Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (30 page)

“Wait there. I’ll try to get hold of my man on the ground,” said
Reaper.

As he went to make his call, a breaking news story came on
TV.
 

“Violence in Johannesburg International Airport leaves fifteen
dead. A gang war erupted this evening in a baggage hall at South Africa’s
largest and busiest airport. The information we have is sketchy but it appears
that the authorities are unsure about what caused the dispute or how the rival
gang members managed to clash in a secure area of the airport. What is clear is
that at least fifteen men are dead and at least one other seriously
injured.
The injured man is unconscious and the authorities
do not expect him to regain consciousness for some time. They do not know who
the injured man is but have released a description of him in the hope that if
anybody knows him, they may be able to help the police with their enquiries. He
is a large man, six foot four inches and weighs around 250lbs. He has blonde
hair, a distinctive scar across his right eye and a tattoo on his right forearm
of a lion roaring. Anybody recognising this man is asked to come forward and
help police with their enquiries.
Back to our main story.
The hostage crisis…”

The news broadcast had just described Pieter. He had ten men with
him and Tom had told him there were five soldiers, that
was
fifteen men in total, fifteen were dead and Pieter was unconscious. What the
hell had happened, these bloody kids were a death magnet and very bad news.

Reaper went back to Tom, who was holding on the line.

“I’ve just watched a breaking news story. It appears everybody is
dead,” he said coldly. “Now that leaves me with a problem, I need you two back
here. I have some other men who should have arrived just after you.”

“Oh God, that must have been the helicopter that ran out of fuel
a miles and a half from here. There was a helicopter crash not long ago. If
they were in the same chopper as us, I’m not surprised, we landed on fumes.”

“WHAT!” Reaper could not believe how such a simple thing, picking
up two young kids, could cause such devastation. So far, over thirty men had
died trying to capture Tom and Lela and at least
twenty five
of them were highly trained and skilled operatives.

Tom had to pinch himself to stop
laughing,
the man was apoplectic with rage. Tom’s plan had worked perfectly. He would
ring Paula later to thank her. Her parents owned the largest media group in
South Africa and she had managed to release the fastest press report in
history. The release was perfect. The fact that nobody had died in reality and
that the mercenaries were enduring a rather unpleasant stay in South Africa,
courtesy of Rolf’s father, was neither here nor there.

Reaper calmed down. “I will make this simple. If you’re not at
the gates of your house within the next twelve hours, your mother dies.”

“Well you better just kill her now,” said Tom.

“WHAT?” This kid was really getting to him. He was really going
to enjoy killing him.

“We’re about 6,000 miles away from you. Even if we boarded a
plane now, which we can’t, we could not get there in 12 hours.”

“So when can you be here?” Reaper said almost giving up.

“We have no passports. That’s a major hurdle and we have missed
the last flight tonight. The BA flight left at 9.20 p.m. and it’s now 9.30 p.m.
local time…”

“So when can you be here, just answer the question!” Reaper was
fuming.

“There is an
Albair
flight tomorrow
afternoon at 5.00 p.m. that would get us into Glasgow at 2.30 a.m.”

“What!! That is over 24 hours away. You must be able to do better
than that. I’ll call you back.” Reaper hung up and turned to his communications
man. “Find me the quickest route from Johannesburg to Glasgow from now.”

Two minutes later, he phoned Tom back.

“There is a flight in three hours via Nairobi. That will get you
here tomorrow evening,” announced Reaper.

“And what do you want us to do about not having passports. Tell
them that, due to a hostage situation, we were unable to travel with our
passports so please let us on or they’ll kill our parents?” Tom replied
sarcastically.

Reaper did not say anything. He walked into the lounge and nodded
to Leo who slapped Rachel hard across the face. She screamed.

Tom froze, realising what had just happened.

Saki almost tore the arm off of his armchair as he restrained
himself from protecting Rachel. Donald looked at Saki and pleaded with his eyes
for him not to move.

Walking back into the kitchen, Reaper continued.

“Less attitude young man, remember the position your parents are
in. Yes it’s not ideal for you to try to board a plane without a passport. How
are you going to cover it?”

“We can go to the High commission in Pretoria in the morning and
get a letter which will get us on the plane and home without causing a fuss.”

“OK, good thinking…if you land at 2.30 a.m., my men will be waiting
to get you at the airport.”

“OK but just so you know, we’re very well known at the airport
and if someone strange picks us up, it will send alarm bells ringing.”

“After you touch down, I’ll give you exactly one hour to get to
the gates. If you have not arrived we’ll kill your mother. Do you understand
Tom? Your parents are depending on you.”

“I understand.”

“Where are you going now?” asked Reaper.

“We can go to the hotel next door. I’ve made reservations and we
just need to pick up the key. We’ll make the short trip to Pretoria and be back
here in plenty of time for the flight.”

“Be careful and remember, I have eyes and ears everywhere.”
Reaper ended the call.

“Phew, it worked, he bought it, everything, even the passports…I
just hope he doesn’t check with the High Commission, it’s not open on Sundays,”
said Tom.

“What next?” asked
Kisho
.

“We wait for
Benoît
to do his magic.”

“And if they can’t?” asked Lela.

“We steal it!”

***

Reaper’s phone rang. He had been dreading the call. He answered
and held the phone away from his ear as a
two minute
tirade of abuse exploded through the earpiece.

“It’s under control. They’re on their way back and will be here
tomorrow night.”

“What, under their own steam? I thought you were the best
?!
You underestimated two teenagers and they’re now playing
you for a fool,” screamed the client.

“I have nobody else on site. They’re all dead. Two teenagers
didn’t kill
twenty five
men. We’ve had some bad luck
but they’re scared and are scurrying back to save mummy and daddy.”

“You had better hope so or your time on this planet is running
out.”

The call ended, no pleasantries.

Chapter
57

Tom’s phone rang
,
it
was
Benoît
.

“Ok, it’s done. Be there in three hours. Everything will be ready
for you.”

“Unbelievable, you’re a star,” Tom told
Benoît
.

“Well goodbye, it was nice knowing you. The next time we speak,
I’ll be dead and so will you be,”
Benoît
half joked.

“Thanks
Benoît
.”

Tom looked across the tarmac at the airplane and began to panic.
It was going to happen, he was going to fly a plane. Not just any plane. Across
the tarmac, in a blaze of floodlights, sat the Airbus A380. It was one
of only twelve Air France A380’s
. Tom had noticed on his
homepage, which of course was the Airbus website, that the A380 was used on the
Paris to Johannesburg route

Benoît
was the son of the Chief
Executive Officer of Air France and Tom did not know how
Benoît
had pulled it off. He was truly amazed.

Lela,
Kisho
and Kano were dreading the
call from
Benoît
.
Lela more than
anyone.
She had watched Tom crash the very same plane many, many times.
She knew he had mastered the simulator, but this was for real.
 

The phone rang again
,
it
was
Benoît
.

“OK, here’s the story. The Aircraft has developed a fault and it
needs to get back to Airbus at Toulouse. Our pilots on site are out of flying
time and two replacements have been sent to pick up the aircraft, that’s your
two guys. Two VIP’s are accompanying them as a gesture of goodwill, that’s you
and Lela. The fault is minor but means that no passengers can fly. I’ve had to
cance
a flight with 382 passengers who are not going to be
happy but we can sort that later! I’ve been on the phone and I think I’ve
covered every angle. The head of security is Colonel
Hibbert
and he’s expecting you in the next two to three hours. All clearances for take
off have been done and I think you’re good to go.”

“What about the crew, are they covered? Will they not sound the
alarm?”

“Nope, covered, they’ve been given a week off and told to relax
and enjoy themselves. They’re on a bus to Sun City as we speak.”

“How long until it’s missing?”

“I reckon you’ve got until Monday morning when the office opens
and the plane is not at Toulouse being fixed. Then all hell will break loose.”

“You are amazing. I can’t tell you what this means.”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me soon enough. I’m looking forward to it
and it had better be worth the beating and years of pocket money I’m going to
lose.”

Tom turned to his new flight crew.

“What’s with the long faces?” asked Tom.

“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps the thought of flying in the largest
commercial aircraft in history piloted by a thirteen year old pilot who has
never flown a real plane before, is a bit scary
”
mused
Kano.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” said Tom reassuring nobody, not
even himself.

While
Kisho
and Kano looked for the
flight crew uniforms they needed, Tom received a call from Papa.

 
“Where are you now?”
Tom asked.

“The helicopters have just arrived and we’re about to board.”

“Excellent! And how did you get on with your calls?” asked Tom

Lela’s grandfather rhymed off a list of names and locations.
 

“I asked
Rony
to put a couple of mobile
phones on the helicopters so we can keep in touch but I guess you already know
that, otherwise you wouldn’t have called me!” said Tom ending the call slightly
embarrassed.

Tom called
Rony
, the Malaysian PM’s son
and thanked him for arranging the choppers so quickly. Tom then made a number
of additional calls to ensure everything else would be in place on time.

Kano and
Kisho
arrived back in their
new Captains’ uniforms, borrowed from staff lockers. They made their way back
to the chopper to pick up their equipment. They found some airline trolleys and
did their best to hide the small arsenal from the chopper. They then borrowed a
van and made their way to the far side of the airport where the A380 stood
almost alone under the blaze of floodlights. As they drew up to the aircraft,
they noticed a contingent of soldiers guarding the plane.

“Colonel
Hibbert
, Captain Picard,” said
Kano introducing himself to the head of security, laughing to himself at the
reference to his favourite Star Trek Captain.

“Ah, we’ve been expecting you. The plane is fuelled and ready to
go,” he said. “All rather strange this,” he added.

“What is?” asked Kano as innocently as his nerve allowed.

“Everything,” said
Hibbert
. “Reports of
a non existent gang battle in the terminal alleging that fifteen people are
dead and now an A380 is leaving without
it’s
passengers. I hope people are not concerned about security, my men are the
best, you know.”

“Of course they are and I’m sure you’ve heard the reason for the
early departure. It’s unavoidable I’m afraid,” replied Kano.

“Well I hope that’s true,” said
Hibbert
and walked away despondently.

They boarded the aircraft and as Lela,
Kisho
and Kano gawped at the huge cabin space, Tom turned left and made directly for
the cockpit. It was uncanny. Everything was exactly the same as his simulator.
This was going to be a piece of cake.
Kisho
and Kano
loaded on their equipment and the ground crew removed the stairways and cleared
the ground to allow the aircraft to taxi for take-off.

Fortunately, thanks to the design of the cockpit and the sheer
size of aircraft, the ground crew could not see the young pilot at the
controls.
Kisho
sat in the co-pilot’s seat, while Kano
and Lela prayed to whatever Gods were listening.

Tom made his way to the head of the runway,
Kisho
doing all the talking to the control tower. The timing was perfect, the airport
was deserted and the passengers who had been due to depart the following morning
were tucked up in bed probably dreaming about their trip. Unfortunately for
them, they were going to be disappointed. At 2.30 a.m. local time, 12.30 a.m.
in London, Tom pushed the throttles to full power. The engines began to whine
as the power increased and the plane fought against the airbrakes. As the plane
hit full power, Tom released the brakes and the very light monster almost took
off prematurely such was the force of the engines on the empty aircraft. The
jolt sent them all firmly back in their seats as the plane forged its way along
the 14,000
ft
runway. Within seconds, the plane had
reached its take off speed and they lifted gently into the night sky. Tom was
flying!