Assassin (The Billionaire Series) (16 page)

Beaumont watched as the weather reporter droned on about
slight rain from the West. The channel then broke for yet another series of
adverts before finally showing the opening credits to the morning news show.
Here we go, thought Beaumont as he increased the volume and sat with his nose
virtually touching the screen.

“Good morning and welcome to breakfast news. Our top story
this morning is Donald Kennedy.” Yes, thought Beaumont. “And the continuing
efforts of the UK government to have him released…”

“What?” Beaumont asked the screen, his mouth wide open.

Chapter 36

Tom and Lela could not stop checking their watches. This was
the first day of school but they had to be in Conference Room One for a video
conference at11.15 a.m.

They started school at 8.00 with a welcome from the
Headmaster, Mr Sakamoto, who paid tribute to the world leaders who had been
assassinated over the previous few months. He sent his condolences and
sympathies to their families but also welcomed the new students who had joined
the school under tragic circumstances. He then went on to more mundane
house-keeping matters and by 9.00 am, the students were on their way to their first
lesson.

At 11.10 a.m., Tom and Lela asked to be excused from their
classroom. Mr Sakamoto had authorised the missing of one lesson to allow them
to join the video conference. They rushed across the school grounds to the
Conference Centre and entered Room One. It was a large room and as with the
rest of the school, no expense had been spared, no corner cut on the
presentation facilities, furniture or equipment. Large plush leather chairs
surrounded the solid wood table, polished to perfection by an ex royal footman.
A massive video screen covered one wall and showed eight expectant faces
staring at the screen. All they could see was the very plush and expansive
table surrounded by numerous empty chairs.

Tom and Lela kept out of the camera’s view and took a good
look at each of
 
the eight people on
the other side of the world who had answered the call to attend a special
emergency board meeting. Jonathan suddenly appeared on the screen and could be
seen nodding to his colleagues. A sly grin thrown towards the camera suggested
that he knew Tom and Lela would be observing them, in Glasgow at the global
headquarters of Alba International.

Tom took a deep breath and walked into shot of the camera and
took his seat. Lela had decided to remain out of sight but would participate if
required.

“Good morning,” said Tom.

“Good morning Tom,” they all responded.

“Are we missing somebody?” asked Tom looking at an empty seat.

“Alan, the new CFO, is on a call. He said he’d be along soon,”
replied Jonathan.

“You told him we were holding an emergency meeting?” asked Tom
slightly agitated.

“Yes,” replied Jonathan.

“Would somebody mind telling him to get his arse in here,
right now!” said Tom firmly and shocking a few of the Alba execs who looked at
the screen in surprise.

“Gladly,” offered Jonathan.

As he stood up, the door burst open and a very cocky Alan
almost shouted, “So Johnny-boy what’s up now? What’s the big emergency that
can’t wait?”

He was almost in his seat before he noticed the screen and its
lone figure. The silence was almost deafening, nobody dared speak. Tom had only
met the new CFO once, he hadn’t liked him then and certainly liked him even
less now. Jason, the previous CFO was on compassionate leave and had insisted
that Donald fill his role permanently. He didn’t want the pressure of knowing
that he had to get back. Donald had pleaded for him to take time, there was no
pressure. He could hire an interim for 10 years if he had to. But Jason had
been insistent.

Alba was the largest and most profitable corporation in the
world, there were probably only five accountants up to the task but
unfortunately Alan was the only acceptable candidate to have come forward and
so was offered the position by default.

“Hi Tom, how you doin’ mate?” asked Alan as if nothing were
wrong.

Tom took one disgusted look at the man before completely
ignoring him.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ve called you here today to inform
you of some important news. My father recently asked for a special condition to
be placed in the company’s statute book. I won’t bore you with the legalise but
basically it states that, in my father’s absence and with the approval of
available stated family members, any Kennedy can take control as Interim Chief
Executive. Said individual will take full control and act with the complete
authority of Donald Kennedy. Stated family members are Rachel Kennedy, Saki
Kennedy, Lela Kennedy and Tom Kennedy.”

All the executives looked at Jonathan who nodded that this was
correct, apart from Alan who was too busy choking on his coffee.

Tom continued.

“With that in mind, I spoke to Jonathan last night and invoked
the condition. We agreed that my parents and Saki were absent as defined by the
condition and therefore, with Lela’s approval, I took control of Alba
International with immediate effect.”

“Congratulations Tom,” they all said at once, except Alan who
wanted added clarity.

“Wait a minute, are you
seriously
saying that
you
are the new boss?”

“Yes. So less of the
mate
and the
Johnny-boy
if you don’t mind.” He was really annoying Tom now. Alan’s face dropped. This
was certainly not what he had expected.

“I have some more news,” continued Tom. “As CEO, I made my
first corporate purchase last night. We have bought the Global Media Group.”

“What?!” blurted out Alan. “But I wasn’t told about this! How
can you have bought it without my involvement? I’m the Chief Financial Officer
and I don’t know anything about this! Jonathan, what the hell’s going on here?”
shouted Alan.

“Don’t you get it Alan, you don’t need to know. If Tom wants
it to happen, it happens,” replied Jonathan who was enjoying putting Alan in
his place.

“But how much did you pay?” Alan couldn’t stop himself.

“Too much,” replied Tom, “and just enough. It depends on what
you are buying.”

***

The initial phone call had caught Max Marshall by surprise. He
had obviously not expected a fourteen-year-old to want to buy his company. The
second call had been more productive. Max had had a call from Jonathan
confirming the funds were in place and could be transferred that evening. When
offered $15 billion dollars to just walk away with no headaches and no hassle,
$2 billion of which was a sweetener, it had not taken long for Tom to get the
answer he wanted.

Moments later, the story about Donald was quashed and all
front pages reprinted calling on the British Government to help Donald Kennedy.
Tom knew it would only buy them a couple of days before the story leaked
elsewhere but that may be enough to get his parents and Saki out of prison and
back to the UK. It was worth a try, $15 billion was not a lot of money to
Alba.
  

Chapter 37

Beaumont was sitting in the oval office at 7.00 a.m. It was
going to be another bad day, he could already sense it. The news had not broken
and he still didn’t know why.

“Well, Mr Genius, what disaster awaits us today?” asked the
President as he entered the office with the General Powers incident still on
his mind. Although not enjoying Beaumont’s failures, he did like to see him
taken down a peg or two.

“I take it you’ve seen the news then,” said Beaumont. “Or more
correctly, the lack of it.”

“Yes, what the hell happened there?” asked the President.

“I have no idea. The news was scheduled to break this morning,
the evidence is rock solid and irrefutable, we planted it ourselves. I just
don’t understand it.”

The phone rang exactly on time. Beaumont hit the speaker
button.

“Good morning Mr Chairman.”

“Less of the good I think. I believe we have failed
spectacularly AGAIN gentlemen. This is becoming a very bad habit.” The Chairman
was not impressed.

“We’re just trying to find out what happened,” explained
Beaumont.

“I know what happened, you fool. Alba bought Global and killed
the story. It’s all over the business news. They purchased them late last
night.”

“But they can’t have, our man would have told us?”
 

“He didn’t know, nobody did. The son bought it for cash just
like that. Spent $15 billion on it.”

“The son? But he’s only a kid?”

“Anyway, don’t worry, the story will break tomorrow. I’ve
sorted it. And gentlemen, no more mistakes. Yesterday’s cock-up cost us more
than you know. However, I do congratulate you, framing Donald Kennedy for the
assassinations is a stroke of genius but only if it works. I suggest that after
the story breaks, you arrange a very quick accident. Afterall, dead men can’t
talk…”

“Consider it done Mr Chairman,” replied Beaumont.

The Chairman hung up and left the two men looking at one
another.

“What did he mean more than we know?” asked Beaumont.

“I had my suspicions but he just confirmed it. Walker was a
committee member. He was useless, never deserved the post but he was a useful
useless if you know what I mean.”

“Yes I do,” replied Beaumont as he walked back to his office.
He immediately called Smith.

“We need to finish the job tomorrow,” Beaumont explained.

“Any specific time?” asked Smith.

“As soon as possible after the story breaks. It’ll dampen the
outrage if Kennedy dies as a suspected assassin.”

“No problem. Everything here is set. I’ve organised a
full-blown prison riot, hundreds will be injured and killed and unfortunately
Mr Donald Kennedy will be one of the dead.”

“His wife and the other guy?” asked Beaumont.

“Does it matter?”

“No, not really…actually, on second thoughts, probably best
they go too.”

“OK, by tomorrow night they’ll all be history,” confirmed
Smith.

Beaumont ended the call. Things were getting back on track.
But he had to be careful, he had to plan for the unexpected. He called Jones
and told him what he wanted him to do, better safe than sorry.

Chapter 38

Tom and Lela made it back to their classes after lunch. Their
first Board Meeting had gone very well and it was now time to concentrate on
school, at least for the next couple of hours.

Being back at school was as though they had never left.
Lessons picked up seamlessly from where they had left off, meaning no easy
introduction. By the end of the day, Tom and Lela were not just ‘first day
back’ tired, they were mentally and physically exhausted. They collapsed on
Tom’s bed and caught up with the news on the TV. Nothing new, the story hadn’t
broken but the Guineans did not appear to be bending under British pressure.

Tom was concerned that his $15 billion gamble hadn’t paid off.
He knew he couldn’t stop the story coming out at some point but he thought he
might get his parents and Saki out of prison before it did. In other ways, his
gamble hadn’t been such a gamble afterall. His quick cash offer, take it now or
leave it, had resulted in an undervaluation of Global. In addition, he hadn’t
considered the effect the purchase would have on the value of Alba which stood
to gain significantly from its enhanced media interest. In fact, the finance
team believed he had bought Global for a steal, around $2 billion cheaper than
its true market value. Like father, like son, there was a new Donald Kennedy in
the making. Although pleased that he hadn’t wasted $15 billion, he really
wasn’t interested in being the new Donald, he loved the old one and wanted him
back.

“I really didn’t like that Alan guy,” said Lela.

“Me neither but we’re stuck with him, it doesn’t look as
though Jason will come back.”

“Surely you can get someone else, he really is horrible.”

“I know. I spoke to Jonathan after the meeting, It seems
Alan’s been throwing his weight around behind my dad’s back and now that he’s
not there, he thinks he’s the natural person to step up.”

“That’s outrageous! How dare he? Sack him,” said Lela who was
getting into the role of boss.

“We don’t need to, apparently my intervention and buying
Global without him has put him firmly back in his box. We shouldn’t have any
more hassle from Alan.”

“Hmm, I’m not so sure. Women’s instincts, he’s trouble. Watch
him,” replied
 
Lela more seriously.

“OK, OK, I will,” promised Tom who knew that Lela was a very
good judge of character and if her instincts said watch out, you watched out.

“Has anybody called Jason about what’s happening?” pondered
Lela.

“No, it’s not his job anymore. Lela, I get the point, I’ll
watch Alan like a hawk.” Tom felt the point was being laboured, the guy was
just very ambitious.

“No, you idiot, about our parents being arrested!” said Lela.

“Oh sorry, yeah Jonathan spoke to him. He said it went in one
ear and straight out the other.”

Before Lela had a chance to say anymore, Daniel and Tristan
knocked on the door and walked in. They both looked very pale.

“We’ve got bad news and awful news, which do you want first?”
asked Tristan nervously, he was obviously very uncomfortable.

Tom wasn’t sure whether he could take the awful news. He
looked at Lela, she wasn’t up to either.