“It would appear so,” replied Daniel. “It also proves categorically that your parents were murdered,” he added to Tom and Lela.
“But how do you know where their plane was? I thought nobody knew, it was not on any radar?” asked Tom.
“Not on any public radar. It appears that Alba One flew low level across Africa and as it approached the coast, began to climb until just after the Seychelles where the plane lost control and plummeted into the ocean.”
Hearing the details of the plane crash again was not easy on either Tom or Lela. With nothing other than the painstaking review of histories and backgrounds to look through, it was agreed that they would call it quits for the night and resume again the following morning. They all developed fictitious injuries which would prevent them from attending sports and would give them the whole day off.
As Tom and Lela walked out of the conference room, Daniel was waiting for them by the door.
“I’m sorry about the crash, I only found out before we came in. I should have warned you,” said Daniel who realised he could have handled it more tactfully.
“Not at all, even with warning it would have hit us, don’t worry,” replied Lela.
“There is something else,” said Daniel. “During the same call, I got an update on the search for Tylanni.”
Lela’s interest perked up.
“It seems that the boat was spotted entering Port Said in Egypt one evening and was gone the next morning. There has been no further sighting of her for nearly two weeks.”
“Egypt, what the hell would she be doing in Egypt?”
“She’s not there, that’s the point. However, a new ship has been sighted, different colours and different name but remarkably similar to the dimensions of Tylanni.”
“Where?” Lela was not happy, somebody had stolen her boat.
“Just last night, going through the Panama Canal but although the dimensions are identical it can’t be her.”
“Why not?” demanded Lela.
“She couldn’t possibly have covered the distance since she left Egypt four weeks ago.”
“What are you talking about? Through the Med and across the Atlantic no problem. She’d do that in about a week,” said Tom, quickly working out the calculation.
“Yes but she was travelling east not west,” said Daniel. “We’ve checked, the boat was sighted off the coast of Chile a few days earlier. It’s not possible, the ship would have had to sail down the east coast of Africa, around the Cape and across the Atlantic before rounding the other cape and travelling up the west coast of South America. That is a massive journey of over 15,000 nautical miles. For this boat to be yours, it would have had to average over 40 knots non-stop in four weeks, it’s just not possible.”
Tom and Lela just looked at Daniel and at the same time asked the same question.
“What was the name of the boat?”
“The Beautiful Lady. Why?”
Both just stared at him.
“What?” he asked as they both just stared.
Tom looked at him and answered,
“There’s only one boat in the world that could have done that trip in that time and it’s the Tylanni. She has a top speed of over 50 knots and can easily average mid 40s.”
“Where is she now?” asked Lela.
“She could be anywhere in the Caribbean,” replied Daniel.
Tom began to wonder but it couldn’t be possible.
“Daniel, could you ask your guys to have a look at something for me?” asked Tom.
“Of course what is it?” asked Daniel.
Tom gave him something and then led Lela back to her room. They had to consider what to do about The Tylanni.
Chapter 67
Tom returned to his room to find a voicemail from Jason who asked him to contact him immediately no matter what the time. He had spoken to the Alba directors earlier in the afternoon, things were going OK, not great because of the assassinations but there had been no major issues. As he dialled Jason’s mobile, he wondered what could be wrong.
“Oh hi Tom,” answered Jason recognising his number.
“Hi Jason, what’s up?”
“We’ve had another offer for the company, it’s much better but it’s obviously your call.”
“How much and who?”
“Twenty percent up on the previous one and still anonymous.”
“Damn! We can find out who they are but only if we sell them Alba, that’s nuts.”
“There is one other thing, they’re becoming increasingly adamant that this offer runs out in less than 48 hours. The lawyer who made the offer couldn’t emphasise that enough.”
This was the third increase they had received that day and each one ran out at exactly the same time, 10.00 p.m. on the Sunday. They had rejected each one so far.
“What do you think?” asked Tom.
“I’m not sure, he also said that it was their final offer and that we will just have to live with the consequences if we reject it…”
“Wait a minute, are those your words or his?” asked Tom. He really didn’t like the undertone of what had been said.
“His and it annoyed me just as much.”
Tom thought for a second,
“Tell them to piss off. It’s not for sale at any price and let’s see what consequences they have for us.”
He was really wound up, these guys were now getting to him. They ended the call. Jason would pass on a slightly more professional rejection and they agreed to speak in the morning.
Tom checked his watch, it was after midnight and he was wide awake, there was no way he was going to sleep. He got up and went back to the conference room. He would start working through the backgrounds of the assassinated heads of government and their successors. He could not get the thought of the Tylanni, renamed The Beautiful Lady, out of his head. That’s how his parents always had described Tylanni, Lela’s mother. Whenever her name was mentioned, they would always comment on what a beautiful lady she had been.
Chapter 68
Beaumont was neither surprised nor unhappy at the news that their final offer was rejected. In fact, the possibility of some payback to the kids for the hassle they had caused him was exactly what he wanted. Within five seconds of receiving the news, he gave Jones the go-ahead to launch the operation against the girl.
Jones and his team were stationed just outside the exclusion zone which surrounded The Academy’s island. On receipt of the Go command, they fired up the engines and began to move towards their target. Their small cruise boat had been built as part of the US navy’s new DDX programme and encompassed the latest stealth technology, even at 40 knots, she was completely invisible to radar. Within 30 minutes, they were in position and launched the small rubber raiders which would take the eight man team the school’s beach.
From the time Tom had rejected the Alba bid, to the first man landing on The Academy, less than an hour had passed. They secured their small boats and checked their position, a small GPS device indicated that they were
