Assassin (The Billionaire Series) (28 page)

“Where?” Lela was not happy, somebody had stolen her boat.

“Just last night, going through the Panama Canal but although
the dimensions are identical it can’t be her.”

“Why not?” demanded Lela.

“She couldn’t possibly have covered the distance since she
left Egypt four weeks ago.”

“What are you talking about? Through the Med and across the
Atlantic no problem. She’d do that in about a week,” said Tom, quickly working
out the calculation.

“Yes but she was travelling east not west,” said Daniel.
“We’ve checked, the boat was sighted off the coast of Chile a few days earlier.
It’s not possible, the ship would have had to sail down the east coast of
Africa, around the Cape and across the Atlantic before rounding the other cape
and travelling up the west coast of South America. That is a massive journey of
over 15,000 nautical miles. For this boat to be yours, it would have had to
average over 40 knots non-stop in four weeks, it’s just not possible.”

Tom and Lela just looked at Daniel and at the same time asked
the same question.

“What was the name of the boat?”

“The Beautiful Lady. Why?”

Both just stared at him.

“What?” he asked as they both just stared.

Tom looked at him and answered,

“There’s only one boat in the world that could have done that
trip in that time and it’s the Tylanni. She has a top speed of over 50 knots
and can easily average mid 40s.”

“Where is she now?” asked Lela.

“She could be anywhere in the Caribbean,” replied Daniel.

Tom began to wonder but it couldn’t be possible.

“Daniel, could you ask your guys to have a look at something
for me?” asked Tom.

“Of course what is it?” asked Daniel.
 

Tom gave him something and then led Lela back to her room.
They had to consider what to do about The Tylanni.

Chapter 67

Tom returned to his room to find a voicemail from Jason who
asked him to contact him immediately no matter what the time. He had spoken to
the Alba directors earlier in the afternoon, things were going OK, not great
because of the assassinations but there had been no major issues. As he dialled
Jason’s mobile, he wondered what could be wrong.

“Oh hi Tom,” answered Jason recognising his number.

“Hi Jason, what’s up?”

“We’ve had another offer for the company, it’s much better but
it’s obviously your call.”

“How much and who?”

“Twenty percent up on the previous one and still anonymous.”

“Damn! We can find out who they are but only if we sell them
Alba, that’s nuts.”

“There is one other thing, they’re becoming increasingly
adamant that this offer runs out in less than 48 hours. The lawyer who made the
offer couldn’t emphasise that enough.”

This was the third increase they had received that day and
each one ran out at exactly the same time, 10.00 p.m. on the Sunday. They had
rejected each one so far.

“What do you think?” asked Tom.

“I’m not sure, he also said that it was their final offer and
that we will just have to live with the consequences if we reject it…”

“Wait a minute, are those your words or his?” asked Tom. He
really didn’t like the undertone of what had been said.

“His and it annoyed me just as much.”

Tom thought for a second,

“Tell them to piss off. It’s not for sale at any price and
let’s see what consequences they have for us.”

He was really wound up, these guys were now getting to him.
They ended the call. Jason would pass on a slightly more professional rejection
and they agreed to speak in the morning.

Tom checked his watch, it was after midnight and he was wide
awake, there was no way he was going to sleep. He got up and went back to the
conference room. He would start working through the backgrounds of the
assassinated heads of government and their successors. He could not get the
thought of the Tylanni, renamed The Beautiful Lady, out of his head. That’s how
his parents always had described Tylanni, Lela’s mother. Whenever her name was
mentioned, they would always comment on what a beautiful lady she had been.

Chapter 68

Beaumont was neither surprised nor unhappy at the news that
their final offer was rejected. In fact, the possibility of some payback to the
kids for the hassle they had caused him was exactly what he wanted. Within five
seconds of receiving the news, he gave Jones the go-ahead to launch the
operation against the girl.

Jones and his team were stationed just outside the exclusion
zone which surrounded The Academy’s island. On receipt of the Go command, they
fired up the engines and began to move towards their target. Their small cruise
boat had been built as part of the US navy’s new DDX programme and encompassed
the latest stealth technology, even at 40 knots, she was completely invisible
to radar. Within 30 minutes, they were in position and launched the small
rubber raiders which would take the eight man team the school’s beach.

From the time Tom had rejected the Alba bid, to the first man
landing on The Academy, less than an hour had passed. They secured their small
boats and checked their position, a small GPS device indicated that they were
less than half a mile from the girl’s room. Two men would remain at the boats
while Jones and another five men formed the grab-team. Jones had initially
planned a four-man team but then doubled it, he didn’t want anything to go
wrong.

Jones had received the full security schematics for The
Academy and had planned the mission accordingly. Each man was dressed in a
stealth suit to minimise their radiant body heat and counteract The Academy’s
thermal cameras and the Special Forces’ night vision goggles. They also carried
no metal. Detectors along the shore picked up the tiniest amount of metal.
Everything they carried or wore was made of cloth, plastic or a ceramic
composite, including zips, watches and tooth fillings. There were 200 Special
Forces soldiers at The Academy and Jones had no intention of getting into a
fire fight with them. Their only weapon was a ceramic knife.

He checked his team were ready and led them off into the darkness
towards the accommodation blocks lit up in the distance.

***

Lela had no problem sleeping. She crashed out the moment they
had got back from the meeting. Papa had been training her hard, having taken
over her father’s role as master. She soon realised that her father had not
exaggerated when he had said that her training was easy compared to his. Papa
was enjoying his new student and had her awake at five o’clock every morning to
train for at least two hours before breakfast and she had to do the same again
before dinner. Kisho and Kano had come along to the first session and later
found any excuse not to go.

“Where’s Tom?” asked Papa, startling Lela who was fast asleep.
He was standing next to her bed. How he had got in without disturbing her, she
didn’t know.

“What, what’s wrong?” she realised that it wasn’t the fact
that Papa had sneaked into her room that should worry her but why.

“Where is he?” he asked again more firmly.

“In his room, no?” she answered. “Why what’s wrong?”

“We can’t find him and there are some men on the island who
shouldn’t be here.”

Jones’ schematic did not identify the islanders nor their
incredible capabilities. One of the islanders had spotted the eight men on the
beach.

“Just sound the alarm,” urged Lela.

“No. The confusion may play in their favour, we’ll deal with
it.”

“Find him!” Papa ordered Kisho and Kano who had just entered
the room. He was very annoyed with them, they should always know where Tom was
and they had failed.

“Have you tried his phone?” asked Lela. Papa looked at Kano
and Kisho who looked at each other.

“Imbeciles,” he said under his breath.

Lela immediately phoned Tom. Papa told her not to alert him to
the security issue. She was to say that she had woken up and noticed he wasn’t
in his room. She put the phone down.

“He’s in Conference Room One.”

Tom put the phone down, thinking nothing of it. He returned to
the information in front of him, he was beginning to get somewhere. Suddenly
the door opened and two of Papa’s Penarajans joined him, closing the door
behind them. They explained the situation and informed him that he was to stay
there with them. Papa was dealing with it and would give them the all clear
soon.

***

 
Jones and his men
found the accommodation block and slowly moved into position. Two would watch
the entrance while four would grab the girl. The four-man team made their way
silently up the stairs and along the corridor towards her door. They stopped at
the door and Jones withdrew a small plastic canister with a rubber tube. He
slipped the rubber tube under the door and released the valve on the container.
He counted to ten. Anybody in the room would be knocked unconscious for at
least an hour. He couldn’t afford even the slightest scream from the girl and
this was the only way to ensure they did not startle her. He closed the valve
and removed the tube.

He checked his watch. In 90 seconds, they could enter the room
by which time the gas would have dispersed. They listened through the door to
detect any disturbance but heard nothing. Perfect.

***

 
Papa received
confirmation that Tom was safe and two islanders would remain with him until
they were given the all clear. Papa wanted these guys alive, he wanted to get
them talking but first he wanted to know who or what they were after. The
islander who had initially followed the men was ordered to get as close to the
boats as possible. He was to await Papa’s order to take the men out but in the
meantime, to try to understand what or who they were after.

Kano was given a similar order and sent to watch the team as
they approached. He saw two men watch the front door while the four-man team
went inside. He, like the other islander, was within hearing distance of the
men’s whispers and soon picked up enough to relay back to Papa. Meanwhile, as
the tube appeared under Lela’s door, Kisho, Papa and Lela made their way
silently onto the balcony.

Kano contacted Papa and updated him on what they had heard.
This was a kidnap not an assassination. Lela was definitely their target, Tom
was not even mentioned. Papa quickly relayed the information to Kisho and Lela.
A furious whispered row broke out but what was being said made sense. Papa was
about to do something he knew Saki would have vehemently disapproved of.

***

 
87…88…89, the
seconds ticked down. On reaching 90, Jones signalled to his team. They silently
picked the lock and made their way into the room, Lela was sound asleep. This
was going to be easy, they quickly made their way across to the bed and checked
her pulse. There was always the chance she had reacted to the gas but she was
fine so they picked her up. Two minutes later, they were out of the block and
making their way silently back to their boats.

Chapter 69

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” screamed Tom at Papa and the rest of them.

“Lela has been kidnapped,” repeated Papa.

“BUT YOU LET THEM DO IT!! HOW COULD YOU?” Tom screamed again.
He had not taken the news well, his sister was in mortal danger and those
idiots had let it happen.

“Was she in danger? Was it more dangerous to stop them? Is
that what happened?” asked Tom, trying to make sense of what they had done.

“No. We let them go, Lela insisted that we let her go.”

“She’s 15!!! You’re her grandfather!!! That’s the most
ridiculous thing you’ve ever said!!!”

Lela, having heard that the impostors were not trying to kill
her or Tom, had argued that if she went with them, she might find who was
behind everything. She could more than handle a bunch of soldiers, especially
as they thought she was just an average 15 year old girl. Papa had understood
her logic but would not agree, Kisho even less so. Lela had pleaded and told
them that they knew it made sense, which they did. Papa was also aware of just
how well Lela could look after herself. He had been training her for three weeks
and had resorted to pure physical training as he had nothing left to teach her
other than a few wily old tricks and even those were exhausted after a week.
She was, without doubt, the most talented natural fighter in generations of
Penarajans.

Alternatively, they could capture the soldiers but it could
take days before they discovered anything, if they had anything to give them.
He now wondered how she had managed to convince him to let her go. How could he
have let his only granddaughter be kidnapped? He looked at Kisho who he could
see was having the same conversation with himself. How had Lela managed to talk
them into this madness? But she had and he had issued a stand down order.

“I’m sorry. It seemed like the right thing to do, she was very
persuasive,” replied a very subdued Papa.

Tom was too angry to talk to them. At least he had made them
realise they were wrong. Kano was completely on Tom’s wavelength. He had been
apoplectic at the thought of these animals having his little cousin and had
already made his feelings known to Papa.

Chapter 70

“It went perfectly. The girl is lying down, sound asleep, next
to me,” said a very pleased Jones.