“We stay behind Saki,” replied Donald remembering his instructions.
Saki looked down the corridor. It wasn’t good. There were 10 guards working their way slowly and carefully down the corridor towards them. Saki considered their options, they didn’t have any. All he could do was hold them off as long as possible and hope for a miracle. He pointed the gun down the corridor and sent a barrage of bullets towards the guards. They were still quite far away but he did manage to hit three of them. Three down, seven to go. As well as reducing their number, he had slowed them down and they would be even more careful now.
“What’s happening?” asked Donald.
“There were 10 of the new guards we spotted earlier coming towards us.”
“What? Did you get them?” asked Donald hopefully.
“Now there are seven,” replied Saki. He then paused for a second and put his hand up, indicating quiet.
“There are more coming, I can hear feet pounding up the other staircase. They’ll be surrounding us soon,” he whispered.
“What do they want?” asked Rachel.
“I don’t know,” lied Donald.
Chapter 48
The two SBS snipers, having taken care of the watchtower guards, moved back to their initial targets. The suggestion that the gate guards didn’t know about the perimeter guards was accurate. The SBS soldiers had observed the same uncoordinated behaviour and as suggested by Papa, were going to try something a little out of the ordinary.
They lined up their shots and waited for the Go command from their leader.
“Ready…ready…fire!”
As the order came through, they both pressed their triggers. The bullets hit just one second apart. Although they did not kill their targets, the shots were accurate and perfectly timed.
One of the guards at the gate screamed as a bullet struck his shoulder, just glancing off the bone, causing no real damage but resulting in the guard being thrown to the ground in excruciating pain. The gate guards reacted to their colleague’s distress and frantically looked around to discover what had happened.
As they reacted to the first shot, the same wound befell a perimeter guard within their sights. The gate guards were so stunned to see somebody so close to their position that they didn’t even wonder how the injuries had been inflicted. No gunshots had been heard other than those inside the prison which they had been told to ignore. The gate guards, unaware that Jones’ men were officially guarding the perimeter, opened fire on the screaming perimeter guard, killing him and two of his colleagues. Before they knew what was happening, a major fire fight erupted between the two teams of guards. Jones’s men, who were aware of Smith’s team, had no means of communicating with them and had no option but to fire back. It didn’t take long before the two remaining watchtower snipers entered the fray and began to pick off Jones’ team using their thermal night scopes.
The SBS team just sat back and waited. They weren’t going to risk being shot in the crossfire. The SBS snipers, however, continued their efforts and helped Smith’s men pick off the perimeter guards.
Eventually, Smith and Jones were made aware of what was happening and instructed their respective units to stop firing. But over half the guards were already dead. It was a complete disaster. Smith and Jones were screaming at each other.
Meanwhile, the SBS leader gave the signal to his men. They moved forward and dealt with the remaining men, taking advantage of the confusion.
The escape route was clear.
Chapter 49
The islanders split into two groups. Papa and his three islanders in one group and Kisho, Kano and Lela in the other. Papa’s group took one side of the building and Lela’s group took the other. They raced up the stairs. Lela’s group went towards the gunfire and Papa’s went towards the guards and prisoners they had followed in.
Papa’s group caught up quickly with the guards and prisoners, the narrow staircase allowing the islanders to work their way through them without alerting those in front. Within two minutes, sixteen men lay across the staircase in varying degrees of agony, each having been plucked from the tail of the group and dealt with.
Lela, Kisho and Kano didn’t have such an easy time. They raced to the top of the stairs and found themselves at one end of a very long corridor. Between them and the Kennedys were 7 heavily armed men in excellent defensive positions. Kano and Kisho made it very clear that under no circumstances was Lela to follow them. She grudgingly agreed.
As Kisho and Kano began to make their way down the corridor, a burst of gunfire had them diving out of the way, narrowly missing them.
“Did they see us?” whispered Kisho.
“No. It came from beyond them, it may have been Uncle Saki,” replied Kano.
“Perfect. We fly 3,000 miles to rescue him and he bloody shoots at us!”
“He’s shooting at them,” said Kano pointing at the guards.
“I know that but he’s still the one shooting and we’re the ones getting shot at.”
“Come on,” said Kano leading the way.
As they neared the seven guards, they could see where Saki was hiding. His gun nozzle appeared again briefly and he sent another ten bullets flying down the corridor. Seeing the movement this time, Kisho and Kano were out of the way before the bullets whizzed past them. They moved again and got closer to the 7 guards. They dealt with them quickly and quietly and moved along the line until only one guard was left. Unaware of his single status, the lone guard, looking intently towards Saki’s cell, gestured for his colleagues to follow and whispered, “come on, let’s kill them now.”
“I think not,” said Kisho grabbing the guard’s hand and snapping his wrist, before knocking him unconscious.
“Uncle Saki, we’re clear!” shouted Kisho as Papa stuck his head round the door at the other end of the corridor.
“About bloody time, we’ve been here for three days you know,” smiled Saki as he prepared to catch Lela who was running, ready to jump into his arms. She quickly disengaged and did exactly the same to Rachel and Donald.
“Where’s Tom?” asked Rachel not sure whether she could be completely relieved.
“He’s fine. He’s waiting in the jeep,” replied Lela, causing Rachel to burst into tears with relief.
Five minutes later, they were waiting outside for Tom to appear with the jeeps. After an emotional reunion, they headed to the airport. On securing them into the jeeps, the SBS did not hang around. They had a submarine waiting for them 12 miles off-shore and they had no intention of missing it. Similarly, the prisoners did not hang around and made a run for it through the open gate.
It was obvious that the message had got out and that the authorities knew something was wrong. Helicopters and soldiers were swarming towards the prison. Their initial orders to ignore any noise from the prison were suddenly retracted and replaced by orders to get there as quickly as possible.
The jeep pulled into the airport before anyone knew that the Kennedys were missing. Alba One sat dormant at one end of the runway. However, she was fully fuelled and ready to go. Her crew had been held in a nearby hotel and on receiving a call from Tom, they had rushed to the airport, boarded and prepped her for flight. Everything bar the lights were on.
They had not stopped talking since they had got into the jeep but as they neared Alba One, Donald turned to Tom and Lela.
“Nobody can know you were ever here. You need to get back to school asap.”
“I know, it’s our best alibi,” replied Tom who knew they would have to go their separate ways.
“Look, we’ll work all this out,” said Donald, now a fully fledged international fugitive.
“Where are you going ?” asked Tom, knowing that the UK was an option. Afterall, the PM had just authorised a mission to rescue him.
“I’m not sure, anywhere but here.”
“Dad, just one quick question. Why did you land in Equatorial Guinea? It wasn’t on your itinerary.”
Donald looked at Tom
, how could he not know?
“We were forced to land. Two Mig 29s, I think that’s what Jim told us they were, threatened to shoot us down if we didn’t land. Didn’t Jim tell you?” asked Donald surprised.
“No we couldn’t get hold of him. The first time I managed to speak to him was tonight.”
“Well you best fly nice and low, I know we will,” said Donald.
They said their goodbyes and the senior Kennedys made their way up the steps of the darkened plane. The jeeps dropped off the rest of its passengers in the hangar and picked up their two original passengers. They had already removed the offending registration and Equatorial Guinea flag from the plane, returning it to its original plain white.
Both planes powered up in darkness and took off. They didn’t bother with permission from Traffic Control as it wouldn’t have been granted anyway. They stayed close together until they cleared Guinean airspace. Jim suggested that Tom climb and continue as normal. Alba One was the target and there was no point drawing attention to himself. Alba One, however continued on its low level flight, remaining in darkness as it powered East across Africa, skimming tree tops.
Chapter 50
Jones’ ears were still ringing. Smith had ordered him to report immediately to the Guinean presidential palace. He reminded him that he was his boss and what the hell was he thinking not telling him he was there. He held Jones personally responsible for over 50 deaths and more importantly, the Kennedys’ escape.
Jones double checked that the Kennedys were definitely missing before heading to the palace. This was not good. He was escorted to the Guinean’s President’s office where an extremely angry Guinean President and Smith awaited him.
“Well?” Smith asked.
“They’ve gone,” replied Jones.
“Damn, I’ll have to report that we lost them. The boss will go berserk.”
“What, you’ve not reported it yet?” asked Jones, seeing a glimmer of hope.
“No, I was waiting for confirmation from you. There was always a chance that our men had secured them somewhere,” replied Smith.
Jones could not believe this gift from the Gods. He smiled, pulled out his gun complete with silencer and shot Smith through the heart. The Guinean President was stunned and just stared at the gasping Smith who looked in bewilderment at the hole in his chest. Jones then turned to the President and pulling out a smaller pistol, shot him once in the head, the noise no louder than a cough. His body slumped forward onto his desk. Smith fell to the floor and watched as Jones placed the larger gun in the President’s hand and the small assassin’s pistol in Smith’s paralysed hand. He then placed a wallet in Smith’s inside pocket.
Smith was just able to hear Jones’ commentary.
“Mr Kennedy’s assassin caught in the act, well done Mr President.”
Smith guessed the wallet would contain a passport with customs stamps which would tally with most of the assassinations and no doubt a strong link to Alba. Jones always was a clever bastard.
Jones surveyed the room, moved a couple of pieces of furniture and when perfect, walked over to the window.
The last words Smith ever heard were “And by the way don’t worry about the Kennedys, their plane has a very nasty surprise in store for them.”
Part Four
Chapter 51
Two weeks later
The funeral was as busy as expected but the real mourners were few. Only the first three aisles of the vast church held family and friends. The rest of the church was packed full with the world’s media. Tom looked up, he couldn’t understand what they expected to see. There were three simple caskets for his mother, his father and Saki. Lela sat next to him, she had not left his side since the news had come through that Alba One had crashed leaving no survivors.
The media had gone wild for the story, Donald Kennedy was dead. Rachel had managed little more than a mention by most of the press, whereas Saki was suspected of being the ‘other assassin’. The assassin found dead alongside the Equatorial Guinean President accounted for two thirds of the world leaders who were killed. Speculation was that Saki was responsible for the other third.
With the death of the assassins and their mastermind, came a renewed feeling of security amongst remaining world leaders. As each day passed, more evidence came to light proving beyond doubt Donald’s guilt. Slowly but surely, leaders became more willing to emerge into the public eye. The British Prime Minister was seen in public for the first time in over a month.
The call Tom received before the funeral had been a crushing blow, the Prime Minister would not be attending. His diary would not permit, he had tried but he just couldn’t make it. With that rejection, a flood of rejections followed and before long, the funeral party dwindled to Tom, Lela, Tom’s grandparents, Papa and the islanders and a few key staff from Alba.
Alba was also suffering badly. A worldwide backlash against the ‘assassin’s company’ resulted in a major slump in business. Speculation in the press suggested that the only option was to break up the company and sell it off before the loss of millions of jobs.
Tom and Lela had spent the previous two weeks on the Kennedy estate. The tragic news had been broken to them as they landed at The Academy, on their return from rescuing their parents. They did not even get off the plane. They refuelled and went straight home. Papa and the islanders whose jet was waiting for them at the school, stayed with them and had been with them ever since. Tom’s grandparents joined them at the estate and they all virtually disappeared from life outside. Tom and Lela were inconsolable.
The press had camped at the gates and every time any of them strolled too close to the walls, the Rottweillers went mad. On many occasions, Tom considered opening the gates and letting the dogs loose on them. Lela had stopped him twice just as he was about to push the button.
Tom looked around again at the mourners. There really weren’t many people at all. Some Alba executives were there but Tom thought they just wanted to talk to him, he had been avoiding them, ignoring their calls. His father’s personal assistant was there. She still refused to believe the nonsense about Donald and was devastated. George, Alba’s doorman from Head Office, was also there. He had been with the company for over 26 years, since the day it started. Donald had often said that George was the only real gentleman in the company and often recounted the story of when he was sixteen and had pulled up to the front door of the building in a limousine. He was there to announce that he was the anonymous owner of Alba. George had opened the car door and treated Donald like any other gentleman. Nobody else did that day, everybody else had treated Donald like some stupid kid having a laugh.
As the ceremony was about to start, a commotion was heard at the back of the church. People were being pushed and shoved forward. This was all they needed, thought Tom, the press fighting over photographs of empty caskets, their parents’ bodies were at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
“Get out of my way and get that bloody thing out of my face!” barked a man in broken English. Mr Sakamoto did not like the press and fought past the crowd of photographers. Tom and Lela turned around to see him followed by twenty or so of their school-friends including Tristan, Zach, Daniel, Chen, Mingmei and Mia. They took their seats behind Tom and Lela, all mouthing their apologies for being late. After just a brief glimpse they noticed how pale and thin they both looked.
The Academy students were not the only surprise guests at the funeral. Just after the first commotion, photographers scrambled to take advantage of the best photo opportunity of the day. General Powers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the USA strode in, accompanied by the Vice President of the USA.
Chapter 52
Beaumont had managed to find a channel showing live pictures of the Kennedys’ funeral, beamed from the UK. He watched as the broadcasters discussed and commented on one of the world’s most notorious assassins. Oh how the mighty have fallen, he thought. Three weeks earlier, not a bad word could be said against Mr Donald Kennedy.
He was the media’s darling, the perfect employer, the man with the Midas touch.
He was just about to switch the TV off as a group of kids barged into the church, closely followed by General Powers and the Vice President. What the hell did they think they were doing?
He immediately went to see the President to ask whether he was aware that the Vice President and Chief of the Military were about to cause the nation huge embarrassment. Attending the funeral of a mass murderer was simply not acceptable and a note to this effect had been sent out from the President himself. In addition, any other government attending would, by default, insult the US government. The UK Prime Minister, in particular, had reacted very badly to the US’ position and less than subtle message to the world. Donald had been a good friend and the allegations against him were preposterous. However, he had no choice but to bow to the pressure. Poor diplomatic relations with the US could result in a trade war and a loss of many British jobs. So for political reasons only, the funeral would be avoided.
Beaumont was very pleased with the international reaction as it further suggested that the evidence against Donald Kennedy was true, another nail in his coffin.
Attendance by the Vice President, however, was going to humiliate the President and the US.
Chapter 53
After the funeral, the mourners returned to the Kennedy Estate. Tom and Lela pulled themselves together. They had friends who had travelled six thousand miles to be with them so they had to be strong.
“Tom, Lela, I just wanted to say I’m so sorry for your loss. The Vice President had to dash off to a meeting but asked me to offer you his sincere condolences,” said General Powers.
“Thank you Sir and please thank the Vice President, his attendance was most unexpected,” answered Tom for both of them, Lela was still very emotional.
Assassin (The Billionaire Series) Page 15