Participation II - Twenty.

1 = first name

4 = town

Despite the late night I had a restful sleep and awoke feeling bright and fresh. I felt as if all the worries of the world had been lifted from my shoulders.

I had no concerns about attending breakfast and quickly got dressed and headed into the dining room.

"Morning Jeff!" I said.

"Morning 1"

Scott, Gordon, Brains, Mrs Tracy, Kyrano and Tin-Tin were already there. I saw them give each other mystified looks but didn't enlighten them.

John came in. He looked a touch tired.

"Had a late session did you?" Gordon asked with a grin. "1 looks fresh enough, did you two part company early?"

"No. We finished at two." John told him. "Then I read for a bit."

"What time did you put out the light?" Jeff asked him.

"Umm. About four..."

Jeff shook his head in exasperation.

Gordon got up to pour himself a coffee, just as Trixie bounced in. "Morning Sunshine." He said.

"Morning Moonbeam." She replied jauntily.

I smiled. It looked as if Trixie was going to be all right.

I was in the middle of a discussion with Jeff when Virgil made an appearance. He was still in the clothes he wore yesterday and it was obvious that he'd spent the night in them. He was unshaven and a thick blob of red paint was dried in his brown hair. His eyes were so bleary that I doubted that even if he'd made the effort to look in a mirror, he probably wouldn't have seen how bad he looked. "Mornin' all." He said thickly as he rubbed at a kink in his neck.

"Another late night special." Scott chuckled.

"How's it going?" Tin-Tin asked.

"I'm close, really close."

"Close to what?" Trixie asked.

Before Virgil had a chance to reply Jeff butted in. "Why don't you go back to bed?"

"I will when I've finished." Virgil tried, and failed, to suppress a yawn.

"If you continue on now, you'll spoil it." Jeff told him. "There's no hurry."

"That's not what you told me two days ago." Virgil protested.

"Well things have changed. So go get some sleep!"

Virgil looked as if he didn't even have the energy to stand up, let alone walk back to his room.

"Come on 'Rip Van Winkle'." Scott took his younger brothers arm. "Do you want me to tuck you in?"

"When I'm awake enough, remind me to think up a suitable reply to that." They both headed off out of the room.

Jeff turned his attention to Trixie and myself. "When you are both ready, I'd like to have a meeting with you to discuss what happened in 4. If that's alright with you both..."

"Good idea Jeff." Trixie said perkily.

I didn't say anything, but couldn't help grinning.

The meeting went well. We explained about the events leading up to our having to be rescued from the building. "I was a bit of a mess after that." Trixie admitted.

"But we made it okay!" I said. "I'm glad I remembered my ring. The Hood never guessed that I'd sent out an alarm signal." I looked at the item of jewellery. "I'll have to get Brains to put a new stone in it though, so I'm ready for next time."

"Give it here..." Jeff held out his hand. "I'll give it to him when we've finished." I handed over the ring. "Thanks."

"Have I missed out on something?" Trixie asked.

"This ring..." Jeff held it up "...is a homing device. 1 flicked one of the stones out, thereby switching it on."

"Ohhh. Can I get one of those?"

Jeff chuckled. "I'll have a word to Brains." Then he sat back in his seat. "I'm impressed. You both did really well, I'm proud of you."

"Thanks Jeff." I said, suddenly feeling shy with his praise.

"I also called this meeting because I thought you should be brought up to speed with what happened to the Hood and his minion."

Trixie and I lent forward expectantly.

Jeff continued on. "Scott called the police who took those two into custody. Fortunately with half the building collapsed about their ears, the police of 4 didn't examine too closely why the two of them were unconscious." I blushed under his gaze.

"How'd he explain the Pepper Spray?" Trixie asked.

"He played dumb. Said he hadn't been present when it happened. The police took one look at the guns beside the pair and decided that they needed to concentrate their efforts on other matters, rather than International Rescue's involvement. Scott just said that they'd seen the building collapse and had gone in to investigate on the off chance that someone was trapped. He also identified our friend as being the one who'd been photographing our equipment. If they find any evidence of you two, there shouldn't be anything to identify you or link you to our organisation.

He paused for a moment. "The Hood's clever," His tone had changed and a shiver went up my spine. "The police had him in the hospital to ascertain the extent of his injuries." Another pause. "He overpowered the medical staff and his guard and has escaped."

Fear surged through my system. The Hood was free! And in my hometown!

Trixie however was unperturbed. "So! He's hasn't seen our faces. He doesn't know who it was that beat him."

"He knows my face." I said weakly. "He's seen me before. He thinks I'm dead, but if he sees a dead-ringer for me, he might think it's a close relative and that I may have passed on my knowledge of International Rescue before I died... Or realise that he'd been tricked." An angry Hood didn't bear thinking about.

Jeff could see I was concerned. "I shouldn't worry too much." he said soothingly. "Based on past situations, we've discovered that once the Hood has been beaten, he tends to crawl back under whatever rock it is that he came out from. That, coupled with the fact that the police of 4 are after him, makes me think that he'll hightail it out of there."

I wasn't terribly reassured.

"If it'll make you feel better," Jeff offered, "you can stay here a couple more days..."

Trixie was on her feet, leaning over the desk, kissing him. "Jeff! We'd love to."

He looked extremely startled at the reaction. "Uh... um... I'm glad you're pleased Trixie." He tried to recover some semblance of dignity. "Are you happy with that 1?"

"Oh, yes, Jeff!" I babbled eagerly, pleased at the opportunity to give the Hood as much time to get away as possible. "I'm more than happy with that!"

"Do you need me any more, Jeff?" Trixie asked. He shook his head no, rather emphatically. "Great! Then I'm off to enjoy this wonderful tropical sunshine." She practically bounded from the room.

"Now I know how my boys feel." He muttered more to himself than to me, as he wiped his face. Then he pulled himself together. "So 1. Anything else you want to cover? Any questions?"

"Only one Jeff." I said slowly, wanting to know the answer, but not quite sure that asking the question was going to be the right thing to do. "The other day... During your 'debriefing'." He nodded, with a slight frown on his face. "You called Trixie a 'ninety-four year old woman'. How'd you know? She's been trying to keep it a secret from you."

He gave a brief laugh. "You don't think I'm going to ask someone to join International Rescue without doing a full check on them, do you? I did with you, and I did with her. Right down to seeing her birth certificate."

"And you don't mind?"

"It does worry me. But Trixie's shown herself to be more than capable. It's also why I hired you, to keep an eye on her. To keep her out of trouble. She thinks she's watching out for you..."

"...And I think I'm looking out for her." I completed his sentence. "I don't seem to be doing too well."

He laughed again. "You're doing just fine."