Allegiance, by Trevor R. Corbett
Allegiance, by Trevor R. Corbett. Random House Struik Umuzi. Cape Town, South Africa 2012. ISBN 9781415201749 / ISBN 978-1-4152-0174-9
Trevor R Corbett is the author of the novel Allegiance. He worked on organised crime and corruption as an investigator for the South African National Intelligence Service.
November 2007. The Swaziland-South Africa border
Shamoo raised his arm to indicate to the nineteen men, women and children to lie low in the bush. Arshad Tanveer felt his heart pumping harder in his chest. The men holding the ropes as guides, two at the front, middle and back, were probably South Africans, and had done this trek hundreds of times. It was routine for them. He still battled with the realisation that his long journey which had started in Karachi, via the exhausting flights to Dubai, then Nairobi, on to Dar es Salaam and finally to Manzini, Swaziland, was almost at an end. Shamoo, their guide, had driven him and seven others from the airport to a farmhouse outside Manzini, where they were joined by the remainder of the border crossers, another six men, three women and three children. One of the children, a boy of about seven, played with a Rubik's Cube. A black woman with a clipboard said something Tanveer didn't understand, and pointed to an old, light-grey Bedford truck with a canvas tarpaulin pulled over the back. The group, tired and jetlagged by this time, would have done just about anything she'd asked them to do. The boy's Rubik's Cube dropped to the gravel as he climbed up and hesitated on the tailgate. His mother, Tanveer guessed, told him in Urdu to leave it and pushed him inside. As the lanterns outside were turned off and the Bedford's engine roared to life, Tanveer stepped up, but not before picking up the plastic toy and giving it to the boy. 'Shukriya,' his mother mumbled. Thank you. It was a hell ride. The Bedford's suspension had long given up and the only thing worse than the jarring bumps and jolts was the dry dust mixed with diesel fumes that swirled around inside the truck. After about an hour there was a particularly rough section of road and the truck swerved, recovered, and hit something with a sickening bang. It braked, hit something else and came to a jarring halt. Tanveer could hear a strange panting noise and moans outside. He pulled the canvas flap open and saw two torch beams through the dust, zigzagging away from the back of the truck. The torch lights of Shamoo and the black woman fell onto a large brown shape on the dirt road. It was a cow. A heated conversation was going on between the black woman and their guide. She wanted them to load the cow into the back of the Bedford and Shamoo was refusing. After three or four minutes, she walked back to the driver's cab and revved the motor. They started moving again. After an hour, they stopped and Shamoo told them to get out the back of the truck with their belongings. Tanveer could just make out a rocky outcrop, some trees and a few stones painted white at the side of the road. A marker of some type, he thought. The Bedford ground into first gear, and the woman accelerated away, leaving a cloud of dust behind and taking with it the noise and light which had provided some comfort to the border crossers. Now it was eerily quiet and dark until Shamoo switched on his lantern and called them close together for a briefing. [...]
This is an excerpt from the intelligence novel Allegiance, by Trevor R. Corbett.
Title: Allegiance
Author: Trevor R. Corbett
Genre: Spy Novel
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Umuzi
Cape Town, South Africa 2012
ISBN 9781415201749 / ISBN 978-1-4152-0174-9
Softcover, 15 x 22 cm, 288 pages
