As Virgil inched closer and closer to Scott, Jeff tried to deep breathe away both the guilt and the fear he felt as Terry grabbed Amanda by the shoulder and spun her around to slap her hard in the face. The force knocked her off the chair.
"Terry! Stop! Let me talk to her!" Jeff cried out. "Chris! Headset! Now!"
Chris yanked off her headset and stuck it high in the air where Jeff snatched it. Shoving it down over his ears, Jeff realized that to keep Amanda alive, he'd have to approach her not as commander of International Rescue, but as Jefferson Tracy, head of Tracy International and her boss.
"Amanda!" he called firmly into the microphone. "Amanda?! This is Jeff Tracy! Can you hear me, young lady?"
For a long moment, nothing happened. "Come on, Mandy!" Jeff urged, until she stirred and began to push herself off the floor.
"Amanda, can you hear me?" he barked into the mic. "Yes," she half-whispered, "time for me to go home--"
Still sitting in her seat, Chris muttered, "'Go home'?"
"Listen to me, Amanda! I'm coming over there in 20 minutes and I want those codes in and set up by the time I arrive! Do you understand me?!"
Pushing herself up on her knees, she sent chills down Jeff's spine as she whispered, "I-I don't---think I can." Her words transported a feverish Jeff back to when Alan, his youngest son, once spoke the same words as he struggled to remain standing on the San Miguel Bridge. Jeff had to get tough with Alan to keep him concentrating until Scott, Virgil and Brains could get to them. Now, a similiar scene was being played out once more but this time, the victim struggling to obey was just an ordinary young woman and not a seasoned astronaut.
Meanwhile, Terry was furious at the fact Amanda responded only to Jeff's orders. Shoving his gun into his pocket, he gripped her arms, yanked her back onto her feet and shook her. "You're just fine!" he spat, "You got a job to do! Now finish it!"
Cold, faint with hunger and her body aching from lack of sleep, she just didn't care anymore. Jeff tried to reason with her in a voice both firm and soothing. "Amanda, you could stop right now if you wanted to, but Terry won't be satisfied with your death. He will continue to kill until he finds me."
Facing his captive, Terry found himself reacting to Amanda's helplessness. How long had it been since he held a woman in his arms? Ever since his sentencing and his wife Catherine's death, he'd done nothing but plot and plan Jeff Tracy's demise. Cathy had been unable to withstand the shame of Terry's embezzlement and the attacks from the tabloid press and finally had given in to her misery, committing suicide with his whiskey and a bottle of sleeping pills.
Rubbing his filthy hands up and down her arms, Terry warned Amanda coldly, "Do what he tells you or killing you will be the last thing I do."
The hidden implication of his words bore home. Amanda tore out of his hands in disgust and dropped wearily back down in front of the monitor. No matter which way she looked at things, she was trapped.
"There's nothing I can do," she thought to herself. "International Rescue can't possibly make it in time, Tracy Island's going to be destroyed and I'm left alone with this---animal!" Giving up and giving in to the madness surrounding her seemed so easy now. "How could anyone possibly expect me to go through with all of this?!" she thought as she stared at the keyboard. In the lounge, standing above Chris, Jeff Tracy spoke one more time. "Amanda, think about John. If something were to happen to you, what am I going to tell him?"
Jeff's words woke her to anger. "How dare you?!" she cried, "How dare you bring up his name to me?! What do you know of what I'm going through here? What do you know of suffering and pain and---and---" Amanda stared in anger at Jeff Tracy. For the first time she saw tears dripping unashamedly off the great man's cheeks and she realized that if anyone knew what pain and suffering were all about, Jeff Tracy knew. Defeated, Amanda sat down and nodded her head. "All right," she said, "I'll do it."
The digital clock read 4:34 a.m. on the missile site's control board. "Fourth string coming your way, Amanda." Chris replied, forgetting Amanda couldn't hear her. Amanda tapped the keyboard a fourth time in response when Jeff relayed Chris' words.
"Fourth string away," Amanda said barely above a whisper.
Terry wasn't satisfied. Cocking his gun, he aimed it at Amanda once more. "Get those last codes in! Now! This is taking way too long!"
Thousands of miles above the earth, John several times had to tell himself to concentrate on steering Thunderbird 3. He wanted so badly to break contact with base. Hearing his father's half of the conversation with Amanda was almost too much for John to bear and very nearly distracted him from the most important mission of his life. He told himself over and over again that there was nothing he could do about Amanda's present situation, but it didn't help at all to ease the guilty whispers in his mind. "If I could have done something back when we were all at the hotel, none of this would be happening right now!" he thought wearily.
"J-John! Space Observatory 3 is--uh--now 15 minutes from firing r-range!" Brains yelped. "Weapons on standby!" Suddenly, John was all business as if Brains' announcement came in the knick of time. "I want to know the second we're in firing range, Brains!"
Meanwhile, Jeff placed Chris' headset back on her head as her keys made the sounds of a rapid fire machine gun as she tapped. "Fifth string on its way!"
In a matter of seconds, the fifth string broke into bits of information that sped their way to Space Observatory 3 as Chris sent the sixth string in. "Just one more string now," Chris sighed to herself. "Just one more."
From over the lounge's loudspeaker, Jeff heard Thunderbirds 1 and 2 calling in. His throat went dry as he clenched his hands on the back of Chris' chair.
"Come on, John! Where are you?! Tell me you've blasted that thing out of the sky!" he thought desperately.
"This is Thunderbird 1 reporting. ETA now 20 minutes from danger zone!" Scott snapped.
"Thunderbird 2 is now 22 minutes from Danger Zone!" echoed Virgil. "Final string going in," Chris announced with fingers shivering so badly she had to shake the jitters out of them.
As Chris typed, Jeff noticed immediately that the rhythm had changed. He watched her now as she typed in the last set of codes and then highlighted ten digits in the string. Right-clicking the mouse, she brought up a menu to highlight the word 'paste', clicked on that and a new set of codes appeared.
"What is she doing?!" thought Jeff. "Chris?" Jeff spoke as loudly as he dared.
"It's all right! Brains gave them to me!" she whispered back.
"Amanda, last string away!" Chris replied as she hit the enter key, just as Jeff grabbed her hand.
"Terry! Stop Amanda! Don't enter that code!"
Terry ignored Jeff to watch as Amanda highlighted the string. When she was about to enter the code that would order Space Observatory 3 to fire, he grabbed her wrist and fairly threw her out of the chair.
Jeff tried again, more desperate than ever. "Terry! You don't have to do this! They'll execute you for this!" he cried.
Terry looked into the camera and responded, "In that case, I might as well go for broke!" With that, Terry turned the key which opened up a switch just below the lock. A red button flashed over and over. With the punch of the button, Jeff's image of Terry and Amanda became distorted from severe vibrations that seemed to hit the missile site. "Oh, it can't be!" Jeff breathed.
Amanda screamed as she felt the tremors beneath her feet. "Terry---?!" Jeff called out.
"This is just in case you've called those blue busybodies from International Rescue!" Terry laughed. "Let's see how they like dancing with a Titan missile!"
"Terry! Stop! Let me talk to her!" Jeff cried out. "Chris! Headset! Now!"
Chris yanked off her headset and stuck it high in the air where Jeff snatched it. Shoving it down over his ears, Jeff realized that to keep Amanda alive, he'd have to approach her not as commander of International Rescue, but as Jefferson Tracy, head of Tracy International and her boss.
"Amanda!" he called firmly into the microphone. "Amanda?! This is Jeff Tracy! Can you hear me, young lady?"
For a long moment, nothing happened. "Come on, Mandy!" Jeff urged, until she stirred and began to push herself off the floor.
"Amanda, can you hear me?" he barked into the mic. "Yes," she half-whispered, "time for me to go home--"
Still sitting in her seat, Chris muttered, "'Go home'?"
"Listen to me, Amanda! I'm coming over there in 20 minutes and I want those codes in and set up by the time I arrive! Do you understand me?!"
Pushing herself up on her knees, she sent chills down Jeff's spine as she whispered, "I-I don't---think I can." Her words transported a feverish Jeff back to when Alan, his youngest son, once spoke the same words as he struggled to remain standing on the San Miguel Bridge. Jeff had to get tough with Alan to keep him concentrating until Scott, Virgil and Brains could get to them. Now, a similiar scene was being played out once more but this time, the victim struggling to obey was just an ordinary young woman and not a seasoned astronaut.
Meanwhile, Terry was furious at the fact Amanda responded only to Jeff's orders. Shoving his gun into his pocket, he gripped her arms, yanked her back onto her feet and shook her. "You're just fine!" he spat, "You got a job to do! Now finish it!"
Cold, faint with hunger and her body aching from lack of sleep, she just didn't care anymore. Jeff tried to reason with her in a voice both firm and soothing. "Amanda, you could stop right now if you wanted to, but Terry won't be satisfied with your death. He will continue to kill until he finds me."
Facing his captive, Terry found himself reacting to Amanda's helplessness. How long had it been since he held a woman in his arms? Ever since his sentencing and his wife Catherine's death, he'd done nothing but plot and plan Jeff Tracy's demise. Cathy had been unable to withstand the shame of Terry's embezzlement and the attacks from the tabloid press and finally had given in to her misery, committing suicide with his whiskey and a bottle of sleeping pills.
Rubbing his filthy hands up and down her arms, Terry warned Amanda coldly, "Do what he tells you or killing you will be the last thing I do."
The hidden implication of his words bore home. Amanda tore out of his hands in disgust and dropped wearily back down in front of the monitor. No matter which way she looked at things, she was trapped.
"There's nothing I can do," she thought to herself. "International Rescue can't possibly make it in time, Tracy Island's going to be destroyed and I'm left alone with this---animal!" Giving up and giving in to the madness surrounding her seemed so easy now. "How could anyone possibly expect me to go through with all of this?!" she thought as she stared at the keyboard. In the lounge, standing above Chris, Jeff Tracy spoke one more time. "Amanda, think about John. If something were to happen to you, what am I going to tell him?"
Jeff's words woke her to anger. "How dare you?!" she cried, "How dare you bring up his name to me?! What do you know of what I'm going through here? What do you know of suffering and pain and---and---" Amanda stared in anger at Jeff Tracy. For the first time she saw tears dripping unashamedly off the great man's cheeks and she realized that if anyone knew what pain and suffering were all about, Jeff Tracy knew. Defeated, Amanda sat down and nodded her head. "All right," she said, "I'll do it."
The digital clock read 4:34 a.m. on the missile site's control board. "Fourth string coming your way, Amanda." Chris replied, forgetting Amanda couldn't hear her. Amanda tapped the keyboard a fourth time in response when Jeff relayed Chris' words.
"Fourth string away," Amanda said barely above a whisper.
Terry wasn't satisfied. Cocking his gun, he aimed it at Amanda once more. "Get those last codes in! Now! This is taking way too long!"
Thousands of miles above the earth, John several times had to tell himself to concentrate on steering Thunderbird 3. He wanted so badly to break contact with base. Hearing his father's half of the conversation with Amanda was almost too much for John to bear and very nearly distracted him from the most important mission of his life. He told himself over and over again that there was nothing he could do about Amanda's present situation, but it didn't help at all to ease the guilty whispers in his mind. "If I could have done something back when we were all at the hotel, none of this would be happening right now!" he thought wearily.
"J-John! Space Observatory 3 is--uh--now 15 minutes from firing r-range!" Brains yelped. "Weapons on standby!" Suddenly, John was all business as if Brains' announcement came in the knick of time. "I want to know the second we're in firing range, Brains!"
Meanwhile, Jeff placed Chris' headset back on her head as her keys made the sounds of a rapid fire machine gun as she tapped. "Fifth string on its way!"
In a matter of seconds, the fifth string broke into bits of information that sped their way to Space Observatory 3 as Chris sent the sixth string in. "Just one more string now," Chris sighed to herself. "Just one more."
From over the lounge's loudspeaker, Jeff heard Thunderbirds 1 and 2 calling in. His throat went dry as he clenched his hands on the back of Chris' chair.
"Come on, John! Where are you?! Tell me you've blasted that thing out of the sky!" he thought desperately.
"This is Thunderbird 1 reporting. ETA now 20 minutes from danger zone!" Scott snapped.
"Thunderbird 2 is now 22 minutes from Danger Zone!" echoed Virgil. "Final string going in," Chris announced with fingers shivering so badly she had to shake the jitters out of them.
As Chris typed, Jeff noticed immediately that the rhythm had changed. He watched her now as she typed in the last set of codes and then highlighted ten digits in the string. Right-clicking the mouse, she brought up a menu to highlight the word 'paste', clicked on that and a new set of codes appeared.
"What is she doing?!" thought Jeff. "Chris?" Jeff spoke as loudly as he dared.
"It's all right! Brains gave them to me!" she whispered back.
"Amanda, last string away!" Chris replied as she hit the enter key, just as Jeff grabbed her hand.
"Terry! Stop Amanda! Don't enter that code!"
Terry ignored Jeff to watch as Amanda highlighted the string. When she was about to enter the code that would order Space Observatory 3 to fire, he grabbed her wrist and fairly threw her out of the chair.
Jeff tried again, more desperate than ever. "Terry! You don't have to do this! They'll execute you for this!" he cried.
Terry looked into the camera and responded, "In that case, I might as well go for broke!" With that, Terry turned the key which opened up a switch just below the lock. A red button flashed over and over. With the punch of the button, Jeff's image of Terry and Amanda became distorted from severe vibrations that seemed to hit the missile site. "Oh, it can't be!" Jeff breathed.
Amanda screamed as she felt the tremors beneath her feet. "Terry---?!" Jeff called out.
"This is just in case you've called those blue busybodies from International Rescue!" Terry laughed. "Let's see how they like dancing with a Titan missile!"