the lights were on.
They had not stopped talking since they had got into the jeep but as they neared Alba One, Donald turned to Tom and Lela.
“Nobody can know you were ever here. You need to get back to school asap.”
“I know, it’s our best alibi,” replied Tom who knew they would have to go their separate ways.
“Look, we’ll work all this out,” said Donald, now a fully fledged international fugitive.
“Where are you going?” asked Tom, knowing that the UK was an option. Afterall, the PM had just authorised a mission to rescue him.
“I’m not sure, anywhere but here.”
“Dad, just one quick question. Why did you land in Equatorial Guinea? It wasn’t on your itinerary.”
Donald looked at Tom, how could he not know?
“We were forced to land. Two Mig 29s, I think that’s what Jim told us they were, threatened to shoot us down if we didn’t land. Didn’t Jim tell you?” asked Donald surprised.
“No we couldn’t get hold of him. The first time I managed to speak to him was tonight.”
“Well you best fly nice and low, I know we will,” said Donald.
They said their goodbyes and the senior Kennedys made their way up the steps of the darkened plane. The jeeps dropped off the rest of its passengers in the hangar and picked up their two original passengers. They had already removed the offending registration and Equatorial Guinea flag from the plane, returning it to its original plain white.
Both planes powered up in darkness and took off. They didn’t bother with permission from Traffic Control as it wouldn’t have been granted anyway. They stayed close together until they cleared Guinean airspace. Jim suggested that Tom climb and continue as normal. Alba One was the target and there was no point drawing attention to himself. Alba One, however continued on its low level flight, remaining in darkness as it powered East across Africa, skimming tree tops.
Chapter 50
Jones’ ears were still ringing. Smith had ordered him to report immediately to the Guinean presidential palace. He reminded him that he was his boss and what the hell was he thinking not telling him he was there. He held Jones personally responsible for over 50 deaths and more importantly, the Kennedys’ escape.
Jones double checked that the Kennedys were definitely missing before heading to the palace. This was not good. He was escorted to the Guinean’s President’s office where an extremely angry Guinean President and Smith awaited him.
“Well?” Smith asked.
“They’ve gone,” replied Jones.
“Damn, I’ll have to report that we lost them. The boss will go berserk.”
“What, you’ve not reported it yet?” asked Jones, seeing a glimmer of hope.
“No, I was waiting for confirmation from you. There was always a chance that our men had secured them somewhere,” replied Smith.
Jones could not believe this gift from the Gods. He smiled, pulled out his gun complete with silencer and shot Smith through the heart. The Guinean President was stunned and just stared at the gasping Smith who looked in bewilderment at the hole in his chest. Jones then turned to the President and pulling out a smaller pistol, shot him once in the head, the noise no louder than a cough. His body slumped forward onto his desk. Smith fell to the floor and watched as Jones placed the larger gun in the President’s hand and the small assassin’s pistol in Smith’s paralysed hand. He then placed a wallet in Smith’s inside pocket.
Smith was just able to hear Jones’ commentary.
“Mr Kennedy’s assassin caught in the act, well done Mr President.”
Smith guessed the wallet would contain a passport with customs stamps which would tally with most of the assassinations and no doubt a strong link to Alba. Jones always was a clever bastard.
Jones surveyed the room, moved a couple of pieces of furniture and when perfect, walked over to the window.
The last words Smith ever heard were “And by the way don’t worry about the Kennedys, their plane has a very nasty surprise in store for them.”
Part Four
Chapter 51
Two weeks later
The funeral was as busy as expected but the real mourners were few. Only the first three aisles of the vast church held family and friends. The rest of the church was packed full with the world’s media. Tom looked up, he couldn’t understand what they expected to see. There were three simple caskets for his mother, his father and Saki. Lela sat next to him, she had not left his side since the news had come through that Alba One had crashed leaving no survivors.
The media had gone wild for the story, Donald Kennedy was dead. Rachel had managed little more than a mention by most of the press, whereas Saki was suspected of being the ‘other assassin’. The assassin found dead alongside the Equatorial Guinean President accounted for two thirds of the world leaders who were killed. Speculation was that Saki was responsible for the other third.
With the death of the assassins and their mastermind, came a renewed feeling of security amongst remaining world leaders. As each day passed, more evidence came to light proving beyond doubt Donald’s guilt. Slowly but surely, leaders became more willing to emerge into the public eye. The British Prime Minister was seen in public for the first time in over a month.
The call Tom received before the funeral had been a crushing blow, the Prime Minister would not be attending. His diary would not permit, he had tried but he just couldn’t make it. With that rejection, a flood of rejections followed and before long, the funeral party dwindled to Tom, Lela, Tom’s grandparents, Papa and the islanders and a few key staff from Alba.
Alba was also suffering badly. A worldwide backlash against the ‘assassin’s company’ resulted in a major slump in business. Speculation in the press suggested that the only option was to break up the company and sell it off before the loss of millions of jobs.
Tom and Lela had spent the previous two weeks on the Kennedy estate. The tragic news had been broken to them as they landed at The Academy, on their return from rescuing their parents. They did not even get off the plane. They refuelled and went straight home. Papa and the islanders whose jet was waiting for them at the school, stayed with them and had been with them ever since. Tom’s grandparents joined them at the estate and they all virtually disappeared from life outside. Tom and Lela were inconsolable.
The press had camped at the gates and every time any of them strolled too close to the walls, the Rottweillers went mad. On many occasions, Tom considered opening the gates and letting the dogs loose on them. Lela had stopped him twice just as he was about to push the button.
Tom looked around again at the mourners. There really weren’t many people at all. Some Alba executives were there but Tom thought they just wanted to talk to him, he had been avoiding them, ignoring their calls. His father’s personal assistant was there. She still refused to believe the nonsense about Donald and was devastated. George, Alba’s doorman from Head Office, was also there. He had been with the company for over 26 years, since the day it started. Donald had often said that George was the only real gentleman in the company and often recounted the story of when he was sixteen and had pulled up to the front door of the building in a limousine. He was there to announce that he was the anonymous owner of Alba. George had opened the car door and treated Donald like any other gentleman. Nobody else did that day, everybody else had treated Donald like some stupid kid
