Murray McDonald - Kidnap

“But I thought they were still at the experimental stage with the X43?”

“That’s exactly what we want people to think. We’ve been working on these beauties for over twenty years. This is one of only two fully operational Scramjets in existence and has been flying for over a year. We use it mainly for surveillance purposes but today it gets a special outing for you guys.”

The colonel paused, everyone bar Tom, was staring at him like he was speaking Russian. He gave up and moved on.

“Now, if you don’t mind, we do have a strict time plan to adhere to. We have to create holes in air traffic to ensure we don’t fly close to any other aircraft. We’ve caused more than a few UFO stories over the last year.”

Donald, Rachel and Saki started to say their farewells to Tom and Lela.

“I’m sorry, I should have said, parents are invited on the trip, we’ll bring you back later,” said the Colonel.

“What do you mean?” asked the three of them at once.

“Mr Mitcham is expecting you to travel with us. I believe he’s waiting for you at the other end,” he explained.

“I’m sorry but I can’t, it’s 6,000 miles away and I have very important meetings tomorrow,” said Donald.

“Dad. This is a SCRAMJET,” he said slowly. “We’ll be there in less than an hour,” said Tom exasperated at his father’s lack of comprehension.

“Less than hour? Now, that’s ridiculous!”

Tom realised at this point that his father did not know what MACH 5 — 15 actually meant. “Dad, this plane flies up to fifteen times the speed of sound which is about fifteen times 760mph which is around eleven thousand miles per hour.”

“Holy…” Rachel swiped Donald this time before he had a chance to finish his expletive.

“Well actually, we top out at MACH 10, we haven’t quite managed to hit 15 yet,” added the Colonel.

Without further delay, the plane left the hangar with five passengers on board. It was airborne in no time at all, rose like a rocket and levelled on the edge of space. The Colonel explained some of the more digestible statistics, such as the acceleration, the fuel burn, its maximum altitude and so on. Tom was fascinated and kept the Colonel busy with questions for the entire journey which lasted all of 52 minutes.

In less than an hour, they had travelled 6,000 miles, crossed two continents and the equator. They touched down in yet another deserted airbase and were met by a beaming Sam Mitcham.

“Unbelievable! Amazing! Thank-you so much! It was fantastic!” said Tom, still on a high while the others were still in a daze, not quite believing they had really travelled the distance.

Sam led them to a waiting car which whisked them off to The Academy, only four miles away.

Donald, Rachel and Saki received a whirlwind tour of what looked like a stunning complex but time was too short to see it properly. They joined Tom and Lela for a quick lunch before being flown home. It was imperative that they left before a stream of private jets began to deposit some other 1858 students. They thanked Sam profusely for his kind gesture and they all, including Saki and Donald, shed a tear as they said goodbye to Tom and Lela. To their surprise, Sam joined Donald, Rachel and Saki on the scramjet. He explained that he was Chairman of the Board of Governors and not the Headmaster. The Headmaster would be arriving shortly and he did not want to undermine him. The scramjet took off and 50 minutes later, they were back on Scottish soil minus their precious cargo who were already making their way to their new bedrooms.

The twins watched the silver dart pierce the sky. They had never seen anything like it nor heard anything like it. Peculiarly, there was no sound, just the whoosh of the air parting as the dart swooped overhead and landed majestically on the landing strip.

As the doors opened and the passengers disembarked, they realised their “holiday” was over. Their targets had arrived. Round the clock surveillance would commence with immediate effect. They were certain that others would be watching too but their job was the most crucial and most important one.

Within an hour of their landing, Reaper was made aware that the targets were in situ and under surveillance. He was nervous. Not because they had landed but because it was on that day that one of his most daring moves would either pay off or be a complete disaster.

He had recently been made aware of an exceptionally young looking and exceptionally talented Chinese assassin. Pieter had worked with this assassin before and was very complimentary about the talented young Ling. Not only was she a highly trained killer but due to a very rare childhood illness, she had never grown beyond her twelfth birthday. She was now twenty four, had six years’ experience as an assassin and looked no older than the day she turned thirteen. Her eternal youth had given Reaper an idea. She would make an excellent plant as a student at the school. She would be able to gather valuable information as easily as she would be able to kill any encumbrance. Reaper was very pleased with himself, this was a perfect addition to an already brilliant plan.

With Ling’s services secured, Reaper attended to the more difficult task, identifying a student she could replace. Following a telephone conversation with his client, Reaper was sent a list of possible targets. After two days of analysis, Pieter, Leo and Reaper agreed on the most suitable candidate.

The operation was to be a simple one but at the same time very expensive. It was imperative that the family of the swapped student knew nothing of the swap until the main mission was well underway. They knew that there would be no opportunity to snatch the student before they departed nor any chance once they landed. They would, therefore, have to intercept the student’s plane and replace the student during the flight. This would involve a significant amount of equipment and exceptional timing.

It was imperative that nobody knew anything was amiss. Therefore, the plan involved two Mig29s, an old Soviet spy plane and a secret island in the middle of the Indian Ocean close to the student’s flight path.

The student’s flight would take off as normal and as it neared the secret island, the spy plane would electronically jam communications and the two Migs would force it to land. The original crew and the student would disembark to be replaced by Reaper’s crew and the impostor. The flight would then resume its course to The Academy. It was imperative that the real student remain alive in case any messages were required to be sent to their parents. The original crew would not be so lucky. After the impostor was dropped at the school, the plane would return for them on the secret island, they would be forced to take off and return to their original airport. Of course, they would never make it beyond the electronic jamming, as they would be shot down in the middle of the Ocean. Being a small private plane, little fuss would be made over the crash.

Reapers phone buzzed.

“Hello?” he answered.

“The switch is done and the exercise complete,” said Pieter.

“Any issues?”

“None. It was perfect. The crew of the plane will never be found. The rescuers think it went down 300 miles from where it actually did. I think we owe our Russian friends an extra bonus for that piece of genius. They ripped the black box out of the plane and dropped it 300 miles away in the deepest waters they could find. Nothing in the world can go that deep.”

“Excellent. Make sure they receive their bonus before you complete your mission,” said Reaper callously.

“Of course.”

That night, Pieter rewarded the Russians with a case of Vodka and double their original fee. The next morning, Pieter bid the Russian pilots farewell and then shot them dead. They would not be telling this story to anyone but their ancestors.