Assassin (The Billionaire Series) (26 page)

“Tom it’s only 9.00 p.m., what’s the big rush?” asked Lela who
was beginning to get fed up with being harassed.

“I just don’t want to miss it land,” he replied, glancing at
his watch.

“Oh for God’s sake, just go ahead without me. I’ll come later
with Mingmei and Mia,” offered Lela not thinking for a second he would take her
up on it.

“OK, brilliant I’ll see you there!” he replied as he ran out
of the door. Lela did not have a chance to respond.

Tom ran down the stairs and almost knocked Thabo flying as he
careered into him.

“Where the hell are you going?” asked Thabo.

“To the airfield, I don’t want to be late!” replied Tom.

“Oh, just give me a second, I’ll grab my bag and come with
you,” said Thabo thinking that his watch must be broken.

One minute later, the small golf cart was being pushed as fast
as it would go to get them to the airfield. They drew up next to the small
office building, parked the cart and made their way to the runway. It was 9.09
p.m. and completely deserted.

“Oh God, have we missed it?” asked Thabo.

Tom checked the runway and the apron, the plane was nowhere to
be seen.

“No, it looks like we made it.”

“But there’s no one here, no plane. We must have missed it.”
Thabo looked around him.

“But that’s the point,” said Tom looking at Thabo as though he
were mad. “If the plane were already here, we would have missed it landing.”

“Landing! We rushed here to see the bloody plane land!! Are
you nuts, I thought my watch was broken. We’ve got nearly two hours ‘til we
leave!”

As they realised the misunderstanding, Thabo calmed down and
they chatted happily as they waited for the plane to land. Tom was pleased to
have some company. He would have been lonely sitting there in the dark on his
own. At 9.30 p.m. the airfield started to come to life as ground crew arrived
and office lights were switched on. The plane was close.

“Tom, I keep meaning to ask and it’s been bugging me for a
while, why did your dad land in Equatorial Guinea in the first place?” Thabo
asked cautiously, he didn’t want to upset Tom but the question had been praying
on his mind. Why would anybody land in a country which was accusing them of 2,500
murders?

“He was forced to land,” replied Tom.

“Forced them to land? How?” asked Thabo.

“Thabo, they were forced to land. What’s the issue? They
didn’t want to land there, they just didn’t have any choice.”

“I understand what ‘forced to land’ means Tom. I just don’t
know how a country with nothing more than a couple of small executive jets in
its air force, could have forced them to land, that’s all,” said Thabo.

Tom stopped looking into the sky and spun round to look at
Thabo.

“What do you mean by executive jets, exactly?”

“Just small Gulfstreams, you know, civilian planes. Not
fighters
,”
he emphasised.

“But my dad was forced down by two Mig 29s,” replied Tom.
“This could be exactly the breakthrough we were looking for. Are you absolutely
sure?” he asked.

 
“Positive,”
replied Thabo.

“Ok, we need to get Zach and Daniel onto this asap. You also
need to dig a lot deeper to find out everything we can about the dead Guinean
President, he was obviously playing along with these guys, until they screwed
him.” Tom was so engrossed in working through the possibilities that Thabo had
to tell him the plane was about to touch down.

Tom turned and watched as the plane landed. Its huge engines
announced that it was most definitely the new Boeing 777-200LR, the longest-range
commercial aircraft available. Tom watched as the large plane thundered down
the runway and came to a stop beside them. The plane was entirely white except
for the large UN flag on its tail.

The plane was not a UN plane but bore its flag, after months
of meetings and arguments. It had originally been decided that the new plane,
the result of the fundraising letter, would bear The Academy’s flag. It was
only when one of the students mentioned that they thought the school was
supposed to be secret that the debate had ensued. Eventually, they came to the
decision, with the agreement of the Secretary General of the UN, to fly it
under their flag.

The fundraising letter had sparked off a keep-up-with-the
Jones’ type of competition amongst the students’ parents who vied to prove they
were the most generous. Two or three parents had even offered to purchase a jet
outright. They were politely informed that their generosity was much
appreciated but that the level of donation had been so high that The Academy was
already in the process of sourcing a jet. Naturally, Tom managed to influence
the fund raising committee towards the new long range Boeing which was about to
complete its trials. With three additional fuel tanks, it could fly almost
11,000 miles non-stop with 300 passengers on board. However, The Academy’s
plane would only have 70 seats, thereby increasing its range further still. The
school purchased the jet, set up a fund to cover its running costs and returned
the balance of donations to the parents. They each received over half of what
they had donated along with a note thanking them for their generosity. It was
another example of just how extraordinary The Academy really was. A request for
a few school trips had resulted in a donation from the parents of around half a
billion dollars.

Tom and Thabo managed to get a sneak preview inside the plane.
The captain of the plane was proud to show off his new baby. As ever, no
expense had been spared. The inside was luxurious and had three sections. The
front had fifty first class seats which could be folded down completely flat.
That section, Tom explained to Thabo, was for students and teachers. Only two
classes would ever travel at once, any more would be a threat to security. Next
came the kitchen and dining area which were very spacious and included an area
with large sofas where students could chill out during the flight. A door at
the back of that section led to the rear portion of the plane which contained a
further twenty seats and a large solid steel door at the end. Before Thabo had
a chance to ask what it was for, a team of Special Forces soldiers filed past
them, unlocked it and started loading their arsenal of weapons and ammunition.

“This is where the soldiers sit,” explained Tom.

“Not taking any chances then, forty kids…twenty soldiers,
bloody hell.”

“Yeah, they like to make sure we’re safe. The plane’s also got
a few defensive extras, electronic counter-measures, Chaff to confuse missiles
and other bits and pieces which are too classified for us to know about. But,
it’s supposedly got a laser which can knock out an incoming missile but who
knows, all I really know is that it’s had the full works,” said Tom.

“Cool,” whistled Thabo, very pleased he had arrived early.

“Let’s go and find Zach,” suggested Tom. They needed to get
out the soldiers’ way and Tom was keen to start tracking down the Migs.

Zach arrived just before 10.30 p.m. and was very excited by
the new lead. He suggested Daniel be brought in. They called him. He was going
on a different trip the following week to the Great Wall of China. After they
finished giving him the latest information, they boarded the plane and at
exactly 11.00 p.m., the new Academy plane lifted off with 40 students, 4
teachers and 20 Special Forces bodyguards for its 8,000 mile journey to Peru.

***

8,000 miles away, the sniper was walking through the ruins at
Machu Picchu. He was looking for the best spot to undertake his mission and
like the man next to him, was taking little interest in the ruins themselves.
It didn’t take him long to find the perfect position which looked down across
the entire ruins and gave him every opportunity to hit his target.

He looked again at the itinerary. The helicopters from Cuzco,
the main airport, would arrive just after dawn and would leave after lunch,
plenty of time.

Chapter 64

It was a very long flight but that was why they had timed it
for an 11.00 p.m. departure. Two hours into the flight, silence descended as
the students fell asleep. Ten hours later, they began to stir. With only 2
hours left to go before they landed, they showered and breakfasted. Before they
knew it, they were landing at Velazco Astete Airport in Cuzco, Peru. A fleet of
helicopters awaited their arrival to ferry them the 65 miles to the ruins.

Just as dawn broke over the Andes, the helicopters landed at a
clearing near Machu Picchu. It was spectacular, the first rays of sun lighting
up the ancient city, deserted for over 500 years.

“Wow!” exclaimed Lela.

“Unbelievable,” said Tom.

The class had spent the previous few weeks studying the
history of Machu Picchu, its structure, location and the fact that it had been
lost for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, Tom and Lela had missed all of it
but it did not take any of the magic away from their first sight of the
structures. They also received a running commentary from their classmates of
what to look out for and before long had caught up through first hand
experience with what their classmates had learnt from books.

Fifteen soldiers accompanied them and on landing, had fanned
out to check for any immediate threats. With none noted, the all-clear was
given for the students to disembark. The soldiers now stood on guard duty and
would search any visitor who wished to visit the ruins while they were there.
However, plans had been put in place to limit visitor numbers during the
morning. All local buses and trains which ferried visitors to the site incurred
technical problems meaning they would not arrive until after the students had
left. Initially the operators of the local services had protested but were soon
pacified by an offer of reimbursement which equated to a month’s worth of
revenue.

With guards surrounding the ruins and all visitors being
searched thoroughly, the students were let loose on the site. Their only
warning was not to fall off the mountain, it was 8,000 feet to sea level.

***

The sniper watched as the first chopper landed and the
soldiers thoroughly checked the site. They were very good he thought, nothing
was missed. Just a shame they didn’t think to check just a kilometre away, on
the side of the mountain where he was crouching but even if they had, his
camouflage blended perfectly with his surroundings. Beside him lay a Walther
WA2000 sniper rifle, one of only a few ever made. The cost of producing its
level of accuracy was commercially unviable.

He remained motionless as the other helicopters landed and
dropped off their passengers. With his target’s face burnt into his memory, he
used his binoculars and soon spotted the young man. Unfortunately, he was
standing right next to the girl who was to remain unharmed at all cost. The
power of his rifle, even from that distance, was such that he could not risk a
shot while she remained so close.

***

Tom and Lela wandered around the ruins accompanied by their
very excited history teacher. They were given a ten-minute crash course on the
history and the remarkable construction techniques used all those centuries
ago.

They then joined the rest of their class for a walkthrough of
the whole site. Surprisingly, they were all enthralled by the tour and remained
a close-knit group as they listened intently to their tour guide.

The tour ended just as lunch was served and the group made its
way to the lavish tables laid out in the sacred plaza.

After lunch, the group were told they had thirty minutes of
free time to wander as they pleased.

***

The sniper was now beginning to worry that what had seemed an
easy assignment was turning into a race against time. His target had never left
the girl’s side and he was still waiting for a clear shot. As the lunch ended,
he finally had his opportunity, his target broke off with a number of other
boys, well away from the girl.

He picked up his rifle and assumed his crouched sniping
position. He nestled the butt of the gun against his shoulder and rested his
chin on the stock of the gun. He placed his eye to the high powered scope. The
view in front of him changed and the small dots which had represented children
exploded into full size images.

***

Tom, Zach, Thabo and Tristan finally had a chance to chat
alone. It had required Lela to lead the girls off to show them ‘something’ she
had noticed in the Temple of the Sun, while the boys went to the Ceremonial
Rock, one of the highest points of the city.

“I’ve managed to speak to a couple of my guys and the search
is on,” said Zach as they reached the rock and were out of other students’
earshot.

“Excellent,” replied Tom but noting the look on Tristan’s
face, he realised that they hadn’t told him yet.

“Sorry Tristan. It seems that my dad’s plane was forced to
land by two mysterious Mig 29s. The Guineans don’t have any fighters, never
mind Mig 29s, according to our resident African expert, Thabo.”

“We trace the Migs, we find who’s behind this?” asked Tristan
quickly.

“Yep, or at least that’s what we think,” said Tom.

“Exactly and we can search through old satellite imagery,
historical radar tracks and track these birds back to their origin. This is
what we needed, something hard to trace. Trust me, my guys can find any plane
that exists,” said Zach.

Tom spun round, something had just hit him.

***

He couldn’t have asked for a clearer shot, his target stood
out in the open and had a three thousand feet drop behind him. If he hit him
just right, he would fall into the valley below and by the time they realised
he had been shot, the sniper would be miles away. He zoomed in on the target,
the crosshairs centring on the boy’s chest, with over 1000m to cover, he didn’t
want to risk a head shot. He only had one shot, two would alert the soldiers to
his position. He wanted to get out of there alive.