Chapter 19

We were fifty nine miles from the Zambian border but almost seventy five on the roads we had to take. It would be best I saw in hindsight to move camp to a location that would not be found for another week at least. That would also mean that I had to fly most of the children so the trip would not kill them. Some could ride the trucks but four would have to be flown and this would be hard to accomplish and tire me out when I may have to do something else.

The military's camp was sixty miles further away from the Zambian border and presented a better way to carry on this war within a war. Before I left I gave the old orders again. They were to surrender to Rhodesian authorities and resist with all their might being overcome by any representative of General Mobutu. "I will also be doing some reconnaissance and be away for up to a day. Turn the water on when you need the supply and have fun for a few hours at least. I don't like dirty children that stay dirty." I smiled and they smiled back in return. They thought it hilarious to be ordered to have fun. I got some of my nurses to follow my written orders and I knew that for a day things would be fine.

I ran into the bush and when I was out of sight of the camp flew towards the aircraft. They would be ordered to fly toward the camp even if they didn't want to go. I took a handful of pebbles and threw them one at a time toward the aircraft and punctured the wing tanks. The planes manoeuvred rapidly but had to land in the scrub brush below. The helicopter came in low and picked up the two pilots. A pebble destroyed the linkage to the main blades and this too was out of commission. I was certain they wouldn't approach our camp with so few and thus continued my journey to the Rhodesian camp in peace.

An hour later I came across a small convoy of military trucks going to rescue the pilots and their machines and take my camp. Another pebble broke the front left axle of each vehicle and I went on to the camp itself. It was not large and was only of a temporary nature. There was no barbed wire, nor even that many sentries. The radio shack did interest me and I approached to hear the comments of the convoy that was heading east.

During a lull I slipped in and rendered the radio operator unconscious. I changed frequencies and got another radio operator in Salisbury. General Morris came on the line soon and I explained my circumstances and the need to allow the children to continue therapy and medical treatment with me till they were recovered. "Sir, you are a military man and not a doctor. Talk to the experts in this matter before you do something rash. In a few days I would like two physicians and two psychiatrists to come and see how I have progressed. I won't accept any more but I won't have any soldiers threatening my camp either.

"Quite a demand you have there mister Boz. How are you going to back it up?"

"Back up my treatment or my protection of the camp?"

"I already know that you are one of the finest doctors in the world. I was referring to the military aspect."

"Oh that. I have been talking to you from Captain Henderson's camp and usurped his radio for this discussion. I immobilized a convoy that was going to rescue the three aircraft that I also disabled. Finally I will crimp all the fuel lines in this camp and if your soldiers want to come to my camp you had better bring more trucks or come on foot. I can't see you city boys wanting to walk though."

I got a gale of laughter and then, "I pity Henderson. I hope you won't hurt anybody or cause too much damage. Parts are hard to come by."

"You have my word. You don't point guns at me, my patients or my army and I won't kill any of you."

"Army? Mister Boz."

"I mentioned that I killed all I could of the rapists but I did capture twenty five children soldiers. They are undergoing therapy too. I call them my army to give them a structure to work within. At the moment half of them are running naked under a spray of water I set up. Later the other half will take their place. I am trying to get them to want to have water fights and not with knives and bullets. They are as much casualties as the white children."

"That gives me a lot to think about Mister Boz. Please accept my condolences about the loss of your family. Your dad treated me a few times and I haven't met a better doctor to date."

"Thank you sir. Would you consider a truce for a week? It would only require you to call Henderson off."

"I am sorry. I too was given orders and I can't arbitrarily disregard them now."

"That is fine. We are at war but I promise to take as few lives, but as many prisoners as possible."

I heard more laughter then cut the signal. People were coming and I shut down the transmitter and took a particular vacuum tube and all the backups I could find. I was out the back window as a messenger came in the front and looked for the operator. I ran beside a tree and sent out my eye. There were many vehicles in the motor pool and even one old tank. Reaching out I pinched all the metal fuel lines going to the engines. Some fuel lines that I crimped were in hard to reach spots so a partial new line would not work.

I made it past the sentries as the alarm went out. I too reached out and released my hold on the radio operator. In daylight it was hard to be stealthy but I made it to a deep ditch and flew a few miles until I was far enough from the camp. At a dead tree I dug a hole with my mind and buried the vacuum tubes for the transmitter. On top of the treasure I placed four rocks as a sign so I would only have to tell someone else where they were and not have to get them myself.

Far down the road I walked by the stalled convoy on the road. I cadged something to eat and watched the mechanics working on the vehicles. I peeked into each vehicle and pinched their fuel lines too. I expected the Captain to be angry enough to rob from these trucks and put the parts on some of the others. Before I left I took the two glass windshields and the alloy bolts for the head that drove the blades. They sailed off and up the hill as I stayed below and showed the soldiers how to pull coins from the mechanic's ears.

I left to a hand clap and bowed to my audience.

The glass went back to the dead tree but the bolts stayed with me. I flew back and an hour later I was close to the three aircraft. There were only seven people and all were playing cards in the large helicopter bay and praying for more breeze to cool them off.

A pistol was on the deck and I slid it and the holster close and got the gun without anybody noticing. The gun was loaded and ready. I jumped into the bay and shot a round out the door. The men almost lost bowel control.

"Hands up gentlemen." They did as I asked. Some had weapons of their own and I pointed to one after another to take his out and place them on the deck. Only once was a man thinking of using his and before he could do much I had my gun pushed into his abdomen. "Not nice to try something. I might not be able to repair all the damage the bullet would inflict."

When they were disarmed I had two raise their pant cuffs and remove knives the others did not even know of.

"Hop out the door gentlemen and walk thirty feet away from the vehicle." When they got there I jumped down myself and said, "Who was I speaking to on the radio earlier?"

A hand dipped a few inches and then rose again.

"Ah, Good to meet you. My name is Shawn Boz. It was rude of me to disturb you as you were working on disassembling the rotor head."

They bobbed their heads as they caught the idea.

"You are my prisoners. Do I have your parole?" They didn't know what it meant. "It means that since you are captured, you could be put into chains. You will instead promise to do nothing that a chained man couldn't. This implies that you are gentlemen and that you don't go back on your word. An honourable man considering escape will not give his word and be free to try anything he wants to do."

I could feel their acceptance of this easy solution, knowing that they would not honour the accord later. "Before we go further. I disabled these three vehicles. I stopped the convoy coming here with spare parts and troops to take my camp. I raided your base and talked to General Morris on your own radio. I crimped all the fuel lines on your vehicles that were in the base at the time. I came by the convoy later and did the same to those trucks and stole the spare parts destined for here. Some vacuum tubes and all the spares for the base transmitter are missing too."

They looked at me as if I were lying. " My entire family was killed as were many of my friends before I could reach them. In return I killed, usually with my own hands, all of the Zambians attacking us. My word is important to me and if it isn't to you then you better decline my offer of parole. I will kill each and every one that goes against his word. This I swear on the grave of my family."

Parole didn't sound too good now. Lieutenant Fredericks, the one I was talking to asked, "What do you plan to do with us?"

"I was actually thinking of your welfare. Your relief will not come for a long time and it is more comfortable at the camp. You can play in the water with the children but you have to pull your weight in camp duties. A cook would be good. You could hunt for game or pull sentry duty."

"Do we keep our guns?"

"Your guns stay in our armoury or in your tent till needed. You are not going to walk around with them. Some of the children have been traumatized by men. They were black and wore guns, but men and guns will still frighten them. You serve as a way to slowly bring them back to a sane life in an insane world."

Fredericks said, "I will give my word and if I can't continue with it may I turn myself in to you?"

Five men now armed came to camp with me. The other two stayed to guard their craft. Before we left I borrowed an open sighted rifle and fired one shot. It was low and to the left. I mentioned this to the man who carried it.

Four miles from camp we came upon some eland in the distance. I asked to borrow the rifle I had used earlier and fired two shots in quick succession.

Fredericks said, "Can't expect to hit them from here. They are over a mile away and I can hardly see the herd never mind the individuals. I'll teach you how to hunt if you want. You have to come at them from down wind. They can smell a man from a long way off. The males..." He went on until we came to the rolling land where the herd was feeding on the dry grass.

I took off my pack and took out my Kukri. "Where'd ya get 'dat?"

"I took on a group of Ghurkhas to train and got beat up. I went back every day till I started to win. A month later they gave me this as a prize for beating the ugly old Sergeant that babysat his men."

"I heard of those guys. They are one mean bunch. Take orders literally and don't stop until they are done. Heard the queen has a bunch guarding her." He looked at me and asked, "Was it them?"

"Yes. Sergeant Rai is a tough old bird and we fought with real knives like this. I got nicked a few times but so did he. The queen got pissed off at us and left. She didn't want to see bloodshed. You know what women are like."

"Ya mine comes at me with a skillet sometimes. I wouldn't want to see that coming at me. Whatcha gonna' do with that knife?"

"Butcher some eland."

He laughed and so did the rest. "Boy you got to shoot some first."

In the next gully an eland was on the far side. I went over and used the kukri like a scalpel and carved it the way I wanted in less than a minute.

The men were flabbergasted as they saw the neat hole through the eye socket that the bullet had left, not having enough energy to come out the other side.

I threw the heavy carcass on my shoulder and walked up the hill. On the other side was another eland with another neat hole through its eye socket. The men ran ahead and inspected the hole. I threw the carcass to one and said, "You better start to earn your keep," I cut this one too and the men split the load between them.

We came to the camp in daylight and some of my army came out with rifles drawn. They were very worried about adults and armed adults were worse, far worse. "Put your rifles down. These men are visiting and will do most of the KP if they can eat. They even brought their own food."

The guns went up but stood ready just in case. Fires were started and the meat was taken away so it could be roasted, while thin strips were salted and others started to dry it to jerky.

One of the little girls came out chasing the lion cub, but when she saw the men she started to scream. I raced to her and picked her up. "It's ok. These men won't hurt you."

My free hand gestured down enough times till the men stooped so as to not seem tall and adult like. The girl cried still but there was less fear now. Others came with drawn guns and the men stayed perfectly still. I stayed where I was and made sure I didn't come closer. With a lot of soothing talk the girl relaxed and I tapped her head to give her time to rest.

I came over to the men now and showed them the girl. "This one is Susan, she like the rest were... hurt and they need time to adjust to things. She has to learn to trust adults again. In small steps we can accomplish this. A group of men coming here can spoil the advance I have gained over the last couple of days."

"Fredericks, do you have any kids?"

"Two, why?"

"You have another one now. She is on loan. Treat here like your life depends on it."

He said nothing as I placed the child in his arms. He caught the last idea and believed I meant every word of it. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Act like she is your child and your job is to raise her so she grows into a responsible adult. I put her to sleep now and it would be good to walk around camp to show everyone that you are doing your job."

Other children had come at the scream and stood some distance away watching the five adults. I called Corporal Duniisai over and he approached and saluted because we had company. "Sir."

"Corporal Duniisai, I found five new recruits to our army. Two more are down on the plain guarding our air force. Treat them with respect, but make sure that they do their share of all scut work. If they show disrespect to you or your other men report this to me. Stow their arms in the armoury but see that they have access to them for instruction and when they need them to perform their duties." Before the men could complain I said, "There are many people in the camp in need of therapy. Not all are of fair skin. Take the good with the bad and follow the same orders I just gave Fredericks."

The men were not bad and actually tried to think of ways to help. Some were older than others, thus not as flexible of mind, but my sense told me that they too would try.

I checked on my patients and found them satisfactory. Johnny had for a few minutes been able to feed our mascot before he got too tired. In a child's script I read the reports of the nurse and concurred with her diagnosis that Johnny was healing.

I used my eye and found that Henderson had found a jeep to use and was angry at everybody for letting a boy gut his command. I wasn't sure but I don't think he knew about the parts missing from the back of the trucks. His short distance radios could not make contact with his downed aircraft.

My mind sent the eye all around trying to find a threat and stopped at our farm. I saw the patients being taken care of by one of the doctors dad had hired. Into our garden the rock drew me. An hour later I was called for our meal and wiped the tears form my eyes and tried to form a smile for the members of my new family.

The next day I sent two trucks down to get the two fixed-wing craft. It was a hot dirty job but it was fun because we all worked hard to accomplish this. The trucks left and I remained with the bolts. I levitated up when they were far enough away and removed one bolt at a time. The mounting plate was bent but it was easily straightened. A hair line crack was repaired and the nuts tightened to specifications.

When the trucks were getting close to the camp the helicopter was there too and the boys waved to me as I landed.

Fredericks ran up and was amazed that the machine was actually here. "How di... forget it. You got her here in one piece."

"Why don't you get your lady and ask her if she wants to see your other lady. After that you should give some lessons. I doubt that skin colour will be a determining factor for curiosity."

"Great idea. Gotta' go."

Later a timid girl was sitting in the lieutenant's seat and could only see the gauges, for the windows were too high for her to see out of. An hour later the little princess wanted her kitten and off they went. Looking at the other planes I saw the men doing lots of childish things with the crew that helped them load the planes. They talked loudly of aerial combat and moved their bodies and hands making their voice go low and quiet and gain in volume and intonation until they had the audience captured. This was very amazing because each group spoke different languages.

Later in the day the boys were given ground training and the classes were quiet as most of the boys knew little English and the men knew little Bantu. In another place a man was learning from six boys how to speak their language and they all laughed at his attempts to master it.

Johnny needed up and I took him to the latrine and helped him with everything. He hated so much to dirty his clothes and he knew that the nurses were the same age as he. We came back and found the last pilot. He saw the child and knew most of his history from our talk. We went to the helicopter while I held the child and the pilot described a few simple things till the child nodded off.

The pilot wiped a tear out of his eye and smiled. "Usually they stay awake longer."

That afternoon we had another talk in the circle and this time all seven men had children in their laps. I was very happy to see some black youngsters in three of them. We talked again of what things were like 'before'. Sisters, brothers and parents came to us in words. Village life as the whites seldom saw was portrayed as it really was or as close as a young child could see it. I had to run a translation and the children paused to allow me to finish before carrying on.

The 'after' times were in sharp contrast and after the third child's report one of the men had to leave. Only two were left when I called the session over. Some of the children had seen the men hide then cry. Probably their first tears in years. When word got around, some black children went to them and tried to give what support they could. It wasn't long before tears were falling down black faces too. There were more ways of communicating than with words.

The next day the men formed teams and got down into the mud as the sprinklers spread water all about and called for riders. Naked black boys hopped on their trusty steeds and did battle with the opposing forces. This went on until the horses were bushed. Johnny had been awake and seen much of the contest and laughed in glee as the two armies got covered in mud.

A plane very high up flew over and I knew they were photographing us. I waved my hand and soon the rest of my army was following suit.

Three hours later I was called to the radio by one of my 'men'. General Morris wanted to talk to me.

"Hello General. How are you today?"

"Just fine Shawn. What did you do to my men? We see you have our aircraft."

I knew he must have the aerial photos in front of him. So I said, "Look closer at the mud pit and you will see four dirty horses with both vanquished and victorious knights. I'll wait a minute for you to search for them."

"Is that them? My god, what have you done?"

"They were captured and I put them to work as war steeds. Actually they chose the jobs themselves. The children can now see an adult as someone who isn't always going to hurt them. At least, they know these seven will not. The other three at the time were helping in the clinic taking orders from two nurses age ten and twelve. Their training is going fine and soon the men will not be ridiculed for doing such slovenly work. In all seriousness that is a far cry from the way the girls were even a few days ago."

"Would you like to talk to some or all of my prisoners? I will release them from their parole to do this."

"Parole?"

"Why General, a man of your position surely must know what the word means."

"Yes I do Shawn and yes I would like to talk to them."

"That is good because I want to talk about a prisoner exchange later."

"Prisoner exchange! We have none of your prisoners."

"I want all the children I rescued and any others that are similarly traumatized. In return I will give you one man in rotation so he can see his family." There was no talk for almost five minutes. He came back on and said, "Can we send the two doctors and two psychiatrists there?"

"I can handle a few more prisoners but I want them one per day. They have to eat what we eat and not be old at heart. They bring bathing suits and some small toys but not as bribes."

"That's fine. May I speak to my men?"

"You may and I think the first ones will have children on their laps. They will be trying to detect any hidden messages being transmitted."

"Understood."

The men talked for hours and I had to fire up the truck engine to power the radio. When the conversations were over I was called back to the radio.

"Shawn may I come out to your camp tomorrow?"

"You may if you come in a vehicle that looks civilian. Your clothing must be the same and you come alone."

"May I bring a camera?"

"By all means. Shots of our security areas are not permitted. Bring some fruit, vegetables and spices. Some vitamins may also help. By the way bring eight pairs of trunks."

"Trunks?"

"A good horse is hard to find."

"I'll be there early Shawn."

We cleaned up the camp and the four horses were a little upset that they had been caught playing. "So now you are worrying about your status. A while ago you were worried about a lot of children that were hanging onto their sanity with their fingertips."

They were chastised enough I knew and said, "The General is bringing food and some trunks for you and himself."

This brought some smiles and I didn't have to read their minds to know what they were thinking. The next morning I sent a squad of three down to escort the general here and around our pitfalls.

An old pickup coughed its way up the small rise and came to a stop at our gate. He was questioned, his vehicle searched and then allowed to pass. The three boys were still in the pickup. A florid man with a Hawaiian shirt that would stop a train stepped out of the truck. I strode forward and introduced myself and shook his hand.

He kept his voice low and I introduced him to his own men first then my leadership cadre.

The girls stood far away but did not run. They were worried but not when they knew they had their own army to protect them. I was able to introduce him to the girls but didn't force the girls to come closer.

Fredericks came in later but stayed far away and introduced his girl. The general had even spoken a few words to her on the radio. We went to see our more serious patients and he managed to talk to Johnny for a few minutes. The lion on the bed between the boy's legs kept a watchful eye on who did what. The other children were frightened of the stranger and we had to leave before it got worse.

"Shawn I am amazed at your camp. I don't think the children would be taken care of better if they were in Salisbury."

"Thank you General. I only took this camp and just had to do a little remodelling. The boys run the camp well and I hardly have to guide them at all."

"How did you take the camp?"

"Classified secret General but at dusk I came in and killed any and all adults and subdued the child soldiers. I went over the intel and found that the organization behind this has planed the raid for a long time. The terms and names I found are all codes and the participants are formed into cells for security. Even if you catch one man he would be able to incriminate only a few." I didn't tell him that our farm had been assigned even more emphasis than other equally fortified homesteads were.

"Oh!"

"I killed some attackers at our farm and captured two more. Have they mysteriously died yet or committed suicide with a bullet to the back of the head?"

"Ah well they were found dead in their cells one day ago. It looks like poison."

"Did my message get to you about the possibility of this happening?"

"Yes it did and we were watching. We were even watching for an assassination team but they were so good we didn't even find out till too late."

"What did you find out in your investigation?"

"We believe your information about someone in the government trying to form a coup d'etat, but more likely they will use the attacks as a way of defeating the government legally and then take over. The trouble is that everybody is clamouring for heads at the moment and it is probably only one faction behind this conspiracy."

"I know a little more. It is right wing and partially lead by business interests in Salisbury and Zambia. They believe the present government is too liberal. Some see their version of the new ruling body as a reincarnation of the Third Reich and all that entails. They cannot fight the world but slave labour will allow its products to undersell all others. Business people will find ways to get around the sanctions and purchase cheap Rhodesian products. I think all they have to do is put 'Made in South Africa' on them."

"My god Shawn, how do you know this?"

"Come with me please." I showed him the official Rhodesian auto.

"We have been looking for this for a long time. Why is it here?"

"It was driven into the camp by an aide to a Rhodesian military officer. In the car was that officer, a Zambian politician and his assistant. I killed them and fed them to the hyenas. The rest of the camp fed the swamp creatures."

"You killed Rhodesians?"

"Before you get on your high horse, read the reports each had in the car. When you do you will see just how wide spread this conspiracy is. You are not getting the original documents but you may photograph a few of them. The sheets will bring you a death sentence and they will disappear just like the lives of the two prisoners. Here is a list of the persons in their cells." I handed him a neatly printed page and gave a little extra information that the Rhodesian government would not easily find."

We walked over to a small tent that I called home and handed him the sheets I recovered. He read them all three times before asking, "Why did you say I could only have copies of some of these?"

"Bait." He looked at me wondering what I meant. "I want some visitors. The children I saved earlier need to come here and the doctors too. As the camp grows I will get some uninvited visitors claiming to be relatives or government officials checking on the children's welfare. You will get more names if you are alive to make use of them."

"You think I will be in that much danger?"

"Yes."

Later the General presented us with his groceries. A package came out with some shorts that could best be termed hideous. They matched his shirt very well.

We had our meal and added the vegetables. I went around and ensured that everybody got their vitamins, including our guests. After the shorts were put on, the water was started and we had a mud wrestling match where the General had to keep pulling up his shorts. A free for all ensued with naked black boys fighting each other and later some of the white children participated, but this time the fighting was very carefully orchestrated. The men growled like war horses and pretended to snap at each other. It was very good to see that both sets of children wore the same garments.

After the participants washed up and the others started to play the General came to me, "Were those stitches I felt on my back?"

"Yes; Yes they were. There is great disparity between what we want our society to be and what man's innate and brutish nature will allow us."

General Morris photographed the children and insisted on getting the black ones too. After changing rolls he took a few group pictures with my entire army and our mascot sleeping at their feet. I sorted through the documents and set out the ones that would be copied and the general took pictures of each. Changing the rolls again he retook the pictures to assure that they came out.

When he came out and stood by his car I looked up. Far overhead a jet plane travelled directly over out position. He looked up too and said, "What's it Shawn?"

"It looks like the Americans are taking pictures of us too."

He frowned and said, "How do you know that?"

"The white vapour trail is very high. I would estimate it at 80,000 feet. It would be a U-2A from the altitude alone. They have been using them for two years now to photograph Russian installations to find the extent of the disparity in bombers if there is one. It can fly higher but there is nobody here to shoot them down."