Another possibility was to ram the front gate and make a run for the house in a fast car, grab the kids by force and escape to a safe house. They had had to watch the gates for two days before being able to confirm the viability of that plan. It was ruled out. The gates revealed two issues. Firstly, there were in fact two sets of gates. A small area behind the main gates revealed another gate which was closed. Any vehicle entering the premises had to wait for the first gate to close before the second gate would open. The second issue was the gates themselves. They were more like vault doors than gates, even a bulldozer would not get through them.
The next option was ruled out even more quickly — the use of a helicopter to infiltrate the grounds. The estate was close to the UK’s nuclear warhead storage facility and was a strictly enforced no-fly-zone. The Kennedys’ helicopters were the only civilian aircraft permitted to fly within the area. Any other aircraft would immediately be challenged and shot down if it did not comply with instructions to leave the area. Following recent terrorist events, the UK had enforced a strict ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ policy when national security was at risk. None of Conor’s team were suicidal.
That left them with one final option, infiltration from the Loch. The Estate stood on the edge of Loch Lomond and had over 2 miles of shoreline. However, no boat could get closer than 200 yards from the shoreline due to thick wire netting protruding above the water-line barring access. The only entry and exit point for boats was via a similar system to the one operated at the main gates, a primary and secondary gate. The water was also littered with sensors and the shoreline was covered by as many cameras. So that option was also ruled out. This job was looking impossible. Conor was beginning worry, seriously worry.
He stared at the buildings just behind the shoreline. That was the only place from which the whole estate could be seen. The driveway from the main gate was over three miles long and the houses could not be seen from any point along the wall. He zoomed in on the main house and wondered what would happen if they just went for it. The pay day could be huge. If a man could spend the money Donald had on security, how much would he pay to save the lives of his kids?
It suddenly came to him, there was one thing missing from the estate. How could he not have noticed it? He scanned the buildings again, the Main House, the Lodge House, the Guest House and the gymnasium. He couldn’t believe it. He even checked the helipad, nothing.
“Guys?” he began to sound positive again.
“Yeah,” they answered. Kevin and Ryan had accompanied him on the boat trip.
“Have you noticed anything missing?”
“Don’t think so. That place is tighter than Fort Knox,” replied Kevin.
“Maybe and maybe not. Fort Knox has one very important feature this place doesn’t have.”
“What?” asked Ryan.
“Guards with guns. Or any guards for that matter,” he said triumphantly.
They both grabbed their binoculars and scanned the grounds. Conor was right. During their surveillance of the estate they had not spotted a single guard. They had been so caught up in the incredible security system that they had failed to notice the lack of the most obvious. It couldn’t be that simple they thought. OK, the alarms would go off but the alarms were only as good as the police who responded to them. A couple of country coppers were no match for them.
“Let’s get back. We’ve got a raid to plan,” said Conor as he continued to scan the grounds for guards.
Kevin spun his seat back round and threw the throttle to full power. The boat powered away and would soon have them back to camp.
Chapter 11
Rachel hit the intercom button.
“Tom! Lela! It’s time for lunch! Come on! We’re all waiting for you!” she shouted.
A minute later, Lela buzzed back to let her know they were on their way up. Two minutes later, they appeared. Tom’s grandparents, who had just arrived, wished Tom a happy birthday and gave him even more presents, although he didn’t know when he would ever wear the jumper with “TOM” on the front or use the handkerchiefs with “TK” embroidered on them.
“So how is it?” asked Donald who could see that Tom was bursting to tell them all.
“Amazing! It’s just so realistic! I mean, we crashed taking off from Glasgow and I nearly sh…”
“TOM!” interrupted Rachel, glancing at her parents slightly embarrassed.
“It really was terrifying!” said Lela taking a seat. “Absolutely terrifying.” She was still shaken by the experience and was glad to sit down.
Tom spent the next twenty minutes detailing his first lesson, eventually pausing to notice the glazed look on everyone’s faces.
“Too much detail?” he asked.
He received a resounding yes. Every time he started discussing planes or any kind of technology, he seemed to lose them. However, before he had a chance to try and translate what he had just said into plain English, his father interrupted.
“I received a very interesting call today,” he announced, grabbing everyone’s attention. They all looked at him, waiting for him to continue. But he remained silent.
“Well are you going to tell us or not?” asked Rachel, the suspense irritating her.
“It was from an old friend whom I haven’t seen for ages and it seems that a conversation we had a few years ago has come to fruition. It’s probably easier if I start from the beginning though.”
“Always a good place,” suggested Rachel.
“Anyway,” said Donald. “About five years ago, a company which had been in operation for over seventy-five years went bankrupt; it was the single largest bankruptcy ever. The impact of its downfall was felt worldwide. Over 100,000 people lost their jobs overnight and over the course of the year that followed, it’s estimated that more than half a million further jobs were lost as a direct result of the bankruptcy. The company had been a very well run and profitable organisation, with a highly respected Chief Executive Officer. But following the untimely death of this CEO, his only son, aged twenty eight, took over the running of the company. Unfortunately, his business acumen up to that point had extended to selling unwanted gifts on eBay. Without taking the time to speak to his father’s Board of Directors, he fired them all and replaced them with a bunch of imbeciles, mostly old friends who’d only bothered to befriend him because of his family’s wealth. The son had complete control and nobody could challenge his authority. It did not take long for him and his bunch of imbeciles to destroy the company. As I said, the impact was felt worldwide. The son was sent to the best schools and colleges but it transpired that he’d dropped out of every course he’d ever started. This catastrophic bankruptcy was the straw which broke the camel’s back. Something had to be done to protect the world from these uneducated, ill-prepared heirs who destroyed decades of hard work and millions of jobs. So, a few of the world’s most powerful men met to discuss the problem and they reached an extraordinary conclusion.” Donald paused to ensure he still had everyone’s attention. He did. They all sat silently urging him to continue.
“A school,” he said simply.
“A what?” asked Tom confused.
“A school,” Donald repeated. “Not just any school, a specialist school to train the world’s heirs in how to become statesmen and business leaders — a super school if you like, strictly by invitation, for which only the children of the world’s most wealthy and powerful families would be eligible.”
“What do you mean by children?” asked Rachel warily.
“Children, as in children, like Tom and Lela. The school will be for ages 13 to 19.”
“Not a university?” she asked.
“Nope, a secondary school,” he confirmed. “It opens in September and Tom and Lela have both been invited to attend,” he added casually.
“OK, rewind and start at the beginning. Only this time, I want names, locations and a damn site more detail,” replied Rachel, not believing her ears and trying to remain calm.
&nb
sp; Ten minutes later, a rather sheepish Donald admitted that at the end of the conversation with his old friend, he had pretty much accepted the offer. Also, he had no idea where the school was actually located, other than it was on one of two islands, cloaked in secrecy and he had absolutely no idea who else was attending. However, he did confirm that the old friend was Sam Mitcham, the ex-President of the USA and now Chairman of the school’s Board of Governors. It also transpired that the governors consisted of retired CEO’s and former statesmen and the school had cost billions to develop.
Donald was bombarded with numerous questions which were to be answered before Rachel would entertain any further discussion about a new school for her babies. Donald may have been the undisputed king of the boardroom but Rachel was most definitely the undisputed ruler of the Kennedy household.
With Donald back in his box, Rachel turned her attention to Tom and Lela.
“What time do your friends arrive for your party?” she asked, as though the last ten minutes had never happened.
“In about three hours,” replied Tom, still stunned.
Tom and Lela had an interesting set of friends. Their current school was fairly exclusive, housing both day and boarding pupils. Its resources ensured it remained top of the academic tables and was the current school of choice for the children of the most powerful families in the UK.
Tom’s birthday was five weeks into the summer holidays and as many of Tom and Lela’s school-friends were boarders, they were mostly back home or on holiday across the four corners of the globe. However, Tom and Lela had managed to round up a few friends who were within easy reach. The Alba International corporate jets were put to use and sent to collect two of their friends from London, three from the South of France and two from Italy.
Between them Tom and Lela had an incredible list of contacts. They had made friends with the children of some of world’s best known power brokers. They had built up the list over years of attending social and sporting events with their parents. Donald would take care of business while Tom and Lela played with the children. If Donald was struggling to contact somebody, he would quite often ask Tom or Lela for their home number. Kids swapped home numbers whereas adults swapped office numbers. They had never let him down. From the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the Australian PM, to the King of Thailand, their numbers were on their list. Donald was certain that between them, there was nobody he couldn’t get hold of.
The list of attendees for the birthday party included the British Prime Minister’s son, the daughter of the American Ambassador to the UK, the Saudi Ambassador’s son and the children of a number of high ranking UK government officials. The corporate jets had been despatched to pick them up that morning and all were due to touch down in Glasgow at 3.30 p.m. They would then board Donald’s helicopter and arrive on the estate at 4.00 p.m. The return journey was planned for each of them the next morning.
“Anything exciting planned?” asked Saki. “Not really, thought we’d just watch a movie and chill out, unless Lela’s thought of anything else. Have you?” asked Tom.
“Nope, sounds good to me. Although what movie are we going to see?” she asked.
“You know, the one just out, we got our copy yesterday.”
“I was worried you’d say that. Last night I tried to read the cover but we’ve got the version. It’s in German.”
Tom stopped himself from looking at his father. He was in enough trouble with his mother.
“No problem, we’ll just go to the cinema down the road,” suggested Saki, also realising that the blame would lead to Donald.
“Excellent! We can go bowling as well then,” added Lela.
Tom winced. Lela was unbelievably good at ten pin bowling. In fact, she was good at anything which involved hand-to-eye coordination, a by-product of her intensive martial arts training.
The rest of the meal passed without incident and Donald quickly excused himself to make the call which would answer Rachel’s questions. Just what he needed, he thought to himself as he walked to his study. He was in the final stages of completing the largest corporate deal ever. Alba was bidding to buy IBC Ltd and would, if accepted, result in Alba becoming the largest corporation in the world and making Donald the richest man alive. Donald would employ more people than the Chinese Army and Wal-Mart combined. The deadline for bids to purchase IBC was Friday 12 ^ th August, less than 36 hours away.
Chapter 12
Conor finalised the details of the plan. He had spent the morning and early afternoon going over and over the results of their painstaking research of the Estate. If the answer were there, he couldn’t see it. The only option was to trigger the alarm and go for it, the police reaction would be minimal, they certainly would not be expecting nine heavily armed and experienced Irish Nationalists.
Conors crew had spent the last two weeks spending the millions they would receive from ransoming the two kids. Giving up was not an option and they all agreed to go ahead with the plan, except for one person, Sinead. Sinead was Conor’s number two and didn’t like it. She couldn’t help think that a man who spent that amount of money on visible security, probably spent at least the same amount on stuff they hadn’t seen. She voiced her concerns but they were ignored even though she was brighter, tougher and a damn site more ruthless than Conor. Had she not been a woman, she would most certainly have been the leader of the crew. Mercenaries in Ireland had still not caught up with equal rights. She couldn’t help think that they were making a huge mistake.
The plan was simple. That night, just after dark, they would use long ramps to get four high powered motorcycles into the grounds. Within 3 minutes, they would be at the house, grab the kids and use one of the Kennedys’ high powered boats to cross the Loch to two cars waiting on the other side. They would then drive the cars under tree cover to avoid detection by helicopter to the safe house 30 miles away. They would then issue their demands and either give the kids back or kill them, whichever proved easiest.
They began to prepare themselves for that night’s operation. Two of the team went back to the main gates to monitor all comings and goings. Two other members of the team set about constructing the ramps required to scale the walls, while the others prepared the weapons and vehicles.
Chapter 13
Tom and Lela had also excused themselves from the table, explaining they needed to get ready for their friends’ arrival However, instead of going their separate ways, they both went straight to Tom’s room.
“OK,” Tom said closing his door. “What do you think about this new school?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I mean, we don’t even know where it is and I can see why your mum is angry. By the sounds of it, your dad had accepted,” replied Lela as she sat on her favourite bean bag.
“I know, he forgets he’s not the boss sometimes, at least when it comes to home.”
“So what about you?” asked Lela.
“I thought it sounded really cool but I want to see if we can find where it is.”
“How??”
“My dad mentioned a couple of clues, remember he said it was on one of two islands cloaked in secrecy and it must have been built within the last five years because that’s when that bankruptcy happened, yeah?”
“Yes but…” Lela stopped, she knew Tom better than anybody. She was an ‘A’ student but Tom was in a different league entirely. His father’s genius genes had definitely rubbed off on him although, thankfully, with a good helping of his mother’s common sense.
Tom was much taller than his ‘big’ sister despite being a year younger. Lela had inherited her mother’s petite frame, while Tom seemed destined to at least equal his father’s almost six foot. For the last thirteen years, they had been inseparable. When Lela had started school a year before Tom, all hell had broken loose. Lela had screamed all day at school, while Tom had done the same at home. There were two options, either Tom started school early or Lela started school a year later. A family meeting resolved th
e situation, holding Lela back was unfair, the only option therefore was for young Tom to start school early. The dynamic duo were back together and peace renewed.
It had not taken long for Tom to fall under his ‘big’ sister’s protection. Being the youngest and the smallest in his class, Tom was easy prey for the class bully. However, Lela, even aged five, was a force to be reckoned with. Following Lela’s retribution for picking on her ‘little brother’, the bully had been rushed to hospital. The message was well and truly made, nobody messed with Lela’s brother, nobody.
Ever since, the two had never been apart, what one did the other followed, usually closely watched by the ever present Saki.
Lela watched Tom flick from one of his three monitors to another, scanning through page after page of information on the internet. Lela only wished Tom’s physical dexterity matched his mental ability. He had pestered her for years to give him some basic training which, although strictly forbidden for non Penarajans, she had agreed to. Lela fundamentally disagreed with the ancient rule of forbidding non islanders from mastering their art. As far as she was concerned, if she was a fully fledged Kennedy (which she was), by default, Tom was a fully fledged islander. He spent as much time as she did with her family, aunts and cousins and the two families really had become one, despite their very different genes. People even joked that if it was not for Lela’s Asian looks, the two would look the same. They both had olive skin, brown eyes and dark hair and were obviously destined to profit from their parents’ good looks.
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