him and would arrest him at once—if they recognized him. He pulled his hat lower over his face. He dithered as he slowed down. Should he take his chances and stop?
Just as he was approaching the policeman who was flagging him off the road, he panicked. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor, and the old Volkswagen picked up speed, scattering orange traffic cones. He could see policemen waving at him, and he was sure they were shouting, too.
He looked in his rearview mirror. People were dashing for their vehicles. In seconds they would be after him. The Volkswagen continued to pick up speed. There were rattles everywhere, and at 60 miles per hour the steering wheel developed a severe shake. He held on, continuing to gain speed. At 75 miles per hour, the shaking stopped.
Now he was going too fast for his dim headlights to give him warning of something in the road. He peered forward. Faster, faster he went. Now the speedometer was showing 85 mph.
The road swept to the left. He pulled on the steering wheel, and the car shuddered. He glanced in the mirror. Nobody in sight yet. Maybe he could pull off the road and turn his lights off. They would drive right past. Or if he could get to Sekoma before they caught up with him, he could just disappear. But that was hopeless, Sekoma was almost an hour away.
Suddenly his feeble lights picked out something in the road. A cow! Witness pulled to the left, but it was too late. The Volkswagen hit the animal and skidded sideways. Witness screamed as the car rolled over. It tumbled four or five times in a cloud of dust before coming to rest on its side next to the fence, whose purpose was to keep livestock off the road. The only sound was a hissing from the engine and a repeating squeak as one of the wheels rotated slowly.
CONSTABLES NGEMA AND SESUPO approached the car cautiously, flashlights probing.
“Oh God, can you smell that?” Sesupo shouted. “Petrol is leaking. It’s all over the place.”
“He’s still in there!” Ngema said, pointing the beam of light at a bleeding head. “Help me push the car over.”
“What if it catches fire? We’ll be fried.”
“We can’t just leave him there. Give me a hand.”
The two men rocked the car a few times, then gave it a big push. It rolled back onto its wheels. Sesupo tried to open the driver’s door, but it was jammed. He ran around to the other side, but the passenger’s door was stuck also.
“Call an ambulance!” he shouted to Ngema. “I’ll knock out all the glass. Maybe we can pull him out through the windscreen.” He started banging on the shattered glass with his nightstick. When it was all gone, he climbed on the hood and stretched into the car, just managing to reach Witness’s wrist.
“He’s still alive,” he said to Ngema, who had just returned.
“The ambulance is on its way. Should be here soon. It only has to come from Jwaneng.”
“Let’s see if we can get him out.”
It took only a few attempts for the men to see that Witness was jammed by the steering wheel.
“I’ll get a crowbar from the car.” Ngema ran into the darkness. He returned a few moments later, crowbar in hand. “Let’s see if we can open his door.”
“Be careful! We don’t want any sparks.” Sesupo’s voice was tinged with fear.
They pushed and pulled, but the door didn’t budge. A second police car arrived, and Ngema called to them to bring their crowbar.
Soon four men were working at the door. Suddenly it popped open.
“Careful now.” Sesupo leaned in and tried to extricate Witness but couldn’t move him. “He’s stuck. What do we do now?”
“We should wait for the medics. I can hear the siren already.”
In the distance they could see flashing lights. A few minutes later the ambulance pulled up and two men jumped out. They ran over to the car, and Ngema explained the situation. One of the men then examined Witness.
“No seat belt. He’s got chest and head injuries. Bad. We’ll have to cut him out.”
“But there’s petrol everywhere. We’ll all go up in flames.”
“Cover the area with foam,” one of the medics said. “There’s an extinguisher in the ambulance. Let’s hope that works.”
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, THEY lifted the unconscious Witness onto a gurney and into the ambulance. Lights flashing, they headed for the mine hospital. The police followed right behind; Ngema and Sesupo had checked the