made, not long ago. The small loose stone, that made the scrape mark, lying upturned nearby. Upturned, because the bottom is lighter than the top. The sun-bleached side is underneath.

From the way the loose stone was deflected from the scrape mark, suggests that she turned slightly left. Left, away from the lodge and the cove. Either she does not know where she is going, or she has a goal in mind, to reach the beach, beyond the cove. Shit! We have to find her soon. Then I see another broken twig. Right where I expected it. Tracy’s heading for the beach, away from the lodge. I started to walk fast. Laura and the gang behind me, running to keep up. Tree branches flicking past as I pushed them out of the way, making sure I don’t whack those behind me.

I came upon the stream, winding its way through the coastal brush. The water clear and sparkling in the sunlight filtering through the leaf canopy above us. I could hear the breakers of the waves far ahead of us. Dimmed slightly by the coastal brush and forest. I looked for signs of Tracy’s passing. Then I saw her! Laying across a rock on the stream bank. Arms stretched out in front of her, so as she had fallen there and just remained down.

Laura and the girls looked to where I was looking. They saw Tracy. Laura, before I could stop her, ran, splashing through the low stream, towards Tracy.

“TRACY ... TRACY ... DARLING!” Laura shouted. There was no response. I ran as well, so did the outers. We reached Tracy just as Laura was kneeling beside her. Tracy was a wreck. Her hair dishevelled t-shirt was torn to shreds. Her face was bloated and red. Her jeans were torn. One foot bare, with dry blood caked on her foot sole. Her other foot’s shoe was scratched and missing a heal. Her lips were cracked and swollen. Her arms and hands were scratched and torn from going blindly through tree branches. I knelt beside her. I place my hand on her shoulder. Laura took Tracy’s hands in hers. Tracy slowly opened her eyes. Then her eyes went wild.

“Me ... no ... go ... back.” She croaked.

“Tracy! Listen to me.” I said. “Tracy, do you hear me, baby?” Tracy slowly turned her head towards me. She looked at me. Still with a wild expression in them.

“Don ... I ... not ... go ... back. Me ... drown...” Tracy’s voice fading off. She closed her eyes.

“Tracy! Stay with me. Listen to me. You’re going nowhere. You will stay here with me! Do you hear me? Tracy!” I said. Tracy slowly opened her eyes. The wild look somewhat softer.

“Don ... You ... I stay ... with ... you... ? You ... want me... ?” Tracy crocked.

“You WILL stay with me. Even if I got to kill for it. Okay ... I have killed for you ... Remember the farm, the guy that tried to shoot you. I killed him for you Tracy. For YOU. Now, Tracy let me take you back HOME! Your home. Our home.” I said. Tracy shook her one hand free from Laura and reached out to me. I grabbed her hand, her scratched and cut hand, and pressed it to my lips.

“My Tracy, let’s go home...” I said. Tracy relaxed. Sighed and closed her eyes. She was unconscious. Blacked out of fatigue and exposure. I need to get her to a hospital. QUICK! I wished I had the little Bird here, but it was sitting in the shed, on the farm back in North-West Province.

The best way out was to follow the stream to the beach. Laura called Charley from her cell. At that stage, the two of them were just approaching the stream from the cove’s side. They would follow the stream to join up with us.

I realised that in our haste to find Tracy, no-one thought of bringing water with us. Laura, Amelia, and the other three were showing signs of fatigue and thirst. They followed Amelia’s example to drink water from the stream. I took off my shirt, drenched it in the stream, and started to sponge off Tracy’s face. She did not respond. Once I thought I saw her eyes flutter, but I could have been mistaken. Tracy was out for the count.

I too felt the heat draining my strength. Thirst was nagging at my throat too. I quickly rinsed my mouth in the clear stream and went back to where I left Tracy in the shade. Laura and Amelia helped me to get Tracy on my back, securing her in place with socks, donated by the two girls. Tracy’s hands tied together around my neck. With Tracy’s legs wrapped around my waist, I had my hands under her knees. Off we went with Laura leading the way. The four other girls flanking me.

The going was a little rough due to the dense brush and coastal forest. The subtropical ferns, Palm trees, and Giant Strelitzias, barring our way the nearer to the beach we get. Tracy’s forty kilo’s, a dead weight on my back. I trudged on. I don’t know how long, but I kept going. Sometimes in the water of the stream, sometimes on the rocky bank of the stream.

Then, coming from the front. Aubrey and Charley. They saw us and came splashing through the water up to us. I stood still in the stream. Resting a while. Aubrey and Charley got to me, relieving me of Tracy. Aubrey taking her on to his back in piggy-back fashion. After the two kilometres, carrying Tracy, I sat down.

“Go ... Get her to the Lodge.” I croaked, my throat tick and burned. Charley handed me a bottle of water. I drank deep. Pure water never tasted so good. Laura, and the rest of the gang, also got some bottled water from Charley.

“Thought you didn’t pack for a rough-out in the bush...” He said. Smirking. “Lucky the lodge caters for the healthy-minded. Though, I think Aubrey would RUST if he gets pure water into him!” There was a burst of subdued laughter heard. Aubrey looked miffed.

Now. Rid of the dead weight of Tracy, my going was a little better, but still, we had a way to go. Out of the bush and onto the loose sandy beach, the going was tough. Charley took over Tracy from Aubrey when we got to the beach. Laura and the rest of the girls walking mechanically towards the lodge, out there in the distance. We could see it, but it was still far away. I remembered Laura’s “night walk on the beach” explanation of that morning. It felt so long ago. I smiled, felt my lips crack. My legs like dead weights, I walked on.

We all reached the lodge about forty minutes later, immediately moving Tracy to the minibus. Concerned faces looking at us, questions flying. The two girls Amy and Louise, herding them together and explaining the outcome. Laura, Amelia, Charley, and me, going off, taking Tracy to the hospital in Margate, about fifty minutes away. We’ll drop Amelia off at my SUV. She’ll bring it back to the lodge, so as not to leave them without transport.

(Meanwhile: On the N1 National road to Cape Town. Somewhere near the City of Bloemfontein.)

Alex was driving. Keeping to the prescribed 120 Km/h speed limit. He had spoken to Ludwig. He will continue to Cape Town and team up with Ludwig. Ludwig had his two bodyguards with him. Those not arrested in Bloemfontein. The two that were looking after the Beach-house in Gordons Bay, also at hand. Together they will be six able bodies. Ludwig had a PLAN.

Driving along, Alex did an inventory of what he had with him. Except for firearms, he was good. He’ll get some firepower in The Cape. He has a good contact with the local “Twenty-eights Gang” on the Cape Flats. He will get some more hands with them. Maybe incorporate some from the “Americans Gang” as well. Yes, he would be good. Only he MUST find all the Bitches and that Donovan. The one that started all this shit, by going to the Cops!

Alex thought of the two guys that were with the Bitches in the first place. What were these two guys thinking? Why get rid of the girl in the first place? A mistake. A HUGE mistake! Oh, well, what was done, was done. No turning back now. He will not back down now. He NEVER backs down from any mission. He’s paid well. Very well. The TRADE is good. Bring in millions a year.

Girls from Europe, the Philippines, Korea, the USA, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, those were the good ones. Valued at about 50,000 US Dollars each. The turnover from renting them as slaves, running into two and a half million each year. Until the girls become too old for the trade.

Debt bondage is a lucrative enterprise. Find a family of a young child that is in a financial crisis. Promise them relief from their debt, in exchange for the child. Girls are the best. They fetch millions in revenue. The girl is taken to a country where sex tourism is prevalent. South Africa is suited for this.

Especially during events like the Rugby or Soccer World Cups. Thousands of foreigners’ flock to the country with their Euro and Dollars. And they like to participate in off the radar parties. Ludwig will supply. Alex right there to capitalise. It is a question of supply and demand. Business. The Chinese, Arabs, Russian, and other Eastern European citizens flock to these events. Not so much to see the event, but to participate in the other activities, with no scruples on distributing their funds.

If the event moves to a country, open for sex tourism, Ludwig moves the girls. Eastern European syndicates, local gangs, and individual policemen facilitate trafficking into and within South Africa, particularly for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.

Young ones’, there is the money, and the risk. But the risk is worth taking. South Africa is the best transit destination. No specific LAWS on the Trafficking Trade. Only some low things on prostitution, Gender Base Violence, Child Protection, and that crap. If you get caught, well, the girls get branded as Prostitutes, Guys like Ludwig, and Alex, only a fine for Pimping the girls. What a farce!

Alex was nearing Bloemfontein. Time to switch the car. For just in case. The Ultra City fuel station was just up ahead. Good. He’ll fill with petrol, then find a rental car service.

(About forty minutes later: The two unknown characters following Alex were a little confused. Let’s find out why.)

The car came to a stop at the last ‘Pit-stop’ before the N1 National Road carried on. The Blue Road Preacher, overhead the National Road, announcing “Cape Town 1000 KM.” The Woman looking at her smartphone in the dashboard holder.

“The signals have split! One moving, one not.” She said. The male, driving their car, a look of thoughtfulness on his face.

“He’s ditched the car. Look, he went into town. Stopped. Now one blip sits still at the point where he has stopped. The other blip moved, backtracking as he went into town. Now the blip is following the N1 South.”

“The blip is fainter than the first one. I’ll say, you’re right, he did ditch the car. The strong signal. The fainter one is the tracker in his luggage. Let’s go. No time to lose. That blip will not be visible for more than three to four kilometres!”