Assassin (The Billionaire Series) (21 page)

Tom looked around again at the mourners. There really weren’t
many people at all. Some Alba executives were there but Tom thought they just
wanted to talk to him, he had been avoiding them, ignoring their calls. His
father’s personal assistant was there. She still refused to believe the
nonsense about Donald and was devastated. George, Alba’s doorman from Head
Office, was also there. He had been with the company for over 26 years, since
the day it started. Donald had often said that George was the only real
gentleman in the company and often recounted the story of when he was sixteen
and had pulled up to the front door of the building in a limousine. He was
there to announce that he was the anonymous owner of Alba. George had opened
the car door and treated Donald like any other gentleman. Nobody else did that
day, everybody else had treated Donald like some stupid kid having a laugh.

As the ceremony was about to start, a commotion was heard at
the back of the church. People were being pushed and shoved forward. This was
all they needed, thought Tom, the press fighting over photographs of empty
caskets, their parents’ bodies were at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

“Get out of my way and get that bloody thing out of my face!”
barked a man in broken English. Mr Sakamoto did not like the press and fought
past the crowd of photographers. Tom and Lela turned around to see him followed
by twenty or so of their school-friends including Tristan, Zach, Daniel, Chen,
Mingmei and Mia. They took their seats behind Tom and Lela, all mouthing their
apologies for being late. After just a brief glimpse they noticed how pale and
thin they both looked.

The Academy students were not the only surprise guests at the
funeral. Just after the first commotion, photographers scrambled to take
advantage of the best photo opportunity of the day. General Powers, the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the USA strode in, accompanied by the
Vice President of the USA.

Chapter 52

Beaumont had managed to find a channel showing live pictures
of the Kennedys’ funeral, beamed from the UK. He watched as the broadcasters
discussed and commented on one of the world’s most notorious assassins. Oh how
the mighty have fallen, he thought. Three weeks earlier, not a bad word could
be said against Mr Donald Kennedy. He was the media’s darling, the perfect
employer, the man with the Midas touch.

He was just about to switch the TV off as a group of kids
barged into the church, closely followed by General Powers and the Vice
President. What the hell did they think they were doing?

He immediately went to see the President to ask whether he was
aware that the Vice President and Chief of the Military were about to cause the
nation huge embarrassment. Attending the funeral of a mass murderer was simply
not acceptable and a note to this effect had been sent out from the President
himself. In addition, any other government attending would, by default, insult
the US government. The UK Prime Minister, in particular, had reacted very badly
to the US’ position and less than subtle message to the world. Donald had been
a good friend and the allegations against him were preposterous. However, he
had no choice but to bow to the pressure. Poor diplomatic relations with the US
could result in a trade war and a loss of many British jobs. So for political
reasons only, the funeral would be avoided.

Beaumont was very pleased with the international reaction as
it further suggested that the evidence against Donald Kennedy was true, another
nail in his coffin.

Attendance by the Vice President, however, was going to
humiliate the President and the US.

Chapter 53

After the funeral, the mourners returned to the Kennedy
Estate. Tom and Lela pulled themselves together. They had friends who had
travelled six thousand miles to be with them so they had to be strong.

“Tom, Lela, I just wanted to say I’m so sorry for your loss.
The Vice President had to dash off to a meeting but asked me to offer you his
sincere condolences,” said General Powers.

“Thank you Sir and please thank the Vice President, his
attendance was most unexpected,” answered Tom for both of them, Lela was still
very emotional.

“Son, one other thing. I knew your father very well and this
assassin stuff is just complete bullshit. If you need anything and I mean
anything, you give me a call,” said the General handing Tom his card with every
conceivable number he could be contacted on. “ I mean it son,
anything.
”
Tom noticed how much he emphasised the word ‘anything’ and took the card.

“Thanks again Sir, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good, you do that. I’m sorry but I also have to leave. I’ll
quickly say goodbye to Zach and be on my way.”

 
Tom and Lela spent
the next hour chatting to their friends and discovering that their lateness was
due to the arrival of the Vice President at the airport. The plane from The
Academy had been instructed to wait until the Vice President had landed and
disembarked before they could land.

The executives from Alba continued to hover. Tom had avoided
them all afternoon and to be fair to them, they had given him some space.
However, they clearly needed to speak to him and Jonathan, the Head of Legal,
eventually approached him. Tom was not looking forward to the conversation, he
had read the reports in the papers, Alba was not doing well.

“Hi, Tom, I’m so sorry about everything that’s happened. Is
there is anything I can help you with?”

“No, thank you. And I’m sorry that I haven’t called you back…”

“Don’t even think about. You’ve got more to worry about than
speaking to us.”

“How are things, I’ve seen the headlines, is it really bad?”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. The guys will keep things ticking
over until you know what you want to do,” said Jonathan.

“Thanks but Alan has been calling and leaving messages about
having to decide what I want to do quickly because offers are being made which
may not last?”

“He’s what?!” exclaimed Jonathan, genuinely shocked. He knew
that Alan was a nightmare but this was just too much.

“It’s OK,” said Tom. “I think perhaps it’s time that I should
start getting more involved anyway. I can’t let my dad’s baby just fall apart,
he wouldn’t want that,”
 
said Tom,
realising that he had to accept the situation and that it was time to move on.

“What about school?” asked Jonathan. “Your parents would
expect you to finish your education.”

“Of course. But not yet. Maybe next week. There’s a trip to
Machu Picchu in Peru. Maybe we’ll join them there, we’re not sure yet,” replied
Tom, looking across at Lela. She had calmed down and
 
in the company of old friends was
beginning to look like her old self.

“OK, sounds good,” said Jonathan. “But seriously, don’t worry
about the company, it’s fine.”

“No, I need to face up to it, he’s not coming back. I’ll be in
tomorrow at 8.00 a.m. Could you please call a board meeting?”

“Of course,” replied Jonathan who left to tell his fellow
executives to be in at 8.00 a.m. for a special board meeting.

Tom returned to his friends, Daniel seemed very keen to talk
to him.

“Hi Tom, how are you doing?” he asked.

“Been better, I have to say.”

“Understandable. If there’s anything I can do, please don’t
hesitate to ask.”

“Thanks.”

“Any ideas or clues as to who’s really behind the
assassinations?” Daniel lowered his voice as he asked the question.

“Yes, I think perhaps it was my dad afterall.”

“What?!” exclaimed Daniel almost dropping his glass. “How can
you say that?! You know someone was trying to kill him. What’s come over you?”

“We don’t know for sure that someone was trying to kill him.
You relayed a message to me and we saw a heavily guarded prison. It doesn’t
prove anything. I’ve also received this,” said Tom pulling out his phone from
his pocket. He showed Daniel the text he had received.

Daniel read the screen. It said “NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS
– TRUST NO ONE – I ONLY PRAY YOU CAN FORGIVE US XXX-
9315502302225.”

“Who’s it from?” he asked.

“My dad.”

“When?”

“The time tallies with just before Alba One crashed.”

“Bloody hell!” said Daniel.

“Yep. Why would he ask for forgiveness if he hadn’t done
anything wrong?”

“What are those numbers at the end?”

“Just gibberish. I think he must have lost control as his
plane was about to crash into the Ocean. It’s amazing that he managed to press
the Send button.”

“Come on, Tom. You can’t think like that. The guys in our
group are still working through their contacts. Something will come up, you’ll
see.”

Daniel tried to cheer Tom up but it wasn’t working. In fact,
reading the message again had stirred up a lot of emotion in Tom. He just
wanted to scream WHY????? But he couldn’t. The room was full of people. Tom and
Lela agreed that they needed some space, they were becoming overwhelmed. Tom’s
grandparents sensed this and thanked the guests for attending but asked if they
wouldn’t mind, finishing their drinks as Tom and Lela needed some rest.
Everybody quickly and quietly put their drinks down and left, except for Alan,
the CFO, who made a beeline for Tom.

“Tom, can I have a quick word?”

Tom looked at him coldly.

“What do you want Alan?”

“Just two minutes?”

“You’ll have it tomorrow, not now. Please leave Alan.”

“But?”

Lela stepped in. This guy really was a pain in the neck.

“Not now,” she said firmly, stepping in front of Tom.

Alan backed off.

Chapter 54

The US President was fuming. He had never experienced such a
wilful act of betrayal. He could understand why General Powers had attended the
funeral but as for the Vice President, that was unforgivable.

Beaumont had woken him up to tell him the news, holding the
phone away from his ear as the President let rip.

Beaumont was summoned to the Oval office thirty minutes later.
The President had needed time to calm down before making the call to the VP.
They discussed the options and how to handle the call, the VP was no fool. He
was always out to win brownie points and that was why his actions seemed so
strange. Why would he go out of his way to attend the funeral of a public hate
figure, in direct contravention of the President’s instructions?

The President hit the speed dial and the phone’s speaker began
to buzz.

“Hello, Mr President,” replied the VP.

“Mr Vice President, may I ask what the hell you think you’re
doing in Glasgow?”

The VP had been expecting the call.

“I was paying my respects to a former business colleague,” he
replied cheerily.

“He’s responsible for assassinating half the world’s leaders,”
screamed the President.

“Bullshit. That man probably never even killed a fly. I know
it and you know it. Half the damn scumbags who didn’t show up at the funeral
know it,” said the VP calmly.

The President suddenly became wary. Afterall, the VP had spent
the day with General Powers.

“Do you know something we don’t?”

“Of course not. If I did, you’d know about it.”

“So what the hell are you doing sullying your name and our
country at the funeral?”

“Trust me, the only people sullied and who will rue today, are
those who didn’t attend. I can’t imagine the world’s richest and largest
company is going to forget those who didn’t honour its founder and father,”
said the VP, choosing his words carefully. “I never let you down Mr President.
Good press will come from this, trust me.”

The President didn’t know what to say. The VP had put up a
very good response and ultimately he was right. Donald Kennedy was going to be
proven innocent soon, the final round of assassinations was not far away. But
the VP was not aware of this and so he could not let the point go, the VP would
smell a rat if he did.

“I don’t care what you think. The point was that you were
asked
not
to
attend the funeral. Your attendance is going to embarrass me,
particularly amongst the world leaders to whom I suggested they not attend. The
UK Prime Minister has already called.” He picked up the message from his desk
and read it out.

 
“
Can
you get the hypocritical bastard to call me back asap
. And I’m
expecting quite a few more like this,” said the President.

“That’s all very well but nobody informed my office that the
funeral was a no go area,” said the VP.

The President snapped his head towards Beaumont who could only
shrug, he hadn’t thought for a second he’d need to tell the VP.

“Well you should have been. I’ll call you back. I’ve got
another call coming in,” said the President, hitting the button to end the
call.

“That went well,” he said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry but I never thought he’d want to go,” said
Beaumont.

“To be fair, neither did I,” replied the President more
rationally. “But actually, he’s right. And he’ll benefit from this when we
finish off the other leaders. I can hear him now,
I always
knew the stories were garbage,
” mocked the President.

“Yes but maybe he is right. Perhaps
we
can gain from this. I could start a rumour that
you
asked him to attend,” offered Beaumont.