Los Angeles
March 24
3:52 AM
Alan made a quick circuit of the upper offices of the earthquake-damaged bank. Coming out on the balcony, he spotted Scott below and leaned over the railing to call out, "The upstairs is all clear."
"So is the downstairs," Scott replied. "Come on down, and let's check the next building."
Alan turned around – and jerked to a halt when he suddenly came face-to-face with a black-clad figure just exiting one of the offices. "Uh, hi," he said slowly, wondering if he should holler for Scott or try to take the guy down himself.
The thief just stood there, frozen with one hand slipping something into one of the pouches on his belt, staring at him through a pair of green night-vision goggles. "Hi," he said cautiously after a long moment. He seemed to shake himself then, and added, "And bye!" He snapped his pouch shut and trotted toward the stairs.
"Hey, wait, did you just steal something?" Alan exclaimed. "Scott, stop him – he's a thief!"
Spotting Scott charging up the stairs, the thief spun around and dashed back toward Alan.
Alan braced himself to fight, but the thief neatly dodged his half-hearted attempt to block him. As he brushed past, Alan could have sworn he heard the muttered words, "No fair siccing Scotty on me!"
Alan suddenly felt lightheaded, and apparently it showed on his face, because instead of pursuing the thief, Scott skidded to a halt and grabbed Alan by the shoulders.
"Alan, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
Alan stared wide-eyed at Scott. "Scott," he whispered. "I – I think…that that was Gordon."
Los Angeles
March 24
3:56 AM
Gordon was shaking by the time he got back to Kane's car. He dropped into the passenger seat, and as the vehicle lurched away, Gordon ripped off his hat and goggles, flinging them to the floor.
"You knew, didn't you?" he snarled. "You knew they'd be there! How could you do that to me?"
Kane shrugged. "I'd heard that International Rescue had been called to the scene, but considering the number of buildings affected, you have to admit that the chance of you running into any of your brothers was slim at best."
"You could've at least given me a heads up," Gordon fumed.
"And have you distracted while you were doing your job?" Kane countered. "No, I think not." He glanced toward Gordon briefly. "In any case, I was pleased that you had the sense to get out of there quickly, but I have to say that I was rather less pleased when you chose to speak to Alan. You realize, of course, that your family now knows that you have become a thief."
Gordon shrugged and slumped back into his seat in sullen silence. He didn't know why he had said anything to Alan. He did know that even while he was speaking, he had been desperately wishing that he could let Scott catch him.
Tracy Island
March 25
2:43 AM
Despite the late hour, Jeff, Scott, Virgil and Alan were sitting in the lounge, with John present through his portrait. All wore the same grim, worried expression.
"Play it again, Alan," Jeff said.
Alan hit a button on the remote, and they all watched the security camera recording of the Tracy Tower break-in a couple weeks earlier. There were a lot of blind spots, but security had tacked together the bits where the thief was visible, creeping around corners as he entered the building, and then sprinting on his way out.
"I told you, he looks exactly like the guy I saw in the bank," Alan said. "It's Gordon. I know it is."
John had hacked into the bank's security cameras, but the thief had only showed up as a blur. Alan had been quick to point out that the object stolen from Tracy Tower was a case of tiny cloaking devices, tying the two crimes together even more definitively.
"I just wish we had a good close-up of his face," Scott said, his eyes fastened to the screen.
Virgil let out a short, sharp sigh. "So, let's just say for a minute that this is Gordon. Why is he stealing things? What could this Kane guy have possibly done to him to turn him into a thief? I mean, this is Gordon we're talking about – he doesn't just give in to something he doesn't believe in."
"Maybe Kane brainwashed him somehow," Alan suggested.
"I think it's more likely that Gordon is being blackmailed," Jeff said. "Perhaps Kane is threatening to reveal our family's identity if Gordon doesn't do what he asks."
"Or maybe he even told Gordon he'd kill us," John put in. "Maybe when he bumped into each of us, it was a demonstration to Gordon of how easily he could get to us."
"Okay, so we have some theories," Scott growled. "Now, let's get back to the main point – how do we get Gordon away from this creep?"
"We could set something up – advertise something valuable on display, for example – and then wait for them to show up," Alan suggested.
"We're not really sure what Kane goes after, though," John pointed out. "I mean, do we even know what Gordon took tonight? He was in an office, not the vault, right? And you said he was holding something small, so it could have been a memory chip or something. Maybe Kane tends to collect information rather than valuable objects."
Jeff looked thoughtful as an idea came to him. "With a little work, we might be able to trace Kane's recent activity," he said. "John, can you run a search on break-ins since March ninth that show a blur on the security tapes?"
John's face lit up. "I can do that," he said, and immediately began typing.
Jeff had a twinkle in his eye. "I have a bit of ace in the hole that I've been saving for something special," he said. "When we conducted that investigation on the Tracy Tower break-in, we identified the mole in our security system. We didn't let on, though, in the hopes that he would lead us to whoever he's working for. Now, based on what we've learned tonight, I highly suspect that he's a contact for Kane. If we can learn what tends to attract Kane, then we may be able to feed our mole information that would draw Kane – and Gordon – back to Tracy Tower."
"And we'll be waiting for them," Scott said grimly. "We'll teach this Kane guy what happens when you mess with a Tracy!"
Kane's Villa
March 25
6:12 AM
Gordon was having trouble imagining under what conceivable circumstances he might have to use a hand spring during a fight.
"What is this, Power Rangers?" Gordon muttered under his breath, as Kane demonstrated the move he wanted him to try. He raised his voice and asked, "When am I ever gonna need to turn into a gymnast in the middle of a fist fight?"
Kane backed up to the edge of the floor mat. "I'll show you. Run toward me!"
Gordon shook his head doubtfully, but obeyed. When he was halfway across the mat, Kane launched himself forward into a handspring, and Gordon suddenly found himself running straight toward a pair of feet. He skidded to a halt just as Kane landed practically on top of him.
Kane used Gordon's momentum against him, hooking a foot behind his leg and shoving him. Gordon thudded heavily to the floor.
Groaning, Gordon pushed himself back up to his feet.
Kane crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not saying you're likely to use such a move often, but if you ever need to take a fast-moving opponent off guard and get into his space quickly, I've found a hand spring to be a highly effective technique."
"Okay, okay," Gordon grumbled, rubbing his hip. "Show me how to do it. I call dibs on the yellow suit, though!"
Kane cast him a quizzical glance, but otherwise ignored the comment.
Within an hour, despite his earlier misgivings, Gordon was not only hand springing, but also cart-wheeling and somersaulting.
"You would have been a good gymnast," Kane told him at the end of their session.
Gordon grimaced, rolling his shoulders. His years of swimming had given him strong shoulders, but he was pretty sure that he'd worked some muscles today that he'd never known were there before. "I don't think it comes as naturally as swimming did," he replied. "Gymnastics is okay, but swimming just…feels right."
He'd been squeezing in bits of time here and there in the pool Kane had installed for him. More times than he could remember, swimming had been the only thing that had kept his head screwed on straight, so he was particularly glad to still be able to have that outlet while training under Kane.
They parted ways at an intersection in the hallway. Kane had given Gordon a pile of maps, blueprints and photographs of an art gallery the day before and told him to write up a plan of how he would steal a certain painting. Gordon entered the room and sighed as he looked down at the stack of papers on the table. Somehow, he'd never imagined that a criminal-in-training would have homework.
