Master of the Game (17 page)

Jamie McGregor lived for exactly one year from the day he was taken ill, and it was the happiest time of Margaret’s life. Jamie was totally helpless. He could neither talk nor move. Margaret cared for her husband, tended to all his needs, and kept him at her side day and night. During the day, she propped him up in a wheelchair in the sewing room, and while she knitted sweaters and throw-robes for him, she talked to him. She discussed all the little household problems he had never had time to listen to before, and she told him how well little Kate was getting along. At night she carried Jamie’s skeletal body to her bedroom and gently lay him in bed next to her. Margaret tucked him in and they had their one-sided chat until Margaret was ready to go to sleep.

David Blackwell was running Kruger-Brent, Ltd. From time to time, David came to the house with papers for Margaret to sign, and it was painful for David to see the helpless condition Jamie was in.
I owe this man everything
, David thought.

“You chose well, Jamie,” Margaret told her husband. “David is a fine man.” She put down her knitting and smiled. “He reminds
me of you a bit. Of course, there was never anyone as clever as you, my darling, and there never will be again. You were so fair to look at, Jamie, and so kind and strong. And you weren’t afraid to dream. Now all your dreams have come true. The company is getting bigger every day.” She picked up her knitting again. “Little Kate is beginning to talk. I’ll swear she said ‘mama’ this morning…”

Jamie sat there, propped up in his chair, one eye staring ahead.

“She has your eyes and your mouth. She’s going to grow up to be a beauty…”

The following morning when Margaret awakened, Jamie McGregor was dead. She took him in her arms and held him close to her.

“Rest, my darling, rest. I’ve always loved you so much, Jamie. I hope you know that. Good-bye, my own dear love.”

She was alone now. Her husband and her son had left her. There was only herself and her daughter. Margaret walked into the baby’s room and looked down at Kate, sleeping in her crib.
Katherine. Kate
. The name came from the Greek, and it meant clear or pure. It was a name given to saints and nuns and queens.

Margaret said aloud, “Which are you going to be, Kate?”

It was a time of great expansion in South Africa, but it was also a time of great strife. There was a long-standing Transvaal dispute between the Boers and the British, and it finally came to a head. On Thursday, October 12, 1899, on Kate’s seventh birthday, the British declared war on the Boers, and three days later the Orange Free State was under attack. David tried to persuade Margaret to take Kate and leave South Africa, but Margaret refused to go.

“My husband is here,” she said.

There was nothing David could do to dissuade her. “I’m going to join with the Boers,” David told her. “Will you be all right?”

“Yes, of course,” Margaret said. “I’ll try to keep the company going.”

The next morning David was gone.

The British had expected a quick and easy war, no more than a mopping-up operation, and they began with a confident, lighthearted holiday spirit. At the Hyde Park Barracks in London, a send-off supper was given, with a special menu showing a British soldier holding up the head of a boar on a tray. The menu read:

SEND-OFF SUPPER

To the
CAPE SQUADRON
, November 27, 1899

MENU

Oysters—Blue Points

Compo Soup

Toady in the Hole

Sandy Sole

Mafeking Mutton

Transvaal Turnips. Cape Sauce

Pretoria Pheasants

White Sauce

Tinker Taters

Peace Pudding. Massa Ices

Dutch Cheese

Dessert

(You are requested not to throw shells under the tables)

Boer Whines—Long Tom

Hollands-in-Skin

Orange Wine

The British were in for a surprise. The Boers were on their own home territory, and they were tough and determined. The
first battle of the war took place in Mafeking, hardly more than a village, and for the first time, the British began to realize what they were up against. More troops were quickly sent over from England. They laid siege to Kimberley, and it was only after a fierce and bloody fight that they went on to take Ladysmith. The cannons of the Boers had a longer range than those of the British, so long-range guns were removed from British warships, moved inland and manned by sailors hundreds of miles from their ships.

In Klipdrift, Margaret listened eagerly for news of each battle, and she and those around her lived on rumors, their moods varying from elation to despair, depending on the news. And then one morning one of Margaret’s employees came running into her office and said, “I just heard a report that the British are advancing on Klipdrift. They’re going to kill us all!”

“Nonsense. They wouldn’t dare touch us.”

Five hours later, Margaret McGregor was a prisoner of war.

Margaret and Kate were taken to Paardeberg, one of the hundreds of prison camps that had sprung up all over South Africa. The prisoners were kept inside an enormous open field, ringed by barbed wire and guarded by armed British soldiers. The conditions were deplorable.

Margaret took Kate in her arms and said, “Don’t worry, darling, nothing’s going to happen to you.”

But neither of them believed it. Each day became a calendar of horrors. They watched those around them die by the tens and the hundreds and then by the thousands as fever swept through the camp. There were no doctors or medication for the wounded, and food was scarce. It was a constant nightmare that went on for almost three harrowing years. The worst of it was the feeling of utter helplessness. Margaret and Kate were at the complete mercy of their captors. They were dependent upon them for meals and shelter, for their very lives. Kate lived in terror. She watched the children around her die, and she was afraid that she would be next. She was powerless to protect her mother or herself, and it was a lesson she was never to forget.
Power
. If you had power, you had food. You had medicine. You
had freedom. She saw those around her fall ill and die, and she equated power with life.
One day
, Kate thought,
I’ll have power. No one will be able to do this to me again
.

The violent battles went on—Belmont and Graspan and Stormberg and Spioenkop—but in the end, the brave Boers were no match for the might of the British Empire. In 1902, after nearly three years of bloody war, the Boers surrendered. Fifty-five thousand Boers fought, and thirty-four thousand of their soldiers, women and children died. But what filled the survivors with a deep savage bitterness was the knowledge that twenty-eight thousand of those died in British concentration camps.

On the day the gates of the camp were flung open, Margaret and Kate returned to Klipdrift. A few weeks later, on a quiet Sunday, David Blackwell arrived. The war had matured him, but he was still the same grave, thoughtful David Margaret had learned to rely upon. David had spent these hellish years fighting and worrying about whether Margaret and Kate were dead or alive. When he found them safe at home, he was filled with joy.

“I wish I could have protected you both,” David told Margaret.

“That’s all past, David. We must think only of the future.”

And the future was Kruger-Brent, Ltd.

For the world, the year 1900 was a clean slate on which history was going to be written, a new era that promised peace and limitless hope for everyone. A new century had begun, and it brought with it a series of astonishing inventions that reshaped life around the globe. Steam and electric automobiles were replaced by the combustion engine. There were submarines and airplanes. The world population exploded to a billion and a half people. It was a time to grow and expand, and during the next six years, Margaret and David took full advantage of every opportunity.

During those years, Kate grew up with almost no supervision. Her mother was too busy running the company with David to
pay much attention to her. She was a wild child, stubborn and opinionated and intractable. One afternoon when Margaret came home from a business meeting, she saw her fourteen-year-old daughter in the muddy yard in a fistfight with two boys. Margaret stared in horrified disbelief.

“Bloody hell!” she said under her breath. “That’s the girl who one day is going to run Kruger-Brent, Limited! God help us all!”

On a hot summer night in 1914, Kate McGregor was working alone in her office at the new Kruger-Brent, Ltd., headquarters building in Johannesburg when she heard the sound of approaching automobiles. She put down the papers she had been studying, walked over to the window and looked out. Two cars of police and a paddy wagon had come to a stop in front of the building. Kate watched, frowning, as half a dozen uniformed policemen leaped from the cars and hurried to cover the two entrances and exits to the building. It was late, and the streets were deserted. Kate caught a wavy reflection of herself in the window. She was a beautiful woman, with her father’s light-gray eyes and her mother’s full figure.

There was a knock at the office door and Kate called, “Come in.”

The door opened and two uniformed men entered. One wore the bars of a superintendent of police.

“What on earth is going on?” Kate demanded.

“I apologize for disturbing you at this late hour, Miss McGregor. I’m Superintendent Cominsky.”

“What’s the problem, Superintendent?”

“We’ve had a report that an escaped killer was seen entering this building a short time ago.”

There was a shocked look on Kate’s face. “Entering
this
building?”

“Yes, ma’am. He’s armed and dangerous.”

Kate said nervously, “Then I would very much appreciate it, Superintendent, if you would find him and get him out of here.”

“That’s exactly what we intend to do, Miss McGregor. You haven’t seen or heard anything suspicious, have you?”

“No. But I’m alone here, and there are a lot of places a person could hide. I’d like you to have your men search this place thoroughly.”

“We’ll get started immediately, ma’am.”

The superintendent turned and called to the men in the hallway, “Spread out. Start at the basement and work your way up to the roof.” He turned to Kate. “Are any of the offices locked?”

“I don’t believe so,” Kate said, “but if they are, I’ll open them for you.”

Superintendent Cominsky could see how nervous she was, and he did not blame her. She would be even more nervous if she knew how desperate the man was for whom they were looking. “We’ll find him,” the superintendent assured Kate.

Kate picked up the report she had been working on, but she was unable to concentrate. She could hear the police moving through the building, going from office to office.
Would they find him?
She shivered.

The policemen moved slowly, methodically searching every possible hiding place from the basement to the roof. Forty-five minutes later, Superintendent Cominsky returned to Kate’s office.

She looked at his face. “You didn’t find him.”

“Not yet, ma’am, but don’t worry—”

“I
am
worried, Superintendent. If there is an escaped killer in this building, I want you to find him.”

“We will, Miss McGregor. We have tracking dogs.”

From the corridor came the sound of barking and a moment later a handler came into the office with two large German shepherds on leashes.

“The dogs have been all over the building, sir. They’ve searched everyplace but this office.”

The superintendent turned to Kate. “Have you been out of this office anytime in the past hour or so?”

“Yes. I went to look up some records in the file room. Do you think he could have—?” She shuddered. “I’d like you to check this office, please.”

The superintendent gave a signal and the handler slipped the leashes off the dogs and gave the command, “Track.”

The dogs went crazy. They raced to a closed door and began barking wildly.

“Oh, my God!” Kate cried. “He’s in there!”

The superintendent pulled out his gun. “Open it,” he ordered.

The two policemen moved to the closet door with drawn guns and pulled the door open. The closet was empty. One of the dogs raced to another door and pawed excitedly at it.

“Where does that door lead?” Superintendent Cominsky asked.

“To a washroom.”

The two policemen took up places on either side of the door and yanked it open. There was no one inside.

The handler was baffled. “They’ve never behaved this way before.” The dogs were racing around the room frantically. “They’ve got the scent,” the handler said. “But where is he?”

Both dogs ran to the drawer of Kate’s desk and continued their barking.

“There’s your answer,” Kate tried to laugh. “He’s in the drawer.”

Superintendent Cominsky was embarrassed. “I’m sorry to have troubled you, Miss McGregor.” He turned to the handler and snapped, “Take these dogs out of here.”

“You’re not leaving?” There was concern in Kate’s voice.

“Miss McGregor, I can assure you you’re perfectly safe. My
men have covered every inch of this building. You have my personal guarantee that he’s not here. I’m afraid it was a false alarm. My apologies.”

Kate swallowed. “You certainly know how to bring excitement to a woman’s evening.”

Kate stood looking out the window, watching the last of the police vehicles drive away. When they were out of sight, she opened her desk drawer and pulled out a blood-stained pair of canvas shoes. She carried them down the corridor to a door marked
Private, Authorized Personnel Only
, and entered. The room was bare except for a large, locked, walk-in safe built into the wall, the vault where Kruger-Brent, Ltd., stored its diamonds before shipping. Quickly, Kate dialed the combination on the safe and pulled open the giant door. Dozens of metal safe-deposit boxes were built into the sides of the vault, all crammed with diamonds. In the center of the room, lying on the floor half-conscious, was Banda.

Kate knelt beside him. “They’ve gone.”

Banda slowly opened his eyes and managed a weak grin. “If I had a way out of this vault, do you know how rich I’d be, Kate?”

Kate carefully helped him to his feet. He winced with pain as she touched his arm. She had wrapped a bandage around it, but blood was seeping through.

“Can you put your shoes on?” She had taken them from him earlier, and, to confuse the tracking dogs she knew would be brought in, she had walked around her office in them and then hidden them in her drawer.

Now Kate said, “Come on. We have to get you out of here.”

Banda shook his head. “I’ll make it on my own. If they catch you helping me, you’ll be in more trouble than you can handle.”

“Let me worry about that.”

Banda took a last look around the vault.

“Do you want any samples?” Kate asked. “You can help yourself.”

Banda looked at her and saw that she was serious. “Your daddy made me that offer once, a long time ago.”

Kate smiled wryly. “I know.”

“I don’t need money. I just have to leave town for a while.”

“How do you think you’re going to get out of Johannesburg?”

“I’ll find a way.”

“Listen to me. The police have roadblocks out by now. Every exit from the city will be watched. You won’t have a chance by yourself.”

He said stubbornly, “You’ve done enough.” He had managed to put his shoes on. He was a forlorn-looking figure, standing there in a torn, bloodied shirt and jacket. His face was seamed and his hair was gray, but when Kate looked at him she saw the tall, handsome figure she had first met as a child.

“Banda, if they catch you, they’ll kill you,” Kate said quietly. “You’re coming with me.”

She knew she was right about the roadblocks. Every exit from Johannesburg would be guarded by police patrols. Banda’s capture was a top priority and the authorities had orders to bring him in dead or alive. The railroad stations and roads would be watched.

“I hope you have a better plan than your daddy had,” Banda said. His voice was weak. Kate wondered how much blood he had lost.

“Don’t talk. Save your strength. Just leave everything to me.” Kate sounded more confident than she felt. Banda’s life was in her hands, and she could not bear it if anything happened to him. She wished again, for the hundredth time, that David was not away. Well, she would simply have to manage without him.

“I’m going to bring my automobile around to the alley,” Kate said. “Give me ten minutes, then come outside. I’ll have the back door of the car open. Get in and lie on the floor. There will be a blanket to cover yourself with.”

“Kate, they’re going to search every automobile leaving the city. If—”

“We’re not going by automobile. There’s a train leaving for Cape Town at eight
A.M.
I ordered my private car connected to it.”

“You’re getting me out of here in your private railroad car?”

“That’s right.”

Banda managed a grin. “You McGregors really like excitement.”

Thirty minutes later, Kate drove into the railroad yards. Banda was on the floor of the backseat, concealed by a blanket. They had had no trouble passing the roadblocks in the city, but now as Kate’s car turned into the train yards, a light suddenly flashed on, and Kate saw that her way was blocked by several policemen. A familiar figure walked toward Kate’s car.

“Superintendent Cominsky!”

He registered surprise. “Miss McGregor, what are you doing here?”

Kate gave him a quick, apprehensive smile. “You’ll think I’m just a silly, weak female, Superintendent, but to tell you the truth, what happened back at the office scared the wits out of me. I decided to leave town until you catch this killer you’re looking for. Or have you found him?”

“Not yet, ma’am, but we will. I have a feeling he’ll make for these railroad yards. Wherever he runs, we’ll catch him.”

“I certainly hope so!”

“Where are you headed?”

“My railway car is on a siding up ahead. I’m taking it to Cape Town.”

“Would you like one of my men to escort you?”

“Oh, thank you, Superintendent, but that won’t be necessary. Now that I know where you and your men are, I’ll breathe a lot easier, believe me.”

Five minutes later, Kate and Banda were safely inside the private railway car. It was pitch black.

“Sorry about the dark,” Kate said. “I don’t want to light any lamps.”

She helped Banda onto a bed. “You’ll be fine here until morning. When we start to pull out, you’ll hide out in the washroom.”

Banda nodded. “Thank you.”

Kate drew the shades. “Have you a doctor who will take care of you when we get to Cape Town?”

He looked up into her eyes.
“We?”

“You didn’t think I was going to let you travel alone while I missed all the fun?”

Banda threw back his head and laughed.
She’s her father’s daughter, all right
.

As dawn was breaking, an engine pulled up to the private railroad car and shunted it onto the main track in back of the train that was leaving for Cape Town. The car rocked back and forth as the connection was made.

At exactly eight o’clock, the train pulled out of the station. Kate had left word that she did not wish to be disturbed. Banda’s wound was bleeding again, and Kate attended to it. She had not had a chance to talk to Banda since earlier that evening, when he had stumbled half-dead into her office. Now she said, “Tell me what happened, Banda.”

Banda looked at her and thought,
Where can I begin?
How could he explain to her the
trekboers
who pushed the Bantus from their ancestral land? Had it started with them? Or had it started with the giant Oom Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal, who said in a speech to the South African Parliament, “We must be the lords over the blacks and let them be a subject race…” Or had it begun with the great empire-builder Cecil Rhodes, whose motto was, “Africa for the whites?” How could he sum up the history of his people in a sentence? He thought of a way. “The police murdered my son,” Banda said.

The story came pouring out. Banda’s older son, Ntombenthle, was attending a political rally when the police charged in to break it up. Some shots were fired, and a riot began. Ntombenthle was arrested, and the next morning he was found hanged in his cell. “They said it was suicide,” Banda told Kate. “But I know my son. It was murder.”

“My God, he was so young,” Kate breathed. She thought of all the times they had played together, laughed together. Ntombenthle
had been such a handsome boy. “I’m sorry, Banda. I’m so sorry. But why are they after you?”

“After they killed him I began to rally the blacks. I had to fight back, Kate. I couldn’t just sit and do nothing. The police called me an enemy of the state. They arrested me for a robbery I did not commit and sentenced me to prison for twenty years. Four of us made a break. A guard was shot and killed, and they’re blaming me. I’ve never carried a gun in my life.”

“I believe you,” Kate said. “The first thing we have to do is get you somewhere where you’ll be safe.”

“I’m sorry to involve you in all this.”

“You didn’t involve me in anything. You’re my friend.”

He smiled. “You know the first white man I ever heard call me friend? Your daddy.” He sighed. “How do you think you’re going to sneak me off the train at Cape Town?”

“We’re not going to Cape Town.”

“But you said—”

“I’m a woman. I have a right to change my mind.”

In the middle of the night when the train stopped at the station at Worcester, Kate arranged to have her private railroad car disconnected and shunted to a siding. When Kate woke up in the morning, she went over to Banda’s cot. It was empty. Banda was gone. He had refused to compromise her any further. Kate was sorry, but she was sure he would be safe. He had many friends to take care of him.
David will be proud of me
, Kate thought.

“I can’t believe you could be so stupid!” David roared, when Kate returned to Johannesburg and told him the news. “You not only jeopardized your own safety, but you put the company in danger. If the police had found Banda here, do you know what they would have done?”

Kate said defiantly, “Yes. They would have killed him.”

David rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Don’t you understand anything?”

“You’re bloody right, I do! I understand that you’re cold and unfeeling.” Her eyes were ablaze with fury.

“You’re still a child.”

She raised her hand to strike him, and David grabbed her arms. “Kate, you’ve got to control your temper.”