Rachel hit the intercom button.
“Tom! Lela! It’s time for lunch! Come on! We’re all waiting for you!” she shouted.
A minute later, Lela buzzed back to let her know they were on their way up. Two minutes later, they appeared. Tom’s grandparents, who had just arrived, wished Tom a happy birthday and gave him even more presents, although he didn’t know when he would ever wear the jumper with “TOM” on the front or use the handkerchiefs with “TK” embroidered on them.
“So how is it?” asked Donald who could see that Tom was bursting to tell them all.
“Amazing! It’s just so realistic! I mean, we crashed taking off from Glasgow and I nearly sh…”
“TOM!” interrupted Rachel, glancing at her parents slightly embarrassed.
“It really was terrifying!” said Lela taking a seat. “Absolutely terrifying.” She was still shaken by the experience and was glad to sit down.
Tom spent the next twenty minutes detailing his first lesson, eventually pausing to notice the glazed look on everyone’s faces.
“Too much detail?” he asked.
He received a resounding yes. Every time he started discussing planes or any kind of technology, he seemed to lose them. However, before he had a chance to try and translate what he had just said into plain English, his father interrupted.
“I received a very interesting call today,” he announced, grabbing everyone’s attention. They all looked at him, waiting for him to continue. But he remained silent.
“Well are you going to tell us or not?” asked Rachel, the suspense irritating her.
“It was from an old friend whom I haven’t seen for ages and it seems that a conversation we had a few years ago has come to fruition. It’s probably easier if I start from the beginning though.”
“Always a good place,” suggested Rachel.
“Anyway,” said Donald. “About five years ago, a company which had been in operation for over seventy-five years went bankrupt; it was the single largest bankruptcy ever. The impact of its downfall was felt worldwide. Over 100,000 people lost their jobs overnight and over the course of the year that followed, it’s estimated that more than half a million further jobs were lost as a direct result of the bankruptcy. The company had been a very well run and profitable organisation, with a highly respected Chief Executive Officer. But following the untimely death of this CEO, his only son, aged twenty eight, took over the running of the company. Unfortunately, his business acumen up to that point had extended to selling unwanted gifts on eBay. Without taking the time to speak to his father’s Board of Directors, he fired them all and replaced them with a bunch of imbeciles, mostly old friends who’d only bothered to befriend him because of his family’s wealth. The son had complete control and nobody could challenge his authority. It did not take long for him and his bunch of imbeciles to destroy the company. As I said, the impact was felt worldwide. The son was sent to the best schools and colleges but it transpired that he’d dropped out of every course he’d ever started. This catastrophic bankruptcy was the straw which broke the camel’s back. Something had to be done to protect the world from these uneducated, ill-prepared heirs who destroyed decades of hard work and millions of jobs. So, a few of the world’s most powerful men met to discuss the problem and they reached an extraordinary conclusion.” Donald paused to ensure he still had everyone’s attention. He did. They all sat silently urging him to continue.
“A school,” he said simply.
“A what?” asked Tom confused.
“A school,” Donald repeated. “Not just any school, a specialist school to train the world’s heirs in how to become statesmen and business leaders — a super school if you like, strictly by invitation, for which only the children of the world’s most wealthy and powerful families would be eligible.”
“What do you mean by children?” asked Rachel warily.
“Children, as in children, like Tom and Lela. The school will be for ages 13 to 19.”
“Not a university?” she asked.
“Nope, a secondary school,” he confirmed. “It opens in September and Tom and Lela have both been invited to attend,” he added casually.
“OK, rewind and start at the beginning. Only this time, I want names, locations and a damn site more detail,” replied Rachel, not believing her ears and trying to remain calm.
Ten minutes later, a rather sheepish Donald admitted that at the end of the conversation with his old friend, he had pretty much accepted the offer. Also, he had no idea where the school was actually located, other than it was on one of two islands, cloaked in secrecy and he had absolutely no idea who else was attending. However, he did confirm that the old friend was Sam Mitcham, the ex-President of the USA and now Chairman of the school’s Board of Governors. It also transpired that the governors consisted of retired CEO’s and former statesmen and the school had cost billions to develop.
Donald was bombarded with numerous questions which were to be answered before Rachel would entertain any further discussion about a new school for her babies. Donald may have been the undisputed king of the boardroom but Rachel was most definitely the undisputed ruler of the Kennedy household.
With Donald back in his box, Rachel turned her attention to Tom and Lela.
“What time do your friends arrive for your party?” she asked, as though the last ten minutes had never happened.
“In about three hours,” replied Tom, still stunned.
Tom and Lela had an interesting set of friends. Their current school was fairly exclusive, housing both day and boarding pupils. Its resources ensured it remained top of the academic tables and was the current school of choice for the children of the most powerful families in the UK.
Tom’s birthday was five weeks into the summer holidays and as many of Tom and Lela’s school-friends were boarders, they were mostly back home or on holiday across the four corners of the globe. However, Tom and Lela had managed to round up a few friends who were within easy reach. The Alba International corporate jets were put to use and sent to collect two of their friends from London, three from the South of France and two from Italy.
Between them Tom and Lela had an incredible list of contacts. They had made friends with the children of some of world’s best known power brokers. They had built up the list over years of attending social and sporting events with their parents. Donald would take care of business while Tom and Lela played with the children. If Donald was struggling to contact somebody, he would quite often ask Tom or Lela for their home number. Kids swapped home numbers whereas adults swapped office numbers. They had never let him down. From the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the Australian PM, to the King of Thailand, their numbers were on their list. Donald was certain that between them, there was nobody he couldn’t get hold of.
The list of attendees for the birthday party included the British Prime Minister’s son, the daughter of the American Ambassador to the UK, the Saudi Ambassador’s son and the children of a number of high ranking UK government officials. The corporate jets had been despatched to pick them up that morning and all were due to touch down in Glasgow at 3.30 p.m. They would then board Donald’s helicopter and arrive on the estate at 4.00 p.m. The return journey was planned for each of them the next morning.
“Anything exciting planned?” asked Saki. “Not really, thought we’d just watch a movie and chill out, unless Lela’s thought of anything else. Have you?” asked Tom.
“Nope, sounds good to me. Although what movie are we going to see?” she asked.
“You know, the one just out, we got our copy yesterday.”
“I was worried you’d say that. Last night I tried to read the cover but we’ve got the version. It’s in German.”
Tom stopped himself from looking at his father. He was in enough trouble with his mother.
“No problem, we’ll just go to the cinema down the road,” suggested Saki, also realising that the blame would lead to Donald.
“Excellent! We can go bowling as well then,” added Lela.
Tom winced. Lela was unbelievably good at ten pin bowling. In fact, she was good at anything which involved hand-to-eye coordination, a by-product of her intensive martial arts training.
The rest of the meal passed without incident and Donald quickly excused himself to make the call which would answer Rachel’s questions. Just what he needed, he thought to himself as he walked to his study. He was in the final stages of completing the largest corporate deal ever. Alba was bidding to buy IBC Ltd and would, if accepted, result in Alba becoming the largest corporation in the world and making Donald the richest man alive. Donald would employ more people than the Chinese Army and Wal-Mart combined. The deadline for bids to purchase IBC was Friday 12 ^ th August, less than 36 hours away.