Unforgotten
AN - Hi all! So overwhelmed again with the positive response to this, thank you! I've been really enjoying writing it, so I hope you like this chapter. This chapter also marks the point at which Unforgotten is as many chapters as Unexpected Encounter - which feels like a mini milestone!
Disclaimer - I do not own Thunderbirds
Chapter Twenty Two – Planning
When Scott finally emerged from the shower - he hadn't been trying to drown himself exactly, but he had wanted to wash away all the traces of tears - everyone else had congregated in a tense, silent lounge. As he entered he felt the weight of eyes on him.
"Scott dear, what happened to your hand?" Grandma asked, coming over to have a close look. Scott looked down, remembering the ill-advised punch he'd thrown against the wall of his room. His hand was swollen, the skin split on a couple of his knuckles. He hadn't even registered the pain, but as his attention was drawn to it now he could feel the throbbing. He was going to try to shrug it off, but Virgil was also coming over to look at it.
Virgil took it and studied it before giving Scott a knowing look. "Lose a fight with a wall?"
"Something like that," Scott grunted, not feeling the need to elaborate. His father raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
Trying to take his mind of Virgil's prodding, Scott looked around the room. Brains was sat, deathly pale, on one of the chairs with a computer balanced on his lap. His expression was scarily blank. Kyrano was stood near his father's desk, tear tracks down his face. To Kyrano, Tintin was his world and it was unsurprising that he would be distraught. Scott wished that for once he wasn't Scott Tracy from International Rescue, but could instead join those worrying for their loved ones. Although inaction would also kill him.
His other brothers, with the exception of John, were also all in the lounge. Alan and Gordon were sat tensely on the sofa while Virgil continued to prod Scott's hand.
Eventually Virgil straightened. "I don't think you've broken anything," he informed his elder brother. "Don't go hitting anything with it for a while though, you've got some incredible bruises."
"Noted," Scott replied. "So what do we know?"
"Not much more than when you came back, son." Jeff replied. "John has been looking at the passenger details - those missing alongside Annie and Tintin appear to have been travelling under false identities, so it looks as though only our girls were taken as hostages. John is just trying to find the details on the missing crew member now."
Brains was tapping away on his computer as they were speaking. "There were no other flights recorded near the l-location that the plane was found," he informed them all. "Planned or otherwise. S-so they must have travelled by land v-vehicle."
"Good work Brains," Jeff replied. "That means they are probably somewhere in the Americas, or they would probably have tried to get straight on a plane."
"Why are we bothering doing this?" Gordon asked loudly, springing from his seat.
"Gordon," his father cautioned.
"I mean, we know who the most likely culprit is, right? Why aren't we just looking for Ethan Grey?"
"Because we don't know that," Jeff replied patiently. "Let's not jump to conclusions."
Scott did know that Ethan was responsible and couldn't believe they were wasting time when Ethan had Angel and could be doing anything to her. Virgil, still examining Scott's hand, looked critically up at him.
"Let's just get a bandage on this in the infirmary."
"Is that really necessary," Scott asked curtly.
"If you don't want an infection, then yes. Come on." Virgil all but dragged Scott out of the room and into the infirmary. He waved Scott towards one of the beds, stopping to grab disinfectant and a bandage. Virgil quickly bandaged up Scott's injured hand, but when Scott stood to return Virgil pressed his shoulder back down forcing Scott to remain seated.
"What the hell, Virgil?"
"You aren't going back into the lounge until you calm down." Virgil told him firmly.
"I am calm!"
"Scott, you're shaking. I know the thought of Ethan affects you more than most, but you need to calm down."
Scott looked at his hands, startled to see that Virgil was right. He was shaking. He took a deep breath to try to steady himself. Virgil was sitting on the second bed, facing Scott.
"Or is there more to it than Ethan Grey?" Virgil asked perceptively. "You were stressed before we even went out to find the plane, long before we realised that the girls had been kidnapped."
Scott could have blamed it on the stress, but really he was simply fed up of hiding secrets from his family. Either way, he started talking. "I know her, Virgil." Virgil tried to decode Scott's words for a few moments before comprehension dawned.
"Annie?" Scott nodded. "But you've never even met her, have you?"
"No, I haven't." Virgil was looking confused, so Scott elaborated. "I've never met Annie... but as Angel, I met her."
Dawning comprehension crossed Virgil's face. "You knew her, before the amnesia?" Scott nodded. "But then why didn't you say anything? You may have been able to help her remember!"
"I didn't know, Virgil. I didn't know until I saw her on the night of Tintin's birthday and even then I wasn't sure."
"But you are now?"
Wordlessly Scott pulled out his wallet, removing the photo of Annie and passing it to Virgil. Virgil took a long look at it before handing it back.
"Well, I guess you'd know." There was a brief pause. "Wait, Angel?" Scott nodded again. Virgil ran his hand through his hair, putting two and two together. "I know I've teased you about her after I heard you say her name but... what was she to you, Scott?"
Virgil had been prepared for many things, but he wasn't prepared for the brokenness of Scott voice as he replied. "Everything."
Virgil whistled, long and low. "You've never mentioned her."
"I thought she was dead. Until a couple of days ago, I knew she was."
Understanding now crept into Virgil's voice. "So that's why you tried to drown yourself the other day, and now this. Well shit, Scott."
Scott laughed humourlessly. "Tell me about it."
"You should tell the others."
"No!" Scott's head shot up in panic. "No, I can't do that. What if she never remembers? It would be terrible for you all to know but her not." Virgil looked torn, but then Scott uttered the one word that would sway him. "Please, Virgil."
Virgil sighed. "Well alright. But you should. Now, ready to go back?"
Scott didn't reply, but stood and left the infirmary with Virgil trailing after him.
The lounge was still tense, very much as it had been when they left it. Jeff looked up when they entered and would have spoken to Scott but at that moment John's portrait began flashing. Any comment to Scott long forgotten, the whole family focussed on the portrait.
"Come in John. Found anything?"
"Something, father. The missing member of cabin crew joined the company only a month ago, looks as though his credentials are false. Someone hacked into the airline system to make it seem as though he had applied for the job and also to ensure he was on that flight. The airline are only picking this up now that they are running checks after the hijack."
"Well that's a lead, at least. Any idea who set him up?"
"Not yet father, I'm running my own scan to find out his real name and if I can see anything about him, he may have a criminal record."
"Keep going John, we'll check things out down here as well."
"F.A.B., father." John disappeared, getting straight back to work.
"Right everyone, we can't just sit around here." Jeff stated. "It's been a taxing day, I want you to all go to dinner and try to get a good night's sleep. Goodness knows what tomorrow will bring so we need to be prepared."
"B-but Mr Tracy..."
"That includes you, Brains," Jeff said gently. "You won't be any good to Tintin if you burn yourself out."
"Y-yes, Mr Tracy," Brains conceded defeat.
Dinner was a quiet and very simple affair, Grandma not really wanting to cook but no one would suggest that Kyrano should, not today. They all then disappeared to their rooms, although Jeff went back to the study.
Scott sat on his bed, despair filling him. His watch beeped, answering it he saw John's face looking at him. Scott smiled wanly at his brother. "Shouldn't you be investigating?"
"There isn't much more I can do until the scans finish," John answered honestly. "I'm about to try to sleep myself, but I wanted to check that you were ok."
"Honestly? I'm so far from ok." Scott huffed, tiredly running a hand across his eyes. "But I'm surviving. I have to."
"I don't like that no one else knows what you're going through," John pressed. "What if something happens because your judgement is impaired?"
"I told Virgil earlier," Scott admitted. "It just came out, but it should ease your mind."
"To an extent it does," John replied. "Although I'd rather you told dad." Seeing Scott's expression John changed the subject, talking about menial things for another minute or so before hanging up.
Scott slowly readied himself for sleep, aware that it wasn't likely to come. He hadn't factored in the adrenaline crash though, and despite his expectations fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
He shot awake at the sound of the rescue alarm echoing throughout the villa. For a moment he forgot, he thought it was a normal night and a normal rescue.
Then reality crashed around him.
Not even bothering to dress, he rushed through the villa to the lounge. Brains was already there, wearing space themed pyjamas, and Kyrano followed him in wearing a silk dressing gown.
Scott's other brothers came in after a couple of minutes, actually having managed to get dressed. Gordon shot Scott a confused look, which Scott assumed was because he was in the lounge only in pyjama bottoms and an unbuttoned shirt. He wasn't even wearing socks when the rest of his brothers were fully dressed. Virgil gave him an understanding smile.
Jeff came in a second later, face grave. "What have you got, John?"
"I've managed to find out a bit of information about the fake crew member," John started. "One of the scans I ran found him in a database, as part of an organised crime syndicate."
"So he could just be working for the highest bidder?" Gordon asked.
"Maybe," came the reply. "But four other members of this particular criminal gang were the four arrested alongside Ethan Grey two years ago for the abduction of myself, Scott and Brains."
"I knew it!" Gordon snapped his fingers. "Grey! It has to be!"
"It does look likely," John said cautiously, watching Scott warily.
"I'm afraid it more than looks likely." Jeff sighed from the desk. "I've just received a message from Mr Grey himself."
"Really?" "What does it say?" "Why is he sending a message?" The brothers all clamoured at once. Scott said nothing and Brains looked even paler. Jeff's expression was incredibly tense.
"I suppose there is no hiding this from you," he stated and swung his screen so they could see the image on it. Scott sucked in a breath. The picture showed Tintin and Annie in a room next to a large bed. Tintin looked up at the camera with an expression that was half fear and half defiance. But Annie, Annie was lying on the floor, apparently unconscious and with something that looked suspiciously like blood trickling out of her mouth.
Brains gasped and put his hands to his mouth. Virgil whistled and John sought out Scott immediately, but the oldest brother had turned impassive, face frozen and hands clenched by his sides.
"Well what does he want? Where are they?" Alan cried, distressed at seeing one of his closest friends in this situation.
"He doesn't say," replied Jeff. "But he says he will be in contact to discuss terms and that we can't go to the authorities."
"How are we going to find him? Will we be able to pay him off?"
"He won't want money," Scott spoke, his voice flat and hinting at the ferocious anger that simmered just below the surface. "He will want revenge. He will want International Rescue."
"But we can't give him that!" Alan stared wide eyed at their father. "What are we going to do?"
Jeff drummed his fingers against the surface of his desk. "We're going to find them. I'm going to alert the agent network, we need to have all eyes and ears on the ground open for this operation. Get a photo of each of the girls, I want to distribute it so that all the agents know who they are looking for. In the meantime, John keep looking. See if you can find any clues."
"What about ChemDeli? Could he be using any of its premises?" Scott asked.
"ChemDeli? Wait...I've heard that name before... didn't one of their factories had a fire that we attended a couple of years ago?" Virgil queried. "Why would we look at ChemDeli?"
Scott looked at his family, all of whom seemed confused by the connection. "Wasn't Grey a former director of ChemDeli? At the time they had the chemical dump in Asia."
His father seemed surprised by the information. "I thought Ethan Grey had nothing to do with ChemDeli, I've never heard his name in connection with the company before. I think that might be a dead end."
"Wait a minute, father." John interrupted from Thunderbird 5, looking at something that was on a screen in front of him. "Scott may be onto something here, check this out." John's image disappeared, replaced by a photograph that he had found online. It was of four men standing together, obviously a photograph from a news article if the words were anything to go by. The tag line underneath read 'ChemDeli bosses cleared, no liability for chemical waste dump in sacred river'.
"What are we looking at, John?" Jeff asked, studying the image.
"Hang on just one second," John replied. "There! Do you see?" He'd put up a photo of Ethan from the trial two years ago next to the one of the ChemDeli directors. Jeff sucked in a breath, he was much older but there was no mistaking that Ethan Grey was the director on the left.
"How did they keep that quiet at the trial?" Jeff asked. "I don't remember anything about ChemDeli, I wold have expected the press to have a field day with this."
"Because he isn't using the name Ethan Grey!" John exclaimed. "The article on ChemDeli calls him Charles Harding."
"A different name?" Virgil looked at their father. "Can we trace Charles Harding and Ethan at the same time? Look for any old properties they may have, anywhere they may have gone."
"I'm ahead of you, Virgil," John replied, his fingers flying as he read something to the side of the video call. "All of Ethan's properties were reported at his trial so he'd expect us to look there...but Charles Harding is a different matter. He owns a warehouse in Pennsylvania State, a flat in London, a haveli in Kerala and an old family mansion near Calgary, Canada."
"We can probably rule out London and Kerala," Jeff thought out loud. "Although I will get some agents to have a look, see if they see anything. Both Pennsylvania and Alberta are drivable from where you boys found the plane."
"Do we split up and look?" Scott asked, almost vibrating in his eagerness to get going.
"No, Scott." His father replied. "I'll have a word with our agents first to see if they can find anything. When we find out where he has taken them we will need to proceed with care - if he gets tipped off that we're aware of him he may move them on, or worse. Then we need to go full strength once we know for sure. In the meantime, get the craft prepped and get yourselves ready. John, have a look at imagery and see if you can see what is going on in those properties. Virgil, go and prep your medical supplies, we don't know what state the girls will be in when we get to them. Brains, I need you to work out a plan of action when we know our target, so go and rest. You will help Tintin better by using your head here than going with them. Gordon, Scott get down to the range and make sure you've got your eye in."
"Weapons, dad?" Virgil asked uneasily.
Jeff looked at all his sons seriously. "This is a dangerous man, in charge of dangerous people. I never want you boys to have to use a weapon, but it would be foolish to go in unprepared. If you can stun then do, but don't be fooled into thinking they will go easy on you because of the uniforms."
"OK father," Gordon stood up and stretched. "I'm going to head down now. All this sitting around isn't good for me. Coming, Scott?"
"Now hold on a second Scott, I'd like a quick word before you go." Jeff informed his eldest.
Scott nodded while the rest filed out, Kyrano gently taking Brains down to the kitchen and promising him a good breakfast. Once they were alone, his father stood from his desk and walked over to Scott, taking hold of one shoulder.
"Are you up for this?" He asked his eldest son seriously. "I know the impact that Ethan had on you last time, no one would blame you if you sat this one out."
"I would blame myself if anything happened to Tintin or her friend." Scott replied. "I can do this father."
"Very good. Thank you, son."
Scott left the room and found Gordon in the range with Alan. Both were practising, although it slightly broke Scott to see his youngest brother wielding a weapon. It wasn't that Alan was a particularly bad shot, but that something about Alan still screamed innocence, even now.
Scott pushed his feelings to the side and started his own practice. His shots were clean and on target, he would have been impressed by his consistency if he wasn't so preoccupied with the current situation.
After a couple of hours the alerts started ringing. With a shared glance all three boys downed their weapons and flew back to the lounge, followed by the rest of Tracy Island with the exception of Grandma who elected to stay in the kitchen.
Jeff was back at his desk, on the phone to someone. He hung up as his boys arrived. John was also connected from Thunderbird 5.
"I've just had word from our Canadian agent, it looks as though Calgary is our best bet. He lives fairly locally and says the old Harding mansion has suddenly become occupied over the last six weeks or so."
"Say, isn't that how long Ethan has been out?" Alan asked.
"Exactly, Alan. Seems a pretty large coincidence. Do you agree John?"
"I think so, father. I can't get any imagery of the mansion but the warehouse in Pennsylvania is deserted and pretty run down, no improvements. I just don't think they would have been able to go there without any sign of it. Plus, doesn't the photo of Tintin look more like a mansion to you?"
"Good point John. Now Brains, you've been looking at the plans for the mansion, what do you think?"
Scott turned to see Brains sat with maps spread out across the coffee table and floor of the lounge.
"The, er, plans are incomplete but they appear to show that the layout is pretty s-standard. Downstairs has all f-functional rooms, while b-bedrooms are upstairs. T-there is a main entrance and a g-garden entrance. There is a valley to the, ah, East where we should be able to leave the Thunderbirds, the approach would be hidden from the house."
"Our agent will help to guide you in," Jeff continued. "Fly the Thunderbirds into the ravine that Brains has indicated and leave them there. Then use Hoverjets to approach silently. Once there you are going to separate into two groups. Scott and Alan, you are on rescue duty. Your mission is to get into the building as inconspicuously as possible then find the girls and get them out. Virgil and Gordon, you'll be creating a diversion to give your brothers time."
"What about Ethan?" Scott asked, unwilling to let him go.
"We'll alert the authorities once we know the girls are safe. Apprehending him is not your priority, Tintin and Annie are. There will be other opportunities to catch him, is that clear?"
"F.A.B., father." Chorused the room.
"Excellent. The agent you are looking for goes by the name of Samuel Byrne, he's a local of the area and will be waiting in the ravine for you. Now get going, safe flying and good luck."
Immediately the boys departed, Scott to the turntable and Virgil to the chute. Gordon and Alan went towards the passenger elevator. John also rang off, planning to oversee operations from Thunderbird 5.
Once they had gone Jeff breathed a deep sigh and sank his head into his hands. "This isn't what International Rescue was set up for," he told Kyrano. "It's hard to send them out, knowing how dangerous this situation is and that they could be injured or killed."
"I can't express my gratitude," Kyrano began, but Jeff waved him off.
"Tintin is family, Kyrano. Any of us would do this, it's just that in this case the boys are far more capable than I am. I just hope they aren't too late."