Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (26 page)

It was Mr Sakamoto who noticed the injured Mia first. Ms
Anderson, previously a nurse, jumped into action. Mr Sakamoto sent
Weadle
to find someone who knew what was going on. As Ms
Anderson tended to Mia, she began to regain consciousness.

“Mia, are you OK? What happened?” asked Mr Sakamoto.

“Mr Sakamoto, please give her a minute,” said Ms Anderson
sternly.

“No, it’s OK,” said Mia weakly. “I’m not really sure, we were
playing a game with Zach, Ahmad,
Mingmei
and Oleg. We
made it round the bend,” Mia was thinking hard but she was still in shock.

“
Who’s
we? You’re the only one here,”
asked Mr Sakamoto with concern growing in his voice.

“Chen, Tom and Lela,” she said.

“Oh my God! Where are they?” Mr Sakamoto looked around at the
dead bodies and could not help but think of the hostage crisis around the
world. Had his school been hit?

“I remember,” said Mia. “That we were coming down the hill and
Chen started screaming at me, grabbed the wheel and slammed his foot on the
accelerator pedal. I didn’t know what to do, he was screaming at me in a
Chinese dialect that I didn’t really understand. All I could do was scream back
at him.”

“What happened then, dear?” Ms Anderson was being surprisingly
tender.

“I’m not sure but he basically made us crash into the gates.
After that, I don’t remember a thing.”

Weadle
returned.
He
had failed to find any soldiers
,
every single one had
vanished
. Mr Sakamoto thought about the unfolding scene and raced to his
car.

“Come on, we must contact Donald Kennedy. Something is very, very
wrong.”

“No, I’m afraid that’s not an option,” said
Weadle
confidently.

Three soldiers came around the corner with guns aimed at the
three of them.

“But you said all the soldiers had gone?” said Ms Anderson who
was slower to catch on.

Mr Sakamoto put his arm across her forearm to let her know to
stop talking.
 

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Absolutely nothing. That is exactly what I want the three of you
to do for the next few days,” said
Weadle
enjoying
the power over Mr Sakamoto.

“I’m sorry?”

“We’re going to go back to your office and we’re going to
continue as if nothing is wrong. You didn’t see anything and no children are
missing. Just in case you try anything clever, these three young men will be
joining us and will have no hesitation in spending hours prolonging the death
of our young student here.”

Weadle
looked down and smiled insanely
at the injured Mia.

Mr Sakamoto knew he was not bluffing. The look on the man’s face
was pure evil. He had little option but to agree. He looked at Ms Anderson who
was still struggling to comprehend what was happening and just said, “OK.”

Five more soldiers appeared and began clearing away the bodies
and hosing
down
the pools of blood. Within ten
minutes, nobody would have known that death and destruction had recently
visited the base.

***

The phone rang once before he answered.

“Reaper here.”

“We have a problem,” the voice said.

“Who is this and how did you get my number?” Reaper asked
irritated.

“My name is
Weadle
and let’s just say
that we have a mutual client who has spent a great deal of money for our
services.”

“OK, what’s the problem?” asked Reaper realising his client had
obviously some back-up resources he was unaware of.

“The targets have gone and all of the operatives that should be
with them are dead.”

Reaper could not believe his ears.

“What about Schmidt, where is the imbecile?”

“Dead along with nine of his colleagues. Ten have gone to try to
catch the targets and eight are trying to maintain a semblance of normality for
prying eyes at the base.”

“But what happened?”

“I have no idea but it seems that one of your operatives may
still be with them, somebody called Chen?”

“Excellent, some good news at last. Anyway, don’t worry, I had
planned for this eventuality, it’s in hand. Will you be talking to our client?”

“No. I have orders not to make any contact until further notice.”

“OK, I’ll keep him up to speed. Anything else I need to know?”

“Nothing, other than I have the Headmaster, his PA and a student
held at gunpoint for the next few days.” The sarcasm in
Weadle’s
tone was cutting. “Don’t worry, they’ll act as though nothing has happened.
After the mission is complete, let me know and I’ll arrange the necessary.”

“Thank you. I appreciate your
help,
you
have covered off Schmidt’s role perfectly. I must put the alternative plan into
action. I’ll give you a signal on completion. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye and good luck,” said
Weadle
putting
the receiver down.

Chapter
47

Tom dialled his father’s mobile. It went straight to Voicemail.
That was very strange. He had Call Waiting and it was only when the phone was
switched off that it would go straight to Voicemail. After abandoning the
mobile, he checked his watch. It was still morning in the UK and despite being
a
Saturday,
his father would be in the office. He
dialled the private line and Helen picked up.

“Hi Tom, how’s the new school?”

“Hmm fine, I really need to speak to my dad, is he there please?”

“No, sorry. He went home, he should be there by now. Shall I put
you through?”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll do it.”

He hung up and dialled home.

The phone answered after only one ring.

“Mum, Dad,
are
you OK? It’s me.
Something terrible has happened.”

The words rushed from his mouth in the relief that the phone had
been answered.

“Ah, the elusive Tom,” came a strange voice in response.

“Who are you?”

“That’s of no concern to you. Let’s just say that I can help you
and you can help me.”

“Where are my mum and dad? Why are you answering their phone?”

“Let’s just say they’re OK for now but what you do will determine
whether they remain OK. Now firstly, where are you and how is Lela?”

“I don’t know and Lela is fine.”

“Now, now Tom. Do you want to see your mother again?”

“I honestly don’t know where we are. We’re in a helicopter over
the Ocean.”

“OK, I believe you. Now what I’m about to tell you will help you
keep your parents in oxygen for the next
seventy two
hours. You must not contact any authorities. If I hear one siren or hear any
chatter regarding our situation, you’ll never see them again. Do you understand
Tom?”

“Yes I understand,” replied Tom.

Lela heard the fear in his voice and started gesticulating. Tom
shook his head and put his hand up indicating for her to stop.

“Good. Now, I have contacts everywhere as you have probably
already guessed. If they hear one mention of the Kennedy name, they will call
me immediately. So I cannot emphasise enough that you must not talk to anyone.
ARE WE CLEAR TOM?”

“Crystal,” he responded.

“Now who killed my men, Tom?”

Tom’s brain was working faster than it ever had before.

“I don’t know, I heard them say something about drinking water
they weren’t supposed to have drunk. I think they were just in the wrong place
at the wrong time so they came to help us.”

“OK, how many are there TOM?”

“There are five of them,” he lied. They had left ten bodies
behind and Tom thought that if he said there were only two soldiers, it would
sound suspicious.

“OK. I need you to tell me where they’re taking you. Tell them
you are talking to your father and need to know where you are landing.”

“OK. Will I call you back or are you holding on?”

“Holding on Tom. Remember your mum and dad, no funny stuff.”

Tom made his way to the cockpit to speak to Kano and
Kisho
.

“Where are we heading to?”

“Not sure, still trying to calculate exactly how far we can go on
this tank. By the looks of it, we can do just over a thousand
miles,
this thing is full to the brim. Give me another ten
minutes and I’ll let you know,” said
Kisho
.

“OK.”

Tom made his way back to the main cabin where a very concerned
Lela watched his every move.

“What’s wrong?” she mouthed to him, conscious he was still on the
phone to whoever was putting the fear of God into him.

Again, Tom only shook his head.
 

“The pilot doesn’t know yet, he’s still working things out but he
reckons we’ll be flying about a thousand miles.”

“That is not the kind of answer I need if you want to see your
mother again.”

“They honestly don’t know yet but as soon as they tell me, I’ll
let you know. I promise I’m telling you the truth. Please don’t hurt them,”
pleaded Tom holding back the tears.

“OK, OK, I believe you. Now take down this number and call me the
second you know. Meanwhile, we’ll be tracking you.”
 

Reaper read out the telephone number and hung up.

Chapter
48

As Tom hung up the phone, the helicopter suddenly took a dive
towards the sea and they were all thrown to the floor.

“What the hell happened?”

Kano appeared.

“Sorry guys, we have a small problem.”

“What?”

“We just picked up a signal behind us. By the looks of it, we’re
being chased by an Apache helicopter.”

“Oh God,” said Tom who thought things could not get any worse.

“What the hell is an Apache?” asked Lela.

“Very bad news. It’s an attack helicopter which will take us
apart in about half a second,” said Tom turning to Kano, his brain kicking into
action. “How far back is it?”

“I’m not sure. It was through a long range scope that we picked
it up and we can’t actually see it yet,” replied Kano.

“I need to see
Kisho
and the charts,”
announced Tom with authority.

“But Tom, what about the call? What’s happened?” asked Lela in
desperation.

“Oh, our parents are being held hostage by, I assume, similar
madmen to those at the four schools,” he answered glibly. He had much more
pressing matters to deal with, they may be dead themselves in the next few
minutes.

As Lela digested the devastating news, Tom made his way to the
cockpit with Kano. Lela was left with Chen who did his best to comfort her.

“OK, let me see the read-outs,” said Tom. “And where are the
charts and how far back is the Apache?”

“Here are the read-outs,” said
Kisho
.
“And they’re about ten miles behind us but closing in fast.”

Tom looked at the charts and all the available data.

“OK, increase to maximum speed 167 knots…”

“But that’ll just eat up our fuel and we’ll fall short of the
African mainland,” interrupted
Kisho
.

“I was going to say, for twenty minutes only,” said Tom.

“But why, what’s the point? They’re much faster than us and
they’ll catch us in no time,” protested
Kisho
.

“Yes, but the only Apache sitting at the base had no auxiliary
tanks and no missiles. It has a maximum speed of 197 knots but only for short
bursts and every time they do that speed, their fuel will disappear. Their
maximum range is about 260 nautical miles but that will reduce every minute
they exceed their cruising speed of 160 knots. So if we increase to 167 knots,
they won’t get close enough to use their guns unless they’re suicidal. The
nearest land is where we just came from.”

“But how do you know all that?” asked Kano.

“I just do, like I know this is an EH101, maximum speed 167,
cruising speed of 160 and range of just over 1,000 nautical miles with extra
fuel tanks. I have a passion for aircraft.”

“Cool, do it
Kisho
,” said Kano. “But
what did you say through there about your parents?” he asked, current crisis
averted.

“It seems that my mother and father and I assume Saki have been
taken hostage.” Tom went on to explain the whole conversation with the
mysterious and fearsome caller.

“Get Lela in here,” said
Kisho
after
hearing what Tom had to say.

Tom went to get Lela.

Chapter
49

Reaper watched as his communications man worked his magic. He was
the same man who had tapped into the Kennedys’ phone line, had diverted all
their calls to his own line and had blocked all mobile signals into and out of
the Estate. Within two minutes of the call, he hit the play button. Reaper
listened.

“Excellent work, let’s go!”

Reaper made his way to the main gate and pressed the intercom
button. He pulled his mask over his face to ensure that none of the cameras
could see his face.

“Hello?” came a voice
,
it was Donald
.

Reaper pressed a button.

“Mum, Dad, it’s me and Lela. We’re OK. Please help us,” pleaded
Tom to his father.

“Mr Kennedy, your actions in the next few seconds will determine
whether you ever see your son alive again.”