“So who are we up against and why?” asked Kisho. They all congregated in the cockpit to decide what to do next.
“Not sure but whoever it is, they’re a very big player,” said Tom. “And I’m guessing that the four schools were taken in order to get the troops off of our island. That is a massive operation. As to why, no idea but whatever it is, it obviously involves me and Lela which probably means my dad.”
“Who cares about that. What are we going to do?” asked Lela.
“Can I see the charts?” asked Tom. “The first thing we need to do is keep them happy and that means telling them where we’re going to land.”
Tom disappeared with Kisho into the main cabin. Kano and Lela were left holding the controls.
“I didn’t know you two could fly helicopters,” said Lela impressed.
“We can’t, only Kisho can. I took the ground vehicle courses and he took the flight courses.”
“But you’re flying now aren’t you?” she said with panic in her voice.
“Not really, we’re on autopilot. If anything goes wrong, I’ll call Kisho, don’t worry,” he said as reassuringly as he could.
Lela thought for a moment.
“I can’t believe it, all those children in those schools, all because of us. You know they’ve killed some of them?” said Lela, the enormity of the situation hitting her. “We have to do something!”
“I know,” said Kano.
Tom and Kisho were poring over the charts.
“Right. This line signifies how far we can go on the fuel we have and these are the options open to us,” said Tom pointing out the options.
“Yes, but wherever we tell him we’re going to land, I have a funny feeling we won’t get a welcoming party,” said Kisho.
“I know, so we have to be very clever and be one step ahead,” said Tom as he began to hatch a plan.
First, he wanted to know what they were up against. This was actually quite simple. He took out his handheld PC, and his satellite phone and dialled a number. After five minutes, he had tapped into his home PC. To Kisho’s amazement, Tom pulled up the Estate plan from the security system. Tom was stunned that there were forty five blips on the screen, which meant there were forty two men guarding their house. This was going to be much harder than he had first imagined.
“Forty two. Bloody hell!” Kisho exclaimed. “These guys are not messing.”
“Add to the fact that our Estate is like a fortress. This is a nightmare, I imagined four or five gunmen, nothing like this.”
Tom’s brain went into overdrive as he thought through the options.
After a while, he turned to Kisho.
“I think I have a plan,” he announced.
Tom dialled the number he had been given.
“Hello,” answered Reaper recognising Tom’s number.
“Johannesburg, Randburg Heliport is where we’re landing,” he whispered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, they mentioned it when they checked on us a minute ago.”
“Why are you whispering?” asked Reaper.
“You told me not to tell the authorities about you and they are the authorities. Didn’t I do the right thing?”
“Yes, yes of course.”
“Can I speak to my dad?”
“No, not yet Tom.”
Donald walked in as Reaper was on the phone to Tom.
“Is that Tom?” Donald had heard him say ‘Tom’.
“Yes,” said Reaper who could not believe his luck.
“Tom!!!” Donald screamed.
“Dad, dad, we‘re ok, are you ok?” Reaper had taken a calculated risk that Tom would not mention his status in his first sentence and had put the loudspeaker on. He put it off again before Tom could say anything more.
“We’re fine son, where are you?” Donald screamed in response, elated at hearing Tom’s voice and hearing that they were both OK.
“That’s enough, thanks Tom,” said Reaper ending the call.
“Why didn’t you let me talk to them?” asked Donald.
“You got all you needed, you know they’re fine,” said Reaper who walked away with a huge smile across his face. The gods were smiling on him. That call would stop the whiney parents bleating on about their kids. It should cover him for the next couple of days. However, he needed Tom and Lela back there before Monday or things would get tricky.
Tom updated Lela on the phone call. He had spoken to his father and they were all fine. Both hugged and felt a great sense of relief knowing that their parents were still OK.
Kisho and Tom then updated Lela and Kano on the plan. Lela agreed with most of the points but suggested one major change. Everyone agreed that it was the right thing to do.
“OK. We’ve got just under five hours before we land and we’ve got a lot to do,” announced Tom.
“Are you sure this will work?” Lela had second thoughts over one part of the plan.
“Yep, we have to be strong and play them at their own game.”
The twins nodded agreement. “Lets go,” they said in unison.