Murray McDonald - Kidnap

“Dad, dad, we‘re ok, are you ok?” Reaper had taken a calculated risk that Tom would not mention his status in his first sentence and had put the loudspeaker on. He put it off again before Tom could say anything more.

“We’re fine son, where are you?” Donald screamed in response, elated at hearing Tom’s voice and hearing that they were both OK.

“That’s enough, thanks Tom,” said Reaper ending the call.

“Why didn’t you let me talk to them?” asked Donald.

“You got all you needed, you know they’re fine,” said Reaper who walked away with a huge smile across his face. The gods were smiling on him. That call would stop the whiney parents bleating on about their kids. It should cover him for the next couple of days. However, he needed Tom and Lela back there before Monday or things would get tricky.

Tom updated Lela on the phone call. He had spoken to his father and they were all fine. Both hugged and felt a great sense of relief knowing that their parents were still OK.

Kisho and Tom then updated Lela and Kano on the plan. Lela agreed with most of the points but suggested one major change. Everyone agreed that it was the right thing to do.

“OK. We’ve got just under five hours before we land and we’ve got a lot to do,” announced Tom.

“Are you sure this will work?” Lela had second thoughts over one part of the plan.

“Yep, we have to be strong and play them at their own game.”

The twins nodded agreement. “Lets go,” they said in unison.

“Zach, it’s Tom. Are you alone?”

“Yes. Tom, is everything OK?” asked Zach.

“Why?”

“Mr Sakamoto explained that a few of you had to leave the island. It was really weird, we were playing our game, couldn’t find you guys anywhere and went to report you missing. Mr Sakamoto told us you had all left the island at very short notice for a family emergency and would be back in a few days. It was all very strange. I mean you, Lela, Chen and Mia all having an emergency at once. Are you sure you’re OK?”

“Yes, we’re fine,” Tom thought for a second. “It’s something along those lines but I need a couple of favours and you can’t tell anybody that they’re for me.”

“Tom, are you sure you’re OK?” Zach knew something was very wrong.

“Yes, fine. I’ll fill you in on the details later but I need you to do these things for me but it’s really important that they have nothing to do with me.”

Tom explained what he needed.

“That’s not going to be easy without anybody knowing but I’m sure we can manage it,” said Zach confidently.

His network was as good as any. He and Tom had done a number of favours for each other in the past but if Zach pulled this off, it would be miraculous. Tom would not believe Mr Sakamoto was working for the bad guys which meant that they must be holding him and Mia. This would alter his plans slightly.

Tom made a number of other calls to his network and had everything in place before Lela made the most important call of all. They prayed that the generator would still be switched on or at least the battery powered up.

“It’s ringing,” she said excitedly.

After a minute, she said, “It’s still ringing,” with slightly less enthusiasm.

Eventually, the phone was answered and Lela spoke rapidly. Although Tom had spent ten years trying to learn the language, he only caught three words, ‘Papa’, ‘Saki’ and ‘emergency’.

After what seemed like hours but was only five minutes, Lela’s grandfather came on the line. Lela explained what was required and handed the phone to Tom to go through the detail. Tom stopped talking and listened for some time, nodding his head and saying ‘yes’ and agreeing with whatever was being said. The call ended and Tom explained that the wily old leader had made a few tweaks but that everything was OK.

“So what are we going to do when we land at the heliport? They’ll be waiting for us,” said Lela.

“We’re not going to land at the heliport, we’re going to play a little harder to get,” replied Tom.

“But they’ll hurt our parents!” shouted Lela.

“No, we’ll cover it, don’t worry,” said Tom firmly.

Just then, his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Zach, we have a problem.”

“What?”

“The plane you wanted in Johannesburg, no can do.”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems that no matter who requests anything in this area of Africa, they must have additional authority. I have tried all my guys and none of them can get through it. You said to keep it low key so we’ve not pushed it. Whoever you’re up against, they’ve got some really good connections. My guys can get round anything but somebody does not want any of our forces in that neck of the woods without a bloody good reason.”

“Bloody hell! OK,” said Tom, thinking hard.

“Look, everything else is in place. I’ve checked with the guys here and they’ve done what you asked. I don’t know what you’re up to but good luck and God bless.”

“Thanks Zach, you’re a star.” Tom hung up.

Three faces stared at him, having only heard his side of the conversation and seen his obvious disappointment.

“We have a major problem with our transport plans.”

“What other options do we have?” asked Kisho.

“Not sure, we have no passports and we have no Alba jets in the area. I’ve checked. The nearest is in the Middle East, eight hours away and we don’t have that much time.”

He opened up his handheld PC again and began searching the OAG flight data. Commercial flights were an option but passports were going to be a problem, not to mention that the timing would affect the rest of his plans. It was only on returning to his home page that he found the solution. He explained it to the others who thought he was mad and even if he was, they weren’t. He ignored them and made the call.

“Hi Benoit, it’s Tom. I need a favour.” Tom didn’t waste time and explained what he needed.

“YOU WHAT??? ARE YOU MAD???” Benoit shouted down the phone.

“Benoit, it’s life and death! I know I’m asking a lot but if anything happens, my father will pay for it ten fold. I will even deposit the funds in an escrow account now if you want.”

“Where are you going to get access to that sort of cash?” asked Benoit.

“I have access to all of my father’s accounts. He writes his passwords everywhere…Benoit, I know I’m asking a lot and I would love to tell you exactly why I need it but you’re going to have to trust me here.”

A few more words were exchanged and eventually Benoit agreed. He fully expected his father to kill him when he found out but Tom needed his help and Tom had always been there for him.

“OK, I’ll try. It won’t be easy and I can’t promise it will happen but I’ll do my best.”

“Benoit I can’t thank you enough and trust me, my father will be very, very grateful.”

They said their goodbyes and ended the call.

“If he can pull that off, I might even believe we can pull this off,” said Kano.

Reaper called Pieter, “Johannesburg Randburg Heliport,” he said.

Pieter shouted “Randburg” to someone over his shoulder. “OK, we guessed they might go there,” said Pieter.

“Where are you now?”

“We’re just about to leave Maputo.”

“By plane?” asked Reaper.

“No, we would have to land at Johannesburg International and the customs checks are horrendous. We have a chopper that will take us to the heliport. We can fly in low level and nobody will know we’re coming. We’ll grab the kids and fly back to Maputo. The Base Commander has been well rewarded and we even have our own hangar.”