A/N: So, this is a story I've been working on for the last few years. Its four chapters long, and I've debated on posting it over the years. I've been working on my other stories as well as this one and figure if I can get this posted then I won't constantly be dividing my time between several stories that are still waiting to be finished. It's getting to be the busy season where I work and my postings may be sporadic, though my intention is to post this story gradually over the next couple days. Please read and enjoy but most importantly keep in mind that I'm a novice writer and I do make mistakes like everyone else. No flames and no disparaging remarks. I don't utilize the aid of a beta reader and all mistakes are my own.
Thanks!
Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010
A weeklong wilderness excursion was just what the doctor ordered to the boys cooped up in Mr. Henderson's physical education class. Out of thirty boys in the class, there would be six groups split up with a supervisor taking the boys through various areas, meeting up at checkpoints.
Alan Tracy was bursting at the seams. He was excited at the prospect of camping with his friends. He was lucky to be placed in a group with at least two of his closest friends, Fermat and Andrew. The other two boys weren't close friends of Alan's, but he endured their presence. Matthew and Jared weren't exactly friends, but they weren't enemies either.
"Okay boys, before boarding the bus tomorrow I need to have your permission slips in hand. Be ready to go at quarter to ten tomorrow morning. We will stop at the gas station when the bus needs to be fueled to take a pit stop and pick up any snacks or beverages. Is that agreeable with everyone?" Mr. Henderson stood at the front of his class looking expectantly at his students. He was looking forward to this annual trip as much as every one of his students.
"Yes sir." Many voices replied. Alan turned to Fermat and Andrew giving the both an excited grin, before standing after their teacher excused them from class.
"Guys, we are going to have so much fun!" Andrew was bouncing around in barely concealed excitement.
"I know right? This trip is going to be one we won't soon forget!" Alan gave a high five to Andrew, before turning to Fermat. "Are you as excited as Drew and I?"
"A-Absolutely! Come on, let's go back t-to our dorm." Alan and Fermat waved in farewell at Andrew, before turning to head to their room. Alan and Fermat needed to talk to both their father's and go over a few last-minute items that had come in the mail, via care package for the purpose of the trip.
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Jeff and Brains sat talking amongst themselves. They were going over the schematics for a new tool to assist with safer extractions of people in cave-ins. The concept was similar to the Jaws of Life used in vehicular accidents, but it wasn't the exact same, this was designed to shear through rock like a hot knife goes through butter. Jeff's video-phone began to ring and Jeff answered quickly to see who would be calling so early in the morning.
"Hello, this is Jefferson Tracy." Jeff answered the phone without looking at the screen.
"Hey dad!" Alan's voice rang out, excitement prevalent in his voice.
"Hello Alan, I wasn't expecting you to call right now." Glancing down at his watch it occurred to him that his son had only just finished classes for the day. "How were your classes today?"
"They were great!" Jeff glanced at the screen of his vid-phone to see his youngest was nothing but smiles.
"That's great to hear Al." Jeff motioned to Brains to come around to his side of the desk so they could both talk to their sons instead of only being able to hear the conversation. "Would Fermat be available by chance?"
"Yeah, he's actually just now opening the parcel we received in the mail this morning." Alan looked off camera before he waved his hand at Fermat who was just off screen, before the younger boy stepped into the frame.
"H-Hey Mr. Tracy! Hey dad!" Fermat stood just behind Alan looking over the blonde's shoulder.
"Hello Fermat." Jeff replied warmly.
"Hello s-son. How are you?" Brains smiled at Fermat and Alan both, glad to see them happy and healthy.
"G-Good. I'm s-stoked about tomorrow's t-trip!" Fermat said as he struggled to open the parcel in his hands, when Alan grabbed what appeared to be a letter opener from a drawer not visible on screen and handed it back to his friend. "Thanks Alan."
"No prob." Alan replied.
Jeff and Brains both smirked knowingly. Alan hadn't turned to see that Fermat was struggling to open the sealed box…he just happened to know, despite Fermat not making his struggle vocal. Alan was different in that sense; his brothers teased Alan constantly about his uncanny intuitiveness. Gordon swore that under that blonde mop of hair that Alan had eyes in the back of his head. When they were growing up, Gordon had checked Alan's hair for a second pair of eyes. That search came up fruitless.
"Got it!" Fermat crowed in relief when he finally got the box open. Again Alan held up his hand, waiting to receive the letter opener from his friend. Fermat placed the handle of the dull blade in Alan's hand, before the blonde lowered his hand and a drawer could be heard closing. "L-Let's see what we've got h-here."
Fermat and Alan both dug through the box before they came up with a pair of hiking boots in both boy's sizes. Alan and Fermat continued to dig through and pulled out a couple rucksacks to carry. Opening the rucksacks, Alan and Fermat discovered a first aid kit, poncho, a little hand saw for cutting firewood, emergency flares, a whistle and a map. It was just the things that their dad's had sent to prepare them for this trip.
"Thanks dad, Brains…this stuff sure will come in handy." Alan sincerely thanked his dad and surrogate uncle.
"S-Sure will! Thanks dad, Mr. Tracy!" Fermat reciprocated Alan's word of thanks.
"You boys are very welcome. However, there is something you should know." Jeff paused to make sure he had Alan and Fermat's attention. "Just to let you know, the boots we sent you have an extra component hidden inside. It's a tracker that Onaha and Tin-Tin hid in the heel of your boots."
"Whoa, really?" Alan picked up his boot to inspect it and couldn't locate just where Tin-Tin and Onaha had hidden the tracker.
"Yes, the nice thing is…should we lose contact with you, for whatever reason; we'll always know just where you boys are. The tracker can only be located using a relay program on Thunderbird Five." Jeff knew that it could be seen as paranoia, him tracking his son and his son's friend while on a hiking trip…but it never hurt to be proactive.
"Is there anything special we have to do to activate the tracker?" Alan thought to ask, knowing that it would be imperative to know should anything happen.
"You'll have to press and hold the little button next to the logo on your boot, Brains was able to wire it so you'd be able to activate it." Jeff said advising both boys of the trick to start tracking.
Both boys shared equal words of thanks before they both tried on a boot to ensure of the fit. Alan and Fermat skimmed through their rucksacks their family had sent them and 'oohed' and 'awed' over the materials inside. In Fermat's bag, there was a spare pair of glasses in the event the boy lost or broke the pair he was currently wearing and in Alan's was embarrassingly enough a spare retainer for him to keep with him.
"Thank you very much dad, Brains. This stuff will certainly come in handy." Alan held up his retainer box and raised an eyebrow in his dad's direction as if to ask 'really'? Jeff chuckled at the look on Alan's face.
"It's best if you keep wearing it, I know you don't care for the slur it causes…but it's better to have a slur right before bed than it is to need to be put back in braces." Jeff spoke the truth. Gordon had learned that the hard way and Jeff wanted to go to any length possible to make sure Alan didn't go through the same thing. Just getting the braces removed put the boy in tears and he'd taken pain medication like the orthodontist said. But that was another story for another time.
"Alright dad." Alan grinned at his dad. "But then maybe I'll have bigger fish to fry…particularly lions and tigers and bears."
"Oh my." Jeff had to chuckle, the Wizard of Oz had been the kids' favorite movie when they were growing up and to this day, despite their age…his sons enjoyed throwing movie quotes out in the face of whatever they were experiencing. Currently, Alan and Fermat were going to be several hundred miles away from civilization, on a camping trip in the mountains of Canada.
A knock at the door signaled to Alan and Fermat that someone was wishing to gain access to their dorm room. Both boys turned their heads to look at the door before sharing a look. Fermat who was already standing, moved to answer the door. Jeff and Brains remained silent for a short spell until they heard Fermat's laugh and saw a smile break out on Alan's face.
"Hey Drew!" Alan waved his other friend into the dorm room and waited while Fermat closed their dorm room door. "What's up?"
"Just coming by to see what you were up to. And have I said how excited I am about tomorrow's trip?" Alan and Fermat had to laugh at that. This would be Andrew's first trip across country borders. Alan always had found it kind of odd that his friend, though the boy's father worked for the United States Department of Defense had never traveled beyond the United States. "Oh…hello Mr. Tracy, Mr. Hackenbacker. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"You didn't, we wouldn't have answered the door if you were bothering us." Alan stuck his tongue out at his friend, both boys chuckling. "Dad, Brains…this is Andrew McCrery, his father is…"
"I know, the Secretary of Defense. Hello Andrew, how are you doing?" Jeff had to smile at his son and his friends. Jeff may not leave the island very much unless it involved business, but he wasn't as cut off from the world as his sons sometimes liked to believe.
"I'm doing swell Mr. Tracy, and how are you?" Andrew was used to being around imposing figures his whole life, so he didn't bat an eye at the imposing figure of the reclusive Jefferson Tracy, ex-astronaut, multi-billionaire, Tracy Aeronautics Founder and CEO. Talking to Jeff was a cake walk for him.
"I'm doing well. I was just running over a list with Alan, Brains and Fermat about wilderness safety…feel free to join us." Jeff offered and he'd smiled when the boy nodded exuberantly and sat in to listen to the rundown.
The group sat and talked for a short spell, until Jeff and Brains looked off camera at something and seemed to signal to Alan and Fermat with a closed nod of the head and careful eye contact that the silent Klaxon had sounded and that they were needed on a rescue. Alan was the first to signal the end of the conversation.
"Well, dad…I hate to cut this conversation short…but I'm starving and I want to hit the hay early tonight." Alan's smile was tight as he realized that he'd have no choice but to sit on the sidelines again.
Jeff could see the carefully concealed anxiety in Alan's eyes at their being called out onto a rescue, but there wasn't much he as a father could do to curb Alan's anxiety. He had no doubts that he and his sons would be fine on this rescue, but there always was that nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him to homeschool Alan for the boy's sake as much as for his own sake.
"Call me in the morning before you leave, your brothers wanted to talk to you." Jeff smiled at Alan giving him the silent signal to agree and hang up, before the office changed into Command and Control.
"I will dad. Talk to you tomorrow!" Alan played along, listening as Fermat sent similar wishes to his own dad before they disconnected the call.
As the screen went black, Alan and Fermat both seemed to sag back into their seats. They'd both hoped that a rescue wouldn't interfere with the rare opportunity that both boys got to talk to their fathers while at school. An awkward shuffling sound broke through the shroud of disappointment, drawing Alan and Fermat's attention back to Andrew.
"So, now that you mentioned food Alan…how about we beat the rest of the jackals to the front of the line and see if we can actually get some decent food instead of the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel?" Andrew had a hopeful gleam to his eyes and it was a look both Alan and Fermat were familiar with. Nodding, both Alan and Fermat allowed the stress of knowing of a potential rescue to slide off their backs. It wouldn't do to make themselves sick with worry, they'd all be fine.
"Let's go then!" Alan stood up with Fermat and the three boys walked out of the room, making jabs at each other as they made their way to the canteen.
… … … … … … …
The following morning found the boys eagerly counting down the minutes when they'd be boarding the bus. Just prior to leaving, the boys ran to the canteen to purchase some snacks from the ala carte. The bus took off on time and with their departure, the boys settled in for a long trip. Alan had steadily been drinking one of several drinks he'd purchased and was keeping in his backpack. They'd been on the road for a little over an hour when Mr. Henderson announced that they were going to stop to refuel and have a pit stop before they left the US.
Alan squirmed in his seat on the bus. 'I'm about to burst.' Alan chewed on his lip as he tried not to focus on his dire need to relieve himself. It was his fault, he'd been drinking a lot of water and like Fermat and Andrew had warned him he'd had to go…very, very bad.
The rescue the night prior had in all actuality been nothing but a false alarm. The Thunderbirds were dispatched out to aid a supposedly sinking ship and come to find out that some passengers that had had a little too much to drink had called in a fake rescue, just to see if International Rescue would come. They had, and the field commander had been none too polite to the inebriated individuals. He'd given them and the captain a dressing down like you could not believe and then he and his comrades left. Jeff had called just as Alan and Fermat were crawling into their respective beds to let them know the rescue had been a false alarm. Needless to say both boys were able to rest easier that evening.
"Okay boys, you all get 10 minutes to get up, stretch your legs…use the restroom if needed and pick up any snacks before we leave for our destination. I want you all back on the bus in ten minutes." Mr. Henderson stood up to address all the boys on the trip and Alan was practically bouncing in his seat. When given the go ahead, each of the boys filed off the bus. But it was Alan and a select few other boys who made a beeline for the restroom.
Unfortunately, Alan was the last in line to make it into the small single toilet restroom. When it was finally his turn to go, he'd almost cried in relief. Alan hurried into the small room and sighed as he shut the door. Closing his eyes, Alan relaxed his tense shoulders as he felt the urge lessen gradually, he didn't even hear the closed bathroom door open…until an audible click was heard and something made of metal was pressed into his back, just between his shoulder blades.
"You're coming with me." An intimidating voice spoke from behind Alan who'd frozen.
Inhaling softly, Alan tried not to focus on the barrel of a semi-automatic rifle being pressed into his shoulder blades and instead focused on finishing up what he'd been in the middle of doing. It was almost impossible to do, knowing that something so lethal was so close. One would think that when you were scared, it'd be easy, but not Alan.
"Finish up, then we need to get going." The barrel was pushed a little sharper into Alan's shoulder blades and he'd nodded. Doing up the fly to his trousers, Alan asked with a shaky voice.
"Would it be okay if I wash my hands?" Alan held his hands up to show he wasn't going to fight the man that was currently pressing the deadly assault rifle into his back.
"You have thirty seconds." Alan kept his hands held up where the gun-wielding man could see that he was unarmed and wouldn't fight back. Moving over to the sink, Alan went about washing his hands and hitting the distress signal on his watch, before muting any channel that could potentially come through. "Times up, let's go."
Alan took a shaky breath, before being escorted out of the restroom, a firearm being pressed firmly into his back. Alan tried not to notice the few customers and workers in the gas station that were currently sitting bound and gagged on the floor, a gun from one of several men in black combat gear trained on them all. The man escorting Alan paused to talk to the captives.
"To all of you who have witnessed this event today, I just wanted to leave a word of warning. If any of you should involve police in any way, I will put a bullet in each of these boy's heads and you will have only yourselves to blame for their untimely demise. Starting with this one, standing right in front of you."
Alan's breath caught in his throat as he glimpsed the captive people's faces break. They all wanted so badly to help, but there was absolutely nothing any of them could do. Alan hoped that John was listening and following this man's advice. Alan really didn't feel up to kicking the bucket.
"Come on boy." Alan gave a startled gasp as the barrel of the rifle was pressed into his back again. Continuing to walk, Alan hoped and prayed that this wouldn't be his final trip.
As Alan was directed to walk in front of his kidnapper, he lifted his gaze to look at the bus he was riding on. The large white vehicle was surrounded by men in black combat gear, each of them holding an assault rifle and each of them with a boy from his class kneeling on the ground in front them. Alan glimpsed Fermat and Andrew, they were both kneeling side by side, their hands clasped behind the back of their heads and both boys were squeezing their eyes shut. Alan didn't blame them.
"Attention boys. When I give the word, you all will get on the bus, like nothing happened. You will each take your seat, and then we will begin our journey. Any word of argument will result in punishment. If you doubt we'll do anything to you, try us and we'll demonstrate on one of your classmates. Do I make myself clear?" The man that spoke was the one that had his rifle trained on Alan, who'd remained standing. When none of the boys spoke for fear of it resulting in their death or punishment, the man that previously spoke barked out a reply. "I said…Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"
Each boy echoed a response of yes sir, before they were all roughly grabbed by their captors and herded onto the bus like sheep. Before Alan was allowed to board the bus, the chaperones followed by Mr. Henderson were forced onto the bus. Alan was one of the last to board the bus as he was being used as collateral to ensure the students and chaperones cooperation. A new bus driver that Alan didn't recognize closed the door of the bus and started the engine, before driving off.
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John was roused from his book that he'd buried his nose into when a shrill beep sounded through the space station. Raising his head, John moved from the small kitchen table where he'd been sitting, into the control room where all the computers and monitors were situated. Entering a code into his computer, John activated the link to the systems. His face paled when the computer revealed the shrill beep to be the distress signal that had been integrated into their comm. watches.
"Alan, is everything okay?" John activated the link that would connect him to Alan's watch and consequentially connect him with his baby brother. Alan never replied, instead a voice that answered made John's blood run cold.
"To all of you who have witnessed this event today, I just wanted to leave a word of warning. If any of you should involve police in any way, I will put a bullet in each of these boy's heads and you will have only yourselves to blame for their untimely demise. Starting with this one, standing right in front of you."
John thought his heart had stopped. The voice was so unfamiliar, but what the man had said was what made John's blood run cold. It was clear from the transmission that the 'one standing right in front of you' was his baby brother. Breaking out into a cold sweat, John continued to listen to the transmission, wanting to ensure that what he was hearing was true and not some brilliant strategy on his brother's part to give him a heart attack.
"Come on boy." The sharp gasp following those words made John bite his tongue. Glancing down at his computers, John could see that Alan had muted the relay that would give him the ability to talk to his brother. Alan wanted him to listen, and not get caught.
The only sound that was heard for several minutes was Alan's shaky breathing. It was again made perfectly clear to John that his baby brother was close to having a panic attack, he was hyperventilating, and he needed to calm down, before he either passed out or got him or someone else hurt. The shuffling footsteps stopped, and Alan gave a muffled cry, before he was silenced.
"Attention boys. When I give the word, you all will get on the bus, like nothing happened. You will each take your seat, and then we will begin our journey. Any word of argument will result in punishment. If you doubt, we'll do anything to you, try us and we'll demonstrate on one of your classmates. Do I make myself clear?" John was so happy that Brains had designed Thunderbird Five to automatically record any and all transmissions for documentation purposes. There was no way that he could explain all of this to his family, not without hyperventilating himself. "I said…Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"
'Come on Alan…speak up!' John pleaded silently with his baby brother to speak up, if only to preserve his life a little bit longer. The multitudes of voices that replied with "yes sir" was what made John give a gasp in relief. He'd been able to pick out Fermat's stuttering voice and Alan's voice in the crowd of boys agreeing to cooperate with the man who was doing this to them.
A rumble was heard as the bus was engaged. John listened to the transmission for several minutes more, before deciding he'd better notify his father of the recent events. Alan, Fermat and the rest of the boys were in terrible danger, but John was not aware of how much danger. He didn't know just how dire the situation was.
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Alan focused on the road outside the windshield of the bus. It was night time now. Surely news of the bus and its occupants being taken hostage for whatever reason would have reached the school and the parents of the boys involved. They'd been stuck on the bus for more than six hours and Alan was really wishing for a pit stop. Not only was he feeling sick to his stomach, one from lack of food…but stress. But he had to go to the restroom again. The man that had captured Alan in the restroom had kept his rifle trained on Alan and that didn't make him feel any more comfortable.
Alan had no way of knowing just where they were going, all he knew was that they had in fact entered Canada and it hadn't been through any checkpoints. The bus they had been on was abandoned several hours ago, it left too much of a trail. Reflecting on it now, it had been probably one of the most terrifying ordeals to date.
'The bus pulled out of the gas station parking lot and started driving. Everyone remained silent, fear and trepidation acting as the masks the boys wore. All eyes were kept on Alan near the front of the bus, because he was the sole occupant on the bus that had a semi-automatic rifle being pressed into his back.
Their captors hadn't bothered to ask them their names, instead focusing on calling them boy or maggot. Exhaling a shaky breath, Alan watched as the bus driver changed the exit. Now instead of taking the exit that would take them into the Canadian provinces via Interstate 91, they were headed down US Route 7.
The bus drove for another hour, before it pulled off onto an almost unused access road and was practically shrouded in darkness from the trees that swallowed them into the gloom. The man that had Alan stood up, grabbing Alan by his upper arm none too gently and ordering each of the boys to exit the bus and put their hands behind their head and walk forward, following the small army of men lined up outside.
As Fermat and Andrew walked past Alan, they both showed their barely concealed fear to the slightly older boy. He didn't mask the fear he felt either. He hoped that whatever these men wanted, they get it without any of them being badly hurt or worse. Alan was soon prompted forward by a jab into his spine by the barrel of the gun.
"Walk." Alan heeded the man's order and began to follow the group of boys walking in front of him. He too put his hands behind his head and walked with his head down. They'd all walked in a single file line into the dark depths of the forest until they came upon a second bus.
Following the man's command, each boy climbed on board of the bus and moved to a vacant seat. Alan remained with the main man who'd set the ball rolling and sat in the front of the bus. Alan however didn't know whether he should tell the man that he got car sick or not, instead focusing on paying attention to his surroundings.'
It was several hours later that he wished to inform his captor of his uneasy stomach when riding in the front seat of a bus. Seeing the moving road in front of him made Alan dizzy and it was that that made him nauseous. There was a reason why he preferred sitting directly in the middle of the bus, it calmed his tendency to get car sick. Clamping his mouth shut against the rising nausea, Alan prayed that an intervention of some kind would occur. He so didn't want to get sick right now, let alone on an unfamiliar bus with a bunch of gun wielding wackos.
"Um, sir…could you please stop the bus?" Alan's voice was small and quiet.
No reply came and Alan felt even sicker. Bending over, Alan pressed his head between his knees to calm his roiling stomach. It wasn't working. Alan clapped a hand over his mouth and before he knew it the bus was coming to a stop and the man with the gun was hauling Alan off the bus practically by the scruff of his neck.
"Get it over with." The man growled as he pushed Alan onto his knees in the grass just off the side of the road and turned his back to the boy while he surrendered the contents of his stomach. When Alan finished, he was again hauled up off the ground and dragged back onto the bus by the gun wielding lunatic. "Sit down and shut up!"
Alan swallowed thickly and kept his head down. The bus continued moving and against his better wishes, Alan like all the other boys sank into a fitful sleep.
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Jeff and his sons listened to the transmission that Alan was still relaying, wincing as they heard the youngest Tracy retching from the motion sickness that he sometimes experienced. That was one thing Jeff had never been able to figure out. Alan could ride in a car, plane, bus or train and not experience any nausea…unless he looked directly at the scenery whizzing past the window.
"Poor kid, can't he catch a break?" Gordon inquired sympathetically from where he sat on one of the couches in the lounge. All the brothers knew how badly Alan felt after experiencing bouts of motion sickness, but currently there wasn't anything they could do to help. All they could do was listen as Alan and the other boys were threatened and driven to God only knows where.
"What can we possibly do?" Virgil had his hands clasped together and pressed against his mouth as he listened to the transmission. Leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees, Virgil tried to figure out just who could possibly want to hurt a child.
"Nothing. We can't do anything Virge. You heard what that man said when Alan and the group was first captured…if the police get involved they'll start systematically killing off the students…starting with Alan." Scott stood behind his dad's desk, staring at the screen that showed a simple decibel monitor.
It showed any time noise was made and it recorded anything and everything. John was currently working magic from up in Thunderbird Five and removing any and all background noise and interference so that everything including whispers where picked up. They were listening to a chorus of soft snores coming from the group of boys that had fallen asleep, but that had soon been replaced with sounds of Alan struggling to contain his sick. So far, not one of the boys knew where they were being taken. That in itself was nerve wracking, because neither of the boys could activate the tracking beacon in their boots without being caught.