Chapter Ten

Disclaimer - If I owned seaQuest, wouldn't that make me Steven Spielberg? And I would look lousy with a beard. Don't own the Thunderbirds either. Sigh. Sad but true.

Alan and Lucas had fingers flying over their keyboards, searching desperately for something, anything that would give them a tactical advantage. As they came up empty, time after time, Lucas found his anxiety growing.

"Hey, Alan?"

"Yeah?"

"Ever get the feeling like someone; somewhere has it in for you? Like someone is trying to drive you absolutely insane? "

Alan smiled slightly. "I'm the youngest of five. I was born with that feeling."

The teens began to chuckle lightly until they heard the ominous sounds of metal crashing into metal, followed by the occasional sound of gunfire.

"Shit!" Lucas muttered. "What now?"

Alan looked around and grinned. "Help me with this." Alan began to tug on a piece of tarp in a corner. With Lucas' aid, he pulled it out and covered the computers. Then he pushed Lucas into a closet, turned out the lights and unlocked the door. Lucas, who had poked his head out, was dismayed at that last act. Since the security program was compromised, without the manual lock in the room, anyone could come in.

Looking over at his friend, the youngest Tracy groaned in dismay. "I promise, this will make sense! I actually thought this idea out." Nudging Lucas back in, he moved a box in front of the closet door before sliding under the cot and tugging a footlocker in front of his hidey-hole.

Alan had barely finished when the door burst open. A hand reached in to flick on the lights. With the tarp covering their work and supplies covering every other surface including Ben's bunk, Jackson was sure this was a very disorganized storage room. "Huh," he grunted to Daniels. "Nothing here either – any sign of that Wolenczak kid on your patrol?"

Daniels shook his head. "Nah. Labs, his quarters, Captain's quarters, nothing. You said he was only sixteen?" Jackson nodded. "Slim or bulky?"

Jackson thought for a minute. "Slim. Almost scrawny."

Daniels nodded. "OK, since the kid wasn't someplace logical like his quarters or a lab to run the tests, let's assume he figured out something was going on. Where would be the best place to hide, still give him access to the seaQuest and maybe get or be of some help?"

Grinning, Jackson pointed up. "Ventilation shafts, access conduits; they run the length of the seaQuest."

Daniels sighed. "OK, let's split up. We have to go over this tub one more time. Only this time, let's focus on shafts and access panels."

"Shouldn't we report back to the bridge first?"

Shaking his head once more, Daniels quipped. "Nah, I think Cobb would shoot us as readily as those four hostages. Failure is not something he is willing to forgive. Let's keep looking."

The door once more closed, Lucas tried to slip out of the closet, only to find the door jammed shut by the box. "Alan? Yo, Phoenix, how bout a little help here?"

Moving aside his own camouflage, Alan hurried to his friend and moved the heavy box aside. "Gee Frankenstein, you need to get to the gym more."

"I go to the gym a lot."

"I mean to do more than stare at the female crew members in tight workout clothes."

"Who told?!" At that outburst Alan looked up from the computer equipment he had uncovered and began to laugh at the blush that now covered every inch of exposed skin on his friend's body.

Alan chucked as he checked a data stream. "Lucas, we're teenagers. We're supposed to do that. But when I work out, it is with one or more brothers or at an all-boys' school. No such distractions. Distinct advantage most of the time. Except when Tin-Tin comes down to the gym while I am sparring with Scott. I swear, he is paying her to throw me off my game." He nodded at the screen. "OK, found the info I need. The UEO prison system gives two ID's for that shuttle. One is a supply shuttle, one a prison transfer shuttle. See here – it was tampered with. Hard to spot, but there it is. Now they mentioned a Cobb. Frank Cobb was to be transferred with Michael Clinton, Lane Bowman and Bradford Jackson from Auckland to the Marshall Islands. The shuttle's trajectory was altered slightly to intersect perfectly with the seaQuest's. Someone really wanted this sub or the people on board. I have to assume it's not my family. Like you said, most people didn't know Dad and I were gonna be here. And…" Alan's voice faded away as he looked over to see Lucas' pale expression. "Lucas? What is it?"

"Cobb. Frank Cobb. He took over a mining operation near Australia and used terror-tactics and murder to keep everyone in line. The real owner of the mine got off an SOS that we responded to. Captain Bridger brought him down and Cobb swore revenge. And Bowman and Jackson were with Schrader when the seaQuest was hijacked. Bowman didn't seem so bad, but I got the feeling Ben regretted saving Jackson from drowning when one of the decks flooded. When Jackson was sentenced, he said he would never forget any of us. The nasty look he gave me, Ben and Katie scared the hell out of me. I thought I recognized his voice."

Alan made his way to the door, muttering, "Well, at least it's not my family for once."

Lucas grabbed his friend's arm as the other teen was about to open the door. "Where are you going?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Alan gestured to the hallway. "To the bridge."

"And what? We just stroll down the passageway?"

Grinning wildly, Alan nodded. "Sure. The two goons looking for us are going to be in the vents. Anyone approaching in the hall will be heard a mile away. How much you willing to bet we are the only ones wearing sneakers on board the seaQuest? Sometimes the direct route really is the best way. Like my dad is so fond of saying, "No shortcuts." So what say we check things out and see what we can find?"

Nodding, Lucas began to follow Alan into the hallway, hoping that his heart would at least stay in his chest and not choke him again by climbing back into his throat.

Thousands of miles above where the seaQuest was stationary in the waters north of New Zealand, Hiram "Brains" Hackenbacker had taken note of the emergency beacon emanating from Alan Tracy's wrist communicator. When no follow-up communication could be heard from Jeff or John Tracy and the signal never stopped, indicating an erroneous transmission or an all-clear to the situation that triggered it in the first place, the genius behind many of the advanced technology of the Thunderbirds went into action. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Looking over at his own young son, Brains sent up a silent prayer that Alan was safe and this was all a big mistake. Even as he began a quiet conference with the remaining Tracy brothers back on the Island, determining what would be the best way to alert the UEO without revealing themselves as International Rescue, Brains continued to pray that his son's best friend was alright. Fermat had been badly shaken when Alan had been kidnapped at the beginning of the summer. If anything had happened to the other boy, he didn't know what Fermat would do.

Brains didn't know what any of them would do.

Back on the bridge, Cobb was growing anxious. Grabbing Bridger by the collar, he violently shook the other man, screaming, "Get us going again!"

With a dark chuckle, Jeff looked at Cobb with undisguised contempt. "You idiot. If the system has been tampered with it's a computer issue. Captain Bridger can't just get it going again like starting a car. It's like a car that someone has cut a line in the system. It needs to be reconnected. Do something smart – walk away while you can."

Cobb dropped Bridger back, ignoring O'Neill who leaned over to check on his commander. Even as the Captain nodded breathlessly, indicating he was basically alright, the villain had refocused his wrath on the elder Tracy. "Let's get something straight, Mr. Rich and Famous Jeff Tracy – I am in charge here. Not you. You don't give me orders." Nudging John with his weapon, Cobb gloried in how the other man froze at the threat to his son. "I can easily ransom back one Tracy as well as two. I am sure that the death of one of you – and I don't care which one – would make your family even more anxious to get the other one back."

Moving away from his hostages, Cobb turned to Bowman. "Well?" he barked. "Any luck yet?"

Bowman shook his head. "No. Someone has planted a very complex virus in here. Unless a particular, unknown phrase is given, using a voice command, you aren't getting back in." Bowman looked puzzled. What he wasn't saying was that the phrase had to be given by Jeff, John or…Alan Tracy? Good Lord – was their another Tracy on board as well? And what phrase would they all know?

As Cobb moved away from the hostages to glare down the corridor, as if he could will his missing men back to aid him, Lane leaned over to the Tracys. Whispering he drew their attention. "Hey, is there an Alan Tracy on board as well?" Seeing the panicked look in the men's eyes, he sighed softly. "Another brother?" His eyes widened when he looked over at Mickey. "Not the one that was kidnapped? He's just a kid!"

John and Jeff looked at each other before refocusing on Bowman. Their fear for Alan was evident in their eyes. Lane sighed again. "He must have been the one to put in the lockout. It must be a phrase you all know and it needs one of you to say it. Your voice patterns were all recorded as part of the communications system test. I don't know what the phrase is and I'll try to make sure Cobb doesn't find any of this out."

Jeff was terrified. His sons were in danger and he was once more helpless – a feeling that didn't set well with him.

John was scared as well but he couldn't help the small smile that flit on his face briefly. If he knew Allie, he even knew the vocal command. The lifts in Command and Control that took them to the Thunderbirds were activated by a vocal command: "Thunderbirds are Go!" His youngest brother's sense of humor was getting as warped as Gordy's.

Spinning around, Cobb nodded to Mickey. "Grab two of them and I'll grab the others. We need to separate them. Someplace secure. Can't use the brig – genius boy's," he sneered at Bowman, "tampering with the security system means the doors won't lock. Need to find someplace else. I'm taking these two," as he pulled at Jeff and Nathan, "to the Captain's quarters. It has almost as much control over the seaQuest as the bridge does."

Jeff objected. "You're not taking my son anywhere!"

Without releasing his two hostages, Cobb nodded at Mickey. He quickly stopped in his reach for O'Neill and rapidly turned on John, firing a shot that shattered a panel near the blonde's head. Seeing how pale Jeff was at the blood trickling down John's face from the flying debris, Cobb grinned viciously. "And I can assure you Mr. Tracy. The next bullet will not be into any inanimate object. The next one will be in your boy's body. Now say bye-bye to your son. If you all behave, you may just see one another alive again."

A/N - well, my beta got this back to me early, so I posted early. Well, earlier. Bowman is showing himself to be a pretty good guy, I may have to keep him alive. I am playing fast and loose with what I think could go wrong if somebody tampered with a computer system. And since Bowman is good but Lucas and Alan are sneakier...This could get ineresting. At least I hope it will. Because otherwise, why would you read it? And if you don't read it, you won't review. And if you don't review, then I would get sad and stop writing...Please say you don't want that...Please, nice little reviews for me? - CC