Committee.
Chapter 5
“Where have you been?” asked Lela.
“Penaraja,” replied Saki.
“How did you get in without us knowing?” asked Tom. “I mean the dogs, how did you get past them?”
Saki gave Tom a knowing look and winked.
Tom really wished he could do what Saki and Lela could do. But he couldn’t. Lela had tried to teach him some moves but after a couple of months had given up. Tom would never be supple enough and was far too awkward.
“So, tell me about your birthday?” said Saki changing the subject. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.”
“Not a lot to tell, no friends, just my grandparents, had a nice dinner, that’s about it.”
“…and your present?”
“Amazing!”
“Well, how are you getting on with it?”
“You just get back and all you want to do is talk about birthday presents?” interrupted Lela bringing the subject back to her original question. “Where have you really been?” she asked more forcefully.
“OH GOD NO!!” screamed Donald from the kitchen.
The three rushed through and looked at Donald as he stared at the TV screen.
“…to recap three, I repeat three, world leaders have been assassinated in the last four hours. Heightened security has been implemented around the world as investigators continue to try to make sense of the fourteen assassinations which have now taken place in the last year. We’ll keep you up to date with any developments, in the meantime, we’ll pass you back to your current programming…”
All stood open-mouthed at the shocking news. Donald turned to look at them and then spotted Saki. He heaved a huge sigh of relief.
“You’re back!” he said. “But I didn’t hear you come in, how did you get past the dogs?”
“Don’t ask,” said Tom.
“You know, just checking I’ve still got what it takes,” said Saki.
Tom and Lela both noticed the look between Donald and Saki. It was as though a thousand words had transferred between them without speaking.
“So, I was just asking Tom about his new pressie,” said Saki breaking the silence.
“Yes, very exciting. His mother is livid with me, she can’t believe I could be so stupid. Anyway, after last year’s endeavours of flying the A380 test plane, Tom proved he’s more than capable.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t guess,” said Lela, pinching Tom.
Tom couldn’t believe he didn’t guess either. The day of his birthday had arrived and unlike the previous year, it was to be a fairly quiet day. No parties, no Saki, just his grandparents visiting for a birthday dinner. However, one thing was planned which was very exciting, Alba One was ready for delivery. Alba One was his father’s new Airbus A380, a new private jet replacing a smaller Boeing 747. It had been delivered overnight to Glasgow Airport and was to be unveiled as part of Tom’s birthday celebrations. Tom was a plane fanatic and would have preferred to see it arrive from Toulouse but his father had refused. The plane was arriving too early in the morning and he wanted it perfect for the unveiling.
The Kennedys boarded the helicopter for the short trip to Glasgow Airport. Throughout the trip, Tom’s mother was livid with his father. Tom had no idea why but whatever his father had done, Tom had never seen his mother so angry. They arrived at Glasgow Airport and landed in front of a new hangar specially erected to house the new plane. The hangar was massive, over 100 metres long by 100 metres wide.
A ribbon had been placed in front of the hangar doors for Tom to cut which he did before the others had even reached the hangar, such was his excitement. Once the ribbon was cut, the doors to the hangar began to slide open and Tom’s father asked him to turn around and look away.
As the doors clunked into their fully open position, Donald allowed Tom to turn back round and asked him to hit a light switch which would reveal the new plane. Tom hit the switch, the lights blazed. But nothing. The hangar was empty, completely empty. Tom’s stomach fell to his knees as he realised that Alba One was missing. He turned to his father who looked across to the pilot who shrugged his shoulders.
There was a structure at the back of the hangar which took up less than a tenth of the total space but was nonetheless a substantial building. Donald explained that those were the offices and suggested they go and see what was going on. As they approached the structure, an almighty bang erupted and the walls fell down, missing them by a matter of inches. Smoke and Rachel’s screams filled the air. Tom turned to his father who was smiling. His mother’s punch soon put an end to the smile as she struck Donald square on the chin. Tom was utterly confused. But as the smoke, (or as it turned out) the dry ice settled, Tom realised why his father was smiling.
Standing in front of Tom was a brand new Gulfstream G550 jet, registration G-TOMI. He couldn’t believe it, his own plane! Not just any old plane, an ultra long-range jet, capable of flying from Glasgow to Johannesburg or Los Angeles, non-stop. Tom was speechless.
He had received an enquiry a few month’s earlier from an anonymous customer using a Hotmail account. He had initially thought it strange as his customers didn’t use Hotmail. Nonetheless, he completed the proposal and delivered the quote. Tom had started his business a few years earlier. He was fanatical about flying and knew everything there was to know about anything that flew. One night, his father had asked for his thoughts on a proposal he had been given for a new plane for his company, Tom had suggested a different model giving various reasons. His father took his proposal seriously and from that day on Tom had never looked back. He had set up his own company which, within the space of two years, was worth in excess of?6 million. He offered truly independent advice on any aircraft upon which many people and businesses relied, including the most recent anonymous Hotmail customer. The request had been for a small executive jet which would be both easy and safe to fly. It was to be capable of flying from Glasgow to Johannesburg (coincidentally the same distance to Tom’s school which was located on a small island in the Indian Ocean). It would have a young and inexperienced pilot and this should be taken into account. How Tom had failed to spot the clues escaped him, especially as Lela had kept asking him if he had received any strange requests lately. He had told her about the anonymous email and despite her fit of giggles, he still had not clicked. Lela was fully aware of Tom’s business activities although his parents were not. He wanted to surprise them in the same way that his father had surprised his grandparents on his sixteenth birthday.
The Kennedys boarded the new jet and flew to Toulouse to do exactly what Tom had wanted to do originally, to pick up Alba One personally. On arrival at Toulouse however, Tom declined to fly back in Alba One in favour of his very own plane, ‘Tom One’, although he was not yet allowed to fly it himself. Everyone else plumped for the ultra luxurious A380 in which Rachel had styled the interior and had, Donald complained, spent the same on the inside as he had spent on the plane itself. This of course was nonsense, Rachel couldn’t have spent $250 million on the interior even if she had tried.
“So have you actually flown it yet?” asked Saki.
“Flown it?” said Lela rhetorically. “He’s never been out of it.”
“Yes,” said Tom nudging Lela. “I’ve had a few lessons, it’s great fun. Mum’s still not happy though, but then I think Dad’s right, she’ll never be happy about me flying.”
“Even when you’re fifty, she’ll hate it,” confirmed Donald.
“Well I’m sorry,” said an exhausted Saki, “but I need a shower. If you don’t mind, I’m going to head over to the Lodge,” said Saki.
“You look like you need a good sleep as well. You look terrible,” said Lela.
“Thanks!” said Saki. “Come on, let’s go home and you can tell me what you’ve been up to,” he said to Lela while throwing a look to Donald which said I’ll be back soon, we need to talk. Donald nodded while Tom watched their interaction. This was becoming more worrying by the minute. What was going on?
As Saki and Lela got up to leave, alarms went off throughout the house, doors and windows instantly locked and security shutters dropped in front of the bullet proof glazing. The Rottweillers went wild and could be heard
