“Nothing,” laughed Kano from under the sofa, “but it’s amazing what goes through somebody’s mind when you have them cornered and you very slowly put on a pair of latex gloves.”
“Yep. Works every time,” agreed Kisho.
“I’ve got something,” said Kano.
“What?” asked Tom desperately.
“A business card from a recruitment consultant, down the side of the sofa…” Kano was interrupted by their helicopter appearing at the window in front of them.
“What’s he doing?” asked Lela.
“He’s signalling for us to go up,” said Tom.
The police sirens explained what was happening. They rushed out of the flat and tried to find a way onto the roof. Nothing.
“We can’t be caught here,” said Lela. Everybody looked at her, it was not the time to be stating the obvious. Apart from breaking and entering, there was a probable murder charge.
“Back into the flat,” said Kisho as they heard the entrance door being buzzed below them. They rushed through to the bedroom which had windows at the rear and a small balcony, although more for decoration than actual use.
Tom phoned the pilot and explained what they needed to do. Ten seconds later, the small helicopter was hovering next to the railing on the edge of the balcony. They all managed to climb onto the railing and into the helicopter. Tom was last to board as he had been on his mobile making a quick call.
“Impressive,” said Kisho to the pilot.
“Thank you, Sir,” he replied.
“What happened?” Tom asked the pilot.
“Just after you went in, I noticed a car pull away. The driver looked straight at me while making a call. It just seemed odd, I don’t know why. So I turned the police scanner on and there it was. Possible murder, this address. I’m sorry I didn’t call but I just got the hell up to you as quick as poss. I could already hear the police and we needed to leave from the roof anyway.”
“Thanks, good thinking,” replied Tom.
His father’s pilots were all ex-military, usually from special forces or special protection. All were fully qualified body guards and knew how to handle dangerous situations.
“Where to now?” asked the pilot.
“Away from that police chopper I hope,” said Kisho who was looking behind them.
“Hold on tight,” said the pilot, looking back at the police chopper. “This may get a little hairy.”
They began to speed up. Tom looked over his shoulder to the three in the back.
“This isn’t the fastest helicopter,” he explained. “But it’s one of the smallest and most manoeuvrable. I would hold on very tight if I were you guys!”
The police chopper sped towards them, it was much larger and much faster.
The Alba chopper suddenly dropped height and plummeted towards the road taking a sharp right turn onto Jamaica Street. Tom could read the street signs at eye level. Cars swerved as the helicopter thundered towards them just skimming their roofs. The helicopter rose and fell sharply. They all held their breath as they narrowly missed crashing into the front of a double-decker bus. The police helicopter was directly above them.
The small helicopter took a sharp turn to the left. Screams came from the back. He looked up to see the side of a bridge right in front of them. The helicopter skids scraped the ground as they flew right under it. They took another sharp turn to the left and continued to skim across the tops of cars before taking a sharp right. The pilot then accelerated as they skirted along the side of the river.
The Police chopper had seen them fly extremely low, a manoeuvre too dangerous for their bulky chopper. Instead, they cut across the rooftops diagonally. However, they hadn’t figured on the left turn under the bridge. It was not until they had stationed themselves half way up Union Street, the continuation of Jamaica Street, that they realised something was amiss.
“Everybody OK?” asked the pilot who was having great fun. Nobody responded.
“Where to now?” he asked Tom.
Tom entered a new address into the sat nav. He didn’t speak, he thought he might be sick if he opened his mouth.
“That’s over the river. I don’t really want to let them see us, we’ll easily be seen if we try to get across from here. I have an idea though…”
Tom nodded. He just wanted the ride to stop.
The pilot kept them low and followed the roads. The police chopper was still hovering over the city centre trying to find them. As long as they remained low, they would not be spotted as they raced out of the city. Tom recognised the road they were on. It was the Clydeside Express, a dual carriageway which ran from Glasgow all the way to… Tom realised where they were heading.
He didn’t care if he was sick.
“You’re not?” he gasped.
“Only way, if you want to get there unseen,” responded the pilot smiling.
The helicopter took the next turning to the left, it was now flying at the same speed as the cars and effectively had a space in the traffic as it hurtled under a sign which said ‘Tunnel Traffic Only’.
“NO!!!” screamed Lela as she read the sign.
The pilot ignored the panic behind him. As the road sloped down, they continued to follow the traffic. The tunnel opening approached. There was no way they would fit. But as they drew closer, it began to look as thought they might just make it. All passengers instinctively shut their eyes as they disappeared into the mouth of the tunnel and began to sink deeper into the ground as the tunnel burrowed beneath the river Clyde. The road ahead was fairly clear as cars had raced to get out of their way and the pilot was taking full advantage, zipping through the tunnel at great speed.
“What the hell was that?” asked Lela as the tunnel flashed two blasts of light.
“I’d like to see their faces when they develop that one, it’s a speed camera. I’m doing 50 in a 30!” replied the pilot laughing.
The helicopter broke through the other side of the tunnel, lifting ten feet and accelerating up to its full speed.
“That was cool,” said Tom. “Very scary, but cool!” He was beginning to regain his composure.
The three in the back were speechless.
“We’ll be there in twenty minutes,” said the pilot.
“Tom, where are we going?” asked Lela.
“We’re going to see somebody.”
“Shouldn’t we be working out what we’re going to do about the police?” asked Kano. “I mean with Alba’s logo emblazoned all over this thing, they might have a fair idea who we are?”
“We just have to do this one thing before leaving.”
“What do you mean, ‘leaving’?” asked Lela.
“We’re going back to school. Nobody has seen us, they just saw the helicopter and I reported it stolen when we were in the flat,” replied Tom. That was the call he was making when the others were jumping into the helicopter from the balcony.
“It should put them off the scent for a little while anyway and give us enough time to get out of the country before they start linking us to Alan,” he added.
“You really are a little genius!” said Kisho patting him on the back.
Tom phoned Papa and explained what he needed. There wouldn’t be time to go back to the Estate before they left.
Chapter 60
Blairquhan castle sat in the middle of a 2000 acre estate and had, until a few years previously, been an
