Free Poacher by Leon Mare Page A

other facial bones are broken. He reckons the
maxillofacial surgeon won’t operate before Thursday at the
earliest. Apparently they have to wait for the swelling to subside
first.’
    ‘Sounds like you worked the bastard over
properly. Maybe it would have been better if he’d gotten himself
shot too.’
    ‘I think so myself,’ Louis agreed, thinking
about the threat. It worried him – he was convinced that it had not
been an idle threat made in the heat of the moment. Better keep
tabs on Joao when he gets out of jail. If he ever decided to cross
the wire for a quick strike it would be very difficult to
anticipate and stop him. Lodging a complaint with the Frelimo
government would be worse than useless. He would take up the
problem with John van Reenen.
     
    Smitty was having a big battle with himself.
He didn’t want Linda to come and see Sam but, if he failed to
notify her, she was sure to jump on him later when the story hit
the media.
    He picked the phone up reluctantly.
    She answered on the fifth ring, and sounded
pleased to hear his voice. At least that was something. ‘Sorry to
phone you at this time of night, but I thought you would want to
know. We’ve got Sam in the hospital. The surgeons removed a bullet
from his stomach earlier this evening. Nothing vital was damaged,
and he is doing quite well.’
    There was a shocked silence on the other side
of the line. ‘Oh no! Which ward is he in?’
    ‘Linda, you can’t see him now. He’s under
sedation. And secondly, there’s no way you will get past the ward
sister at this time of night.’
    ‘You can get in, can’t you? Wait for me at
reception, I’ll be there in ten minutes.’
    ‘No, I told you . . .’ He slammed down the
dead instrument in disgust.
    Smitty was at reception when Sam’s people
left. One look at Louis, armed to the teeth, told him who they
were. Estelle’s beauty knocked him for six, and he felt his
animosity towards Sam rising again. With a fiancée like that, there
was no reason for him to fool around with someone else’s woman.
    A few minutes later Linda came breezing in,
kissing him fleetingly. ‘Hello, Smitty, so good of you to let me
know. How is he?’
    ‘My girl, you had better tread carefully.
Some very important-looking visitors have just left. Among them one
extremely beautiful young lady who, I am sure, is the future wife.’
It was not his intention to sound so smug about it.
    ‘Oh?’ She arched an eyebrow at him. ‘Nothing
wrong with visiting him, is there?’
    He refrained from answering and entered the
elevator.
    The fat nurse pouted her lips into the
resemblance of a string-drawn tobacco pouch but maintained an aloof
silence.
    Smitty knew there would be questions from the
superintendent tomorrow.
    Sam was lying on his back, snoring lightly. A
dim bedside lamp cast a yellow glow across the bed. The softening
of Linda’s features sent a wave of resentment coursing through
Smitty.
    ‘Sam,’ Linda whispered, taking the hand that
was lying on the sheet in both hers.
    ‘I told you he is under sedation, dammit.’
Smitty disengaged her hands and looked over his shoulder furtively.
Fortunately the nurse had returned to her station.
    Sam opened his eyes groggily. ‘Hello,
beautiful,’ he croaked. ‘Water.’
    She glanced over her shoulder. ‘Smitty,’ she
said.
    Turning back, she put a hand on his chest.
‘How are you feeling?’
    ‘Lousy.’
    He took the glass from Smitty and gulped
greedily. He had just started lowering his head again when the
warning bell clanged in his brain. He knew Estelle had been here.
He jerked his head up to look around and nearly screamed as the
pain tore through him stomach.
    His head fell back on the pillow with a
grunt.
    ‘Sam.’ Her hand was on his chest again and
tears glinted in her eyes, ‘Are you all right?’
    He just lay there, breathing deeply, trying
to ignore the world. In the drug-induced confusion images and
thoughts jostled for supremacy in his head. Estelle and