Read When Time Fails (Silverman Saga Book 2) for Free Online

She opened her mouth to object. Christo would never have been in the car with them. Not today. He was too busy with the ploughing. Her throat was stuffed with cotton wool. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe.
    ‘Annamari, did you hear what I said?’
    ‘When... where... what happened?’
    ‘Terrorists. They cut through the security fence, broke in to the house and shot them. Must have been last night some time. Stefan Smit found them this morning when he got back from Pretoria.’
    ‘Christo too? In the house? What about the dogs – why didn’t they bark? Warn them? Have they caught them? How many broke in? Why did they shoot? Pa always said they wouldn’t resist if, when, if someone broke in. He said all they usually wanted was food and money and weapons. That’s why he didn’t keep a lot of ammo on the farm, just in case. And Christo... Ma never said he was going to be there, he shouldn’t have been there, he wasn’t supposed to be there, he...’
    She couldn’t go on. It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t possible. It was a lie. It was a horrible, disgusting lie. It was just like Stefan Smit to phone Thys and lie, just to upset her because he knew she didn’t like him and he was just the kind of slimy bastard who would do something like that.
    ‘When did Stefan Smit phone you? He’s a fucking liar, you know he is,’ she said, wrenching her hands free.
    For once, Thys didn’t object to her swearing.
    ‘It wasn’t Stefan who phoned. It was Wynand. Wynand Vorster. He’s in the Murder and Robbery Squad now. Stefan called the cops as soon as... He thought they might be able to catch the bastards before they crossed back into Lesotho. Wynand said they were searching but so far they’ve found nothing.’
    She thought she heard De Wet crying outside. Arno’s fault probably. They all tended to forget that the tough-looking little boy was still just a baby.
    ‘Thys, we have to tell the boys. How are we going to tell the boys? What are we going to say?’
     
    ***
     
    The Corolla ate up the road. Bethlehem disappeared behind them. Thys changed down, overtook a truck, changed up again. They stopped at a road block. A police officer came over. Thys wound down the window. The officer muttered something. Thys nodded. Camouflaged soldiers cradling R1 rifles removed the barrier. The Corolla pulled off, sped up. Thys reached out, switched on the radio. It crackled. He turned it off. She looked down at her hands. She unclenched them. The Corolla hummed. It passed a tractor. It passed a donkey cart. It passed a car. She looked down. She unclenched her hands.
    They were in Driespruitfontein. They stopped at the ne w robo t at the corner of Potgieter and Kerk Street.
    ‘They said the Mayor insisted on it. Apparently, there’s so much traffic here now, it makes him late after he’s dropped his kids at school in the mornings,’ Thys said.
    Th e robo t changed to green. The Corolla pulled off. Past the dam. Driespruitfontein was behind them. The Corolla went faster now. They were on the Steynspruit road. She didn’t look back but she knew there was a massive dust cloud behind them. The gate was open. Thys got out and closed it behind them. They drove up to the main house. There were five cars in the driveway. And a police car.It looked like there was another police car down at Christo’s house. It looked like it was parked next to Christo’s ne w bakki e but she couldn’t be sure. It was too far away.
    A man was standing on th e stoe p , smoking. He ground his cigarette out on the red stone floor before hurrying down the steps towards them. Stefan Smit. He opened her door. She couldn’t move. He stepped back. Thys let go of her hand and got out. He came around the car to her door and took her hand again.
    ‘Come on , liefi e ,’ he said. ‘We better go and find out what’s going on here.’
    Stefan Smit was jabbering like a monkey. ‘It’s terrible. Fucking terrible. I got such a fucking fright, when I