Chapter 20

Sir Lowry’s Pass Railway Tunnel, Near Grabouw, Overberg.

Slowly the illumination from the signal flare dimmed and flickered, about to go out. I reached Andrea just as the last of the magnesium spattered out, dropping the tunnel back into the blackness of night.

“NO! NO ... Leave me alone!” she shrieked as I touched her.

“Andie! It’s me, Dusty,” I soothed.

“Dusty?” One word, and she reached out, then I felt her arms encircle me. Her body was shaking and trembling; not with cold, but with naked fear. She clung to me, nearly suffocating me.

“Calm down, Buttercup. You’re safe now,” I whispered.

“Why is it so dark? Switch on the light...” she said softly, barely audible, and I knew she was in shock. “I’m having a nightmare, I’m having a bad dream ... Hold me, Dusty.”

“Your bad dream is over Sweetie Pie.”

“I dreamt that Aldermann and Plaatjies took me away...”

“They are not going to do it anymore. You’re safe now, Sweetie-kins. Let me help you up.”

“Why is it so cold?”

“She’s in shock,” Leah said next to me, and I only realised then that she was shining a torch on us. “We need to get her to a hospital. Somerset is the nearest.”

“Hello, Leah. Why are you here?” Andie asked, “You went back to Cape Town.”

“Come, Andie, let me help you up,” I said.

“No, it’s Saturday, let me sleep some more...” And her eyes closed.

“Wake up sweetie, stay with me!” I exclaimed, shaking Andie a bit.”

“Here,” Olivia said and handed me a space blanket. “Cover her, we need to keep her warm.”

In the background I heard a radio break squelch. “I’m down on the tracks and waiting...” Lorie’s voice came over the airwaves.

“Ten Four, Sister! We’re on our way.” Olivia’s voice replied.

Between Leah and me, we got Andie disentangled from me and wrapped up in the space blanket. Gee, whiz! I wonder what the Angels all carry in their backpacks. Radios, space blankets, signal flares, guns ... you name it! Maybe a hand grenade or two? I don’t want to know, but it sure comes in handy.

I picked Andie up and noticed that her shoes were missing and that her feet were scratched and bleeding.

With Leah and Olivia leading the way, shining their torches on the uneven surface of the railway tracks, and me carrying a space-blanket-wrapped Angie in my arms, we stumbled our way uphill towards the entrance we came in. Halfway out of the tunnel we met a contingent of policemen, Joe and Aubrey leading them.

“How is Miss Louw?” Joe asked.

“In shock. We need to get her to a hospital,” I replied, and kept walking and carrying her toward the tunnel mouth.

“An ambulance will take hours to get here. Let’s ask that nice female pilot in the helicopter outside to fly Miss Louw to Somerset Hospital,” One of the policewomen in the group offered.

“That’s the plan,” I replied. “Now, Joe if you will excuse me. We can talk later.”

“Yeah, and get the meat wagon to come and collect Plaatjies and Aldermann, they seem to have not made it too far into the tunnel,” Olivia said.

“Aldermann! I thought he committed suicide?”

“Assumptions and thoughts can be deceiving, Joe!” Leah replied. “Aldermann was very much alive before Dusty here helped him along to the happy ever after.”

“Dammit!”

“Yeah, but this much we can guarantee you, Aldermann is now very dead,” Olivia confirmed.

“So long, Joe. We’ll chat later,” I said and proceeded with Andie in my arms out of the tunnel to Lorie and the waiting helicopter. Andrea’s survival was priority number one.

“Oh, and Joe, outside somewhere along the railway tracks you’ll find pieces of some other dude that was with Plaatjies and Aldermann. He had a little argument with the helicopter rotor blades, and lost,” I shot over my shoulder as I walked off to the outside of the tunnel, thinking of the costly replacement of the rotors on the EC. But dismissed the thought as the girl in my arms needed medical attention pronto.

Joe, Aubrey and the five policemen stood stunned.

Sumerset Hospital, Sumerset West.

In the bright lights of the waiting area at Summerset Hospital, I sat on one of the steel couches that were there for family members and next of kin to the patients treated in the emergency unit. Leah sat down next to me and handed me a Styrofoam cup of yacky plastic coffee.

“Here, it’s the best I can come up with now,” She said, and took a sip of her own cup of coffee. “Hmm ... not too bad for hospital vending machine coffee.”

“Thanks, Leah. I suppose it will taste good right now.”

“They say that Andrea’s got some bruises, but nothing broken. Her feet must have been injured in the mad dash into the tunnel, as her shoes were in the Audi.”

“So, how’s she doing so far?”

“They gave her a sedative to put her to sleep. They’re keeping her overnight, and the sawbones will assess again in the morning. We can take her home by then, if all goes well.”

“Thanks, Leah.”

“No problem, Dusty. I like the little rascal too.”

Where’s Lorie and Olivia?”

“They’ve taken the bird back to roost at Morningside. The EM supervisor wanted the helipad cleared,” and she sipped her coffee, “Not that he seemed very anxious about it. He said it was the third time in four years that he has seen a chopper land there, but if a helicopter does land there, it is an ‘OH SHIT’ moment for their otherwise quiet little EMU.”

“I suppose so...”

“I think when they saw the bird touch down, they were all running code blue and sighed when they saw it was not that big an issue, although they were quick and efficient. Now, how are we getting back to Morningside?”

“I think your lift has just arrived,” I said, seeing Ash, Angie and TC coming through the EMU glass doors.

“And you?”

“I’ll stay with Andie.”

“Okay...” Leah nodded her head in agreement. “You know, Dusty, you remind me a lot of Don, Dave and Ash. You all seem to be made of the same DNA...”

“Why do you say that?”

“Steady, intellectual, witty, pilots, and devoted to your loved ones...”, and she got up. “Let me go report to the boss. At least he’s not a phantom like Grumpy Charley!”

“Why was Grumpy Charley a phantom?”

“We never saw him, never met him, only a voice on a phone. Everyone spoke to him, but never met him in person...” Leah said and walked off.

Damn! And Andie says I keep strange friends. The Angels had a ghost for a boss! No wonder Ash keeps TC and the squad nearby. Ash was known by all, and after he took the Foundation over from Charley, I think he elected to still be hands-on in the field, therefore no “phantom boss.”

Hospitals all over have the same disinfectant smell. Clean, clinical and sterile. This one was no exception. The same noises, the same smell and the same green clothed figures moving about. Hospitals are not happy places. AND you spend hours waiting.

Here they treat you like mushrooms. They keep you in the dark and feed you shit. I was noted as “Next of Kin” for Andrea, but still it was a long gruelling wait until a guy clad in green wrap-around something with green cloth coverings on his feet and a green cloth cap or something on his head approached me. At least he had the trademark stethoscope draped around his neck, indicating “doctor.” A blue paper face mask hung just above the shining rubber tubes of the stethoscope.

“Mister De Lange?”

“Yes ... that’s me,” I croaked, my throat dry from not speaking for hours and from refusing to drink that ghastly coffee out of the vending machine.

“We have stabilised Miss Louw. She is awake and alert right now. She has a few bruises that’s not to worry about. She’ll be just stiff and sore for a day or two, but it will pass.”

“And her feet?”

“We have cleaned the wounds, disinfected them, and treated them with anti-inflammatories. They were mostly scratches and not cuts. We’ve bandaged them up, but those need to come off in a day from now. For now, we are also administering some antibiotics and painkillers.”

“And the shock?” Damn! Must I drag everything out of this guy?

“We have given her some warm tea to drink and given her a sedative. She’s responding well, but we are going to keep her overnight and check in the morning again.”

“Thanks Doctor.”

“She’ll be fine Mister De Lange, as long as she doesn’t go running off again.”

“She did not run off, she was kidnapped!” I am slowly losing my cool with this guy.

“Oh! But then it must be reported to the police!”

“Brigadier Joe Franks is already on the case and mopping up the debris...”

“So there were arrests made?”

“More like the morgue van took the leftovers away...” I responded under my breath.

“Mister De Lange, can I give you something for the stress? You seem to be a little traumatised by the event.”

“I’m good, Doctor. May I see Andrea?”

“For a short while, Mister De Lange. She needs to rest. It’s the best for her now.”

“I intend to stay by her side, Doctor. If you knew all the events that led up to her kidnapping, you will understand why.”

“She’s in good hands here with us. You can go home after you’ve spoken to her, but then she must rest.”

“Home? Where the hell is home? My home was blown apart with explosives, nearly killing me,” and I saw a flicker of recognition in the doctor’s eyes. At least he reads newspapers.

“Andrea’s mother and father were murdered, then her apartment was destroyed. And to top it all, her barn on her farm was burned down. Now you tell me Doctor, if that little girl wakes up and asks for me, and I’m not here, how many anti-shock treatments are you going to administer?”

“Okay, you made your point, Mister De Lange. Does she have no other family?”

“No! You can call Brigadier Franks of the SAPS. I’ll give you his number, and he will word for word tell you what I just told you.”

“You flew her in by helicopter. A private helicopter and not and ambulance helicopter. How did that happen?”

“It’s my helicopter, and we used it to track her after her kidnapping. It was the fastest way to get her to medical care.”

The doctor looked down at his feet. It was quiet for a minute or two. Then he looked up.

“Your face looks familiar; did we meet somewhere before?”

“I am known as Advocate Arno De Lange SC. My firm has done some legal stuff for your clinic before.”

“I thought I have seen your face before. The Truman case?”

“Yeah, the Truman case...”

“Mister De Lange, as one professional to another, this is what I’ll do. You can go sit in Miss Louw’s room. There’s a nice easy chair there, and I’ll see that the staff get you something to eat and better coffee that’s in that machine over there. How does that sound?” And he smiled. It is funny how my name open doors. I smiled my best “you’re my friend” smile.

“Thank you, Doctor. I won’t be a bother. I just want the best for Andrea.”

“Come, let me take you to her ... And, Mister De Lange, take care of her, she’s going to need much TLC.”

“Don’t worry, Doctor, I intend on taking good care of my future bride...”

“Good for you, Mister De Lange, she looks like the find of a lifetime...”

The dim light from the passage filtered into Andrea’s darkened private room. The dim light and the soft hum of activity in the hospital together with the rhythmic beep-beep of monitors further along the passage lulled me into a light snooze.

I was glad that the hospital staff put up Andie in a private room. Maybe they thought that she would need the rest, and the customary checking on her every hour was the only intrusion.

Andrea was sleeping. Her light breathing was the only sign that there was life. She looked serene and peaceful. Her long blond hair was carefully draped over her chest. Some thoughtful nurse did that to avoid having her hair under her and hampering her.

She looked small in the big hospital bed. Well, Andrea was a small-framed girl, but she looked tiny in the bed. They were feeding her oxygen. Why, I don’t know, but she was sleeping peacefully now.

To not disturb her, I had placed my cell phone on vibrate, and now I felt it vibrate. I stepped out of the hospital room and answered.

“How’s Miss Louw doing?” Ash asked.

“She’s sleeping. The injuries were not that bad, but due to the extreme shock she went through they wanted to keep her overnight.”

“That’s good. Let’s make sure is well rested and calmed down.”

“Let’s hope she gets a good rest.”

“I have news. Plaatjies organised Aldermann’s escape. They stole a corpse from the Maitland Mortuary with the help of a medical doctor. By using a security guard and corrupt prison wardens, they placed the body in Aldermann’s cell. Then dressed Aldermann in a warden’s uniform, walked him out of the cell block, and the prison grounds.”

“You don’t say!”

“Yeah, they dumped paraffin on the bed and floor, then lit it. Seems like Plaatjies had some perverse habit of setting stuff alight.”

“Yeah, Like Andrea’s feed barn...” I remarked.

“The SAPS forensics has identified the body, and it is not Aldermann.”

“That much we know!”

“Yes, after you helped him along the way to go help out old Nick the devil in the Realm of the Dead.”

“I’m not proud to say it, but I meant both those bullets. But ending his worthless life was something I’d do again...”

“I better get you away from TC and the Angels, before they corrupt you totally. I need your expertise in the courtrooms, not on the battlefields. And Lucy needs you to fly the 747 for Angels Express Logistics.”

“I’m buying me a Desert Eagle...”

“I’ll give you one. But, Dusty, for Miss Louw’s sake, be the Dusty I know; not the one you think you are now. Fight your fights in the courtrooms of the world. Aldermann is gone, out of Andrea’s life. Take her into your home, into your paradise. Fly away on wings of time, and never ever wander away. Take her hand, and show her the beauty of life...”

“Yeah...” I sighed.

“Now, something else. The Angels are willing to buy Andrea out. Take over Quad Five Investments and let Andrea just be Andrea. Let her do her farming and get her to complete her PPL. She doesn’t need a degree, but Angie thinks it will be good for Andrea to finish her degree. She’s anyway a year away from graduating.”

“She’s got so many things to keep her going, I still wonder if there will be time and a place for me, but let me discuss the idea of selling Q5 with her. I know she had her heart set on running the business.”

“Yes, there will be time and a place for you. She loves you. I’ve seen it before, and I still see it now.”

“Thanks for the pep-talk, Ash.”

“Always a pleasure, my friend.”

“Another thing; what’s happening in gangland?”

“The Funky Boys are done for. Those that ain’t dead are rounded up by Joe and his team. Some are turning State Witness in the murder trial. The ownership of the three other farms is being disputed in the civil court, and it looks like the real owners have a real chance to get their land back. My client is happy.”

“What do I owe you for the Morningside Meadows saga?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, come on, Ash! The Foundation did have some expenses?”

“Just say it was covered by my client.”

“And the EC? How long can I still use her?”

“Keep her! I got the Puma and an EC-145 available. I don’t have a need for the 135.”

“Are you sure?”

“Draw up the transfer documents. Purchase price ... ten bucks.”

“Come on, Ash! I’ll give you market value for it.”

“Your call, but keep her.”

“Okay, market value.”

“Reconsider! You’ll need the money for a breakaway holiday. Take Andrea to the USA for a week or two. Go see the Rockies, the Grand Canyon, and Mount Rushmore. Go camp in the Yellowstone National Park or something...” Ash chuckled.

“It might be a consideration, the holiday, I mean.”

“Good! Your flight is booked.”

“ASH! You can’t go and sponsor the flight tickets!”

“Not me ... Angels Express Logistics do. There’s some or other parts for the B-17 that need to be picked up in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. You fly the 747 there, take Andrea along, and spend a few days touring the USA. Go visit the strip in Las Vegas or something.”

“It takes a whole crew to fly that beast!”

“Olivia is rated and will want to visit home in Louisiana. Mai-Loan is also rated...”

“Let’s get things settled here first. I’ll think about it...”

“You think about it, but not too long. We need the parts. Now, let me go ... the Redhead needs me...”

“Cheers, Ash.”

“So long, Dusty. Hug Miss Louw for me,” And Ash disconnected.

Long after Ash ended the call, I was still sitting on the bench in the passage. There were many things to consider: my law practice, Nooitgedacht, Morningside, Quad Five, Andrea ... And now Ash pressures me to fly the 747 for Angels Express. Ouch, my head hurts...

After a while I stood up and wandered back into Andrea’s room. She was still fast asleep.

It felt like it was only twenty minutes later that I became aware of a cool hand stroking my hair. I opened my eyes that felt heavy from lack of sleep. A soft pale light was coming through the window, so it must be morning. An angel was stroking my face and hair.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” Andrea giggled. “Why sleep in the chair as I have a perfectly good bed here?”

“Hello, Buttercup. How do you feel, and why are you up?”

Giggle. “I had to go to the bathroom, silly, and it’s morning!”

“But how do you feel, and what happened to your oxygen tube?”

“Like an express train missed me, but the station platform fell on me ... but better after they took the tube out.”

“Come sit down, Sweetness,” I said and got up.

“You don’t look so well rested either. But that’s the price you pay for sleeping in the chair.” Giggle.

“Yeah, but Sister Rottermeyer would have had me put before a firing squad if she found me anywhere near your bed.”

Giggle.

“You do look a little better than when we brought you here.”

“Where is ‘here’? And why are my feet bandaged up?”

“Sumerset Hospital, and you injured your feet. Nothing serious. They will most probably take the bandages off before they discharge you later this morning.”

“Oh ... But I feel fine now.”

“It’s the pain killers. They dumped a whole pharmacy into you.”