As he left the building with his personal effects in a box, he called his contact and explained what had happened. He was very sorry but the son was in no mood to sell and probably never would. Alan ended the call and sped home. He had to get his passport, he wasn’t going to hang around and wait for the police to come for him. Spain sounded good, he would just disappear to Spain. He wished now he had saved more money. He had been making a fortune but with billions around the corner, he had been living well beyond his means. He was broke, sacked and about to become a fugitive. All because of a damn kid.
Chapter 57
Tom spent the rest of the day in the office. Having sacked four of the board before 9.00 a.m., it was going to be a hectic day. By lunchtime, three of the positions were filled with their very capable deputies. The one role which remained unfilled was the CFO role. The Human Resources Director had explained to Tom that they had had difficulties recruiting for the role previously. In fact, Donald himself had had to get involved and eventually recruited Alan. Tom was surprised, Alan was the last person he would have thought his father would have selected.
At 6.00 p.m., he called for his helicopter, it was time to go home. He and Kisho arrived at the Estate twenty minutes later to a very warm welcome. Lela had not been apart from Tom since the deaths and had not enjoyed the day at all. She rushed out and gave him a huge hug.
Papa told Tom that Lela had been lost all day. After a brief discussion, they agreed that the best thing would be to get back to school as soon as possible. That would keep them both occupied. The school trip to Machu Picchu would be a perfect return for them.
All Tom needed to do was recruit a CFO before they left. The Board didn’t need him around and he would hold a couple of Executive update meetings each week, dialling in by video conference. On top of which, he had all the company systems on his computer. As he had said to Alan, he knew the company better than most and had always taken a keen interest.
Tom made his way upstairs to his bedroom, thinking about what needed to be done. Before he knew it, he had walked past his room and was almost at the door to his father’s study. He looked at the door, he hadn’t even looked inside since his father had died. He pushed the handle down to go in but it was locked. Why would his dad have locked his study? His mind jumped back to the night he had gone to get his father and Saki for dinner, the night before they left for school. His father had locked the door then too.
Tom lifted his foot and kicked at the door handle with all his weight behind it, the wooden frame gave way and the door swung open. Having heard the smash, Kano and Kisho appeared instantly, having thought somebody had broken in. Tom explained what he had done and that he just wanted to check his father’s study and thanked them but he would do it himself.
Tom entered the study, it was just as he remembered it. A large desk by the window, with PC and telephones. There was a huge open fire and next to it his father’s battered reading chair. His mother had refused to allow the chair any house-room so his father had sneaked it in one night when she was at the Hospital, where she worked as a Paediatrician. It really was horrible and thread-bare but Donald had insisted that it was the most fantastic reading chair. Next to the ‘antique’ was a huge and very comfortable sofa. Tom had spent many hours sitting there with his father over the years. He moved back to the desk, he knew it would not be easy, the room held so many happy memories.
When Tom sat at the desk, he noticed a lack of papers. The desk was very tidy, his father’s desk had not been tidy in the fourteen years he had known him. He looked around and checked in the drawers, nothing. Tom gave up and began to boot up the PC. As he listened to its familiar whirring, he thought back again to the night his father and Saki had locked themselves in. Tom had distinctly heard papers being shuffled and then he had heard a thud and a clunk. He looked around knowing that something was missing. Where was the safe he had heard?
Lela entered the room just as he started looking for the safe.
“Tom, are you OK?” she asked.
“Yes thanks, you?” said Tom as he pushed back the chair and began to move under the desk.
“Yes, but I just heard about you breaking the door down,” she said looking at his handiwork on the doorframe.
“It was locked and I didn’t want to waste time looking for a key.”
“Ok,” she said slowly not really agreeing with his actions. “So what are you looking for now?”
“A safe.”
“Do you think your dad kept a safe under his desk?” she asked, looking at him on his hands and knees.
“No but there’s one in here somewhere.”
“Did your dad not tell you where it was?” she asked.
“No, he never told me he had one,” replied Tom as he struggled out from under the desk.
“Let me get this right, you’re on your hands and knees looking for a safe which you have never been told about nor have ever seen. Did you ever think that maybe there isn’t a safe in here?”
“I heard it.”
“You heard it? What, did it whisper ‘Tom I’m a safe’ to you?”
Tom stopped looking around. He explained to Lela what he had heard when his father had locked him out and that the noises didn’t make sense unless there was a safe in the room. They both started looking.
Thirty minutes later, they had searched everywhere, every seam in the carpet and every inch of the walls. Nothing. They slumped down on the large couch and thought about where else they could look.
Something caught Lela’s eye. “Tom, did you ever see your dad actually sit on that thing?”
“Hmm,” mumbled Tom, thinking. “Actually no, he always joined me on the sofa. Why?”
“Because I sat on it once and you know how he always used to say it was so comfy and nothing could beat it. Well it’s not, in fact it’s very hard!” Tom had never sat on it because he was sure he would catch fleas.
“Do you think?” he asked as they both looked at its base.
They found a tiny catch on the seam of the front panel and as they released it, the whole panel swung back like a door to reveal a small safe. The only problem now was the code. There was a numerical keypad sat in the middle of the door with a small digital display above it.
“Damn,” said Lela.
“What’s wrong?” asked Tom.
“The code, how are we going to crack it?”
“I was worried it was going to be a key, this is fine,” replied Tom. “My dad’s not got a password or a pin number I haven’t cracked. Trust me, this is good. Finding a key would have been impossible.” As Tom spoke, he keyed in 4 digits, the safe released its lock and opened.
“Unbelievable!” said Lela, very impressed.
“Not really, my dad is shocking with pin numbers, so he uses the same one for all his accounts and credit cards and apparently his safe.”
The safe was packed with papers. They pulled them out and began to go through them. It was going to be a very long night.
Chapter 58
Beaumont had not taken the news well. Every time Tom Kennedy was involved in anything, bad news seemed to follow. The latest was the Alba bid, rejected out of hand and the accountant they had planted being investigated for fraud. The operation to get their hands on Alba had run smoothly for over seven months and at the last moment, a fourteen year old was stopping them and potentially exposing one of his men.
On hearing the news, the US President was apoplectic. The bitter memories of the botched operation the previous year still haunted him. He could not believe that Tom was interfering with their plans again.
Beaumont called Jones.
“I have a job for you,” he said.
