Assassin (The Billionaire Series) Read Free Page B

The plane was arriving too early in the morning and he
wanted it perfect for the unveiling.
    The Kennedys boarded the helicopter for the short trip to
Glasgow Airport. Throughout the trip, Tom’s mother was livid with his father.
Tom had no idea why but whatever his father had done, Tom had never seen his
mother so angry. They arrived at Glasgow Airport and landed in front of a new
hangar specially erected to house the new plane. The hangar was massive, over
100 metres long by 100 metres wide.  
    A ribbon had been placed in front of the hangar doors for Tom
to cut which he did before the others had even reached the hangar, such was his
excitement. Once the ribbon was cut, the doors to the hangar began to slide
open and Tom’s father asked him to turn around and look away.
    As the doors clunked into their fully open position, Donald
allowed Tom to turn back round and asked him to hit a light switch which would
reveal the new plane. Tom hit the switch, the lights blazed. But nothing. The
hangar was empty, completely empty. Tom’s stomach fell to his knees as he
realised that Alba One was missing. He turned to his father who looked across
to the pilot who shrugged his shoulders.
    There was a structure at the back of the hangar which took up
less than a tenth of the total space but was nonetheless a substantial
building. Donald explained that those were the offices and suggested they go
and see what was going on. As they approached the structure, an almighty bang
erupted and the walls fell down, missing them by a matter of inches. Smoke and
Rachel’s screams filled the air. Tom turned to his father who was smiling. His
mother’s punch soon put an end to the smile as she struck Donald square on the
chin. Tom was utterly confused. But as the smoke, (or as it turned out) the dry
ice settled, Tom realised why his father was smiling.
    Standing in front of Tom was a brand new Gulfstream G550 jet,
registration G-TOMI. He couldn’t believe it, his own plane! Not just any old
plane, an ultra long-range jet, capable of flying from Glasgow to Johannesburg
or Los Angeles, non-stop. Tom was speechless.
    He had received an enquiry a few month’s earlier from an
anonymous customer using a Hotmail account. He had initially thought it strange
as his customers didn’t use Hotmail. Nonetheless, he completed the proposal and
delivered the quote. Tom had started his business a few years earlier. He was
fanatical about flying and knew everything there was to know about anything
that flew. One night, his father had asked for his thoughts on a proposal he
had been given for a new plane for his company, Tom had suggested a different
model giving various reasons. His father took his proposal seriously and from
that day on Tom had never looked back. He had set up his own company which,
within the space of two years, was worth in excess of £6 million. He offered
truly independent advice on any aircraft upon which many people and businesses
relied, including the most recent anonymous Hotmail customer. The request had
been for a small executive jet which would be both easy and safe to fly. It was
to be capable of flying from Glasgow to Johannesburg (coincidentally the same
distance to Tom’s school which was located on a small island in the Indian
Ocean). It would have a young and inexperienced pilot and this should be taken
into account. How Tom had failed to spot the clues escaped him, especially as
Lela had kept asking him if he had received any strange requests lately. He had
told her about the anonymous email and despite her fit of giggles, he still had
not clicked. Lela was fully aware of Tom’s business activities although his
parents were not. He wanted to surprise them in the same way that his father
had surprised his grandparents on his sixteenth birthday.
    The Kennedys boarded the new jet and flew to Toulouse to do
exactly what Tom had wanted to do originally, to pick up Alba One personally.
On arrival at Toulouse however, Tom declined