Authors Notes: Chapter Two. Everything will be explained more clearly in the third chapter, so don't worry if you're confused by the end of this. Thanks fer reading 3

Thunderbirds (c) Garry Anderson

"Anything news from either of you two?"

"No," You answered with disappointment as you sat down. You and your family had been up at the chalet for nearly a week and had been unable to gather any information on the causes of the radio jamming. Your table was located in the corner of Paradise Peak's dining room, and though it was nearly deserted you leaned in closely to prevent anyone from hearing you. "I've been broadcasting open channels to try and locate any variations in the concentration of the jamming, but every channel seems to be effected equally. The jamming's constant."

"I haven't noticed anything unusual either. Everyone's story seems to be checking out. Not one person of shady origin in the whole resort." You rolled your eyes at your cousin and kicked him playfully under the table. Though Addison could sometimes seem like an introvert, he had a talent for getting on everybody's good side. He could make any girl fall in love on the spot, and make just about every man jealous. In truth, he'd probably spent more time flirting then he had doing any actual investigative work. A waiter came by your table, causing you and your family to all sit back rather quickly. You ordered a coke while your uncle and cousin each ordered a pint of Guinness.

"What about you, father? Have the Tracy boys found anything?"

"No, I've yet to ask them anything. As far as they know we really are here on vacation."

You wanted to glare at your cousin for bringing the matter up, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it. Instead, you starred shamefully at your lap. Your uncle had spent a few nights catching up with Jeff Tracy, but Jack knew about your feelings toward Scott. Rather than ask Jeff Tracy for valuable help, Jack was lying to his close friend so that you could hide from Scott like a frightened child.

At first you thought about confronting Scott, but that wouldn't do. He obviously didn't remember you, perhaps he had forgotten about your friendship all together. In the last five years he hadn't made a single attempt to contact you. If Scott didn't want you, you decided, than you would just have to let him go. The three of you finished your drinks and headed off for the rest of the afternoon. Jack was planning to infiltrate the staff files in the Paradise Peaks office and Addison was on his way to the ski hill to look for any suspicious characters. You headed back to your room to do what you did best; work the radio.

When you reached the door to your hotel room you pulled a key card out from the pocket of your blouse and slipped it into the lock mechanism. You heard it click and pulled the card out, but the light on the door handle didn't turn from red to green. You turned the handle and pushed against the door, but it just shifted in the door frame. You tried again, but still it wouldn't open. A third attempt yielded the same result.

"You need to take the key out when you turn."

You whipped yourself around at the sound of the voice, a voice you knew all too well. Scott Tracy was standing only a foot behind you with an amused smirk on his face. You couldn't stop yourself from starring into his gorgeous eyes. He was wearing a black v-neck sweater with a dress shirt and tie underneath. It looked so warm and comfortable that you found yourself thinking about snuggling up against his chest. You snapped yourself out of it.

"Oh, usually you have to pull them out for the lock to work."

"Here," Scott took the card from your hand delicately; you were too shocked by the skin on skin contact to stop him. He slipped the key card into the slot and turned the hand, opening your door with ease. "Simple as that!" He said cheerfully as he handed your key back to you.

You stood in the open doorway of your room, unsure of what to do. Scott was looking at you with that Tracy smile and you knew he wanted to be invited in. For just a moment you humoured the idea of inviting him in, you thought about how nice it would be to sit with him and catch up on the past five years, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it. It had been five years since he'd even cared about you, and five years since he knew you by your real name.

"Well thank you for your assistance, Mr. Tracy, but I do believe I can manage myself from here. Good day." Scott chuckled, seemingly amused by your response.

"But wouldn't you –"

"I said good day to you, sir." You said in a rather posh tone, stepping back to slam the door on him. The nerve of Scott, trying to be friendly with you. Who did he think he was?

You wrinkled your nose a little as you thought, perhaps you had over reacted. But what else could you do? If you took the time to become friends with Scott it was likely that you'd lose focus. You had a mission to complete. With this thought in mind you opened the closet doors, revealing a complex radio system that you had assembled on your first day at Paradise Peaks. You kneeled on the soft carpeted floor and began switching dials and pushing buttons. For the rest of the afternoon, you did nothing but send out and test radio channels.

You awoke that night angrily, confused as to why you were awake. You leaned over to see your bedside clock screaming the time at you with its evil red numbers. Four am. It was only four am, and you were wide awake. You sat in bed contemplating what had woken you when something caught your attention. From outside your room, in the hall way, you heard a mysterious thump.

With curiosity bubbling inside you, you slipped out of your warm bed and into the cold air. Shivering, you pulled on your boots and a thick hat complete with ear flaps. You dug through your trunk, through piles of clothing, until you found a small metal box. Pulling off the lid you found yourself starring at a Browning handgun. After a moment's hesitation you slipped the gun into the waist band of your pants and pulled on your coat. Your coat was terribly warm and reached your knees, effectively hiding your gun when you zipped the jacket up. You had never killed anyone before, but that didn't mean that Jack had never taught you how to defend yourself. You pressed your ear against the door and listened. The hallway was quiet. You opened your door and popped your head outside, checking to see that the coast was clear. You stalked down the hallway until you reached the lobby of the hotel just in time to catch a shadowy figure leaving through the back door. There was no way you could back to get Jack or Addison, because by the time you got help you would have lost the identified figure. With no other choice you followed suit.

Staying at a safe distance you followed the figure through the front lawn and up through the snowy hills of the mountains. You walked for what seemed like hours, until your feet ached and your hands were numb. Finally you saw the figure ahead of you approach a dark building in the distance. You recognized it to be the operating house for the cable cars that ran along the resort's ski hills. You waited a few minutes before following him inside.

The building was dark when you entered, only illuminated by the light of the early morning moon. The cable car system ran right through the building, and one of the cars was parked behind you. Around you were columns that supported the roof, and what looked like chairs for the cable car operators. In front of you, you could see the reflection of a window, but not much else. As you squinted to see what was across the room, you saw Rodriguez appear from out of the darkness. The window you were starring at must have belonged to a small secondary room, perhaps an office or operator's compartment. You caught the glint of Rodriguez's eyes and ducked behind one of the pillars.

"Nice try Marina," Rodriguez's voice bounced around the room as a light echo. It took you a minute to realize he was talking to you; you still weren't used to your fake name. "I know you and your friends are up here working for International Rescue. You may as well come out."

You'd lost control of your heart rate and were having difficulty breathing. Panic swarmed your nervous system. You fingered the zipper on your coat, slowly dragging it down so you could access your gun. At least he was wrong about you working for IR.

"It's over Marina, you can't win. Tomorrow we increase the reach of our broadcasting frequencies, knocking out radio transmission for the entire continental US. Imagine; America in a state of utter confusion and vulnerability."

You could hear Rodriguez's footsteps as he approached you. They were slow and deliberate, like the countdown of a clock. You peered your head around the edge of the pillar and were surprised to see Rodriguez standing nearly thirty feet away from you, holding a gun aimed towards you. You ducked back just in time to dodge his bullet. You literally had no time to think. The door was too far away for you to reach it without being shot. You had only one option.

You sprinted straight ahead towards the cable car and leapt with all your might. Covering your face with your hands your body collided with the side window of the cable car. The glass shattered around you like a snow storm and crunched under your feet as you landed inside the cable car. You hit the floor and stayed down as Rodriguez opened fire. You could hear bullets bouncing off the sides of the cable car as you crawled across the floor and reached the control panel. You flicked the only apparent switch on the panel and felt the car shift into movement. Everything was silent except for the noise of the moving cable. Rodriguez had stopped firing.

You crawled to the window and peered out through the frosty glass. You were nearly twenty feet above the face of the mountain and only getting higher.

"Very cute," Rodriguez called after you, "But I have men waiting for you at the bottom of the lift. In another twenty minutes, you'll be dead." Rodriguez raised his gun and fired on last shot at you. You flinched and ducked down, feeling the cable car swing violently. Rodriguez had hit the cable itself, fracturing the very thing that kept you from dropping.

Two minutes into the ride and you were practically 60 feet off the ground. You couldn't understand it. Rodriguez obviously had something to do with the radio sabotage, but was he doing in the cable building at four am? You sat on the floor of the cable car, huddled in a pool of glass shards trying to think. You pulled a compact mirror from the pocket of your coat. It looked like a child's toy, but your uncle had modified it into a communicator. You knew the radio capabilities would be jammed, but it was worth a shot. Using the communicator you were able to broadcast your location to your cousin, who would at least be able to find out where you went in the morning when he woke up. Somehow, the jamming frequency was weaker allowing you to leave your message. You couldn't understand why, but then it hit you.

The jamming had decreased only now, and the only thing in all of Paradise Peaks that had changed to your knowledge was the cable car. Rodriguez had damaged the cable. The cables were acting as jammers! They were high enough to effectively broadcast a competing radio signal, in fact they were the only thing high enough in the entire area. You hated yourself for not figuring it out sooner. There was only one thing left to do now and that was destroying the cable.

You hauled yourself to the edge of the broken window, your body aching from the jump through the glass. You pulled your Browning from your waistband and took a deep breath. You probably weren't going to survive, but you were okay with that. If you didn't make the sacrifice, anything could happen when Rodriguez and whoever he was working with increased their transmissions.

You fired, the bullet missed. Your hands were shaking and so you leaned further out the window to steady yourself. You fired again, this time hitting your mark. The bullet went through the cable, completely separating it. You threw yourself backwards to avoid toppling out the window. Everything was moving slowly. Your stomach was up in your throat as the cable went slack. You body flew upwards, slamming into the top of the car. A second later the cable car hit the mountain and your body slammed back into the floor. Immediately you felt a searing pain run through your shoulder like fire, slicing through your muscles. You expected more, but the overwhelming burning in your shoulder was the only pain you could sense. The cable car was on its back end, sticking out of the snow, with you crumpled in the corner. You could see light streaming in through the front window, everything else was black with snow. A hot wetness was leaking through your jacket and you realized that somewhere you were bleeding. You couldn't find the strength to even lift your head. There was a loud humming in your ears that seemed to surround you and the noise of it stayed with you as you gave into the pain and passed out.