The atmosphere inside the cockpit of Thunderbird Two was tense. Virgil's movements were clipped and precise as he flew the green behemoth towards the danger zone. Gordon could sense that his elder brother was immersed in his own thoughts and wisely stayed silent in the co-pilot's chair.
The grip of the pilot was a little too tight, the set of his shoulders a little too rigid.
No rescue was without risks; it was the nature of their existence. Adrenaline spiked. Ideas buzzed as information came in. Plans were made and revised. This call out was different. Today two of their own were caught up in the situation. It added an extra level of worry.
"I've reached the conference centre. I'll liaise with the local coordinator and give you an update when I can." Scott's voice came over the comms, shattering the silence. "Thunderbird Two, how far out are you?"
"Sixteen minutes." The reply was abrupt, the voice strained. "John, have you got the building schematics yet?"
"Sending them through now" his space bound sibling responded. "Land on the roof when you get there. It's your best access point."
"FAB."
Virgil passed control to Gordon then reverted to moody silence as he studied the building plans John had just supplied him with.
Only that morning he had dropped Claire and Brains off at the very same conference centre for a science and engineering exhibition. The pair had been chattering excitedly on the outbound flight about the exhibits they were hoping to see and choosing which seminars to attend from the programme. Virgil had been quite jealous that he hadn't been released to attend too, his role limited to playing taxi service. If he had examined his feelings further he might have attributed his jealousy to more than just the conference attendance.
Now his two friends were stuck somewhere inside the enormous building, held hostage by a group that were yet to make their demands.
The lack of information was one of the causes of stress.
Virgil found himself concentrating more on the scientists than on the task in hand. He gave himself a slight mental shake and refocused himself on the building plans.
The architect had evidently been going for a heavy industrial theme. The whole building was comprised of reinforced concrete and thick steel doors. The central space was dominated by an exhibition hall and auditorium. From here corridors radiated off leading to smaller rooms. Each room individually lockable with electronic keypads. It was a veritable fortress.
"What joker commissioned this? And why the hell is everything lockable? It looks more like a prison than a conference centre."
"Francois Lemaire. All those security features are so he can host art exhibitions and the like. It gives the artists reassurance their works are safe. Apparently he took his inspiration from Parkmoor Scrubs" the voice from space responded
"Figures" Virgil snorted. "Any chance of the access codes to these rooms?"
"Unfortunately not. It seems the terrorist cell have been planning this for a while. They infiltrated the staff and have changed the codes. Eos has been trying to access the security systems but something is shutting her out."
As they approached the conference centre Virgil reclaimed the controls. VTOLs fired as he guided Thunderbird Two onto her rooftop landing platform. He could see Thunderbird One on the ground below. Her pilot by her side with a representative of the local police.
"Thunderbird Two, nice of you to join us." Virgil had to restrain himself from giving his elder brother a cutting response. Now was not the time to be joking about his response times when the one person who could make a difference to them was in danger.
"Update?" he growled.
"Negative. Last contact with the terrorists was the call announcing they had the building in lock down and all delegates held as hostages. They said they would lay out their full demands at 11:00 hours but they never made the scheduled call. All attempts to communicate with the building from outside have failed."
Virgil's sense of dread only grew. Their own attempts to reach Claire and Brains had also failed suggesting the group holding the building had some sort of signal disruptor that was blocking transmissions. With the hostage takers going dark too there was no way of knowing what was the situation inside the building. Negotiation was impossible, hence International Rescue being called in to assist.
"Are the terrorists armed?"
There was a pause before Scott responded. "Affirmative. The local coordinator confirms. The original transmission contained gunshot sounds; the group wanted to provide proof they were serious."
"I'll access through the roof. Gordon and I will provide initial reconnaissance."
"Remember, if there is some sort of signal blocker inside we are likely to lose contact with you too. Do not engage the group. Repeat, do not engage. You have thirty minutes to assess the situation. If you cannot reopen communications then I expect you to return to the roof to report in. The GFD are on their way and will take the building by force if necessary but until they get here you are on your own."
"FAB"
Virgil killed the link to Thunderbird One and turned to his younger brother. The intense look in those chestnut brown eyes chilled the aquanaut. Gordon sincerely hoped that they did not run across those responsible for holding their friends captive; if they did he didn't fancy his chances of restraining his brother. That look said loud and clear that Virgil would do whatever it took to protect his family.
With Virgil kitted out in his exo-suit he and Gordon exited Thunderbird Two and headed out into the unknown.
Access to the building was remarkable easy. The build team had evidently blown the budget on the public spaces. The flimsy and insubstantial maintenance doorway to the roof was easily forced open.
The brothers descended into the heart of the building, trying to tread quietly on the polished concrete floors.
A quick test of the comms showed that something was indeed blocking the signals. Even the life signs scanners had been disabled. The brothers were completely isolated.
Virgil brought up a diagram he had downloaded onto his wrist computer. John had overlaid the exhibition map onto the building schematics so they could see which sections of the site should be in use.
They tiptoed through the building.
They met no one.
While Gordon had initially been worried about having to prevent his brother from launching a one-man rescue mission, now he was worried about the complete absence of anyone at all.
Even the exhibition space was deserted. The open hall was set out with stands. Displays of equipment and inventions filled the space. Corridors led to seminar rooms and more secure exhibition spaces for those inventions requiring tighter security. Two sets of double doors leading in to the auditorium were open.
The brothers shared an uneasy glance. Somewhere in here were scores of exhibition visitors and their captors.
Somewhere in here were their friends.
The steel doors and building design muffled any sounds. At least they hoped it was only the building design that was responsible for the ominous silence.
Silence that was suddenly broken by the sound of an explosion.
The brothers took off at speed in the direction of the blast.