Thirteen Hours Read Online Free PDF

Sup, I'll wait for them.'
    He came over to Benny. 'The SC says there's a protest of some
or other labour union at Parliament and he can only send me two people.'
    'There's always a fucking protest of some other union,' said
Griessel and stood up. 'I'll help with the footwork, Vusi, until the photos
arrive.' He couldn't sit around like this.
    'Thanks, Benny. Would you like some coffee?'
    'Are you going to send someone?'
    'There's a place down the street. I'll go quickly.'
    'Let me go.'
     
    They filled the Caledon Square charge office, complainants,
victims, witnesses and their hangers-on with stories of the night past. Over
the sea of protesting and accusatory voices a telephone rang monotonously, on
and on. A female Sergeant, weary after nine hours on her feet, ignored the
scowling face across the counter and grabbed the receiver. 'Caledon Square,
Sergeant Thanduxolo Nyathi speaking, how may I help you?'
    It was a woman's voice, barely audible.
    'You'll have to speak up, madam, I can't hear you.'
    'I want to report something.'
    'Yes, madam?'
    'There was this girl...'
    'Yes, madam?'
    'This morning, at about six o'clock, on Signal Hill. She
asked me to call the police because someone wanted to kill her.'
    'One moment, madam.' She reached for a SAPS form and took a
pen from her breast pocket. 'May I have your name?'
    'Well, I just want to report it...'
    'I know, madam, but I need a name.'
    Silence.
    'Madam?'
    'My name is Sybil Gravett.'
    'And your address?'
    'I really can't see how this is pertinent. I saw the girl on
Signal Hill. I was walking my dog.'
    The Sergeant suppressed a sigh. 'And then what happened, madam?'
    'Well, she came running up to me and she said I must call the
police, someone was trying to kill her, and then she ran off again.'
    'Did you see anybody following her?'
    'I did. A few minutes later, they came running.'
    'How many, ma'am?'
    'Well, I didn't count them, but there must have been five or
six.'
    'Can you describe them?'
    'They were, well, some were white and some were black. And
they were quite young ... I found that very disturbing, these young men,
running with such intent...'
     
    She was woken with a start by someone shouting at her. She
tried to stand up in her panic, but her legs betrayed her and she stumbled and
fell with her shoulder against the wall.
    'You fucking druggie!' He stood on the other side of the
shrubbery with his hands on his hips, the same voice that had shouted from the
house earlier.
    'Please,' she sobbed, and stood upright.
    'Just get off my property,' he said pointing to the gate.
'What is it with you people? Snoring in my shrubs.'
    She made her way through the plants. She saw he was wearing a
dark suit, a businessman, middle-aged, furious. 'Please, I need your help ...'
    'No. You need to shoot up somewhere else. I'm sick and tired
of this. Get out.'
    She began to cry. She approached him. 'It's not what you
think, please, I'm from the United—'
    The man grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the gate.
'I don't give a fuck where you come from.' He pulled her roughly. 'All I want
is for you people to stop using my property for your filthy habits.' At the
gate he shoved her towards the road. 'Now fuck off, before I call the police,'
he said and turned and walked back to his house.
    'Please, call them,' she said through sobs, shoulders
jerking, her whole body trembling. He kept on walking, opened a metal gate,
slammed it shut and disappeared. 'Oh, God.' She stood crying on the pavement,
shivering. 'Oh, God.' Through the tears she looked instinctively up and down
the street, first left, then right. Far off, just where the road curled over
the flank of the mountain, stood two of them. Small, watchful figures, one with
a cell phone to his ear. Frightened, she began walking in the opposite
direction, the way she had come earlier. She didn't know whether they had seen
her. She kept to the left, against the walls of the houses, looking back over
her shoulder. They were no longer