issue 3

Mr Seddon

Issue 3 – vacation

The motorcade stopped at the gates to the private airport. The security guard left his small booth and walked down the many cars that contained mainly Leighton and Mr Seddon. The security guard returned to the small, 1-man booth and tapped on the ‘open gates’ button, that was clearly displayed and located on the far-most wall to the inside of the airport.

The initial driver nodded and drove through, as they drove for a few yards, the security vehicles all branched off. And the 3 vehicles that contained Leighton and the two decoys all arrived at a red carpet to a small private jet, recently built and owned by Leighton, unlike the refurbished passenger jet that was completely designed for business trips in style and was owned by the company.

Several bodyguards and mercenaries lined a red carpet that was directing itself to the door of the limousine that Leighton was sat in and to the small, metal stairway that arrived itself to the open door of the aircraft. The aircraft, in question, was designed with the company’s name on it and Leighton’s marvellous face was on the fin of the plane. Inside, it was split up into 5 different sections, in order cockpit, kitchen, passenger seats, office on one side and a small dining room on the other and then the master bedroom that was well designed.

The kitchen was state of the art and was designed with space intentions; by that I mean it had a fridge and cupboards beneath a floor board, a cooker was in the side and other small things that any normal billionaire wants in their private jet. The passenger seats were 2 rows of 2 seats that were literally stripped out from business plus from a bankrupt plane company, the office required a pin to enter and during flight, was well guarded by a security guard and inside it had a wooden desk, equipped with a computer, chair, 2 plants, Tv screen and a couch perched up to watch the television. Once, you leave the office, you would be greeted to a nice dining room with a long table that was connected to the side and allowed for 4 people to be dinning at a time. Last, but not least was the bedroom. All personally designed by Leighton, it had a deluxe bed, Tv, a small table and chair set and beneath the bed was a collection of things Leighton enjoys from video-games to building bricks. The plane was luxurious, but not as good as the company owned one of course.

A butler approached the limousine and opened the door, politely. Leighton stepped out first, followed by Hamish, and he admired the beautiful salmon pink colour that made it stand out from the 4 others that Leighton owned that where built with special needs. Hamish stood looking around when he suddenly just felt the urge to softly pat him on his shoulder, to wake him up.

Leighton jumped slightly before walking up the stairs to the aircraft door. He entered and shook the hands of the chef, the air host and hostess and the air marshal that would all be joining Leighton on his trip to his Mexican villa, located in Mexico that was close to the border.

Before the door closed, Leighton spotted the company plane being modified in the hanger before he walked down the corridor to office. The chef walked to the kitchen, that was closer to the cockpit than the entrance to the plane was. The door was closed when Leighton walked down the comfortable carpet floor to the office. He typed in the code and him and Hamish both entered the naturally lit office that resembled the office he had in the Cryptyc Studios office building that was located in Kansas, USA.

Leighton walked around the desk to sit down on the chair and he strapped himself in whilst Hamish pulled down one of the wall chairs and sat down on it, clipping his seat belt in as well. They looked at each over before Leighton swivelled his chair so he was looking outside of the larger aircraft windows.

“[ding dong, ding dong]” was the noise coming from the speakers in every room except from the master bedroom, that had a sound proofing material to make the optimum flight. “This is your captain speaking,” the pilot informed to everyone, “We will be taking off from the Leighton Airs primary airport, in Europe and will be arriving at Midnight, for a 10-and-a-half-hour flight. Please enjoy your flight, I will inform you on any other information along the flight.” The introduction then ended with “[Ding-dong]”

The planes mighty jet engines turned on and they all took to their seats as it began to move, approaching the runway. Hamish was sat back relaxing, for once; knowing that the same material used on Air Force 1 was implemented to bring the cost of this aircraft to £134 million. The plane halted at the run way and Leighton tapped the small little button on his swivel chair that locked its fun possibilities in place so he didn’t end up spinning in circles, mercy to the planes powerful force that would hopefully take them off without any worry.

The plane’s engines all suddenly turned onto full power and they gradually allowed it to lift off of the ground.

The villa in question, was huge! It was the size of a small city and costed a few billion to make and purchase. It had a private airport, although once a week a public flight does land here, a dock with a yacht not too far off, the LXCO Mexican office and the villa itself was a master-piece. Everything was surrounded by decently sized walls but the main building had its own surrounding walls. The villa was a modern master-piece inside, but presented an Italian mansion from the outside. It had many luxuries all around, from a virtual reality room, that literally took some popular media images such as a 360-degree treadmill with touch sensitivity and realism suits, to a swimming pool that dug down into the mountain, that the actual main building was perched on top of, and could be used for swimming or for deep sea diving, it went down to around 87 metres and could be brought up by using the interior control room adjusting it. Hamish wasn’t too bothered with all these ‘luxuries’ as he was extremely interested in the bunker that lay below. It used the same security measurements as the PEOC bunker under the white house and could house 40 people for 100 days, or a year if rations are sorted. It was so protected, they discarded the idea of having 8 different security centres around the world to watch over cameras, in favour for putting the only centre there.

After the aircraft reached a stable altitude of about 36,000 feet in the air, the captain notified them that it was safe to move around. Leighton kept his seat belt on and Hamish was chilled enough to even leave Leighton in an area with little security peeving on Leighton. Before he left he asked, “Do you need anything?”

“Yes, can you send for Barlet, inform him I’m ready for dinner.” Leighton replied whilst admiring the outside world. Once Hamish tapped on the button and walked through the sliding doors, Leighton tapped on the button to release his chair lock and he turned around to look at the desk. On the desk was the recent profit reports and all the paperwork he had to go through before he could call his vacation official. As he was scrolling through them, his eyes caught on one, titled, ‘RE-ACTIVATE OLYMPUS SQUAD’ below it was all the evidence that it would be recommendable to either re-activate the squad or to sell it to the Canadian government, who seem keen to own this organisation.

As he was reading, Barlet tapped the bell button and Leighton tapped the open doors button that was on his desk. Barlet, the butler that opened the door before, entered with a silver plate, as he lowered it, it became apparent that it had a green pack of Salt and Vinegar crisps and a nicely formatted menu. Barlet placed it down on the desk and Leighton thanked him. He then stood in the corner and awaited the order. Leighton picked up the menu and read through the various items that were mostly normal such as fish and chips, but others not so such as Caribbean chicken feet. Leighton coughed when he read it but was put at ease when he saw that it had to be ordered and prepared on land. “Barlet, I’ll have the burger please,” Leighton politely ordered as he grabbed the bag of crisps from the metal tray and returned the menu to its initial position.

Leighton squeezed the top and as he pulled it, he noticed that it had a note written on the side, ‘From your aunty Margaret and Ev’ Leighton smirked at the note as Barlet walked out a little quicker than normal, to escape the intoxicating smell that arose from the bag. He didn’t take long to eat the crisps and Barlet returned abruptly with a freshly made ham burger that came with tomato sauce but no vegetables or anything similar, Leighton was notorious for being a fussy eater.

As Leighton took a few bites into the bun and then the beef burger, he couldn’t help himself but wonder how the documents for the re-activation of Olympus Squad came to be. He couldn’t take it and scrambled through the papers until he found it, it was sent in by no other than Callum Huttleberry. It shocked him at first because the reason he had to end the profitable organisation, which is quite unlike SCAR that in care a substantial loss but is deemed worth it by the board of directors, which 4 are US senators, was because of Olympus Squad opened fire on SCAR during a crucial hostage rescue mission in Greece that resulted in the leader of the country being shot and a new recruit being KIA. This resulted in Greece, and a few others rejecting and refusing to pay £300,000 a year for the services SCAR offer.

Leighton finished his burger and decided to go on a little stroll. He walked down the corridor to see that the passenger area was transformed into a cinema and there was a seat available for him. He sat down, briefly looking over to see that the office doors where closed, besides Hamish. He instantly caught onto the film they were watching and joined in.

The night overshadowed the plane and Leighton decided it was time for bed at around 6 o’clock, giving him 6 hours sleep until they reached the villa. He dressed in his favourite pyjamas and notified the guard that he was retiring to his bed. He lay his head down, after taking his tablets, and he fell asleep.

The time to land came by and the co-pilot gave Hamish 2 options, wake him up or leave him be, the latter required his bed belt to be connected. He took a moment before checking that he was all buckled in and gave the answer to leave him be. The pilot began his landing approach earlier, in order to make it as easier as possible for Leighton to remain asleep.

Leighton woke up with a yawn and immediately removed the belt from around him. He went through the doors and saw Hamish half-sleeping on of the passenger seats. He woke up immediately as Leighton approached and Leighton realised they had landed. They went to leave as the cleaners were beginning their clean and as Leighton sat in the single jeep, he turned to Barlet, “Nobody enters the office.” he said seriously. Barlet, wanting to keep his job and please his employer, nodded before personally sitting outside the office until the plane staff all vacated the aircraft.

They drove past the main hanger, that contained the 2 other private jets, and they drove directly to the villa.

The first day was chill, a bit of scuba diving took place and a long game of monopoly was held in the games room. The second day, wasn’t so positive, instantly it was met with red flags from Hamish as he was informed that a minor breach in the perimeter had occurred, but was likely caused by an animal, or that 3 security guards had gone missing from the golf-court area. That was subject to a little bit more research, but was put down as external factors because their close friend was with them in the town in a very special club called the str… I mean cabaret.

It was about 1 in the afternoon when it happened…

Over a dozen rock climbers where spotted trying to get to the mansion, whilst many more armed individuals came from the trees and bushes, shooting at anything that moved, including an FBI agent that was visiting under an investigation that had nothing to do with Leighton, but the mansion was still a key place for investigation.

Her partner suffered only a grazed knee as he escaped. At the time Leighton was walking down the path when this all happened, Hamish immediately noticed the camouflaged people emerging from the woods and mowing down the front gate guards, the front gate was open! Hamish wrapped himself around Leighton as they climbed the marble stairs to the mansion, whilst the gate guard tried so desperately to tap the gate button, even as he suffered many wounds to the chest.

They all immediately ran towards the main entrance whilst the building security ran out to try and fight the attackers off. The bullets flew past them as they ran into the brightly lit reception and onto the white, marble floor. It took him a few moments but Hamish realised the doors where bullet proof but wide open. He removed his pistol from his blazer holster and waited for the more advanced security to arrive with assault rifles, once they arrived, he ran up with them and whilst some ran out, the others helped to close the door and place a lock on it.

They all sat on the floor, taking some deep breaths and trying to ignore the screaming that is being caused by being flabbergasted with bullets. Leighton wiped the rare sweat off of his marvellous foreheads that rarely exercised this much for water to be emitted from it, although recently it has been happening a lot more.

The screaming and the shooting halted, suddenly. They looked to each over nervously as heavy footsteps came from the over side of the door. Hamish looked around himself and then looked out of the disorientating glass panes. He saw 2 individuals with weapons that looked like they had suppressors attached, but it was impossible for him to tell from the quickest of looks at all black weapons.

He pulled back part of his gun to confirm he had ammo in it and he pointed to Leighton to follow him. They both got on their hands and knees and began to crawl. He was heading to the nearest re-group point that was able to get Leighton into the bunker and seal it in under 2 minutes. The nearest one wasn’t too far away, in fact it was just behind reception…

The reception doors were locked from the other side, to prevent any unwanted intruders whilst the reception is being unattended for any reason. Hamish looked at the lock and realised it was weak and the door was wooden. He aimed his pistol and fired a shot at the lock. It jingled and the door slowly creaked open. But that wasn’t the only thing opening, an explosive had been placed on the door, everyone began to move away from it as they Hamish and Leighton both slipped away.

Gunfire wrecked the reception area as they walked around the corner and to the re-group point. Hamish quickly grabbed Leighton by the arm and kept him out of view of the area that had a bullet-proof glass room that had 4 agents trying to avoid their own doors getting blown off. Hamish made sure his gun was loaded and approached, cautiously. He aimed it at the attackers who held either explosives and supressed SMG’s.

Crack!

Hamish fired at one and distracted the other, for just long enough for the agents to burst through and stab him. They noticed Leighton creeping in the background, and, without warning, grabbed him by the collar. As they took him down the corridor, with an elevator in sight on said, “2 minutes.” Hamish followed closely behind, watching the flank.

One of them typed a code in and Leighton placed his sweaty thumb on the finger pad, a green light shinned at the top as the doors quickly opened. The mercenaries, that they had stuffed down in the bunker for this situation, ran out tactically to guard the exit of the elevator. Hamish shinned his eye into the iris scanner and tapped the floor for the bunker. The elevator was quick and efficient on its way down and once they arrived at the bottom swiftly.

The doors open to…

“Ahh,” not the sound that safe people scream.

They looked around themselves to realise why someone was in pain until Hamish fired a perfectly aligned shot into the scull of a rifle man. They looked around until Hamish felt blood gushing from, Leighton. Yes. He fell to the ground in agony as Hamish removed his blazer to apply pressure on the wound. As he lay there, he began to cough up blood and the agents in the elevator split in half, half left to go and clear the ‘secure’ bunker whilst the rest remained in the elevator and pressed the emergency closure button. Life slowly began to fade as Leighton lay there. Until, Leighton pulled a small tablet sachet from his pocket, he tried to open it but was to weak. Hamish grabbed in and read it: MORPHINE PILL

He grabbed it and it may have slipped out of his hand when he tried to eject it form the packet, he quickly grabbed it again and forced it down Leighton’s throat. Seconds later, he jumped up and received an instant adrenalin shock and he stood up, despite Hamish’s hand positions implying for him to remain on the ground. “What happened?” Leighton asked as he felt a tight pain in his waist.

“You were shot.” Hamish replied whilst feeling deep regret for not following protocol and standing in front of him.

“Shot dead?” Leighton sarcastically replied whilst pacing the wide elevator cart.

“No,”

“Have you tried calling,”

“No.”

Leighton didn’t waste any time and tapped the emergency button on the panel to call for the air-ambulance. That immediately sent a signal to the small outpost, that I may forgot to add into the list of features the villa has, and the on-duty helicopter immediately took off, not only that, now the Mexican authorities have sent several patrol cars to see why the helicopter has been deployed.

Suddenly, Leighton clenched his hands on his bullet wound in anguish and pain, Hamish wacked the button that led to the helipad and the elevator was not delayed in the slightest.

As they got higher, they heard police sirens and mighty helicopter propellers where only a few metres above them. It reached the floor and Hamish shoved Leighton to the side of the cart. The agents inside aimed their weapons through the sliding doors. The landing pad was clear. They tactically moved out and the air-ambulance co-pilot slid the doors open and they were about to grab Leighton when a sniper bullet rang out. Killing the co-pilot instantly. Leighton hit the dirt, or in this case; the concrete. They surrounded Leighton and far in the distance was the terrifying glow caused by the reflection on a sniper scope.

“SNIPER” Hamish yelled whilst taking his aim. He was about to squeeze when a small fragment, of glass was lying on the floor. He scooped it up quickly and instead of missing his shot he lodged it in some part of his complicated weapon, and could see even further into the distance and was privileged with a clear shot, minus the blood splatters, of course.

It was just him and the sniper. The environment darkened around him. He watched as the sniper took a deep breath. Crack. The glow was eliminated.

He looked over to Leighton to see the pilot applying strong pressure to the wound. From where he was stood, it looked terrible. They all helped to put him in the helicopter and immediately took off, destination: Doctors without borders camp near the border. They could of easily went to a closer hospital, but the pilot knew that it was safe, and they were trained to deal with these sort of bullet wounds.

They landed swiftly and everyone was ready to take the wounded off the vehicle, but they realised surprised expressions when they realised who exactly they were dealing with. Mr Sealeaf. Except one, stubborn woman with her arms crossed and ignoring the VIP in the vicinity. She was staring at Hamish. Her name was Anne Hilt, a trained doctor and ex of Hamish. They took Leighton away on a stretcher and Hamish approached his ex, who coincidently owns this franchise of outposts.

Hamish stepped out, ignoring the events going on around him, and approached Anne. They stood no further than a foot away from each over, unexpectedly, she whipped out her hand and slapped him across his face. “What was that for!” Hamish shouted angrily.

“The restraining order.” She shouted whilst stroking her hand, as she went for another one, Hamish grabbed her hand and threw it to the pole behind her. “You came to my work, even though I have a restraining order on you!” Hamish thought to himself as an idea flew into his head, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and tapped on the maps app, he then showed her their location. She was rather smart and instantly realised what it meant. They were in Mexico, not America.

She was fuming, she slipped her hand out from his grasp and walked off, angrily. Hamish felt his slightly bloody face and followed the trail of doctors and nurses. He followed them to a tent that was wide open and had Leighton sat on a bed signing everything from photographs to foreheads. This was a big no, no for Hamish, a sniper could be anywhere, he thought.

Sneakily, he walked around closing the tent up so there was only one way in, a door. “Will he survive?” Hamish asked a confidant doctor who wasn’t involved in this frenzy.

“Medically, yes.” The doctor replied tiredly.

“What do you mean?” Hamish asked.

“It’s all over the news” The doctor informed whilst taking a seat, “They will find him, he’s not safe.” After this, the wise doctor left Hamish looked around before walking outside, with his phone in hand and typing a number in.

He stood with his phone beside his ear and it dialled.

Ring, Ring.

An American man picked up the phone, “Howdy, partner” he greeted,

“I need the SCAR unit for an evacuation.” Hamish informed whilst looking at the horizon filled with a dust-cloud of heavy vehicles driving their way

“Mr Seddon,” He replied, “Right on it.”

Hamish pressed the end call button and signalled for one of the security guards to follow him in. They entered together and where surprised to see Leighton on his feet giving a lecture to a couple of kids, they didn’t have time for that. Hamish tossed a few notes their way and shooed them off whilst also grabbing Leighton. “What’s happening,” Leighton asked as they left the tent and heard the mighty propeller roar from an expensive helicopter.

“Where going.” Hamish said as the helicopter landed and he threw him in and got in himself. They were sat in one of the most armoured air-vehicles around and it wasted no time getting in the air. They watched out of the small pin-hole windows as they flew over the scrambled tanks and artillery who didn’t think twice before firing rockets.

They were too slow, they had already crossed the border into America, and one thing they all knew was that America dislikes getting bombed. That was the end of this attack.

Epilogue

They landed on the office buildings helipad and they were greeted by US marines who now noticed this as a credible threat to national security. They wasted no time going down to the fortified press room where Leighton took a speech.

“Today, I was in my vacation home when, we were attacked by a terrorist organisation. It is hard to give any details but we are with the families of everyone involved as we try and find these extremists. That’s my promise.”

Impressum

Texte: Leighton Sealeaf
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.01.2020

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