‘We’ll move out in groups of three,’ Jan said. ‘I’ll lead. There’s plenty of cover between here and the spot for the ambush, about a mile from here. Once in place, nobody moves, right? No cigarettes from now on, no talk, no frigging around. Get it? Some of these terrs are good trackers, and if they get a sniff of us they’ll be gone in a flash.’

‘Softly-softly will do it,’ Kobus said. ‘I want every last one of them. A couple of live ones could be useful for information. But the best tsotsi is a dead tsotsi. So keep quiet till they walk into the trap, and then finish the bastards off.’

It was a long, hot walk and an interminable wait during the suffocating heat of the afternoon. The sweating, recumbent men crouched in the cover of rocks and scrub waiting with rifles cocked, listening for telltale signs of movement in the surrounding bush. Jan kept his whisky flask in an outer pocket, taking frequent advantage of the comfort it offered. He had pushed a second bottle into his knapsack where he could reach it easily when he needed it. It could not be much longer before their quarry appeared and he could dispose of them. And go home. He did not care to remember how often he had done this years ago, lying in wait for Mau Mau fighters to come creeping through the Aberdare forest. He closed the shutter on his recollections. It would all be over soon and then he would go home and try to patch things up with Lottie. They had tried to bury the grief of losing their son, and his name was unmentionable between them. But Jan thought that it was now time for them to share their pain and to comfort one another. His head ached with the heat and the alcohol, and his vision blurred for a moment.

The sun dipped behind the trees, robbing the surrounding rocks of their heat. The evening dragged on, and Jan began to think the captured scout had given them false information. Mosquitoes whined in his ears, and a host of invisible insects crawled under his shirt and up his nose, stinging and biting as he lay in wait. Jan drained his whisky flask, took the second bottle out of his knapsack and put it into his pocket so that it was accessible. The insurgents did not appear until after midnight. They crept out from the rocks and the heavy bush, about twenty of them, carrying guns and an assortment of knives. When Jan gave the signal for the firing to start, the guerrillas were completely surrounded with no hope of defending themselves. Some fled in the direction of the border, but they were chased and shot down. Others attempted to move forward and were caught in a devastating crossfire. A small group managed to break away, and Jan shouted out his plan.