Chapter 20

The therapy sessions were starting to help the newcomers. Even the four doctors were starting to come around, but only starting. Some of the things I was trying to accomplish were not in the approved category and the three men and a woman strongly disapproved.

I could feel somebody else watching us and I knew that something was up. There was a sense of excitement and even fulfilment but it was nebulous at this range. A ball of fire was pictured and I deduced the probable cause.

"Corporal," I called loudly. He came running up and saluted. To him alone I said, "Take some of the new explosive we got this morning and take all your men and fan out and walk down the hill. Get somebody but not you to drop a half a brick two hundred yards from me. Bring back fuel but keep your men away from the explosives. It will be used soon. Do it now but don't appear to rush. We have a spy and I don't want him too suspicious."

I sat down to eat again and my senses went out as far as I could. My eye went high and I looked for miles around for more than just the single observer.

Twenty minutes later the boys were far enough away and I had to just wait now. Trips back were from the other side of the hill and far enough away for safety. I called my army back and they started to play in the water but this time they were not happy and waited for something and didn't know what.

Seven miles away a very new and expensive jet fighter came at us just under the speed of sound. I blew up the explosives and before the cloud cleared a hot white light leapt from the crater and raced for the approaching aircraft at many times the speed of sound. At five miles the plane turned into a ball of plasma and the explosion moved us at even this range. Tents fluttered over and people fell.

I only knew this after. I had used so much energy that my mind and body could not take the massive drain. It was almost an hour later that I found the four doctors around me and Corporal Duniisai making sure they did nothing wrong for he had an automatic in his hand, ready to use at the slightest sign they were doing anything wrong.

My head ached like it never did before and my entire spine felt the same way. I groaned and tried to get up but was pushed back. I managed to get out, I think, that I was going to sleep for a while.

A few hours later I got up and found our base overrun and General Morris in command. When I awoke he came in and said, "How are you Shawn? What happened?" He helped me sit up and I held his shoulder.

"A fighter was coming at us and I released our missile. It seemed to be a little overkill."

"Is that what it was. The explosion was heard for fifty miles and must have been like twenty tons of explosives. What did you use?"

"Secret General. The plane had bombs and fuel too. I suspect napalm was the choice but that is only a guess."

"Shit. My men are going over the area and can't find anything larger than what a pair of tweezers would pick up. Any chance we can get a missile like that?"

"Not a chance. Help me up I have to see how my patients are."

"They are doing much better than you. They are mainly worried about you."

"Then help me up so they can see I am living."

I stumbled once but made it to the sun and took a look at the camp. It had been put back together. Sarah ran to me and almost smothered me in a kiss and a hug. Her breasts pushed into me and it felt wonderful but this time like how a mother would hold her son. I got her on my other side and with the General went to see the rest of the camp.

My soldiers stood at attention where ever they were and saluted. Their hands stayed in position until I passed. Even some of the girls did the same thing. Rhodesians under the General even saluted, but not with as much enthusiasm. There were four more helicopters and they were all flying a patrol around our base.

I pulled the General close to my mouth and whispered, "Pull the copters back a bit. I have an audience of one to escape."

"What?" He yelled.

"Search more to the west."

We made it back to the clinic and I found our ailing youngsters increased by two but Johnny made a supreme effort and sat up to see me. "You made it Shawn."

"Sure did. Who is going to take care of you if I didn't? Now lay back down before one of your nurses decides to spank you."

Others I found had been hurt in falling. One managed to fall into a fire but was not too bad.

I got three more days treating the patients with a cordon all around our camp. At the end the General's own men took the patients away. We had a very tearful parting and I knew that they were still going to need care for their bodies and their minds. I kissed my patients to the distaste of the doctors and was kissed back in turn.

Johnny and the more seriously wounded were flown out by Fredericks. He kept his other girl with him. His mind revealed that if possible he would adopt the girl if no family came forward to claim her.

Sarah was herself arm in arm with a young soldier and I figured one way or another she would get someone that would protect her.

I made it known that I was going to keep track of everyone. Those that were to go to an institution were to come to the farm instead.

When the General cleared out what equipment belonged to him, he said, "Shawn, what about all this military equipment you captured? Your boys need a place to stay too."

"If it is all the same to you I would like to form a convoy and move to our... my; farm and see what I can do to correct some of the damage done. I still expect a few tries on my life and don't want innocents hurt."

"What are you going to do personally?"

"The same as I have been doing for the last few weeks. Besides it is best you don't know."

"Oh... that bad?"

We got to the farm and set up camp. The hidden members of Mobutu's army were called out and joined their compatriots. Latrines were dug and a kitchen assembled. The camp took two hours to set up and I went home. The house was repaired and even the bullet holes were filled. Painting would have to be done later. The people of the village and later some of our wealthier former patients had done this for me. The plane was patched and once again in the hanger but blood stains were still on the seat.

The clinic was mostly empty and one of dad's doctors took care of the few patients we had.

Rudo and Banga came running to me. Both boys seemed different since the attack but seemed happy to see me. This was partially to take their minds from the loss of some of their family members. The new arrivals brought a different level of anxiety and I made sure the camp was on the other side of the house from the village.

The three native girls that had been abducted were still with me till their relatives could be contacted. All the white children had been taken while the blacks seemed to have less emphasis placed on their well being.

I asked Rudo, "How have the two of you been doing?"

Banga the more outgoing one, said, "Not too bad. We got the new boys to help and they were hurt too. They are not from our tribe but they are all right. After a week some wanted to play with me but my bum was too sore yet. Theirs wasn't sore and Rudo slept with three of them."

"I did not. It was two and I had to get back home to work."

"Was three. I saw the other one by the stream."

Rudo was caught and only smiled. He had a good tool, he thought, which he liked to check was in working order.

"Well, I see that much of the village has been repaired. Thank you for working on our house. I think that even when it gets painted it will never be the same to me."

Banga said, "We had lots of help. Even some white men came here for a while but didn't stay very long."

"Oh, when was that?"

"Just about a week ago I think. Do we get to see your new trucks Shawn?"

I knew something was nibbling at the edge of my mind, but I said instead, "I started my own army. If you want to join you can but you won't get special treatment by being my friends before the others."

"Do we get guns?"

"You get to join an army and learn to drive a truck, shoot a gun, cook food and how to fight so you can protect our village." They liked that idea very much and planned to get all the children into the army as a form of training like the children in Britain had.

I went back to the house and with a different perspective went through the building looking for things as if I were after information about the owner. Dad's files had been searched but put back but not quite as dad would have done. The current doctor would have no reason to check on the older patients. I opened the safe and found it disturbed. The family jewellery was gone and some of our records were missing. The safe was unmarked by the entry, so it had to be the work of a professional. I wondered how our house in the city had fared. It was just as vulnerable and had the large diamond necklaces of mom, Japera and Lusa. I had to stop for a moment as the vision of all three came to me. They were all smiling and then Jason unsteadily walked into the room helped by dad. They all looked at me as if to say they were all right.

I Searched the rest of the house after I recovered from my vision. The clinic produced nothing new. Old memories and those not so old assailed me as I walked. It was difficult to finish this job but I stuck to it until it was done. I went through the village and checked into their welfare and also searched for any leads to who had broken into our safe. With a lot of small pieces of information I got a fair look at the three men. There was nothing special about their automobile and nobody got clear look at the plates.

In the village that night I talked to everybody. I told them a cleaned up version of everything I had done. My army of boys and possibly a few girls were mentioned and I praised their efforts to help all the rest of the injured children. The villagers had been fair with the boys I left behind and would be even more so when they had more reinforcements now. I brought up the unpleasant thought that more raids could happen in the future and I did not want any of my people killed or even hurt. The children first and then the adults were invited to train to fight off any new attacks.

I had to fight some of the adult's ideas because they thought that fighting would bring more deaths and I had to patiently explain how this was a falsehood and would only encourage others to come here for 'easy pickings'.

My three new girls were introduced to perspective and temporary mothers. Like the boys before them they were encouraged to help even if they were hurt too. I said in no uncertain terms what I thought the children had to endure and also what they were not to experience. A plain description of what I'd done to one group of attackers made this vividly clear. We would have some semblance of civilisation here and everybody free to chose as long as they didn't infringe on anybody else's rights.

That night I flew the plane to Salisbury and found the house professionally entered and all the other pieces of jewellery missing. I knew some of the more wealthy dealers in stolen goods from having looked into some unsavoury minds over the years. After finding their addresses I searched their premises with my mind. I did find some new acquisitions but after going to the home of the business I found that they had been locally acquired. I did look to find any other leads to other 'merchants' but nothing was new.

I had some assumptions and my mind went to Internal Security. Not that they would or wouldn't be part of this conspiracy but that they also might have some of the answers. Records were a lot more difficult to search so I just waited two hours and rested before the executives of this organization showed up.

They ended up knowing less in many respects than I did. They had been alerted but had no leads. Their prospects, though tenuous, were also very numerous. I didn't like these people and their rationale but I liked the people I was looking for even less.

I made something to eat and remembered how good Japera's food was before the pain in those memories forced me to quickly return to my job. Right wing and fascist would imply the large businesses that employed many natives as another possible lead. I was aware of many owners of medium to large businesses and around four in the afternoon I found my first piece of evidence. Jason McIntosh headed a large publicly traded corporations and he had to go to a meeting tonight for his group. They were put out by the failure of their venture in destabilizing the present government.

I found five other names from the man's mind and found three of them within the city. Each was busy with the running of his business but his mind was open to be investigated too. It turned out that these were not even the ringleaders but others more important controlled their moves. Though they didn't know anybody's names, they all had assumptions on who they might be. After these had been scanned I checked the ones they thought as possibilities.

One, the Minister of Agriculture, the Right Honourable William Norton was one such man. He happened to be the only man in his group to know the identity of the man above him. In this case he was a minor functionary in the Department of Transport.

Every one thought they were doing the right thing for their business or for business in general and to help the country. Pain, suffering and even death was a minor matter to them as long as it was somebody else.

That night I went to the meeting with Jason McIntosh and his fellow conspirators. Arthur Bloomfield was one I couldn't find and I saw that he was still suffering from the loss of his experimental plane. It had been in the testing stages so that it could be sold to the government or any other that had the capital to afford them. The loss of the plane was tempered against the fact that no evidence could be found to identify it. He was angry at me because some of his own people had to die in an accident that hid the supposed theft of the aircraft.

He didn't know but the others planned to kill him tonight. The story of the aircraft theft was far to flimsy to satisfy an investigation. Since everybody had a breaking point they reasoned that a quick death would all save them from a similar fate.

The automobile that Bloomfield came in needed a little alteration and two men came into the parking lot and did what modifications they needed to ensure the man died somewhere far from the meeting place. My 'eye' indicated that it was a simple timer set for 55 minutes now. A phone call that went answered from a place not too far from the meeting was the code and the conspirators now knew they had to keep the meeting going for 45 minutes plus or minus two or the plan would fail.

I on the other hand had to consider a change in plan. I wanted the men punished for killing my family, friends and neighbours. When I had uncovered enough names the people owning them would die themselves. Governments and especially courts are malleable. A guilty but important man in a position not easily replaced would be found innocent so as to not disrupt the economy. Understanding this was the reason I wanted to remove these people from the body politic with the sharpest instrument available.

It actually looked like the rot went far into the business community and if all of those people suddenly died the effect on the people living here would be catastrophic. I wanted my vengeance but I didn't want everybody to suffer. Even the blacks would suffer when the business they worked for laid them off. Food riots and lawlessness along with loss of life would be too high a price to pay.

Bloomfield got into his car. As planned nobody was around so as to not bring notice to the group. At a stoplight I brought my kukri up from the back seat and put it to the neck of the man.

"Turn off the engine," I said in my most ominous voice.

"Wha... Wha..."

"Turn off the engine now or die."

"Sure... just watch that knife."

The car engine stopped and I climbed into the front seat and said, "Get out now." When we were on the dark street I prodded him to the front of the vehicle. "Do you know who I am?"

"No."

"You are lying and I think I will take a hand."

"Ok ok I know who you are."

"Open the hood now." He did as he was asked and I said, "Look on the firewall by the master cylinder. Tell me what you see."

He jumped back a few feet and just stared at the bomb. "The members of your cell thought your lies to the authorities would not float and decided to remove you so they would not be incriminated." I walked to the man and punched his abdomen, then his jaw when it came into range. He went into the passenger side and I drove on one of his probable routes home and got out. I dragged Bloomfield out and carried him across the road and behind a wall.

I slapped the man awake and he got wide eyes and tried to push me away. A quick thrust and the knife came into play. "Your car is around the corner in the middle of the street. Wait and learn."

It took only fifty or so seconds but the bomb went off and bricks fell all around and some would have hit us if I had not put my 'fingers' up to intercept them. I pulled the shaken man to his feet and pulled him to see his car. It was engulfed in flames and a nearby wall had fallen on the wreck. "So you want cheap slave labour and you get dead. Come with me now or you will wish that you had been in your car."

He didn't move because of fright and disorientation. This was a good enough excuse and I twisted the sensitivity in his brain up as far as I could. He fell with silent scream and the new pain put him completely out. I put the control back and awoke him again. "Move now, or you get more." The man quickly got to his feet but in his haste stumbled and fell. The second attempt was not much better and he had to hold a trash can to stand straight.

He followed me and at the same time running all the things that I had done before and added the new ones. Seven blocks away I called a very private number and got Samuel Jefferies out of bed.

My name was enough to keep him on the line and he quickly wrote down what I asked. I gave a list of Bloomfield's deeds and said how the five conspirators had tried to kill him.

"You can get your men down to the auto and seal it off and pretend there is a body in the car. There will be spies watching and you need to make it realistic. Use four men and keep them cloistered because some high ranking people will want to know how dead the body was. Others will try through the morgue. You better provide a body for the wife to recognize or it will all be seen as a sham."

"I know what I am doing."

"Sure you do. I found thirty seven conspirators and you found none. Follow my script and both of us can have a chat with the walking corpse beside me."

We walked for another hour and I grilled the man. At every lie and a few truthful statements I pushed a poorly hidden box that sent pain through the man. We came to the truck entrance of the Internal Security building. This was the same one that bodies had left by, not too long ago. There was an alarm and a lock. I opened the door and shorted out the alarm to make everything seem realistic.

Once inside I opened one more door and gave Bloomfield a tour of the empty room. The small morgue was empty and I walked through the cells. There was one guard and I caught him napping and after disarming him, placed him into one of the empty cells.

A beaten black man that had the audacity to stand up for his rights and then set fire to the building owned by the main political party was in another cell. Nobody had been killed in the fire, but there was a lot of damage. Two firemen were slightly burnt but not seriously. Bloomfield got another cell and I amused myself by looking through all the files I had only seen with my inner eye all these years.

The guard was making a fuss and even with the sound proofing I had to warn him of the consequences.

At seven, the guard's replacement came in. The previous guard now gained a cell mate. At eight fifteen Samuel Jefferies came into the building. Just as he sat the internal phone rang. "Jefferies here."

Using the name of the new guard and a rough voice, I said, "Sir the prisoner in the lower cells is talking about a conspiracy to topple the government. He is implicating many important men in the government."

As Samuel Jefferies came through the door with his aide, I took their weapons quickly before they knew I was here.

"Have a seat gentlemen and we can get down to our discussion." I didn't point the guns but they were held ready just in case. "Down the stairs and to the cells."

Bloomfield was almost a basket case and the two guards called so they could get out. "You can't do this," began the aide.

"I already have." To Jefferies I said, "The black goes free now and stays free. I have killed a few people with white skin and they are just as easy as black. Your skin is no harder to cut. Are we going to have a problem with this Mr Jefferies?"

"He can go."

I unlocked the cell door of the black then the two guards. "Give him his property and ten pounds and set him free." I reached my hand out to Jefferies and he reluctantly gave me the money. The black didn't have any idea what was happening but was more than ready to go.

To Jefferies I asked, "Are we going to get a tactical team in here now, or just some trigger happy flunkies from your department?"

"Joe, Bill both of you go and stay out unless called. If there are any guns out there I will fire both of your asses. This is just an unscheduled meeting and I do not expect to be hurt."

When we were more alone I began, "Here is a partial list of the conspirators. Some are government officials and some are business owners. One other is even here in the building handling your records." I handed them the sheets with a small paragraph or two about their dealings.

"Where did you get this?" The aid asked.

"I wrote it out in my own handwriting. If you mean the information it came from illegal wiretaps, the kind you people use and from some of the people I pay to find such things out."

They read for ten minutes trying to memorize all the information and sort it out. "None of this will stand up in a court. We need iron clad data or their lawyers will get the cases thrown out."

"I was going to kill all of them but decided to give the law a chance, even a corrupt law like you want in this country."

The aide started to object but I stopped him. "I will accept real sentences, where the man pays not where the government compensates him for his losses later. There has to be real punishment or I will do the job myself."

Jefferies said, "How can you do that? You are only a boy."

"Who got this information? Who brought this man to you? Who stopped an incursion form Mozambique? Who took out an assassination team and then an aerial assault Mr. Jefferies?"

"Ok."

"I can see that you mean, 'ok' till someone, perhaps even your department, kills me. If that is what you think will happen, then there would have to be a lot of elections to fill the empty seats. Do I make myself clear Mr. Jefferies?"

"Abundantly," came from him with a snarl.

I got a place in the planning of the raids and went through the possible men involved. The names I checked with the list in my head and found each. Some I crossed off as undependable or inept. One more got the word "spy" beside it. The judge was similarly labelled and we went through a list until I found one that was ethical enough to keep his mouth shut.

Bloomfield spilled everything he knew and this was used to obtain all the arrest warrants as well as the searches of their property. Since this was so wide ranging I asked, "Why not take our judge with us. If something unexpected crops up and we need to get into their office fast, we've got the paperwork available. A camera crew would also present evidence. This can be a two edged sword but the prosecution can't just lie and expect a jury to believe their words and not their eyes."

The army had to be called in because of all the manpower needs and any spy would have a hard time getting away when his men were looking for such action.

We didn't get a camera crew but I was active as all the warrants were issued. Phones lines were cut, troops cordoned off a particular area. The guilty people knew where the incriminating evidence was and that is what we took. House after house and even corporate headquarters. It took two days and the airports were closed and cars were stopped at the city limits.

I especially liked it when the Minister of Mines had his home safe searched and my family's jewellery recovered. The army had to keep all the prisoners and it looked like the country was at the breaking point. Even judge's homes were entered as iron clad information was discovered within them.

It took four months to even get started. I investigated all the lawyers for both sides and had informal talks about making sure that those found guilty would pay. The accused were afraid of me now. Not for my mind but for the way it came out that I was able to kill so easily. I mentioned that the judicial system should give them a punishment or I would. Now it came to bargaining so the punishment was less, but they admitted their guilt.

Now I manipulated the newspapers and my name was mentioned less and less. I gave them substitutes to follow that opened another facet of the case.

When the court cases were over I was given another diploma. I could now practice law if I chose fit. The uncleanliness of it would not allow me to follow this occupation. This profession like politics was not for me, even if I had to dirty my hands on some occasions. I fought for and was given by special statutes a backdated birthday that would give me the rights of an adult in the rest of the world.

Another law allowed me to be legally married to a black. I was trying to break the law altogether but I had few options left after all the men had been put in jail or hanged. The ones that were fined also had to provide me with their businesses' books for ten years to ensure that they were not given the money back or given other gratuities in compensation.

I was given a job that I pushed for. Rhodesia was under sanction but they still had diplomats. As a voice for the country I could tell the world what it was really like in my country. This was very hard to get because they wanted the blacks to be seen as little as possible and any dirty dealings could be swept under the rug. I planned to highlight the native African's culture and let the world see that it was as good as theirs.

Since I was home so little I wanted our family home protected. The government could levy any and all taxes they wanted but the same government had to cover those costs as well as protect the property even if it was to drive by four times a shift. Not too many people would try now to get me angry and the property was safe except some curious boys because of a naked woman hiding in the garden month after month.

An early morning a few days before my ninth birthday I strolled through the camp at the farm. The camp was still asleep but it wouldn't be for long. It had grown considerably in the last year or so. Paka was up early and came over to rub her head against my hip. She had grown a lot in the year and didn't take the guff that she had when she was younger.

We walked by Rudo and Banga tent and heard them and their two tent mates grunting hard. They liked girls but boys bums were much handier and there was no coercion at all. In fact most of the boys liked getting their prostrate stroked.

Sgt. Bristol and Sgt. Lunda were up early too and drinking coffee or tea and just wanting to have a peaceful breakfast before the barbarians attacked. Both had been retired and General Morris had recommended them when I asked for competent help. They still wore the official uniform of our army. Hawaiian shirts and clashing shorts. When they were all lined up in parade form. It actually hurt my eyes. The army was really an academy that trained the students to be good officers. There were presently 57 boys and 14 girls enrolled. The girls were fixed by me and couldn't get pregnant unless the procedure was reversed.

Strict rules were enforced and a dalliance had to be after hours and after homework was done. Those guilty of breaking the rules were always caught at first. Later they knew enough to just obey the rules.

They found out how much I knew about what they were doing and the state of their homework. My reputation when I first met the boys stuck even if they found it hard to believe now that I held twenty one of them up by their ankles at one time. My flying then was because I was a magician as I proved once a month when some boy needed some money for something special. Some still looked in others ears on occasion to see if any extra cash had worked its way out.

Sgt. Lunda, a large black man, was in nominal charge of things and Sgt. Bristol made it a point that he as a white man was subordinate. "Good morning Gentlemen. You are up bright and early," I said.