Sorry took me so long to update. Thanks for all the reviews - they really mean a lot to me and I'm sorry I can't reply personally but I'm a very busy student and I barely get time to write this, let alone reply, so apologies there.


Jeff was rudely awoken from his sleep by the sounds of the siren going off, his mind swimming and going into autopilot he desperately tried to roll off the bed only to feel the firm hands of his second youngest son push him back.

"Oh no you don't! I had a feeling you'd try to get up. Dad, your sick, Scott's handling things back here, Virgil's taking care of mobile control and Alan's handling the rescue, its only a small deal, they don't need me." Gordon explained as he eased his father back into the bed.

Jeff coughed a little and croaked, "What's the case?"

"Small forest fire in Russia, nothing Alan and Virgil can't handle alone, just a couple of dudes trapped in a log cabin up there that could be tricky, the fire itself can be handled easily by the local fire department, they're just having trouble getting the family trapped there out."

Jeff nodded and let himself settle, the rescue was fairly routine. He closed his eyes and drifted back into his troubled sleep.

"What's this all about?" Jeff cried anxiously.

"Mr. Tracy, please can we do this in my office? The children here are upset enough by this already."

Jeff nodded and reluctantly followed the tall, large lady into her office. He sat down on a leather padded chair that creaked beneath his weight. Jeff thought how it was funny what insignificant things you notice during traumatic events. The lady took her seat across the desk from him.

"What happened? Where's Rachel?"

"The truth is Mr. Tracy, we don't know." The lady's voice was beginning to tremble now and the lines on her ageing face had become more prominent.

"What do you mean you don't know? This is a boarding school, how can you just lose a 13 year old girl?" His voice was starting rise now as Jeff began to lose his temper.

The woman shifted uncomfortably in her seat and her hands suddenly became more interesting than they'd been before as she looked down and examined them as she spoke,

"Well, she must have slipped out during the night, Mr. Tracy. We have most of our staff searching for her as we speak, not to mention the police. We will find her, Mr. Tracy."

Jeff leaned forward and buried his head in his hands, he had an awful feeling he'd seen the last of his baby girl.

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Virgil and Alan landed Thunderbird 2 just clear of the flames that surrounded the little cabin and began to walk towards the cabin. They were greeted by a young woman carrying her baby. The woman used her free hand to grasp at Virgil's sleeve, tears streamed down her pale face and sweat caused her dark hair to cling to her forhead and neck.

"We need to get you out of here, Ma'am, come with us." Virgil took the woman by the arm but she refused to move. She kept crying the same words over and over again in Russian. Virgil looked at Alan who shrugged. Virgil frowned, "Ma'am please, its not safe, we have to evacuate you and your baby."

Still the woman refused to budge, however she took a deep breath and indicated to the forest behind her, where the fire was rapidly gaining ground, "Yuri."

"Yuri?" Alan asked, puzzled.

"Yuri." the woman persisted, frantically pointing to the trees.

"Yes Ma'am, there is a fire, that's why we need to get you to safety." Virgil tugged on her arm again, but the slender woman was steadfast.

"Virge, I think Yuri's someone's name." Alan piped in.

Virgil frowned again, he knew the hope of finding someone alive near the fire was slim, they'd have died of asphyxiation by now. But still he had to try. He indicated to the woman that he was going to find Yuri and Alan led her off to the safety of Thunderbird 2.

"Virge, I'll drop her off and then come and pick you up, ok?"

Virge nodded in agreement, checked his breathing equipment and headed towards the burning trees.

Alan bundled the woman and her baby into Virgil's 'bird and took off, flying her to the safety zone of a nearby town. He then dropped her off with the local authorities and returned to the log cabin to pick up Virgil, with or without Yuri, the fire was becoming too ferocious now and Alan knew as well as Virgil did that no one without breathing equipment would have been able to survive any longer than the woman and her baby did. Alan landed Thunderbird 2 smoothly and noticed that the flames were now not more than half a mile from the log cabin. He emerged from the 'bird and looked frantically round for his brother. There was no sign of him. Alan walked towards the trees that Virgil had gone hunting in, but there was no sign of his brother. He walked back to Thunderbird 2 and used his comm watch to contact Virgil. Anxietey lined the young man's face as he realised that Virgil had less than 20 minutes of oxygen left in his tank, he'd have to find him soon. He raised his wrist to his face and pressed the button,

"Alan to Virgil, come in?"

He waited.

Nothing.

He tried again

"Alan to Virgil, come in Virgil?"

Silence greeted him.

"Virgil are you there?" Alan's voice was high pitched and frantic as he struggled to remain calm. He was only 21 and the youngest member of International Rescue. he'd never felt so alone and frightened in all his life. No amount of training can prepare you for the prospect of losing a brother. In severe distress, Alan decided to contact Scott.

"Alan to Scott, come in?"

"Go ahead Alan." The first thing Scott noticed was his younger brother's eyes swimming with what threatened to be tears.

"I can't find Virgil, help me Scott, please I can't find him, I don't know what to do, he went looking for some Yuri guy and when I came back he'd gone, please Scott help me!" Alan made no attempt to hide his panic, he could now see flames licking the far trees and the thought of Virgil burning to death somewhere seized him with an intense grip. The tears in his eyes began to flow freely, for the first time in years he felt too young and inexperienced to handle the responsibilty that his job placed upon him and hementallyberated himself for ever leaving Virgil alone.

"Ok Alan, I'm checking for his biosigns now - get yourself onto the 'bird and out of danger, Alan, that's an order!" Scott spoke firmly to his brother in a vain attempt to snap Alan back into reality and focus.

Alan complied as Scott checked for Virgil's biosigns. There were none. That meant only one of two things, either Virgil had taken his watch off for whatever reason, or he was dead. Scott favoured the first idea although it seemed unlikely. With a heavy heart he knew what he had to do, there was no sense in losing 2 brothers by endangering Alan's life, he ordered Alan home.

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As Virgil began to stir, the first thing he noticed was the pain, it was everywhere. His body ached in places he didn't know existed. Opening his eyes he found himself in a dark, cold room. His brain slowly began to register the situation he was in. His feet weren't touching the floor and his arms ached, cold bits of metal dug into his wrist. It slowly dawned on him that he was a prisoner, in shackles. He shood his head, desperately trying to clear the clouds from his mind, as he did so the world span and his stomach rebelled, threatening to reject the remains of his supper. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He was medically trained, yet he couldn't even give himself the once over to determine what was broken. He assumed, judging by the cloudiness of his mind, that he had been drugged with something, although he had no idea what. He also knew that someone had beaten him up pretty badly, the aches and pains from various different parts of his body told him that. He inhaled deeply and was relieved to feel that at the very least, none of his ribs had been broken. He began to feel sleepy again and dark fingers threatened to pull him back into unconsciousness. Without thinking, he shook his head again to free himself of his drowsiness, the room spun once more and he regurgitated his stomach contents down the front of his silver coloured uniform before slipping back into unconsiousness.