THE sinister silhouette of the old farmhouse became clear as Jeff pushed aside the blades of tall grass that were in front of him. The lights were still on suggesting that the brothers had left in a hurry to try and capture him. The air was still but silent and was very cold. Jeff was constantly checking to see if the coast was clear. He felt sure that Mick would be on his way back if he wasn't still searching the area around the bridge for him. He knew that he had to find out what secrets were inside the house before Mick returned.

Fifteen minutes, Jeff thought to himself. I reckon that's all the time I have before he shows up. I need to find a phone and call the Police.

Fortunately the rain had stopped so he no longer felt the uncomfortableness of being continuously wet - although he still hadn't dried out yet. He decided the best course of action was to examine the exterior of the house and find the best point of entry.

Better go round the back, he thought. I expect the front door and the garage door are locked.

Jeff carefully crept his way along the front of the house and around the side to the back. As he did so, he began to wonder why the farm was so deserted. In the whole time he'd been there, including the earlier visit when he'd dropped the pizza off, he'd suddenly realised that he'd seen nor heard any animals which was very unusual compared to the other farms in the area.

As Jeff arrived around the back of the house, he stopped at the sight of a large steel door across the ground attached to the back wall of the house. That probably goes to the basement, Jeff thought. But it's locked. I'm not gonna be able to get in that way.

He wasn't wrong. A padlock firmly sealed the door shut. Then he looked along the wall to see what was there. A long plank of wood stood just next to the metal door. Then there was a small table with a blue toolbox on the top. And beside that was a small green door in the wall.

"That's the way in," Jeff muttered to himself. He walked over and noticed that the box on the small table was open. Inside was a flashlight. He picked it up and then began to check the door out. He really didn't want to break the glass if he had to as it would be obvious to anyone that someone had broken in. He hoped that the door would be unlocked. "Here goes nothing," he said to himself. He placed his hand on the handle and turned it. To Jeff's amazement, the door wasn't locked. It clicked and then opened slowly inwards. "Bingo!" he said quietly with delight. "Now I just need to find a landline phone to call the Cops."

Jeff knew there had to be a landline in the house, because it had been used to call the Pizzeria and it hadn't been a cell-phone number that had called either. He turned on the flashlight and cautiously made his way inside the house.

After passing through the door, Jeff took note of his surroundings. He was in an old kitchen. It was in a state. Dishes and other things lay everywhere. It didn't look as though it had been cleaned for months…maybe even longer. There was another door at the end of the kitchen which he assumed led to the porch or living room. He was only a few paces in, when Jeff began to contemplate the moral dilemma he was in. breaking into a stranger's house had been far too easy for him. "Something's not right here," he told himself. "I can feel it."

As Jeff continued along through the kitchen, he tried to make as little noise as possible, which wasn't as easy as he'd hoped. The floorboards creaked under his feet. The countertops and table in the kitchen were covered in dust and cobwebs. Jeff pinched his nose to not only try and prevent himself from sneezing but also because of the god-awful smell of garbage and rotten meat that he'd been hit with whilst walking through.

"Christ on a bike!" Jeff remarked. "How can anyone live in a hellhole like this?"

There was definitely no landline in the kitchen, he'd realised, so he made his way through the door at the end and shone the flashlight down the corridor. He was surprised to see that it had been boarded up, sealing the kitchen off from the rest of the house.

Suddenly, Jeff felt his heart jump at the sound of a phone ringing. He looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. It was definitely a landline phone for it had the exact same ringtone as the one at the pizzeria. It was then that he noticed the small door to his left with a window in it. He realised that the sound was coming from the other side. He shone the flashlight through the window and looked down. The ringing then stopped as if someone had answered it, but that was unlikely given how dark it was and he couldn't hear anyone talking on the phone.

Hoping that the door wasn't locked, Jeff gave the handle a gentle tug. To his relief it opened and he was presented with a narrow flight of stairs leading down into the darkness. He carefully walked down to the bottom and shone the flashlight around. He'd tried the lightswitch but nothing had happened so he used the beam from the flashlight instead. At first he felt a bit more at ease as the horrible stench from the kitchen had been replaced by the smell of fresh paint and construction materials, but it was what he saw that chilled him to the bone.

The basement was pristine clean compared to what he'd seen upstairs. A large wheeled bucket with a mop inside it stood nearby. Tins of white paint lay by the sides at the bottom of the stairs. All having been emptied of their contents to paint the walls of the long basement. It looked like it had been recently converted into a giant meat locker. A series of nasty-looking metal hooks hung on racks along one side of the basement, their shadows against the walls creeped Jeff out. There were several brown boxes as well and he wasn't curious to know what was inside of them.

THUD!

Jeff jumped and looked round behind him up the stairs to see that the door had slammed shut. But his initial fear was replaced by some relief as he realised there was nobody on the other side.

"Must have just been the wind," Jeff told himself. He began to look around again. "Where's that damn phone?" And then he saw it. On the far wall of the basement was the landline phone, mounted on the wall. "Finally!" he said. "Now I can call for help."

Jeff hurried to the phone, picked up the receiver and placed it to his ear as he dialled 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 - What's your emergency?" a female voice answered over the phone.

"Er, hello, yes. My name is Jeff Tracy and I'm in trouble. I need the Police."

"Where are you, Mr Tracy?"

Jeff quickly gave the address of the house, having remembered it from the order at the pizzeria. "The occupants of this house tried to kill me after I delivered a pizza to them. One of them died after my car fell on top of them. But the other is still after me. Please hurry. I fear he could be back any moment."

"Okay, Mr Tracy, listen to me carefully," the dispatcher said. "Stay where you are and be on your guard. I'll send as many available units as I can to your location."

"Oh, thank you," said Jeff gratefully. He put the receiver down and then found an ideal hiding place nearby behind a pile of boxes. It was at that moment that he heard the sound of a vehicle moving around up above. It sounded like the same one from the bridge meaning that Mick had returned. All he could do now was hide and wait in hope that the Police would arrive quickly and before the vengeful brother found him. He turned off the flashlight and concealed himself behind the boxes. He began to wait.

For roughly three minutes or so, nothing happened after Jeff had heard the sound of the van's engine turn off. But then he became horrified at the sight of a shadowy shape appearing in the open window in the shadow of the door. Mick had not only returned, but had gone round the back. No doubt he'd discovered the back door was open and that the flashlight was probably missing, clearly giving away to Mick that somebody was inside. He waited, his legs wobbling like jelly for the door to open and Mick to come down the stairs. But for a good whole minute or so, he just stood there, behind the door, completely still.

It was at that moment of intense silence and uncertainty that Jeff observed a large reinforced door on the opposite side of the basement to where he was. And then he saw something else. Just to the right-side of the door at its base lay a small pile of discarded clothes. Jeff recognised the colours of the clothes and was shocked to realise that they weren't just any clothes, but uniformed clothes. They were the exact same clothes as what he was wearing. Two pairs of trousers, two jackets and two baseball caps were clearly visible, just laying at the base of the door.

Who the hell do they belong to?! Jeff wondered to himself. But before he could wonder any further, he heard at last the door being slowly pulled open and the ominous sound of footsteps could be heard coming down one at a time towards the basement. Each step made Jeff's heart beat a little faster out of apprehension.

Jeff kept his back to the wall and waited anxiously to see whether he was going to be found as Mick reached the bottom of the stairs. He couldn't see the bald-headed thug, but his shadow on the wall was unnerving in itself.

Mick stopped when he reached the bottom of the stairs and he started to look from left to right for any clues of the intruder he felt certain had entered his and his now deceased brother's house. Strangely though, he made no attempt to come further through the basement to check to see if anyone was hiding behind any of the boxes. Instead, to Jeff's relief, Mick turned and began to make his way back up the stairs. Perhaps, he thought, that Mick had remembered that he'd not locked the back door and that the wind could have pushed it open, and perhaps even he'd not noticed that the flashlight was missing.

But the relief was short-lived. Jeff's heart skipped a beat as the landline phone began ringing again. It also caused Mick, who was now halfway up the stairs to stop dead in his own tracks. Jeff peered around the box and saw that only Mick's legs were visible meaning he'd have to come back down in order to see him. He knew he had to find a better place to hide. And then it hit him. The big door on the other side didn't appear to have a lock on it. Perhaps that would be the best place to hide, he thought. Although the possibilities of what could be on the other side would be enough to make anyone stop and think twice.

Jeff didn't give it a second thought. He timed his move with the sounds of the landline, rushing across to the door and then opening and closing the door behind him, just as Mick had turned to come back down to investigate.

Mick couldn't be sure, but he thought he'd seen something move across the back of the basement as he came down from the right over to the left. He walked to the far end of the basement and stopped just short of the wall in front of the landline phone. He looked over at the door, but it was still shut. He then looked at the opposite wall where Jeff had originally been hiding, but again, nobody was there. The phone stopped ringing and he let out an annoyed grunt before turning to walk away.

Jeff meanwhile had no idea where Mick was or what he might be doing. As soon as he'd closed the door and sealed it behind him, he'd discovered that everything had gone silent, making him realise that the room was completely soundproof. He stood as still and as silently as possible though for fear of Mick coming in after him.

It was at that moment that he felt something under his foot. He looked down and was surprised by what he saw. As he stepped back off the objects, he realised that it was the two small pizza boxes that he'd delivered to the house earlier. Only they were now empty meaning that the contents had been eaten. However, he wasn't convinced that Mick and Rick had been the ones to eat them, and his theory was soon proved right as he suddenly got a strong feeling that he wasn't alone.

Cautiously, he turned on the flashlight and slowly shone it across the room, trying hard for the light to not be visible from the room outside. Then the beam fell upon something that made Jeff let out a low but long gasp of shock and stop completely dead. Two young women were sitting against the wall on the far side. The closest to him was white wearing nothing but a white bikini and knickers. The other was African-Amercian wearing a pink bikini and knickers. That was all they had on. No tops, no trousers, no shoes. Nothing. And then Jeff noticed their faces. Although they were very thin and looked like he'd been there for a long time, there was no mistaking their identities for he'd seen photos of them. "Oh…my…God…" he said in a low, hoarse voice. "Lucy Brown and Sharon Carter?"

The two girls didn't answer. They'd been looking at Jeff with wide, afraid eyes, but looked at each other when he said the names. He could also tell that they were extremely weak and frightened. Marks were around their wrists and above their ankles suggesting they'd been in chains for some time. The sudden realisation of the situation then hit Jeff like a freight train. The two brothers weren't just creepy thugs…they were likely cold-blooded serial killers - a realisation that made him sick to his stomach.

Suddenly all three jumped at the sound of the latch on the door being unlocked. The girls were two scared to move as the door began to open. Jeff threw himself back against the wall at the side of the door, he'd turned off the light and held tightly, ready to use it as a weapon to knock Mick out should he get the chance.

The opening of the door illuminated the two girls better and a shadow of a figure towered over them. But as Jeff readied himself, the girls did something that he wasn't expecting. Instead of screaming in fright, they began to break out in smiles of relief.

"Good God…" a voice said behind the door. "Come look at this, Chief!"

Jeff cautiously moved around the door and saw that a Policeman was standing in the doorway. His gasp of relief caused the Policeman to notice him.

"Are you, Jeff Tracy?" the Policeman asked.

"Y-Yes," Jeff replied.

The Policeman then smiled. "You're safe now. All of you are safe now."

In what seemed like no time at all, Jeff found himself standing outside the house as three Police Cars sat on the grass with their red and blue lights illuminating the darkness. Jeff watched as the Officer who'd opened the door and found them along with the Sheriff were escorting a handcuffed and silent Mick into the back of the Sheriff's car.

"Get in there, you piece of filth!" spat the Sheriff. "You got a lot of explaining to do." As he headed round to get in the driver's seat at the front, Mick turned his head round to the right and looked over at Jeff who was standing by the front door where he'd originally left the pizza boxes.

Both young men stared at each other for a few moments before Mick produced a sickly and deranged grin at the pizzaboy. Clearly it was his intention to intimidate Jeff and show that although he was in cuffs, could still get to his would-have-been victim. But Jeff wasn't intimidated by Mick anymore. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and gave him a cold, hard stare back. He wasn't afraid. Now that he knew what Mick and his late brother had really been, he felt only one thing towards him - disgust. He felt nothing but disgusted knowing what Mick and Rick had been potentially going to do to Lucy and Sharon as well as possibly others previously.

It took a good ten seconds for Mick to finally realise that Jeff wasn't intimidated by him and his expression dropped to one of annoyance and defeat as he turned his head away and looked down at his lap without saying a word. Jeff continued his stare as the Sheriff's car drove away, taking the psychopath with it.

Now that the car was gone, Jeff's eyes now fixed on the car that had been parked just behind. It was driven by a female officer, and in the back, wrapped up in blankets, were Lucy and Sharon. Lucy was sitting on the side closest to Jeff. She was looking at him with warm, thankful eyes. She broke into a grin as Sharon leant around from behind and did the same. Both gave a wave as the car began to set off. Jeff too began to smile as he saw Lucy mouth the words 'Thank you' as the car drove off after the Sheriff's car.

As Crime Scene examiners moved in to start surveying the farmhouse, the officer who'd found Jeff and the girls put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Alright, sonny. Let's get you home. I'll take your statement from you there."

Jeff grinned. He felt so relieved to know that he was safe.

***Flashback Ends***

The brothers sat in stunned silence as Jeff finished his story. None of them knew what to say.

"Dad…" said Scott at last. "How come you've never told us this before?"

"I could never tell you this when you were kids, Scott," replied Jeff. "And besides, it's not a story that I would like to remember if I can help it."

"What happened to the guy?" asked Alan. "Did the cops send him down?"

"Yeah, he got put away," said Jeff. "What's become of him I don't know, and to be honest, I don't care either. So long as he's not hurting anyone, he's not my concern."

Gordon looked at his Pizza The Hutt outfit. "If this offends you, Dad, I totally get it," he said. "There's still a little time before Halloween. I'm sure I can come up with something else."

"No, it's fine, Gordon," said Jeff reassuringly. "You've worked hard on that by the looks of it. It would be a shame to let all that go to waste. And besides," he added with a chuckle. "I like the name."

"Yeah, Pizza The Hutt gets my vote," agreed Penelope.

Gordon blushed as Penelope kissed him and then started trying to eat him. "Hey, get off!" he laughed.

"Come here, you look so delicious," Penelope said

The others roared into laughter, including Grandma and Jeff. it was only stopped by the sound of John calling in from Thunderbird 5. "International Rescue - we have a situation. Oh, I'm sorry. Was I interrupting?"

"No, not at all, John," said Jeff. "What's the situation?"

"An unusual one," said Jeff. "A guy crashed his car through the railings of a bridge and is hanging over the edge."

An awkward silence fell upon the lounge as everyone began exchanging uneasy glances with one another.

"Errr…how did this happen?" Jeff asked.

"He's not entirely sure," John replied. "Said he'd been delivering pizzas when he felt a bump on the back of the head whilst he was driving. Then he woke up and found he'd crashed on the bridge..."

THE END