Assassin (The Billionaire Series) (24 page)

The small helicopter took a sharp turn to the left. Screams
came from the back. He looked up to see the side of a bridge right in front of
them. The helicopter skids scraped the ground as they flew right under it. They
took another sharp turn to the left and continued to skim across the tops of
cars before taking a sharp right. The pilot then accelerated as they skirted
along the side of the river.

The Police chopper had seen them fly extremely low, a
manoeuvre too dangerous for their bulky chopper. Instead, they cut across the
rooftops diagonally. However, they hadn’t figured on the left turn under the
bridge. It was not until they had stationed themselves half way up Union
Street, the continuation of Jamaica Street, that they realised something was
amiss.

“Everybody OK?” asked the pilot who was having great fun.
Nobody responded.

“Where to now?” he asked Tom.

Tom entered a new address into the sat nav. He didn’t speak,
he thought he might be sick if he opened his mouth.

“That’s over the river. I don’t really want to let them see
us, we’ll easily be seen if we try to get across from here. I have an idea
though…”

Tom nodded. He just wanted the ride to stop.

The pilot kept them low and followed the roads. The police
chopper was still hovering over the city centre trying to find them. As long as
they remained low, they would not be spotted as they raced out of the city. Tom
recognised the road they were on. It was the Clydeside Express, a dual
carriageway which ran from Glasgow all the way to… Tom realised where they were
heading.

He didn’t care if he was sick.

“You’re not?” he gasped.

“Only way, if you want to get there unseen,” responded the
pilot smiling.

The helicopter took the next turning to the left, it was now
flying at the same speed as the cars and effectively had a space in the traffic
as it hurtled under a sign which said ‘Tunnel Traffic Only’.

“NO!!!” screamed Lela as she read the sign.

The pilot ignored the panic behind him. As the road sloped
down, they continued to follow the traffic. The tunnel opening approached.
There was no way they would fit. But as they drew closer, it began to look as
thought they might just make it. All passengers instinctively shut their eyes
as they disappeared into the mouth of the tunnel and began to sink deeper into
the ground as the tunnel burrowed beneath the river Clyde. The road ahead was
fairly clear as cars had raced to get out of their way and the pilot was taking
full advantage, zipping through the tunnel at great speed.

“What the hell was that?” asked Lela as the tunnel flashed two
blasts of light.

“I’d like to see their faces when they develop that one, it’s
a speed camera. I’m doing 50 in a 30!” replied the pilot laughing.

The helicopter broke through the other side of the tunnel,
lifting ten feet and accelerating up to its full speed.

“That was cool,” said Tom. “Very scary, but cool!” He was
beginning to regain his composure.

The three in the back were speechless.

“We’ll be there in twenty minutes,” said the pilot.

“Tom, where are we going?” asked Lela.

“We’re going to see somebody.”

“Shouldn’t we be working out what we’re going to do about the
police?” asked Kano. “I mean with Alba’s logo emblazoned all over this thing,
they might have a fair idea who we are?”

“We just have to do this one thing before leaving.”

“What do you mean, ‘leaving’?” asked Lela.

“We’re going back to school. Nobody has seen us, they just saw
the helicopter and I reported it stolen when we were in the flat,” replied Tom.
That was the call he was making when the others were jumping into the
helicopter from the balcony.

“It should put them off the scent for a little while anyway
and give us enough time to get out of the country before they start linking us
to Alan ,” he added.

“You really are a little genius!” said Kisho patting him on
the back.

Tom phoned Papa and explained what he needed. There wouldn’t
be time to go back to the Estate before they left.

Chapter 60

Blairquhan castle sat in the middle of a 2000 acre estate and
had, until a few years previously, been an exclusive venue for corporate
events, weddings and films. That was until Alba had purchased it and turned it
into a training college during the week and exclusive retreat for its staff at
the weekend. It was one of many throughout the world that any member of staff
could be commended to as a reward for exceptional performance.

The estate lay 50 miles South of Glasgow and was regarded as
the jewel in the crown of Alba’s ‘country style’ weekend retreats. Its secluded
and peaceful location in the wilds of the Scottish countryside with an endless
list of activities made it a firm favourite amongst the staff. Donald loved it
too so there was the added bonus of potentially rubbing shoulders with the
boss.

 
That was,
however, until just over six months before Donald’s death when Blairquhan
Castle disappeared from staff lists. No explanation was given, it was as
though, overnight, the castle had never existed.

The helicopter had made good time on its way South from
Glasgow.

“We’re nearly there,” said Tom recognising the scenery.

“Nearly where?” asked Kisho.

“Blairquhan Castle,” replied Tom.

Before he had a chance to ask why they were there, the
helicopter took an almost 90 degree angle as they turned sharply. They all felt
the G force as the helicopter changed direction. It then slid across the sky,
dropped to the ground and landed without even a bump.

“Jesus, what was that?” asked Kano.

“Just a little manoeuvre I learned a few years ago,” replied
the pilot.

“Cool landing!” said Tom high fiving the pilot before opening
his door and jumping out.

“I’m afraid you guys will have to wait here,” said Tom turning
and running towards the main door of the castle.

“Where are you going?” Tom heard Kisho’s shout but was already
too far away to answer. A man was standing waiting for him as he approached the
door, the noise of the helicopter having alerted him to visitors.

Kisho and Kano were uncomfortable. Papa had told them not to
let Tom or Lela out of their sight. However, Lela had stopped them following
Tom, she promised them that he would not be in danger and told them to just sit
back and relax. They hoped she was right because if she wasn’t, it was they who
would be facing Papa’s wrath, not her.

Tom approached the man.

“Dr Pearson?” he asked, extending his hand.

“Yes but I’m sorry, I don’t know you, do I?” he asked, shaking
Tom’s hand.

“Tom Kennedy, pleased to meet you Sir.”

“Oh, pleased to meet
you
Tom. I’ve heard a lot
about you. What can I do for you?”

“I need to speak to Jason.”

Jason, the former CFO of Alba, was the castle’s only guest
now. When he had broken down, Donald had cleared the castle and employed the
best physicians available to help his CFO and long time friend. Overnight, the
castle and its estate had become the single most exclusive private clinic in
the world. Donald spared no expense and continually provided whatever was
needed to help his friend get over the devastating loss of his family. An
accident which Jason believed was his fault and led him to repeat over and over
again ‘I should have been there, I should have been driving.’

“Impossible,” replied the doctor.

“Sorry doctor, you misunderstand me, I’m not asking.”

Tom walked past the doctor and into the castle. As he entered
the vast hallway, he shouted out.

“Jason? Jason?...” His voice echoed around the walls and
reverberated down the corridors.

The doctor ran in behind Tom, accompanied by two security
staff whom he had summoned.

Kisho and Kano had watched Tom run into the castle followed by
the other man shouting into a hand held radio. It was too much, they jumped out
of the helicopter and ran to Tom.

“Get him out of here!” ordered the doctor to the security
staff.

Tom just looked at the doctor and the advancing guards and
spoke loudly and very firmly.

“Gentlemen, I’m Tom Kennedy, owner of Alba International and I
pay your wages. One more step and I won’t be paying them any more. Do you
understand?”

The guards wavered and looked at the doctor for clarification,
he nodded that it was true. Both guards stepped back.
 

“Where is he? Where’s Jason?” asked Tom to anyone who would
answer.

Kisho and Kano burst into the hallway and ran to Tom’s side,
ready to defend him from whoever moved. Tom gave a thumbs up, everything was
fine, they relaxed.

“Tom is that you making all the noise?” asked a voice from the
top of the staircase. It was Jason.

“Yes. I need to talk to you, it’s very urgent.”

Tom ran up the stairs and the two of them talked. Thirty
minutes later, an almighty scream echoed through the castle and across the
grounds.

“NOOOOO!!!!”

The doctor ran to Jason’s rooms and burst in. Jason was
nowhere to be seen, Tom was sitting by the fireside.

“What happened, is Jason OK?”

“He’s fine. In fact, he’s well enough to
 
leave,” replied Tom.

Jason joined them in the room as another helicopter landed in
the grounds. It was the big one, the EH101. The doctor began to speak but could
not be heard over the helicopter noise. He waited and as the noise settled
asked, “Why, what’s happened?”

Jason had his case packed and was ready to go. He told the
doctor exactly what Tom had just told him.

“But are you sure, you’re OK?”

“Doctor. My wife and children were murdered, murdered by the
same people who have killed my best friends. It wasn’t an accident, it was
planned. The same way they killed presidents and prime ministers. The bastard
who helped them is now dead and was in my job for the last six months. It
wasn’t my fault. I can’t feel guilty about something I couldn’t have prevented.
If I had been driving, I’d be dead too. I wouldn’t have avoided the accident.
Don’t you see? I can’t bring them back but I can bloody well help catch the
people who did it!” The anger in Jason was intense.

Tom led the way back to the helicopter, the small one and its
acrobatic pilot would stay there, it was going to be repainted. Kano, Kisho,
Tom and Lela were going to the airport and the CFO of Alba International was
going back to work.

Chapter 61

Tom One took off from Prestwick airport. Tom had asked Papa to
arrange for the plane to meet them there. Tom thought better safe than sorry.
If the Police were looking for them, it would be at Glasgow airport, not
Prestwick. Just as Tom One touched down at Prestwick, they landed their
helicopter. They were on the ground for less than ten minutes before Kisho and
Tom swapped with the pilots and the party was airborne again. It soon appeared
however they need not have bothered. The stolen helicopter had thrown the
police and they announced in a press conference that they were looking for men
in relation to a suspicious death. The same men had stolen a helicopter and had
managed to evade police during a life endangering low level flight through the
city. The police had had to withdraw in the interest of public safety. Bollocks
thought Tom, they were out flown and they lost us.

As they settled into the flight, they were pleased to find
that Papa and three islanders were on board. With everything going on, Papa
felt safer being close. The other islander had stayed in Scotland with Jason.
Jason had protested but Papa had been insistent.

“Tom, where are we?” asked Lela.

“Just over France, why?” replied Tom.

“I’ve just remembered about Tylanni.”

“Bloody hell I forgot, let’s take a little detour.”

Tom punched in the new settings and the plane flew to
Marseille and onto Monaco. The Tylanni was nowhere to be seen neither in Monaco
nor in Marseille where Donald said she should be. They agreed to call the
police when they landed. It wasn’t everyday a $200 million dollar yacht and her
crew just vanished.

The sun was just beginning to rise as they came into land at
The Academy. They made their way to their rooms and went straight to bed. As it
was Saturday, there was a sports class starting at 10.00 a.m.. Both agreed they
would sleep through it and announce their arrival afterwards. They needed the
sleep.

News travelled fast and five minutes after the sports class
ended, their rooms were full of friends. The girls took up residence in Lela’s
room and the boys in Tom’s. But before long, both groups drifted together in
Lela’s room. Tom and Lela had agreed that the details of Donald’s papers would
only be discussed within their special group, whose members they had texted
ahead. The group would meet that evening at 6.00 p.m. in Conference Room One.
However, Tom could not help recounting the sacking of the Execs. Everybody
thought it was so cool. Conversation was then pretty much driven by their
friends updating them on what they had missed at school. It wasn’t long before
they noticed that Chen and Oleg were missing. Their friends explained that Yuri
and his gang were back to their old ways. Oleg had been attacked the previous
evening and Chen had run to his defence. He had tried his best but there were
just too many of them and both were beaten quite badly. Lela listened intently
to what had happened.

“What did Mr Sakamoto do?” she asked.

“He expelled them instantly, all of them,” replied Mia.