gun.
Only he remained standing. Tom and Chen were pulling themselves together in their cubicles. Yuri did not know what to do.
Lela knew she had hurt the thugs but not permanently. She hadn’t broken any bones but had shattered their pride. She had certainly broken Yuri’s pride even though she had not laid a finger on him. He made his move and, as expected, it was for the door and not for Lela. He was a coward. Lela turned and noticed that somebody had opened the door slightly and had been watching the action. The obscured face moved away the moment it was spotted and the door shut tight again. Lela moved towards a now apologetic and trembling Yuri who was trying to push his way past his injured friends to get out.
Tom had jumped up to help Lela but by the time he was able to assist, only Yuri remained standing. Tom could sense the fear in him. They had all just witnessed six guys, twice the size of Lela, being beaten senseless in less than ten seconds. This was not a common occurrence. Tom looked round at Chen who was sitting wide eyed next to his toilet bowl. They both looked over at Yuri as he tried to make a break for the door. Lela moved almost before Yuri, her first contact with him spun him round, the second sent him head first into the third toilet bowl, unfortunately for him un-flushed. Lela followed him into the cubicle, bent down next to a very wet and smelly Yuri and whispered in his ear. They couldn’t hear what she said nor see what she did but they heard him scream and watched as he dropped to the floor and cowered away.
“Chen and Tom, are you OK?” asked Lela as she left the cubicle to wash her hands.
“Fine thanks,” they both said.
“A bit wet but we’re better off than they are,” said Chen.
“Come on, I don’t want to be caught in the boys’ toilets,” joked Lela.
As she walked past Yuri, she said “Remember, 6.00 p.m. or I’ll come looking.”
“What was that about?” asked Tom.
“You’ll see,” was all Lela would say.
As they walked back to the table, Tom and Lela asked Chen to play down what had happened as Lela was shy about her talents.
“Oh my God, what happened?” Mingmei jumped up as they approached, Mia following just behind.
“We just had a bit of a run-in with Yuri and his gang.”
“Are you OK? What happened?” asked Ahmad, feeling guilty at having left Chen.
“We’re fine, not so sure about them though…,” said Chen catching himself just in time.
“Oh, some other guys came in and sorted them out,” interrupted Lela.
“That’s it. We’re definitely reporting them now,” said Mingmei.
“NO, it’s fine. They learnt their lesson. They won’t be annoying us anymore.” Tom was very firm and Mingmei backed off.
Chapter 29
The rest of the afternoon passed without incident. The eight new friends used the electric carts to explore the rest of the complex and the island itself. Every turn revealed something new, an Olympic sized swimming pool with retractable roof, football, rugby and American football pitches and of course, an eighteen hole golf course which provided the carts.
One thing that did surprise them was the army base. Not the fact that it was there but the sheer scale of it. There were barracks at the centre of the compound which housed some 200 troops, there was the fuselage of an airliner, an office block and what looked like a small street with shops and houses. At the opposite end of the compound, stood a few small hangars surrounded by attack and transport helicopters. Tom explained to everybody the type and performance of each one of them. Nobody had asked for this information but they all listened patiently. The compound was surrounded by a high wire fence and the sea. A small marina was lined with a number of secure boatsheds and what looked like a comprehensive selection of high performance boats.
As they looked on, bangs and flashes could be heard from the street in the compound. Six soldiers appeared a few seconds later, dressed entirely in black and screaming “CLEAR!!!” This really was a fully operational anti- terrorist camp.
It was 5.55 p.m. when they made their way back to their block. Lela turned to Oleg and asked him whether he had received any telephone calls.
“No,” said Oleg, “but I don’t have my mobile on me. Why?”
“Oh, no reason, just wondered,” said Lela mysteriously.
It was not until Oleg was back in his room and noticed his phone on the bedside table that he thought back to Lela’s strange question. He walked across and picked up the phone. He had two missed calls and one message. He dialled the voicemail number and after hearing the message, he dropped the phone and screamed.
Tom was the first of the group through the door to find Oleg sitting in a daze on his bed.
“Oleg, are you OK?”
“Perfect,” came a subdued response.
“What’s happened, is everything OK?”
“They couldn’t be better.”
“What the hell has happened? First you scream and now you’re like a zombie who can’t speak.”
Oleg stood up and faced the group.
“I have just picked up the most wonderful message ever. I need to call my father back. But basically, Yuri has been kicked out of school. He went to the Headmaster and confessed to being the leader of his gang and that he had bullied three students including me. The Headmaster expelled him immediately for having hit me and severely reprimanded the rest of the gang. If they even so much as swat a fly, they’re out. It appears the school rule is very serious. My father also apologised for not believing me when I complained about Yuri. He’s going to have a very frank chat with Yuri and his mum which should prove very interesting.”
“Unbelievable,” said Chen.
“Yep,” Oleg agreed.
Tom had been watching Lela. At no point had she shown the least sign of surprise. He caught her eye and mouthed “we’ll talk later.” Lela smiled back and winked.
Oleg called his father back and after a very emotional call for both of them, he updated the group on the rest of the breaking news.
“It just gets better and better. My father has just had a huge fight with my step-mother or should I say ex step-mother. It turns out that when my father got tough with her, she confessed that she had only married him for the money and would take him to the cleaners in a divorce. He’s got the whole thing on tape which means she’ll more than likely get nothing.”
Chapter 30
As the group dispersed and the students made their way to their own rooms, they bumped into a number of other students. The rumours about the expulsion had quickly done the rounds and a number of outrageous versions of events made their way through the block. One story involved the ritual sacrifice of a student which had resulted in the expulsion of twenty students. The group had agreed to meet in the foyer of the block an hour later. Tom followed Lela to her room, eager to find out what she had done to Yuri. He would have to wait, pinned to her door was a note “SEE ME IMMEDIATELY,” signed “The Headmaster.” They looked at each other, panic evident in each others’ eyes.
“Guys! I’ve got a note telling me to see the Headmaster!” shouted Chen, running down the corridor towards them. Tom looked at Lela and then looked at his own door. He had the same note.
The three made their way in silence to the main administration block. Tom was surprised that Chen had been called in, as he had been nothing but a victim. Chen looked very worried.
