Penelope paused for a moment and then opened the door. She gasped at the sight that met her. A large woman with short dark red hair and a grey fleece sat on a chair on the opposite side of the room. She was bound to the chair with silver duct tape around the upper part of her body to the backrest whilst her wrists were tied to the arms of the chair. More tape bound her legs to the front legs of the chair whilst another piece covered her mouth. She let out some muffled cries as Penelope hurried over to her.

"Hey, Clare, it's okay, you're safe now," said Penelope as she peeled the gag off Clare Cutler's mouth.

Parker then arrived and he froze. He and Penelope looked at each other. They knew what this meant.

Clare was in tears. "Where are my girls?" she asked. "What have they done with them?"

"Tegan's asleep in her bed," said Penelope. "Clare, what happened here?"

Clare wiped her eyes. She was in a real state.


Penelope relayed the bad news to International Rescue.

"So my hunch was right after all," said Daniel. "Not only had FAB3 been taken, but so has his rider."

"I'm so sorry, Daniel, but I have to look for her," Penelope said. "You're going to have to find FAB3 without me, I'm afraid."

"That's not a problem, Penny," Daniel said. "You go look for your friend and we'll go and find FAB3, providing Kerry can narrow down the field of search."

"Funny you should mention that," Kerry said. "I've just been able to locate his beacon. It seems he's heading towards an abandoned quarry – about thirty miles to the South of Creighton Manor."

"A lonely spot where nobody would think of looking," said Katie.

"And as far away from the racetrack as possible," added Wizzy. "This has to be the work of one of the rival horsemen."

"I've been thinking the same thing," agreed Penelope. "And I have a sneaky suspicion I might know who that is."

"And who'd that be?" asked Daniel.

"Rupert Everett," said Penelope. "He's the owner of Unbeatable – the horse that has won the last four Grand National races."

"And he sees FAB3 as a potential threat?" asked Laura.

"Yes, he must do," said Penelope. "Unbeatable and FAB3 are both the fastest racehorses in the world. Clearly Everett doesn't want his horse to be beaten as it would mean he wouldn't land the world record for the most wins of a horse at the Grand National in a row."

"Then he seems the most likely suspect," said Daniel. "However, we'll need solid evidence before we can accuse him."

"Agreed," said Penelope. "Now, I'm sorry but we're going to have to begin our search – only we don't have any clues to go on."

"What do you have to go on?" asked Daniel.

"Only that three men broke into the house – one armed with a gun," Penelope said. "They bundled Chantelle into their van and left Clare bound and gagged."

"Did she see the van?" asked Jodie, who like Kerry was listening in.

"Only the top of it from her bedroom window after she'd been tied up," said Penelope. "She said it was bright blue."

"Well that narrows it down," said Daniel. "I don't suppose that there's any way you can trace it?"

"No, afraid not," sighed Penelope. "Oh, this day just gets worse!"

"Penelope, I have an idea," said Jodie. "During FAB1's last upgrade, I added a tyre-mark scanner. Scan the road surface around the front of the cottage and you may well find what you're looking for. Then you can follow them to wherever that van went."

Penelope brightened up instantly. "Of course!" she said happily. "Jodie, you're a genius!"

Jodie blushed. "Oh, please," she said.

"No, Jodie, you are," said Daniel. "Okay, Penelope, you get onto that. we'll let you know when we find FAB3 and his horse-nappers."

"Thank you, Daniel," said Penelope. "Please be careful."

"You too," said Daniel.


Penelope and Parker returned to FAB1 after promising Clare that they would find Chantelle. Parker soon found the device that Jodie had mentioned and it didn't take him long to figure out how it worked. At the touch of a button, it sent out a radar pulse which revealed a set of tyre tracks on the road from the front of the house. A quick check of the Police database confirmed that they were the type used by transit vans.

"Perfect match, m'lady!" said Parker. "If this does what Dr 'ackenbacker says h'it does, it'll lead us right to them!"

"Excellent," said Penelope. "Let's get moving, Parker. Quickly but carefully now."

FAB1 set off along the road. Parker had to regularly press the scanner so that it revealed more of the tyre tracks, but it was definitely working. They could only hope that Chantelle's abductors hadn't gone too far.


Bill and Terry had driven the horsebox to an abandoned quarry. It was the perfect hiding place for them. there was nobody around. Ignoring the 'Danger' signs, they entered the quarry compound and headed for a nearby cave.

"Soon the race will be over," Terry was saying. "And once the boss's horse has secured the victory, we'll be rich!"

"Yeah!" agreed Bill. "Hey, wait – what's that noise?"

There was a rumbling sound coming from somewhere nearby.

"I don't hear anything," said Terry. "Easy, Bill – you're just getting jumpy."

But Bill was getting a little more than jumpy. He thought he recognised what the sound was. "It's a helicopter!" he cried. "It must be the cops!"

"Get in the cave then, hurry!" shouted Terry.

Bill put his foot down and the horsebox raced into the cave before screeching to a stop. FAB3 was shaken around in the back, but otherwise he was unhurt.

The two crooks thought they were safe now that they were in the cave, but it was then they realised their mistake. The rumbling sound that Bill could hear was now louder than it had been before, and it was definitely not the sound of a helicopter. And then, it happened – the whole cave began to shudder and shake followed by a loud CRASH from behind. Once it had stopped, Bill and Terry got out of the horsebox to see what had happened. They froze when they saw it. Huge rocks had fallen down and completely blocked off the cave mouth.

"That was no flamin' 'elicopter!" exclaimed Bill. "It was a landslide!"

"What are we gonna do?!" cried Terry. "We're trapped!"

"Hush your mouth, idiot, you're frightening the horse!" snapped Bill. "The helijet boys know where we went. They'll come looking for us." He then looked at FAB3 who was looking agitated. "Easy there, boy. We won't hurt you." He went to stroke FAB3 but the frightened horse saw him as a threat and decided to bite his hand. "EEEEEEEEEEYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!" Bill cried out as he danced around in pain. "YOU GREAT STINKING ANIMAL!"


Kerry had been monitoring the signal from FAB3's tracker and had noticed it was no longer moving. "The signal's come to a stop," she said to Daniel and Laura. "Looks like they've gone into that old quarry."

"Is the quarry safe?" asked Daniel.

"Negative, it's been abandoned for some time," Kerry replied. "Not sure why though."

"Maybe the area's unsafe," suggested Laura. "Or something bad happened there which caused it to be shut down."

"Either way, that's where FAB3 is," said Kerry. "Might I suggest that you approach with extreme caution."

"F-A-B," said Laura and Daniel together.

"I'm over England now, Kerry," said Laura. "I have a lock on the signal. Will be there in just under three minutes."

"F-A-B, Laura," said Daniel. "We're about ten minutes behind you. Find out where about in the quarry he is and report back."

"F-A-B, Dad," said Laura.


Thunderbird 1 soared over the English countryside and it wasn't long before it arrived over the quarry. Laura looked down at the large expanse of dug-out ground. It looked perfectly fine to her, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a danger present.

"Thunderbirds 2 and 5 from Thunderbird 1, I'm over the quarry now," Laura said. "However, I can't see any sign of FAB3, the thieves or the horsebox."

"According to my holo-map, you're right above him, Thunderbird 1," Kerry said. "Please don't tell me that I've been tracking the wrong signal?"

Laura flew low over the quarry looking for clues. "Hang on, I think I've got something here," she said. "Wheel-marks in the ground, and they look fresh and…oh, no!"

"What is it, Laura?" asked Daniel.

"The tracks end at a pile of rocks," said Laura. "Unless…"

Kerry took a closer look at the mountain of rocks in front of Thunderbird 1. "Bingo!" she said. "The scanners have picked up a horsebox and three life-signatures inside a cave. Two are human, the other is not!"

"FAB3?" asked Katie.

"Has to be," said Daniel. "But, Laura, did you say the tracks ended at rocks?"

"Affirmative," answered Laura. "The mountain must be unstable and when they drove inside it must've caused a landslide which had blocked off the entrance."

"Well, that's some good news," said Wizzy.

"It is?" asked Leanna. "How?"

"Well if that's the only way in and out then they can't escape from us," said Wizzy.

"That is true," said Rosie. "But that also means that we can't get in to capture them and get FAB3 out safely."

Katie sighed heavily. "If only we could've anticipated a situation like this," she said. "We could've brought either the Mole or the Firefly along."

Jodie appeared on the holo-screen. "This is why I suggested the interchangeable pods," she said. "You could make one into a bulldozer-pod to clear away the rubble or you could make one into a Mole-pod so you can burrow your way in and catch them out."

"Good thinking, Jodie…again!" said Daniel grinning. "What would we do without you?"

"Err…that is a good question, Mr Tracy," answered Jodie. "I'm not sure even I could answer that one!"

"I'll land and take a closer look at the rock-fall," said Laura.

"F-A-B," said Daniel. "Our ETA is four minutes."

Inside the cave, Terry was bandaging Bill's injured hand when FAB3 began to whine. Before they could tell him to be quiet, they heard a noise coming from the other side of the rocks.

"You hear that?" said Terry. "What is it?"

"It's an aircraft!" Bill realised. "It must be the helijet! They've found us!"

But it wasn't the helijet they could hear, it was Thunderbird 1's vertical jets as it came in to land near to the rock-fall. Laura got out and began to examine the rocks. There were quite a lot of them and a few more smaller ones slipped down which told her that the area wasn't very safe. She turned around when she heard the distinctive engine noise of Thunderbird 2.

"Easy with the approach, Thunderbird 2, the area around the cave is unstable," Laura warned.

"F-A-B, Laura," Katie replied. She then activated Thunderbird 2's vertical jets and guided the craft down to land close to Thunderbird 1.


Whilst Thunderbirds 1 and 2 were arriving at the quarry, FAB1 was making good progress in its hunt for the transit van that Chantelle had been taken away in.

"I hope it's not much further, Parker," said Penelope anxiously. "There's only just two hours left until the race starts. Even if Daniel and the girls find FAB3 and deliver him to the racecourse, he won't be able to take part without Chantelle."

Suddenly, Parker sharply applied the brakes and stopped the car.

"What on earth was that for?" Penelope asked.

"Shh, m'lady," whispered Parker. "Look!"

Penelope looked at where Parker was pointing. Her eyes widened slightly. There was a bright blue transit van parked in a nearby farmyard. Parker looked at the screen showing the tyre-tracks. They led into the very same farmyard.

"I believe that we 'ave found the van, m'lady," said Parker. "I'm going to guess that Miss Curtis is h'around 'ere somewhere."

"And I'll hazard a guess that she'll be in that barn," said Penelope looking at the large building that the van was parked next to. She could just make out the shapes of two men walking around the van – most likely the ones who'd taken Chantelle. "Keep the car out of sight, Parker. We'll go in on foot."

"Right-h'o, m'lady," agreed Parker as he slowly reversed FAB1 back down the road.

After concealing FAB1 amongst some bushes, Penelope and Parker began to make their way across the fields towards the barn. They kept themselves as low down as they could to avoid being spotted by anyone who might be watching out for trouble.


Daniel and the girls surveyed the landslide in front of them.

"I see what you mean about the mountain, Laura," said Daniel. "It does look a bit unstable."

"Using a Mole-Pod might make it worse," agreed Katie. "Even just clearing these rocks away could trigger another one."

"I know the risk, Katie, but we'll have to chance it," said Daniel.

"Kerry's confirmed there's no other exit to the cave," said Laura. "However, we don't want the thieves attempting to make a run for it once we clear the entrance."

"Then here's what we do," said Daniel. "Katie, set up one of the pods as the Mole and burrow your way into the cave. Come up on the opposite side to where the horsebox is and that way you'll be able to cut the thieves off. Take Leanna with you, and once you've secured them, Wizzy can use the bulldozer-pod to clear the rocks so we can get FAB3 out."

"Sounds like a plan," said Wizzy.

"Let's do it," added Leanna, eager to start work.

The girls headed back into Thunderbird 2 and went into the pod's bay where the four yellow pods were waiting for them. Katie selected the 'Mole'-mode whilst Wizzy selected the 'Bulldozer'-mode. Robotic arms worked quickly to attach the necessary parts needed to the pods. Both were mounted on frames with yellow crawler-tracks. One had rollers, a drill-mounting and the drill itself attached to the sides and front respectively and the other had a large bulldozer blade fitted to its front. Once all this was done, Katie and Leanna climbed into the two-seater Mole whist Wizzy climbed into the front seat of the bulldozer. Strangely all three were thinking the same thing. They weren't concerned about the thieves like they were for FAB3.

"Ready, Dad," said Katie.

Daniel used his wrist-controller to lift the main body of Thunderbird 2 clear of Pod 2 before opening the door to allow the two vehicles to move out. Katie drove the Mole out first and positioned it around the side of the rock-fall. Leanna then began to plot a safe route using the computer to enable them to come up and trap the thieves.

"Course plotted, Katie," said Leanna. "Let's go get them!"

"F-A-B!" said Katie.

Daniel, Rosie and Laura stood underneath Thunderbird 1 out of harm's way as the Mole-Pod tipped forwards to face downwards. Its drill spun up and with a rumble of its engine, burrowed its way into the ground and disappeared from view.

Bill and Terry could hear the rumbling sounds from outside and were getting concerned.

"HEY!" Terry shouted through the rocks. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS PLAYING AT OUT THERE?! GET US OUT OF HERE!"

"Terry, stop shouting, they can't hear you!" Bill barked. "They're probably trying to figure out a way to…what the…?!"

The cave walls began to shake again. At first they thought the deep rumbling sound they could hear was the ground, but soon realised that it was moving through the walls past them. They hurried round to the front of the horsebox where they saw some large cracks appearing in the wall on their left.

"Err…Bill…I'm scared!" wailed Terry. "The world's coming to an end!"

Before Bill could reply, the wall burst open as the Mole entered the cave coming to a stop once its drill was just touching the opposite side. There was nowhere for the thieves to go.

"Wow!" exclaimed Bill. "What is that thing?"

"That's definitely not the cops!" exclaimed Terry. "Where did the guys get something as cool as that?"

But their amazement was cut short when the top of the Mole opened and the two girls jumped out before pulling out their stun-guns.

"Woah, easy there!" exclaimed Bill as he and Terry held their hands up.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Terry.

"We're International Rescue," said Katie. "And it's not you that we've come for."

"We're here for FAB3," said Leanna.

Bill and Terry looked at each other, startled. "Who?" they both said.

"DON'T mess us about!" snapped Katie. "Now where is he?"

A loud neigh came from the horsebox telling the two girls that FAB3 was safe.

"NO!" cried Terry. "YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM!" He then ran towards Leanna who shot him with her stun-gun.

"TERRY!" yelled Bill. He then ran towards Leanna but was taken out by Katie's own stun-gun.

"Pathetic," Katie remarked.

Leanna nodded in agreement as she and Katie quickly handcuffed the two men before going to check on FAB3.

"Aww!" exclaimed Leanna once Katie had opened the back of the horsebox. "He's gorgeous!"

FAB3 looked at the two girls. He didn't recognise Leanna but he had seen Katie before and lowered his head to be patted. "Hey, it's okay, big fella, you're safe," said Katie. "I hope those nasty men didn't hurt you."

Leanna turned on her watch radio. "Laura, we've got them," she said. "The two crooks are cuffed and FAB3's safe."

"Well done, both of you," said Laura. She nodded to Daniel.

Daniel then spoke into his radio. "Wizzy, they've managed to capture the two crooks. You're up," he said.

"F-A-B!" said Wizzy. She started up the bulldozer and moved in. as carefully as she could, she moved as many boulders as she could out of the way in one go before reversing back around and going in again.


It wasn't long before Katie and Leanna began to see daylight again. Katie continued to pat FAB3 in order to keep him calm until Wizzy had finished clearing the rubble. Leanna went back to the Mole and moved it from the cave before putting it back onto its trolley. Katie waited until both machines were back in Pod 2 before she walked FAB3 out into the open.

"Hey, what about us?" cried Bill from where he and Terry were handcuffed to the front bumper of the horsebox.

"You can't leave us here!" yelled Terry.

"Silence!" Katie snapped as she guided FAB3 out to where the others were.

"Hello, big fella," said Daniel as he took FAB3's reins from Katie. "Good to see you again."

Like Katie, FAB3 seemed to recognise Daniel as he neighed happily.

"Are the Police on their way?" asked Katie.

"Yes, they are," said Laura. "They should be here soon."

"Good," said Katie. "The sooner those scumbags are taken away, the happier I'll be."

"How does he look?" Daniel asked Rosie, who despite not being a vet was still giving him a check-over.

"He's seems perfectly fine," Rosie replied. "No injuries whatsoever. He'll be fine to take part in the race once we get him there."

"Providing Penelope can find the rider," said Laura.


Penelope and Parker had managed to reach the barn without being spotted. They had noticed there were two men lurking around the entrance so they knew it would be a bad idea to go in there so they climbed up the side wall using the outside metal girders. Penelope led the way until they reached the large gap near the roof where the look-out man was. He didn't even realise anyone was there until they grabbed his feet and pulled him out. His yell went unheard as he landed face-first in a pile of cow mess.

"Phew-e!" remarked Parker, holding his nose. "What h'a load of s…"

"Parker!" said Penelope with a sly smile and a raise of her eyebrows.

Parker cleared his throat. "Oh, h'ahem, yes, sorry, m'lady," he said as Penelope pulled herself up onto the open window ledge. Parker then pulled himself up to join her.

Concealing themselves amongst the high stacks of hay bales, they looked around. The barn was mostly filled with straw, but there were a couple of men walking around the gantries whilst another two men were down in the very middle. Close to where these two were standing was another fairly large young woman tied to a chair. Unlike her mother, Chantelle's hands were tied behind her back and she had a blindfold as well as a gag so that she couldn't see where she'd been taken.

"There she is, Parker," whispered Penelope. "We'll have to take out all the guards before we can free her."

"Star with the ones on the gantry and make our way from there, eh, m'lady?" asked Parker.

Penelope nodded. "Exactly," she said. "We'll have to somehow distract those ones by the door to lure to us."

"Or gas grenades?" suggested Parker.

Penelope grinned. "Even better!" she said approvingly. "Come on, let's go."

Chantelle tugged feebly at the rope that was binding her to the chair. Her muffled grunts were ignored by the two men standing near to her.

"Any word from the others?" one of them asked the other.

"Nothing," the other one replied. "Bill and Terry were meant to be hiding out in the old quarry near Dudley but nobody's heard from them since they got the horse. I heard the helijet's been sent to find out what's happened."

As the men were talking, Penelope and Parker dropped down onto the gantry above and crept up behind the two men walking on it. They grabbed them and kept them from shouting as they used chloroform cloths to knock them out. With them now dealt with, they had to deal with the two at the entrance to the barn before they could take out the two near Chantelle. They took out a gas grenade each and primed it before throwing them down towards the entrance of the barn. As the grenades burst and released the knock-out gas, the two men immediately began to cough and splutter before falling to the ground. It also caught the attention of the two near Chantelle, just as Parker and Penelope hoped it would.

"Hey, Steve! Al! what's going on?" shouted the first man who'd spoken.

But before either of them knew what was happening, Penelope and Parker had jumped down from the gantry and landed right on top of them. the impact on the floor instantly knocked them both unconscious.

Chantelle was mumbling in fear. More so because she couldn't see what was going on. Penelope hurried over to her whilst Parker kept an eye open in case anyone else came along. Chantelle blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light after Penelope had removed the blindfold. Her eyes widened and she continued to mumble when she saw who was standing in front of her.

"Shh, Chantelle, relax, it's me," Penelope said as she carefully peeled the tape off Chantelle's mouth. "You're safe now."

"Penelope?!" gasped Chantelle as Penelope began to untie her from the chair. "How on earth did you find me here? What's happened to FAB3?"

"It's okay, I've got some people searching for FAB3," said Penelope. "I know they will find him. Now are you hurt?"

"N-no, I'm not," stammered Chantelle. "Where's Mum and Tegan? Are they okay?"

"They're fine," said Penelope. "I found your Mum bound and gagged when I went round to tell you about FAB3. They didn't even touch your sister."

Chantelle burst into tears of relief. "Oh, thank heavens!" she sobbed.

Penelope had now finished untying Chantelle and she helped her to her feet. "Is it clear, Parker?" she asked.

"Yus, m'lady," Parker replied. "I'll call the car round." He sent a signal from his keys to FAB1 which automatically drove itself from where it had been hidden round to the yard."

"Get in the back, Chantelle," said Penelope. "Parker, we need to make sure these goons don't escape before the Police get here."

"Quite, m'lady," agreed Parker.


It didn't take long for Penelope and Parker to tie the six men up using the same rope they'd used to bind Chantelle with. They then left them inside the barn as they drove away in FAB1.

Once they were underway, Penelope called Daniel. "Daniel, it's Penny – we have found Chantelle."

"Good work, Penny," Daniel replied. "And you'll be pleased to know we've found FAB3 safe and sound. We're just waiting for the Police to pick-up the two men from the horsebox and we'll bring him back to you."

"Do you think you could take him to Aintree, please?" said Penelope. "We're on our way there now."

"Certainly," said Daniel. "How long have we got?"

"Just under an hour if he's still to compete," said Penelope. "Chantelle isn't hurt so she can still ride him."

"Good to hear," said Daniel. "See you soon."

As Penelope signed off, Daniel turned back to where the girls were trying to interrogate Bill and Terry.

"Why did you take FAB3?" asked Katie.

"You hardly look like the owners of a racehorse," said Wizzy.

"We're not telling you anything!" snapped Bill.

"Yeah, keep your noses out of our business!" added Terry.

Daniel could see this was going nowhere, so he came up with an idea. "You know things would go a lot better for you if you'd just tell us the truth," he said.

"Yeah, well we aren't talking!" said Bill.

Daniel looked at Katie. "Mole?" he asked.

Katie grinned, realising what he meant. "Mole," she said and then tapped her watch.

Bill and Terry's eyes widened as the Mole-Pod came back out. It came right up to them and stopped. Then its front tilted down to face them.

Daniel looked down at their alarmed faces. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," he said sternly. "Katie, start the drill."

Terry and Bill trembled at the sight of the drill on the Mole's front. Even more so when it slowly began to spin around.

"Rupert Everett!" Terry suddenly cried. "He paid us to steal FAB3 so that it couldn't take part in the race!"

"Terry, shut up!" shouted Bill.

"No, you will though!" snapped Leanna placing her boot on Bill's leg. "You will let him finish."

"I thought as much," said Daniel as the Mole's drill powered down. "If FAB3 was out of the race, there would be no competition for Unbeatable and Mr Everett would get the world record he wants so badly."

"But he has to!" wailed Terry. "He promised us we'd be rich!"

"Well sorry to shatter your dreams,," said Daniel. "But that's not going to happen"

Their attention was then drawn to the sound of Police sirens approaching. Bill and Terry could do nothing but watch as a group of three Police Cars and a van came rushing towards them.

"They're all yours, officers," said Daniel as the Police moved in to take the two crooks away. They then went back to their respective crafts and took off heading for Aintree Racecourse. However, time was not on their side.