Finding Simba - 4. Find Ch 4

Somewhere in South Africa

As the days and another week passed, I was now settled into a uncomfortable routine of exercises, reading, sleeping and accepting supplies of food now every four days. My captives are not being as generous as they were when I was first captured, and I was thinking that maybe it was because of what I did to try to get some help.

The only thing that seemed to be on time each day is the two freight trains passing twice a day, and I now have found a definite big crack in the wall, caused by the trains. With no suitable tools, I had to make do with the end of the handle of the can opener, which was not much help as the wall is still solid rocks, and it was not going to budge very easily.

I was wondering if Uncle Nat had received my messages or not, the phone had indicated that the first message was definitely sent, but I did not receive a reply because the second time was when the phone was discovered and smashed on the floor of the cave, minus the battery and the SIM Card, which had been removed.

Having just two good-sized meals a day now, I was able to stay well fed, with rice, bread, soup, tuna and the occasional fresh fruit, and I was now able to do my cloths washing after I have completed my swimming exercise, twice a week, and that gave me the extra activity that I needed to keep myself reasonably busy.

After three weeks of confinement, I was finding myself being stressed out a lot more, uncertain how long I will be stuck in this cave for, and whether my next meal drop will be coming as usual, with the chance of the food coming all together.

With that in mind, I decided to lessen the amount of food that I eat during each of my twice-daily meals, so as keep some aside, just in case the food supply does stop. On the day after my fourth week of confinement, I secured the crate to the rope, when it dropped down in the morning, and ten minutes later, it was lowered down again, this time filled with lots and lots of food, which meant that my captor would be away for a while.

Guessing by the amount of food there is, it would probably be one or two weeks, as I untied the rope, which was quickly pulled back up. I carried the heavy crate to the kitchen bench. This time I have packets of rice and pasta, and there is plenty of fresh fruit, with oranges, apples, mandarins, bananas and even two lemons.

Other food included, more cans of fruit, vegetables, soup and stews, and there is fresh onions, potatoes, carrots, and even a cabbage. I decided to concentrate on eating all of the fresh fruit and vegetables first, since they are more likely to go off first, and I left them on the bench, while all the canned goods, rice and pasta were stored away for later use.

The hours and days seemed to drag on; with the only regular events to happen each day are the twice-daily trains passing by and me marking one more day on my wall calendar in the bathroom. Another week passed, and there was no sign of my captors at all, so I guessed that I would be alone for at least another whole week, and I was now on the second read of the second novel, having read all of the books once already.

I was now doing a lot more laps of the pool each day, to keep up my fitness and to pass the time, since there was not much else to do. I was enjoying all of the fresh fruit and vegetables, which quickly disappeared within a week, and I was now down to canned food, as well as rice and pasta.

One whole month, it has been now since I was captured. I was starting to feel very down hearted, not sure if I was ever going to escape this prison that I am been held in. Not having anyone to talk to or even seeing another human being was getting very difficult to handle, as I started to realise that I may never see my uncle, parents, brother or my friends ever again.

With no more fresh food to eat, I was starting to feel like it was not worth eating at all, so I stopped cooking meals and only ate something when I felt like it, usually a can of tuna or a can of baked beans cold. Eventually I gave up on swimming and even walking around the cave, leaving just my visit to the bathroom to just to use the toilet, and mark another day on the wall calendar, as my only daily activity.

Cape Town, South Africa

Nathan was now getting very worried about his nephews welfare, it has been nearly two weeks since the first ransom demand was received and nothing has been received since that time. With the help of the staff, I was able to get a detailed map of the entire railway network in South Africa, and I was now driving along each railway line, one kilometre at a time.

Jabali had travelled south to join Nathan in the search for Jacob, but it was decided not to tell Trent and Anita that their son was missing.

Using alot of his savings, Nathan had purchased a brand new Land Rover Defender, and fitted it out with all the required extras. This includes two car fridges, and a roof top tent, plus a good size first aid kit, two chairs, cups, plates and cutlery, swag, camp stretcher, a side awning, ropes, two UHF radios, and two containers to hold 5 litres of water each.

Once Jabali had arrived, Nathan and he set off to drive along each of the railway lines leaving from Cape Town, which is hundreds of miles. Travelling at a slow speed, as they looked for any sign of a cave that is close to the railway line?

It is very painstakingly slow work, searching for any kind of clue where Jacob is being kept detained that is if he is still alive, or if he has not been relocated. On some days, Jabali would lie on the top of the rooftop tent, and use the binoculars to search the area, but even that came up with nothing.

In two weeks, Jabali and Nathan had covered the whole rail line from Cape Town to Pretoria, a distance of 1,400 kilometres, and there was no sign at all of Jacob anywhere, as they parked in a car park and studied their maps to see what the next option was for them to go.

“Excuse me gentlemen, can I be of any help to you?” a very well dressed middle-aged dark skinned man asked, and Nathan looked up and smiled. “We are not lost, we are searching?” Jabali said in Swahili, “What is it that you are searching for, maybe I can help?” the man replied in Swahili.

“It is not what but who, my nephew was kidnapped over a month ago, and the only clues we have is that he is in a cave and that a freight train goes past very close to the cave, twice a day,” Nathan said in fluent Swahili which surprised the gent.

“I see. I am sorry to hear that your nephew has been kidnapped; unfortunately, it is a regular occurrence here in South Africa. You are not on the correct rail line for your search; you need to go to the Sishen to Saldanha Railway line, which passes through a number of mountain ranges, that is where you will find your nephew if he is still alive.

I wish you all the best of luck with your search, and hope that you find is safe and well. Goodbye,” the man said in English, before he set off across the road. After looking at the maps, Nathan and Jabali worked out, that they had a 600 kilometre drive to the south west ahead of them to get to the top end of this freight railway line.

They also would need to stock up of supplies before they make this journey to Kathu, the nearest main town to the Sishen rail line, and now with a better idea of where to look, they could see that there are some areas that have mountain ranges that would most likely have caves and mines.

This time the search was a little bit faster, as we now knew that the best chance of finding Jacob was in the mountain ranges near the railway line. We had a shorter distance to cover, that being just over 900 kilometres, with just six major mountain ranges to cover, but with the railway access track running near the railway line, there was a lot of rough driving to be done.

When Nathan and Jabali arrived in the town of Kathu, they restocked their supplies once more, before crossing over the rail line to get to the access track, and began the long journey towards the west coast. Just over a week later, they arrived at the coastal town of Elands Bay, where they had carefully checked through each maintain range, and they did not know where to search next.

Heading to a supermarket in search of more supplies, they came across a Police Station and without hesitation, Nathan walked inside, and Jabali elected to stay outside to keep an eye on the vehicle. “Good morning Sir, How may I assist you?” the officer asked with a strong Afrikaans accent.

“Yes, I am wondering if there are any caves or maybe old mines that are very close to the freight railway line.” Nathan asked, “That is a very strange question you ask, what is the purpose of your enquiry?” the officer demanded.

Nathan spent the next fifteen minutes explaining everything, from receiving the text from Jacob, to the text message with the ransom demand and about the three week’s they have spent looking for any clues that may lead to locating Jacob, his nephew.

“Why did you not report this to the police, when you received the ransom?” the officer asked, “Because I was home in South Australia, when I received both my nephews text messages and the ransom demand,” Nathan replied sounded frustrated, as he retrieved his mobile and showed the text messaged, which he had saved.

“Well if you have searched all of the mountain ranges from Kathu to here, there is only one other place that I can think of, where there maybe a cave or old mine, and it is very close to here,” the officer said to Nathan.