Tracy Island
March 9
11:52 AM
Alan had saved Scott and Virgil a long time of searching the caverns by suggesting that they try looking at Thunderbird Four's dash cam.
What Scott and Virgil saw had them gasping in horror while the rest of the family clamored for information.
"It's him!" Virgil exclaimed. "It's the guy with the blue eyes!"
"What did he do?" Jeff asked, his tone low with dread, as if he suspected the answer.
Scott's eyes blazed with anger. "He knocked Gordon out and carried him away, Dad. The mystery man kidnapped Gordon!" He slammed a fist down on Four's console. "And we just brushed Gordon's concerns off!"
There was a long pause, then Jeff said tightly, "All right, boys, come on home, and we'll put together a plan of action. I'll start by contacting our Mexico agent and see if he can pick up any sort of a trail."
By the time Scott and Virgil made it back to Tracy Island, Jeff had clearly been on the phone for a while, John and Brains were talking up a storm through John's portrait, and Alan was working on a computer, his eyebrows scrunched together in concentration. The delicious smells wafting in from the kitchen revealed that Grandma was coping with the stress by cooking up enough to feed an army.
Scott and Virgil hurried over to Alan's side.
"Anything yet?" Scott demanded.
Alan shook his head. "Dad's talked to probably a dozen agents so far, John and Brains are trying to figure out how to remotely boost Gordon's tracker signal in case it's still online, and I've been looking at maps of the cave system. My theory so far is that this guy had a cloaked submarine hidden behind these rock formations." He pointed to the map. "Unfortunately, if he did have a submarine, there's any number of routes he could have taken when leaving the cave, so that's not real helpful."
Jeff hung up the phone then – just as Lady's Penelope's portrait began to blink.
Penny skipped the pleasantries, a sure sign that she had information. "Jeff, I've got news for you," she said breathlessly.
Instantly, everyone crowded around her portrait.
"Over the past three weeks, of course, I have been looking into Gordon's mystery man, and as you know, all of my inquiries have led to nothing. None of my usual contacts know a thing about him – or perhaps they simply aren't talking. Just a few minutes ago, however, it occurred to me that there was one contact I had not yet consulted: Parker. He recognized your man at once. The man's name is Kane – K-a-n-e – and he calls himself the world's foremost criminal. He might not be far off the mark, either – apparently he has a one-hundred-percent success rate as a thief, which is rather astounding."
Jeff breathed out a long sigh. "So should I be watching for a ransom note?"
Penny hesitated. "Well – I'm afraid that's the concerning bit. You see, Kane is known for pulling off the perfect robberies, not for kidnapping. It's highly unusual for a criminal – especially one so well established – to abandon his modus operandi. I'm sorry to say this, Jeff…but I don't think that there will be a ransom note." Her eyes were full of sympathy.
There was a long silence as they all absorbed that unpleasant thought.
"But what other reason would this guy have to kidnap him?" Virgil asked softly.
"Maybe he's looking for information about the Thunderbirds," Scott suggested. "Or he could be trying to get our names. Either of those things would probably be worth a lot of money on the black market."
John cleared his throat, and they all glanced toward his portrait, noticing that he looked distinctly uncomfortable. "There is one thing that I've neglected to mention until now – something that might actually be very important. You know how Gordon kept coming back to the fact that this Kane guy had made a point to physically run into each one of us? Well, he bumped into me too."
Scott frowned. "When was the last time you even went on a rescue?"
"Well, that's the thing." John sighed. "It wasn't on a rescue – it was when I was at that book signing in Chicago."
Everyone winced.
"So," Jeff said slowly. "It's safe to say that Kane knows who we are. What we still don't know is why he would choose to target Gordon, and what his plans are for him."
They all stared at each other in silence, not sure what to do next.
Kane's Villa
March 8
3:58 PM
Gordon stifled a yawn as he followed Kane through the hallways once again. He wondered if every day would be as packed as this one had been. He'd been on his feet for around eleven hours with just an hour or so of sleep the night before…add to that a pile of major, life-changing stress, and a nap was starting to sound pretty good.
They had just finished their lock-picking session. When faced with a table full of dozens of kinds of padlocks and deadbolts, Gordon had decided to cut to the chase and tell Kane that he already knew how to pick roughly a third of the locks. He didn't plan on telling Kane how he had learned such skills…suffice it to say that he and Alan may have spent too much time hanging around Lady Penelope's chauffeur as teenagers.
Kane's eyebrows rose, and he said, "Show me."
So Gordon dug out his kit and worked his way through several of the locks, choosing ones in the middle and upper ranges of his expertise.
Kane watched him for a while, drumming his fingers on the table, a slightly puzzled look in his eyes. Finally, as Gordon opened one of the most difficult locks on the table with a few deft movements, realization dawned on Kane's face and he slammed his fist down on the table. "Parker," he snapped, spitting the name out as if it left a nasty taste in his mouth. Then he shrugged. "Well, I suppose that will save us some time, but you still have plenty to learn. Take this one, for example…"
The lesson had continued for the better part of three hours.
Now they were wandering again, and Gordon had no idea where they were going. All Kane had said was, "Follow me."
Ever hear of the word 'please?' Gordon thought grouchily, half wishing he had the guts to say it aloud.
They walked down several flights of stairs and entered a small room. Gordon vaguely remembered poking his head into the room during the tour that morning; it was empty other than a large metal weight in the middle with a chain attached to the top.
Kane stopped beside the weight. "Stand here," he said, pointing to a spot right by the weight. He picked up the chain and displayed a cuff on the end. "A fairly standard handcuff-style lock, do you not agree?"
Gordon nodded.
Kane bent down and snapped the cuff shut around Gordon's right ankle. Then he stood and backed toward the door. "You have your lock-picking kit with you, of course?"
"Yeah…but what's the catch?" Gordon asked warily. "This'll take me, like, two seconds to get off."
"Ah, the catch," Kane said, smirking. "That would be this!" He flipped a lever by the door, and the floor suddenly dropped out from under Gordon.
Gordon hit a square pool of icy-cold water with a tremendous splash, only getting in a quick gasp of air before the weight on his ankle jerked him below the surface. When the weight settled to the bottom of the tank with a muffled thump, Gordon had five feet of water over his head.
Considerably jarred, he tugged pointlessly at the weight for one long moment before he remembered his lock-picking kit. He fumbled and dropped it getting it out of the pouch on his belt, but caught it just before it would have drifted out of his reach.
He hadn't gotten nearly enough air, and he had to force himself to set aside his barely-contained panic. He needed to relax and not rush through the lock-picking process – one false move at this point could be disastrous.
He had to twist his body at an odd angle to reach the keyhole, and it was difficult to get the necessary leverage to hold his position. The dim lighting didn't make things any easier, either.
C'mon, Gordon, you can do this…
Trying to ignore the way his lungs felt like they were about to explode, he finally managed to insert the tools into the keyhole. One twist, and the cuff popped open, freeing Gordon to shoot to the surface.
He burst out of the water with a huge gasping sound that he probably wouldn't be proud of later when he had time to think about things like that. After a few moments of greedily sucking in air, he rolled onto his back and let himself float, relishing the simple feeling of breathing.
Something splashed down next to him, and he rolled back over. Lovely – Kane had dropped him a rope ladder. Recognizing the unspoken command, he let out a blustery sigh and wearily pulled himself up the ladder.
Kane stood watching him, his face impassive.
"You trying to kill me?" Gordon snarled.
"Not at all," Kane replied calmly. "This was just an exercise, and one that you were entirely qualified to handle. You passed, although your moment of panic in the beginning was unnecessary." He pulled the lever back up, and motors whirred as the two flaps of the floor began to rise. "In a few weeks, you'll be doing this with your hands cuffed behind your back. Now, I want you to get changed, eat something, and then rest. We have a job tonight."
"Already?" Gordon gasped. Somehow he had imagined that he wouldn't be leaving Kane's house for at least a few weeks.
Kane shrugged. "No sense in putting it off," he said. "Don't worry – it'll just be a minor theft tonight. It'll be a month or two before you'll be ready to start working on real crime."
Gordon shivered as he made his way back to his room, partly from his wet clothes, and partly from the knot of dread sitting heavily in his stomach.
Somehow he didn't think he was going to be able to eat anything.