Kidnap (The Billionaire Series) (3 page)

Despite the questions flying around that he was desperate to ask,
Donald stayed quiet, he needed to let Saki talk.

“We have dual nationality, British and Malay, due to a long
standing agreement between both monarchs. We are descended from an ancient
warrior tribe, who had sole responsibility for the protection of a powerful
emperor but through a great betrayal our emperor was murdered and our tribe
almost extinguished. A few managed to escape and eventually found a home on our
island,
Penaraja
, named in their honour and
translates to, ‘Emperors Guard’.”

“We are a simple people who believe in the teachings and ways of
our ancestors and as such continue to train as our ancestors before us, we
train from birth, just as our ancestors, in an ancient martial art and at the
age of eighteen we join the British forces.”

Donald couldn’t help himself, “what you join the British army, I
mean I’ve heard of the
Ghurkas
but the
Penr
…
Penarajans
, never.”

“We don’t have a specialist unit as such, we just go straight
into the SAS or SBS, you know the British
special forces
.”

“You need to train for that though, go through selection, have a
few years experience.”

Saki laughed, “Did you not hear me, we train from birth, by the
time we’re twelve we could pass selection. At any one time there are about ten
Penarajans
across the two services. Why do you think the
British Special Forces has such a great reputation,” added Saki with a wink.

Before Donald could respond Rachel rushed in and informed Saki he
was the proud father of a beautiful baby girl. She explained that they were
still concerned for
Tylanni
as she remained very weak. However,
Tylanni
, despite
her condition, demanded to see Saki and their new daughter. She held her baby
daughter in her arms and they named her Lela. An hour later, with Lela and Saki
still with her,
Tylanni
passed away.
 

Chapter
8

Present day

Following
Tylanni’s
death, Saki made
two pledges. The first related to Donald saving his daughter’s life. He would
be forever indebted to the Kennedys and, in the tradition of his
ancestors,
he would become their permanent guardian.
Donald’s act of heroism, diving in front of a
bullet which
would have killed
Tylanni
and the unborn Lela, had
been a truly selfless act. Donald and Rachel argued that, had it not been for
Saki, they would all be dead. It was they, who owed Saki their eternal
gratitude. Saki, however, was adamant and there was no dissuading him. Saki
would protect them with his life, if required. Anything less would be a
disgrace and a dishonour to his people and their traditions.
 

To resolve the issue, Donald went to
Penaraja
to speak to Saki’s father, Papa, the island’s elder and leader, to ask for his
help in relieving Saki of what Donald thought to be misguided honour. Papa,
however, took great exception to Donald’s suggestion that his son’s honour was
misguided. He explained to Donald that honour was the very foundation of their
society and that throughout history many wars had started because of a
fundamental lack of honour. By the end of the lecture, Donald not only had the
personal protection of Saki, but Papa decreed that Saki’s debt was the island’s
debt also. So, should the Kennedys ever need them, the islanders were at their
service.
 

Donald had gone to
Penaraja
to release
the debt of one islander but instead gained the debt of over 300. Donald, an
outstanding negotiator, had been outflanked and put firmly in his place by the
South Seas Island Chief, Papa.
 

Having accepted Papa’s decree, Donald and Rachel welcomed Saki
and Lela into their family with open arms. With no need for surnames on
Penaraja
, Donald insisted that, as they were now part of
his family, they should take the family name and so Saki and Lela became Saki
Kennedy and Lela Kennedy. Rachel loved looking after baby Lela and was keen to
have another child to keep Lela
company
. Soon enough,
a bouncing baby boy arrived, just after Lela’s first birthday. He was named
Tom. Complications during the birth meant that Tom would be her only child but
when the news was broken to Rachel, she simply replied.

“Not to worry, I have a son and a daughter, I could not wish for
more.”

Over the next thirteen years, the two families bonded as one and
Tom and Lela were raised as brother and sister. Saki never let the children out
of his sight and by default, became their nanny, bodyguard, chauffeur and
martial arts trainer, but that, to his dismay, was only for Lela.

Lela, as was the
Penarajan
tradition,
had started training shortly after birth. Such was the complexity and intricacy
of the movements required to master their martial art, babies’ muscles and
joints were manipulated from an early age resulting in a dexterity and strength
far greater than normal. The art was the first pure martial art which, over the
centuries, has been diluted by other cultures into modern martial arts such as
Kung Fu, Karate, Jujitsu and Tai Chi. Only the
Penarajans
,
with their intense training, had maintained the extraordinarily powerful pure
art. Lela had proven over the years to be an extraordinary student, surprising
even Saki by the intensity with which she practised and perfected her skills.
After Tom’s birth, Saki had tried to obtain approval from Papa to start Tom’s
training. Unfortunately, the island law was very clear. The teaching of
their
martial art was forbidden to anybody not born to an
islander. Saki was forced to accept this as to dishonour his ancestors was
unthinkable.

Saki’s second pledge was much simpler. He would avenge
Tylanni’s
death. Not a day had gone by when Saki did not
think about
Tylanni
and he knew that he would love no
other woman. He was aware of the mysterious Zulu, whose description had been
given to him by the man called Bravo, the only assassin still capable of
speech. Saki looked forward to the day he would face the giant man and stare
into those intensely cold eyes.

Part Two

Chapter
9

Two weeks later

“
¯
Happy
Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear
To
-
om
, Happy birthday to you...
¯
”

Tom was a very heavy sleeper. Waking up in the morning was a
daily
ritual which
took a long time. The four looked
down at the sleeping mass. It hadn’t moved. They looked at each other and began
the chorus again, only much louder.

“
Errrh
,
wh
…..what
is it? What’s
happening?” came a muffled voice from under the duvet.

“It’s time to wake up, it’s your Birthday!! You’re thirteen!!”
shouted his father.

The words slowly sank in. He was thirteen. It was his birthday.
He pulled the duvet back and looked up at the four grinning faces staring back
at him, his mother, father, Saki and Lela.

They all rushed forward and gave him hugs and kisses as they
wished him a happy birthday.

“Thanks,” said Tom as he recovered from the tuneless wake up
call.

“Come on, open your
pressies
!” said
Lela, pointing to the pile of gifts on the end of his bed.

“
Coooo-oool
”! “Fantastic!” “
Tha
-
anks
” was all that was
heard for the following ten minutes as he opened each of the presents. Along
with the usual suspects, albums, games, books and clothes, Tom received a
bracelet from
Saki which
had been made especially for
him on
Penaraja
. Saki explained that
a similar bracelet was historically worn by emperors
hundreds of years earlier and that the person wearing the bracelet was
protected by a very powerful force. Tom wasted no time in securing the bracelet
to his wrist.

“There’s just one more present,” said Donald.

Tom looked up with a quizzical look. Everything he had wanted or
could have asked for was in front of him. What else could there be?

“Here,” said Donald, handing Tom what looked like a remote
control.

Tom looked at the small remote with only two buttons.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise,” replied Donald mysteriously.

Tom looked around his bedroom, hoping to find a receiver for the
signal but could not see anything. He pressed the button marked 1. Nothing
happened. He pressed Button 2. Nothing happened. He looked up at the sniggering
audience.

“Can I at least have a clue?” he asked.

“OK,” replied Lela. “You’re very cold.”

Tom looked at Lela as he got up and walked around his room.

“Still very cold,” said Lela.

He walked into the hallway.

“Warmer,” she said.

He continued down the hallway, past the elevator door and towards
the games room. Nobody followed.

“Getting colder,” called out Donald from Tom’s doorway.

Tom walked back to the elevator door.

“Warmer,” said Lela.

Tom pressed the call button and the elevator doors opened. He
stepped in and was quickly joined by the others. His finger hovered over the
First Floor button.

“Cold,” said Lela.

He moved his finger down to the Ground Floor button.

“Slightly warmer,” said Lela.

His finger moved to the Basement button.

“Very warm,” said Lela smiling.

He pressed the button and the doors soon opened onto the vast
basement complex beneath the Kennedy Estate. The estate itself covered over 20
square miles of Scottish countryside on the banks of Loch Lomond and was a mere
twenty minutes by helicopter from Glasgow, the Global HQ of Alba International,
his father’s company

Donald had purchased the estate on his return from honeymoon
fourteen years earlier. The events leading to
Tylanni’s
death had unleashed a fanatical obsession about
security
which
, over the years, had only increased as his family and wealth had
grown.

The corridor they stepped into was almost identical to the one
they had left behind, richly decorated and carpeted. The only difference was
the lack of natural light, unsurprising at fifty feet below ground level.

Tom, still in his pyjamas, looked at his father for more clues.
There were miles of
tunnels which
linked all the
buildings on the estate as well as numerous garages, housing his father’s
collection of cars. They had also installed a number of emergency bunkers and a
fifty seat
state-of-the art cinema. His father just
smiled back. He wasn’t going to give anything away.

More in frustration than in the belief that anything would
happen, Tom hit button ‘1’ again. A noise to his right alerted him to something
moving. As he turned towards the noise, a panel opened in the wall, revealing a
dark space. Tom felt around the edges for some kind of light switch but there
was nothing.

“Try the second button?” suggested Lela excitedly.

He moved into the centre of the opening and pressed the second
button. The dark hole exploded into light as giant lamps lit the void. In the
centre of a large hangar stood a white structure with four hydraulic legs, a
staircase and a walkway.

Tom was speechless. He just stared open mouthed at the brilliant
white structure.

“Well, what do you think?” asked Donald as he watched Tom’s face.

Tom couldn’t stop staring at the structure.

“It’s un
–
believa
-
ble
…I
mean WOW! Unbelievable!! A simulator!!! You got
me
a simulator!!! I
can’t believe it!!!”

Tom loved flying and everything to do with it.
He
didn’t need to be told anything about the structure in front of him
,
he knew everything about it
. He was staring at a CAE
simulator for the new Airbus A380, the largest commercial jet ever built.
AlbAir
, his father’s airline had just completed a deal for
thirty A380s and Alba International had purchased one for
Donald
which
Tom had already christened ‘Alba One’.

“Go on then, get flying!” said Donald pointing Tom in the
direction of the staircase.

Tom didn’t need to be asked twice.

“Come on Lela, come with me!” he shouted as he sprinted up the
stairs. As she followed apprehensively, Tom was already bursting into the
cockpit where he found the final part of his birthday present. The Captain’s
seat was occupied. The test pilot from the A380’s inaugural test flight was
waiting to give him his first lesson. Captain Jacques
Rosay
would be spending the next few weeks teaching Tom everything he knew.

Chapter
10

Conor
Murphy surveyed the
plans and scratched his head. He just couldn’t see how they would do it. He had
accepted what he had thought was a simple job.
$1 million to
snatch a couple of kids.
The client didn’t care what happened to them,
he just wanted them out of the way on the 12
^th
August. What he did to them after
that,
was up to him. Ransom them and give them back, ransom
them and kill them, whatever
Conor
wanted was fine,
as long as, on the 11
^th
August they were in
Conor’s
custody. He couldn’t believe it. Somebody was
bankrolling him to kidnap the children of the third richest man in the world
and he could keep whatever ransom payment he could get.