Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (31 page)

As he levelled off, he hit the intercom button.

“Sorry about the
takeoff
. I usually
practice that with a full aircraft and this is empty,” announced Tom.

Lela and Kano were in a trance. Tom’s voice was excited but calm
and that probably meant that they were not going to die just then. They were
ecstatic to be alive, at least until landing. So they cheered, weakly.

Tom set the co-ordinates on the
auto pilot
,
sat back and relaxed. In just under eight hours, they would reach their
destination,
Masirah
a small island off the coast of
Oman and home to the Royal Oman Air Force. A phone call to
Zafir
,
the son of the Sultan of Oman had resulted in the provision of a secluded
airbase. It was perfect for landing a ‘borrowed’ super jumbo and was just
within the fuel limits of the small
jets which
were
flying in from Kota
Kinabalu
.
 

Tom’s plan, Operation Retribution, was now well underway.

Part
Five

Chapter
58

The islanders’ Citation
Xs
landed
before the A380 and taxied into a far corner of the airbase just as the A380
made its final approach. It was 12.30 p.m. local time and 8.30 a.m. in Glasgow.

Kano and Lela were terrified. The last eight hours had been
uneventful but overshadowed by the prospect of landing. Lela could not think
beyond the simulator
disasters which
had involved many
dramatic landings, most of which had been fatal. In her state of panic, she had
decided to share these stories with Kano to try to ease her own stress levels.
They didn’t and only resulted in terrorising Kano further.

Kisho
looked across at Tom. Although
not an airline pilot, he was a flyer and as far as he could tell, everything
was fine. He had heard that the bigger the plane, the easier the landing. This
had something to do with the cushion of
air which
formed under the huge frame of the aircraft as it came in to land. This flight
would prove the theory, or not.

Tom could not believe how easy it had been so far. The plane had
brought them
there
itself and if the airport systems
had allowed, it would have landed for them too. He thought to himself that he
should have gone for a landing at the main commercial airport where the auto
landing
back-up
was available. However, that would
have brought other problems, such as having to explain the unexpected
appearance of the world’s most notable airplane at a major international
airport.

The descent so far had been straightforward, slow and steady. As
they got closer to the ground,
Kisho
called out the
altitude, “300, 200, 100…” Before the plane was about to make contact with the
ground, Tom flared up its nose and the plane landed effortlessly. The air cushion
had done its job. The back wheels were followed closely by the front wheels and
as the
weight
of the aircraft was in their favour
they
quickly came to a stop. As the front wheels touched
down, Tom hit the Intercom button, ever the professional.

“Welcome to Oman, Ladies and Gentleman, the local time is 12.30
p.m. and the outside temperature is a lovely twenty four degrees centigrade.
Thank you for flying Tom Kennedy Airlines, we hope you enjoyed your flight and
will choose to fly with us again soon.” He had been rehearsing that in his head
for hours.

Tom was almost deafened by the screams of joy from the seats
behind him in the main cabin. Kano and Lela had been in each other’s arms
hanging on for dear life as they had come into the final approach. Until Tom
spoke, they had not even realised that they had
landed,
such was the quality of his touchdown. Both were amazed and screamed with sheer
delight.

They taxied to the area which had been
set
aside
for them and once the stairway was attached, they disembarked and
went off to find the islanders who should be waiting in the hangar. Tom walked
into the hangar and was impressed. His contacts, once again, had not let him
down. In the ten hours since he had made the calls, a mass of equipment and
intelligence had poured into the hangar. Tom was certain that because
everything had been organised by a network of children and nothing had been
done through official channels, it was very unlikely that the terrorists would
have been informed of their actions.

In one corner of the hangar were a number of charts displayed on
the wall. These were schematic diagrams required for Operation Retribution. In
another corner,
were the weapons generously supplied by Zach
and his network
. They had obtained the latest and best weaponry
available. In another corner, a communications centre had been established to
enable up-to-the-minute news from around the world. In the fourth corner, was a
bank of bunk beds and a large seating area full of
islanders.
There were also rows of tables filled with food. Tom was amazed and phoned
Zafir
to thank him again for all of his help.

Lela’s grandfather went over to hug the four of them. Kano and
Kisho
then spotted the food, made their excuses and headed
towards the tables.

“It’s so good to see you Papa!” Lela said to her grandfather, as
she hugged him.

“Now, now, Lela. Your father
will be fine
,
don’t worry
. These people have messed with the wrong
family. Tom, let’s go through that plan of yours, over there with charts. Kano,
Kisho
, stop stuffing your faces and come here.”

Kano and
Kisho
jumped to his side. When
the islanders’ leader spoke, everybody obeyed.

The next hour was spent poring over the charts while they waited
for the rest of the islanders to arrive from their various army postings around
the world. At 2.00 p.m. local time and 10.00 a.m. Glasgow time, the last plane
expected at
Masirah
landed, it was a small private
jet from Cyprus. As Papa called the islanders to order, Tom’s phone rang.

“It’s him,” he announced to the group around him.

Silence descended on the hangar.

“Hello?” Tom answered.

“Hello Tom. How are we getting on?” said Reaper.

Tom thought quickly on his feet, checking his watch.

“Good thanks. We’ve just finished at the High Commission and are
on our way back to the airport.”

“So you got your travel papers?”

“No problem at all. I had some cash and greased some palms.”

“Good boy. Now just make sure you get on that plane and get here
in plenty of time. Mummy’s counting on you,” said Reaper as he ended the call.

Tom turned to his audience.

“I’m so going to enjoy wiping the smile off of that git’s face.”

The first group came forward for their briefing with Tom. He
plugged his handheld PC into a large overhead projector. At first, the
islanders were confused by the picture in front of them
.
However, once Tom explained that each of the blips related to a person and that
they were looking at a 3D image of the Estate, they were very impressed. When
he instructed the system to identify Saki, his mother and father, they were
truly amazed as they watched the green blips make their way between the study
and the lounge. Tom noticed that the total number of intruders was now
forty three
. The handheld PC was perfect for the attack and
Tom had requested a few more. These, of course, had been duly supplied and
a box of twenty were
ready to be configured. This was more
than enough. Tom explained the plan to the team and began configuring the
handheld PCs.

Papa, Kano and
Kisho
took over and
briefed the next two teams. A further two teams were still in the air and a
sophisticated communications system supplied by Zach allowed the final two
briefings to take place mid air.

Chapter 5
9

Donald had hardly slept all night. For the first time in weeks,
the deal was not what had kept him awake. He could not stop watching the
hostage scenes around the world and concluded that his deal was responsible for
the atrocities. He could imagine exactly what each of the parents
were
going through as he was in the same situation. Rachel
had taken some sleeping pills. The bruise on her face from the earlier slap was
still growing and the pain had been intense. She had refused to take the
sleeping pills at first and then only agreed when Donald had promised to do
likewise. He had pretended to swallow his but spat them out when Rachel was not
looking.

Donald spent the night trying to work out what he could do. He
knew that the minute he pulled out of the IBC deal, some horrific accident
would ensure that none of the family would live to disclose the real reason for
pulling out. Although Rachel had not realised that, Donald knew that Saki had
and was absolutely certain that Tom would have. Donald had over 4,000 children
on his conscience but could not help focussing on only two, Tom and Lela.

Saki was in the room next door. He had slept little, although
knowing what was to come on Monday at noon, he knew he needed to be alert and
had power napped as much as his brain would allow. His two babies were in
danger and he was not there to protect them. That was his job and he had failed.
The reports from Kano and
Kisho
should have alerted
him sooner that something was wrong but neither he nor Donald had picked up on
the signals when reading through the reports. However, one thing did pray on
his mind. How had anybody managed to get Tom and Lela away from the twins? They
were the best. He could not believe that they had failed him. Nonetheless,
Donald had heard Tom on the phone and at the gate. It just did not make sense.

Donald knocked on Saki’s door and entered.

“How are you doing, Saki?”

“Not good, you?”

“Same.”

“Donald, I just can’t get it out of my head. I can’t believe the
twins would let us down. Are you sure they have the kids?”

“Yes. I wish I was wrong but he had Tom on the phone and let me
speak to him very briefly. I keep replaying the moment in my mind but all I
come up with is that they must have them.”

Saki looked at the TV feed.

“Still no demands from the kidnappers. That’s very strange, it’s
been over two days now.”

“I know. It’s all linked. They don’t care about anything but the
deal,” said Donald. “It’s all I can think about. Four thousand children in
danger because of me.” Donald became tearful.

“No! Four thousand children in danger because of them, not you!”
Saki was adamant. “This is not your fault, you’ve done nothing wrong and don’t
forget that!”

“I know you’re right but I can’t help thinking ‘what
if….,’
” said Donald. “Anyway I need to finish the final
drafts by this evening. I better get on with it and check in with the anal
retentive.”

Donald was referring to Mark who was driving him mad, checking
every alteration in case there was some hidden code in the way he had crossed
something out or had added a word.

***

Reaper’s phone rang. It was the client.

“What’s the latest?”

“They boarded the flight at 5.00 p.m. in South Africa. There was
a half hour delay and so they’re due to land at 3.00 a.m. They should be here
by 4.00 a.m. which gives us plenty of time.”

“How do you know they definitely boarded, if you’ve got nobody on
the ground?”

“My communications man dialled into the airline’s system and
checked, firstly that they’d checked in and secondly that they’d boarded. That
kid has some system in his room.”

“OK and how’s Kennedy progressing with the deal?”

“Fine, our guy says they’ll be finished by tonight and he’s been
extremely well behaved.”

“Watch him. He’s a very clever man and knows what’s going to
happen. He won’t go down without a fight.”

“Don’t worry, he’s not prepared to lose his son,” replied Reaper
confidently.

“Do not underestimate him.” The phone went dead, no goodbyes, no
pleasantries.

Chapter
60

Tom finished configuring the handhelds and used one of them to
dial into his computer to check the
AlbAir
system.
Tom’s system had access to each one of his father’s business systems and there
were hundreds of them. His father knew nothing of this but Tom liked to keep an
eye on the inheritance. He would need to give
Kirstie
,
the daughter of the
AlbAir
CEO, a big thank you when
he saw her next. As promised, she had ensured that Tom and Lela had checked in
at 2.00 p.m. and boarded at 4.45 p.m. She had also arranged for the half hour
delay. On arrival at Glasgow, the plane would be asked to stay in a holding
pattern for thirty minutes despite empty skies and an empty runway. She would
ensure that the plane would land no earlier than 3.30 a.m., as agreed.

The terrorists would be feeling quite safe in the knowledge that
Tom and Lela were on the plane and on their way towards them. Tom had
considered whether announcing the crash of the plane would be better. In that
way, they would never be expected back. However, when Tom mentioned it to Lela,
she pointed out that it might cause “just a little” distress among the other
passengers’ families and that he shouldn’t be so ridiculous. Tom agreed and
went for the delay instead.