Assassin (The Billionaire Series)

by Murray Mcdonald

  “Of course,” replied Tom. “What’s up?” he asked, noticing that something was wrong.

  “Not here, let’s go next door to your room,” he said to Tom and gesturing for Lela to come too.

  It took Tristan less than two minutes to update Tom and Lela on the latest he had heard from his father. It was the same news the Ambassador had told their parents. Donald was now being linked to the assassinations. Tom looked across at Lela who was obviously waiting for his reaction to gauge how she was going to take this. Tom looked back at Tristan.

  “When?” he asked forcefully.

  “When what?” asked Tristan who had expected them to break down.

  “When are Global Media going to release the story?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “That’s it. They’ve gone too far now. Whoever is behind this, has just stepped over the line.” Tom was seething but his mind was working overtime.

  “Tristan, could you do me favour and round up these people and have them meet here in 2 hours,” said Tom scribbling down a list of names as fast as he could.

  “If any of them ask why, just say it’s an emergency and mention my name, they should come, or at least I hope they will. And now if you don’t mind Trist, I need to make some urgent calls.” Tristan took the hint and went off to round up the list of students.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Lela.

  “We are going to start giving these bastards a fight,” replied Tom forcefully.

  “How?”

  “By playing them at their own game. I need your permission to invoke the special condition.”

  “Of course, but why?” Lela saw the sparkle in Tom’s eye. He obviously had a plan.

  “You’ll see,” said Tom as he made a call.

  “Hi, can I speak to Jonathan please?” asked Tom.

  “I’m sorry Tom, he’s busy just now, can he call you back?” asked Jonathan’s secretary recognising Tom’s voice. Both she and Jonathan had gone into the office despite it being a Sunday to do whatever they could to help.

  “No, I need to speak to him now, interrupt him, it’s urgent,” replied Tom abruptly. Lela kicked him for being so rude.

  “I’m sorry but it’s really really urgent,” said Tom trying to justify his rudeness.

  “OK, I’ll get him for you now,” she replied impressed at Tom’s ability to apologise even though he was under a huge amount of pressure. Jonathan had been barking at her all day and had not apologised once.

  Two seconds later, Jonathan was on the phone.

  “Hi Tom, how you holding up?”

  “Fine thanks, have you heard the latest?” he didn’t have time for small talk, they had things to do.

  “No, what’s happened?”

  Tom informed a totally and utterly dumbfounded Head of Legal about the allegations which were due to be made against his father. Jonathan could think of nothing to say and remained speechless.

  “Jonathan, are you there?” prompted Tom.

  “Yes, yes sorry, I just can’t believe anybody could conceive of this. I mean what utter crap. What can I do?”

  “I want to invoke the special conditions laid down by my father this year.”

  Jonathan did not need to look them up as he had drafted them himself only two months previously. It had been a rather surprising request but Donald was the boss and what he said went.

  “Is Lela with you?”

  “Yes, here she is” said Tom handing the phone to Lela.

  “Do you agree with this Lela?” asked Jonathan.

  “Yes I do,” replied Lela handing the phone back to Tom.

  “OK boss, what can I do for you?” said Jonathan to the newest and youngest CEO in the world.

  Part Three

  Chapter 33

  General Powers wasted no time when he arrived back in Washington. He headed straight to the Whitehouse to see the President. The meeting was brief and filled with sincere apologies and explanations. Powers was not interested in all that guff, he just wanted to see the new statement which was to be sent to his staff immediately. The President handed him a draft, he tweaked it and added his own paragraph at the end. He waited for confirmation that the message had been sent and then left without so much as a goodbye. He was in no mood to be cordial.

  Powers began to calm down as he approached his office. He had toyed with the idea of going home but wanted to make a few calls first. He had called his wife from Zach’s school and had been stunned to learn that she hadn’t even been informed of his demise. Two and a half million soldiers of the US armed forces had been informed but she hadn’t. The more Powers delved into ‘the incident’, the worse it got. Things were very strange and something was going on. His thoughts stopped as he opened the outer door to his office. His secretary’s desk was completely clear, her papers and personal things were thrown into a box on the floor. The door to his office was closed but somebody was in there, he could hear them moving around.

  He opened the door slowly and quietly and watched as a short, tubby man was frantically putting things back where they should be from a pile of boxes in the middle of the floor. Walker had spent most of the morning moving into General Powers’ office and was still furiously trying to move back out. Walker had been informed by the President about Powers still being alive but not about his very quick return. As far as Walker was concerned, Powers was on a plane crossing the Atlantic.

  “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” shouted Powers in his best drill instructor’s voice. Walker just about had an involuntary action such was the surprise and terror of hearing the General’s voice. Powers was a large and powerful man and was going to use every inch of his presence on the insignificant weasel. He had gone too far, it was one thing to take his job, he could be forgiven for that but moving into his office before his body was even found, especially on a Sunday, was unforgivable. Powers expanded his already vast chest and moved within a whisker of Walker.

  “I’m just putting things back where they were Sir,” replied Walker, his voice quivering.

  “Why would they need to be put back if I never moved them in the first place. A bit quick off the mark weren’t we Walker?”

  “No, no, Sir, it wasn’t my decision, the President himself phoned me to tell me to move into your office asap.”

  “So you scurried in on a Sunday and started moving my things out?” Powers began to smell an even bigger rat.

  “Well that’s good,” said the General, “because you have a new command post. I understand that your previous post has already been filled,” smiled Powers.

  “Only on an interim basis Sir. I was just moving back to my office,” said Walker who was now very nervous. He knew Powers had never liked him.

  “No, no, you were right to put Michael in your old role, he’s a very good man.” Powers had always preferred Michael, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, to Walker.

  “So where are you putting me?” asked Walker meekly.

  “I’ve had to think long and hard about this. A man with your skills is wasted behind a desk. I mean, you’ve got what, 30 years service behind you? All that naval experience stuck in here.”

  Powers could see the look of fear on Walker’s face. He was a lifetime desk jockey. Powers could not believe Walker’s personnel file. He had managed to get to the top job in the Navy despite never seeing any action. The biggest sea command he had held was cruising around the Caribbean looking for drug smugglers which had raised a few serious questions in itself.

  “I’m very settled in Washington, it would be hard to move now,” squeaked Walker barely able to breath.

  “Oh, what I have in mind won’t require you to move house,” replied Powers smiling. “We need a new Commander for the Second Fleet.”

  “But that’s a Rear Admiral position, I’m a Four Star Admiral, that would be ridiculous,” blurted Walker whose fear gave into anger.

  “Correction, you were a Four Star Admiral,” said Powers letting the words hang for a second. “Not anym
ore, Rear Admiral.”

  “But you can’t possibly do this, I mean you just can’t. I’ll speak to the President,” said an exasperated Walker, his heart pounding. The US Second Fleet was in the middle of the Artic and would remain there for some time.

  “It’s covered, I’m afraid, you’re my payback. I can do whatever I want with you,” smiled Powers.

  From the day he had taken on the Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs, Walker had made things as difficult as he could for him and had seemed untouchable. The President had refused many of Powers’ requests to replace the useless Chief of the Navy.

  “I’ll resign,” Walker informed him.

  “You wish,” said Powers.

  “What do you mean ‘you wish’? I’m perfectly within my rights to resign.”

  “Fine but if I receive your resignation, I will immediately launch an investigation into your command of the anti drug ship in the Caribbean. I’m sure I’ll find out why, on your command, drug seizures were 80% less than any other commander.”

  Powers had noted the discrepancy while reading Walker’s personnel file and adding this to rumours at the time, he couldn’t help but wonder.

  Walker didn’t know what to do. The 20% seizures they had made were while he was on holiday. The actual truth was that while in command, he had made no seizures whatsoever. Powers had it in for him and Walker was fairly certain that Powers could ensure that testimony would come to light which would incriminate him in some pay-off scandal. He could spend the next ten years in jail. As a matter of fact, he had never taken a pay-off from the drug runners. He didn’t need to, his family were very wealthy. The simple truth was that he was a coward who needed a stint at command to progress his career and had managed to wangle the easy task of cruising around the Caribbean for 18 months.. He hadn’t realised until he arrived that the drug runners were as dangerous as they were. Ten sailors had been injured prior to his arrival and an anti-tank missile had narrowly missed the ship two weeks before that. He decided if drug runners wanted so badly to navigate their waters, then he would just make sure his ship was nowhere near them.

  “Well?” Powers knew Walker was a coward and had more than likely never taken a kick-back but his crew at the time had certainly thought he was. They didn’t know his daddy was worth a few billion. Whoever was watching out for Walker was very good. The rumours had been quashed quickly and effectively, a difficult thing to do in the navy.

  “When do I leave?” he said resignedly.

  “Now. The car’s outside and your transport plane awaits,” replied a triumphant Powers.

  “Right this second?”

  “Yes, right this second. Oh and you may want to stop and buy some sweaters. I hear it’s rather cold up there. Now get out of my office before I throw you out.”

  Walker took his box of personal belongings and walked out. Powers picked up the phone and dialled the Interim Chief of Naval Operations.

  “Michael?”

  “Yes sir, General Powers and may I just say how relieved I was to hear that you’re OK. It was a terrible accident Sir.”

  “Thank you Michael,” said Powers as it struck him that neither the President, Beaumont nor Walker had made the same remark. He thought that perhaps they were too embarrassed by their stupid actions.

  “Two things, Michael,” resumed Powers. “One, congratulations, you are confirmed as the new Chief of Naval Operations and secondly, I just sent Rear Admiral Walker to command the Second Fleet.”

  “Sorry Sir, did you just say that I have been confirmed as the new Chief and Rear Admiral Walker is in command of the Second Fleet?” He paused for a moment and then added, “I don’t know which is more shocking, my promotion or the thought of Walker leading the second fleet.”

  “I know the thought of what he could do to it is worrying and that’s why I’m calling. I was very angry when I gave him the post. I remember reading that they were on Arctic manoeuvres and I couldn’t think of anything he would hate more. So we need to cover it. Please put your best second-in-command with him, somebody who’s ready for their own command and tell him to lead the fleet. Walker will just want to keep a low profile. Give your guy the authority to over-rule him if he believes it’s necessary. In other words, Walker is a figure-head only.”

  “Understood, no problem. I know just the man for the job. He hates Walker and will relish the opportunity. And Sir, thank you for the promotion.”

  “Not at all Michael. The job should always have been yours, I don’t know how the hell that idiot ever got it.”

  Walker continued down the corridor with his box in his arms thinking of what he needed to do. He had to call his wife and let her know he wouldn’t be home that night, nor the next few months. He was supposed to have been going to his club that night for a game of poker with the boys. He’d have to cancel that as well. It then struck him. He suddenly realised that he would have to miss the committee meetings. He couldn’t possibly use the equipment on a naval ship, it was full of electronics, or could he? He would have to call The Chairman and check. It wasn’t going to be an easy call. The Chairman did not tolerate members missing meetings. In fact, members didn’t miss meetings, ever.

  Chapter 34

  Max Marshall was the owner of Global Media having built the business over the previous 40 years from nothing. It was now one of the largest media organisations in the world, with interests on every continent and every media, including newspapers, radio, TV, film, publishing and the internet.

  He had been made aware of the story on Donald Kennedy just after the revelation of his arrest. He had received a phone call from his Washington Bureau who had received a file detailing astonishing claims against Donald Kennedy. At first, they took the file as an elaborate hoax and highly defamatory. None of the content was printable. However, when news of his arrest was announced, they began to investigate the story more seriously. It all seemed to check out. Understanding the enormity of the news, they contacted Max. He was very nervous, it was not every day you launched an attack on the world’s richest man. A mistake could ruin the company.

  He made some calls to government officials, further checking the allegations, in case they knew something he didn’t. Everything checked out. It seemed that Global Media was holding the key to the world’s biggest story. He was asked by the UK government whether he could hold the story until they made some further checks. It was a Sunday, things would take a little longer but they promised to get back to him by close of play.

  He thought long and hard about what to do. If he launched the story straight away, only to find it was all rubbish, Donald Kennedy would have him for everything, his legal guys were legendary. If he waited and had final confirmation from the government, they couldn’t touch him, the government would be to blame. It also meant they could spend the day preparing for the biggest breaking story in the history of the company. The decision was made. Print runs were halted, the first 5 pages were cleared on every paper they published. Each one of their main presenters was contacted and told to report into work on the Monday. Their schedules were re-arranged, holidays cancelled or interrupted.

  Max’s phone rang. It was 7 p.m. in London and it was the call he had been waiting for. He grabbed the phone.

  “Hello?” he answered excitedly.

  “Hello Mr Marshall.” It was definitely not the call he had been expecting.

  Chapter 35

  Tom only realised the time when he heard the commotion outside his room. He had been so busy on the phone that two hours had flown by. He walked out, said hi to the group and explained they were borrowing one of the conference rooms and led the way.

  “I’m sorry to ask you to come at such short notice,” began Tom. “I know we all start school tomorrow but I thought there were some things you guys needed to know.”

  Tom spent the next twenty minutes bringing them all up to speed on that day’s developments including the latest news of his father’s alleged links to the assassinations. Finally, he stopped talki
ng and waited for a barrage of questions. None came. All sat still, waiting for the punch line. No-one could believe that Tom’s father was responsible for the explosion, let alone the assassinations. That, of course, was why they had been selected, that and for their contacts.

  Eventually, somebody spoke.

  “So what are we going to do?” asked Daniel, the son of the Head of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. Tom had known Daniel for some time and liked his straight talking, no-nonsense approach.

  “We’re going to find out what’s happening and who’s behind all this. I hope with your help?” Tom looked around the table and was pleased to see everyone nodding.

  “How about introductions, I don’t think I’ve met everybody here?” suggested Zach.

  “Of course. My apologies. Probably best we just shoot round the table,” replied Tom indicating to his left.

  “I’m Thabo, son of the President of Botswana.”

  “I’m Daniel, son of the Head of the Israeli Mossad.”

  “I’m Zach, son of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the US.”

  “I’m Jin, granddaughter of the President of the People’s Republic of China.”

  “I’m Sofie, my mother is President of the European Commission and I’m from the Netherlands.”

  “I’m Elena, my father is the Secretary General of the United Nations and I’m from Peru.”

  “I’m Lela, Tom’s sister.”

  “And I’m Tristan, the son of the Prime Minister of the UK.”

  “Excellent, I’m sure we’ll all get to know each other much better but there is one more person I want to bring into this group. He’s not at this school but I called him earlier and told him everything I’ve told you guys and I think he may be quite helpful.”

  “Who is it?” asked Tristan.

  “Rolf. His family has some rather interesting connections in a slightly different world from the one we all live in,” said Tom awkwardly.