Prose

Ryno can hardly keep himself from assaulting Roberto Chipenda, where he sits in that man’s office.  Two soldiers are however at both sides of the chair in which Ryno is sitting and their rifles are pointing to him.
 
It is clear that the building where they are had been a school at a time, as there is a black board against the one wall.  Against another wall there are charts of the whole of Angola and the place looks to Ryno like a geography class room.

The illusion is broken by the Unita flag with the crowing cock right next to the portrait of Jonas Savimbi against another wall and the radio equipment in one of the corners of the room.
 
Somewhere some power generators are roaring on the outside and through the open window, Ryno can see the blue sky above them.   It is unusual that there is not a bird in the sky.

It is clear to him that the town had known better days.  Outside some of the buildings are ruins, from the many battles that have been fought here.  Other buildings have got only scars and pock marks that have been left by bullets.

The windows and tin roofs of Mavinga glitters in the early morning light.  The stench of rotting food and human faeces is strong in Ryno’s nose when the light breeze changes its direction.

Ryno forces himself to stay calm.  “What does all of this mean?  Where did you take Maria,” he wants to know from Roberto.  There are traces of satisfaction on the face of the black man.

”You did not really think that I am going to contact the South Africans, to come and fetch you?  Everything has a price to it.  That is how it is with freedom as well.”

”I helped Gololo to escape and made amok at the enemy camp in Cassinga!  Isn’t that nearly enough?”  Ryno wants to know angry.

”After that you destroyed a Mig and on your own, you have freed Maria and knocked off the main elements of the enemy’s intelligence service.  That is really something.”

”Now you are keeping both of us as prisoners, while like rats we are waiting on FAPLA to capture and destroy this camp?”  Roberto stiffens and worry is written all over his face.

”We are well organized, here.  You do not have to worry about your safety.  Our artillery and armour are under camouflage outside of town.  No FAPLA soldier will come anywhere near to Mavinga.”

”Where is Maria,” Ryno wants to know worriedly.  “She was treated by our local doctor and now is being interrogated; to find out if she told has told some of our secrets to the enemy...”

Ryno snorts.  “If they hurt her in any way, I will personally hold you to account.”  “You must relax.  Later today she will be through to the room that you are sharing,” Roberto tries to ease the situation.

Yes, Burger, there you have it, he thinks.  Here you are once again in the middle of a cursed war and what is worse; it is someone else’s forgotten war.

As if Ryno’s words were prophetic, one of the guards on the lookout post screams over the two-way radio:  “Migs! Attacking Migs!”

The warplanes dive from the sun and in seconds, part of the town is burning, while missiles explode and bombs are being dropped in a straight line along the town’s main road.

Through the explosions Ryno hears women screaming and children crying.  The smell of burnt human flesh and explosives, hangs heavy in the air.

The triple barrel anti-aircraft cannon of the Unita forces continues to shoot up into the sky and it looks as if the struggle is in vain.  When one of the fighter jets dares to attack much lower it is hit.

Smoke pours from the Mig and it explodes, before the pilot can escape.  Ryno hears the UNITA forces cheer when the plane comes down almost on top of the town.

”They will not be back soon,” Roberto remarks satisfied.  “Hell, we have showed them!”  Outside Ryno hears the wounded screaming from pain and for only a moment he reads fear from the mask of Roberto’s face.

Explosions go off near to them and Ryno is astonished, when the two guards storm out of the office.  He follows them to the outside and tries to get cover behind the stone wall of a nearby house.

When he takes cover behind the wall, he notices the bodies of five black soldiers.  It is clear that one of the helicopter gunships had launched some rockets at them.

Ryno is astonished to find a RPG-7 rocket launcher, with a loaded grenade in pristine condition against one of the walls of a ruined house a little further along the street.

He picks up the rocket launcher and his eyes are focused on the nearing Mi-24 Hind gunships, while he runs to find some cover in nearby bushes.

There are three helicopters and all of them are launching rockets.  The cannons in their noses are continuously spewing out fire and the weapons of the UNITA forces are burning from the missiles that had hit them.

The UNITA are helpless against the gunships, but it’s not from the fact that they are not trying to fight back, but they do not have any ground to air missiles.   They fire with everything that they have got.  Anti-aircraft guns, RPG-7 rockets, AK-47’s and even mortars are set on the helicopters.

It is however in vain.  The helicopters keeps turning and flying to and fro, as if they are untouchable.  When eventually the gunships fly away there is confusion.

Ryno runs through the rubble, past wounded soldiers and some dead bodies that are lying in the main road. From here they have got to get away before it gets to late to do so, he realizes. He just have got find Maria.

It is however almost an impossible task, to find her in the town as there are hordes of wounded people everywhere.  He finds her outside the hospital where a group of wounded soldiers are lying, waiting for her to treat them.

When she moves from one of the patients to the next he gets holds on to her and grabs onto her shoulders and turns her around to face him.

They are so glad to see each other, that they are embracing and he presses her so tightly against him, that he can feel her heart beating.

”I am so happy that you... that we are still living,” he remarks.  He grabs her onto her hand.  “Come.  We have got to get away from this place!”  She shakes her head.  “No! We cannot leave these people to die.  We... you... must do something.”

”Do you want to be buried with them,” Ryno wants to know while his eyes are burning into hers.  “This is only the beginning.  The FAPLA’s or their communist henchmen will keep returning, until everybody here have been killed.”

”Maybe tonight when it’s dark we can try and sneak away,” she says in Afrikaans.  Ryno feels like dragging her away by her hair like a Neanderthal man, but when she asks him to help he gives his full aid.