Murray McDonald - Assassin

Tom sprinted out the door with Lela, Zach and now a very worried Tristan right behind him.

Tristan phoned his father on the way to the airport, it didn’t go particularly well. His father was confident that his security was tight. He then launched into a debate with Tristan about how sometimes things were hard to accept, despite one’s best instincts, one sometimes just had to accept the cold hard facts. The call had ended, Tristan decided against telling Tom about the last part of the call, his father’s doubt’s about Donald’s innocence. Tristan was very disappointed with his father.

“Zach, what do you think?” asked Tom as they sped towards the airfield.

“I think Barbados is a very long way away and if anything does happen, we may well miss it.”

Tom pulled the cart to a stop and tried to think through what they knew and what they needed to do. Everybody in the cart realised what was happening and stayed quiet.

Tom finally spoke and asked. “What time is it now?”

“It’s 6.20 p.m.,” replied Lela.

“OK, it’s about a thirteen hour flight to Barbados,” said Tom checking his PDA. “And if we leave within the next hour, that’ll get us there at roughly 8.00 a.m. And they’re 8 hours behind us, as it’s still summer time which means we’ll be there at midnight their time…” Tom continued to think through the options.

“I could see if we could get the scramjet?” offered Zach, having done so before. There weren’t many things Zach’s guys couldn’t get.

“No, not yet. I think we should only go down that route when we run out of options. We don’t want to let anyone know we’re onto them unless we really have to. Whoever is behind this already tried to kill your dad. I know we can trust your guys but unfortunately, we don’t know if we can trust their parents.”

Zach was about to object but then realised that Tom was right.

“Wait a minute,” said Tom pulling out his phone and dialling a number.

“Jason, hi, it’s Tom.” He didn’t give Jason the time to even say hello. “What deadline did they give for my response to their offer?”

“You’re not changing your mind are you?” asked Jason, taken aback.

“No! God no! Their little consequences were kidnapping Lela.”

“Jesus! What can I do?” said Jason panicking.

“They didn’t stand a chance, she let them take her, got some info and kicked their arses. They’re all dead now so don’t worry.”

“What the hell do you mean they’re all dead, Lela killed the kidnappers?” Jason asked, astounded.

“No, she beat them up and they killed themselves.”

Jason gave up, he didn’t know which was worse, the guys killing themselves or the fact that little Lela beat up ten kidnappers.

“So what can I do?” he asked.

“What was the deadline the lawyer set on the bid?”

“48 hours from Friday 7.00 p.m. UK time.”

“Excellent thanks,” said Tom, hanging up and leaving a bemused and very stunned Jason to try to work out what on earth was going on.

As he ended the call, three blank faces looked at him. He really had lost them.

“When I received the bid for the company, they stipulated that I had to respond by 10.00 p.m. our time, 7.00 p.m. UK time. It was an absolute. If I failed to respond within that time, the offer would lapse.” The four faces looked even more blank.

“Guy’s, don’t you see? The assassination will be at some time after that time tomorrow.” Tom was becoming frustrated. He would have to spell it out.

“Alba is currently valued at about 30 % less than its actual value because my dad is public enemy number one. But after the new assassinations, my dad will be in the clear. Alba’s value will then jump back up. They wanted me to respond while the value was down so they could buy it cheap. So now we know when they’re going to strike.”

“When?” asked Tristan.

“Jesus!” replied Tom, giving up, he turned to Zach. “Can you explain it to him?” he asked.

Tom started the cart up again and continued to the airfield. Papa and the others were already waiting. Kisho was topping up the tanks on the Gulfstream jet, getting her prepped for flight.

“Every last drop you can squeeze in, we’re flying right to the limits of this thing. Shame we’re not qualified to fly that one,” said Tom pointing to the 777.

“How far is it?” asked Kisho.

“Let’s just say that that one drop of fuel that spilled on the runway might be the difference between flying and gliding onto the runway,” replied Tom who wasn’t joking.

Twenty minutes later, the plane was airborne and on its way to Bridgetown, Barbados. Everybody settled in, it was going to be long flight. Papa and his three islanders had taken their seats at the back of the plane and the snores were already resonating around the plane. Lela, Zach Tristan and Kano were at the front. Zach was still explaining to Tristan what was happening.

Lela leaned over and whispered to Kano.

“Thanks for saving Tom and I think you were right not to tell him.”

“Tell him what?” he asked, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

“About you saving him.”

“Lela, I’ve got absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied.

“In Peru, somebody was about to shoot him but didn’t, maybe it was Kisho then?”

“Definitely not. We weren’t there. Remember, we weren’t allowed to go? You had 20 Special Forces soldiers with you instead.”

“I know that, but who stopped the guy then? When I heard the men say that their sniper had just disappeared, I just assumed you guys followed us as usual. I thought you didn’t tell Tom so as not to freak him out.”

“Will you stop blabbering for one minute and explain to me from the start what on earth you’re talking about,” said Kano holding his hand up to slow her down.

Lela then explained exactly what had happened in the cruiser’s cabin, what she had heard and what she had assumed must have happened. Kano was now as puzzled as she was as to what had happened to the sniper. Both agreed, however, that what Tom didn’t know couldn’t worry him but that they would keep an extra close eye on him.

With just under an hour’s flight and fuel to go, Tom’s phone rang. It was Daniel reporting that the group at The Academy had pulled an all-nighter and had some updates. It had proved quite a successful session.

“It looks like you’re right on the G20 countries. With only a couple of exceptions, those who have been assassinated have been replaced by a relatively unknown contender. And, of all the G20 countries, only the UK, France, Germany, China, Saudi Arabia, the US, Australia and the Commissioner of the EU have not been replaced due to assassination in the last year. It was so bloody obvious, we didn’t see it.”

“Which ones have the most prominent new candidates waiting in the wings?”

“All of them bar the US. It’s different there, because there’s a Vice President already in place to immediately replace the President. Tom, looking at the positioning, it’s all going to happen very soon.”

“OK. we know the timetable for the UK and Australia, what about the others?”

“We haven’t got them yet, it appears that even being the grand-daughter of the Chinese ruler doesn’t have access to his diary. As for Sofie, her mum isn’t in the office until Monday and she left her diary there. She can’t remember but thinks she might be going to America this week.”

“You’re joking!” said Tom.

“’Fraid not, it’s for real, she’s Dutch and a European MP, what can I say!” Daniel shrugged his shoulders, it mystified him also.