Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (10 page)

“Yep,” replied Donald. The deadline for the bids to buy IBC was
noon. Although the process normally took some time, it was anticipated that a
preliminary result could be announced that afternoon. IBC ltd was a
well established
and very well run corporation, owned
predominantly by three Canadian brothers. Having built the business over 60
years, the three octogenarians were now retiring. Alba had an excellent
relationship with IBC and it was widely believed, they were the front-runners.
However, no deal was ever done until it was signed and sealed.

“…
and
Sam
Mitcham
is calling about the new school?” said Rachel, reminding everyone that a call
was scheduled for 7.00 p.m., to which they had all been summoned.

“Waste of time,” mumbled Tom to Lela.

“What was that young man?” asked Rachel.

Tom wasn’t happy. There had been a brief discussion the previous
day before Sam
Mitcham
had called. Donald’s initial
enthusiasm for the school had disappeared on hearing the revelation that Tom
and Lela were the targets of the kidnapping. Rachel was of the same opinion and
as equally concerned about the
school which, in addition to
the security issue, would have no track record
and as for the
curriculum, god alone knew what the quality and standard of Education would be.
Saki was, fortunately, still keeping an open mind. He knew Tom and Lela better
than anyone, probably even than themselves and he could see they were desperate
to go. They had agreed to delay the call with Sam for
twenty
four
hours.

“You heard, you and Dad have already made up your minds so why
bother with the call,” he said, sulking into his Weetabix.

“That’s not true we’ll both be open minded,” she replied,
doubting
herself
.

They agreed to park the debate until that evening as they
dispersed to get on with the day ahead. Tom and Lela were left sitting at the
table on their own.

“What you up to now?” asked Tom.

“Nothing, my dad’s going to the hospital with Rachel, so I’ve got
the morning off.”

 
“Fancy a trip to
London?”

Lela didn’t hesitate for a
minute,
the
shops in London were fantastic. She and Rachel were fashion gurus and usually
went at least once a month but because of the holidays, they hadn’t been for
over three months.

“Definitely,” she replied. “But will we be back for seven?”

“Of course,” replied Tom, confused by the question.

“Excellent, I’ll be back in less than ten minutes, don’t leave
without me!” she said, rushing out of the door. Tom had no idea where she was
going.

She appeared back in the kitchen eight minutes later. Tom loved
timing her, one
day,
she would be late, surely.
However, Saki had exactly the same skill, if he said less than five minutes, it
was less than five minutes. If he said something would take five minutes, it
would take exactly five minutes.

Lela had changed out of her kick-about clothes and donned her
best go shopping clothes. Tom wondered why the hell she had done that as he led
her towards the elevator to the basement. Lela had noticed a few specks of rain
and was impressed that Tom was taking them via the underground route to the
helipad, although she hadn’t heard the helicopter land. As they stepped out of
the elevator, Tom turned left as Lela turned right.

“Where are you going?” asked Tom as he watched Lela walk away.

“The helipad, where are you going?” she asked.

Tom realised his mistake. When he had suggested a trip to London,
he had meant a ‘virtual’ trip and Lela had assumed a ‘real’ one.

“Hmmm, I think we may have crossed our wires, I meant in the
simulator,” he replied cautiously.

To say Lela was disappointed was an
understatement
,
she was gutted
. However, she
soon saw the funny side and although had vowed never to join Tom again in that
awful machine, she thought what the hell.

***

Donald arrived home just before 7.00 p.m
..
Tom had been calling him all afternoon to find out what had happened about the
bid but there were no updates The Alba International bid was delivered at 11.00
a.m. and was one of five bids for IBC. That was all Donald knew.

The family gathered in the study for the conference call with Sam
Mitcham
. Dinner was put on hold until after the call.
It was curry night anyway and only
a phone call
away.

Sam rang at exactly 7.00 p.m. as promised, 2.00 p.m.
New York time for him.

“Hi guys,” he said.

“Hi,” responded the Kennedys.

“So, what are your thoughts on the school,” asked Sam.

Nobody wanted to give anything away and all remained quiet. Tom
broke the silence.

“Mr
Mitcham
, after the kidnapping
attempt, as you can imagine, my dad is a little concerned about security,”

“Tom, please call me Sam and I’m not surprised. It certainly made
us revisit our security cover for the school. Which I’m pleased to say is
second to none. Donald I would even
be
so bold as to
say it’s better than yours.”

Donald could not help but react to the suggestion that his
security had been bettered.

“What do you mean, better? Better how?” he demanded.

Sam knew Donald well and knew how to get his attention and
interest.

“We have based a new multi-national Special Forces Division on
the school’s island. This is a completely new task force and its specialities
are anti-terrorism and hostage rescue. The school will have 200 of the best
soldiers in the world who have been fully trained and are operationally ready,
not on stand-by, but ready.”

“But…” Donald tried to interrupt but Sam kept talking.

“And as if that weren’t enough, the island is located within the
remit of the newest NATO air and naval base which lies seventy five miles to
the North East. This is home to a number of strike aircraft wings, a naval
fleet and some thousand marines. Overall, this means that the school has a very
powerful army, navy and air force
presence which
can
cope with any eventuality. The school is also equipped with special underground
bunkers which can cope with all nuclear and biochemical weapons.”

“Hmm, I suppose that sounds not bad,” said Donald.

Tom and Lela began to see a chink of light, a ‘not bad’ from
Donald was praise indeed when it came to security. He didn’t even rate Number
10, the Whitehouse or Buckingham Palace as ‘not bad’.

“I should also point out that these are not training posts. Only
fully trained personnel will ever serve there and their sole purpose is to
protect the school and its students. The base is classified as a continual live
exercise environment on high alert at all times.”

As Sam stopped talking, Donald began to shift uncomfortably in
his seat. He didn’t really know what else to say.

“OK,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. As far as he could tell,
they had covered everything.

Tom and Lela looked at each other and thought one down, two to
convince.

Rachel might not be so easy, she had already planned Tom and
Lela’s education down to the last detail, culminating in Oxford or Cambridge
followed by Harvard or Princeton, she really didn’t mind which.

“Rachel, Donald gave me your list of questions the other day.
Should I run through the answers?” asked Sam confidently.

It was Rachel’s turn to
squirm,
she knew
from his tone that Sam was going to impress her.

“As for an established educational philosophy, there isn’t one,
it’s all completely new. Some of the world’s top educators from the best
schools and universities spent years designing the curriculum. It is truly
amazing. English will be the main spoken and written language but all classes
will be equipped with simultaneous translation facilities in all languages.
However, all students will be expected to learn English, French and Spanish as
a minimum. The syllabus will include the normal stuff like Math, Physics,
Chemistry,
World
History
etc
…
However, they’ll be many more on top of those. Right from Year One, which is
where Tom and Lela will start, they’ll learn about World Politics, World
Economics, International Law, Accountancy, Business Administration, Leadership
and Management Skills, amongst others. By the time students leave this
school,
they really will be equipped to run the world. Which
is exactly why we’re doing it.”

“What about universities?” asked
Rachel.

“As long as they graduate from the school, they have automatic
entry to any course at any University in the world.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Rachel unable to control herself, automatic
entry to Oxford, Cambridge Harvard or Princeton.

“But don’t get me wrong, there is no automatic graduation. The
students have to pass each year before they are allowed into the next year, we
stole that idea from the French and the students will have to work damned hard.
It’s not only going to be the most exclusive school in the world but the
hardest,” said Sam.

Tom looked at his
mother,
he could see
her picturing the graduation ceremonies. Sam had nailed her concerns well and
truly. By the look on her face, she was already convincing herself that 6,000
miles wasn’t that far nowadays. Two down one to go, he thought as he looked at
Saki. He could see that Lela was thinking the same.

“Anything else?” asked Sam.

“I have one condition but it’s dependent on what the decision is,
can we call you back?” asked Saki mysteriously.

“Of course,” replied Sam.

“Sorry, before you go,” said Lela. “Just one quick question,
what’s the school called?”

They could almost feel Sam shift nervously in his seat as he
paused before answering.

“Hmmm, that has proved a rather difficult decision. In fact, it
caused more arguments than anything else. Some wanted a reference to Confucius,
some to Plato, some to Socrates. In the end they all had to be ruled
out
as we couldn’t reach agreement. So in the end we went
with,” he coughed nervously. “The Academy.”

“You’re joking?” said Rachel.

“I’m afraid not, anyway I’ll wait to hear from you soon. Bye,” he
said, hanging up quickly to cut short his embarrassment.

As the call ended, everybody looked at each other and laughed.
The Academy! What an unoriginal, boring and thoroughly inappropriate name for
what had just been described to them.

Lela then remembered Saki’s condition and looked at him.

“Well?” she asked. “What’s this condition?”

“It’s irrelevant unless the answer is yes and even then it’s not
that important,” he replied vaguely. Donald, realising what it was, jumped in
to divert the attention.

“So what do we think everyone, yes or no?”

“Yes!
” said
Tom.

“Yes!
” said
Lela.

“Hmmm, I suppose 6,000 miles isn’t that far nowadays, it’s a yes
from me,” said Rachel.

“Well, he certainly won me over,” said Donald. “The only way to
educate you more safely than that would be to imprison you on the estate, which
I don’t think is fair.”

“So, Saki, it’s a yes from you?”

 
“Yes, as long as they
accept my condition.”

“Excellent! I’ll call him back then. Rachel, why don’t you take
Tom and Lela to help you order the Indian, they know what we like,” said
Donald, less than subtly asking them to leave him and Saki to their mysterious
condition.

Five minutes later, a jubilant Donald and Saki joined them in the
Lounge to await the arrival of their curry.

“It’s all done! You start at your new school in 4 weeks,”
announced Donald, just as his mobile rang.

“Hello?” he answered, motioning for everybody to stop cheering,
it was a bad line. Donald listened for what seemed to Tom hours but was in fact
only one minute.

“Fantastic and thank you so much, I will look after it, don’t
worry. Thank you again.”

Tom was already jumping up and
down,
he
had got the gist of the conversation but still made him explain.

“Well, tell us?” asked Tom struggling to contain himself. The IBC
deal would turn his father into the undisputed richest man in the world and by
a considerable margin.

“That was the CEO of IBC. They’ve accepted Alba’s bid, it wasn’t
the highest but felt we were the best fit. The detail will take some time to
work through but it looks as though the completion date will be within the next
ten weeks. So we’re not quite there yet, remember it’s not over until it’s
signed and sealed.”

Chapter
20

He slammed the phone
down hard as he heard the news. He always knew it was going to happen, as long
as Alba made the bid, he would lose.
Conor
and his
band of idiots had cost him billions.

He
pulled out the IBC file
,
it was rubbish now
. He
flicked through the contents one last time and read
Conor’s
CV again. Very experienced, very smart, very ruthless but it failed to mention
his one major flaw. He was totally damned useless. Whoever had recommended him
would pay for this, he thought as he flicked through the list of
recommendations. It was only when he found the list that he recalled
Conor
had been second on the list.

He sat back and
wondered whether it would it have worked if he had played it differently. He
stopped. It was pointless. He couldn’t roll back the clock and start again. He
stopped thinking about what had gone wrong and realised he should focus on what
he could do right.
He didn’t need to roll back the clock
,
he had plenty of time
. His bid may have been rejected
but the deal wasn’t signed. What was the old saying? Oh yes, it wasn’t over
until the fat lady sings. He laughed to himself, or should it be until the rich
Scotsman signs. He just needed a plan and the right man. He studied the list
and made his decision.