Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (23 page)

“Reaper here. Team Colombia, what is your position?”

“We are on station and ready to
Go
,”
replied Marco.

Reaper was ecstatic. In twelve hours, he would issue the Go
command and the teams would move.

However, he was concerned about the losses in transit and made a
couple of phone calls. These would ensure that the seven men who had been
arrested would not discuss the mission with anybody. Within an hour of their
arrests, they were all dead, each receiving a bullet through the head. As they
were arrested in different countries, it would take months for the intelligence
communities to link the murders.

***

The twins were increasingly concerned about their commander’s
attitude towards them. He was acting very strangely and had made them both
stand guard for twelve hours at the same time. They had protested that they did
not like working on the same rota but the commander dismissed their complaint
and ordered them to remain on gate duty together. This meant that they could
not keep an eye on their targets and could not even file a report to that
effect
as they could not move from their posts.

It had been a blisteringly hot day and even though the twins were
super fit, the heat in their full kit was unbearable, the sweat was pouring off
of them. A group of rowdy soldiers walked passed carrying canteens of water.
One of the twins shouted out to them.

“Hey guys, give us a canteen, this heat is killing us!”

“Sorry. We can’t. These have to go to Hut 8.”

“Come on, we can’t move from here, just give us one, we’re dying
here.”

The soldier looked over to one of his colleagues who shrugged his
shoulders and said “OK.”

The canteen was tossed over to the twins and within seconds they
drank the lot. They looked at each other in relief but were deeply worried.
They were failing in their mission and they did not like failure.

***

It had been a very difficult week at The Academy. Erika’s death
had stunned the whole school. It was believed that Erika was killed in an
assassination attempt on her father. However, nobody was claiming
responsibility for it and the evidence was leading nowhere fast. Erika’s father
had immediately resigned as PM following the death of his
daughter,
the guilt of not meeting her at the airport would haunt him forever. Her
best-friend Madeleine had been a complete wreck and was sent home to Sweden,
nobody knew when or if she would return.

Even Ms Anderson had shown some compassion allowing Tom and
Tristan to stay with their friends on the Sunday rather than join her for
lunch. Although she did make it clear, that it was only for one week. They were
to be back the following week as normal.

Chapter
38

Rachel was worried. Donald had hardly slept in the last week. The
IBC deal was wearing him down.

“Donald enough of that, come to bed, it’s late.”

“I just need to go through this draft and then I’ll come.”

“No Donald, you’re coming right now. There won’t be a deal if
you’re dead and at this rate, you’ll be dead within the hour because I’m going
to kill you if you don’t come to bed and get some sleep.”

“OK but I need to get up at 4.00 a.m. to read through it.”

“OK, we’ll see.”

Donald undressed and got into bed.

“It was great to see the kids tonight. They seem to be loving the
school,” said Rachel changing the subject.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I spoke to Mr Sakamoto today.”

Rachel sat up.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing much. It was just a quick call. The kids are doing
great, they seem to have a great bunch of friends and some really nice
classmates.”

“We know that from the kids. How’s he getting on?”

“He’s loving it although he’s been lumbered with an incompetent
deputy called
Weadle
or Beadle or something. Anyway,
he’s a right little weasel and has trouble written all over him. So he’s
spending a lot of time watching his back.”

“Why the hell doesn’t he just sack him?”

“He’s looked into to it but it’s not that easy. The governors
control appointments and they’re unmovable for some reason. I’ll have a word
with Sam
Mitcham
after the IBC deal’s done and see if
we can help.”

“When will the deal be finalised?” asked Rachel wishing the deal
had never happened.

“Monday at noon. I’ll sign the papers and everything happens
there and then. It’s actually quite unique in that the moment I sign, I take
full control. Everything is in place. The owners of IBC and some of their
senior managers have already checked out or retired. The signing on Monday just
makes it legal.”

“But what happens if anything goes wrong between now and then and
you don’t sign?”

“That’s not worth considering but even if I get hit by a bus, as
unlikely as that is, any of the Alba International Directors can sign on my
behalf and the deal will still be legal. What’s this?” asked Donald, pointing
to a glass on his bedside table.

“A little treat, a hot toddy to help you sleep,” said Rachel.

“Lovely, thank you,” said Donald as he drank the mixture of honey
and malt whisky.

Two minutes later, Donald was sound asleep and the hot toddy, a
Rachel speciality, would ensure he slept through the night, especially as
Rachel had switched his alarm off.

Chapter
39

“GO, GO, GO!!!” shouted Reaper. The operation began.

“Roger,” responded Kevin first as he relayed the Go message to
his team. Team Idaho moved in. Each operative moved exactly as they had been
trained over the previous seven weeks. Within two minutes, they had entered the
school. Fifty armed men moved from corridor to corridor, rounding up students
as they went, hunting for the two
faces which had been
imprinted
on their memories. They experienced little resistance and any
hint of it was stamped out brutally.

“Roger,” said Marco as he gave the Go command to his team.

Team Colombia moved in. Again, the operatives moved as one,
trained to perfection. They too entered the school within two minutes and
rounded up students and teachers alike. All operatives hunting down the two
faces emblazoned in their memories.

“Roger,” responded
Fadi
who screamed
the command to his operatives. Team Syria attacked and found the greatest
resistance of all the groups.
Five were cut down by guards
and the group took five minutes to penetrate the school. After another two
minutes, they secured the area and began rounding up stray students.
Fadi
and Muhammad were concerned about the level of
violence being used by their operatives against the students and they used all
their strength to regain control. They realised that, over the previous seven
weeks, they had wound up their group into too much of
a
frenzy
about their targets. They wanted them alive not in bits.

“Roger,” said Leroy, passing on the command. Team Zimbabwe made
its way into the school with no resistance whatsoever. Within five minutes,
they had complete control and the operatives were slowly but surely mopping up
stragglers while hunting for the two faces they had really come for.

“Team Idaho here. Perimeter established and now in control. We’re
still finding students but have not found the targets yet,” reported Kevin.

“Team Colombia here. Perimeter established and now in control.
Stragglers are still being found but we have not yet located the targets,”
reported Marco.

“Team Zimbabwe now in control. Perimeter established. Targets
still being sought,” reported Leroy.

“Team Syria, in control and full perimeter established. Targets
have been spotted and are being tracked,” reported
Fadi
.

Chapter
40

“What the hell is going on?” Tom asked Lela.

“I don’t know but there’s a lot of commotion out there.”

Their classroom overlooked the army base. The Accounts class came
to a halt as the activity outside became manic, beyond any normal training
activity. Their teacher was not the most dynamic man. Tom was sure that he read
spreadsheets
like other people read novels. In any
event, with open warfare apparently breaking out just beneath his classroom, he
had no idea what to do.

As they continued to watch events unfold, helicopters started to
arrive. Tom assumed they came from the naval base
seventy
five
miles to the North West. Ten minutes and ten helicopters later, a
naval frigate pulled into the bay just outside the barracks. Whatever was happening
was serious.

The students had received emergency procedure training on their
second day at school. They had been in the middle of a French lesson when two
fully armed soldiers rushed into the class and ushered them out of the building
and through a network of tunnels under the school. They continued to usher the
students through until they emerged at a dock where a flotilla of naval boats
was waiting for them and which they promptly boarded. It was only once all the
students were on board that the Headmaster announced that they had taken part
in an emergency evacuation exercise and that they should congratulate
themselves on completing the drill two minutes faster than the time required by
the Health and Safety manuals.
 

The following day, a similar incident occurred during their
Biology lesson. Again, two soldiers rushed into their class but this time, they
were dressed in full biological warfare clothing. The soldiers pressed a button
and their classroom was instantly sealed. Chemical warfare suits dropped from
the ceiling and the soldiers instructed the students to put them on. The room
was then unsealed and the students were ushered into an enormous underground
chamber which
sealed shut when all the students were
accounted for. They were then allowed to remove their suits. By that point, a
number of students were traumatised and the Headmaster’s confirmation that this
was yet another drill did little to calm them down.
 

Many students reported sick the next day. Mr Sakamoto received
hundreds of complaints from parents and he assured them that all future drills
would be announced in advance. After fielding the last call of the day, Mr
Sakamoto sought out
Weadle
who claimed that the
second drill had been a clerical error. Mr Sakamoto smelt a rat and
Weadle
was one of the biggest and dirtiest rats he had the
displeasure of coming across. He knew, without doubt, that
Weadle
had set up the second drill but could not prove it.

“Sir?”

“Yes… hmm…Tom,” hesitated the Accounts teacher who had to check
the seating plan for Tom’s name.

“Is there another drill today?”

“Nope, definitely not. After last week’s fiasco, I imagine it’ll
be at least a year before we have another one of those.”

“So what’s happening out there?”

The teacher looked out at the chaos for the first time.

“I don’t know, but I know who will.”

He picked up the phone and dialled a number and listened. He
dropped the phone, “Oh my God.”

Chapter
41

“Team Colombia here. We have the targets in our sights and will
have them in our control within the next five minutes,” reported Marco.

***

The twins were ill. They had never felt so ill in their lives.
The stomach pains had started in the morning and neither could understand why,
not that they had much time to discuss it. As one left the toilet, the other
was waiting to go in. They were lucky that they were the only two in their
barracks block. All the other barracks housed around ten men and had only two
latrines. The twins did not know how the other men were coping as they had
discovered that there were around thirty soldiers who were struck down by the
same mysterious bug. The doctor assured them that it was a 24 - 36 hour bug and
they would soon be fine. They just had to make sure they kept themselves
hydrated.
 

***

“Team Idaho here. We have an eyeball on the targets and will pick
them up in two minutes.”

***

“Sir, what’s wrong?” asked Tom again. The Accounts teacher was
not responding. The main screen burst into life and a very concerned looking Mr
Sakamoto accompanied by a uniformed officer was staring down at them.

“What’s going on Tom?” Lela asked.

“I’ve got no idea, but whatever it is, it’s bad, very bad.”

Heather started to hyperventilate. Suddenly, everything else was
forgotten as the class hunted for a paper bag to normalise her breathing. Eventually
one was found and she calmed down.

“Students, teachers and colleagues, it is with deep regret that I
talk to you today,” Mr Sakamoto began.

***

“Team Zimbabwe here. We have a location on our targets and will
have them in less than two.”