Unnatural Sabotage
By TimeGuardian
Chapter 9 - Trapped
Gordon Tracy paced the desk of Thunderbird Five. He had two communication screens going at once - one showed his father in his study at Tracy Island, working the computers at the command and control center. The other screen centered on his brother John.
They had spent the better part of a hour debating the path that the boat was traveling on that held Tin-Tin - at the very least, they were sure that it had held Tin-Tin. The powerboat could not have been used remotely and his dad made use of the scanners on the island as a precaution, confirming that she was no longer on the island.
As they were debating which islands or land that she could reach, a beeping sound echoed loudly from one of the communication panels Gordon was watching. Shaking his head, he flipped a switch under one of the screens. The image of John shrunk into half of the screen, allowing Gordon to bring Scott's image onto the other half of the screen. "I read you, Thunderbird One. Find anything, Scott?"
Scott shook his head wearily. "No, nothing above water at any rate. My vote is still for a submarine picking her up, but considering how close we are to the higher traffic areas, we have no way of knowing when or where."
John, who had been listening in, let out a nervous breath. "And Tin-Tin did not wear anything we could track her with."
Jeff sat at the command and control center and looked at his readouts. Two screens displayed data about the current oceanic conditions and the third displayed his communication feed with his sons. He had listened to their recent exchange, and he felt for them. Without knowing what happened when the boat had stopped, they had little to go on.
If only-
Suddenly, a staccato transmission sounded loudly from his communication feed. Jeff quickly adjusted the volume, and then realized that it was coming from Thunderbird Five. "Gordon, adjust that signal will you?"
He waited impatiently as he watched Gordon work the controls in front of him. The transmission changed and lowered in tone until he could just make out a regular pattern.
Gordon listened to a few seconds of it and his eyes widened. "Dad, isn't this Lady Penelope's distress signal?"
Jeff listened intently. Sure enough, the pattern that he had established with Brains for her distress signal was all there - a repeating old Morse code style transmission for SOS, followed by the letters I and R. "Yes it is - start tracking that signal right away."
He watched as Gordon adjusted a few controls and frowned as the signal faded away into silence only minutes later. "Dad, the signal...it stopped."
Jeff sat back heavily in his chair. A myriad of emotions went through him, but the importance of Peneolpe's action was not lost on him. "Gordon, triangulate on that signal where it last transmitted. As soon as you have the coordinates, transmit them to Scott and Virgil. Boys, once you get those coordinates use top speed to where they lead without delay. Are we clear?"
They all acknowledged him quickly and signed off, leaving his office silent once more.
The uneasiness that Jeff was feeling was growing by leaps and bounds. Lady Penelope was simply checking the area that she knew the Hood would be the most familiar with - it shouldn't have been this easy. Easy equaled trap in his mind, but was there anything that he could do about it?
"Lady Penelope? Lady Penelope, wake up!"
Moaning, Lady Penelope tried to do as the voice asked.
Then the voice pleaded with her again. "Lady Penelope, please!"
After some moments, Lady Penelope decided to open her eyes. Her head throbbed angrily at the effort, but after a minute she was able to focus. The first thing that she noticed was that there were no bars around her - definitely not the Hood's style at all.
Lady Penelope tried pushing herself up to find that she had been placed on a bunch of oversized pillows of many different colors and shapes. She felt a hand on her shoulder and was ready to throw whoever it was over her shoulder.
"Lady Penelope, take it easy. It's me!"
The voice was now recognizable. Relieved, she looked up quickly at the intruder. "Tin-Tin? Thank goodness you are all right. Could you help me up?"
Tin-Tin reached out a hand and she took it graciously. Once on her feet, Lady Penelope took a better look around the place.
She spotted Parker a few feet away. He lay propped up in a corner of the room, eyes closed. Lady Penelope breathed a sigh of relief as she watched his chest rise and fall - he was alive. "Tin-tin, where are we?"
"Some sort of stone pyramid. This seems to be a side chamber off of the main one."
The light in the room was low and flickering due to lit wooden torches attached to the walls. Lady Penelope walked over to one of the walls and put her hand against it. The stone under her hand felt smooth and cold to the touch. Why would the Hood bring them here?
Tin-Tin walked over to her. "I didn't want to come here, but I had no choice. Once I piloted Mr. Tracy's boat out in the middle of the ocean, the Hood picked me up - or at least he had a paid lackey with a sailboat pick me up. We made incredible time to this place - the pilot told me that the Hood was focusing the winds to be favorable to him."
Well, that explained a few things, but something about the young woman's explanation bothered her. "Tin-Tin, what do you mean by 'no choice'?"
The reply she received was unexpected. Tears welled up in Tin-tin's eyes. "I killed Alan!"
Lady Penelope's eyes widened at the declaration. Tin-Tin thought that she had killed Alan - from what Jeff had told her, Tin-Tin had left quickly after she had attacked Alan. "Tin-Tin-"
Before she could offer any comfort, Lady Penelope heard the Hood's voice. "Tin-tin, you are annoying my guests. Go sit in the corner like a good girl."
Looking around quickly, she noticed a square shaped doorway in the far wall. In the center of the opening stood the one man that had apparently defied death and an exploding underwater base.
Unlike the time so long ago at the bank of London, Lady Penelope noticed that the Hood was dressed in khaki pants, shirt and boots. The scar on the side of his face reminded her that he was not infallible and the smile that he had on his face chilled her to the bone.
She caught a movement out of the corner of eye. Tin-tin was moving towards him. "Tin-Tin, what are you doing?"
The Hood held up a hand. "Now, now. I simply have things 'under control'. Tin-Tin, go into the main chamber and wait on me. Do as I say."
Lady Penelope watched helplessly as Tin-Tin walked stiffly past the Hood and out of the room. She then looked at him directly. "You have her under your control, don't you?"
The Hood laughed as he came closer to her. "What do you think? Ever since I have found this place I have had the time of my life, and my powers have increased tenfold."
As he said those words, Lady Penelope nearly doubled over as a flash of pain ripped through her head. As soon as the pain passed, she straightened her back and struggled to catch her breath. "International..Rescue..will stop you."
His smile only widened. "You mean the Thunderbirds? I found the signaling device in your car and disabled it, but not before it had been blaring an obvious SOS for quite some time."
Lady Penelope looked at the Hood wearily. She knew the boys would come and considering the circumstances, they needed all the help they could get. She just had to stall for time. "What's your game, Hood?"
The Hood stepped closer to her until she could feel his hot breath on her face. "Simply put, you and my young niece are bait. It may be a little earlier than I had intended, but I can put these events to use all the same. Soon, the whole of International Rescue will be no more."