CHAPTER NINE
Melody awoke to find her head pounding like she had a five-alarm hangover. Only she didn't remember having had the good time to show for it. She moaned and tried to roll off whatever she was on. It took only a few seconds for her to realize precisely what that was. It was a few seconds more before she also felt uncomfortably close to someone else's skin. Her eyes popped open.
A pair of brown eyes were staring back at her.
She yelped in surprise and a pain shot through her temple. Moaning in agony, her head dropped down onto Kyrano's shoulder.
"It would appear," Kyrano said softly, "that we have both been compromised this time, Miss Melody."
"Kyrano," she croaked into his bare shoulder, "I would suggest this compromise would qualify you and I to be on a first-name basis." She looked up to find a twinkle in his eyes. "Wouldn't you?"
"If you insist," he said.
Melody noticed neither of them was making any effort to move. "My head feels like an axe is buried in it."
"It is an unfortunate side effect of my half-brother's eyes."
"His eyes?" she squeaked, then regretted making the high-pitched sound. "Dear God, make this stop," she groaned, struggling to push herself from his body.
"Yes," Kyrano said, taking hold of each of her arms to help her upright. "He has...abilities."
Mel at last was sitting upright, straddling Kyrano's waist. She knew she ought to be jumping off him, but truthfully couldn't get past the ice pick digging into her brain. "Oh, God, make it stop," she said again.
"Here," he said softly, scooting himself to a semi-upright position against the elevator wall. He let go of her arms and moved his hands to either side of her head, covering both ears. "Look at me."
She opened her eyes and looked into his. He smiled and suddenly his seemed to her to be the most beautiful face she'd ever laid eyes on. "Kyrano?"
"First-name basis, remember?" She nodded. "My first name is Meor."
"Meor," she whispered as the pain began to fade away. She closed her eyes and smiled. "How are you doing this?"
"Shhhh," he said, placing a thumb over her lips. She opened her eyes again as the last of the pain vanished. He smiled and removed his hands from her head. "There," he said. "All better."
Without the agony of the residual eye-headache as she'd come to think of it, Mel was quick to learn of a rather pressing issue. "That's not all that's better," she quipped, then turned red as a beet. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, quickly jumping off him.
He laughed. "That is why I don't do this very often."
"Do what? Lay around in elevators with naked women?" she asked, holding out her hand.
He took it and she helped him to his feet. "No," he said, keeping hold of her hand. "It's why I don't use my abilities very often." He looked down, blushed, then looked back up at her. "Being that close to someone's mind has a bad side effect on me."
She bit her lip and squeezed his hand. "I wouldn't call that a bad side effect."
Surprise showed on his face and Melody almost laughed out loud. "Well, whatever it is you did and however it is you did it, I can't thank you enough."
He squeezed her hand once more before letting go. "Any time, Melody. Any time."
They looked at the elevator door, which was closed. "Which floor are we on?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her torso.
He pressed his finger against the black panel, which lit up. "We're in the hall just outside the lounge."
"Where do you suppose the Hood is?"
"I don't know," he answered. "Are you afraid?" he asked, looking over at her.
"Well, if all he's going to do is strip me naked and lay me on top of you naked, then no," she said, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.
He half-smiled, then placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her toward the wall. "Stay back," he said.
He pressed a lit button on the panel and the elevator door swished open. Four pairs of eyes stared at one another, each as surprised as the next.
"I see you're up," John said, then turned crimson as he looked at Kyrano.
Melody coughed, then couldn't help herself and laughed out loud. "Oh, that was priceless. I hope someone got that on audio."
"Very funny," John growled as Jeff struggled not to laugh.
"Here," Jeff said, unbuttoning his shirt and handing it to Kyrano.
"Thank you, Mr. Tracy," he said, taking the shirt and deftly tying it into a sort of loin cloth shape.
Jeff looked at John, whose face still hadn't gone back to white. John pulled his tee shirt over his head and handed it to Mel. "It's a bit ripped, but it should cover most of you."
"No point now, really, after all this," she mumbled as she took it from him. "But thanks."
Embarrassing situation now handled to the best of their immediate ability, all four minds turned to more serious thoughts.
"Where's the Hood?" Melody asked. "Did you know the Hood was his brother?"
Jeff's eyes widened as all color drained from Kyrano's face.
"Oh, shit," she said. "I did it again, didn't I?"
"Kyrano?" Jeff said incredulously. "My God, Kyrano, is this true?"
His mouth opened, then shut. He looked sidelong at Melody, who looked like she was trying to melt into the wall. "We need to talk," he finally said. "Is everyone safe?"
"Yeah," John said, "except maybe for us. Why didn't you ever tell us about this?"
Jeff led the way back to the lounge. The men stood in the middle of the room while Mel sank into the furthest seat away from them that she could find. Damn her and her big mouth. But hell, he hadn't asked her to keep it a secret! He'd just come out and said it was his half-brother, there was nothing about the fact that the Tracys didn't know! Hanging her head, Melody wondered exactly how much longer this family was going to put up with her.
First, the morning after she arrived for a visit, the most elusive criminal in the world crashed a plane into their home, nearly killing Scott.
Then she found out the one thing the entire world had been trying to find out for years: who International Rescue really was.
And now she'd gone and spilled a secret Kyrano had been keeping from the family for a decade.
She tuned out of what they were saying, watching silently as Gordon and Brains appeared from the hall. Suddenly the big painting of the rocket that had been Jeff's ship when he'd gone to the moon flipped down. Her jaw dropped as Virgil slid up onto it from seemingly nowhere. It tipped slowly upright and clicked into place, allowing Virgil to step away and join the other men in the middle of the room.
I'll be damned, she thought. They're good.
Yet one more thing she probably shouldn't have seen.
"Kyrano, why did he take your clothes off?" John asked.
Looking down at the floor for a moment, he took the opportunity to locate Melody in the room. Their eyes met. "When Miss Melody found me in the corridor I was that way."
They all turned to look at her. She shrank back into the couch.
"So then he found the two of you, rendered you unconscious and took her clothes off...to what end?"
"He didn't...rape you, did he?" Virgil asked.
Mel's eyes widened, then she shook her head. "No, no, I don't think so."
"That's not why he took our clothes," Kyrano said, looking away from all their eyes.
Jeff knelt down next to him, placing a hand on his bare shoulder. "Then why?"
"My half-brother keeps slaves."
Most pairs of eyes in the room widened.
"The traditional worship ritual demands that slaves be disrobed and kneel before their master," he explained. "They must genuflect before him and repeat the prayer they are taught."
"Prayer?" Gordon repeated. "Like, they're praying to him?"
Kyrano nodded. "Then they must say their own prayer, which speaks of their existence as nothing more than objects to serve and please their master. He owns them. Their very existence depends on his generosity."
Melody rose from the couch as though in a trance, and made her way across the room to seat herself next to him. "Did he make us do that?"
He looked at her. "No. I don't believe he can force us to do things like that while we're unconscious."
"It's just..." She faltered and looked at Jeff, who was still kneeling on the floor. "You sound like you know an awful lot about this slave worship thing." He captured her eyes and she found she could barely breathe. "You know because...you were enslaved."
"Kyrano?"
Turning to his best friend, Kyrano nodded. "It was a very long time ago." His face turned downward. "That's why he's been after me so vehemently for so long. No slave escapes from his master and lives to tell about it. At least not with Belah."
"Oh," Mel breathed, laying a hand on his arm.
Jeff turned to his desk as his laptop beeped an incoming message signal. He went to it and keyed to the IR communication program as Alan's portrait was replaced by the real Alan on a video feed.
"All right, listen up, everyone. We've got problems," Jeff said. "I just got a message from Ned. Not only did WNN get a signal that showed Thunderbird Two in great detail, they also got a decent look at Thunderbird One and her hangar as well as the launch pad."
The boys began to talk all at once but Jeff held up a hand to silence them. "The good news is, Ned made it all go away."
"I'm going to send him my Aston Martin, I swear to God," Alan breathed.
"I've also got a message here from Penny," Jeff said, flipping on his computer screen. "And this is the bad news."
"What is it, Dad?" Virgil asked.
"I think I'll let her tell you," he replied, his face grim. He switched on Penelope's feed and they all turned to the side wall as she came into view.
"Hello, Jeff, Kyrano, boys."
There was a chorus of "Hi, Penny," in return. Melody had never met this woman and as such, remained silent.
"Tell us the situation, Penelope," Jeff said.
"Well, I'm afraid I haven't very good news for you, Jeff," she replied. "It would appear that the Hood has made good on what he said to John."
"In what way?" John asked.
"In the worst way." She looked directly into Jeff's eyes as he took a few steps closer. "He's not only sent video feed of the Thunderbirds out, he's transmitting right now."
"Transmitting what?" Jeff asked. "And from where?"
"Transmitting your names, faces and a lot of other information you don't want out there," Penelope replied. "From right there on Tracy Island."
Mel jumped to her feet, horrified. It couldn't be true!
"That's impossible!" Alan cried from his portrait. "There isn't a single life sign down there but those of you in the lounge!"
Virgil, Gordon and John looked stricken. Kyrano deflated into the couch. His normally darker face went several shades lighter right before their eyes. Jeff ran to his side. "How is this happening, Kyrano?" he asked, laying a hand on his old friend's leg. "You have to tell me everything you know. Everything!"
"Jeff, I think I have your answer even without Kyrano's help," Penny said from the wall. They all turned back to face her, but Jeff didn't leave his friend's side.
"Alan, if you would be so kind as to tell me where Thunderbird 4 is at this moment?"
"Thunderbird 4?" Alan repeated. "Well, she's right where she's supposed to b—oh, shit."
"Alan?" Jeff bellowed, hopping to his feet. "Alan, what? Where's Thunderbird 4?"
"I can't find her, Dad," Alan's voice sounded strangled as he looked up from Five's monitors. "She's just not there."
"Could she be cloaked?" Gordon asked. "Brains, you just installed your new shield device, could that be hiding her signature?"
"I-It's definitely a possibility," Brains replied. "I-I haven't calibrated our sensors for it yet. I-It was only a test run. Neither the island's nor, ah, Thunderbird Five's systems can pick it up yet."
"Well, it's either that or he's taken off completely. But Penny, you said he was transmitting from here."
"Yes, Gordon. You see, we've been able to pinpoint that he's on the western edge of Tracy Island, just offshore."
"How the hell did he get my 'bird started?" Gordon yelled, throwing a pillow from the couch across the room. "That's bullshit! He can't possibly know the code to start it!"
"I'm afraid I'm to blame for that," a soft voice said from behind them. The Tracys and Brains turned to look at Kyrano, who was now standing before them visibly looking much smaller than usual. "He took control of my mind. That's why he rendered me unconscious." They all frowned. "Don't you see?" he said, splaying his hands out before himself. "I gave him the code."
"Are you sure?" Jeff asked.
"How else could he have started Thunderbird 4's engines?" Kyrano asked. "Mr. Gordon said it himself."
"But why render me unconscious as well?" Melody asked. "I don't know anything that would be of any use to him."
"Yes, you do," John said evenly.
"What?" she breathed. "What could I possibly know that Kyrano doesn't?"
"You know where Scott and my grandmother are."
"Oh, my God," Mel groaned. "So he can finish them off once he's done here."
Jeff's face hardened. "Boys, we've got to get our Thunderbird back," he finally said.
"You're goddamn right we do," Gordon said, punching his hand with his fist.
"Alan, can you get a lock on 4's systems?"
Shaking his head in increased frustration, Alan's fists finally pounded the panel. "No! I can't even find her! Penny, patch me into that signal you're talking about!"
Penelope turned and said something to someone off-camera. Before ten seconds had passed Alan nodded, pressing buttons so quickly it made Melody's eyesight blur. "Thanks, Penny."
"Now, Jeff, I'm going to continue working with my team here to block the Hood's transmissions. So far they've been successful at deflecting the frequency into the upper atmosphere, but all it will take is a large thunderhead to bounce it right back down to Earth."
"All right, Penelope, we'll go after the Hood and this time we'll stop him for good." Jeff turned to his sons and Brains as Penny's feed winked out. "And I mean for good. Have I made myself clear?"
All heads nodded. Melody had moved just a bit closer and jumped when Jeff whirled to face her. "You," he said, "have a very important job to do, young lady."
"I...I do?" she said, fidgeting with one particular tear in John's shirt that barely covered the bottom of her left breast.
"Yes," Jeff said. He grabbed Kyrano's hand and then Mel's and put them together. "You stay with him at all times. Do not let go of his hand no matter what."
Kyrano's head snapped up. "You remember," he breathed.
Jeff turned to face him, their noses almost touching. "I do, old friend. I remember."
"Remember what?" Virgil asked, question marks hanging over his and everyone else's heads.
Jeff turned to face them. "I'll explain later. Now here's the plan."
Melody looked at Kyrano, wishing she knew what the hell was going on. She watched as he flattened their palms together, then intertwined his fingers with hers and closed them over the back of her hand. She returned the gesture, then moved with him to listen to Jeff.
She had a feeling she was about to get enough fodder for her next ten books. She only hoped she'd live long enough to write them.