I quickly stripped off my clothes, apart from my panties and bra. I slowly got up to my feet and walked with the pretence of being a bit inebriated towards the light, the rest of my clothes hanging from my hand obscuring my groin area. "Hey you guys, you seen my boyfriend, (hic)?" I said sounding as drunk as I could, " he's run off." I was almost instantly illuminated by the four nearest beams, they flashed over my body and face before lingering on my boobs. Eyewitness Part 5 by Alys

“That stupid police bitch said it's a boy, we're looking for, not a girl,” said a guttural South African voice from the road near to where the body of Inspector Lee lay in the bullet ridden car.

I crept deeper under the gorse bush where I had fled after the attack.

“What you talking about Kronje?” asked another unpleasant sounding South African.

“It's what she said just now, Jon, when I told her about finishing off the nosey Inspector. Said she's got the mother and we'll see her tomorrow.” replied Kronje.

“Why she say a girl before then?” asked Jon.

“No idea, come on lets have another look for the little bastard,” commanded Kronje as the sound of heavy feet trampling through the undergrowth.

A few minutes later I heard my pursuers pass within ten metres and I felt my heart beating so loudly that there seemed to be no way they couldn't hear it.

For what seemed an eternity the two men blundered about in the darkness, sometimes getting closer, other times moving further away. Finally the noise of the searching receded and I closed my eyes with relief as I felt the exhaustion of the day overcoming me

**********

I woke with a start, the air was much cooler now. I shivered in the cold summer night air. In the distance I could hear some shouts so I looked up and my heart jumped in my chest at the sight before me.

There was a row of men walking towards me, each of them carrying a very powerful torch. They were walking carefully forward, systematically sweeping the space between and in front of them and examining each bush very carefully.

I felt panic rising within me. There was no way they wouldn't discover my hiding place. I wondered if they would kill me here or take me somewhere else and torture and finally kill me. I looked around desperately for some escape route.

I heard voices shouting as they co-ordinated their movements. After only a few minutes they were within earshot.

"How long do we have do this?" asked a voice I identified as Jon from earlier, from one end of the line .

"She said as long as it takes, he can't be far away," replied the voice of Kronje, from the other end.

"Let's find the little fucker soon enough," shouted an unfamiliar voice with a local accent, "I was on the last stage of GTA when you phoned."

"Get a life you arsehole, only kids play Xboxes, you should have come to the club, I had one with really juicy melons dancing, god she was hot." said another of the searchers.

"Shut up about your strippers and your stupid game, you're both getting paid enough, concentrate on finding the little shit. The bastard gave a statement." responded Kronje.

There was a chorus of profanity from the assembled thugs, meanwhile a germ of an idea formed in my head.

I quickly stripped off my clothes, apart from my panties and bra.

I slowly got up to my feet and walked with the pretence of being a bit inebriated towards the light, the rest of my clothes hanging from my hand obscuring my groin area.

"Hey you guys, you seen my boyfriend, (hic)?" I said sounding as drunk as I could, " he's run off."

I was almost instantly illuminated by the four nearest beams, they flashed over my body and face before lingering on my boobs.

I held up my hand to my eyes to indicate that I was actually dazzled

"Hey guys don't shine it in my eyes....so you seen 'im, he's tall I think and 'ad a biggun," I said with a high pitched giggle

"Fuck off home you stupid slag!" Jon shouted in his harsh South African accent

"Or you can stay here and let us do you later, I've got a biggun too," shouted another with a London accent

"Can't ssh-top got to go work 'morrow, have to get a cab.." I mumbled as I staggered slowly between them," byee boys..."

One of them followed my 'drunken' progress, every second of which I was waiting for a challenge, with his torch for a few seconds before he joined the rest of his companions who had already lost interest in me and were continuing in the careful search of the headland.

As soon as I was out of sight I stopped meandering and moved as quickly as I could towards the road.

As soon as I reached it I stopped and put the rest of my clothes on. As I did I began to shiver with nervous tension. I didn't know how I had had the presence of mind to pretend to be a drunken girl.

"Get a grip, Josie," I muttered to myself before walking down to the Inspector's bullet ridden car.

I carefully looked for my bag on the passenger side. After a few seconds I had located it and quietly pulled it out of the car.

There was a sudden gentle moan.

I looked across the car at the figure of the Inspector slumped in the driver's seat. I noticed his chest rising and falling slightly. I didn't know how he had survived Kronje's three shots to the chest at such close range but it was obvious he was still alive, even while obviously unconscious.

This new discovery made my immediate future much more complicated. Now I had not only to make sure I escaped the murderous clutches of the South African Nazis but also try and ensure Kronje didn't have another opportunity to kill Inspector Lee.

I stood back and considered the situation.

I could call the police but there was no guarantee they would arrive before Kronje, Jon and the rest of his psychopaths returned from their search.

There was no way I could drag the Inspector out of the car and carry him away. In any case moving him could possibly prove fatal if he had, as I assumed, sustained serious internal injuries from the bullets, although there didn't seem to many blood stains on his shirt, so I wondered if he had worn some sort of protection underneath it.

There seemed to be only one answer. Somehow or other I had to get the car away somewhere out of sight, but I wasn't sure how to do it.

I stood there for a few moments considering how I could move the vehicle without attracting the attention of our pursuers. A possible solution came to mind and so I moved over to the driver's side, opening the door and the side window. I released the handbrake and putting my left hand on the steering wheel, turning it to full lock, I began to push against the door frame.

The car began to very slowly move, but backwards into me!

I pushed harder using all the strength in my tired, aching body and somehow succeeded in arresting the reverse movement. I felt the pains shooting through my legs and shoulders as I resisted the natural momentum of the car.

For a few seconds there was a stalemate between my body and the force of gravity as I gathered all of my strength for one great effort, probably my last one, to change the direction of movement of the stubborn machine.

Suddenly there was a flash in the sky. I looked over to my right and to my alarm saw the lights of my pursuers' torches coming in my direction!

From somewhere I felt a burst of new energy and immediately the car yielded to my efforts and began to roll forwards and turn to the left towards the downwards slope of the hill.

I quickly jumped in the front of the car and crouched behind the steering wheel, managing to avoid touching the comatose Inspector, in the seat immediately behind me.

The car quickly accelerated the wrong way down Jennycliff Lane and I hoped there would be no traffic using it at this time of night as my unlit vehicle quietly moved along the tarmac, while I stretched to put pressure on the footbrake to moderate our speed.

Within seconds we had turned a corner and I looked around for a lane or other secluded spot as a temporary refuge. I noticed a narrow turning to my left, partly obscured by gorse bushes. I quickly manoeuvred the car into the opening and let it run for as long as it would up the slight rise in the road.

We came to a stop and I quickly secured the handbrake, while I heard the inspector make a quiet moan.

I got out of the car and looked behind me and noticed to my satisfaction we were completely hidden from the main road.

I knew there was still a great danger of the gunmen trying to find us in their cars and so I took out my phone and dialed 999.

'Which emergency service do you require?' asked a dispassionate female voice.

'Police and ambulance, quickly please," I replied.

'What's the nature of the incident?'

'I'm with Inspector Lee and he's been shot by gunmen, hurry please'

'Please be calm and tell me your name and your location, I'm alerting the police and ambulance now'

I gave the woman the details and within five minutes two police cars arrived followed closely by and Armed Police Unit and an ambulance.

For the next quarter of an hour there was a whirl of activity around me as the paramedics worked to stabilise the Inspector and then to transfer him to the ambulance, while the armed police went off to try and locate the gunmen.

The good news about the Inspector Lee was that his injuries, while serious, were unlikely to be life threatening and feeling quite positive for the first time since the ambush I gratefully got in the back of one of the police cars to continue my journey to the safe house.

The warmth of the car and the comfort of the blanket wrapped around me soon started to induce drowsiness and I was almost asleep when I heard the sound of my phone and felt it's vibration indicating a message.

I clicked it on and noticed I had received a new mms, I clicked to accept it and watched the slider indicate it downloading.

The file opened and I saw the face of my Mother, squinting under what must have been the glare of the camera's lights. She had what looked like a noose around her head.

"Phillip, they're going to kill me unless you contact them by noon."