Murray McDonald - Kidnap

“OK, how long?”

“If my calculations are right, we’ll get to the heliport ten minutes ahead of them. We’ll snatch the kids and be on our way back within thirty minutes. In just over four hours, the kids will be on a plane, heading in your direction.”

“Excellent. Remember you have another eight soldiers right behind them if you need the help.”

“We should be fine but I’ll bear it in mind.”

The gate intercom rang, Reaper checked the camera, it was the legal guy. He buzzed him in.

Reaper drove down to the gate and picked him up. He was already fully briefed but Reaper took him through the brief again, to be on the safe side.

“Donald, this is Mark, Mark this is Donald.” Reaper introduced the two men. “Donald, Mark will be accompanying you for the next day or so when you carry out your business. I don’t need to remind you that your son’s life is in your hands, do I?”

“No you don’t, I’m perfectly aware of that fact.”

“What exactly is this all about, anyway?” Donald asked again.

Reaper took him by the arm and led him into the lounge area where Rachel was sitting.

“OK. I’ll tell you. It has to do with your IBC deal.”

“What do you want with that?”

“Let’s just say some people would rather it didn’t happen.”

“But you can’t stop it,” blurted Rachel. “Even if you stop Donald from signing, somebody else can do it for him.”

“You’re right Rachel. I can’t stop them,” said Reaper.

“But I can,” said Donald understanding what they wanted.

“Well if that’s all you want. Donald make the call and stop the deal,” said Rachel following simple logic.

Donald looked at Reaper and read his mind.

“That’s no use, I need to pull out at the last minute. That’s why I have to keep up the pretence that the deal is going through. If I pull out now, there’s still time to find last minute buyers. If we wait to the last second, somebody can ride in like a knight in shining armour and save the day.”

Reaper applauded Donald.

“You are a very bright man, Mr Kennedy, now let’s go.”

They left the room and made their way to the office where Mark had made himself comfortable.

“I’m also bright enough to know that you’ll never let me live beyond 12.00 on Monday,” said Donald. He would not say it front of Rachel.

“Get to work,” said Reaper ignoring Donald’s remark and making his way back to the kitchen.

Tom was receiving constant calls updating him on the status of his requests. He had received positive responses to all bar two. One was negative and one was pending.

“We are twenty minutes from Randburg heliport,” announced Kisho.

“OK I’ll make the call,” said Tom.

Tom dialled the number.

“Hello,” said Reaper.

“Hi, it’s Tom. We have a problem. We’ve run out of fuel and can’t make Randburg. We’ll have to land at Johannesburg International.”

“Rubbish, you must have plenty of fuel left.”

“I’d agree, had we not been chased by an Apache. We had to fly at maximum speed for a while.”

Reaper was surprised that they had noticed the Apache but it explained why it could not catch them and it also justified their lack of fuel. If he got hold of Pieter, he might just make it in time.

“OK but make sure you don’t get seen,” said Reaper.

Tom could hear the anger in his voice. Whatever Reaper was planning was crashing around him.

“What do you want us to do when we land?”

“I want the three of you to wait for my men.”

“Three of us?” Tom asked as innocently as he could.

“Yes. You, Lela and the Chinese boy,” said Reaper, also trying to sound innocent.

“Oh, Chen. Sorry, he didn’t make it. He was shot at the camp.”

“What?” Reaper could not believe it, his trump card was dead.

“But that can’t be, he was seen getting on the chopper.”

“That’s right, he was dragged on board but he was already dead.”

“Just wait for my men and try to lose the soldiers, OK. I’ll call you when my men arrive and remember, if you want to see your mother again, you’ll do as I say.”

“Yes, I understand,” said Tom, enjoying the call. He had clearly rattled the man.

“Pieter!” shouted Reaper.

“Yes.”

“Where are you?”

“Just landed.”

“Well take off again. You need to get to Johannesburg International and quick,” commanded Reaper.

“That’s not going to be easy. It’s huge and very busy,” protested Pieter.

“Just get there and get them.” He hung up.

Kisho steered the helicopter towards the most remote part of the airport. They could not afford to cause a fuss and from what Tom had said, the man was sounding desperate. They knew they were going to be met, they just didn’t know by whom or by what.

“What’s that?” asked Lela pointing to the edge of the radar screen.

“Another helicopter. Why?” asked Kisho.

“Because I’ve noticed it a few times,” she said.

“Recently?”

“Yes and a while back.”

The helicopter was fitted with a similar video system to that found in combat aircraft. Kisho zoomed in on the dot in the horizon.

“We’ve been followed. That’s the other chopper from the base. So whoever they are, they’ve got back-up behind us. There were forty soldiers on that base and we took out ten. There could be anything up to thirty soldiers on that chopper.”

“What do you think Kano?” asked Kisho.

“No problem, we know they mean us harm and it’s an easy shot.”

“Yeah, for you,” said Kisho laughing.

“What are you talking about?” Tom asked.

“Kano here is going to shoot the birdy.”

“What?”

“Kano is going to shoot the chopper down.”

“Won’t that cause a massive scene at the airport?”

“If we shot them down at the airport maybe, but Kano will shoot them down over a mile away.”

“But the explosion?”

“No. He won’t blow them up, he’ll shoot them down literally. They’ll drop where they were and simply crash land. We’ve done it before, don’t worry.”

They landed the chopper and took their positions. Kano would deal with the chopper while Lela and Kisho dealt with whatever came their way. He would join them as soon as he could. They were fairly certain that no weapons would be used as this was a major international airport and weapons would alert the authorities.

Tom made a call to finalise arrangements on the ground.

It was a very difficult shot. There were probably only two people in the world who could make it and Kano was one of them. He rested the AS50 Accuracy International Magnum Variant sniper rifle on his shoulder and looked down the barrel. It had been modified for extra distance and with the chopper being airborne, that distance extended even further. He took aim and after a few seconds, he took the shot. The huge. 338-calibre bullet ripped through the air and destroyed the rotor mechanism as planned. The helicopter shuddered, lost all forward momentum and began dropping to the ground. The rotors went into emergency mode and as the chopper dropped, they spun faster and faster to minimise the impact. The chopper crash landed in the centre of a deserted park. Nobody was going anywhere. Although nobody had died, everybody had sustained at least one broken limb.

Pieter’s chopper landed just as Tom and Lela touched down. Kisho had planned his landing perfectly to block any other landings in their immediate vicinity. Pieter was forced to land a few hundred meters away with a number of buildings between him and his targets.

As Kano dealt with the chopper, Tom, Lela and Kisho waited for Reaper’s men. They had made their way into a terminal building to ensure that whoever was coming for them, would have to be unarmed as metal detectors and sniffer dogs were everywhere. Tom had been informed by one of his contacts that the baggage area was under repair and was a perfect rendezvous point. Tom, Lela and Kisho had been the first to arrive. They were completely alone. Tom’s phone rang.