Stalkers in the Namib (eBook)

An SA Police Series Suspense Story, Book 10

Meiring Fouche, Pieter Haasbroek (Autoren)

Pieter Haasbroek (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
101 Seiten
Pieter Haasbroek (Verlag)
9780001021525 (ISBN)

Infos

An escaped murderer.

A deserted ghost town.

A lone constable is about to learn that in the Desert of Death, the deadliest predator walks on two feet.

In the blistering heat of the Namib's forbidden diamond coast, young Constable Kobus van Deventer is looking for adventure. He finds it when a mysterious wisp of smoke leads him to a desolate ghost town and its only resident is a cunning, escaped murderer who will do anything to avoid the gallows.

Stripped of his weapon and stranded miles from civilization, Van Deventer becomes the prey in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The murderer is not just a fugitive; he's a brilliant, sadistic monster with a plan. Every move could be the constable's last, and in the shifting sands, there is nowhere to hide.

This high-stakes, classic adventure thriller is a must-read for anyone who loves relentless action and page-turning suspense. Perfect for fans of Alistair MacLean and Wilbur Smith, where the hero must rely on his wits to survive against impossible odds.

For fans of pulse-pounding action and chilling mysteries, a new nightmare awaits. Something is moving through the Namib, and it's leaving a trail of terror. Dare to face the Stalkers in the Namib? The tenth electrifying adventure in the SA Police Series starts with a single click.

Textauszug

10. STALKERS IN THE NAMIB

Chapter 1

THE BAREFOOT TRACK

Upon the red mane of a sand dune in the Namib, along the diamond coast of South-West Africa and not far from the sea, Constable Kobus van Deventer sat nonchalantly, surveying the surroundings with his binoculars.

He felt a sense of loneliness where he sat, for he had come alone in the jeep through the Desert of Death to see if he might spot any poachers, or perhaps intruders in the forbidden diamond territory.

This environment was entirely alien to Constable Kobus van Deventer, for it had been a mere month since he had arrived at the police station in the small town here in the western part of South-West Africa. This was his very first patrol to this part of the desert.

He had looked forward to it, for Constable Van Deventer was an enterprising young man, eager for adventure and new territory. But he himself had not imagined it would look like this. It was an endless, sandy desolation, interrupted here and there by taller dunes with vast, flat sand plains in between.

Sergeant Gouws, the Station Commander, knew this world, and that was why he had sent Van Deventer. It had rained once more in the Namib, causing gemsbok, wildebeest, and springbok to migrate in large herds from the inhabited areas to the lush short grass of the Namib. And because Sergeant Gouws knew well enough what usually transpired when the game moved to the Namib, he had sent his constable to see what was afoot.

The sun hung low, and it was infinitely still. Nothing stirred or moved, and there was not a single sound in this great emptiness. The sea was not far, yet it was far enough that Constable van Deventer could not hear its whisper.

Van Deventer scanned wide and far over the landscape, which strongly reminded him of a lunar vista, devoid of movement or sound. Systematically he observed everything: the great sand plains, the dunes stretching away into the purple distance. Here and there he saw a small group of game grazing, but beyond that, he discerned nothing. Not even a vulture disturbed the seemingly eternal silence.

It was then, as Constable Van Deventer looked northwestward with his binoculars, into the bright glow of the setting sun, that he saw it. And when he saw it, a cold prickle coursed through him. He instinctively pressed the binoculars tighter to his eyes, adjusted them once, and then he knew that what he was seeing was not a mere trick of the mind or a deceptive phenomenon of the slumbering desert.

Kobus van Deventer was so astonished, so struck by what he saw, that for a moment he tore the binoculars from his eyes as if he might see better without them. But the image before him immediately faded, so he placed the binoculars before his eyes once more.

What he saw, clear and unmistakable, was a fine wisp of smoke spiralling blue through the last of the sunlight into the still air.

Smoke? Smoke in this part of the Namib? This was wrong. This should not be. Smoke was not permitted to spiral here, for this was a forbidden diamond area, and no soul was allowed to venture in, save for the police, or a government official with a special permit, or an officer of the Mining Company that held a concession to exploit diamonds here.

Perhaps it is a government official, Kobus thought for a moment. Perhaps it is an officer of the mining company. But even as he considered this, he had the definite impression that this was not the case. The impression came to him as strongly as if someone had said it to him aloud.

He felt a tingling along his neck and imagined that his shortish, curly brown hair wanted to stand on end. He fumbled for the holster of his revolver and then once again raised the binoculars to his eyes.

Strange. He clearly saw the spiralling blue smoke, but he perceived nothing else. The smoke was curling upwards from a particular spot. Here, a short distance to the constable’s right, a smallish sandy stream bed ran down towards the sea, and as is the case with streams that emerge from between the dunes, a patch of tall reeds grew where the stream approached the sea. The stream ran through a narrow pass between two dunes and then apparently meandered on towards the sea. And the smoke that Kobus van Deventer saw was rising from the very place where the stream passed through the narrows.

As Kobus van Deventer stood up on the dune to go and ascertain what was happening, the sun dipped just below the horizon. For a final time, it cast its light over the world; then it became a round, fiery ball and slowly sank into the unknown.

Kobus glanced back at his jeep, as if expecting to see someone there. But only the vehicle’s sun visor glinted in the last sliver of sunlight.

For a moment, the constable hesitated. He felt the urge to drive the jeep to that spot, but then he reconsidered. He reckoned it would be better to go on foot, for if there was someone here who did not belong, the person might make themselves scarce as soon as they heard the jeep’s drone.

Therefore, Kobus van Deventer began to stride quickly across the sand plain before the dune, hastening towards the peculiar phenomenon. He felt the beating of his heart, the tingling along his neck, and a dampness formed in the palm of his hand. As he walked, he drew his revolver, loaded it, and pushed it back into its holster.

Kobus van Deventer was a tall, impressive constable, a handsome man with dusky brown eyes and a strong mouth. In the police gymnasium, he had been a standout in the field of physical exercise. It had served his long, slender body well, and he had developed broad shoulders and narrow hips. He was a deceptive man in the sense that his body concealed far more strength than was apparent at first glance. His legs were long and strong, and thus he strode with great ease and extraordinary speed across the sand.

To his left, he saw a few gemsbok grazing. They caught his scent and bolted away over the red sand.

Kobus van Deventer was barely aware of them, for he kept his attention focused on the place where the smoke still curled upwards. There was less smoke now than when he had first noticed it, but smoke there still was.

The further he walked, the more he became lost in thought about the possibilities of what was transpiring here. Could that smoke be made by someone who belonged here? And as the question took shape within him, another question arose in the youthful constable’s mind. Who was to say it was not perhaps the camp of a small group of San? The vagabonds sometimes penetrated the Namib when the game was here, and then they would wreak havoc with their poison arrows.

San? He did not like the idea. He had heard the story of a constable from the South African Police, up in the north of South-West Africa, who had once fallen victim to a San’s poison arrow. He felt little desire to go the same way.

These misgivings, however, did not deter him in the least. Rather, they spurred him on to establish as quickly as possible what was going on there at the place where the sandy channel passed between the two dunes towards the sea.

The constable veered right, descended into the sandy channel, and proceeded along it towards the place. Before long, he entered the first of the reeds. A peculiar phenomenon, this, he thought. To look at this channel, one would never say that water ever flowed here, but it must be so. And because the water was apparently held back between the two dunes, it seeped out here, with the result that the reeds grew here and that, among the reeds themselves, even a bit of desert grass was visible.

Kobus van Deventer did not quite know himself why he was now proceeding along the channel. There were reeds here, to be sure, but they offered him no cover or protection, for they barely reached his knees. Yet he felt safer here than on the bare sand. If trouble arose, he could at least fall flat amongst the reeds. He fumbled for his bandolier, just to make sure he still had ammunition with him.

The closer he got to the place, the more strongly he came under the impression that it might have been better if he had come with the jeep. He sharply got the impression that he had now made an error in judgement. It could be that he might have to retreat quickly, and in that case, it would have been better if he had had the vehicle.

And as he neared the place, a strange excitement and a distinct sense of foreboding rose in the young constable. He was still young in the service, but he had already acquired that intuition found in the experienced lawman of South Africa. That intuition that warns you, without reason or explanation, that something is wrong.

What disturbed Kobus van Deventer the most was the fact that it was so quiet. If there was a wisp of smoke, then there must be a fire. There was a fire before him, but there was clearly nothing at that fire. He had not seen anyone move there, and he found it peculiar.

The reeds slapped against his long legs. His hand, without him being truly aware of it, had come to rest on the butt of his revolver. He cautiously scanned the area. He looked to the left, along the reasonably high dune. Then again to the right, along the other dune. He scrutinised the manes of the two dunes. He peered behind him, looked over the sand plain, gazed back at the dune where he had been sitting with the binoculars a short while ago.

But the entire area was empty. Even the few Gemsbok that had been startled by him had made themselves completely scarce, so that now there was not a living creature that stirred.

Yet the area was no longer completely silent. In the distance, Kobus heard the restless, never-ending whisper of the sea.

Here where he now moved, the reeds were taller, denser,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 18.9.2025
• Übersetzer: Pieter Haasbroek, Ai
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-13: 9780001021525 / 9780001021525