Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (18 page)

The Headmaster came into view and revealed himself to the boys.

“Mr Sakamoto!!!” Tom exclaimed.

“Hi Tommy-boy, how are you doing?”

Before ‘Tommy-boy’ could answer, the doors to the office flew
open and Lela stormed in.

“THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!” she shouted with Ms Anderson close on her
heels.

“
Aah
, the most beautiful Lela, how are
you my dear?”

“Mr Sakamoto!!!” she exclaimed.

Chen did not know where to look or who to look at first. He was
very confused.

“Not now Ms Anderson, please shut the door on your way out,” said
the Headmaster, as he winked at the students.

Chen pulled himself together.

“What’s going on? Do you know him, I mean, Mr
Saka
…”

“Know him? We’ve known him forever,” said Tom.

“Lela, come and sit down,” said Mr Sakamoto.

“You scared the hell out of us!” Lela exclaimed releasing some
left-over
anger.

“I’m sorry. You know I love practical jokes,” he said.

The next ten minutes were spent explaining to Chen how they knew
Mr Sakamoto. He had been a brilliant businessman and had owned and run one of
the most successful organisations in Japan. He had lived for work and had
worked twenty hours a day, seven days a week, building his empire. Everybody
believed he loved nothing more than growing his business. This, however, was
not true. He loved his family much, much more. The day he discovered that his
wife was ill, he left the office and never returned. He nursed and cared for
her until she died two years later. He then looked after his children and
became their mother and father as they grew up. He sold his business and vowed
never to work again, ruing every hour he had missed with his wife over all
those years. Donald had met him just before his wife had fallen ill and
remained a close friend throughout the years. A trip to Japan always meant a
visit to the wind-up merchant. Mr Sakamoto always played tricks on the
Kennedys.

“I’m sorry if I frightened you. I thought it was hysterical. Did
you like the book being thrown at the two guys running out of the office?”

“No, we were terrified! And what will they think?” Tom said.

“Nothing, they were in on it!”

It took a few moments for them to see the funny side.

“The spinster PA was very good,” said Tom. “She came across like
a real witch.”

“Sadly, she wasn’t in on it. She doesn’t approve of humour. She
frequently tells me off for my childish behaviour.”

“Seriously?” asked Lela.

“Absolutely. In fact, she asked me to have a word with Tom
regarding his remarks about tweezers?”

“She can’t have heard what I said,” said Tom highly embarrassed.

“Oh but she hears everything. Watch this…tea anybody?”

The doors opened, Ms Anderson came in with a notepad to take
their orders and promptly left to organise tea.

“No way. You’ve got an intercom in here somewhere.”

“Yes I have but the button is over there,” he said pointing.

Tom looked across at the button and it was well out of Mr Sakamoto’s
reach.

“
Naah
,” he said, still very
embarrassed.

Mr Sakamoto just nodded and added, “freaky but true.”

They spent the next hour chatting with Mr Sakamoto. He explained
that he had received a call at around the same time as they had from Sam
Mitcham
who asked him to take on the role of Headmaster. At
first, he had been reluctant as he was committed to his own children. However,
his children were now grown up and were fending for themselves. They encouraged
him to go for it and so there he was. Sam
Mitcham
had
made it clear that they wanted a businessman and not an educator to run the
school. He had been their number one choice and was told, after he’d accepted,
that he was the only person who fully fitted their criteria. He was an
exceptional businessman who was respected throughout the world, had no ties to
any organisation nor any enemies. Tom remembered that his father had told him
about just how brilliant Mr Sakamoto was in the boardroom and how much he
respected his ability to see the big picture whilst being aware of every last
detail.

Once Mr Sakamoto had explained how he had got his new job, he
turned his attention to the day’s events.

“OK. So who’s going to tell me what really happened today?”

Chen spoke first.

“Well, this morning we had a run in with Yuri and his gang. They
took our carts and hit Oleg. This afternoon they attacked Tom and me in the
toilets but fortunately, a group of larger boys came in and scared them off. I
think that’s about it, wouldn’t you agree Tom?”

“Yeah, something like that. Yeah, Lela?”

“Yeah, something along those lines.”

Mr Sakamoto thought for a second.

“Interesting…any idea who those other boys were?”

“No, we didn’t really get a chance to see them. Everything
happened so quickly.”

“Yes, it all happened very quickly,” agreed Tom who was very
impressed with Chen covering for Lela.

“Lela, did you see them?” Mr Sakamoto asked looking directly at
her.

“No, sorry,” said Lela, relieved at the question.
She would not blatantly lie to Mr Sakamoto and with his question
,
she didn’t have to
.

“So what did they say when you spoke to them?” asked Tom.

“Similar to what Chen said but I have to say I’m a bit concerned
about the mysterious group of boys that you mentioned Chen. Yuri and his brutes
were big and scary and I can’t imagine who they would be scared of,” said Mr
Sakamoto staring directly at Lela.

Tom and Chen watched his gaze. Chen looked away guiltily and as
he did so, Mr Sakamoto winked and smiled at Tom and Lela. He knew fine well.

“Well unfortunately, I have more work to do. I only arrived today
and it’s been rather busy. It was great to see you both and very nice to meet
you Chen. Wait a minute, your family name is Xiao and you’re from Hong Kong.
Your father isn’t Li Xiao, is he?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Don’t you remember me? I’ve known you since you were a baby. I
used to do a lot of business with your father. The last time I saw you was when
you were…let me think now…when you were about three!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember,” said Chen shifting uncomfortably
in his seat.

“So how is your father?”

“He’s very well thanks. I’ll let him know you were asking after
him.”

“Excellent. Now, I really must be getting on.”

They said their goodbyes and headed back to their block,
jubilant.

They arrived at the block to find a very worried group of
friends. They filled them in on what happened and a relieved and excited group
of friends made their way to dinner.

Chapter
31

Reaper surveyed the map in front of him. Nearly 300 highly
trained operatives were now in place. He ate, breathed and slept his plan. He
had covered every conceivable eventuality and had spent over $50million dollars
in the process. His client had neither queried nor questioned the vast sums of
money being swallowed up by the operation. Reaper had considered increasing his
take for the mission but on reflection, his client’s capabilities had ensured
that every cent was accounted for.
 

He then considered the report again from
Ling
which
described in some detail the events of the day. He was interested
to hear about Lela’s talents although it seemed that Ling had not witnessed the
whole event and therefore it was a little sketchy as to what exactly had
happened. He was also pleased to find out the identity of the
Headmaster which
had been a closely guarded secret. He had
made a number of phone calls but soon found out that Sakamoto was
irreproachable in all areas of his life. This was
disappointing
as Reaper had considered the possibility of enticing the Headmaster into the
mission. Mr Sakamoto put paid to that plan.

Reaper re-read
the part about Lela and
the thugs. Although this concerned him a little, he rationalised that they were
useless thugs and that against his elite forces, there was no contest. He
decided against mentioning Ling’s report to his client. All other reports were
exactly as had been expected, no surprises.

The phone rang.

“Reaper here.”

“How’s it going?” came the gruff response.

“Excellent, everything’s going exactly to plan.”

“So you have no concerns?”

“No. My operatives will begin moving into their final positions
in the next couple of weeks.”

“And the girl, Lela?” said the client, irritated.

“What about her?” Reaper was unnerved and his voice began to
falter.

“Your latest report, her fight with the thugs,” said the client.

“How do you know about that?” Reaper was dumfounded.

“I will say this once again and only once again, DO NOT
underestimate me. I have over fifty million dollars invested in this operation
and many times that amount riding on the outcome. I know and see everything,
now tell me about the GIRL!” screeched the client.

Reaper was speechless. Yet again, his client had obtained secure
information. Reaper had the most secure communication network available which
he was assured was unbreakable.

“Well?” asked the impatient client.

“I don’t believe it’s of any concern to us. The thugs were
untrained oafs and Ling didn’t see everything that happened. I think we’ll find
that Lela will have had a few Jujitsu lessons and got lucky showing off in
front of her friends. She’s only fourteen and our guys are the
best trained
soldiers in the world. So I really wouldn’t
worry,” said Reaper.

“OK. Well you’d better be right. You mess up, you die.”

“Of course, everything is covered. Hello
?...
Hello?”
Reaper spoke into a silent receiver
,
the line was already dead
. As usual, when the client
finished what he had to say, he hung up, no pleasantries.

Reaper was rattled. He called his lieutenants Pieter and Leo into
the planning room. He explained that their communications were being monitored
and that their client was watching every move. The three considered the
revelation and agreed that there was nothing they could do about it. Their
client was obviously an exceptionally resourceful man.
 

***

The twins had filed their report earlier in the day. They had debated
whether to report the golf cart incident but decided that it did not directly
affect their targets and so decided against. They therefore had very little to
report regarding the targets for that day. However, they were concerned about
some strange behaviour within the camp. They were on rotating watch duties for
four hours on and four hours off. In their down time, they had to catch some
sleep and carry out their normal day to day duties at the base. During their
time on duty on the base, their commander seemed overly concerned with what
they were doing. He was also giving them a particularly hard time, making it
increasingly difficult for them to maintain their surveillance. They had not
included any of these details in their initial report but decided to issue a
follow-up report, just in case. They were also genuinely concerned that their
surveillance capability was being affected. They typed up the follow-up report
and filed it.

Chapter
32

The school alarm rang at exactly 7.00 a.m. By 7.15 a.m., Lela had
not heard any movement from Tom’s room so she rang through. The phone rang and
rang, no answer.

“TOM, WAKE UP!!!” she shouted as she banged on his door. Five
minutes later, a ghostly figure opened the door, mumbled unintelligibly and
turned tail.

“Tom, it’s 7.20, jump in the shower and get dressed. I’ll be in
my room getting ready, come and get me when you’re done.”

He somehow managed to find his way to the
shower and after running the building dry
,
he emerged
and got dressed
.

After dinner, they had had a two-hour
video
conference
with his mother and father and Saki. They had filled them in
on everything with the exception of the Yuri
saga
as
there was no need to worry them. They told them about Mr Sakamoto and Tom’s
father could not think of a better appointment. His mother asked for a detailed
description of all the other students and for a detailed account of the
restaurant, its menus and whether they were eating properly. Saki asked whether
they felt safe and whether there was anything they needed. Tom and Lela
confirmed that they didn’t need anything and that everything was fabulous. They
all agreed that the
video conference
was brilliant and
that they should do it at least once a week. In fact, they would do it on the
same night the following week and every Monday night thereafter. Donald was
made to swear that he would attend the
video conference
,
no matter what.
 

“Lela?” Tom knocked on her door.

“Yes, come in, the door’s open.”

“Wow,” said Tom. “That’s some outfit! Amazing!”

“Thanks! I saved it for our first proper day.”

“What did your dad think of it?”

“I’m not sure he’s seen this one,” she said with a cheeky grin.

Tom
smiled,
Saki had definitely not seen
that outfit. If he had, it would not be on the island
nor
anywhere near Lela’s wardrobe.