If Virgil had thought that day was dramatic it was nothing compared to the next few. There seemed to be no way for the family to settle into their daily routine. John was morose, convinced he'd have to spend the rest of his life in exile on Thunderbird Five or in prison. Gordon and Alan were at logger heads with different opinions about whether Oracle was a biomech or not. Grandma could be heard crying when she thought she was alone.

Their father was all but absent, sequestering himself in his office and refusing to talk to anyone about what he was doing. This made mealtimes particularly volatile as Scott demanded answers and their father refused to give them saying he had nothing to tell them. No one believed him.

Oddly, after weeks of bickering, the call from Oracle had bought Virgil and Scott back together. They spent long nights replaying the call and going over their own police statements - courtesy of Lady Penelope. By the third night they'd invited Gordon in as well and he had added his own thoughts to theirs. It didn't add up to much and they now had another burning question besides whether or not they'd inadvertently saved a biomechanoid: why hadn't their dad turned her in?

"It must be to keep John safe" Gordon theorised late one evening. They were all in Scott's room as this was one of the few places their father always knocked before entering. He didn't maintain this with the younger Tracy brothers – much to Virgil's annoyance – but he always had that bit more respect for Scott's private space. Virgil thought this was due to the wedge that was drilled between Scott and his father after their mother died. Scott had picked up so much slack as their father threw himself into work and Jeff hadn't noticed. He seemed completely oblivious until an eight-year-old Gordon won his first regional swimming meet and raced out of the pool to hug Scott, not their dad. It was a wakeup call for Jeff but the damage had been done. As Jeff had tried to reinsert himself into the father role, he'd realised that his eldest son might technically still be a child, but in reality, he hadn't been one for years and from then on Scott had been treated more like an adult. That was until Scott had returned from the disastrous mission for the Air Force. He'd needed his father then and Jeff couldn't do more to help his broken son. But some habits died hard it seemed and Scott was still afforded just that bit more privacy than the rest of them.

"It's the only thing that makes sense" Scott agreed.

"But, if she isn't a biomech, will John still get thrown in prison?"

"He still hacked the Government data base, Virgil" Scott reminded him.

"So we have to just hope they never discover it?"

"Unfortunately, yes" Scott sighed. "I wish he'd never done it."

"I, for one am glad he did" Gordon held his hands up to stop the inevitable comments about his regard for John's future. "I just wish there wasn't such a punishment for it. But, let's face it, we wouldn't know about the threat to Thunderbird Two if he hadn't." Gordon had stopped calling it a threat to Virgil shortly after the last family meeting. He didn't like to think about what might happen to his brother. Like John, he'd heard the calm certainty that Salvatore would be able to get the information he wanted. Unlike his brothers, though, Gordon had seen first-hand the results of an information extraction thanks to a rescue mission he'd undertaken as a part of WASP. He couldn't see his older brother end up the same way, he just couldn't.

"Okay, let's go back over what we do know."

The other two held in groans at Scott's suggestion. They'd done little else over the past few days, but nevertheless they started again.

"Between initially meeting her and then finding the footage in Johannesburg there isn't much to go on" Virgil said. "As I've said before, it never occurred to me that she was anything other than a mugging victim."

"So, the real question is, how did she go from mugging victim to putting together us and Gordon and then all of us to International Rescue?" Scott said.

"Oh" Gordon looked as though inspiration had struck. "She had my comm."

His older brothers waited for him to elaborate, when he didn't, still looking lost in thought, Virgil gave him a shove.

"Okay, so" he started clearly piecing together as he went. "I thought she'd taken it from the guys who escorted me out, but she told John she took it off me earlier."

"How could she have done that?" Scott asked.

"She had me in an arm lock at one point" he admitted. The details of the fight had been skimmed over other than Gordon saying that she was highly skilled. Usually any of the brothers getting beaten hand to hand would lead to light hearted teasing but this time it had seemed different and Gordon had been left to lick his wounds in relative peace. "Left arm" he clarified "and once she'd let me go, I was too busy getting thrown out and then beaten up to notice it was missing – potentially. But, she might have had time to access it between then and when she came to my aid."

Scott grunted an acknowledgement at that. Of all of them Gordon was still the most vocal in her defence with Virgil coming in second. Scott was unsure, though leaning towards agreeing with his brothers. The problem was that he recognised the consequences if they were wrong.

"Even if she did" Scott said "you haven't exactly got your emergency number saved as Thunderbird Five. How did she find it?"

"I have it saved as Antin Oriental – Secure." Gordon looked away, clearly bracing himself for a dressing down. Instead, his brothers looked confused. Gordon looked from one to the other waiting for the proverbial penny to drop. "It's an anagram" he explained when it didn't. Seeing that he wasn't about to get a full Scott barrage he carried on. "I was thinking; is it possible that she noticed a familial resemblance? Three Americans in London, all well dressed with rugged good looks" he paused for a reaction then sulked a little when neither brother rose to that one. "Maybe it was a leap of faith?"

"Hell of a leap" Virgil said. He turned to Scott, "Do you remember calling me by my name during the mugging?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"Our names would have been in Gordon's comm. Mine is unusual enough to get remembered."

"That would make more sense" Scott allowed. "Doesn't explain International Rescue though. She was long gone by the time I even caught up with you."

"Was she?" Gordon asked he waved away Scott's annoyed frown. "I'm just suggesting that maybe she wasn't and she overheard something she shouldn't."

"I suppose it's possible" Virgil sighed.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the rescue klaxon.

"We'll continue this later" Scott said as all three pushed themselves to their feet and rushed towards the lounge."