CHAPTER THREE

The Hood stood beneath the great green giant that was Thunderbird 2. Looking up, he realized how truly magnificent a machine she really was. And she was his for the taking. Yet in spite of her potential, there was another Thunderbird he was after. More than any other, Thunderbird 1 had been the ship in his sights ever since he'd first laid eyes on her.

What destruction he could accomplish with a rocket plane that fast, with that much fire power. Two would do in a pinch, but since he hadn't yet been discovered he felt he had plenty of time to see if her sister ship could be found.

He looked around the massive hangar and thought, Now if I was Jeff Tracy, where would I have put it?

Then he stopped as it all suddenly became clear to him. He didn't need to figure it out on his own. There was one person on this island who'd give him every bit of information he'd need. And he knew just where he'd find him.

Scott's nearly lifeless body lay on the table. Jeff looked on, a deep frown creasing his forehead, as Brains, John and Virgil donned surgical gowns and masks.

Brains looked at the brothers and blinked.

"We want to help," Virgil said quietly.

Nodding, the scientist replied, "Well, I'll definitely need it. Just stick to what I tell you to do though. Nothing more, nothing less."

They scrubbed their hands quickly and thoroughly and had soon snapped latex gloves on. Gordon scrubbed up next, put on his own gown and mask, and worked at preparing the instruments they would need to try and save Scott's life.

First an X-ray was taken.

When Jeff saw the image appear on the giant screen on the opposite wall, all color drained from his face.

Next it was an MRI. Even though he cofuldn't see anything but the eyes of his sons and Brains, Jeff knew their faces mirrored the quiet horror on his own as a 3D image rezzed next to that of the x-ray.

He felt his mother grasp his hand but he couldn't muster the desire to close his fingers around it. This had happened too often in his life. Not only Lucille, but the multitude of times any one of his boys had been hurt over the years.

His sons...

"Oh, God," he said, raising a hand to his forehead to rub it.

"What is it, Jeff?"

"Alan. No one's contacted Alan." He sighed, not wanting to leave the room, but not wanting Alan to hear about what was going on from anyone but his father. "I'll be in the front room, boys," he said. His mother followed him through the swinging door and into the main area of Tracy Island's hospital which consisted of four beds. Cabinets and cupboards lined the walls and on one of the counters was a video phone.

Ruth suddenly gasped. "Melody! Oh, my God, we left her in Scott's bedroom! She has no idea how to get down here!"

"We'll go after her as soon as I've made the call to Alan, Mother."

Nodding quietly, Ruth came to stand by his side as Jeff patched them through to Thunderbird 5.

Kyrano cried out when he saw Tin-Tin sprawled on the landing halfway down the staircase. He rushed to her side and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her chest rise and fall. Shining his flashlight around, he concluded she must have been thrown down the stairs when the plane crashed into the villa.

Turning off and pocketing the light, he gently lifted his unconscious daughter into his arms and headed up the steps.

It was the last thing he remembered.

Melody had just climbed back out of the aircraft and slid to the floor when she heard a voice from the hall.

"Hello? Who's there?"

She came from the bedroom and into the sitting room, dusting her clothes off as she walked. "It's only me, Kyrano," she replied, then gasped as she saw his burden. "What happened? Is she all right?"

"She is alive, but beyond that I do not know, Miss Melody. I am taking her to the hospital."

"Is that where they took Scott?" Mel asked as the she followed him.

"I believe that is where they would have gone, yes." They hurried to the elevator, which Mel was surprised to see still worked, and waited for it to rise. "If I may, what were you doing alone in Mr. Scott's room?"

"I was just having a look around," she said as the door swished open before them. They stepped in and Kyrano pressed a button as the door closed. She shook her head and chewed on her lip.

"Something's bothering you."

"Well, yes, now that you mention it, something is."

The door opened and Kyrano led her to the hospital ward door. Just as he was about to push it open, it swung out at them from the inside.

"Kyrano!" Jeff exclaimed. "Is she hurt?" he asked as he lifted Tin-Tin from her father's arms.

"I don't know, Jeff," he replied softly, watching his benefactor lay his daughter on the nearest bed.

Seeing the strange look on his mother's face over hearing Kyrano use his given name, Jeff distracted her with, "Mother, tell John I need him in here for vitals."

Ruth disappeared into Surgery while Jeff straightened Tin-Tin's arms and legs. He began at her feet, hands feeling slowly from her toes, over her arches and up over her ankles. Her shins felt fine as did each thigh. He moved his hands up over her hips, along her waist and around to her abdomen, where he slowly and gently pressed in.

"I'm not feeling anything wrong but we'll need a scan to tell us for sure," he said as Ruth reappeared with John in tow.

Melody watched Jeff finish his manual examination while John hooked Tin-Tin up to an oxygen mask, then took her pulse, listened to her heart, got her temperature quickly with an ear thermometer and took her blood pressure.

"Vitals look good, Dad," he finally announced. "X-ray or MRI?"

"I'd say X-ray. We should be able to see any internal injuries with that," Jeff replied. John nodded and disappeared into Surgery again.

Melody took a moment to look around and realize where she was. This was Tracy Island. This was the Tracys' home, a paradise retreat. While it made sense they'd want some sort of medical facility this far from the nearest large city, it astounded her to see what looked like a full-fledged, if small, hospital.

She and Kyrano remained far enough away to not be nuisances. For a few minutes Kyrano's eyes were closed as though he was praying. She watched as he opened them and turned to look at her. "Miss Melody, what is it that was bothering you in Scott's room?"

She puckered her lips for a moment. "Well, for one thing, the nose of that plane was reinforced with a ceramic cover, almost as though whoever did it fully planned on ramming into something."

Ruth looked over her shoulder. "You make it sound like that crash was deliberate," she said as John adjusted the mask over Tin-Tin's mouth and nose.

"I hate to say it, Aunt Ruth, but after what I found, I'm beginning to believe it was."

"What you found?" Jeff echoed, turning to face her. "What did you find?"

"For one thing," Mel began, moving a forward a few steps, "isn't it odd that Scott's door was jammed open when you found him, but he wasn't anywhere near that door when the plane hit?"

John frowned as he removed his mask. "Well, he could've just hit the spot that auto-opened the door when he heard or saw the plane and ran to the window to get a better look."

"That's true," Jeff nodded slowly. "But if Scott saw a plane coming at his balcony, he wouldn't run toward it."

"You're right, Dad. He would've run out into the hall, not back into his room."

"That's not all I found," Melody said, fishing into the pocket of her shorts. She held her hand out, palm-open.

Jeff reached out and took what she was holding. "It's the end of a zipper."

"Yes. I found it inside the cockpit near the dead pilot."

"You went into the cockpit?" John asked. "You shouldn't have done that, you could've been hurt."

"Yes, well," she nodded, "I wasn't. But I think this zipper's a clue. You see what it says on there?" She waited while John, Jeff and Ruth all peered at the small piece of metal.

"Far West," John read.

"Yes. That's a day pack, a thin and lightweight backpack."

"So what?" Ruth asked.

"There isn't a Far West knapsack anywhere in that cockpit nor in the part of the fuselage I crawled through."

John shrugged. "It could've fallen out or gotten sucked out when the plane crashed."

"True," Melody nodded. "But the biggest thing that needs explaining is who killed the pilot."

"Killed?" Jeff asked.

"Yes, killed," Mel replied. "It's possible some of the contusions were the result of the crash, but the blow to the back of his head didn't happen on its own. And I found the oxygen tank that was used to do it."

"How can you be so sure?" John asked.

"That the oxygen tank was the murder weapon?" she asked. Off his nod, she continued, "Because it had bits of blood and blonde hair on it. The pilot was blonde. And the straps that held the tank were cut cleanly with a knife, not ripped from the force of a crash. I also noticed the radio receiver above him was smashed."

Jeff stiffened, closing his hand around the zipper pull. "Melody, if all this is true, that means two people were aboard that plane."

She nodded. "And only one is there now."

"And he's dead," Kyrano added.

"John!" the cry as the door slammed open startled them all. It was Virgil. "John get in here, now!"

Pulling his mask back up, John raced into Surgery with Jeff and Ruth on his heels.

Kyrano moved to his daughter's bed while Mel hovered in the background. He placed his hands on Tin-Tin's body and bowed his head for a moment. "Miss Melody," he finally said so quietly she almost didn't hear him.

"Yes?" she responded, coming to stand next to him.

"If what you say is true, it means a killer is wandering this island."

Their eyes met. "I'm afraid so. And with everyone working to save Scott in there," she nodded toward the door to Surgery, "nobody's really got the time to verify that hypothesis."

"We do," Kyrano said. "Come, I will give you a weapon."

"Oh, no, no," she protested. "I don't use guns."

His mouth quirked into a half-smile. "Neither do I."