Hyena Dawn Read Online Free PDF Page B

bastard. You survived against the most incredible odds. A lot of these doctors say you’re off your rocker, but that’s a load of crap. Certainly you’ve got a basic level of survival brutality that most men couldn’t muster, but there’s nothing wrong with that. What you did to Sam the other day was a result of all the drugs they pumped into you. Forget that business.’
    ‘ I already have.’
    ‘ Back to the army, then. There’s a lot to be done.’
    ‘ I’m not a peacemaker, sir - whatever peace there ever will be between the Matabele and the Mashona.’
    ‘ This isn’t about peace, laddie, it’s about war. I’m asking you if you want to take part in perhaps the most important action of the whole war. A secret project. Something you’ll never get public recognition for. A project so dangerous that no man in his right mind would have anything to do with it. In the long run it’ll make a negotiated peace possible and stop Rhodesia heading into a bloodbath. And I need your decision now. No one else knows about this except a few men in high command. The whole operation is top secret.’
    ‘ Equipment?’ Rayne could feel his pulse racing already.
    ‘ You’ll get everything available — legally and illegally. And Rayne, you’ll be in command.’
    ‘ You bastard, sir.’
    ‘ My pleasure, Captain Gallagher. I knew you couldn’t resist it.’
    Major Martin Long walked down the long gravel drive that led from the hospital buildings to the road. He hated himself. He shouldn’t have done it, but then who the hell else was there that he could have used? If Sam found out, she’d never forgive him.
    The approaches made to him had been subtle. The Americans had obviously been looking for the right man for a long time, and then the CIA must have seen the intelligence reports on Gallagher. Rayne was an incredible fighter; he was also the only white man Long knew who could disguise himself as a black man and convince another black - his mastery of black languages was that good.
    Who could really know what had gone on, out there in Mozambique? Rayne had started operating on his own a month before. Sheer suicide, they’d all thought, but he’d survived, and he had led the army into some of the biggest terrorist camps they’d found for a long time.
    Now the Americans wanted to use him for their crazy mission. It had to be done, of course, the Russians had to be stopped. The timing was perfect: mentally speaking, Rayne was a total mess.
    The door of the car was opened for Long by his army driver. He paused for a moment before getting in, and looked back at the hospital. There was still time. He could go back and tell Rayne they felt he wasn’t well enough to do the job.
    The car door slammed as he got in. The driver jumped in the front and pulled away. Sometimes, Major Martin Long thought, it was better not to think at all.
     
    Rayne lay back in the wheelchair, thinking about the rollercoaster of events that had got him where he was. It had all started four and a half years ago, in May 1974. His mind drifted back to that time, helped by the effects of the drugs. He had been a different person then, with different goals. He had just turned twenty-one. He already had his BA in law, passed with straight As, and was in his final year of the LLB degree. He wanted to become a civil rights lawyer, like his father. Like Bruce Gallagher too, he wanted to win the coveted Rhodes scholarship and go on to Oxford University.
    At school Rayne had been a victor ludorum, gaining colours in rugby, athletics and cricket. Now at university he had concentrated single-mindedly on rugby. He knew it was only a matter of time before he was selected for the Transvaal provincial team. More importantly, sport was a major part of the selection process for the Rhodes scholarship.
    The match was an inter-varsity one between his own side, ‘Wits’, which he captained, and Stellenbosch, the ‘Maties’. Stellenbosch was the home of the