Murray McDonald - Assassin

“Of course,” replied the Manager. “I apologise for my impertinence.”

“No problem, don’t worry, the minute the President has seen it, I’m sure we can give an important man like you a proper tour,” he added in conspiratorial tone.

“Thank you, that would be a great honour.”

Tom nudged Kisho and whispered in his ear what he needed to do next.

“Now if you don’t mind, we have some things we need to prepare for the President’s visit and they must remain private until the unveiling. You know, decorations and things. A couple of jeeps from the Palace will be here shortly. Could you make sure they get straight through to us? And also ensure that we have no prying eyes?”

“Of course, consider it done,” replied the Manager who then turned around and left the hangar while barking orders to his subordinates to ensure the President’s men were not disturbed.

Tom made a call giving the green light for the trucks to arrive.

Ten minutes later, the doors of the hangar parted briefly and two completely blacked out Lincoln Navigators sped in. The drivers introduced themselves as friends of ‘young Rolf’ and were at their disposal for whatever they needed. Tom really wanted to ask what Rolf was up to, it seemed these guys worked for him and not his father.

The plane’s passengers emptied into the two large jeeps, five jumping into each one. They kept Rolf’s drivers but the two men who had accompanied the drivers jumped out and boarded the plane. They would ensure that nobody came snooping while the others were away. Tom wondered whether they would crack his safe while he was away, they certainly looked the type.

Two minutes later, they were on the main road and covering the 8 mile run to the prison very quickly when suddenly, the lead jeep stopped, pulling to a skid at the side of the road.

Papa jumped out and walked back to the second jeep which had similarly ground to halt.

“OK, everybody out, we go across ground from here.”

“But we’re still over a mile away,” protested Tom.

“Everybody but you two that is,” said Papa pointing to Tom and Daniel.

“No, wait a minute, I have to come, I’m not staying here…” Tom looked at Papa’s face and realised that it wasn’t up for debate. He stopped arguing, he had already gone too far. Papa’s instructions were not to be questioned.

“Lela, you can stay or come, you won’t hold us back,” said Papa. Lela looked across at Tom. She didn’t like the fact that she could go and he couldn’t. Tom nodded his approval.

“I’ll come, thank you.”

“What about me?” asked Daniel. “I feel all dressed up with nowhere to go.” He was as disappointed as Tom.

“I want you to use that fancy communication kit you brought and see if you can listen into the guards and let us know what they’re up to.”

“Cool. No problem,” said Daniel.

The islanders jogged off into the night, disappearing immediately, despite the moonlight.

“Where did they go?” asked Daniel.

“They’re there, it’s just they don’t want you to see them,” said Tom.

“Who the hell are they anyway?”

“That, my friend, is a very long story but right now you should be listening into your device.”

Daniel took the hint and quickly set up his kit and began to scan through frequencies and bandwidths that could carry voices. Digitised, encrypted or not, his little piece of kit could hear just about anything within a three mile range.

Lela and the islanders quickly covered the ground to the prison. Dressed in black and using their surroundings for cover, they were almost invisible. As they neared the prison, they stopped. Breaking in wasn’t going to be their first problem. Just reaching the prison was. The prison perimeter was surrounded by soldiers, heavily armed and very professional. Kano and Kisho had scouted ahead and came back with the bad news.

“It’s going to be difficult, they’ve taken up excellent positions and they’re very well equipped,” said Kano to Papa.

“So how do we get past them? We can’t afford to kill any Guineans. That would give them something to arrest Donald for.” Papa was struggling to know what to do.

“Wait a minute. They’re not Guineans, absolutely no way. They’re far too well trained and their kit is state of the art. That is one very expensive private army, mercenaries I would say,” replied Kano.

“How good?” asked Papa.

“As good as I’ve seen. They nearly spotted me!” exclaimed Kano.

“How many?”

“Probably 40 around the perimeter and another 10 at the gates. The strange thing is though, I would swear that the guys on the gate don’t know about the soldiers on the perimeter.”

“My main concern isn’t getting in, it’s getting out with Rachel and Donald,” said Papa who didn’t need to worry about Saki.

“Papa, come in Papa,” called Daniel into the radio.

“Yes Daniel, what’s wrong?” replied Papa into his two-way headset. All the islanders would be able to hear what was said.

“I think you’ve been spotted,” replied Daniel. Papa immediately looked to Kano and Kisho who shook their heads.

“Impossible Daniel. We can see the bad guys and there’s only the sea behind us.”

“Well whoever they are can see Lela. Somebody just mentioned that they could swear that was a girl.”

Papa looked over at Lela. Whoever had spotted them was behind them. Papa had Lela surrounded, just in case, and the only place she was visible was from the sea. He looked around again.

“I’ll call you back Daniel. Keep tracking them.”

Donald and Saki were pacing in their cell. It was 1.00 a.m. but neither felt like sleeping. It had been a very strange day, something was brewing and a dangerous atmosphere hung in the air. The cell next to theirs which had previously been empty had been filled with four new prisoners who could not have looked more out of place if they had tried. During their afternoon exercise, the mens’ eyes betrayed their training. They were professional soldiers and good ones. They had also brought a number of friends into the prison. Saki had counted at least another six so of them. In addition Donald and Saki had noticed a number of new guards, surprisingly similar in stature and training to the new prisoners.

The tension amongst the prison community was palpable. With no ‘boss’ prisoner to keep the peace, turf wars were being fought and old scores settled. The new prisoners seemed to be taking a great interest in these and somehow getting involved and even stirring an already explosive atmosphere.

It did not take a genius to work out that an attempt was going to be made on their lives, under the cover of a prison riot. Saki knew it and Donald knew it. Fortunately, Rachel didn’t. They could hear shouts already. Things were beginning to happen, it wouldn’t be long. The shouts began to grow both in volume and number.

“What can we do?” asked Donald.

“Nothing. When it starts, we just need to get to Rachel and you stay behind me, OK.”

They didn’t have long to wait, the shouts soon grew to screams as the first bout of fighting began.

“I see them,” said Kano. “They’re just on the edge of the beach.”

“How many?” asked Papa.

They had all dropped to the ground and were now moving away from the point where they had been spotted. All except for Kano and Kisho, who had moved towards the sea to try to see who was there.

“About fifteen, hold on, they’re coming towards me.” He stopped transmitting. He and Kisho lay still as they watched the soldiers move past them.

The soldiers were all dressed in black covert operations’ gear and had thermal imaging equipment although it appeared they were happy not to use it. They carried a mixture of weapons some with MP5 silenced submachine guns, some with HK416 machine rifles complete with added grenade launchers. Two of the soldiers were equipped with L96A1 sniper rifles and all carried Browning Hi-Power pistols as they moved quietly and swiftly across the sand.