Scion (42 page)

“Will do, Mr President.”

As she considered the request it was something that the man had suggested he’d be interested in. Any strange requests by the President, things that seemed out of the ordinary, any discussion involving other politicians, or presidential candidates. All she needed to do was text him the details and for that her mother would enjoy the benefits of one of America’s premiere retirement homes for the rest of her life, all on him.

She withdrew her cell phone and making sure nobody was watching, typed in the message and sent it to the number. What harm could it do? Afterall, it wasn’t hard to find out the President wasn’t in New York.

***

Not knowing anywhere better, Scott arranged the meet at Floyd Bennett Field. With a fuming Ashley behind the wheel, they drew to a stop just two minutes before the allotted meet. Only Scott, Kirk, Kyle and Jasmin would be going on the mission. Ashley would stay behind, much to her disgust, and drive the car to the building just in case they needed her. She, of course, knew this was bullshit and it was simply because the other four were used to working with each other. Well that and the fact that they were much better fighters than she could ever hope to be but she certainly wasn’t going to admit that to them. Those fuckers had also killed her parents.

As the lights began to descend towards them, they climbed out of the Suburban. All were dressed smartly in suits and wore shades, despite it being night time. Kirk’s previously strapped arm hung limply, in an attempt to hide his injury. They each carried a H&K MP5SD sub machine gun and a Sig Sauer 229 pistol fitted with a silencer. As the VH3D Sea King helicopter came into land, the first thing they noticed was the livery, the familiar olive green body with white top and the United State of America written down the tail and the final clue to its occupant, the seal of the President of the United state of America was on the door. Of course this was one of nineteen such helicopters but then the only time people ever saw it was when the President was in it.

The K Squad boarded and waved goodbye to Ashley as the helicopter took off. The pilot turned round and asked for a destination. Scott explained. The nose dipped and within minutes, they were circling over the top of the Transcon Tower, as the pilot judged the wind direction and best approach to land.

With only seconds to go, Scott, Kirk, Kyle and Jasmin cocked there MP5’s and hoped that none of the guards spotted that they were carrying SD models. The secret service would normally carry shorter KA4 variants. As the helicopter touched down, the four exited the aircraft and as would be expected from Secret Service agents, surveyed the location before allowing the President to exit. 

***

The text came through not long after Ernst had left the building. Having missed the point of the President’s call initially, it made no sense and he thought nothing of it. The woman was always sending useless information and he was beginning to wonder who was getting the better deal, him or her.

However, on a call to Baker a short while later, all became clear. Baker had told Ernst of the President’s surprise visit and thought perhaps he should return to the office just to keep an eye on the three stooges. But when Ernst had broken the news of the text, it seemed obvious that the whole thing was a set up. Baker quickly explained what Ernst had to do. The opportunity was not one to be missed. Ernst immediately returned to the office and got everything in place and as Marine One was landing on the roof, he made his second exit of the day.

***

   The guards did exactly what Scott expected, looked on as the four of them scanned the roof for threats. With a wave, the pilot much to the confusion of the guards, did exactly as instructed, took off and hovered a thousand feet above them.

As the guards’ eyes followed the ascending helicopter, they shot the men where they stood. There was no time for mercy. All received double taps to the head. As the last four bodies were still falling to the ground, the four were off and moving, guns up, ready for any eventuality. As they made their way down the stairs, two more guards were taken out. The door onto the main reception area for the top floor lay ahead. Scott pulled it open slightly, three guards waited by the elevator doors. Scott held up three fingers and pointed the direction.

Three nods told him they were ready. He pulled the door wide open and Kirk, Kyle and Jasmin each dropped one each, Jasmin from a lying position, Kyle squatting over her and Kirk standing behind. The reception area was empty. Scott held his arm up, something was wrong. He held them back.

“If the president was coming to see you, would you wait in your office for him?” he whispered.

All three shook there heads in the negative.

Scott told them to cover him as he ran in the crouched position across the reception area. The door to the boardroom was closed and a Do Not Disturb sign was in place. Scott didn’t like it. That was not how you prepared for a visit by the US President. Scott pulled out a small retractable mirror, normally used for looking round corners and placed it under the door. The wires attached to the door handle would ensure anyone turning it would have a seriously bad hair day. He couldn’t see all the explosives but could see enough to know that the top floor of the building would be two floors lower after the explosion.

It also explained why so few guards were in position on the top floor. They knew they were coming. As Scott began to retract the mirror, the angle changed and he caught sight of a face sitting in one of the boardroom chairs. It was Andrew DuPont, only his tanned complexion had taken on a somewhat greyer hue. They needed to get into the boardroom, without triggering the explosive.

He signalled the other three over and explained the situation. They considered the options. Kyle considered more quickly than the others and after knocking the wall to the side of the door, broke the glass covering the emergency fire axe and proceeded to knock through the wall. Two minutes later, he had a hole large enough for Jasmin to squeeze through and another two minutes later, she had the explosives safely defused. On entering the room, all deflated. The three remaining shareholders had received one bullet each to the head. A pistol lay in front of each suggesting a ritual suicide. However, the shooter had been too highly trained. Each bullet had penetrated exactly in the centre of each of the men’s foreheads. They had been executed and the explosion was set up to kill Scott and the others. Somebody was trying to cover their tracks.

Chapter 81

The judge had laughed Butler-Jones out of court when he had to admit he could not provide a birth certificate to authenticate Scott’s age. Without that, the Judge declared that he couldn’t possibly consider the merits of the case. Was he to believe that he didn’t have one or that he had misplaced it because it proved his age to be beyond twenty five. He asked for something which proved when he was born and until then, not a chance.

Butler-Jones had scoured the local papers, national press, anywhere that a birth announcement could have been made but nothing. Scott advised him of the solicitor in Singapore but nothing, they still didn’t even know the name of Scott’s mother. The last people to see her alive were the islanders and they were all dead. They tried everything but to no avail. Butler Jones suggested contacting the widows of the dead shareholders and explaining the situation to them. Perhaps they would do the right thing. He had the evidence and just because their husbands were scum, didn’t mean they were too.

Scott agreed and Butler Jones went to work tracking down the grieving widows.

***

Jasmin drove the rental car through the leafy suburbs of Washington and took the sign post for Bradley Farms, the house she was looking for was just a couple of miles down the road. A small park area came into view just before she reached the house. She pulled in, parking the car at the rear of the area, out of sight of the main road. She got out and made off on foot. The moonlight gave her just enough light to make her way through the small woods and she arrived at the back of the target house. She moved very slowly. The motion sensors would only come on if she moved too quickly and after some time, she reached the back of the house. A window was open on the second floor and shimming up the nearby drainpipe, gave her access to the house. Voices emanated from the bedroom. Not good. His wife wasn’t supposed to be there. Her office had confirmed she was in California for a few days. However it soon became apparent that the voices were from the TV as it broke to the weather for the next day.

Jasmin edged forward and could just make out the mass lying on the bed through the gap. That was him, Todd Nielsen. The man who had bombed the island. She had begged Scott to allow her to deal with Nielsen. She needed this, she needed to feel she had avenged the islanders. With no objections from Kirk and Kyle who had already bagsied Mike Hunter, Scott agreed.

After confirming it was him, Jasmin stood and entered the room. Nielsen jumped up but on seeing the pretty girl, he relaxed. Somebody who knew him had obviously sent him a present. After all with
Dan Baker about to become President, Todd Nielsen was on top of the world.

Unfortunately, the first thing Jasmin did was remove his tongue. She didn’t want to listen to him screaming or begging for mercy for the next few hours, because that was how long it was going to last. Todd Nielsen, by the time he died, would wish he had never been born.

***

Kirk and Kyle took a slightly different approach with Mike Hunter, quick and easy. The man it seemed was rather nervous after his paymaster’s demise and had taken to travelling with a significant number of guards. Trailing his vehicle in a plain white van, they simply accelerated, pulled in front, threw open the doors and fired an anti tank missile right into his Hummer. There wasn’t enough left of him to put in an urn, let alone bury.

Chapter 82

Jennings had a team working full time trying to track down the leads to find out if, as Scott believed, there was someone else. They had tried Baker again but nothing came up, nothing linked him to Transcon. The discovery of Max Ernst’s previous career as a KGB man put a new spin on things. The Russian Mafia may be involved and took the investigation off into a new direction as Jennings considered the possibility that the oligarchs of Russia had tried to control America.

Scott disagreed but Jennings, with little else to latch onto, went with it anyway.

***

As the days and weeks passed, Butler-Jones got nowhere with the widows. The lawyers at Transcon refused any contact and threatened him with injunctions if he continued to harass them.

Scott prepared for his twenty fifth birthday resigning himself to having lost any chance of regaining control of his father’s company. It wasn’t that he wanted the responsibility nor the money, its just that for the first time in his life, Scott felt as though he knew what his father would have wanted. His son at the helm of his company.

Scott’s b
irthday would be celebrated at The White House. The squad, Ashley and the Prime Minister were to be guests of honour at a ball the President was throwing before the elections four days later. 

They arrived in style, limos picking them up from their nearby hotel and driving them the short distance to the White House. The President met with them privately and thanked them again for their help in saving the democratic process before they joined the ball.

“Scott,” interrupted the President. “I’ve got a gentleman here who wants to wish you a happy birthday.”

“Hi, I believe you’ve just hit the ripe old age of twenty-five,” smiled the man.

“Yes,” replied Scott.

“A great age twenty-five, a great age!” he repeated.

Scott looked at the President as the man spoke.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting. Scott I should have introduced you, this is
Dan Baker who is probably going to be our next President.”

“Less of the probably, Mr President. Fifteen points ahead in the polls you know,” he laughed.

“Well it was nice to meet you, Sir,” said Scott turning back to his group.

“You too son, you too.” Baker walked away smiling. Transcon was safe. Scott was no longer a threat. He’d enjoyed meeting the boy, after all this time. He’d always wondered what he looked like.

***

The morning after the party was not a pretty sight. It had been a heavy night and had resulted in them all falling asleep where they fell. They woke up to the NBC local news channel. Ashley checked the weather to see what she would do with the tourists for the rest of the day. Nobody wanted to do anything but sleep but Ashley was having none of it. They were in her home town and it was her duty to show them around.

As the weather report ended, the local news bulletin came on.

“Police are still hunting for Eduardo Ramirez in connection with a number of murders in the Anacostia area.”

At the mention of the name Eduardo Ramirez, Jasmin’s ears pricked up and she quickly turned to the screen. As did Ashley and Scott.

Scott spotted Jasmin’s reaction. “What do you know about Eduardo Ramirez?” he asked.

Jasmin looked awkwardly at Ashley.

“Oh for God’s sake, you can talk in front of Ashley.”