Chapter1

#Chapter1

Prologue

There is no moon in the sky, darkness rules as the night creatures’ move about the jungle of the Congo Basin. Another creature moves among them.

The edge of the jungle opens onto a small clearing, a foot path leads towards the hut, the flicker of a candle can be seen in the window, and a shadow is thrown from the light.

The visitor watches and waits, he is patient as is the way of his kind. His patience is rewarded when the door to the hut opens and a woman emerges. She moves up along the path directly towards the watcher, unaware of being observed.

With a shriek of an attacking leopard, the watcher rises from the darkness and launches itself at her, the woman screams in terror, but help will not come as her family is huddled together, safe in the hut. None will venture out for fear of what is hidden by the darkness.

Day reveals the scene of her death; the ground and bushes around her body are covered in her blood, her badly mutilated corpse and the spoor around her pay testimony to her killer. The leopard has once again claimed a victim.

Piet van Zyl lies sound asleep alongside his wife. Peggy lies on her side of the bed dreaming of whatever woman in love dream about with a smile on her face when the peacefulness of the night is broken by the shrill sound of the cell phone going off.

/"Nee fok dit, it can’t be time to get up yet, we only bloody went to sleep./"

Piet fumbles for the clock to switch off the alarm, when he realizes that it’s an incoming call. He glances across at the clock and sees that it’s just after 5 am Tuesday morning.

/"This had better be good,/" he mutters as he accepts the call.

/"Ja Piet here./"

/"Is that Piet van Zyl?/"

/"Piet wat praat, can I help you? Do you know what the bloody time is?/"

/"Morning Piet, sorry about calling so early, this is Roger McCollins from the Congo police./"

/"Roger, my moer, and just what the hell makes you call me so early in the morning? I bet it’s not to congratulate me on getting married./"

/"Once again, sorry Piet, but I have a situation here; I need your help urgently./"

Piet now wide awake sits up on the edge of the bed. Peggy wonders off down the passage towards the kitchen to sort out coffee for them.

/"Roger, what can be worse than that bloody lion we sorted out over a year ago?/"

/"It’s worse Piet, really bad this time. For the past three months, we’ve had 13 deaths in and around Loango and it looks like we have a killer on our hands that needs your specialty as this is not a human killer but looks like the work of a very large male leopard. So far we have been unable to track him, as his spoor just disappears into thin air, the spoor is found around the victim and then nothing./"

Roger fills Piet in on everything that he has been able to uncover, which is not much and Piet agrees that he will fly to the Congo, and assist in hunting the leopard, and putting an end to its killing spree, once he has made arrangements to cover his absence from his safari company. Roger assures him that he will not have any problems with customs regarding his firearms, and a visa will be waiting for him on his arrival.

Piet cuts the connection and sits looking out at the rising sun.

/"Ja just another day in the life of yours truly, Piet van Zyl. Life will never be simple./"

Peggy enters the bedroom, coffee in hand, and Piet tells her of the details of the call and that he expects to be away from home for about two weeks.

/"I don’t think it will take longer than that to track down this leopard, but only time will tell./"

***

The sun is still on the other side of the world as the man makes his way along the jungle path from his village towards Loango. Hope fills his heart that maybe today just might be the day he finds work and will be able to put food on his family’s table.

Eyes follow his progress from the thick foliage alongside the path and as he draws alongside the watcher in the dark, a shriek fills the night, a body launches itself at him, and the claws do their bloody work, 13 just became 14.