As the commotion was ending outside, the game was heating up inside. As usual, it was the boys against the girls and the girls were beating them. On top of Lela’s near perfect strikes, one of her friends had a bizarre technique which involved dropping the bowl at her feet and letting it trickle down the alley before scoring a strike. One occurrence would have been a fluke but she was consistent, scoring a strike with nearly every “drop.” Tom threw his second bowl.
“Spare! Yes!”
He had just managed to keep the boys in the game and unable to watch the next drop strike, he excused himself and headed to the toilets.
As he entered the toilets, he noticed two Neds follow quickly behind. They had been playing the arcade machines and had missed the action outside with Saki.
“He was there,” said the smaller Ned pointing at Tom.
“What do you lot think you’re playing at fighting with our gang?” asked the taller one.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t touch any of your gang, it was my sister Lela,” responded Tom. Obviously, the little Ned had not told the complete truth.
“Yeah, right,” he said not believing him.
“Ask him,” said Tom pointing to the little one.
“What?” the Ned turned to the smaller one who shrugged with a sheepish grin and then swiftly received a clout across the head from his larger companion.
“Well, somebody has to pay, so perhaps you’ll control your girlfriend better next time, ” he said as he lunged towards Tom. Tom instinctively blocked the attack and, using his aggressor’s energy just as Lela had taught him, propelled him into the metal urinal creating an almighty bang. The stunned Ned went limp and slid down into the trough mopping up the latest deposits along the length of his body. The smaller Ned took off. He’d seen enough fancy moves to last him a lifetime. The larger Ned lay motionless in the trough.
“She’s not my girlfriend. She’s my sister,” said Tom as he straightened his top and left to join the party in time to be humiliated by the girls’ bowling victory.
Chapter 18
Saki did not want to alert the children to the thought they may be in danger and therefore the eight man SPU detail discretely took up position, one car in front and one behind the minibus on the way back to the Estate. They would spend the night watching the main gates. Saki assured them that the Estate was perfectly secure and their presence was unnecessary but they had their orders and had to stay. He promised he would bring them tea and biscuits every couple of hours.
Donald and Rachel were waiting for them in the lounge when they arrived. Saki had phoned Donald to tell him what had happened and that everything was fine. He, of course, had begun to think the worst and wondered if there was any more he could have done to prevent it. Saki reassured him that there was nothing to prevent, nothing had happened.
As the group discussed the evening’s events, Saki and Donald moved to the kitchen. Donald was concerned about the five people Saki had seen earlier at the cinema.
“Who do you think they were after?” asked Donald.
“Tom!” replied Saki.
“Oh god! Are you sure?” asked Donald.
“Not 100 % but the Special Branch commander made it very clear that nobody knew Tristan was coming here today, nobody.”
The Kennedys had always known they were at risk of being kidnapped, it was a persistent threat which accompanied high profile multi-billionaires. However, Donald’s fanatical approach to security had, until then, kept the threat at arm’s length.
“How secure are we in here?” asked Donald.
Before Saki could answer, the Estate’s sirens began to sound.
“We’re about to find out!” he shouted, but Donald couldn’t hear a thing.
Conor had watched as the minibus had arrived back with its escorts. Damn, he thought, eight armed security men, the stakes had just been raised dramatically. However, the eight man team did not enter the estate but stayed outside as the minibus disappeared behind the gates.
He moved back into the woods and updated his crew. Sinead was not happy.
“What the hell do you mean, none of them went in?”
“None of the security men went into the estate. I don’t mean anything, I’m just telling you what happened,” he replied angrily. Her worries were really starting to get under his skin. He turned to the rest of the crew.
“Bugger this, let’s go, we’ll hit them right now!” said Conor.
The longer they waited, the longer he would have to suffer Sinead’s moaning.
Conor checked the seven members of his crew who would be accompanying him into the estate. Only Ryan, the techy, was missing. He was waiting on the other side of the Loch with the getaway cars. The eight moved off, pushing their bikes down the small road, they did not want to alert the security men to their presence before they had to. The ramps had been placed earlier at the side of the wall. Four of the men dumped their bikes and rushed across the road to grab the ramps. They would work on a simple seesaw basis, the longer end of the ramp being placed at the outside of the wall and as the bikes reached the top. The slightly shorter end would be forced over the other side. As the bike made it down the other side and off the ramp, the plank would swing back up and the next bike would follow.
The ramps were just out of sight of the main gates, so it was imperative that their entry was quick to avoid the security men.
As the four ramps touched the wall, the alarms immediately sounded and night became day as the 20 square miles of Estate were instantly bathed in millions of watts of floodlight. The first four bikes zoomed up the ramp, the noise of their engines drowned by the sirens, and as they reached the top of the wall, the ramp pivoted and the bikes rushed down the other side. As planned, the ramp sprung back to its original position and the next four bikes zoomed up. Unfortunately, Sinead didn’t quite hit the ramp properly and fell off the ramp near the top of the wall, her bike falling on top of her on the outside of the wall, leaving her lying in a helpless heap.
Conor looked round and saw she was missing. He assumed she had bottled out and would deal with her later. Nobody backed out of a mission and lived to regret it, it was an unwritten rule which everybody understood. Of course, even if he had wanted to go back for her, he couldn’t. The ramps were all now on the wrong side of the wall. He waited another ten seconds for her before giving up. He waved his men on, the main drive way was 400 yards along the wall, there was just enough room to manoeuvre their bikes between the wall and the trees.
A minute later, they hit the road and opened the throttles fully on their powerful bikes. They would be at the house in less than two minutes.
Sinead managed to get up and realised her bike was useless, its front wheel having buckled when it landed. She had twisted her ankle but managed to hobble away, slinking into the woods on the other side of the road. She just wanted to get as far away as she could, her ear drums were pulsating from the force of the sirens.
Panic had broken out in the Main house when the alarms had started. A few of Tom and Lela’s friends had run to the front door assuming the alarm was a fire alarm. However, before anybody could tell them otherwise, the house entered its lock down phase, exactly 5 seconds after the alarms sounded. Blast shutters descended across every door and window around the estate.
Donald rushed into the lounge and assured everyone that they were completely safe and that there was nothing to worry about. It was probably a false alarm but in any event, they could not be in a safer place. Saki stayed in the kitchen and watched the 3D schematic of the Estate. That was an additional feature of the security camera system. Seven red dots appeared on the schematic, detailing exactly where each of the intruders were. Saki could also see the 12 green dots huddled in the lounge in the next room and his own green dot in the kitchen. The recognition system in the cameras covered every inch of the estate and the system recognised people by their facial characteristics, height and weight. Once allowed into the Estate as a welcomed guest, the
technology would automatically allocate a green dot. Unwelcome guests, or people the system did not recognise, would instantly be allocated a red dot and trigger the alarm.
The seven red dots worked their way along the wall toward the main driveway. Saki smiled, boy, were this mob in for the shock of their lives.
The main gate buzzer began to sound. Saki lifted the handset, he didn’t want anybody to overhear the conversation.
“Saki, are you OK? What’s happening?” asked a flustered SPU officer.
“We’re fine, don’t worry!”
“False alarm?” he asked, relieved.
“No, we’ve got seven intruders making their way towards the house.”
“Jesus, let us in!” he shouted.
“Absolutely not, it’s too dangerous,” he replied
“That’s why we’re here, let us in!” he demanded again.
“It’s too dangerous for you, not us,” replied Saki and hung up.
He watched the seven red blips reach the driveway and begin to accelerate. As expected, the blips suddenly stopped moving.
“Jesus Christ!” screamed Conor as the road suddenly became a sea of spikes, bursting every one of the fourteen tyres.
The seven men managed to get to the side of the road unscathed but they now had over 3 miles to cover to get to the house on foot. He looked back to the main gate, it remained firmly shut. Why would they not let the security team in? He was beginning to wish he had listened to Sinead. Had the ramps been available, he would have turned around but they weren’t and the walls were unclimable, caked in anti climb paint and topped with razor wire. They had no option but to move into the woods which skirted the driveway and set off at a jog. They were extremely fit, heavily armed and well covered by the trees, things could be worse.
However, things got worse very quickly. The lights died, as did the sirens and an eerie dark silence fell upon Conor and his men. They must know where we are, why else would they turn the lights off? Conor was now very worried.
Donald joined Saki in the kitchen.
“Well?”
“Seven, just inside the main gate and they just lost their transport,” said Saki pointing at the screen. They could see, from the video feed, seven men working their way through the wooded area. Tom joined them. He knew it wasn’t a false alarm, his father’s face had told him all he needed to know. He watched the video screen.
“Are we in danger?” asked Donald.
“Not unless they’re hiding a nuke in their pockets, not a chance. Even if they did, we could just head down to the bunker. Donald, trust me, this house is impregnable,” assured Saki for what felt like the millionth time.
Saki picked up a portable screen and pulled on a black sweater.
“Where the hell are you going?” asked Donald.
“I’m going to get rid of some rubbish,” he replied. He hit two buttons and the screen jumped from daylight view to a red glow as the system detected the change in light. The sirens in the grounds also ceased, although with the shutters down the noise in the house had been significantly reduced.
“What did you do that for?” asked Donald confused.
“Makes it a bit more interesting,” he said, grabbing the intercom headset and, ensuring there were no blips near the house, he activated the release for the back door. The shutter raised and allowed Saki to leave, shutting immediately behind him.
Donald and Tom were left looking at each other, neither knowing what to say, they turned their attention to the screen and watched as Saki’s green dot zipped across the screen.
The SPU officers were beside themselves, their role was to protect the Prime Minister’s son but they couldn’t get in to protect him. Seven intruders were making their way towards the Estate and they were utterly impotent.
The officer in charge phoned the Special Branch Commander and told him what was happening.
“What do you mean, he won’t let you in?” he screamed.
“What the hell!” exclaimed the SPU officer.
“What, what’s happened?” the Special Branch man shouted.
“Can’t you hear? The sirens just stopped and now the lights have gone out,” replied the bewildered SPU officer.
“They must have cut the power. Scale the wall if you have to! Just get in there!!” he commanded.
“We’ve tried that, it’s impossible, wait a minute, I hear something…” the security man paused as he listened.
Suddenly three Lynx helicopters swooped over the tree line behind him and flew over his head, two men stood poised on each of the helicopters skids. As he saw the helicopters enter the Estate, each of the twelve men dropped ropes and began to rappel down even before they had stopped moving.
“Saki, come in Saki,” said the voice into Saki’s head set.
Saki pressed the communicate button.
“Saki here, who’s this?”
“Captain Harris, what’s the situation?”
Saki knew Captain Harris very well. They had run a number of exercises together. The Kennedy Estate was less than ten miles from Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, home to the UK’s nuclear arsenal. The facility was under the protection of the Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines, an elite Royal Marine Commando unit, home to some of the toughest and most highly trained soldiers in the world. Donald had been approached by the Commander of the unit when he had purchased the Estate fourteen years earlier. The derelict estate had been an excellent training ground which his men had used unofficially and he had asked if there were any possibility for some of the old buildings to be retained. Donald never missed an opportunity. On hearing that he and his family were within 10 miles of this elite group, he bent over backwards for them. He partitioned off 3 square miles of his Estate, including some of its prime shoreline, arranged for the removal and rebuilding of the derelict buildings exactly as they were on this area and handed it over for the Commando’s to use as and when they wished. He threw in a luxury club room for good measure. The Commandos and their Commander could not believe his generosity and in return, said that whatever they could do for them, they would. He had invited the Commander to dinner one evening soon after the Estate was completed and showed him the security system. The man was amazed, he had commented that perhaps they should store their nukes in Donald’s basement, where they would probably be safer. Both had laughed but both knew he was right, they would be. Donald had then subtly mentioned what a fantastic training exercise it would be if the Commandos responded to the Estate’s alarms should they go off at any point. The Commander took the hint and within 24 hours, had obtained the clearance, everybody agreeing it was a great idea.
“Seven intruders, about a half mile from the main gate near the driveway.”
“We’ll be there in two.”
“You may miss the fun, I’ll be there in one,” replied Saki.
Captain Harris screamed to his pilot.
“Can’t this thing go any faster? We’re going to miss the action!!”
They were flying a Lynx helicopter, the fastest production helicopter in the world, but the answer was no, they couldn’t.
“What was that?” asked Kevin. Conor’s crew was now very jumpy.
Conor turned round and could just make out the silhouette of three helicopters and men dangling from them as they cleared the main gates way behind them. The men shot down the ropes as the helicopters slowed, landing without fault at a half run. He could see they all wore night vision goggles and were heavily armed. The helicopters flew just over their heads and Conor recognised the Royal Marine insignia. What he had thought could not get any worse, just had. At least with the police, they could always give up and spend a few years in prison. With the Marines, that was not an option. The hunters had become the hunted.
Conor gave the signal to turn back into the woods, their best chance of avoiding the Marines. However, in less than ten yards, a scream stopped them dead in their tracks. It hadn’t come behind them, where the Marines were, but from their ma
n up front.
Things had just got even worse.
Saki watched as the men took a sharp turn towards him as they tried to avoid the Marines. He silently moved into position and just as the first intruder approached him, he stepped out right in front of him. The intruders were so freaked out by this point that the man nearly had a heart attack and emitted the most terrified blood curdling scream.. Saki punched him once and knocked him unconscious before he died of fright.
Saki looked at the small portable screen as the red dots scattered around him. He put it away, he didn’t need it, this was his ground.
Conor’s blood ran cold as he heard the scream and then the thud of a body slumping to the ground. His men looked to him for leadership, he didn’t have any, he was as scared as they were.
He couldn’t believe it, he had one of the toughest crews the paramilitaries had ever produced and they were a bunch of quivering wrecks. He pulled himself together but he was too late, his men had scarpered in various directions. Only Kevin remained by his side. They looked at each other, what should they do? A series of thuds and slumps made up their minds, they turned round and ran back to the road. At least with the Marines they knew what they were up against.
Saki made light work of the other four intruders, none of them would be giving them any more trouble that night.
Captain Harris and his teams had split into three, one entering the woods where they believed the intruders had entered. The second team would enter further down the driveway and would work back. The third team would watch the road in case they came back out.
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