***
Lela rushed through the front door of the house. Two guards in the entrance hallway raised their guns, they had both heard the commotion from the lounge and the subsequent gunfire but had been ordered to remain on station. When they realised it was a young girl, they made their biggest mistake and lowered their weapons. Lela walked over and beat the two men unconscious before they had a chance to raise a finger or pull a trigger.
***
Reaper made the first move against the diminutive Saki. He threw a straight punch at Saki’s head. He had knocked many men unconscious with the same move. It was unstoppable and on this occasion its speed and power was a sure fire hit.
Saki had moved before Reaper’s brain had sent the signals to his fist. Saki had already planned his counter-strike. As the fist started its journey, Saki stepped aside and threw a punch both faster and significantly more powerful towards the fist.
Reaper could not believe it. Nobody could move as fast as this guy. Reaper then discovered that nobody could hit as hard as Saki either. His counter-strike struck the back of Reaper’s clenched fist and shattered every bone in his hand. The pain was excruciating. Reaper screamed in pain for the first time in his life.
Saki stepped back in front of Reaper and goaded him by remaining dead pan. Saki wanted to know the identity of the mastermind behind Reaper. He knew that the thug in front of him was incapable of putting such a plan together.
Reaper was enraged, the pain in his hand was intense. He spun around and delivered a high kick powerful enough to take Saki’s head off.
Saki smiled to himself as he watched Reaper subtly position his next move. It really was a man-versus-boy scenario. As Reaper spun round, Saki took Reaper’s standing leg away from under him with such a force that Reaper was propelled three feet in the air before landing and breaking his coccyx. It had been no fluke. Saki had calculated exactly how Reaper would land and again Reaper screamed, such was the intensity of the pain. Reaper would not sit comfortably for some time, if ever again.
Reaper looked at the little man in utter disbelief and then struggled to his feet, the pain from his lower back and shattered hand were excruciating. So he used his good hand to pull out a knife from inside his boot and faced Saki again.
Saki watched as Reaper struggled to his feet, pulling his knife and facing up to him again. Enough was enough. It was time for the man to talk. Saki, with invisibly fast action, took the knife out of Reaper’s hand and began the questioning.
***
As she made her way through the house, the screams Lela heard made her shiver. They were coming from the lounge and she made her way there. As she approached, a guard had his back to her and she realised he was taking aim at somebody in the lounge from where the screams were coming. Without a second’s thought, she jumped on the guard and disabled him and the weapon which she discovered was pointing at her father.
***
Reaper had had more pain inflicted on him in the preceding two minutes than most hardened fighters would have in a lifetime. Saki had been merciless in his quest to find out who had killed his beloved Tylanni. Lela walked into the room and put her hand on her father’s shoulder. He spun around and the hatred in his eyes vanished as he hugged his daughter.
Reaper, relieved that the punishment had stopped, summoned all his strength, picked his knife up from the floor and inched it towards Saki who was now completely consumed by his daughter. He swung his hand back and smiled as the knife took flight towards Saki’s back, directly towards his heart. It was his last smile. Lela caught the knife just as it was about to pierce her father’s skin and returned it down the same trajectory, killing Reaper instantly. She had not even broken her father’s embrace.
***
Kano and Kisho rushed into the room just after Lela and watched as she dealt with the three guards and then dealt with Reaper. Both looked at each other, realising that they were now the third and fourth best islanders and that Saki’s number one slot looked very shaky.
***
Tom rushed in just behind Kano and Kisho. Saki saw him and after checking the security system to ensure there were no further guards, pointed upstairs. Tom ran upstairs and pounded on his parents’ bedroom door, shouting, “Mum! Dad! It’s me!” His mother and father pushed the chair out of the way and flung the door open and hugged their son. Saki and Lela joined them a minute later and the whole family was back together safe and sound.
Chapter 66
As Tom hugged his parents in Glasgow, ten Royal Marine choppers landed at The Academy. They had been stationed as the defensive force for the Naval base to the north west. Their commander had received a call at 6.00 a.m. (3.00 a.m. Glasgow time) from Tristan, the UK Prime Minister’s son, who had insisted that they make haste to the school. He informed them that terrorists were ensconced in the Special Forces base and were holding the Headmaster captive. Tristan had also requested that no communication be made outwith the base and had made the Commander promise that he would pretend to order a routine mission. Recognising Tristan’s voice, the Commander acceded to his requests and carried out the operation, believing it wasn’t bad training if nothing else. On arrival at the base, the Commander found exactly what he’d been told. His men arrested Reaper’s men and unfortunately, during an exchange of fire, two hostages, Weadle and one of the terrorists were killed. The Commander’s men swore blind that they had not killed the Deputy Headmaster. It had been one of the terrorists who had shot him, whom they unfortunately had had to shoot as he refused to give himself up.
***
As Mr Sakamoto, Ms Anderson and Mia were being freed from their captors, the final Citation X landed on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Within ten minutes, the two islanders on board had achieved their objective. They rescued the real Chen from his captors. Within thirty minutes, they were making their way to Hong Kong to reunite him with his father. Chen’s father had been blissfully unaware of his predicament. Chen had been forced over the previous two weeks to contact his father and pretend he was at school and that everything was fine, all part of the plan to keep Ling’s cover.
***
As quietly as they had entered the schools, the islanders had left. Their flights had taken off from Washington, Paris, London and Moscow before anybody even knew they had been there.
Only the islanders in Glasgow were still on duty. Two of Reaper’s men had been unaccounted for and were eventually apprehended as they made their way back to the Estate from the airport. A flight home was arranged for the islanders later in the day as Rachel had insisted they stay for something to eat.
***
The authorities were totally perplexed. They now had over 200 semi-conscious terrorists bound and gagged with no understanding of who had caught them. The handcuffs and binding materials did not help identify their users as they emanated from many different countries. The terrorists themselves had no idea what had happened to them. One minute everything was fine and the next they were tied up and being interrogated as to whom had tied them up by the people they assumed had tied them up. They were totally confused.
Another twenty terrorists were discovered sitting bound and gagged outside the main police station in Johannesburg. The only reason the police knew they were involved was because of the Post-it notes stuck on their foreheads, which read: “I am a terrorist and I was involved in the school hijackings. I am therefore partly responsible for the deaths of five children.” They were immediately arrested and locked up.
Chapter 67
The police arrived at the Estate just as the last two terrorists were being bound by the islanders. The police took over and arrested all the terrorists, sweeping the grounds to ensure they had all of them in custody. They then embarked on a barrage of questioning but Donald insisted that his family had been through enough and that they needed some time to catch their breath. The Police Chief, who had attended the scene himself, ordered his men out of the Main House immediately.
“OK, n
ow tell us what really happened,” said Donald gently as he turned to Tom and Lela.
Tom and Lela explained almost everything. They explained how they’d involved their friends and the islanders to pull off the rescue. They explained in detail how amazing the islanders had been, apprehending over 200 terrorists, without firing a shot, in less than five minutes. They explained how Tom had realised what it had all been about and after telling Lela, how she had insisted they help the schools as well as rescue their parents. They explained how Papa had tweaked the plan, insisting he only needed five minutes in each school. They explained how the islanders, even those currently serving with the British Army, had come together from across the world to help. One call from Papa and they all converged on Masirah without delay. Tom, of course, had provided assistance with travel arrangements. They explained the role of the children whose fathers were in charge of electric grids in each of the locations and had ensured the power was cut and more importantly stayed off for the full five minutes. They explained the role of Zach and all of the military children from across the world in supplying the scramjet and huge amounts of equipment. They explained the mail requests that had travelled across the internet to the children of various Special Forces personnel to make emergency calls at exactly 3.30 a.m. GMT and to keep their parents hugely concerned for a full five minutes.
Tom and Lela went on to recount many more stories about how they had brought everything together and made the rescue such a huge success. The one thing they omitted to mention was the flying part and the ‘borrowing’ of the A380. They would break that one to them gently, later.
“Unbelievable! So they never had you at all!” Donald exclaimed.
“Are you kidding! With Kano and Kisho looking after us, not a chance!” replied Tom.
“I knew they wouldn’t let us down, I just couldn’t work it out,” said Saki feeling vindicated.
“The one thing I don’t know though, is who is behind it all,” said Tom.
“I know, I just don’t see that oaf being behind it all,” said Donald as he looked over to the bloodstained carpet where Reaper had lain.
“He wasn’t,” said Saki quietly.
“So who was?” asked Donald eagerly.
“The same man from fourteen years ago, the same man who murdered Tylanni,” said Saki with venom.
“For God sake Saki, who?” Donald could barely contain himself.
“I don’t know and believe it or not neither did the oaf. Trust me, he would have told me if he did,” said Saki and nobody doubted him. Saki did not think it was the time nor the place to mention that he had been given three names of who it could be. He would speak to Donald later. Everyone had had enough terror for one day.
The TV interrupted the conversation with news of a breaking story.
“Oh God what now,” said Rachel wearily.
“Breaking news just in. Air France have just released a press statement that one of their A380s, the largest passenger plane ever built, has ben stolen. It was last seen in Johannesburg yesterday evening and was being prepared for a return trip to Paris today. Rather embarrassingly for Air France, when the passengers arrived the plane was gone. Well,” added the newscaster “it’s not everyday the world’s largest plane just disappears into thin air.”
Donald did not hesitate for a second. Tom and Lela had just come from Johannesburg.
“TOM, LELA, did you forget to tell me something?” he asked with a smile.
Tom and Lela explained everything.
“YOU WHAT??!!” Donald, Saki and Rachel exclaimed. Although Donald saw the funnier side sooner than the others, Rachel was not certain that she would ever see the funnier side of her only son flying a huge prototype plane half way across the world at the age of thirteen.
“I think I need to make some phone calls,” said Donald.
Some hours later and just in time for his signing at noon, Donald had phoned what felt like hundreds of households around the world expressing his sincere gratitude and congratulating parents for the courage and ingenuity of their children. He had called the Air France Chief Execuitve first and was fairly certain he had ‘saved the life’ of Tom’s friend, Benoît, who had helped ‘borrow’ the A380.
Epilogue
At 12.01 p.m. and under a blaze of flashes, the largest business deal in history was finalised. Donald Kennedy was now officially the richest man in the world and the head of the largest corporation. Champagne corks flew and the events of a mere eight hours ago were almost forgotten.
***
The authorities were no further forward in understanding how the terrorists had been caught and a few of the investigating officers cast a gaze skyward in an attempt to understand what had happened.
***
Donald had just returned to his office when the phone rang. Donald answered.
“Donald, Sam Mitcham here, congratulations!”
“Thanks, Sam.”
“I’m so sorry to hear what happened. Mr Sakamoto has just filled me in on what he knows and a few of my former army colleagues have given me a bit more info. Are you guys OK?”
“Yes thanks, we’re all fine now. Frankly, it was terrifying but we’re all safe and that’s the main thing.”
“So what really happened?” asked Sam.
Donald had known Sam Mitcham for many years and considered him one of the most honourable men alive and the most trustworthy. He therefore told him everything Tom and Lela had told him.
“My God! The kids did all that on their own? Behind all their parents’ backs?”
“Yes Sir,” replied Donald with pride.
“Amazing. I think we’d better watch our backs Donald, these young ones will be taking charge before we know it.”
“We might be too late. From what went on today, they do a much better job than we do.”
“I think you may be right there Donald,” pondered Sam. As they said their goodbyes, Donald’s other line flashed. He switched over to it.
“Hello, Donald Kennedy here.”
“Hi Donald, I’ve just heard what happened to you and your family and I wanted to pass on my concerns and of course, I’m delighted that everyone is OK.” It was an old business competitor of Donald’s. He had been a major competitor until fourteen years ago when his business had gone bankrupt after failing to win a tender against Donald. Donald had been surprised when the failure to secure the tender had led to the collapse of the man’s company. However, he was back on his feet again and had rebuilt a strong business while also carving out a political career for himself. He was proud to have tendered the highest bid for the IBC deal but the Directors of IBC had rejected it with derision. They had and would never deal with a man of such questionable ethics and morals. They simply did not trust him, however important he thought he was.
“Thank you, it has, as you can imagine been a very upsetting ordeal.”
“I can only imagine, my thoughts are with you all. So are they any closer to knowing what happened?”
“Let’s just say whoever they are, certainly underestimated the power of our children.”
“What!? Children caught the terrorists?”
“Well, not exactly. They had some help from friends of mine who would prefer to remain anonymous.”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it someday, oh and congratulations on the IBC deal.” The man hung up, no goodbyes, no pleasantries.
“Thank you Mr President,” said Donald, as the line went dead.
THE END…
Assassin
The Empire Series – Book Two
Available now on Kindle
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Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) Page 24
