Louisa to get ready to run to her horse but decided to hold off for a moment longer, wondering why the officer was not using his troops if he could see Victor.
One of the other men from the jeep pointed elsewhere and the one who was shooting followed his suggestion and fired in that direction. It was evident that they had not in fact seen Victor or the Indians and the officer with the pistol was simply shooting at random.
The driver of the Mercedes climbed out and went to the passenger door behind him. He opened it and a man got out and stood by the car. Stratton studied him through the binoculars. He looked to be in his fifties and wore smart civilian clothes.
Stratton held the binoculars out to Louisa. ‘You know what Chemora looks like?’
‘I met him once when I was young,’ she replied, taking the glasses and looking through them. ‘He came to our house. I’ll never forget the way he looked at me. He was disgusting . . . That’s him,’ she confirmed.
Chemora surveyed the scene calmly as one of the officers hurried down the line of vehicles to him. They had a brief conversation and Chemora climbed back inside the sedan.
The officer blew a whistle and waved towards the back of the column as he called out some orders. This was followed by shouts and gesticulations from the other men. Louisa focused the binoculars on a truck near the rear of the column. People were climbing out of the open back but they were civilians - not just men but women and children too. Soldiers were gesturing for them to move quickly towards the front of the convoy.
‘My God,’ Louisa gasped.
Stratton took the glasses from her and had a look for himself. ‘Civilians?’
‘They must be his first batch of victims,’ she said. ‘The ones he’s going to hang.’
A soldier herded the peasants along the length of the convoy towards the truck with the flat tyre. The driver opened a box on the side of the truck and the peasants took tools from it. Some set about placing a jack beneath the truck while others unscrewed the bolts securing the wheel. The soldiers inside the truck watched them.
An old man removed the spare wheel from beneath the tailgate and rolled it along the side of the truck. He got a swift kick from an officer and lost control of the wheel which ran over the boot of another officer. The officer who had kicked the man went ballistic and he set about the peasant, kicking and slapping him. He begged for mercy while trying to protect himself. The officer was obviously not getting enough satisfaction and reached for his pistol but it got stuck in its holster. The old peasant panicked and, realising his likely fate, made a run for it. He leapt down the embankment towards the river.
One of the officers cried out something that caused laughter among the other men, which served only to enrage the angry officer further. He finally managed to get his gun out of its holster and took a shot at the man, who by now was almost at the river. He missed, and the bullet struck the water, causing more laughter among the soldiers.
A shrill scream followed as a woman broke from the group to go to the old man. As he waded across the river the angry officer took a steady aim and fired again. The old man fell beneath the water but surfaced immediately and lurched on.
Another officer decided to show his colleague how it should be done and, taking a rifle from one of the soldiers in the truck, aimed it and fired at the woman as she reached the water. The sound of the shot was much louder than the noise made by the pistol, the bullet far more powerful in its impact. It struck her in the back and blood exploded from her chest as it went right through her. But it did not kill her outright and she staggered forward.
The other officers joined in the entertainment, pulling their pistols and sending bullet after bullet into the couple until they both went still, face down in the water, blood oozing from the holes in their bodies.
This inspired another witty comment from one of the officers that was greeted by laughter from the others.
Louisa buried her face in her hands, horrified beyond belief.
Stratton put an arm around her and she clung to him. ‘What kind