less than half a mile from the girl’s room. Two men would remain at the boats while Jones and another five men formed the grab-team. Jones had initially planned a four-man team but then doubled it, he didn’t want anything to go wrong.
Jones had received the full security schematics for The Academy and had planned the mission accordingly. Each man was dressed in a stealth suit to minimise their radiant body heat and counteract The Academy’s thermal cameras and the Special Forces’ night vision goggles. They also carried no metal. Detectors along the shore picked up the tiniest amount of metal. Everything they carried or wore was made of cloth, plastic or a ceramic composite, including zips, watches and tooth fillings. There were 200 Special Forces soldiers at The Academy and Jones had no intention of getting into a fire fight with them. Their only weapon was a ceramic knife.
He checked his team were ready and led them off into the darkness towards the accommodation blocks lit up in the distance.
Lela had no problem sleeping. She crashed out the moment they had got back from the meeting. Papa had been training her hard, having taken over her father’s role as master. She soon realised that her father had not exaggerated when he had said that her training was easy compared to his. Papa was enjoying his new student and had her awake at five o’clock every morning to train for at least two hours before breakfast and she had to do the same again before dinner. Kisho and Kano had come along to the first session and later found any excuse not to go.
“Where’s Tom?” asked Papa, startling Lela who was fast asleep. He was standing next to her bed. How he had got in without disturbing her, she didn’t know.
“What, what’s wrong?” she realised that it wasn’t the fact that Papa had sneaked into her room that should worry her but why.
“Where is he?” he asked again more firmly.
“In his room, no?” she answered. “Why what’s wrong?”
“We can’t find him and there are some men on the island who shouldn’t be here.”
Jones’ schematic did not identify the islanders nor their incredible capabilities. One of the islanders had spotted the eight men on the beach.
“Just sound the alarm,” urged Lela.
“No. The confusion may play in their favour, we’ll deal with it.”
“Find him!” Papa ordered Kisho and Kano who had just entered the room. He was very annoyed with them, they should always know where Tom was and they had failed.
“Have you tried his phone?” asked Lela. Papa looked at Kano and Kisho who looked at each other.
“Imbeciles,” he said under his breath.
Lela immediately phoned Tom. Papa told her not to alert him to the security issue. She was to say that she had woken up and noticed he wasn’t in his room. She put the phone down.
“He’s in Conference Room One.”
Tom put the phone down, thinking nothing of it. He returned to the information in front of him, he was beginning to get somewhere. Suddenly the door opened and two of Papa’s Penarajans joined him, closing the door behind them. They explained the situation and informed him that he was to stay there with them. Papa was dealing with it and would give them the all clear soon.
Jones and his men found the accommodation block and slowly moved into position. Two would watch the entrance while four would grab the girl. The four-man team made their way silently up the stairs and along the corridor towards her door. They stopped at the door and Jones withdrew a small plastic canister with a rubber tube. He slipped the rubber tube under the door and released the valve on the container. He counted to ten. Anybody in the room would be knocked unconscious for at least an hour. He couldn’t afford even the slightest scream from the girl and this was the only way to ensure they did not startle her. He closed the valve and removed the tube.
He checked his watch. In 90 seconds, they could enter the room by which time the gas would have dispersed. They listened through the door to detect any disturbance but heard nothing. Perfect.
Papa received confirmation that Tom was safe and two islanders would remain with him until they were given the all clear. Papa wanted these guys alive, he wanted to get them talking but first he wanted to know who or what they were after. The islander who had initially followed the men was ordered to get as close to the boats as possible. He was to await Papa’s order to take the men out but in the meantime, to try to understand what or who they were after.
Kano was given a similar order and sent to watch the team as they approached. He saw two men watch the front door while the four-man team went inside. He, like the other islander, was within hearing distance of the men’s whispers and soon picked up enough to relay back to Papa. Meanwhile, as the tube appeared under Lela’s door, Kisho, Papa and Lela made their way silently onto the balcony.
Kano contacted Papa and updated him on what they had heard. This was a kidnap not an assassination. Lela was definitely their target, Tom was not even mentioned. Papa quickly relayed the information to Kisho and Lela. A furious whispered row broke out but what was being said made sense. Papa was about to do something he knew Saki would have vehemently disapproved of.
87…88…89, the seconds ticked down. On reaching 90, Jones signalled to his team. They silently picked the lock and made their way into the room, Lela was sound asleep. This was going to be easy, they quickly made their way across to the bed and checked her pulse. There was always the chance she had reacted to the gas but she was fine so they picked her up. Two minutes later, they were out of the block and making their way silently back to their boats.
Chapter 69
“What did you say?” screamed Tom at Papa and the rest of them.
“Lela has been kidnapped,” repeated Papa.
“But you let them do it!! How could you?” Tom screamed again. He had not taken the news well, his sister was in mortal danger and those idiots had let it happen.
“Was she in danger? Was it more dangerous to stop them? Is that what happened?” asked Tom, trying to make sense of what they had done.
“No. We let them go, Lela insisted that we let her go.”
“She’s 15!!! You’re her grandfather!!! That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said!!!”
Lela, having heard that the impostors were not trying to kill her or Tom, had argued that if she went with them, she might find who was behind everything. She could more than handle a bunch of soldiers, especially as they thought she was just an average 15 year old girl. Papa had understood her logic but would not agree, Kisho even less so. Lela had pleaded and told them that they knew it made sense, which they did. Papa was also aware of just how well Lela could look after herself. He had been training her for three weeks and had resorted to pure physical training as he had nothing left to teach her other than a few wily old tricks and even those were exhausted after a week. She was, without doubt, the most talented natural fighter in generations of Penarajans.
Alternatively, they could capture the soldiers but it could take days before they discovered anything, if they had anything to give them. He now wondered how she had managed to convince him to let her go. How could he have let his only granddaughter be kidnapped? He looked at Kisho who he could see was having the same conversation with himself. How had Lela managed to talk them into this madness? But she had and he had issued a stand down order.
“I’m sorry. It seemed like the right thing to do, she was very persuasive,” replied a very subdued Papa.
Tom was too angry to talk to them. At least he had made them realise they were wrong. Kano was completely on Tom’s wavelength. He had been apoplectic at the thought of these animals having his little cousin and had already made his feelings known to Papa.
