Thank you so much for all the feedback on the last chapter. I really do apreciate all the comments - not sure Jeff does though, given the number of people lining up to give him a slap!

Chapter Eight

It wasn't the best evening anyone had ever spent on Tracy Island. Jeff had taken himself off to bed after his fight with Scott, grumbling about ungrateful sons who didn't know their place. Alan had disappeared with Tin-Tin and it was clear he wasn't going to have an easy job placating her. Scott exhausted himself in the gym and Brains, John and Virgil finished clearing the lab of any signs of International Rescue. All the while, Penny sat in the lounge with a tense Grandma. There wasn't a lot of conversation – neither woman quite knew what to say. Penny finally decided she'd rather be in her room.

"Don't worry," she said, knowing how feeble her reassurance sounded. Grandma looked so terribly sad as she picked at her sewing. "Maybe Jeff will be more himself tomorrow."

"He hasn't been himself since he met that girl. I wish he'd never set eyes on her."

"I think we all do. This has been the most stressful holiday I've ever had."

Grandma immediately looked guilty.

"I'm sorry, Penelope. This hasn't been much of a Christmas for you, has it?"

"Please don't apologise, Mrs Tracy. It's not your fault."

Both women knew whose fault it was, though they couldn't help thinking that Beth was just the catalyst. After all, what had she actually done? It was Jeff who was causing the problems. Penny found herself hoping that Beth really did turn out to be innocent, dreading his reaction if she had to tell him anything negative about the girl. With a final goodnight to Grandma she left the lounge. She passed Beth's room on the way to hers and couldn't help pausing to listen at the door, but all was quiet.

Beth was fast asleep. She'd had a tiring day, constantly on edge waiting for the right moment to drug her uncle, then waiting for the effects to kick in, all the time worrying that someone might come along and ask Jeff for something which conflicted with her own wishes. It had all worked out fine though and all the hints about finding out more about his work had finally brought her the opportunity to visit Brains' lab. Registering the tension amongst the others, she'd left them to it in the lounge and had gone to her room to inform Byron of the apparent success of her mission. Just a few more hours, she thought, and her work would be done. After that it didn't matter what happened.

Later that night the brothers – with the exception of Alan who was still grovelling to Tin-Tin – had congregated on the beach. Gordon had been just as concerned as the rest of them about his father's uncharacteristic behaviour and its effect on Brains.

"What's wrong with Dad lately? He's never acted like this before. One minute he was having a go at me and Alan for teasing Brains and then he goes and says something like that."

"She's bewitched him," Virgil said.

Melodramatic as it sounded, no one was inclined to disagree. John looked thoughtful, though – and unhappy.

"You don't think..."

"What?" Gordon asked.

"Well, he's really acting out of character. I just wondered if... maybe... "

"John!" Scott snapped, "Just say it will you?"

"Well, I know the last tests showed Dad was getting better. But what if he's sick again? It could have spread to his brain..." John tailed off, desperately hoping his brothers would tell him he was wrong, even laugh at him for worrying about something so ridiculous. But they didn't.

"It would explain a lot," Scott finally said.

Virgil thought it over. Much as he hated the idea and wanted to dismiss it, he had to admit that in some ways it was comforting. Surely if his father really was in his right mind he wouldn't be so quick to reject his family and friends for Beth? A brain tumour really was the best option right now, and the thought – and his own reaction to it - made him feel sick.

Gordon didn't like the idea, but he couldn't come up with a better explanation.

"When's his next check-up?" he asked.

"Not for another couple of months," Scott said. "We could ask Brains to check him out here."

"I don't think Brains wants to be anywhere near him right now," Virgil said. "I'll talk to him tomorrow, see what he thinks."

"How is he?" Scott asked.

"Well, he's actually calmed down a bit now he thinks Beth might be more interested in International Rescue than him."

"What?" Gordon asked. "You think she's here to find out about us?"

The others had forgotten that they'd kept Gordon and Alan in ignorance or their suspicions. John filled him in.

"Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you trust me?"

"Well, the three of us aren't too relaxed round her right now," John pointed out. "We thought it would be better if you and Al acted normally. And you two haven't fought with Dad yet, either. That's an experience you don't need, believe me."

"You need to act just the same around her, though," Scott warned. "We need to keep our suspicions to ourselves, just in case she turns out to be perfectly innocent."

"Do we tell Alan?" Gordon asked. There was some discussion about this before they decided to wait and see what Penny's investigations revealed. The need to have one person behaving naturally seemed to outweigh the advantages of involving Alan.

"He's got enough to worry about now, anyway," Gordon said.

"I'll talk to Tin-Tin in the morning," Scott promised. "Al didn't do anything that night. I told her that."

"I don't think it was just that. She was pretty embarrassed about the things Dad said. He didn't just upset Brains tonight, you know."

"What did he say to you, Scott?" Virgil asked.

"It doesn't matter." The others exchanged glances but they knew better than to push for more when Scott used that particular tone.

"We shouldn't upset him any more," Gordon said. "I mean, he's only going to get mad again and if he is sick... well, I don't want my last conversation with him to be a fight."

It was a good point and they decided to try to go along with it. Unless there was a danger to International Rescue or someone was really being treated badly, none of them would question their father or criticise his decisions – however hard it might be to keep quiet.


Breakfast the following morning was a surprisingly tranquil meal. Admittedly, numbers were depleted: Virgil was still asleep and Brains rarely bothered with breakfast, whilst Scott had gone off for a run - but John and Gordon were there and they went out of their way to accommodate their father. Grandma had looked at her son several times as if she'd been about to say something, but she didn't seem able to find the right words so had eventually eaten her breakfast in silence. As a result, Jeff was in an excellent mood, seemingly unaware of the tension around him. Everyone had been hoping he'd reconsidered his decision, but none of them were surprised when, as soon as he'd finished his meal, he turned to Beth and told her to meet him outside the lab at 10am, before going off to check all was in readiness.

Whistling cheerfully, Jeff let himself into Brains' lab. Wondering why his friend looked so full of trepidation at his arrival, he looked around and nodded in approval.

"Good work, Brains. No trace of the organisation. I knew I could count on you."

Patting Brains on the shoulder he made it to the door before turning back.

"She's a lovely girl, you know," he winked at him. "She really wants to see what you get up to in here."

He sighed as Brains went scarlet and stuttered something incomprehensible. Hoping the man could pull himself together enough to show Beth around, he decided to go to his study to tackle some company business which he'd neglected over Christmas. He spent a pleasant couple of hours studying spreadsheets before heading back down to the lab. He was ten minutes early but it came as no surprise to find Beth ready and waiting.

"You're keen," he teased. "I hope Brains is ready."

And I hope you don't seriously think I'm interested, Beth thought. That drug must really be something if you think I'd go for someone like Brains. She smiled, though, and stepped back to let her uncle access the keypad.

Inside the lab they found Brains flanked by John and Virgil and Jeff's good mood quickly soured.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We said we'd help Brains with his tour."

Jeff shook his head. "No need for that. He's got everything under control, haven't you, Brains? You two just leave him be."

"But..." Despite having agreed not to antagonise his father, Virgil couldn't abandon his friend like this, especially when there could be a real threat to International Rescue.

"No buts, Virgil. Come on, I want to talk to the two of you. I think we've got some business matters which need our attention."

Wondering which business their father meant and hoping he didn't make some unguarded comment about IR, the brothers looked apprehensively at Brains, who had paled a little at the prospect of being left alone with Beth. Jeff didn't appreciate his sons' hesitation, however.

"Come on! Leave Beth and Brains alone."

"I wanted to show Beth-" Virgil made one last effort to change his father's mind.

"Virgil! My study, now!"

"G-go on," Brains said, trying to smile reassuringly whilst inwardly cringing at the look of anger on Jeff's face. "I-I'll be o-okay."

"Sorry!" Virgil whispered as he followed his father out. Brains flinched as Jeff turned on his son even before the door had closed. He'd heard John's theory and had to admit that the thought had crossed his mind too. As soon as he could, he'd run some tests. But in the meantime he had a much more pressing problem.

Beth was ready. She was more than a little disconcerted to see her uncle escort her cousins out, though, having expected them to stay to help Brains. She'd been expecting to get most of her information from what was said, setting her phone to record on video, but knowing that the chances of being able to take it out of her pocket and get any pictures were pretty slim. She hadn't expected Brains to be the greatest orator, but to her surprise, as soon as he started talking about his work his confidence grew and his stutter diminished considerably.

Brains had considered putting a few old designs out on show, but finally decided that if Beth was a spy then she was likely to have done plenty of research into Tracy Industries' inventions, so would recognise anything already in existence. Therefore, without ever realising that he was playing right into Joel Byron's hands, he'd reluctantly brought out the schematics for an upgraded version of one of the company's most successful aeroplanes and the formula for a brand new type of rocket fuel. Both inventions were several months away from production, though Jeff expected them to bring many millions of dollars profit to his company.

Beth listened, occasionally commenting on the plans and illustrations, asking Brains for more details and seemingly hanging on his every word. Brains had to admit, the experience had been better than he'd expected. He'd spent most of the night lying awake in a cold sweat, convinced that Beth would throw herself at him the minute she arrived in the lab. When Jeff had dragged John and Virgil off he'd had to make a real effort not to run after them. But he'd stood his ground, aware that the fate of International Rescue could rest on his shoulders. He was feeling quite proud of himself. Plus, there had been no hint of any interest in IR. Beth had seemed more than happy with what he'd shown her.

When he finally finished, Beth rewarded him with her brightest smile.

"I'm so glad you showed me round. I really wanted to know a bit more about Uncle Jeff's work. Thank you, Brains."

She leaned across and patted his hand. Laughing to herself at his consternation and wondering what he'd do if she tried a peck on the cheek, she sat back.

"It's very warm in here, isn't it?" she said. It certainly was: Brains needed to keep the temperature high for an experiment he was running.

"W-would you l-like some w-water?" he asked, his stutter returning now he was off the safe ground of his inventions.

"Please."

The moment he disappeared into his small kitchen her camera was out, quickly scanning the schematics of the aircraft. It was back in her pocket by the time he returned. Beth drank the water then stood up.

"Well, I'd better leave you to it. Thank you so much, Brains."

Five minutes later she was back in her room, the recording sent on to Byron and her mission accomplished.