Chapter Eleven
As Gordon regained consciousness he became aware of muted voices nearby. At first the words were jumbled, making no sense. He could only tell that although most of the voices seemed to be male, one was female. Even as the thought occurred recognition came. The refined, cultured tones of the English aristocrat who was part of International Rescue, and the lower, gruff voice of one of his older brothers that brought with it a wash of comfort and familiarity – Virgil. Good, he was fine then. Gordon relaxed momentarily in relief and then was shocked back to full awareness as total clarity returned and he remembered what had happened in the room at the side of the stage.
"Scott!"
Gordon opened his eyes and sat bolt upright – or at least he would have done so if his body had not rebelled against him. As soon as he lifted his head more than a few inches the back of his neck gave out a bolt of fire that caused him to moan in pain and stop moving. There was the sound of movement nearby as someone came to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, helping him to sit up and lean back against a wall.
"Gordon, thank goodness! I thought you were never going to wake up. Are you okay?"
"Virgil, where is he?" Gordon looked up at his brother "Where's Scott? Is he here?"
Virgil shifted his position so that he was fully in front of his brother, rested his hands on his shoulders and stared directly into his eyes.
"Scott isn't here Gordon, remember?" Virgil's eyes darted to the side and there was a tiny movement of his head backwards. "It's just you and me and Penelope and Parker, remember?"
Gordon paused for a moment, confused, and then glanced over his brother's shoulder. At the other side of the room he saw Lady Penelope talking to the blond haired man who, while giving her part of his attention, was watching the two of them with clear, blue eyes.
"Yeah, yeah I guess so. I forgot. So what happened?"
"Don't you remember?" Virgil's face was clouded with concern now, uncertain how much of what his brother was saying was for the benefit of the stranger and how much was true. "Mestari and his 'friend' came through here and used gas against us to get away."
"He used gas against you, but he slugged me over the back of the neck." Ruefully Gordon put a hand to his neck and massaged it, reminded now of the ache which had replaced the first bolt of pain he had felt on waking. "Brother or not, next time I see him I'm going to make him sorry."
"He slugged you?"
Virgil was stunned. He only remembered a cloud of gas erupting around him and then his senses reeling as he fell to the floor. When he had awoken along with Lady Penelope and Parker some time later and found Gordon still unconscious and showing no sign of waking he had been concerned that the gas might have adversely affected him. He had not thought there might be another reason for his brother's continued unconsciousness.
"Yeah, he slugged me – after he punched me in the stomach – boy is he for it when I catch up with him."
"Think yourself lucky that's all he did to you."
A quiet voice broke in on them and caused them to look up. The blond haired officer from the World Police had left Lady Penelope and come to join them.
"Mestari usually makes a habit of killing those who oppose him. His buddy was mighty lenient, letting you live when you stood between his Master and freedom." he paused, assessing them keenly before continuing "'Though if he's your brother that might explain why you got away with your lives."
"I didn't say he was my brother." As Gordon moved to stand up Virgil caught him under one elbow and helped him to balance "Virgil's my brother and doesn't like me getting into fights - but this time I've a score to settle."
"You'd be better off taking your brother's advice" the man's face was grim and serious "Mestari is bad news. Leave him to the authorities."
"If you don't mind me saying so dear boy," Penny's soft voice came from behind him, "the authorities don't seem to be doing a very good job of dealing with Mister Mestari. Would I be correct in thinking he has been eluding you for some time?"
"We've been chasing him for a while yes," the man turned to face Lady Penelope "but influencial as you are Lady Penelope" and here he inclined his head politely to the young heiress "I don't think even you have the resources to be of any help in this affair – unless you have more powerful friends than it seems." he finished, fixing the Tracy brothers with a hard stare.
"As I have already told you Lieutenant" Lady Penelope smiled sweetly "Virgil and Gordon are sons of an old friend of mine. They are visiting England for a short period and when they learned that I was determined to come here they insisted on accompanying me to keep me out of trouble. I really think that..."
Penelope was interrupted by a tap on the door. It opened to reveal one of the men who had appeared in the auction room with a machine gun.
"Lieutenant, we've found two more of Mestari's men on the roof"
"The roof!"
The heads of Virgil and Gordon snapped around and their questions came at the same time.
"What about Thunderbird One?"
"Was there anyone else there?"
The lieutenant looked at them quizically.
"Why? Were you expecting someone else?"
The brother's mouths snapped shut and they looked at each other in indecision. Seeing he wasn't going to get a reply the lieutenant turned back to the man at the door.
"Well? You heard them. Was there anyone else?"
"No sir, not exactly"
"Not exactly? What does that mean?"
"Well, someone must have been there. They were tied up in the stairwell. But there's no-one there now."
"You're sure? You searched the whole roof?"
"We've searched the whole building sir. There's no-one here now except for our own people and these four."
"What happened to all the men at the auction?" Gordon was confused - how long had he been out? And where was John?
"We caught them as they tried to leave the building. We've got a number of questions we'd like to ask them. What about the International Rescue craft?" The lieutenant turned back to his subordinate, "I presume Mestari and his buddy used it to get away?"
"Yes sir. The heliplanes tried to shoot it down....."
"Shoot it down!"
"They tried to do what?"
Virgil and Gordon looked aghast and Lady Penelope paled as she heard the words. The man shot them a startled look and continued
"But they missed and it got away. It took off so fast they couldn't get a fix on it - air control haven't been able to trace it."
"So he got away." The blond lieutenant turned back to the waiting foursome and looked at them silently for a minute before turning back to his subordinate. "Alright officer, return to your post."
The man saluted and withdrew from the room, leaving the five alone.
"I'm sorry. It looks like your brother managed to take care of two of Mestari's men before getting caught himself. If he's lucky Mestari might find out who he is and decide to ask your father for ransom before he kills him ." The face of the policeman was softened by genuine regret as he addressed the brothers. "Let me know if he does - I'll do what I can to help."
"Really Lieutenant we don't know what you're talking about" Lady Penelope stepped astutely into the stunned silence before either Virgil or Gordon could reply "As I have already told you there are only the four of us here and . . . . "
"We saw you entering the building next door Lady Penelope. We know there were five of you." The four exchanged uncertain glances and then stood silently, waiting for his next words "You are a well-known figure Lady Penelope" explained the lieutenant "and your car is quite . . .eye catching. Next time you go somewhere and don't want to be noticed use something else. We wondered who your companions were when we saw them. When you told me about your 'old friend' Jefferson Tracy it all made sense. Mister Tracy is one of the wealthiest people on this planet. We'd wondered if Mestari would offer anyone honest the chance of buying the International Rescue machine. With you hearing about the auction from your butler's former associates it made sense for Tracy Enterprises to send along some representatives for back room negotiations." The lieutenant turned back to the Tracy brothers who were wearing dumbfounded expressions "That is what you're here for right? You and your other brother - Scott was it? The blond one who was with you?"
Virgil found his tongue at last.
"You . . . er . . . .you could say my father has an interest in the machine, yes. But he would never agree to paying money to a criminal. We were going to try to 'persuade' Mestari to give up peacefully."
"Peacefully!" The lieutenant gave a snort of laughter "You certainly don't know much about the criminal mind do you Mister Tracy? Giving up peacefully is certainly not what Mestari or any of his kind would do. Like any rat caught in a hole he'll fight to escape - remember that - it might save your life one day. And your father might need to re-think his ideas about paying money to criminals - or at least offering to. If Mestari does try for ransom, the minute your father refuses then your brother will be dead for sure. At least if he's willing to play along for a while it would give us a little time to do what we can."
"What can you do?" Gordon had been silent so far but now he could hold back no longer "You said you've been after Mestari for some time but you've not caught him yet. What makes you think you would be any more successful if he was holding one of my brothers hostage? If you couldn't catch him tonight when you knew he was here and had the building 'surrounded' how the hell do you plan to catch him when he's got the whole world to hide in?"
"Mr Tracy please, this is not helping. If you'd just . . . ."
"I won't just anything!" Gordon's face was red with fury and his eyes flashed dangerously. "I've had enough of this. I'm leaving and I'm leaving now and you hadn't better try to stop me. You might think my brother's as good as dead but I don't and I'll be damned if I'm going to wait around here any longer. If I've got to search the whole damned world to find him I will and no-one's going to stop me"
With that Gordon pushed past the officer and stormed to the door, followed closely by Virgil.
"Jeff Tracy has five sons. Three of them I know were here tonight. I wonder if I would be too far wrong in guessing that a fourth one was here as well"
At these words Gordon and Virgil stopped in their tracks and whirled to face the officer who held up his hands apologetically and dropped his voice as he continued talking.
"As brothers you all have a fairly close physical resemblance to your father. When I saw it and remembered the face of Mestari's 'friend' I couldn't help wondering if maybe you had another interest in the business being carried out here tonight? One a little closer to home perhaps?"
Their faces darkening in consternation Virgil and Gordon moved back towards the officer but before they could say anything he quickly continued talking.
"What you don't tell me, I don't know and my bosses aren't interested in guessing games so I've nothing to tell them. However, assuming you have the right resources, if you were to going looking for your brother..." he paused and left the word hanging for a moment "I don't think you'd need to search the whole world. Just part of it."
Gordon marched back to the officer until they stood nearly toe to toe and glared into his face.
"And what's that meant to mean?"
"As an officer of the World Police I can't agree with you going to look for him yourself of course, but once you leave this room you are a free agent."
He looked at Gordon with a question in his eyes. Gordon's eyes narrowed and he gave a brief nod in acknowledgement.
"For your own good therefore, I can only advise you to give up any plans you may have of looking for your brother as 'private individuals' and to let those 'with the right resources' do the work instead."
Gordon's face, which had calmed somewhat at the lieutenant's earlier words, flashed back to fury and he looked for one second as if he was about to hit the man. Virgil, however, stepped up beside his brother to lay a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks for your advice. What would you advise us to do in the meantime?"
"I'd recommend that you take a holiday and try to relax. Some place where you can avoid any more trouble. Make sure to steer away from any of the places where the more dangerous criminals hang out."
"Such as?"
"Well, I'd avoid Scandinavia right now. It's definitely not a healthy place to visit."
"Scandinavia is a big place with lots of attractions that it might be a shame to miss." answered Virgil neutrally "Can you be more specific?"
"All of it in general but above all else I'd warn you away from Finland – that's definitely a no go area right now."
Virgil nodded and stepped back, dragging Gordon with him.
"Thanks for the advice. We might just take it."
Parker, who all this time had been standing silently in the background, listening but never interfering, opened the door and stood aside to allow his employer to pass. As she reached the doorway she turned and graced the policeman with a smile.
"Thank you Lieutenant, you have been so helpful. I wish you luck in your endeavours."
"Thank you Lady Penelope"
"Yeah" Gordon stepped up behind the heiress and held out his hand "thanks."
Smiling, the Lieutenant took the proffered hand and shook it.
"My pleasure. Good luck."
Gordon nodded in acknowledgement and stepped through the doorway. Virgil and Parker followed him out and the four headed towards the elevator car. Suddenly Gordon stopped and turned in his tracks to face the officer who was just turning away
"Say, what's your name anyway?"
The man turned and grinned briefly at the young man.
"Svenson, Lieutenant Adam Svenson."
"John! Come in John. Answer please!"
Virgil stared helplessly at the face of his chronometer, willing it to change to show him the features of his blond haired brother but there was no response.
"Where is he?" Gordon paced beside his older brother, "Why doesn't he answer?"
The four of them had left the building as quickly as possible and were heading back towards Lady Penelope's car. As soon as he deemed it safe Virgil had begun trying to contact John, desperate to know if his brother was safe.
"I am afraid Lieutenant Svenson may have been right." Lady Penelope's soft tones came from behind them as they rounded the corner of the block where they had left the Rolls-Royce. "It looks as if Mister Mestari may indeed have captured John and taken him away with Scott in Thunderbird One. What a pity that the tracking device no longer works."
The two brothers exchanged a glance then Virgil raised his wrist back towards his mouth.
"Virgil Tracy calling Thunderbird Five. Come in Alan."
"Virgil! At last! Any longer and I was going to call you myself" The worried voice of their youngest brother carried to them clearly on the early morning air. "Have you got Scott?"
"Alan I need you to locate John for me. Where does his chronometer signal say he is?"
"Isn't he back with you?"
"No. I don't have time to explain Alan. Just tell me where he is."
"F.A.B. Standby."
There was a few seconds silence as the youngest Tracy sibling initiated the search as requested. Then Alan's alarmed face appeared back on Virgil's chronometer.
"Virgil, I don't get a reading for him at all."
"He's not in the vicinity?"
"He's not in the vicinity, he's not in London, he's not even in England!"
Virgil and Gordon looked at each other as their brother confirmed Lady Penelope's suspicion. Now they had two brothers missing. Still, at least this time they would have a means of tracing them. However, even this hope was shattered at Alan's next words.
"I've widened the search to cover the whole world. Virgil there's no signal from John's chronometer at all. What's going on down there? Where's John?"
By now the four had reached the car. Parker held the rear door open and Lady Penelope stepped elegantly into the machine, followed closely by Gordon and Virgil. Parker took his place behind the wheel and started the car.
"Alan I need to speak to Dad. Put me through to base."
"What about John and Scott? Where are they?" Alan's voice rose in alarm at his brother's evasions.
"Alan we don't have time for this. I need to talk to Dad now. Stay on the line and listen in but for pete's sake put me through!"
Alan's jaw set mulishly and Virgil saw the rebellion in his brother's eyes at his curt tone, but thankfully Alan nodded tightly and silently made the connection. After a delay of some seconds Jeff's face replaced that of Alan in the chronometer.
"Vigil! What the devil's going on there? Where are John and Scott?"
Taking a deep breath Virgil recounted the night's events to his father. As his tale progressed and Virgil covered the encounter with Scott, his father's expression grew more and more grim. When he admitted that the World Police had been unable to find either Mestari, Scott or John he could hold back his agitation no longer.
"Gone! Gone where? Alan!"
"Yes father?"
"There's no trace of John's chronometer?"
"No father, he seems to have just vanished."
"He can't have vanished! Wherever he is, he's with his brother. He's our only trace to Scott and we can't fail them. I want you to keep that trace for John going around the clock understood? He's got to appear somewhere!"
"Yes father, I understand."
"Father?"
"Yes Virgil?"
"The World Police believe Mestari may be hiding in Finland."
"Finland?" Jeff's face changed instantly, a sudden sparkle of hope appearing in his eyes. "What makes them think so?"
Virgil completed his telling of the night's events, carefully detailing the nuances of the final exchange with Lieutenant Svenson.
"And you think he was serious?"
"Yes father. I'm certain he was trying to help. I trust him."
"I hope you're right Virgil. His guesses about Scott's identity make a breach of International Rescue's security almost a certainty if you're wrong. For now we're just going to have to trust him. Our priority at the moment is finding Scott, John and Thunderbird One." Jeff activated the internal house telecom that would allow him to communicate with the young scientist in his lab. "Brains"
"Y . . y . . .yes Mister Tracy?"
Those in the Rolls-Royce exchanged puzzled looks, wondering what had sparked the change in Jeff's demeanor.
"Those medical trials twenty years ago. Where did you say they were held?"
"Uh, Australia, Britain and, uh, Finland Mister Tracy."
"Finland! And the scientist who invented the drug."
"Ian, uh, Ian Master Mister Tracy."
"Yes, Ian Master. He was an Australian you said?"
"Uh, uh, yes sir."
"He wasn't educated in Britain by any chance was he Brains?"
"Well, uh, I couldn't be sure Mister Tracy, not without, uh, not without checking."
"Do that would you Brains. Find out everything you can about him. Particularly everything you can about any links he had with Finland and any details about his present whereabouts."
"Right away Mister Tracy."
"Virgil?"
"Yes father?"
"Where are you now?"
"We're leaving London and driving back to my home Jeff." Penny answered before Virgil could reply. "I feel a sudden need to visit Finland."
"Not without me you don't."
"Father?"
"Virgil, Gordon, bring Thunderbird Two home as fast as you can. By the time you get here I'm hoping either Brains or our agents in Scandinavia should have come up with something more concrete for us to go back with."
"But father Scott and John need help now!" Gordon looked mutinous at the delay.
"That's an order Gordon! I know Scott and John need help but the two of you can't take on Mestari and his hoods by yourselves."
"They wouldn't be alone Jeff"
"Thanks Penny – your help will be much appreciated. However, you will still return to base first." Jeff's voice rose as Gordon again started to object "Virgil's still not fully fit to fly Thunderbird Two. Knowing him I guess he did some flying on the way over there" Virgil coloured as his father's guess hit home "so now he's already tired and once we've got Scott and John back there'll be Thunderbird One to bring home as well. We can't guarantee that either Scott or John are going to be fit to fly when we reach them. With Virgil already tired it's out of the question for him to fly all the way home and, good as he is, I'm sure even Gordon would admit he couldn't fly both craft at the same time."
The silence in the car confirmed that the logic was irrefutable.
"Alan?"
"Yes sir"
"I want you to concentrate on the World Army channels. Let me know about anything and everything that emanates from or mentions Finland, Mestari or anything else that may be relevant. Understood?"
"Yes father"
"I also want you to keep a track of all of our signals for as long as this goes on, Penelope and Parker included. I've lost contact with two of my sons already. I'm losing track of no-one else."
"F.A.B."
The communication links were cut and each turned to their allotted task.
Author's Note
Aurora – How's that for a quick response? Thanks for your review.
Please note, the Gerry Anderson characters belong to someone else, they do not belong to me. that includes both the main characters and anyone else you may happen to recognise. Anyone you don't recognise is doubtless a figment of my imagination.
