AN - Apologies for the delay, loads of reasons, but typed they look like a string of excuses! I will finish this, so please stick with me if you can.

Ch 35

Seven minutes, thirty six seconds and if you were counting, and he was, point three of second! Nearly eight minutes shaved off their fifteen minutes head start. It had been the thought he had gone to sleep to, and unanswered by his subconscious, his first thought on waking. In fact in less than the time in question, it had been a frustrating puzzle that needed a solution. Scott turned just enough to catch the digits on the clock, he could lay here for a few more hours or he could make sure leg two swung in their favour. How the hell had his highly enthusiastic but geographically challenged brother and the chauffeur with a doctorate in the dead stare designed specifically for said brother managed to pull a team together. After all Gordon would have had to have taken the wheel at some point and he had witnessed the steady hand and foot of his brother. Gordon had never shown an interest in land speed, his back catalogue of four wheel purchases consisted of a go-kart, camper van and jeep. There was no way on the planet that they had driven a better race than he and Alan. As he lay back into the pillow it dawned, Penelope! There was a team manager who had seamlessly ingratiated herself to the organisers of the race. Insider knowledge! Bet the whiter than white aristocrat had slipped Parker …

Well the low down, cheating ….

And.

Two can play at that game!

Scott turned expecting to see a mop of blond hair in the bed next to him. Empty?

"Al?"

All quiet. Scott stretched, clicked the physical reminders of his age back into alignment before rising and grabbing his black T from the floor. He adjusted his boxers and their contents and took care of the necessities of morning, or afternoon in this case, ritual. Substituted the three S's that signalled a leisurely start, or formed the precursor to a night on the tiles, with the three W's, wee, wash and whiten. Basic, hastily deployed but it did aid the fog of a day-sleeper find an anchor for thought. "Al?"

Not a peep. Scott was starting to wonder if his brother hadn't started to find a little enthusiasm for the race and gone in search of their rivals. Maybe in hope of an answer the question he'd begged Scott to stop bugging him with when they had left the bustle of the champagne breakfast and gone to their room to hit the hay.

Alan hadn't been up for a debrief, hardly cared about whether Gordon had made time on them. Just locked himself away on the balcony to phone his girl, returning to the bedroom with a grin the size of the Grand Canyon. Scott had tried to entice him into a debate about the modern-day-miracle. Only gave up when a flying pillow put an end to his forth, highly pissed, enquiry as to how the hell they had managed it.

The door to the balcony was open, breeze giving life to the drapery. Scott heard his brother's chuckle. He couldn't resist a little hover in the background to get the lowdown before calling his teammate back from the addictive arms of Texas.

"s'alright Con, but you know, would've preferred to wake next to you. Scott got kinda antsy about Gordo getting the best time. He snores. And, he doesn't look half as good as you do in the mornings, or evenings."

Scott smiled as his brothers cheeks pinked.

"Well if he did THAT there would be serious cause for concern. Scott nibbling my lobes is not an image I want to dwell on," His brother laughed, "Or THAT! But if I picture that then it may just get me through the next twenty-four to forty-eight. Ditchin the ride in Boston and I'll be on the first flight out. The ol' man can take her back to the homestead, miss you too much to waste any more time than necessary. You talked to your brother about taking some time off?"

Scott witnessed Al's mini fist pump, the answer seemed to please his brother.

"Best go wake face-ache an' I'll check in again with you later…you hang up …. You." Alan grinned, a dopish adornment to his brother's face Scott was just about getting used to, "You ….no you."

"Alright already! Will one of you hang the goddamned phone up!" Alan did, but not without sending a stony glare in the intruders direction. "Face-ache! Ol' man! .. I thought we were on the same team!" Scott smiled and ruffled his younger brother's hair before his hand was irritably batted away.

"Can't a man get some privacy around here?"

Scott arched his eyebrow and grinned mischievously. "Anymore of THAT talk and you would need more privacy than a balcony! Think we better arrange separate rooms for the next lay-over." Scott pulled out one of the chrome chairs and sat next to his brother, studied him for a moment as he placed his phone on the table muttering something about coffee, before he left the small outside space like his ass was on fire.

Scott cast his eyes to the view of the other ol' man winding her leisurely way through the bustle of St Louis. Then his eyes were drawn to the lot below, the AMG glinting in the sunlight next to the sleek silver entrant with insider knowledge. Fifteen had already been reduced by three. One pulled for a DUI and the two that had hit the headlines had not checked in. Either the riddle was completely lost on them or they had decided to hit damage limitation and save their marriages. Or, were holed up, continuing their liaison somewhere the press did not have the access to add pictures to the story. The story would run no doubt, at least until some other poor unfortunate had let their flaws slip out from behind closed doors, tempting the voyeuristic needs of the reader. Scott would put his stake on the damage limitation, no publicity was bad publicity but it had to be managed.

In the first leave granted to them six months after they had all but disappeared off the map, the elder four Tracy's had hit the headlines in four separate instances as they took their first solo excursions from the island. Three out of four had an element of truth at their core. All involving 'morning-after-shots' of nameless-stress-relievers leaving their rooms slightly more dishevelled than they'd entered them. In John's case they had creatively decorated the unfortunate timing of his presence and turned it into a bar brawl initiated by him. The thought of his red-haired brother starting a showdown in the Sydney version of the 'ok corral' was laughable. Wrong place, wrong time, only there to answer a call of nature, caught between a man and his rival he had walked into a fist. In a split second reaction, he had pushed the assailant into a table full of drinks. CCTV footage had been limited to a still, but bought by the associated press in droves. 'John Tracy follows in his brother's footsteps' was the headline, with three lines of their non-story next to the page size picture, and a promise of more Tracy tip-bits on page 5. Where interested readers would find several photographs of minor Tracy misdemeanours re-hashed for a second viewing. If only they knew how many missed opportunities they'd had over the years. Scott chuckled to himself. God, it had been so long since he had allowed himself enough space for his mind to take a wander off-piste. If this was relaxation, he was starting to quite like it.

Scott looked up as his brother placed a cup of coffee in front of him. He noticed his composure had returned as the youngest took the seat next to him. Scott took a the top off the steaming morning rescue remedy instantly regretting the size of the gulp as it scalded its way down his oesophagus. His brother ginned.

"So, Scott. You wanna rip my driving abilities to pieces and tell me what I should have done to save a few seconds every kilometre?"

Scott blew across his mug, "It's not so much about improvement as intelligence."He replied, braving a smaller sip. "I think our brother has allied himself with a couple of dishonourable Brit's."

Alan took a moment to appraise his brother, there was joviality but also a determination in those steely blue eyes of his, "You honestly think they're cheating? I don't see how, and I wouldn't put it past Parker, Gordon may take the chance if he could, but Lady P would string them both up! Believe me, apart from dream-world scenario where Gordon would enjoy being strung up by Penny, he would not stomp over the small inroads he has made this last few days. "

Scott spat the small amount of coffee held in his mouth, "You are not telling me that Gordon and Penelope are dating?"

"Not telling you anything! Not that we need to, I'm surprised you didn't put a tracker in our smalls!"

Scott snorted, it was the first time the youngest had called him out on the vacation monitoring he'd deployed when they'd first left the Island. Perhaps he should apologise, but he wouldn't.

"You tracked the car, you had Kayo employed using Five's resources for your own personal agenda and prepped her to co-drive with Parker…."

"Shit!" Scott rose and downed his drink. Hadn't occurred to him until now how only two of the entrants had entered the bridge from the Illinois side. Scott had asked the Satnav to calculate the least number of red lights to target as soon as they'd entered the suburbs. Crossed the river twice to beat the lights, Parker had mirrored the route.

"What?"

"Nothing just need to check-in back home."

…..

"Kinda early Scott." Virgil yawned. "Call me back when it's a respectable hour."

"15:00hrs here, and besides to get through the list I left you you'll need to clock on early to prevent a graveyard shift." Scott heard the sound of the phone being dumped on the bedside table, "Virgil… Virgil! Pick up the goddamned phone."

"Ok. Then will you leave me the hell alone."

Scott wasn't willing to confirm or deny, "Where's Kayo?"

"Well she's certainly not in here." Virgil chuckled, "Maybe with John though, she's picked up holes in his PT schedule and is making him pay for non-attendance. He's threatened to retreat to Five and put Brains on standby for Thunderbird One."

"Over my dead body!" Scott exclaimed. "Get her to phone me otherwise I get Eos to sound the klaxon on the half-hour."

"Extreme!"

"Just get her to phone me!"

"Ok." Virgil yawned again, "By the way how on earth did Gordon make you two look like octogenarians in a hatch."

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

"Sore loser."

"Contacting Eos now."

"Ok, but if that klaxon sounds and it's not an emergency, you'll have some alterations on One when you return. You think she'd look great with a green nose cone?"

"Not biting and the clock is ticking," And it sort of was, he had an hour or so before their presence was required at the dinner / breakfast and the whole of the invited press got to decide whose lives they would invade next. Scott lay back on the bed and waited. Five minutes he'd allow. Reluctantly he extended to ten, Virgil was notoriously slow on the uptake in the mornings. By fifteen the blood was starting to boil, another minute and that klaxon was gonna provide a drill that would pull them to the centre of their Island home. He was kinda hoping to have this conversation out of earshot of grandmother though.

His phones vibrated in his hand. Hallelujah!

"You called dark over-lord?" Kayo had obviously questioned Virgil enough to adopt a playful tone.

"Need to suspend operation road trip."

"Operation brother smother more like!" Kayo retorted, "Already suspended, with no 3:00am call to the briefing room, all Gordon's and Alan's personal data is their own."

"What about the … the contingency measures for the race?"

"Oh, the penny dropped did it?" Kayo laughed, he couldn't see her, but he could picture her smug look perfectly. "Not one to go against a direct order …" She continued and Scott snorted, "I take exception to that!" Kayo exclaimed, in what Scott knew was fake affront, "I left all directives in place until I had orders to the contrary."

"Consider this 'orders to the contrary.' And, if you want to get creative and add a little flourish of your own…"

"You want me to sabotage the opposition? Now why would I want to do that when their success has got you so hot under the collar."

"For Al. They cheated. This is Alan's big adventure." Ok, so there was truth to that but it was obviously not the reason. Scott would be damned if he would hear Gordon crow about a victory until the day he had to kill him.

"Not because you can't stand to lose then? Kinda funny that their gain was your own doing. I think the boys may enjoy this one."

She always had measure of his psyche.

"Don't you dare tell the others."

"Or you'll?"

Had nothing. Kayo was the one person at home that didn't respond to his threats. His brothers were one thing, but he hoped to god his grandmother was not now privy to his controlling tendencies since he'd signed off on the youngest two's exit visa.

"Just do me a favour." He took a slight step back, losing a little ground maybe, but perhaps a plea may just be more likely to entice than a threat.

"What's in it for me?"

"What can I get the girl that has everything?"

"Or what can you do for the girl that has everything?" Kayo retorted.

"Ok."

"Two weeks, no questions, no contact. The minute you get back I want my own little adventure."

Scott was taken off-guard, Kayo never asked for leave. Kayo never clocked off. Kayo wanted two weeks off radar. Vacation his ass. She had a private agenda for a rogue mission or he wasn't just about to get his own way. "Two weeks, no questions, but you stay on grid."

"Then your wish is my command….. Oh and Scott, you wanna say hi to your brothers?"

"On speaker then?"

"And recorded for prosperity," Virgil chimed in.

"Blackmail fodder," John added. "Any chance of a letter to get me out of PT? I could send this to everyone's voicemail." There was a laugh but Scott knew a shot in the dark when he heard one.

"You side with John over PT and I'll make sure everyone has a copy," Kayo added. He heard a scuffle, imagined John in the firing line.

"Kayo?"

"She kind left in a hurry. John's just bought himself an hour's extra circuit training."

"Well, she's just doing her job. And he could do with putting in the hours when he's home." Scott replied chuckling.

"Good for me," Virgil stated, engaging another yawn. "I was up for the 11:00am session, looks like I'm home free. Going back to bed. Enjoy Wacky Races, Dick!"

…..

The starting line up was the same, they would follow the AMG, but this time because they had shaved a substantial amount off. Gordon was ecstatic, even Parker allowed one side of his lips to make an almost imperceptible curl towards the heavens. A sneer more than a smile but he was a beginner and Gordon would not allow that small detail to taint the moment. Both cars were last to go, meaning they'd placed first and second. And they were in first! Last to go and with the way things had gone yesterday they could even pass them today. Although passing them would not be as fun as tailgating them to the finish and claiming another victorious time. This was becoming the best idea he had ever had. Penelope was thawing, even laughing at his jokes and including him in plans for a private breakfast at the next lay-over. Gordon grabbed the envelope passed it to Parker as his foot rode the gas, his eyes enjoying the view. Not his brothers' red tail-lights as they disappeared, unaware of the advantage of the car behind them but Penelope's arm aloft like Liberty holding her beacon of hope.

The flag dropped and they were off. Parker waited for the satnav to kick in.

"That's funny," The navigator grumbled, an oxymoron to the statement he'd just made. Obviously not that funny Gordon thought sensing an eggshell moment.

"What is?"

"Either your brothers are taking a ferry for part of this leg or they have a car that has the capabilities to morph like FAB1. They are heading upstream on the Mississippi!"

"You'd better open the envelope," Gordon added, ducking a little in his seat for the expected onslaught, "It looks like Scotty has pulled his resources."

Parker ripped the top off the envelope, staring stonily ahead, "You better listen to this then. I hope you have hidden talents Master Tracy. Your country, your contribution to the team."

Gordon thought better than to point out that he was at the wheel, contributing! "You'd better read it out then."