“Honestly, with what we’ve got on him, I’m beginning to believe he’s guilty myself.”
“He must be a very interesting individual, I’d love to know who he is…”
“It’s…”
“No, please don’t tell me, it’s better I don’t know, that way I can’t put my foot in it. When do you begin?”
“We anticipate the suspect will be in position next week. I’m just waiting for his latest schedule to finalise the plan.”
“Excellent. Good luck and if you need anything, don’t hesitate to make contact.”
“Of course and thank you Mr Chairman.”
The screen blinked and died, the red L.E.D. indicating that no transmission was being made.
Beaumont sat back and breathed deeply. A coldness hit his back as his sweat-drenched shirt made contact with his flesh. His hand was still shaking from The Chairman’s revelation. How did he know about the Kennedys? Why had he not said anything before? What would he do to him? Surely The Chairman would make him pay for his deception. Questions fizzed around his mind as he struggled to come to terms with the situation. He pushed his seat back from the desk, stood up and began to pace up and down, visions of the repercussions flashing in front of him. His father’s words rang in his ears, ‘Don’t ever underestimate The Chairman. He’s the most ruthless son of a bitch alive. Many men have underestimated him and none have lived to tell the tale.’
It took Beaumont nearly five minutes of pacing before he noticed an envelope which had been slipped under the door. He bent down and picked it up. It was marked ‘Top Secret For Beaumont’s Eyes Only’. The envelope was from a law firm which Beaumont used exclusively for Committee work. This in itself signalled it was urgent and the three additional ‘urgent’ stamps were completely unnecessary.
He tore open the envelope and extracted a single sheet of paper. Half way through the first line of text he paused, his composure returned. He had work to do and an operation to plan. He started reading the document again, from the start.
‘Travel Schedule for Donald Kennedy…’
Member Seven did not have to wait long before he felt the wrath of The Chairman. He realised he had gone too far and had desperately tried to contact The Chairman after the meeting. But for the first time, The Chairman did not respond to his urgent messages. Member Seven began to panic and quickly contacted each member of his family to check their whereabouts. They were all safe. The phone rang. At last he thought, The Chairman was calling him back. But it was his normal work mobile not his special Committee phone.
“Hello?” he answered. The caller id showed that it was his Personal Secretary, a secretary who had been rather more personal than his wife would have liked. It was after midnight why would she be calling him so late?
“Hello, I wonder if you can help. Do you recognise this number?” asked a rather awkward male voice.
“Yes, of course, it’s my secretary’s mobile. Did you find it somewhere?”
“Well sort of yes. I’m with the local police, I’m afraid I may have some terrible news…”
Member Seven heard little more than she had been beaten to death and had a knife wound on her back in the shape of a number and two letters.
The waiting was over. The Chairman had vented his anger. His beautiful secretary, only 28, was dead with 7 — TC carved into her back. A message direct to Member 7 from T he C hairman.
McDonald, Murray
Assassin (The Billionaire Series)
Part Two
Chapter 7
“Dad?”
“Yes Tom?” came the muffled response.
Tom tried to open the study door but it was locked. He didn’t know the door had a lock.
“Just give me a minute son,” said his father nervously.
Tom was beginning to worry. His father’s behaviour was becoming more and more weird. It had been a week since Saki had returned and since Tom had spoken at any length to his father. Saki and Donald had spent the week huddled together in the study. As Tom waited, he could hear the shuffling of papers and agitated whispering.
Even Kano and Kisho had noticed that things were not normal and were beginning to ask questions. In fact, from the moment they landed at Glasgow, Saki had been like a man possessed, trying to get back to the Kennedy Estate. They had landed early and rather than waiting 20 minutes for a helicopter, Saki had insisted on jumping in the first cab available. He had then coaxed the driver into breaking just about every road traffic regulation in order to get home as quickly as possible. When they hit roadworks 3 miles from the Estate, Saki looked at the queue of traffic, paid the driver, opened the door and started running. Kano and Kisho followed suit but despite being significantly younger than Saki, did not stand a chance of keeping up with him. Saki forged ahead and was soon out of sight. Just as they thought they had made it and jumped over the Estate wall, they were surrounded by Rottweillers.
Saki and Donald had not even waited for the twins to enter the house before disappearing into the study and it was left to Kano and Kisho to explain why they were there. Everybody had been so pleased to see the twins that it was not until they sat down at the dinner table that Lela asked the question
“But why are you here, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing at all. You didn’t think you were going to school without us did you?” Kano replied. The twins, ex Special Forces soldiers, were now Tom and Lela’s unofficial bodyguards at school.
With everything that was going on, Donald’s strange behaviour, Saki being away and the terrifying assassinations, nobody had realised that there was only one week to go before school started.
Tom listened as the whispering and the sound of paper shuffling stopped. He stepped back expecting the door to open but nothing happened. There was just complete silence. Just as he thought his father had found another way out of the study, he heard a dull thud followed by a loud metallic click. Soon after, the study door opened.
“Hi, Tom, what’s up?” asked Donald casually, as though the last two minutes had never happened.
“Hmmm, nothing,” said Tom as he strained to see past his father.
“Hi Saki,” he said as he saw Saki sitting on the study’s sofa.
“Oh hi Tom, how are you?” responded Saki a little more nervously.
“Good thanks, just wondering whether you two will be joining us for dinner? It’ll be our last meal together before the Christmas hols you know.”
“Of course, we were just finishing off a few bits and pieces, we’ll be down in a second.”
“OK,” replied Tom gloomily. He wasn’t used to being kept in the dark and he was now sure something was going on. He made his way back down to the kitchen.
As he walked in, four expectant faces looked beyond him and their smiles faded.
“Didn’t you find them?” asked Rachel.
“Yes I did,” replied Tom.
“And?” asked Lela.
“They’ll be down soon.”
“Well that’s just not good enough,” said Lela whose voice rose as her anger stirred. She had hardly seen her father in a month and the least he could do was spend some quality time with them before they left for school.
“Are they in the study?”
“Yes,” said Tom as he was barged out of the way by a now very angry Lela.
“I’ll get them,” she said as she stormed off.
“I wouldn’t like to be in their shoes,” mumbled Kisho.
“We know better than to upset our little Lela,” said Kano.
