“This can’t be real, can it Tom?” asked Lela with tears rolling down her cheeks. She had managed to remain fairly calm for the previous few hours but this was too much. Their parents were accused of corporate manslaughter and if convicted, would be sentenced to life imprisonment.
“It is real Lela. But it’s complete bullshit!” Tom was very angry and was struggling to control himself.
Tristan knocked gently on the door and opened it, he had just watched the same news story.
“Jesus guys! What the hell is going on? This is nuts! How can anyone think your parents can be involved in this?” Tristan was visibly upset, Donald was his godfather.
“Have you spoken to your dad? What’s he doing about this?” Tom couldn’t understand why Tristan’s father, Roger, the British Prime Minister, had not got his parents out of prison and out of Africa.
“Yes but very briefly. He’s doing everything he can. In fact, he’s doing nothing else. He knows very well that your dad wasn’t responsible for this.”
“For God sake Tristan, it’s a tiny African country. Just tell them to back off. I don’t understand why this is happening…” Tom couldn’t finish his sentence, he just broke down. Lela moved over and hugged him, gesturing to Tristan to leave them just now. He nodded and quietly left the room, closing the door on his way out.
Mr Sakamoto, The Academy’s Headmaster and old family friend, almost crashed into Tristan as he came careering down the corridor. He threw Tom’s door open and rushed inside.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry, I’ve just heard the news. I’ve been locked in my office all morning catching up on paperwork. What’s the latest?”
Tom pulled himself together and filled him in on everything right up to the conversation with Tristan.
“OK, let’s make some calls and see what we can find out.” He shut the door and sat down next to the phone.
Chapter 30
“My God it’s 6.00 p.m. already. We need to go soon,” said General Powers.
Zach and his father had spent the whole afternoon looking around the school buildings, grounds, and marina. The General and his staff were very impressed, they had never seen anywhere like it. General Powers had thought that Zach had exaggerated a little about the school’s facilities but he now realised that Zach had actually undersold it. It was amazing.
“OK, I’ll take you to the airfield, we can stop at the Special Forces Base on the way,” said Zach who was driving the golf cart. His father’s aide and secretary were sitting in the back and had said little over the previous four hours other than, amazing, wow and spectacular.
Zach drew the golf cart to a stop at the gates. He knew all the soldiers well, particularly the American ones. They always made sure they kept the boss’ son happy. However, the gate was manned by a German KSK (Kommando Spezialkraefte) soldier, whom he didn’t know. Zach and his father had agreed that they would try to surprise the base’s Commanding Officer. He was a Delta Force lieutenant Colonel and an old friend of General Powers. Fortunately, the General and his staff were in civilian clothes so the young German guard didn’t recognise the visitors and in particular, the General.
“Hi, is Colonel Jackson available please?” asked Zach to the ramrod straight guard.
“Who may I ask is asking?” he responded.
“Zach Powers,” he replied. The guard motioned to the other three passengers, “and friends” added Zach.
He picked up the phone and buzzed the HQ. Two seconds later, he was speaking to Colonel Jackson.
“Sir, I have a Zach Powers and…” the German was interrupted before he could mention the three friends.
“Jesus man, send him straight through!” said Colonel Jackson.
The guard replaced the phone, lifted the barrier and pointed to where Zach should go. They sped through the base as fast as the cart would take them and pulled up outside the HQ building. Zach led the way through the corridors and tapped gently on the Colonel’s door.
“Come in, come in,” he ushered.
As Zach opened the door and entered, the Colonel came towards him.
“Jesus Zach, how you doin’ son? You holdin’ up OK?” The Colonel gave Zach a huge hug and wouldn’t let go. He whispered how sorry he was, over and over again.
“Hey, Colonel, I’m OK. But are you OK? ”
Zach had never seen him so emotional and didn’t understand the need for such a huge hug and what on earth was he sorry about?
Such was his emotional state that the Colonel hadn’t noticed his other guests, patiently standing in the doorway.
The General had been watching the Colonel and was as bemused by his behaviour as Zach was.
“What the hell has come over you man?” boomed General Powers.
The Colonel froze at the sound of the General’s voice. He looked up and stepped back, visibly shaken. A second later, under the gaze of four bemused faces, he finally smiled.
“Oh my God! Thank God! Am I pleased to see you! I knew it couldn’t be true! General Powers killed in a plane crash? Never! It would take a nuclear missile up your ass to kill you, you son of a bitch!” The Colonel opened his arms and walked over to hug the General.
But the General stepped back.
“We’ll have none of that nonsense Colonel. What the hell are you talking about? What plane crash?” he asked.
The Colonel explained that he had literally just received notification from Washington that the General had been involved in a tragic accident. He was told that the General’s aircraft had crashed soon after take-off from Durban, killing all on board. He was instructed that the news was being suppressed until all ranking officers in the US forces were informed.
“My God! If weren’t for the fact that Zach’s friend picked us up, we would have been on the plane. Are you sure there were no survivors? And what caused the crash? ” asked the General.
“No survivors and I don’t know,” replied the Colonel.
The General was stunned. The realisation that his flight crew were all dead hit him hard. The Colonel continued to read the statement he had received from the President.
“In this troubled time, it is imperative, in the interests of national security, that no chink in the US’s armour is shown. I have therefore taken the unprecedented decision to immediately appoint General Powers’ replacement. With immediate effect, Admiral Harold Walker will assume the title of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
The Colonel stopped reading. There was more but he knew that the General had heard enough.
“What in the hell is going on??!! Walker…, why would they give that weaselly little turd my job?” The General’s mind was racing. “Give me that phone,” he snapped. He was now shaking with fury.
“Get me the President,” he barked to the Whitehouse receptionist.
“Who may I say is calling,” she responded professionally, ignoring the General’s rudeness.
“Tell him it’s one of his ChairMEN of the Joint Chiefs.”
Missing the relevance of his emphasis, the receptionist put the call through as a call from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
The President was in the middle of a call from the Russian President and would be another minute. Beaumont had entered the Oval office as the call from the General had come through and decided to take it for the President.
“Hi Harold, how are you settling in? Congratulations on the promotion,” he said cheerfully.
“I’ll HAROLD YOU!! GET THAT IDIOT BOSS OF YOURS ON THE PHONE NOW!!! BEFORE I COME OVER THERE AND RIP YOU A NEW ASSHOLE!!!”
Not many people scared Beaumont but the tones of General Powers’ screaming voice chilled him to the core. His face dropped. The President, seeing the look of dread on Beaumont’s face, distanced the phone from his ear and left the Russian president talking to thin air. Beaumont did the same and the General’s expletives could clearly be heard through the earpiece. The President mouthed “who is it?” Beaumont responded, “Powers.” The President dropped the Russian pres
ident on the floor, the full impact of the situation hitting him. He too was scared of General Powers.
As Beaumont rescued the Russian President from the floor, a tentative President and boss of General Powers took the phone, his hand visibly shaking. The torrent from the General was even worse than expected and he thanked God that the man was 9,000 miles away.
The General pulled the phone away from his ear and screamed for his aide. They had all left General Powers to it, their eardrums could not take the abuse.
“Yes General,” said the aide on entering the room.
“Get me a scramjet, I want to get back to Washington yesterday.”
“Yes Sir.”
The General ended the call to the president informing him he would be back in 2 hours and would be straight over to see him.
Back in Washington, a very worried and very angry President replaced the receiver and turned to Beaumont.
“What the hell have you done Beaumont?! The man was merely a liability, now he’s a full blown enemy. He’ll never forgive me for this, he hates Walker. The fact that I chose him as his replacement has really pissed him off. What the hell happened? How the hell could you get it so wrong? Why didn’t you know Powers wasn’t on the plane? Wasn’t even in Durban?! What an almighty mess! How can you be so stupid?”
Beaumont stood speechless. This was not good. His mind was working through the permutations. This really, really was not good. General Powers was a very powerful man and very astute. The President was right, Powers had been a liability but now he was dangerous. He would be watching their every move. If only they hadn’t announced Walker. That was their biggest mistake from which it would be difficult to recover and it was all his fault. He, Beaumont, had pushed hard for it.
The emergency red phone buzzed on the President’s desk. He grabbed it, what next? The digitised voice of The Chairman of the Committee was instantly recognisable. He wasn’t taking this call on his own and put the phone on speaker.
“Beaumont’s here as well,” said the President. The Chairman did not mince his words and expressed his astonishment at their incompetence. He was also extremely concerned at the cavalier change in the timetable and how dare this be done without his knowledge. Both knew by the end of the call that they could not afford to make another mistake no matter how minor. Not because they sensed it but because The Chairman spelled out exactly what would happen to them if they did.
The scramjet arrived at the island thirty minutes later. It had been stationed at Diego Garcia airbase, a secluded airbase located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Although the airbase was well-known, it was almost 1000 miles from nearest landfall and only accessible by military transport.
The scramjet landed and departed almost immediately. It would deliver General Powers to Washington, 9,000 miles away, in just over an hour. The scramjet could fly at speeds approaching MACH 10, over 7,000 miles per hour.
Chapter 31
Donald explained the situation to Saki on his return to the cell. The Chief of Police had given up trying to elicit his confession after only half an hour. It was clear that Donald was not going to change his mind but it seemed as though the Chief of Police didn’t seem to care, almost as though he were just going through the motions.
It was not until later that they had the chance to update Rachel when they were let out into the prison courtyard, giving them the chance to talk. Despite the prison yard being full of other prisoners, the Kennedys were given an extra wide berth. They heard, however, that the former boss of the prisoners was fighting for his life in the prison hospital. It had not taken long for the prisoners to even up old scores. The boss now shared the ward with his henchmen and none would see the light of day for a number of weeks.
Rachel did not take the news well. The thought of spending the rest of her life in that hell hole was terrifying. Donald explained that the evidence was all stacked against him but that there was nothing on Saki and Rachel.
“So why the hell are we here? And anyway, is your spending the rest of your life in here without me, supposed to comfort me?” she retorted, fighting back the tears.
“No, but…” Donald gave up, there was no point trying to comfort Rachel at this stage, he stood more chance of upsetting her than reassuring her.
The tearful silence was interrupted by shouts and screams from across the courtyard. The noise grew louder as the source of the noise grew closer. A team of guards, heavily armed and dressed in full riot gear were making their way towards them. As they approached Donald, Saki and Rachel, they stopped. Saki stepped in front of Donald and Rachel and readied himself for another battle. He didn’t like guns but knew when they were needed and how to use them. He spotted the one he wanted, a well kept Heckler amp; Koch MP5K. It was by far the best weapon for his purposes, namely to take out the 20 guards as quickly as possible. He was already calculating the order in which to dispatch them once he had disarmed the owner of the gun he wanted.
“Come with us,” demanded the guard who was about to be disarmed. That was why he had the best weapon thought Saki, he was the senior guard.
“Where?” asked Saki, preparing to move dependent upon the answer.
“The British Ambassador has arrived and wishes to see you,” replied the senior guard. Saki turned to Donald who simply replied, “about bloody time, let’s go,” and led the way.
They were shown to a significantly more attractive room than the one Donald had found himself in earlier. Even tea and biscuits were laid out. A man was standing talking to the British Ambassador whom Donald assumed was the Prison Governor.
“Good evening,” said the Ambassador, rising from his seat and greeting them warmly.
“Good evening Mr Ambassador,” they all replied.
The Governor introduced himself to the three of them and told them to let him know if there was anything he could do for them. He said he was at their service but Donald had a funny feeling that they would not be seeing him again in a hurry, noting that he seemed to share the same tailor as the Chief of Police.
Rachel, however, smiled for the first time since their arrest, excited at the prospect of the UK government flexing its muscle to get them out.
“Sorry, I’ve not been here sooner but getting from Yaounde in Cameroon where I’m based on a Sunday is not an easy thing.”
“No need to apologise, we’re just very pleased to see you,” replied Donald. “When can you get us out?” He decided that he was as well cut to the chase. He could see that Rachel had decided that the Ambassador’s arrival was their ticket out. If it wasn’t, he wanted her to know then rather than build up her hopes.
“I’m afraid not, the evidence is significant and it seems that further improprieties are being suggested.”
The blood drained from Donald’s face.
“What does ‘suggestion of further improprieties’ mean?” asked Donald carefully.
“Hmm, I’m uncomfortable discussing it third hand. It is at the moment only rumoured.”
“Bugger uncomfortable and rumour, you’re the only person we can talk to,” insisted Donald.
“Well it appears that papers exist which would suggest, only speculation I hasten to add, that Alba International has gained significantly from the recent assassinations.”
“What?” Donald was not a stupid man, he knew exactly what was coming next and began to feel feint.
“Yes,” the Ambassador could see that he did not need to spell it out and added, “I believe the Global media chain will break the story tomorrow. An undercover reporter has papers and evidence which implicate you as the mastermind in the assassinations.”
The words hung in the air, nobody spoke. Donald had gone from the number one businessman in the world to the world’s most wanted murderer in less than 24 hours.
Chapter 32
It had been a long afternoon. Mr Sakamoto had tried all his contacts but to no avail. Tom had also tried a few of his contacts, being the son of the world’s most powerful businessman resulted
in an interesting network of friends. His father often joked that Tom and Lela’s contact lists put his one to shame. But nothing, the news was bad from everyone.
Mr Sakamoto had eventually given way to the small crowd of friends who had gathered outside Lela’s room and who had refused to leave. They were good friends and were not going to leave Tom and Lela in their hour of need.
Zach went straight to see Tom and Lela when he returned from dropping his father off. He wasted no time updating them and the small crowd on what had happened to his father, paying particular attention to the conversation between his father and the US President.
Tom realised, listening to Zach, that things could have been much worse. Zach’s father could easily have been killed that day.
The more he thought about things, the more he realised there was more he could do. There was lots more he could do. He was Tom Kennedy and he would find the truth. He looked around for Tristan, where was he? He turned to Lela, she was still very upset. Tom walked over and whispered to her.
“Lela, we’re going to sort this out. We’re not doing our parents any favours being like this. We need to do everything we can to help them, OK?”
He was strong again and Lela took solace in this. She began to brighten. Tom realised then that he had to remain strong for both of them. Lela may have been able to kick anybody’s arse but deep down she was just like most 15 year old girls, emotional and sometimes fragile.
“You’re right,” she said snivelling. “We need to do more, we need to do a lot more.” Tom hugged her, the strong and resilient Lela was returning.
Tristan entered the room
“Can I have a word?” he asked.
“Of course,” replied Tom. “What’s up?” he asked, noticing that something was wrong.
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