Chapter 5
Crossing the Australian coast and maintaining cruising speed for fuel economy, Scott heard the ping of his radar moments before his radio crackled for attention. "Rhapsody Angel to Thunderbird One." A female voice with a cut glass British accent sounded over the speaker. "I am approaching from your three o'clock."
"Thunderbird One to Rhapsody Angel, copy, approaching from my three o'clock." Scott confirmed, throttling back so the Interceptor could keep up. It'd eat more fuel than he'd like, but he had plenty in the tank.
"No need to reduce speed on my account, Thunderbird One," she immediately told him, a tinge of amusement colouring her voice.
"Noted, Rhapsody Angel." Scott half smiled to himself and throttled up again, hearing the muffled roar of the other aircraft's engines as she paced him. A glance out his starboard viewport showed the Interceptor, close enough that he could make out the features of the red-headed pilot. "ETA to danger zone is thirty eight minutes, that's three eight minutes. Have you been briefed on the landing area?"
"Affirmative, short straight on the access road." Rhapsody confirmed, back to business. "Please confirm plan of action before landing, I will need to land first."
"I'll circle and scan first, see what we're getting ourselves into," Scott began. "If radiation levels are low, land and make contact with the local authorities. If high, back off and wait at a safe distance for Thunderbird Two and the radiation suits. Thunderbird Five will advise of a secondary landing area if we need it."
"S.I.G." Rhapsody acknowledged.
The Indian coastline flashed underneath them shortly afterwards, the two pilots crisply responding to the various air traffic controllers that reached out to them with requests for identification as the two supersonic aircraft flickered in and out of their radars. Finally they reached Langera and the coordinates that John had transmitted across. While Rhapsody stayed at altitude, Scott flicked open One's long wings for low speed manoeuvring and descended to 200 feet for a better look, opening a radio channel with both Rhapsody and Tracy Island.
"Thunderbird One to base and Rhapsody Angel, overflying danger zone now. There's a macadam apron in front of the mine, it's plenty big enough for Two to land directly outside once we get some vehicles moved," he reported, a frown creasing his brow as he glanced over his various scopes. "Huh…that's strange," Scott commented as he banked and circled the area. "I'm not picking up any radiation spikes."
"What do you mean, Scott?" His father's gruff voice replied.
"Exactly that." Scott came around for another pass, lowering another 50 feet. He could see people standing around the entrance to what had to be the mine and a couple of prefab buildings, and there were a few vehicles parked on the apron in front of the mine entrance… but something about the scene felt off to him. He'd been to plenty of disasters and very rarely were people so… unhurried, especially when a Thunderbird descended out of the sky. "Radiation levels match expected background levels. I can see maybe a dozen people and five vehicles near the entrance of the mine, but this doesn't feel right. Has Thunderbird Five been able to contact them?"
"Affirmative Thunderbird One, they aren't reporting anything different beyond their initial call for help," Jeff replied, and there was a long pause as he considered what to do next. "Proceed with caution. Thunderbird Two is twenty four minutes behind you."
"F.A.B." Scott swung his 'bird around and found the section of road that John had told them about, then changed channels. "Rhapsody Angel, you descend first and I'll join you," he instructed.
"Understood."
Curious as to how she'd achieve it, Scott backed off and positioned himself to observe as the Interceptor lined up on the dusty strip of road. Like a bush pilot, she dropped in just before the straight and lowered her landing gear at the same time, pulled her nose up high and dumped velocity until she was just above stall speed- like a bird of prey flaring its wings before landing- and came to a stop within about half of the Interceptor's length.
It made his own touchdown feel downright pedestrian as he swung One around, unfolded the landing legs and used the VTOL jets to come in just beside and slightly behind the Interceptor, clear of her jet wash and leaving her plenty of road if she needed to take off before he left. "Thunderbird One, now landed at danger zone, will investigate and report back shortly," he reported into his radio as he secured his Thunderbird and pocketed the longer range radio. He unbuckled himself, stood up to leave, paused, and swapped out his machine pistol cartridge for the lethal red one, just in case.
He emerged into the nippy mountain air just as Rhapsody climbed down from her jet, a white fleece-lined coat in hand and the canopy automatically sealing behind her. "Nice plane, very nice indeed." He commented, giving the Interceptor a long, appreciative look and running his hand down the leading edge of one of the wings.
"Thank you, as is yours." The red head offered him a smile as she took off her helmet and left it on the wing, glancing over his shoulder at Thunderbird One. She then looked up at the mine entrance, halfway up the mountain that reared above them to claw at the sky, then back down to him. "Scarlet and the others should be here in the next forty five minutes," she reported, "are you happy to proceed?"
"Damn, should have known." A disappointed Scott ruefully concluded, making a note to turn off his usual instinct to flirt and charm. He'd gotten his hopes up on the flight over- very competent and confident fighter pilot plus beautiful woman was a combination that instantly secured his interest- but the way she'd said 'Scarlet' and not 'Captain Scarlet' told him he'd be fighting a losing battle if he even thought about trying to win her affections. "F.A.B." He nodded to her instead. "Are you armed?"
"I am." Rhapsody turned slightly to show him the sleek pistol on her hip, then pulled on the coat to mostly cover it. She left her coat unbuttoned however, so that she could get to it easily.
"All right then, let's go." Scott nodded to her, all business as he led the way.
The trek up the road took about ten minutes too long in Dianne's opinion, the two of them having to pause part way to catch their breath in the thin air. All the while the spot between her shoulder blades itched and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, every instinct she had telling her that this was off. By Scott's body language she noted that he was uneasy as well, and as they walked she loosened her pistol in its holster just in case.
Finally they reached the open gates that delineated the entrance to the parking area in front of the repurposed salt mine. The two gate guards in khaki uniforms waved them in and someone else went running to one of the prefab buildings to summon whoever was in charge- which turned out to be a slim-built Indian man with a salt and pepper beard who introduced himself as Randeep, his turban and steel bracelet proclaiming his Sikh faith. Others started to crowd around them- the two gate guards, some workers and drivers judging by their coveralls and steel-toe boots and a man with a nervous disposition in a burn-spotted lab coat.
Dianne hung back and let Scott do his job as he liaised with Randeep and tried to get a timeline of events from him, instead turning her attention to scan the faces of the dozen-odd men milling about them. What she saw wasn't what she expected- there was fear, but it was the wrong kind of fear. Her instincts were now screaming an alert and she carefully looked over the crowd once again, looking for patterns and outliers in their behaviour. Her gaze settled on one of the gate guards as the man moved closer and she saw it.
It was just a twitch, just a slight narrowing of hazel eyes that were harder than those of the men around him, of other eyes that flicked towards that man and the signs of nervousness that accompanied them- licking lips, sweat beading brows and fists clenched to hide the trembling. The guard stood differently to the others too, shoulders back and head erect while the other men were hunched and looked like they were trying to not attract notice. The guard was also ignoring her, his attention firmly fixed on the back of the blue uniformed figure just ahead of her and tracking every movement that Scott made.
Rhapsody processed all of this in an instant and acted the second she saw the guard's hand creep towards the pistol on his belt. "Scott, down!" She roughly pushed him out of the line of fire, ripped the pistol out of her holster and fired twice, blood blossoming on the guard's khaki uniform as he dropped.
People scattered, most of them screaming, but the foreman kept his head and yelled "Him, him!" pointing to the second guard who was trying to pull his snub-nosed revolver free from where it had caught on his holster. Dianne swung around and shot him too, a clean headshot that took him right between the eyes. She kicked the guns away from both corpses and stood over them with her sidearm in hand, waiting to see if they'd get up again.
Behind her she could hear Scott get back to his feet and Randeep start barking out orders in Hindi to the workers before running towards the mine entrance. "Are you okay?" She asked, looking around for any other attackers and never letting her glance settle in one place for too long.
"I'm fine, thanks." Scott picked up his cap from where it'd fallen as he stood. "Any more of them?" He asked, his machine pistol now in hand.
"There are ten in the mine," Randeep puffed as he jogged back to them. "We have this entrance closed now, they're locked in, but there are two other entrances, lower on the mountain, they have disabled the remote controls on the doors." He looked between the two of them as he made the report. "We do not know who they are, three of them spoke Hindi, but the others," he shrugged helplessly, "I do not know what their language was."
"Did they have any identifying marks, any insignia that you could see?" Scott asked, blue eyes intent.
"No, no, no, sir," the foreman grimaced, "it was dark when they attacked us, they killed our guards, took machines into the mines and had us out here as human shields. Sir, we wanted to warn you, but they said they would kill us all if we did."
"Is the nuclear waste compromised?" Scott asked next.
"No sir." Was the answer and all present momentarily closed their eyes in relief and thanked whoever was listening for that small mercy.
Dianne meanwhile searched the two dead men and came up with no identifying marks whatsoever- no tags, no IDs, no tattoos. To herself she noted that they still felt dead as well, but she'd want them checked with a detector first to be completely sure that they were going to stay down. "I can't find anything on them." She reported, glancing up at Scott.
Scott was about to reply when the ground shook underneath them in a series of muffled detonations that sent them staggering. Randeep grabbed for the radio on his belt and shouted into it as he found his feet back, then listened intently to the response. "They… they've sealed themselves in!" He exclaimed in shock. "The waste is still secure, but the entrances, they're blocked! Who would do this?" He asked, looking between the two pilots. "They must be mad!"
"I'm not sure who they are, but I bet we'll find out," Scott answered, mouth set in a line. "Thunderbird Two is enroute, we'll need to make space for her and our equipment. Those trucks will need to be moved," he ordered, pointing to the neat row of vehicles. "I'll also need to see any maps you have available of the mine."
"And these two will need to be secured." Dianne added, indicating with her pistol to the two bodies. "Do you have an empty store room of some description? Something secure that can be locked from the outside?"
"Yes, yes, we do." Randeep nodded to them and rapped out a series of orders to his men.
Rallied by their foreman, the workers quickly moved into action. While Scott and Rhapsody took the opportunity to update their respective organisations, the apron was cleared, the two bodies were unceremoniously rolled up in blankets and carried away and the man in the lab coat, introduced to them as Deepak, scurried off to return some minutes later with several rolls of paper. Scott considered asking for a truck to fetch his Mobile Control equipment, but with Two almost here and his lingering suspicion that there might be more attackers lying in wait, he judged it safer to stay put for now.
At last Thunderbird Two and the Angel escort appeared between the mountain peaks. While Two swooped in to land, the Interceptors swung wide to circle the area and Scott listened in as the other two pilots started radioing through what they could see- the long closed lower entrance and emergency exits were now blocked with rockfalls, but they couldn't see any other signs of the mysterious attackers.
Virgil and Gordon emerged from Two a minute later, then together with Randeep, Deepak, Scott and Rhapsody they gathered in Randeep's office and the maps were laid out on his desk.
"How many workers do you have, sir?" Virgil asked, leaning his hands on the desk as he scrutinised the maps.
"Fourteen still live, sir," Randeep answered him, his grief colouring his voice. "They are all here."
"I'm sorry," Gordon told him simply. "We were told there's a previously unknown waterway?" He asked.
"Yes, there is, the attackers did open that with their explosives," the foreman clicked his tongue in a gesture of frustration. "The surveyors, I do not understand how they could have missed it! Blind, all of them!" He shuffled through the layers of maps until he found a side view that showed all the main levels of the mine. "Here, sir." Randeep pointed to the main tunnel of level twelve, the last one, positioned towards the north. "The nuclear waste is stored on level eight, it is the biggest and widest main shaft." He indicated the spot, then pointed to the bank of computers that lined one wall of his office. "I have some instrumentation here, it is still safe, but the water, it is rising."
"Rate?" Was the question from Virgil, the fingers of his right hand drumming out a rapid tempo on the battered desk as he considered the challenge facing them.
"I estimate we have four hours, maybe less," Deepak squeaked out the words, anxiously twisting the collar of his lab coat in his hands.
Randeep glanced at his subordinate, sighed and looked at the three International Rescue men and the Spectrum woman in his office. "We are not fighters, we have no weapons, I am sorry we cannot help you with taking back our site."
"We have backup coming, you'd best get your people out of here," Scott advised, not unkindly. "Will you be able to get around our aircraft on the access road?"
"We will not leave, sir." Randeep stood up straight. "This site is our responsibility, if the water cannot be stopped, you will need our help to remove as much of the waste as possible."
Scott met Randeep's gaze for a long moment, then nodded once. "Okay. But find somewhere safe to hunker down with your people, okay?"
"Understood, sir." Randeep turned and swept out with Deepak in his wake, shouting to his staff as he did so.
"What are you thinking, Virgil?" Gordon looked at his brother as Virgil picked up a pencil and started sketching out something on the desk blotter, then flicked through the maps again until he found a topological map of the area.
"I don't think we can stop the water, but If we can cut a diversion tunnel with the Mole just here," Virgil drew an 'X' on the topographical map, "it should slow the water long enough for the authorities to remove the barrels of waste."
"Good idea, Virgil. How long will you need to dig it?" Scott asked.
Virgil checked the distances and made a rough calculation on the blotter. "An hour at least, Brains checked the geological surveys while we were on our way over, this is all dense stuff around here," he answered.
"What about the machines that Randeep said the attackers brought in?" Rhapsody queried. "I daresay we should find out what those are for first, and I can't imagine they would have left themselves without any form of escape."
"Agreed," Scott nodded, then looked to Rhapsody. "Any update on when the other Captains will be here?"
A deep throated roar of an engine and excited yelling from outside was the answer. "That would be them now, perfect timing." Rhapsody smiled and pointed out the open door as a powder blue Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle rolled to a halt beside the building.
0o0o0
At roughly the same time, Captain Blue was feeling a sense of deep relief when the entrance for Darwin International Airport came into view.
The ride in FAB 1 was pleasant, enjoyable even, the massive car all but flying down the Outback roads and so smoothly he'd have thought he was in one of Spectrum's hovercraft. On the surface, the conversation with Lady Penelope had been just as pleasant, but his own counter-spy background was screaming an alert that despite her innocuous questions she was after something- he just couldn't figure out what. The mental effort of trying to keep one step ahead of her questioning was exhausting.
They must have had the car registered on some sort of list because the gate to the secure area of the airport opened automatically and the guard waved them through with barely a second look, and Adam directed them as close as he dared to Spectrum's covert hangar. Parker found a place to stop the car, fetched Blue's backpack from the trunk and came around to open the door, which Blue was exceedingly grateful for- his leg was starting to stiffen up and he wasn't relishing the idea of trying to juggle the door, his crutch and an injured leg all at once.
"Thank you for the ride, Lady Penelope," Captain Blue told her with genuine gratitude. "And if I may say, I am very glad that you're on our side," he continued, somewhat in awe of how she'd sidestepped Jeff like he was standing still and half wondering what would happen if she were ever in the same room as Colonel White. The Old Man had his tricks, but Penelope was one of the smoothest operators he'd seen in a while.
"How kind of you to say, Captain Blue." The barest hint of a smile touched Penelope's face, and if she'd been any less well-bred, she would have sounded smug. "I hope you have a safe trip."
"Thank you, you too." Blue nodded to her, extricated himself from the car with some help from Parker, slung his grab bag over his back before fitting his arm back into the crutch and started making his way down an alleyway between two buildings.
Intent on his destination and distracted by the ache in his leg, as he rounded a corner, Blue didn't notice the tall, powerfully built figure that slipped up behind him with a cosh in hand.