BRANDER

THE WILD COAST / HOLE IN THE WALL

Brander was a fisheries patrol officer on the Wild Coast for ten years: fast launch, loud whistle, a ticket for everyone. She is South Africa's national fish and has never once let anyone forget it. She was also, by every account, impossible to bribe. Unless it was cash, vetkoek, biltong or a crate of snoek, which she held as evidence. Indefinitely.

She spent three years building a case against the King Prawn. At the hearing all six of her witnesses forgot everything, and the King's lawyer opened Die Boek at her page: a photograph of Officer Brander accepting a crate of snoek. She was sacked on the spot. She kept the cap.

Now she's going in with six witnesses, all of them the King's own entrants. Each will testify the day Die Boek is gone. She has promised to get their pages out of it. She hasn't mentioned that she'll take hers out first.

THE PRIZE The King Prawn keeps a book on every fish on the coast. Every year he hosts Snoek'em and puts Die Boek up as the prize. He has never lost. Every invitation comes with the fighter's own page enclosed, so they know what's at stake.