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"I must say Alan. That was delicious." Said Lady Penelope as she put her napkin down. All the plates were completely empty and nothing was left. The group nodded and sat back with full bellies.
"Thank you. Drinks on the terrace?" I suggested.
John stood up. "Allow me, I´ll make some coffee."
"He only does that so he doesn´t have to do the dishes." Zola whispered, loud enough that the rest could hear her.
John shook his head with a smile. "Marc and Parker already said that they were going to do the dishes. No, I´m not trying to get away from doing the dishes, I just don´t want to be outside with only three women."
"Careful John. You know what they say, You should never call a girl crazy. Unless you want to see crazy." Marcus smiled, winking to his sister.
"Allie doesn´t mind that at all. He isn´t a sissy." Said Zola while she struck her tongue out to Mark and John. I picked her up and walked after Lady P and Sandy to the chairs outside. "But I love a hot chocolate instead of coffee." She shouted over my shoulder.
"Why is it that you're eleven year old and I still carry you around?" I asked Zola when I sat down with her on my lap. The sun was high on the sky, but I tried to hold on to my original time rhythm. That made it a little after nine on my watch.
She curled up into a ball and she pulled my arms around her and her knees. "Because you love me."
"Yes." I said and hugged her. "That's true. Try to get some sleep, you didn´t get much of that last night."
Softly I began to sing my mother's lullaby for her. The two ladies kept silent but the question burning in their eyes.
Even before John came out with the drinks Zola was already asleep in my arms. I took the hot chocolate milk. "I don´t need more energy. Coffee isn´t a good idea."
"She had nightmares about the fire yesterday. The only thing that calmed her was when I sang to her. That was the song that Mom always sang to me when I was afraid of the thunder. You remember John?"
"Yeah. I remember." Whispered John.
"I didn´t know you could sing. Let alone so beautiful." Said Lady Penelope.
"It's way better than the music that Sandy listens." Marcus smiled.
"Hey, if my music is too loud you're too old." Sandy stuck her tongue out. A childish action, just like Zola always did.
Marcus mirrored her actions and Sandy started to pout. "Ow is your big brother mean to you?" I asked and Sandy nodded. I kissed her pout away. "There, all better now?"
"Yes." said San as she kissed me again.
"I have many secrets." I said to Lady Penelope. "And the point of keeping a secret is that almost nobody knows about that secret."
"I know. When you landed in the hospital after your graduation, your father asked me to do a background check on you. The only thing I could find about you was that you were good at athletics. And even that was hard to find. Nothing about the Olympics but a video that looked fake. Nothing under your name. How do you keep everything hidden that even MI-6 has nothing on you."
"Computers rule the world. Nobody can live without those things. And I think I´m allowed to say without bragging that James and I are pretty good with computers. I even hacked the Thunderbirds, and with doing so I could find who we were, and within half an hour our entire cover would be blown. Of course I immediately made sure that it never happens again. With computers, it's easy to remove your name, your identity. Alan Tracy is only the son of Jeff Tracy and nothing else."
"I still think it's illegal." whispered Marcus under his breath.
"Nope. We read the law, checked and double checked. We have done nothing wrong, we had reported everything in advance to the right people who gave us the right papers. We have the right connections who can do the right things for us. And even when we´re breaking a law… We have diplomatic immunity. Well the anonymous owners of Almes have it. But it´s the same thing. The only problem is that we have to come public when we break the law." I lifted the sleeping Zola in my arms. "I think I´m going and try to get some sleep. Otherwise I´m worth nothing tomorrow." Careful I moved Zola so she was lying with her head on my shoulder. "John and I are probably gone tomorrow before you wake up. I´ve an appointment at six o'clock in washington."
"Then I'd better get some sleep too." Said John.
I stole a kiss from Sandy before I walked in. Without waking her up, I changed her into pajamas. Lady Penelope probably takes her on a shopping spree with Sandy. Almost all her clothes burned in the fire.
Quickly I crawled under the warm blankets and she came snuggling against me.
…
"John, we gotta go." I sank down next to the bank and shook him awake.
"Wha ..."
"I have all ready packed all the bags and put in the boat. Coffee in the kitchen. Hurry up sleepy head." I pulled the covers off him. Sleepy he rose up. "I'm in the kitchen. Do not wake Parker." I whispered and pointed to the sleeping man on the other bank.
"What time is it?" John asked as he stretched his sore muscles.
"Four o'clock." I threw him a shirt and pants. "Put this on." And walked out of the room. On my toes I walked past the sleeping men on the couch. Even though I knew he woke up the moment I walked in, he probably saw that it was me, not a danger, and fell back to sleep. I knew that Parker had a troubled past, but he was loyal to Lady P, and to the people he called friends. He would do everything to keep my girls safe.
On the table I placed a letter with one of Almes's credit cards and keys for both this place and the country estate in England. The next few days they could deal with the organization of Zola's suite, the rooms we had already determined what they were going to be and the gardens. The rest of the rooms they had to wait a bit from until James was there to make decisions. But this should be enough to keep them busy. At least a few days. I hoped that I found James by then.
Grateful took John the coffee mug I offered him and we walked with the last items to the boat. Within minutes, we flew through the air.
"Why so early." Yawned John from the passenger seat.
"I have an appointment at six o'clock in Washington. It´s there two hours later than here but I'd rather be on time. The man were going to meet has a busy schedule." I pushed the gas harder. The small plane went even faster. "I'll explain more when you're awake. For now, go to sleep. You can fly this afternoon and I´ll take my rest. '
Sleepy John nodded and soon fell asleep again.
I did something I had agreed with myself never to do again. I grabbed John's mobile and called my father. Even if I don´t want to speak to them, I need to tell them what they could expect.
"Jeff Tracy." Was there on the other side of the line.
"Hi dad." I said.
"Alan? is that you?"
"Yes, I'm calling to warn you. The people who are after me, know who I am and probably know who John is. There is the possibility that they come to the island to look for us. You guys have to be careful. They aren´t afraid to hurt someone or even kill. John and I saw that up close. "
"Where are you?" Sounded worried.
"I'm sorry." I said ignoring his question. "It was never the intention that you knew any of this, let alone involve you in this mess. You had to stay out off this. And now with John. I don´t really know what to do…"
"John and the rest? Are they with you? Are they safe?"
"Only John is with me. The rest is staying in one of my houses at this moment. They are safer there than anywhere." I said measured. I didn´t want to let something slip. "I gotta go. I just wanted to warn you. Keep yourself and the rest safe."
"Alan please. I… We didn´t ... We are terribly sorry. Please come home. We can work it out. It can´t be that you hate us the rest of your life. Please." I never heard my dad beg before.
"I don´t hate you dad, I could never hate any of you. I just lost all my respect for you." I hung up and threw the phone back. Immediately it began to vibrate. Luckily I had turned off the sound otherwise John would have definitely woke up. And I didn´t want or had any energy left to explain the silent tears streaming down my face.