The Hood had tapped every inch of every wall in the place in the hope of finding a hollow sound.

Nothing.

He had prodded, poked, twisted, and even spoken to every knob, leaver, statue, everything he could find that just might prove to be the mechanism to open up…whatever it was that was hiding this…hidey hole so well.

Nothing.

Finally, he had found a measuring stick and a long tape measure and checked the dimensions of the building, inside and out, checked the thickness of the walls over the entire building. All the numbers matched.

No hidden room anywhere.

Where the hell was this hiding place that had eluded him for so long? There had to be somewhere he had not found, but every inch of space within the family temple was accounted for.

A hidden basement perhaps? The thought struck him with particular force, and he turned to stride off in search of a hidden entrance somewhere, either inside or outside the building. He paused. Tanusha had been upstairs when he had seen her. Wherever she had been had been upstairs. Unlikely to be a basement room in that case.

He recalled she had informed him that she had called to speak to him. She was already here when he arrived, so she could quite conceivably have gone upstairs simply looking for him.

But why oh why would she come all the way here to see him in the first place?

A tiny voice in the back of his mind seemed to mock him

Don't knock it; it worked, didn't it?

The Hood sneered at himself. The answer was easy. Whatever it was she had come here for must be valuable, thereby making it highly desirable to acquire… whatever-it-was for himself. Or…deprive her of it. The only way of making sure that her secret, whatever it turned out to be, was forever lost to her would be to destroy it, by destroying the entire building.

He would enjoy getting one over on Kayo, but on the other hand, losing his home was not an option.

Was it?

He started to grin, as a plan formed in his mind.

He would have to move fast.

Where Eos was flying, she could see everything. She missed Thunderbird Five, and her regular and easy association with John Tracy. But then, on Thunderbird Five, she had been John's assistant. An important part of his life, but still an assistant. Here on Thunderbird Rover, she played a vital part within International Rescue. They had a problem or needed a task doing, they came to her.

It was her province, she felt, to keep her eyes on everything in the heaven, everything, all the probes, satellites, the International Space Station, and every scrap of useless metal that orbited earth. She could see them all. She had made a note of the position of every one of them, their orbital paths and any gravitational shifts that occurred. So it was that when one of the small orbiting satellites shifted in its orbit, Eos was immediately aware.

She was interested to note that it was the satellite that had been identified as formerly belonging to the Hood. He had used it as a relay to communicate instructions between his various forces around the world, before International Rescue and the GDF had put a stop to his scheme. The GDF had reportedly altered to programming of this satellite and encoded it to bring it under their control. Clearly, the Hood had his own failsafe device installed. She made a note to inform John that all satellites would have to be rechecked visually, to ensure they were clear of any override devices that would allow the Hood access.

She prepared her programming to interface with Kayo's computer Tee-Kay, whilst at the same time she set her course to follow the rogue satellite's new orbit. Where was it going, and why?

The rains had not stopped pouring outside, and the trickle of water coming in through the tiny window was still coming.

Virgil stared up at the window, with the water seeping in. How would water be coming in through a window in such a steady stream like that?

If the window was below the ground, a sort of basement window, then the rise in water level would increase exponentially as the rainfall continued. But if it was a low-level window, then surely given the angle, they would see at least something of the outside world, wouldn't they?

What could cause water seepage through a window that was not low lying? A ground floor room in a building built on a flood plain? Was it likely? The sort of place that experienced rising tidal or river levels and flash flooding in heavy rainfall. Many places had those characteristics in this day and age, with land at such a premium that men had seen fit to build in high flood-risk areas. What else?

Perhaps something simple, like a first-floor window that looked out on to a flat roof with blocked guttering. Unlikely maybe, but that might explain why the trickle had remained as a trickle and not become a torrent in itself.

The puddle of water on the floor of their room was still spreading slowly towards them, but it seemed likely that since the doorway was between them and the window, and the puddle was indeed creeping along the wall, it might find an outlet through the gap under the door before it reached their corner of the room.

Maybe.

His companion shifted suddenly and awoke. She smacked her lips a couple of times, staring at the water seeping in through the window and down the wall.

"Do you suppose it is clean water, Virgil?"

"Doubt it, but better dirty water than no water. How long since someone had brought us anything?"

She shrugged.

"Dunno. How long have I been asleep? I feel like I have swallowed the Sahara, so it must be at least a day."

"Well I was just thinking this water will be seeping out under the door soon, so maybe whoever is out there will realize it and…"

He noticed her staring at him with a hopeless look in her eye and stopped.

"What?"

"No one will come. They've left us here to die."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Its been three days since anyone has brought any food in here, and…we're going to die aren't we? They've abandoned us, and no one will ever find us here, and we'll die of thirst if we don't drown."

Virgil raised an eyebrow at her, and she frowned.

"What are you looking at me like that for? I'm right!"

"Water, water everywhere and never a drop to drink? Is that it?"

She nodded.

"Something like that."

"Isla, that applies to people lost at sea. We are hardly lost at sea. I wonder if I can stand up?"

"You need to rest."

"Rest can wait."

"But you're hurt."

"Well it will hardly make any difference if we both die will it? Help me up."

Isla took his hands in hers, marveling at the size and strength she felt in them, and the rough callouses she could feel. This was a man who knew how to work hard. She hauled as hard as she could. He was a lot heavier than he looked, but between them, they got him to his feet. She stood beside him, supporting his weight until he managed to steady himself. He was gritting his teeth hard.

"Ok, you'll have to help me here."

She followed him to the wall under the window and they both stood looking up at it. She looked regretfully at him.

"If you're thinking of trying to see what is out that window, I'm not sure I would be able to hold you up."

Virgil considered her shorter-than-normal stature, and his well-muscled physique and nodded. She was right.

"Can you climb?"

Her eyebrows raised.

"Huh?"

"I think I have a couple of cracked or broken ribs, so I doubt I could pick you up without doing more damage, but I can hold you up if you are able to climb up me. See if you can climb on to my shoulders and see out of the window."

She nodded uncertainly, and as he planted his fists on to his hips, arms akimbo to give her something to grab hold of, she grabbed his elbows with both her hands, planted her foot on his right knee and pulled herself up. Slowly and vaguely apologetically she managed to climb his body as if he were a short tree until she was standing on his shoulders, facing the wall. She looked up. The window was still above her head. She could just touch the windowsill with her fingertips.

"Can you see?" Virgil grunted from below.

"I'm too sh…I mean vertically challenged!"

Virgil grinned.

"Me too. I'm the shortest of my brothers…except for the youngest, and he hasn't had his growth spurt yet. He's just fourteen. Now if Scott were here…"

He heaved a sigh and called upwards again.

"Isla, look. Can you reach the window at all?"

"I can just grip the sill with the tips of my fingers but I'm not strong enough to pull myself up."

Virgil braced himself and gritted his teeth once more, knowing that this was going to hurt.

"Alright, I am going to place my hands under the soles of your feet and grip you by the ankles. Balance yourself against the wall as I push you up and tell me when you can see outside. Describe what you see. Try to forget about getting wet for the time being."

"Okay, I'm ready."

Virgil gripped her ankles tightly and as he pushed up, he felt the unbearable strain on his ribcage and let out an involuntary yell of agony. His grip however, did not falter. Isla blenched at the sound of his yell, and as she felt the windowsill becoming firmer beneath her hands, she pulled herself up until suddenly she found her companion had virtually catapulted her right up on to the sill. She grabbed the broken edge of the window, grimacing at the scratches on her hand, and pulled her knees up behind her. Now, she was kneeling on the windowsill and poking her head through the narrow gap. She just about had enough space to crawl through. Looking up, Virgil saw her feet disappearing through the hole, and called up to her.

"What can you see? Where are we? What's out there?"

Isla stared around herself in shock.

She was standing in a clearing, surrounded by jungle. Behind her were the flattened, burnt out remains of what must once have been a fine building. The window she had crawled out of was all that remained of the building, part of a ground floor rear wall, with stone steps that led down to an underground room. Clearly, there was a complex of rooms under this destroyed building, because she certainly had not gone in through this window. He knelt down and peered back in at her companion.

"Virgil, we're in the middle of a jungle. Should I go around and try to find the way through that locked door?"

He shook his head.

"No, because whoever brought us here might still be around, and we don't want you to get caught."

"But I can't escape through a jungle!"

Virgil kicked off his left shoe and picked it up.

"Isla, catch my shoe."

He threw it, and she caught it, and stared at it, puzzled.

"Thanks Virgil, just what I have always wanted. A man's shoe!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Push the heel to the left. You will find a capsule inside there. You want to run through the jungle, head towards the sun and keep in as straight a line as you can. Just keep going. Once you are at least two miles away, swallow it, then find yourself somewhere safe to hide…a tree or a bush or something, and stay put. Is that clear?"

She nodded.

"Okay, but what…?"

He shook his head.

"Don't ask questions, just do it, and remember to swallow the capsule whole. Don't whatever you do chew on it. Just swallow it. Swear to me?"

"I swear, but what about you?"

"I'll be fine, especially if you do as I tell you. Go!"

She hesitated, and a line appeared between his eyes.

"Go!" he commanded. Isla nodded.

"I'll get help!"

She turned and ran.