Author's note: Thank you to Dickonfan not only for the beta but also for writing an Epilogue which you should read after this story.
I'm Sorry
Chapter 1
Virgil had many places around Tracy Island where he would express his artistic side. Sometimes he would sit on the rocks and sketch the view across the shore to the ocean. If he needed to be more clinical because he was trying out a new painting technique he would repair to the Round House where there was space to lay all his equipment around him. Occasionally he would use the balcony or pool-side where he could paint his family. This would not necessarily be an attempt at a portrait. He sometimes enjoyed a more abstract representation – a sweep of blue for Gordon diving in to the pool, a flash of red for the hot-headed Alan or shades of yellow to show Tin Tin lighting up the island with her sunny personality.
Today he was in his bedroom. When he needed to paint or draw in privacy that was where he chose. He would lock the door and immerse himself for hour after hour in his creation, the only thing able to distract him being a signal for the start of a rescue. Any attempts from the rest of the family to contact him were not only ignored but not even registered.
This particular painting had taken some time. He was anxious to get the features on the female in the foreground of the picture just right. He reworked her face many times until he was satisfied, if not pleased, with her serene expression of happiness. Her arm was stretched out to a male behind her. The two were holding hands, obviously deeply in love, revelling in the moment. Virgil looked at the painting from many angles, desperate for it to be perfect.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Three months earlier
Virgil was humming as he landed Thunderbird Two in the danger zone at the beginning of a rescue. To be honest, it was not an appropriate time to be humming but he could not get a particular love aria out of his head. He had been listening to it when the call to a rescue came. Now with Scott busy at Mobile Control and John prepping the vehicles in the pod there was quiet in the cockpit and he played with the intricacies of the tune while simultaneously dealing with the intricacies of land his 'bird safely. But the humming vanished the moment that Scott's commanding voice came through the comms.
"Meet me by the entrance to the pod and move fast. We haven't got much time with this one."
The location was Vancouver and the problem had been a minor earthquake. The well built city had not been greatly troubled and, although the emergency services had plenty to deal with, they were able to cope with the damage. The problem for International Rescue was a passenger tunnel that ran under the Barrund Inlet. The tunnel was so old it was part of the history of the area. It wasn't often used as most people preferred to cross the river by the tram tunnel or one of the road bridges.
The tunnel had been unable to take the force of the tremor and, after 150 years of grand service, collapsed unceremoniously during the 'quake. A father and son and their bicycles had been swept away. Two joggers had been buried under rubble. A skateboarder had thought himself safe but had been quickly drowned by the water rushing into his area of the tunnel. These were people International Rescue would never be able to help. However, scanners had picked up some signs of life especially in the areas of the tunnel that sloped upwards from the river bed to join the road.
Gordon had already been dispatched in Thunderbird 4 to take a look at the damage and rescue possibilities from underwater. Virgil and John were intending to use the Mole and other digging equipment to work their way down from the top.
Within a couple of hours, Gordon had managed to affect a rescue from Thunderbird 4 and John and Virgil had rescued five people from the surface rubble on both sides of the river.
Virgil returned from dropping a victim off at the triage point and went over to Scott at Mobile Control.
"What's the situation, now?" he asked his eldest brother and field commander.
"Things are looking up. What we need to concentrate on now is a possible live victim who is buried on this side of the river quite a bit further down than you've been before. John has sent the locator down to see if we can get some sort of contact established to check we have a valid rescue objective rather than a recovery situation. Go and see him, okay?"
"FAB." Virgil walked off sighing. Scott had obviously just been updating politicians on the situation by his turn of phrase. He wished he had just said: "I'm not letting you down there until we're sure they're alive and not dead."
He soon found John who was on his hands and knees by a small hole where the foot tunnel had originally started from. He was feeding an ingenious rope down the hole. The locator, as the rope was known, had the strength to hold a small comms device to its end but its material properties made it run across surfaces like water. It didn't snag on the jagged edges of concrete or rock but instead flowed across them allowing the user to send it into areas where there were only tiny holes or crevices.
"How's it going?"
John glanced at him. "It's gone a long way in what looks to be the right direction but it's still hit and miss. Scott and Alan are tuned into the comms. They'll let us know if they hear anything. Gordon's still scouting in Four."
Virgil sat down next to John watching him feed the locator while the two of them unconsciously held their breaths as if being as silent as possible would make a difference. The silence was broken by a squeak from Alan that sounded from John's wrist comm.
"I can hear breathing! I think I hear a woman speaking….she's saying…she's saying 'Help!' Weak but alive."
Scott immediately broke in. "Alan, get an exact location while I try and make contact with her. Okay, John, Virg. Get going!"