Assassin b-2

by Murray Mcdonald

  However, his new offer extended even beyond that. In a few months, with his 5 % shareholding in an even larger business, he would have instantly become a billionaire. Even when he got the CFO role at Alba, he could think of nothing other than the day he would become a billionaire. He certainly failed to take into consideration how the CFO role at Alba, which was not vacant when he was approached, had suddenly and surprisingly become available.

  As he left the building with his personal effects in a box, he called his contact and explained what had happened. He was very sorry but the son was in no mood to sell and probably never would. Alan ended the call and sped home. He had to get his passport, he wasn’t going to hang around and wait for the police to come for him. Spain sounded good, he would just disappear to Spain. He wished now he had saved more money. He had been making a fortune but with billions around the corner, he had been living well beyond his means. He was broke, sacked and about to become a fugitive. All because of a damn kid.

  Chapter 57

  Tom spent the rest of the day in the office. Having sacked four of the board before 9.00 a.m., it was going to be a hectic day. By lunchtime, three of the positions were filled with their very capable deputies. The one role which remained unfilled was the CFO role. The Human Resources Director had explained to Tom that they had had difficulties recruiting for the role previously. In fact, Donald himself had had to get involved and eventually recruited Alan. Tom was surprised, Alan was the last person he would have thought his father would have selected.

  At 6.00 p.m., he called for his helicopter, it was time to go home. He and Kisho arrived at the Estate twenty minutes later to a very warm welcome. Lela had not been apart from Tom since the deaths and had not enjoyed the day at all. She rushed out and gave him a huge hug.

  Papa told Tom that Lela had been lost all day. After a brief discussion, they agreed that the best thing would be to get back to school as soon as possible. That would keep them both occupied. The school trip to Machu Picchu would be a perfect return for them.

  All Tom needed to do was recruit a CFO before they left. The Board didn’t need him around and he would hold a couple of Executive update meetings each week, dialling in by video conference. On top of which, he had all the company systems on his computer. As he had said to Alan, he knew the company better than most and had always taken a keen interest.

  Tom made his way upstairs to his bedroom, thinking about what needed to be done. Before he knew it, he had walked past his room and was almost at the door to his father’s study. He looked at the door, he hadn’t even looked inside since his father had died. He pushed the handle down to go in but it was locked. Why would his dad have locked his study? His mind jumped back to the night he had gone to get his father and Saki for dinner, the night before they left for school. His father had locked the door then too.

  Tom lifted his foot and kicked at the door handle with all his weight behind it, the wooden frame gave way and the door swung open. Having heard the smash, Kano and Kisho appeared instantly, having thought somebody had broken in. Tom explained what he had done and that he just wanted to check his father’s study and thanked them but he would do it himself.

  Tom entered the study, it was just as he remembered it. A large desk by the window, with PC and telephones. There was a huge open fire and next to it his father’s battered reading chair. His mother had refused to allow the chair any house-room so his father had sneaked it in one night when she was at the Hospital, where she worked as a Paediatrician. It really was horrible and thread-bare but Donald had insisted that it was the most fantastic reading chair. Next to the ‘antique’ was a huge and very comfortable sofa. Tom had spent many hours sitting there with his father over the years. He moved back to the desk, he knew it would not be easy, the room held so many happy memories.

  When Tom sat at the desk, he noticed a lack of papers. The desk was very tidy, his father’s desk had not been tidy in the fourteen years he had known him. He looked around and checked in the drawers, nothing. Tom gave up and began to boot up the PC. As he listened to its familiar whirring, he thought back again to the night his father and Saki had locked themselves in. Tom had distinctly heard papers being shuffled and then he had heard a thud and a clunk. He looked around knowing that something was missing. Where was the safe he had heard?

  Lela entered the room just as he started looking for the safe.

  “Tom, are you OK?” she asked.

  “Yes thanks, you?” said Tom as he pushed back the chair and began to move under the desk.

  “Yes, but I just heard about you breaking the door down,” she said looking at his handiwork on the doorframe.

  “It was locked and I didn’t want to waste time looking for a key.”

  “Ok,” she said slowly not really agreeing with his actions. “So what are you looking for now?”

  “A safe.”

  “Do you think your dad kept a safe under his desk?” she asked, looking at him on his hands and knees.

  “No but there’s one in here somewhere.”

  “Did your dad not tell you where it was?” she asked.

  “No, he never told me he had one,” replied Tom as he struggled out from under the desk.

  “Let me get this right, you’re on your hands and knees looking for a safe which you have never been told about nor have ever seen. Did you ever think that maybe there isn’t a safe in here?”

  “I heard it.”

  “You heard it? What, did it whisper ‘Tom I’m a safe’ to you?”

  Tom stopped looking around. He explained to Lela what he had heard when his father had locked him out and that the noises didn’t make sense unless there was a safe in the room. They both started looking.

  Thirty minutes later, they had searched everywhere, every seam in the carpet and every inch of the walls. Nothing. They slumped down on the large couch and thought about where else they could look.

  Something caught Lela’s eye. “Tom, did you ever see your dad actually sit on that thing?”

  “Hmm,” mumbled Tom, thinking. “Actually no, he always joined me on the sofa. Why?”

  “Because I sat on it once and you know how he always used to say it was so comfy and nothing could beat it. Well it’s not, in fact it’s very hard!” Tom had never sat on it because he was sure he would catch fleas.

  “Do you think?” he asked as they both looked at its base.

  They found a tiny catch on the seam of the front panel and as they released it, the whole panel swung back like a door to reveal a small safe. The only problem now was the code. There was a numerical keypad sat in the middle of the door with a small digital display above it.

  “Damn,” said Lela.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Tom.

  “The code, how are we going to crack it?”

  “I was worried it was going to be a key, this is fine,” replied Tom. “My dad’s not got a password or a pin number I haven’t cracked. Trust me, this is good. Finding a key would have been impossible.” As Tom spoke, he keyed in 4 digits, the safe released its lock and opened.

  “Unbelievable!” said Lela, very impressed.

  “Not really, my dad is shocking with pin numbers, so he uses the same one for all his accounts and credit cards and apparently his safe.”

  The safe was packed with papers. They pulled them out and began to go through them. It was going to be a very long night.

  Chapter 58

  Beaumont had not taken the news well. Every time Tom Kennedy was involved in anything, bad news seemed to follow. The latest was the Alba bid, rejected out of hand and the accountant they had planted being investigated for fraud. The operation to get their hands on Alba had run smoothly for over seven months and at the last moment, a fourteen year old was stopping them and potentially exposing one of his men.

  On hearing the news, the US President was apoplectic. The bitter memories of the botched operation the previous year still haunted him. He could not believe that Tom was interfering with their pla
ns again.

  Beaumont called Jones.

  “I have a job for you,” he said.

  “I know, I’m working on it now.”

  “No, another one. It should be easy. One sniper should do it.”

  “OK, who’s the target?”

  “Tom Kennedy, Donald Kennedy’s son.”

  “What about the girl?”

  “No, she must stay alive. I repeat, NOT the girl.”

  Beaumont could not afford for Lela to be hit. She would soon be the key to their fortune as she would, he believed, be certain to sell Alba instantly.

  “Location?” asked Jones.

  “Their house is out of the question, it’s a fortress. Their school is just as bad. The only option is their school trip on Monday to Machu Picchu.”

  “When I went to school, we went to the local zoo. Not 7,000 miles away to an ancient Inca village,” huffed Jones.

  “Hmm, well, it seems their history teacher thinks it’s important. Anyway, it gives us the opportunity to get to him.”

  “Consider it done,” replied Jones.

  Chapter 59

  It was 5.30 a.m. when Tom and Lela went to bed. The information they had uncovered produced more questions than answers. However, one thing was categorically clear, Donald Kennedy was not behind the assassinations but knew he was going to be framed for them. From what they could gather, he had been in the process of trying to track down who was responsible.

  With only three hours sleep, Tom and Lela were already up and ready to go. They had only one goal in mind, to clear Donald Kennedy’s name. A lot of the information suggested that Alan, the sacked CFO, knew a lot more than he had let on. Tom had sent a text before they went to bed requesting a chopper to be there at 9.00 a.m. sharp. At 8.45 a.m., as they were finishing breakfast, they heard the whump of the blades as the helicopter landed.

  Kisho and Kano had made it clear that wherever they went, they would follow. When they reached the helicopter, Kano had second thoughts.

  “What the hell is that?”

  “That’s my little bird, it’s an MD520 light helicopter,” replied Tom.

  “It’s definitely little, we won’t all fit in it!” said Kano.

  “It seats five. Just please get in. I asked for a small one so that we can land wherever we want. It’s great fun, very agile. I’m sure the pilot will show you if you want?” offered Tom.

  “No thanks, I’ll just sit back here quietly,” replied Kano.

  After everybody had strapped in, the little helicopter took off and hovered just above the ground. The pilot looked at Tom.

  “Where to?” he asked.

  Tom powered up his new sat nav system and input Alan’s address. It worked in exactly the same way as a car’s system, except it was in 3D and could direct the pilot accordingly.

  “There,” said Tom pointing to the chequered flag pinpointing Alan’s home.

  As they hovered above Alan’s street, they understood why Tom had not brought the large helicopter. Alan lived in a block of flats overlooking the River Clyde in the centre of Glasgow. The large chopper would have had to land over a mile away at the Alba HQ helipad. The small one, however, took up as much space as an average car. So that’s what they did. They parked it in the car park in front of Alan’s block of flats, taking up just one space.

  The four passengers jumped out and made their way to the front door of the building. Tom pressed the buzzer for Alan’s flat. Nobody answered, he pressed it again. Nothing.

  “What shall we do?” asked Lela.

  “I don’t know,” replied Tom.

  “I do,” said Kano. “If this guy knows something about what happened, there’s a good chance we’ll find something inside.” He started pushing other buzzers until somebody eventually let them in.

  Kano led the way and after an elevator journey to the top floor, they stood outside Alan’s door. Kano banged on the door but again, there was no answer. He banged again. Nothing.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  “What was what?” asked Lela.

  “I can hear somebody saying help me, help me!”

  “I can’t,” replied Lela.

  “Neither can I,” said Tom.

  “What are you talking about Kano? There’s no noise in there,” said Kisho.

  Kano raised his eyes to the ceiling in frustration. He looked back at them and spoke very slowly.

  “I can definitely hear somebody who needs help and can’t get to the door, I’ll have to break in to help them.”

  He looked at them until they began to understand what he was saying. He then spun around and kicked the door down.

  The flat was open-plan with a large panoramic window which overlooked the river and the city. Two doors led off the living area, Kano tried one while Kisho tried the other.

  “Nothing in here, it’s just a bathroom,” said Kisho.

  A few seconds later, Kano reappeared.

  “It appears that I may have been right about someone needing help, although I’d guess we’re a few hours too late.” Pointing to Tom and Lela, he said, “You two wait here and don’t touch anything.”

  Kano took Kisho to the master bedroom suite and through to the bathroom where Alan lay in the bath, dead.

  “I’ll call the police,” said Kisho.

  “No, let’s have a quick look around and then we’ll call them,” suggested Kano. “But I have a funny feeling that we won’t find anything. I’m fairly certain this guy was murdered and they’ve tried to make it look like a suicide.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because the killers forgot to put away his passport and luggage which are lying at the side of his bed. I doubt he’d pack a bag and get his passport ready if he was planning to top himself.”

  “Five minutes and then we call, OK?” said Kisho.

  The two of them had plenty of experience of that kind of work as they had both served in a very secret and clandestine team within the British Army. They were as meticulous in their search as they were ensuring that everything was replaced exactly where it had been.

  Meanwhile, Tom and Lela were still standing immobile in the centre of the room. They had gathered that Alan was dead. Kano and Kisho eventually came back out.

  “Well?” asked Tom desperate to know what was happening.

  “Murdered we think but they’ve tried to make it look like suicide,” replied Kano as he began to search the main living area.

  “So he really was in with the bad guys then?”

  “Yep and these guys are not playing around,” replied Kisho who was searching the kitchen.

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?” asked Lela, concerned about the twins rifling through the flat.

  “Of course but there’s no harm in having a quick look around before we do,” said Kano.

  “Nothing in here,” said Kisho removing his latex gloves.

  “Where did you get those?” asked Lela.

  “We thought the Accountant might take some convincing.”

  “What were you going to do?” asked Tom not sure if he actually wanted to know.

  “Nothing,” laughed Kano from under the sofa, “but it’s amazing what goes through somebody’s mind when you have them cornered and you very slowly put on a pair of latex gloves.”

  “Yep. Works every time,” agreed Kisho.

  “I’ve got something,” said Kano.

  “What?” asked Tom desperately.

  “A business card from a recruitment consultant, down the side of the sofa…” Kano was interrupted by their helicopter appearing at the window in front of them.

  “What’s he doing?” asked Lela.

  “He’s signalling for us to go up,” said Tom.

  The police sirens explained what was happening. They rushed out of the flat and tried to find a way onto the roof. Nothing.

  “We can’t be caught here,” said Lela. Everybody looked at her, it was not the time to be stating the obvious. Apart from breaking and entering, the
re was a probable murder charge.

  “Back into the flat,” said Kisho as they heard the entrance door being buzzed below them. They rushed through to the bedroom which had windows at the rear and a small balcony, although more for decoration than actual use.

  Tom phoned the pilot and explained what they needed to do. Ten seconds later, the small helicopter was hovering next to the railing on the edge of the balcony. They all managed to climb onto the railing and into the helicopter. Tom was last to board as he had been on his mobile making a quick call.

  “Impressive,” said Kisho to the pilot.

  “Thank you, Sir,” he replied.

  “What happened?” Tom asked the pilot.

  “Just after you went in, I noticed a car pull away. The driver looked straight at me while making a call. It just seemed odd, I don’t know why. So I turned the police scanner on and there it was. Possible murder, this address. I’m sorry I didn’t call but I just got the hell up to you as quick as poss. I could already hear the police and we needed to leave from the roof anyway.”

  “Thanks, good thinking,” replied Tom.

  His father’s pilots were all ex-military, usually from special forces or special protection. All were fully qualified body guards and knew how to handle dangerous situations.

  “Where to now?” asked the pilot.

  “Away from that police chopper I hope,” said Kisho who was looking behind them.

  “Hold on tight,” said the pilot, looking back at the police chopper. “This may get a little hairy.”

  They began to speed up. Tom looked over his shoulder to the three in the back.

  “This isn’t the fastest helicopter,” he explained. “But it’s one of the smallest and most manoeuvrable. I would hold on very tight if I were you guys!”

  The police chopper sped towards them, it was much larger and much faster.

  The Alba chopper suddenly dropped height and plummeted towards the road taking a sharp right turn onto Jamaica Street. Tom could read the street signs at eye level. Cars swerved as the helicopter thundered towards them just skimming their roofs. The helicopter rose and fell sharply. They all held their breath as they narrowly missed crashing into the front of a double-decker bus. The police helicopter was directly above them.