“Fair enough,” said Tom, although he had a very bad feeling.
Chapter 87
The line of trucks snaked down the road. The Humvee at the front drew to a halt at the main gates. A guard approached the jeep and noticed the high ranking officer in the passenger seat and saluted.
“Good evening Colonel, how can I help you Sir?”
“Son, you can just open that gate and let me and my boys through.”
“May I see your orders Colonel?”
“No you may not son but your Commander may. You see, these here orders are classified Top Secret. Son, I doubt if you qualify to see top secret documents, do you?”
“No Sir, I’ll call the Commander right away.”
The guard hurried over to his gate-post and made a call. Two minutes later, the Commanding Officer arrived and after a brief conversation with the guard, he approached the jeep.
“Good evening Colonel, how can I help you?” The Commanding Officer saluted his superior.
“Good evening Commander, you have been redeployed. You and your Company are to report back to Washington asap. My men and I will assume your duties with immediate effect.”
The Commander was stunned.
“I’m sorry Sir, there must be some mistake. This facility is and always has been guarded by Marine Barracks Corp. Do you mind if I make some calls before handing over to you?”
“Of course, just don’t be too long. It’s been a long day.”
The Commander checked the orders with his Colonel who went ballistic and phoned everybody he could conceive of until he reached the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the most senior man. He listened carefully as the Colonel explained the situation. The Commandant explained that he was, in effect, powerless. The order had obviously come directly from the Secretary of Defence and only General Powers had the power to countermand him but he was still in a coma. Also, he struggled to argue with the logic. With everything that was happening, Delta Force guarding Camp David wasn’t a bad thing. Afterall, they were specialist in hostage situations.
The Commander returned to the Colonel’s jeep.
“Give us half an hour and we’ll be out of your way Sir.”
“Excellent, my men will wait here.” Both men saluted each other.
An hour later, Marine Barracks Corps were replaced with 150 Delta Force soldiers and for the first time in its history, Camp David was not being protected by the Marines.
Chapter 88
The news of Delta Force replacing the Marines at Camp David came through to Zach the following morning. If anybody so much as breathed the words ‘Camp David’ within the military, Zach was to be told immediately. This took some of the pressure off Donald and Tom. The White House were obviously aware of the increased threat or they wouldn’t have sent Delta Force to Camp David.
By lunchtime, the Beautiful Lady was docked in the Washington navy yard, not far from the White House. Zach had secured them a berth and arranged for security to keep them safe from prying eyes. With only five hours until the meeting at Camp David, things were not looking good. Nothing new had come to light. They were no further forward.
They all continued to pore over the detail of everything they had. Tom and Zach were in constant contact with Daniel and the group at The Academy. They just needed a lucky break. Saki wasn’t taking any chances. The Penarajans were scrutinising the plans of Camp David supplied by Zach. Helicopters were standing by at Reagan International Airport, just five minutes away. Everything was ready, they just didn’t have a clue what to do.
***
“Mr President, all of your guests for this evening’s dinner have now arrived in Washington. Within the hour, they’ll all be at Camp David,” announced the President’s secretary through the intercom.
“Thank you, please have Marine One ready at five,” he replied.
Beaumont, sitting across from the President, hit the speaker button and dialled The Chairman.
“Gentlemen?”
“Good afternoon Sir,” replied Beaumont. “Just a call to let you know that everybody has arrived as scheduled.”
“Good, I take it this evening’s operation will be a great success,” he surmised.
“We do not anticipate any issues Sir.”
“Excellent. Well, enjoy your meal and tomorrow will see the dawn of a new world. A new Empire begins tomorrow gentlemen, greater than has ever been seen before.” The Chairman hung up.
Both Beaumont and the President looked at each other.
“He’s just excited,” remarked the President commenting on The Chairman’s reference to a new empire.
“Yes,” replied Beaumont, not believing either himself or the President.
“I take it the assassinations will be nowhere near us?” asked the President,
“Definitely not! The only people near you and I with guns will be the Secret Service and they’re all legitimate, none of them are connected to The Committee. I’ve checked them thoroughly.”
“Excellent!”
The President relaxed.
Chapter 89
One helicopter after another touched down at Camp David, emptying onto its heliport the leaders of the world’s 20 richest nations. Each was shown to one of the many lodges that nestled in the camp’s 125 acres of wooded grounds. Dinner was to be served at 8.00 p.m., in the Laurel Conference Room, the only room large enough to cope with all the guests.
The President and Beaumont arrived at 6.00 p.m. and made their way to the Presidential lodge, named Aspen. Once in the office, Beaumont took the President through his briefing notes for the evening meal, who was there and what the US wanted from each of them. With five minutes to spare, the President walked across to the Laurel Conference Room, leaving Beaumont to finish off his preparations for the evening.
Beaumont heard a knock on the President’s door.
“Yes,” said Beaumont.
“Sir, the Delta Force Commanding Officer wishes to say hello,” announced the Secret Service agent.
“Of course, please send him in,” replied Beaumont.
“Yes Sir.” The agent showed the Colonel in.
“Good evening, Mr Beaumont.”
“Good evening. Colonel Rodriguez, is it?” Beaumont said reading the man’s tag. “You don’t look like a Rodriguez you know,” he added.
“I’m sorry about that Sir,” replied the Colonel shifting nervously.
“Don’t apologise, it’s not your fault but I would have definitely put you down as a ...” Beaumont paused as he thought before looking straight into the Colonel’s eyes and saying, “…. a Williams.”
The Colonel didn’t flinch but his eyes gave him away.
“Don’t worry, I’m one of the men who gives the orders. Can we just run through the plan for this evening’s fun and games?” reassured Beaumont.
He didn’t like giving away his anonymity to this man but he also wanted to make sure he didn’t get hit in the crossfire. He could always deal with Williams afterwards if he didn’t feel he was trustworthy. To date, however, the man had been a complete professional.
“Yes Sir, of course,” replied Williams who, for the last 24 hours, had been Colonel Rodriguez of Delta Force. His Delta Force team were in fact 150 of the most American-looking Committee Army soldiers they could find. The order had been real, the only problem was the real Delta Force team who had received the original order had subsequently received a fake retraction of the command and had been sent to the other side of the world on another mission. So secret, nobody had any idea where they were.
Williams took Beaumont through the plan. It would commence at midnight and would take only fifteen minutes. The alarm would not be raised until the following morning by which time the fake Delta Force team would be long gone.
Chapter 90
It was 10.00 p.m. and they still had nothing to go on. Nobody was saying anything but everybody was very jumpy. Something was going to happen that night. They could all sense it but they had absolutely no evidence
to support it.
Two phones then rang at the same time. They all checked to see if it was theirs. It was Tom and Zach’s. They both took the calls but said little. They nodded and ended their calls at almost the same time.
Zach turned to the group, a look of horror on his face. He managed to stammer.
“The Delta Force group aren’t Delta Force. The real group is on a boat crossing the Atlantic.”
“So who the hell is protecting Camp David?” asked Donald.
“The bad guys!” screamed Zach.
“Dear god! Saki!!!” shouted Donald but Saki was already moving. The helicopters were on their way and would be there within four minutes.
“What about your call, Tom?” asked Lela.
“We need to speak to the President. It seems that his presidential advisor, a Charles Beaumont, owns the phone line which dealt with the lawyer.”
“Jesus! What next?” exclaimed Donald.
“We’ve also tracked down the Migs. They were from the US.” said Tom. Relaying the second piece of information Daniel had given him.
“The US don’t have Migs, that’s ridiculous,” said Tristan.
“No it’s true, I never thought to check ours. We bought twenty one from Moldova after the USSR broke up so that nobody else could buy them. If I remember rightly, some supposedly carry nukes.”
“Yep, two have gone missing. I’m sure that if you’re the special advisor to the President, you can get your hands on a few bits and pieces. I suppose an experimental missile might not be out of the question either,” explained Tom, the anger rising.
“I’ll make the call,” said Donald. “Do we have enough evidence?”
“Yes, the phone line is irrefutable. They’ve even checked that the line definitely goes into his apartment. With the Migs and the missile, it should be enough for us to be taken seriously,” said Tom.
“OK, let’s give him a call,” replied Donald.
Chapter 91
The President received a note that an urgent call was waiting for him in the next room. He excused himself from the table, walked through to the adjacent room and picked up the phone.
He thanked God the man had a lot to say because for the following five minutes, he was speechless. Donald Kennedy explained to him how the Delta Force team were fake and that his Presidential aide was behind everything. The President thanked Donald profusely and said that he would call him back in five minutes. He called Beaumont.
“Get your ass over here now and I mean now!!!” he screamed.
Beaumont arrived less than two minutes later. When the President told him what had happened, he had remained perfectly calm. In fact, he had remained calm right up until the President told him who the caller had been. It was the first time the President had seen Beaumont rattled.
“Well you’re the smart ass! What are we going to do?” asked the President.
Beaumont had to think. “Just give me a minute.”
“OK. Get them here and find out what they know and who knows it. We can take care of it. Tell them the Delta Force team thing is correct, there was a mistake but it was just a mix up in teams. We know all about it, everything’s fine and you’ll send a chopper for them. They can be your guests for the evening, they’ll love that,” said Beaumont.
The President called Donald back and relayed the message.
***
“We’d better call Saki off,” said Tom as he listened to his father relay the President’s message.
“Excellent! A night in Camp David!” said Zach
“I’ll get to see my dad,” added Tristan.
“I don’t like it one bit,” said Lela, killing the excitement.
Neither did Saki, he didn’t turn the choppers round. They kept going and as they neared the flight exclusion zone, they dropped height and followed the roads. The choppers dropped them off half a mile from the fence-line of the Camp.
***
Twenty five minutes later, Donald, Rachel, Tom, Lela, Tristan and Zach boarded the President’s helicopter. Thirty minutes after that, they arrived at Camp David.
Chapter 92
It was just after 11.00 p.m. when Donald and Tom were asked by two secret service agents to follow them to the adjacent lodge. The rest of the party were to wait in the lounge. They entered the President’s office and found him standing by the fireplace.
“Donald, I can’t tell you how wonderful it is that you’re alive.”
“Thank you, Mr President.”
“Now tell me, what’s been happening?” he asked.
Donald and Tom ran through all the evidence they had, including Lela’s kidnap as a ransom to gain control of Alba. The President seemed particularly interested in Lela’s escape and excused himself just as they finished discussing it. Tom and Donald were unaware that the President was trebling the number of guards in the lounge and had just given orders to shoot the young girl first when the time came.
The President returned and continued to listen to their evidence.
***
Across in the adjoining lodge, everybody was fascinated by their surroundings, it wasn’t every day you sat in the chairs sat on by numerous presidents. Zach’s phone interrupted with its tell tale beep. He opened the text and looked at Lela, trying to conceal his panic from everybody else. Lela walked over and read his text.
‘Delta Force team not mistake. REPEAT. NO MISTAKE MADE. TEAM AT CAMP DAVID IMPOSTORS.’
Lela said nothing. She casually got her phone and typed ‘GO’ and sent the text. Saki and the Penarajans had just been unleashed. It was 11.30 p.m.
***
Tom was beginning to grow concerned, the President was not making notes, was not calling anybody to check details and more importantly showed a distinct lack of surprise as to anything they said. Things did not seem right at all. He suddenly had an idea. He asked if he could use the bathroom.
Once there, he grabbed the phone Lela had taken from the kidnapper. He pressed the speed dial buttons, one at a time. The fourth one made his blood run cold. From behind the door, he heard the phone ring in unison with the tones in his ear. It answered. Through the door, he heard the President say hello. Through the phone, he heard a digital version of the same hello. He hung up.
They were dead. They couldn’t take on the President of the United State and hope to get away with it. Then it came to him, there was one man who could potentially save them. He called him. He would be there in thirty minutes.
Tom rejoined his father. He was going to have to drag the evidence out a bit, they had to keep the President occupied for thirty minutes.
Chapter 93
Saki had broken up the Penarajans into four teams, himself, Kano, Kisho and Papa would each lead a team. There were seven targets they knew of, the Prime ministers of the UK and Australia, the President of France, the German Chancellor, the Chinese Premier, the King of Saudi Arabia and the President of the European Commission plus the Kennedys and the kids.
It was not going to be easy. Silence and stealth would be their best weapons. Although they had other weapons too. As well as Tonfas, the Penarajans were armed with silenced MP5 sub-machine guns with which they were as familiar as the Tonfas. The four teams would work their way in from the four points of the compass. With no idea where the delta team were positioned, they would just have to pick them off as they went.
Saki gave the command to go. The Penarajans moved silently and placing a small trampoline at the base of the fence, vaulted over it avoiding the highly sensitive pressure pads. Once inside the fence, they worked their way through the woods towards the buildings avoiding numerous laser beams and pressure pads.
It was not long before they came across their first patrol of ‘Delta Force’ guards, Saki’s team being the first to encounter them. It really was men against boys. The patrol had walked straight into the middle of ten Penarajans hiding in the woods. Even when the ten men would wake up, they still wouldn’t know what had hit them as they had each received an identical k
nock-out blow at exactly the same time.
As the fake Delta Force were there to kill rather than protect, the Penarajans encountered very few on their way through the woods. It also didn’t take long for the Penarajans to work out where the targets were housed, as seven lodges were literally surrounded by delta force guards while the others were deserted. Each team broke into two, they would have to rescue the leaders at precisely the same moment. The risk of any gunshots during the rescue was too high. It was 11.58 p.m.
Chapter 94
Eventually, Tom and Donald concluded their case against Beaumont.
“Very compelling, very compelling indeed,” said the President. “In fact, I think we should put it to him and see what he says.”
“Do you think that would be appropriate?” asked Donald innocently. Tom had not had the chance to tell him what was happening.
“I think it’s only fair,” he replied before hitting the intercom button. “Get Beaumont in here please.”
Beaumont entered the room less than ten seconds later.
“Yes Mr President?” he asked as he entered the office, throwing a quizzical look at Tom and Donald.
Before they could speak, the clatter of a helicopter landing filled the office. The President hit his intercom again. “Who the hell is that?”
“Marine Two, Mr President,” responded the agent who had seen the call sign designating that the Vice President was on board
“What the hell does he want?” asked the President.
***
The Penarajans moved in. They couldn’t wait any longer. It was obvious that the Delta Teams were about to take out their targets. The Delta force team did not think for a second they were in any danger and were not watching their backs. They were sloppy and paid for it. The Penarajans swept through them like a hurricane, the Delta Teams didn’t know what hit them. The Penarajans had appeared from nowhere and silenced them in an instant.
Assassin (The Billionaire Series) Page 25