Hour Fourteen
The following takes place between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
9:02:11
"How do I look?" Virgil flashed a smile.
"Like a cross between a commando and a fighter pilot," Megan replied thoughtfully. "Those magno-things are going to keep you on the hull?"
"That's the plan," he replied. "Let Scott know I'm ready to go out."
"Okay."
Virgil tugged at the apparatus he wore, first checking the belts that held the electromagnetic gear on him, then the compact parachute he wore on his back...just in case...the two small oxygen containers strapped on his back either side of the parachute, and finally the small mask that led to them, ensuring he wouldn't pass out due to the lack of oxygen that high in the atmosphere.
Hanging out there twice in one day. That's a record.
He checked the four canisters of compound he'd have to use to seal the cracked hull in the VTOL shaft.
This is going to be messy.
His mind wandered to John. To Penelope. To Parker and Sir Jeremy.
I'm glad Parker made it.
A frown settled onto his face.
But will the rest of us?
9:05:47
Master, you must come to me. I need you. I have...failed.
Dark eyes closed, mouth hanging slightly open.
I have lost our son in the jungles.
Incense wafted around her glistening skin.
Please, Master. What is thy bidding?
Above the abyss it rose, twining and swirling like tendrils of smoke as it wove its way from the depths. Blue flashes of light began sparking in each tendril as they slowly came together to form a single teardrop-shaped cloud above her.
She opened her eyes and looked up in time to see the smoke form two glowing red eyes.
Her hands flew to her mouth as Ebony screamed.
9:08:16
Kyrano's eyes fluttered open. He looked around as he rose to a sitting position.
I am in the hospital ward.
He slid off the bed and padded across the room, through the door and into the hall. There wasn't a soul in sight.
Where has everyone gone?
In order to get to the elevator that would take him to the main floor of the villa, Kyrano had to pass by Brains' laboratory. There was Broadway music playing, as was the norm when Brains was hard at work, but it played softly instead of unbearably loud, as it usually did.
Kyrano entered to find Brains hunched over a mobile computer with papers scattered everywhere and a pencil between his lips.
"Mr. Brains? What are you doing?"
"Kyrano!" the engineer squeaked, jumping to his feet. Papers went everywhere. "How are you?"
"I am better now, thank you." Kyrano waved a hand at the computer and papers. "What is all this for?"
"I discovered something that Jeff is i-insisting I look further into before he says a-anything to Lady Penelope."
Kyrano frowned. "What have you discovered?"
Brains shrugged. He saw no reason not to tell Kyrano. It wouldn't have surprised him if he already knew. He always seemed to know everything, yet disclose very little.
"Everything I can find is indicating that Lady Penelope is Ebony's birth mother."
Kyrano's eyebrows shot up. "Where is the evidence for this?"
Brains showed him some files and pictures he had on the computer, one of which was a reconstructed birth certificate showing a child born as Victoria Emily Creighton-Ward. The space for a father's name was blank, but the mother was very clearly listed as Penelope Jane Creighton-Ward.
A little too clearly.
"Brains? Why is the mother's name written so much more clearly than most of the rest of that certificate?"
"There was a fire in the hall that held birth and death records for that area about four years after Ebony was born. They saved almost every record, but some had to be reconstructed. This is one of the reconstructed documents."
Kyrano looked at the certificate again. "What if it was not reconstructed correctly?"
Brains frowned. "What are you saying?"
"What if Lady Penelope isn't the Creighton-Ward Ebony was born to?"
"What? But then who..." Brains stopped and stared at Kyrano. "You don't mean...?"
"Yes. I do," he nodded. "Amelia Creighton-Ward."
"So Penelope's not her mother, she's her...sister?"
"Half-sister," Kyrano corrected.
Brains looked at him suspiciously. "What do you know, Kyrano?"
"I know now that the child called Esunge is not my half-brother's son. I also know that Ebony is Amelia's daughter." He froze, eyes widening in horror. "I also know that Belah," he continued in a soft whisper, "has returned."
9:17:20
John huddled over Zi, covering her with his body. Esunge clung to her shirt, cocooned in the protective circle of her arms.
"Bà!" Zi cried as she saw her father lying dead where they'd all sat happily minutes ago. "Bà!"
"No, Zi," John whispered into her ear. "Be quiet."
Arrows whizzed. Laser pistols fired. There were hollers, yells, shouts...general melee broke out not fifteen feet away.
"We have to get out of here," John said. "Come with me, Zi."
Her name was the only word she understood. She turned and looked up at him.
His heart skipped a beat.
"Zi, we have to go," he said, his fingers making like two legs walking. "We're in danger." She shook her head. He pointed to her dead father, then drew her attention back to himself as his finger mimicked an arrow shooting into Esunge's head.
Zi grew alarmed and shook her head 'no' vehemently.
"That's what I thought," he said, taking Esunge from her arms and grabbing her hand. "Come on!"
The jungle was thick with overgrowth. He could vaguely make out a trail leaving the other side of the clearing and ran as fast as he could, Zi in tow. Esunge, who'd been awakened by Zi's screams, clung to John's neck as he was becoming used to doing.
Who the fuck is attacking them? John wondered. Just as quickly he answered himself. Ebony. Ebony and her damn goons.
She must have found them. They weren't far enough from the temple. She'd come to take Esunge back and when she found John...he mentally shivered at the thought of what she'd do to him.
And what of Zi? Not a word of English from her, her father dead...killed right in front of her...John couldn't fathom how that felt. He briefly thought of his father as they slammed through vines and leaves, bending small saplings and large ferns as they ran. Boughs whipped back into Zi's face, but she didn't complain. She didn't have time to. She'd never run so fast in her life!
They came upon another small clearing, most likely one that had also been cleared at some point by Li and his men not long ago. Crouching on the edge of it, John and Zi's lungs heaved as they tried to catch their breath while scoping out the situation.
It seemed quiet and harmless.
Which is always when it's not, John reminded himself.
Tentatively he rose from his crouched position and sneaked into the clearing, arms wrapped protectively around the baby. Just as he'd feared, he wasn't alone. Three men sprang into the clearing and raised their guns. He was surrounded.
He was trapped.
9:29:54
Virgil crawled down the outside of Two's hull. Having come out a hatch on top of the pod, he allowed the winch to slowly give him a lead as he made his way down Two's side just in front of the wing. Even from there he could feel the intense pull of the ram-jet air intake.
Boy, if I get sucked into that baby, it's all over.
Just like a jet engine intake...it'd make hamburger meat out of Virgil as surely as it would any flying creature that happened to get too close.
Ground up like hamburger.
Virgil snorted.
At this very moment he was hanging completely upside-down on the bottom of his Thunderbird. Going 600 miles per hour. At 15,000 feet. And somehow he had to get four containers of compound up into a shaft to repair a cracked hull. Virgil smiled as he came upon the VTOL shaft.
All in a day's work.
9:35:39
Ebony's eyes glittered as she descended the large staircase into the Great Room. The captain of her army bowed before her. "Mistress Ebony. Tell us thy bidding."
"You will no longer address me as such," she said.
The voice that came from her mouth wasn't hers. It was deeper. It was a man's voice. It was... The soldier jumped to his feet and stepped warily back, drawing his sword. "What sort of trickery is this?"
"It is no trickery, you fool!" she snapped.
The captain took two steps closer, peering into her eyes as he drew near. "It cannot be! Master?"
A smile appeared on her face. "Yes, Cong. It is your master."
"How can this be?" Cong exclaimed, falling to his knees to genuflect as required.
"It can be," Ebony replied, placing her hand on Cong's head and looking about the cavernous room. "At last," she sighed, an accent marring the deep voice. "Belah Gaat has come home."
9:41:25
"Yes, Jeff. I said he has returned."
"But Kyrano, that makes no sense. I saw Penny blow Gaat's head off myself. It happened mere feet from where you're standing, for God's sake!"
Serene brown eyes gazed at blazing blue-gray ones. "I did not say Belah survived. I said he had returned."
"You mean his...what, soul? Spirit?"
"I doubt his soul belongs to him, Jeff. Spirit might be the better term for our purposes."
"Is that who's behind Ebony kidnapping John?"
"I believe so. Mister Brains has told me of Ebony's offer to exchange Mr. John for you."
"Yes," Jeff nodded. "That was her deal."
"I believe that was always her purpose."
"What, to get me down there?"
Kyrano nodded. "Yes, but not because she wanted you. Because my half-brother did."
"To what end? If he's a spirit, what the hell does he still care about..." Jeff's eyes widened. "Oh, my."
"Yes, Jeff. He wanted you there because—"
"He wants to steal my body."
"Precisely."
"Well, how would he do that, exactly?"
"In order for the union to be successful, it would have to be done properly, made permanent through a strict ritual of dark magick there at the place where the world of below meets the world of above."
"But if I don't go down there..."
"I would imagine that he would take John."
"But John's younger than I am. Any of my sons are. I understand him choosing a Tracy, but why me?"
"You are the head of both Tracy Corporation and International Rescue," Kyrano replied. "What better position of power to enter if your wish is to return to life and take over the world?"
"My God," Jeff breathed, looking down briefly to find both Penelope and Parker staring at him. "Even in death he's a madman."
"Yes, Jeff. And there is another matter, of Ebony's parentage."
Jeff shook his head 'no.' But Kyrano paid no heed.
"I found the true story when I was unconscious," he continued. "It is involved, but I will attempt to keep it brief. The woman we know as Ebony was born Victoria Emily, that much is true. And it is also true she was born to a Creighton-Ward." Kyrano heard Penelope's gasp of surprise and chose to ignore it. Now was not the time for anything but fact. "But it is Amelia who bore this child after a heinous act on the part of a visiting dignitary from Madagascar by the name of Babechi."
Jeff swallowed hard. In his peripheral vision he could see Penny's ashen face.
"Babechi descends from Queen Ranavalona the Third, who was deposed in 1897 and sent to the French-owned island of Reunion off the coast of Africa. She met and fell in love with a man of my country, as the island was the site of much immigration for those of Malay and Chinese descent, to name a few. Babechi was the first of his family since Ranavalona was dishonored to regain honor with the government of Madagascar. He was on his first assignment as ambassador to London, staying at the same hotel Penelope's mother was staying at."
"Don't say anything more!" Penny cried over the airwaves. "Please!"
9:53:55
"Let me tell it," she said to Parker and Jeff's twin looks of astonishment. "After all, I was there when it happened."
"You were there?" Jeff repeated.
"Well, I wasn't present that awful night, no. But upon Mother's return home I found her crying many nights in her room and she and my father had many fights. Several months passed and it became apparent she was with child. I was so excited to have a little sister. They'd told me she was a girl, that I would have a sister!" Penelope smiled as she recalled the memory with fondness.
"Mother and I went shopping all over London for the perfect furniture and clothing for little Victoria. That's what she was to be named, as you say, Kyrano. Little Victoria. When the time came, I remember Mother being rushed to hospital but three days later she returned with no baby. During the night before Mother returned, Father had stayed awake all night covering all Victoria's possessions with sheets. That's how you found them today, Jeff. They have remained that way for thirty-two years."
"So you knew you had a sister?"
"I only knew I was supposed to have a sister. Mother and Father told me she had died shortly after being born. Father asked me never to speak of it or it would break Mother's heart. Victoria was never talked of again," Penelope finished, looking up at Jeff. "Until today."
"Victoria, as you call her," Kyrano said from the video screen, "is Ebony. They are one and the same. Apparently your parents did not speak truth. She did not die, Lady Penelope."
"And now she has your son," Penelope said sadly, looking away from her husband. "Jeff, I'm so sorry."
"Dad! Dad! Quick!"
"Alan?" Jeff said as Alan's face overrode Kyrano's on his video screen. "What is it?"
"It's Gordon!" Alan cried, looking sideways at something out of Jeff's view. "Oh, my God...Dad, he's gone! He's gone!"
9:59:58
9:59:59
10:00:00