Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (28 page)

“Add to the fact that our Estate is like a fortress. This is a
nightmare, I imagined four or five gunmen, nothing like this.”

Tom’s brain went into overdrive as he thought through the
options.

After a while, he turned to
Kisho
.

“I think I have a plan,” he announced.

Tom dialled the number he had been given.

“Hello,” answered Reaper recognising Tom’s number.

“Johannesburg,
Randburg
Heliport is
where we’re landing,” he whispered.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, they mentioned it when they checked on us a minute ago.”

“Why are you whispering?” asked Reaper.

“You told me not to tell the authorities about you and they are
the authorities. Didn’t I do the right thing?”

“Yes, yes of course.”

“Can I speak to my dad?”

“No, not yet Tom.”

Donald walked in as Reaper was on the phone to Tom.

“Is that Tom?” Donald had heard him say ‘Tom’.

“Yes,” said Reaper who could not believe his luck.

“TOM!!!” Donald screamed.

“DAD, DAD, WE‘RE OK, ARE YOU OK?” Reaper had taken a calculated
risk that Tom would not mention his status in his first sentence and had put
the loudspeaker on. He put it off again before Tom could say anything more.

“WE’RE FINE SON, WHERE ARE YOU?” Donald screamed in response,
elated at hearing Tom’s voice and hearing that they were both OK.

“That’s enough, thanks Tom,” said Reaper ending the call.

“Why didn’t you let me talk to them?” asked Donald.

“You got all you needed, you know they’re fine,” said Reaper who
walked away with a huge smile across his face. The gods were smiling on him.
That call would stop the whiney parents bleating on about their kids. It should
cover him for the next couple of days. However, he needed Tom and Lela back
there before Monday or things would get tricky.

Tom updated Lela on the phone call. He had spoken to his father
and they were all fine. Both hugged and felt a great sense of relief knowing
that their parents were still OK.

Kisho
and Tom then updated Lela and
Kano on the plan. Lela agreed with most of the points but suggested one major
change. Everyone agreed that it was the right thing to do.
 

“OK. We’ve got just under five hours before we land and we’ve got
a lot to do,” announced Tom.

“Are you sure this will work?” Lela had second thoughts over one
part of the plan.

“Yep, we have to be strong and play them at their own game.”

The twins nodded agreement. “Lets go,” they said in unison.

Chapter
52

“Zach, it’s Tom. Are you alone?”

“Yes. Tom, is everything OK?” asked Zach.

“Why?”

“Mr Sakamoto explained that a few of you had to leave the island.
It was really
weird,
we were playing our game,
couldn’t find you guys anywhere and went to report you missing. Mr Sakamoto
told us you had all left the island at very short notice for a family emergency
and would be back in a few days. It was all very strange. I mean you, Lela,
Chen and Mia all having an emergency at once. Are you sure you’re OK?”
 

“Yes, we’re fine,”
Tom
thought for a
second. “It’s something along those lines but I need a couple of favours and
you can’t tell anybody that they’re for me.”

“Tom, are you sure you’re OK?” Zach knew something was very wrong.

“Yes, fine. I’ll fill you in on the details later but I need you
to do these things for me but it’s really important that they have nothing to
do with me.”

Tom explained what he needed.

“That’s not going to be easy without anybody knowing but I’m sure
we can manage it,” said Zach confidently.

His network was as good as any. He and Tom had done a number of
favours for each other in the past but if Zach pulled this off, it would be
miraculous. Tom would not believe Mr Sakamoto was working for the bad
guys which
meant that they must be holding him and Mia. This
would alter his plans slightly.

Tom made a number of other calls to his network and had
everything in place before Lela made the most important call of all. They
prayed that the generator would still be switched on or at least the battery
powered up.
 

“It’s ringing,” she said excitedly.

After a minute, she said, “It’s still ringing,” with slightly
less enthusiasm.

Eventually, the phone was answered and Lela spoke rapidly.
Although Tom had spent ten years trying to learn the language, he only caught
three words, ‘Papa’, ‘Saki’ and ‘emergency’.

After what seemed like hours but was only five minutes, Lela’s
grandfather came on the line. Lela explained what was required and handed the
phone to Tom to go through the detail. Tom stopped talking and listened for
some time, nodding his head and saying ‘yes’ and agreeing with whatever was
being said. The call ended and Tom explained that the wily old leader had made
a few tweaks but that everything was OK.

“So what are we going to do when we land at the heliport? They’ll
be waiting for us,” said Lela.

“We’re not going to land at the heliport, we’re going to play a
little harder to get,” replied Tom.

“But they’ll hurt our parents!” shouted Lela.

“No, we’ll cover it, don’t worry,” said Tom firmly.

Just then, his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Zach, we have a problem.”

“What?”

“The plane you wanted in
Johannesburg,
no can do.”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems that no matter who requests anything in this area of
Africa, they must have additional authority. I have tried all my guys and none
of them can get through it. You said to keep it low key so we’ve not pushed it.
Whoever you’re up against, they’ve got some really good connections. My guys
can get round anything but somebody does not want any of our forces in that
neck of the woods without a bloody good reason.”

“Bloody hell! OK,” said Tom, thinking hard.

“Look, everything else is in place. I’ve checked with the guys
here and they’ve done what you asked. I don’t know what you’re up to but good
luck and God bless.”

“Thanks Zach, you’re a star.” Tom hung up.

Three faces stared at him, having only heard his side of the
conversation and seen his obvious disappointment.
 

“We have a major problem with our transport plans.”

“What other options do we have?” asked
Kisho
.

“Not sure, we have no passports and we have no Alba jets in the
area. I’ve checked. The nearest is in the Middle East, eight hours away and we
don’t have that much time.”
 

He opened up his handheld PC again and began searching the OAG
flight data. Commercial flights were an option but passports were going to be a
problem, not to mention that the timing would affect the rest of his plans. It
was only on returning to his home page that he found the solution. He explained
it to the others who thought he was mad and even if he was, they weren’t. He
ignored them and made the call.

“Hi
Benoît
, it’s Tom. I need a favour.”
Tom didn’t waste time and explained what he needed.

“YOU WHAT???
ARE
YOU MAD???”
Benoît
shouted down the phone.

“
Benoît
, it’s life and death! I know
I’m asking a lot but if anything happens, my father will pay for it ten fold. I
will even deposit the funds in an escrow account now if you want.”

“Where are you going to get access to that sort of cash?” asked
Benoît
.

“I have access to all of my father’s accounts. He writes his
passwords everywhere…
Benoît
, I know I’m asking a lot
and I would love to tell you exactly why I need it but you’re going to have to
trust me here.”

A few more words were exchanged and eventually
Benoît
agreed. He fully expected his father to kill him
when he found out but Tom needed his help and Tom had always been there for him.

“OK, I’ll try. It won’t be easy and I can’t promise it will
happen but I’ll do my best.”

“
Benoît
I can’t thank you enough and
trust me, my father will be very, very grateful.”

They said their goodbyes and ended the call.

“If he can pull that off, I might even believe we can pull this
off,” said Kano.

Chapter
53

Reaper called Pieter, “Johannesburg
Randburg
Heliport,” he said.

Pieter shouted “
Randburg
” to someone
over his shoulder. “OK, we guessed they might go there,” said Pieter.

“Where are you now?”

“We’re just about to leave Maputo.”

“By plane?” asked Reaper.

“No, we would have to land at Johannesburg International and the
customs checks are horrendous. We have a chopper that will take us to the
heliport. We can fly in low level and nobody will know we’re coming. We’ll grab
the kids and fly back to Maputo. The Base Commander has been well rewarded and
we even have our own hangar.”

“OK, how long?”

“If my calculations are right, we’ll get to the heliport ten
minutes ahead of them. We’ll snatch the kids and be on our way back within
thirty minutes. In just over four hours, the kids will be on a plane, heading
in your direction.”

“Excellent. Remember you have another eight soldiers right behind
them if you need the help.”

“We should be fine but I’ll bear it in mind.”

The gate intercom rang, Reaper checked the camera,
it
was the legal guy. He buzzed him in.

Reaper drove down to the gate and picked him up. He was already
fully briefed but Reaper took him through the brief again, to be on the safe
side.

“Donald, this is Mark, Mark this is Donald.” Reaper introduced
the two men. “Donald, Mark will be accompanying you for the next day or so when
you carry out your business. I don’t need to remind you that your son’s life is
in your hands, do I?”

“No you don’t, I’m perfectly aware of that fact.”

“What exactly is this all about, anyway?” Donald asked again.

Reaper took him by the arm and led him into the lounge area where
Rachel was sitting.

“OK. I’ll tell you. It has to do with your IBC deal.”

“What do you want with that?”

“Let’s just say some people would rather it didn’t happen.”

“But you can’t stop it,” blurted Rachel. “Even if you stop Donald
from signing, somebody else can do it for him.”

“You’re right Rachel. I can’t stop them,” said Reaper.

“But I can,” said Donald understanding what they wanted.

“Well if that’s all you want. Donald make the call and stop the
deal,” said Rachel following simple logic.

Donald looked at Reaper and read his mind.

“That’s no use, I need to pull out at the last minute. That’s why
I have to keep up the pretence that the deal is going through. If I pull out
now, there’s still time to find last minute buyers. If we wait to the last
second, somebody can ride in like a knight in shining armour and save the day.”

Reaper applauded Donald.

“You are a very bright man, Mr Kennedy, now let’s go.”

They left the room and made their way to the office where Mark
had made himself comfortable.

“I’m also bright enough to know that you’ll never let me live
beyond 12.00 on Monday,” said Donald. He would not say it front of Rachel.

“Get to work,” said Reaper ignoring Donald’s remark and making
his way back to the kitchen.

Chapter
54

Tom was receiving constant calls updating him on the status of
his requests. He had received positive responses to all bar two. One was
negative and one was pending.

“We are twenty minutes from
Randburg
heliport,” announced
Kisho
.

“OK I’ll make the call,” said Tom.

Tom dialled the number.

“Hello,” said Reaper.

“Hi, it’s Tom. We have a problem. We’ve run out of fuel and can’t
make
Randburg
. We’ll have to land at Johannesburg
International.”

“Rubbish, you must have plenty of fuel left.”

“I’d agree, had we not been chased by an Apache. We had to fly at
maximum speed for a while.”

Reaper was surprised that they had noticed the Apache but it
explained why it could not catch them and it also justified their lack of fuel.
If he got hold of Pieter, he might just make it in time.

“OK but make sure you don’t get seen,” said Reaper.

Tom could hear the anger in his voice. Whatever Reaper was
planning was crashing around him.

“What do you want us to do when we land?”

“I want the three of you to wait for my men.”

“Three of us?” Tom asked as innocently as he could.

“Yes. You, Lela and the Chinese boy,” said Reaper, also trying to
sound innocent.

“Oh, Chen. Sorry, he didn’t make it. He was shot at the camp.”

“What?”
Reaper could not believe it
,
his trump card was dead
.

“But that can’t be, he was seen getting on the chopper.”

“That’s right, he was dragged on board but he was already dead.”

“Just wait for my men and try to lose the soldiers, OK. I’ll call
you when my men arrive and remember, if you want to see your mother again,
you’ll do as I say.”