Kayo activated her comms as soon as Shadow was airborne.
"Tee-Kay, this is Kayo. Come in."
The hauntingly familiar voice of Tee-Kay answered immediately.
"Tee-Kay responding. How may I assist you, Kayo?"
"Activate priority security scrambling."
"Activating."
Kayo waited for the screech to come through her speakers, and then tapped a control on her wrist-pad controls.
"Tee-Kay, I would like you to access all the official CCTV footage from the last seven days of all areas within a one-mile radius of the government buildings in Geneva. Search through them for any footage of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and record carefully every location, event and date-stamp if you will. I am going to ask John Tracy to make a similar search independent of yours."
"Acknowledged, Kayo. Am I searching for something in particular, or simply recording information?"
"Actually both." Kayo told him. "The real Lady Penelope is a member of International Rescue and her honesty is unimpeachable. However, the mad professor who was arrested when we rescued Virgil has found a way of perfectly imitating her. We need to find a way to tell the two Penelope's apart if it is possible, but more than that, we need to find a way for you to be able to trace him the way you traced my uncle."
"I understand, Kayo. I anticipate that the former objective is achievable. The latter would require a DNA trace, which will undoubtedly prove a great deal more challenging."
"Agreed, but with both you and John searching separately, each with your own individual strengths, we stand a higher chance of success. Do what you can."
"Acknowledged. Will you require me to give John Tracy the footage as I acquire it?"
Kayo smiled to herself and shook her head.
"That should not be necessary, Tee-Kay. John is an expert at obtaining information. That is a large part of his job in his role in International Rescue."
"Very well. Tee-Kay out."
Kayo considered briefly whether she should call Tracy Island, whereupon Scott and father would take the call, or to call John directly. No, anything Scott became involved in tended to become a project with Scott in charge, and John didn't need that. This task needed doing quickly, efficiently and without fuss. She called John directly, using the International rescue secure person-to-person frequency.
"Kayo to John Tracy. Come in."
John answered immediately.
"John here. How can I help you, Kayo?"
Kayo smiled at her adoptive brother.
"Are you alone, John?"
"Virgil was here but he left just a minute ago. Why? What's up?"
"John, I have a job for you to do…"
oOoOoOo
Isla crouched on the floor of her en-suite bathroom, her head hanging over the rim of the toilet, groaning miserably.
She had always believed she would have a child some-day, until she had learned that she was sterile and would never be able to have a child of her own. Learning the reason for that had been even more of a shock. The knowledge that others existed that looked like herself had been an exciting thought. Somehow, she had imagined that the truth would be something romantic or fairy-tale like. Something that would give her a `happy ever after' to look forward to. But to be told that she was a clone? Someone who, according to the law of the land and the laws of nature, shouldn't even exist? That had come right out of left field.
She vomited once more, tears mingling with the perspiration on her face and the thought came to her once again.
Was it worth all this misery to have a baby? If this was what every woman went through every time they became pregnant, it was a wonder the human race had not died out years ago!
She felt a hand on her back, and a cool cloth was pressed across her forehead.
"Come along Isla, lets get you up off the floor and get you into bed."
Grandma's kindly voice and her gentle embrace reduced Isla to grateful sobbing.
"Feel sick and hot…"
"I know my dear but put yourself in my hands and you will feel better in no time. Come along now."
Isla allowed grandma to lead her back into her bedroom, where she was helped out of her jeans and trainers, and into a thin, loose nightdress and laid upon the bed. A glass of something cool was pressed into her hands.
"Drink this, slowly. Sip it, but drink all of it. Then just rest. I will sit here with you until you feel a little better. Then you can get some sleep."
"What is it?"
"Something designed by Brains and Virgil that will ease your sickness and relax you a little; but will not harm your baby."
Isla sipped her medicine. It tasted slightly chalky, but it was not at all unpleasant. Just the reminder that she was not alone to deal with this made her feel so much better. Somehow though, she felt a sudden, unexpected pang for her own home, and her own mother. She swallowed the feeling, and sipped a little more of the medicine, her nausea already beginning to fade. By the time the glass was empty, her eyelids were feeling very heavy indeed. Grandma laid a thin sheet over her, and she slept.
Outside Isla's room, grandma found, not really to her surprise, Virgil pacing up and down the corridor.
"Grandma, you have to let me go in!"
Grandma shook her head.
"Virgil dear, she doesn't need smothering right now. In fact, I think she is slightly homesick if truth be told. What she really needs is to rest. Have some more of that medicine ready for her though. She will be needing it for a few more weeks."
"I'll get right on to it."
She grabbed his elbow and spun him around so that he was facing her.
"Virgil, women have been having babies for thousands of years. Most women encounter morning sickness sooner or later. Some men do too. And usually it happens to the men who worry too much. She is only having a baby. Alright then, two babies. It is all a perfectly natural process."
Virgil shook his head.
"No grandma it isn't! Not this time! Nothing about that pregnancy is normal, and I…"
Grandma took a hold of his chin firmly in her hands.
"Now you listen to me son, and you listen good. Whether those babies were conceived the traditional way, or whether they were conceived in some kind of test-tube makes no difference at the end of the day. Women were having test-tube babies when my own mother was young. That is nothing new either. A pregnancy is a pregnancy, and everything that is happening to Isla so far is perfectly normal. It may not be very nice, but it is not abnormal either. Let her rest."
Virgil nodded unhappily. He was aware that his own emotions, that tended to be pretty close to the surface at the best of times, were at the moment becoming volatile and reactive. He knew about pregnancy…in terms of the theory, anyway, but facing the reality of it with someone he cared about was another matter. Somehow his medical professional façade had become drowned in the furore of his conflicting emotions.
His love and longing for the dead Connie. His new love for Isla. His confusion and fear. Was his love for Isla real? Or was he only loving her because she was like Connie to look at? Was his regard for her because she had been instrumental in saving him? Was it because she was carrying his children inside her?
On top of all of that was a pervasive feeling of guilt and betrayal; that Connie had only been dead a little over a year and already he was feeling very strongly for another woman. How long was he to grieve for Connie before his heart would stop accusing him of betraying her memory for looking at someone else? Even a clone?
All he really knew was that inside that bedroom was the answer to all of those questions. All he wanted was to go in there and be with her. Just go in and sit. He looked up into grandma's kind eyes, and he could see understanding in them. She gave him a hug. He buried his face in her shoulder for a moment. After a few moments, she patted his back and he pulled away.
"Take it from one who has been there, son. Isla will be fine. She will need your support, but not your smothering. Give her a couple of hours, and then take her in a cup of tea. That will make you her champion forever."
Virgil snorted; half a laugh and half a cry and nodded.
"Thanks grandma."
oOoOoOo
Lady Penelope was not accustomed to feeling like the criminal. She knew she was innocent of anything. She knew she was the real Lady Penelope, but the knowledge that someone had traded on her reputation to achieve his own ends appalled her. What if he had gone on to commit some crime once he had left the building? What then? Tock could even now be out there somewhere, commit heinous crimes with her face and shattering her reputation. Even with proof that Tock had previously imitated her appearance, would not save her from a ruined reputation if she could not find some way to prove her identity and expose his once and for all.
She sat beside Casey in the airship, and endured the eagle eye of Captain James on her at all times. She resisted the urge to squirm. She had never been quite in this position before. Just wait until Parker found out what was going on. Suddenly, the confident twinkle returned to her eye. Yes, once Parker was on the job. Parker and Sherbet together were formidable. It might take more than Sherbet to convince James here that she was not Tock in disguise, but so long as Casey was convinced, that would do for starters.
She had a sudden yearning for Gordon's comforting arms around her. When Gordon was around, it seemed nothing in the world could go wrong. She settled down in her seat and closed her eyes, smiling slightly as she remembered the feeling of Gordon's warm arms around her. His soft lips pressing hers, his clear, liquid brown eyes full of love. Gordon too would never be fooled by any old fake. She lifted her chin high, frosted captain James with an icy glare, and folded her arms, content to be patient, and wait.
