my apologies. this took a bit longer than expected. again, thanks for the great reviews, i'm glad to see you're enjoying it. i was genuinely worried that it may be too dark, this is a slightly newer approach to writing for me (borne from having to produce something decent for advanced higher english, no doubt =P). anyway, enjoy.

CCTV Footage

Virgil's music wafted softly through the lounge, trickling into the hallway and through the open French windows to the pool below, where Gordon was anticipating a long swim later. But first, he had some "business" to attend to.

Normally, Alan would assist Gordon in his pranks, or at least wield the camera that captured the moment. However, Gordon felt that Alan was long overdue his share of pranking, and so had hatched a new plot. Nothing too fancy, nothing that required specialist equipment- with Alan, the fun lay in catching him out with the simplest of pranks. For Alan, the sheer knowledge that he had been caught out by something basic would hurt a thousand times more than any of Gordon's more top-quality gags ever could.

He mentally browsed through his arsenal of pranks. Replacing Alan's shampoo with dye wouldn't work, the astronaut hid his toiletries after Gordon had got him with that gag when they were kids. Bucket of water on the door was far too obvious. He'd considered sending Alan loads of mail, each pretending to come from a different girl, all singing his praises; but that would be more effective on Valentine's Day, and he didn't want to upset Tin-Tin, either.

There was always the possibility of filming Alan doing something embarrassing, then posting it on the internet, but that was far too vulgar and unsubtle for Gordon's liking. No, it had to be good.

Finally, he'd figured it out. After all, Alan was pretty much in love with his pet alligator.

Gordon felt an affinity with the creature. Perhaps it was her love of water he admired so much, perhaps it was simply the fact that she scared the hell out of John, Virgil and, though he wouldn't admit it, Scott. The more Gordon thought about it, the more he realised the potential he had for a triple whammy. Shame John couldn't be planet-side to share in the fun about to unfold on Tracy Island.

Bribing Laika out from her pen was easily enough; it was getting close to feeding time anyway, and the tiny reptile didn't care who was feeding her, as long as it was good. Slowly, Gordon led her into the house and into his bathroom. He'd considered hiding her in one of his brothers' rooms, but Gordon decided that would be bordering on cruelty. He snorted. As if letting them think she was on the loose wasn't.

This done, Gordon made his way the lounge and flopped onto the couch, pretending to read a magazine he picked at random from the coffee table before him.

"Wow, Gords, that's subtle," mocked Scott from his position by his father's desk, reports spread out in front of him. "Saunter in and pretend to read one of Tin-Tin's magazines, yeah, we're really not gonna realise that you're up to something." Jeff's head snapped up, frowning at the red-head.

"Who, what and where, Gordon?" he asked wearily.

""Who, what and where", father?" Gordon answered innocently.

"Who have you pranked, what have you done, and where have you done it?" Jeff clarified, happy to play along for the time-being. Hell, any distraction from these reports for a little while was a blessing.

"I don't know what you mean," said Gordon lightly, putting down the gossip magazine and selecting one of his own diving ones.

At this point, Alan rushed into the room, wide-eyed. Seeing that everyone was staring at him, he swallowed, composing himself. "Ahm... yes..." He grimaced, aware of the reaction he was about to receive. "Has anyone seen... Laika, anywhere?"

Eyes swivelled to Gordon. He sighed, disappointed at the lack of panic on his brothers' behalf. "I hid her in my bathroom, if you must know."

"No, you didn't," said Alan. "I suspected you straight away, so I checked your bathroom, and all the others. She's nowhere in sight."

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?" Gordon yelped, sitting up straight. At the piano, Virgil hit a wrong note and went pale. Scott, on the other hand, flushed a deep scarlet.

"You idiot, Gordon!"

"Don't worry, she'll turn up," said Gordon quickly, aware that, somehow, his prank had backfired. How had that happened? He was the master, after all.

"Gordon, you better find her, I'm not having that monster running about the house!"

"She's not a monster!" pouted Alan. Before the argument could get any more heated, the eyes on Alan's portrait flashed.

Jeff cast a curious glance at his youngest son, who shrugged; for some reason, Brains always used Alan's portrait when he wanted to inform Jeff of something important. Jeff pressed the button.

Alan's face was replaced with a radar screen, showing a large aircraft heading their way.

"Is anyone expecting any visitors?" Jeff asked warily. Everyone shook their heads, eyes fixed on the small pulsing dot as it neared its way to the base.

"It's coming in to land," Scott noted.

"Hmm..." Jeff waved at Gordon, and the aquanaut leaned forward to press the button that would initiate Operation Cover-up. On the wall, the boys' portraits changed to show them in casual clothes, in various poses.

There was nothing to do but wait. Jeff opened the drawer in his desk a crack, reassuring himself that the gun was there. Hopefully, he wouldn't need it, but with the unidentified craft refusing to answer their hails he didn't want to take any chances.

They didn't have long to wait. A loud banging and a scuffle out in the corridor brought them all running.

Kyrano was struggling in the grip of a man three times his size, whilst Tin-Tin was restrained by another two. The fourth man had a gun held over both of them. Upon hearing the Tracys arrive, he turned and smiled coldly. His eyes seemed to flicker.

"I wouldn't try anything, Mr Tracy," he said, gesturing at the gun in Jeff's hand with the barrel of his own. "You know I'm far too close to these two for you to get a clear shot." As if to reinforce this, he stepped back a little further, standing firmly between the Kyranos.

"M-mr Tracy!"

It all happened so fast, John would have to play it back in slow-motion when he reviewed the security tapes. Brains ran, panting, up the stairs that led to his lab, having heard the disturbance. The man with the gun had aimed and fired without blinking.

And Scott had leapt forward, pushing Brains out of the way, only to receive the bullet in his own arm. A second bullet was fired a second later, straight into Jeff's hand, knocking the gun away. Jeff gasped in pain, clutching the bleeding appendage. Whilst none of his fingers had been blown off, it had been close.

Jeff Tracy then made the one decision he'd hoped he would never have to take.

He ran back into the lounge, blood dripping from his hand. He knew the man was right behind him, that he had only seconds. He ripped away the small portrait of his deceased wife from its position on the wall behind his desk to reveal a small, black switch. He pressed it.

At once, the monitor behind the desk went wild, symbols and phrases flashing across. A computerised voice echoed throughout the room, even as their attacker reached him.

"Lockdown of Thunderbird silos: activated. Status of documents: destroyed. Downloading all files and data to Thunderbird Five."

Then, a moment later:

"Download complete."

TB

On screen, John watched as his father, brothers, Brains and Tin-Tin were dragged away and into the strange craft. All that was left was a sobbing Kyrano, curled into a ball in a corner of the hallway.

"Enough," he said, turning away from the heart-wrenching sight. Beside him, the real Kyrano trembled, as if the tears were threatening to make a re-occurrence.

"Forgive me, Mr John, I could not-"

"There was nothing you could have done, Kyrano," Penelope said, laying a hand over the Malaysian's.

They were all in the lounge, in a semi-circle around the monitor. John stood up and began to pace.

"Well, now we know," he said, completing lap after lap of the room. "We can see from the tapes, the attackers knew my father's identity. What they were after still remains unclear, but father's activation of Operation Termite clearly indicates that my father believed they were after International Rescue's secrets."

"They could just as easily have been after something to do with Tracy Enterprises, John." John shook his head.

"No, Penny. I suspect that coming here indicates they wanted I.R's secrets."

"So why take them away with them? Why not attempt to break into the silos?"

"Penny, those silos are as good as impregnable. I don't think they had the equipment." He sat back down, and leaned back, rubbing his eyes wearily.

"How much sleep have you had recently?" Penelope asked sharply. "Your Grandmother's after frequent reports, I really don't want to tell her you've collapsed from exhaustion."

"Then don't," countered John quietly. "It's bad enough she's been worrying for the past three months, without her worrying about my health. She was concerned enough when I visited her when I got back planet-side. She's staying with the Grays," he added to Kyrano's quizzical look. "They're the first people she contacted after no one came to collect her after her shopping trip."

Darren coughed a little, bringing the attention towards himself and Karen.

"Sorry, but I think we're still a little in the dark. For a start, how did you get back down the Earth?"

"That," said Penelope firmly, "is a very good question. I've been trying to wrangle the answer to that one out of him ever since he contacted me."

-cough- set up much! -cough- =P hopefully my next update will be a bit quicker, but don't say i didn't warn you (as i did... at the very beginning ;-))

cheers,

themusicain