Chapter Twelve: Great Balls Of Fire
~~
Leo was seconds away from grabbing the motorbike and chasing after the two escapees when he remembered that there would most probably be someone from International Rescue coming to look for their companion, having traced the call.
The Italian man weighed up the options before deciding what to do. He knew that he would probably catch Giovanni and the other man if he followed them now, but he also knew that he would have the advantage of surprise if others arrived. He chose to stay, deciding that his brother would not stand a chance by himself.
~~
'This is it,' Scott said, observing the site from the window of the aircraft. He could only partially make out the derelict building in the dark, but he could see enough to tell that it was not the most inviting place to live in.
Virgil took his craft down with a roar in a cornfield about two hundred yards away from the hut, wishing at times like then that the engine was quieter.
'All right, we've got surprise on our side,' Scott said in a whisper as they crept though a path made by tractor wheels in the field. 'Virgil, you come in with me, and John, you check outside.'
Armed and ready, Scott and Virgil crept into the house and began to investigate. They found themselves in the dark main room, with the bare furnishings of a tatty wooden table and two matching benches, with a single candle in the centre of it.
'Virgil, get the door,' Scott said, his eyes dancing around the room in search of any signs of movement.
As Virgil turned around, the door slammed shut, revealing Leo standing, gun poised, with a wicked gleam in his eyes and the grin of a madman plastered across his face.
Virgil's gun was raised, but it was no good firing it at a man whose index finger was hovering above the trigger of his own gun. Scott looked back to see what was going on, and instantly moved towards Virgil. 'Don't move, or bang,' Leo warned, taking two steps forward and moving dangerously close to Virgil.
'What makes you think you can call the shots,' Scott said, malevolence evident within his voice.
'Boss us around, he means,' Virgil said helpfully, seeing Leo's confused face.
'Yeah, you're outnumbered,' Scott said.
'Ah, that may be, but I know where your friend is,' Leo lied.
John's hand lingered above the door handle as he heard the unfamiliar voice say this, and he instantly knew that his brothers had a problem. A plan formed in his head, and he quickly put it into action. Slowly and quietly, he opened the door and found that, to his immense relief, the kidnapper's back was facing him. He ignored the widening eyes of his brothers and continued with his plan. He raised the gun, took aim and fired, watching as Leo jerked back before crashing to the floor.
Knowing how little time he had, John kicked the man's pistol away and said, 'Find a rope, he won't be out for more than a minute.'
Virgil found two ropes down in the basement, and helped his brothers to tie up the man. 'Great save, John,' Scott said in his way of expressing his gratitude as he tightened the last knot around the man's hands.
The Italian soon woke up, finding his hands and feet bound together. Looking up at the three forceful faces surrounding him, he knew he was no longer in the position to 'call the shots,' as the one with the darkest hair had put it earlier.
'Where is he?' Scott said forebodingly.
Knowing that it would be pointless to deny what he had done, Leo said, 'With my brother; they left in a car about fifteen minutes before now.'
'Where did they go, and why aren't you with them?'
'I truthfully do not know, to both questions,' he said, shrugging. Well, he honestly did not know where they had gone, but he suspected to Milan, the nearest city, and he knew that he was not with them because he had been left behind, and had waited for the other three to arrive.
Virgil turned to Scott, after realising something, and said, 'What if that other guy's armed too?'
'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,' Scott said, hoping and praying that they would not come to that particular bridge, because crossing could be treacherous.
~~
'I don't think he's following us,' Gordon said with confidence, glancing to the back of the car where glass once was. The draft rushing through did not make Gordon feel any warmer.
'I go a little longer,' Giovanni said, his eyes fixed on the road lit by the dim headlights of the car.
'Whilst we're not saying much, do you think you could tell me how I got into this?' Gordon asked, having spent some time wondering this whilst confined in the basement.
Giovanni remained silent for a moment as he tried to comprehend what Gordon had said. 'Yes, I tell you. My brother and I, we do not have a good life. We live with our mama and brother, Alfonso. Alfonso older than us and he steal to live. He die in car one year before now, and mama sad, and sick. Leo and I learn to steal to live, like Alfonso. We in café to steal, but the bomb. We wake up, but the fire trap us. Big car put out fire, but fall into hole. You in big car. Leo say we look after you, and get money, but he call your friends and say you for ransom. I try to stop him, but he have a gun. He say for me to hit you, make you knocked out, but we go!' Giovanni said in his attempted English.
'I understand,' Gordon said, realising that it was all an accident. Him being kidnapped was all an accident, just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If he and John hadn't have been talking, he would have been concentrating fully and would have seen the crack in the floor. But, he wouldn't have been talking to John if he and Scott hadn't have argued before. He wouldn't have been driving the Firefly if Virgil's arm weren't damaged, which wouldn't have happened if Scott had dived on him instead of Gordon. Gordon wouldn't even have been on the rescue if Alan hadn't have got the flu, which Alan may not have got if he, Gordon, had have spotted that child first, but instead he was dazed from having broken down the door. He wouldn't have done that, or snapped at Alan that morning, or even become angry at Scott before the accident if he hadn't have been acting irrationally, which wouldn't have happened if he had not received that letter about Carly's death.
Gordon startled himself at what had contributed to him being where he was at that moment. Some of them were irrelevant, but the events, the circumstances, had built up, and there he was, being driven down an unknown Italian road by a stranger, who was one of his former kidnappers. Surely, he had to be dreaming.
'Hey, Giovanni, don't worry,' Gordon said, suddenly realising that the young man was driving increasingly fast, as he grew increasingly tense. 'Leo won't catch us now, we're too long gone, so you can take it slower now.'
Giovanni slowed slightly, saying 'Ten miles from Milan, we are there soon.'
'That's good,' Gordon said, exhaustion coming out of nowhere and overpowering him. His eyelids fell shut, and remained so for a few seconds until he heard the screeching and squealing of brakes and tyres. Before Gordon knew what hit him, the car struck a tree and came to a crushing halt. Gordon had no time to react as his head smacked on the dashboard and he passed out.
~~
'John, its impossible,' Scott said, trying to reason with his brother. 'Wait a couple of hours until sun up and then we'll find him, you know it's no good looking in the dark.'
'They could be anywhere in a couple of hours,' John said in protest. 'Besides, we'll be okay looking with Thunderbird Two's Thermo-Sensor.'
'What do you think, Virgil?'
'John has a point,' Virgil said after a moment, never one to take sides without a good reason. 'They could be in any number of places in two hours, but at least we've got a vague path to follow after twenty minutes of travelling.'
'All right, we'll keep going,' Scott said, sighing and sitting back down on his seat.
'What's the deal, Scott, don't you want us to find him?' John said heatedly, baffled at his brother's reluctance to carry on.
'Of course I do! I just thought that there would be a better, more efficient way of doing it,' Scott retorted, offended that his brother would even consider him a quitter, especially when his brother's well-being was in jeopardy.
'If you can think of one that's on board Thunderbird Two, I'm listening,' Virgil said in a slightly tetchy tone. 'We certainly can't go back to Base, it would lose us too much time.'
'What does the Thermo-Sensor say?' Scott asked, changing the subject and avoiding the argument that seemed to be building.
'So far, I've only picked up signals the size of animals, there's nothing large enough to be a human yet,' Virgil said, his eyes still glued to the monitor.
'Hey, what's that?' Scott said, pointing out of the window as he spotted something of an orange-yellow colour in the distance.
Virgil steered his aircraft in the direction that Scott was facing, and neared the object quickly. 'It's a fire, on what looks like a vehicle,' Virgil said, his voice weakening towards the end of his sentence.
'All right, John, you handle the fire extinguishers, and Virgil, join him once you've landed. I'll get the fireproof gear,' Scott said, instantly ready to act.
Virgil landed as close to the fire as he could, and the action began. John grabbed the powerful extinguishers and started to put the fire out, with Virgil quickly joining him. Scott rushed in, dressed in a fireproof suit, and began went to the driver of the car first, as this was where the fire was worst. He wrapped Giovanni in one of the fireproof blankets and carried him from the car before laying him on the ground.
'Check him,' Scott called to Virgil as he headed back to the car. He opened the door, which took some effort since it was partially crushed, and then began to pull his brother from the wreck. As Scott lifted him, Gordon began to cough uncontrollably. 'It's okay, Gordo,' Scott said, gently laying him near Giovanni. He checked and found that Gordon was breathing and his pulse was strong.
'How is he?' John asked, rushing over after successfully tackling the fire.
'He's going to be fine,' Scott said, placing a reassuring hand on John's shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~
Leo was seconds away from grabbing the motorbike and chasing after the two escapees when he remembered that there would most probably be someone from International Rescue coming to look for their companion, having traced the call.
The Italian man weighed up the options before deciding what to do. He knew that he would probably catch Giovanni and the other man if he followed them now, but he also knew that he would have the advantage of surprise if others arrived. He chose to stay, deciding that his brother would not stand a chance by himself.
~~
'This is it,' Scott said, observing the site from the window of the aircraft. He could only partially make out the derelict building in the dark, but he could see enough to tell that it was not the most inviting place to live in.
Virgil took his craft down with a roar in a cornfield about two hundred yards away from the hut, wishing at times like then that the engine was quieter.
'All right, we've got surprise on our side,' Scott said in a whisper as they crept though a path made by tractor wheels in the field. 'Virgil, you come in with me, and John, you check outside.'
Armed and ready, Scott and Virgil crept into the house and began to investigate. They found themselves in the dark main room, with the bare furnishings of a tatty wooden table and two matching benches, with a single candle in the centre of it.
'Virgil, get the door,' Scott said, his eyes dancing around the room in search of any signs of movement.
As Virgil turned around, the door slammed shut, revealing Leo standing, gun poised, with a wicked gleam in his eyes and the grin of a madman plastered across his face.
Virgil's gun was raised, but it was no good firing it at a man whose index finger was hovering above the trigger of his own gun. Scott looked back to see what was going on, and instantly moved towards Virgil. 'Don't move, or bang,' Leo warned, taking two steps forward and moving dangerously close to Virgil.
'What makes you think you can call the shots,' Scott said, malevolence evident within his voice.
'Boss us around, he means,' Virgil said helpfully, seeing Leo's confused face.
'Yeah, you're outnumbered,' Scott said.
'Ah, that may be, but I know where your friend is,' Leo lied.
John's hand lingered above the door handle as he heard the unfamiliar voice say this, and he instantly knew that his brothers had a problem. A plan formed in his head, and he quickly put it into action. Slowly and quietly, he opened the door and found that, to his immense relief, the kidnapper's back was facing him. He ignored the widening eyes of his brothers and continued with his plan. He raised the gun, took aim and fired, watching as Leo jerked back before crashing to the floor.
Knowing how little time he had, John kicked the man's pistol away and said, 'Find a rope, he won't be out for more than a minute.'
Virgil found two ropes down in the basement, and helped his brothers to tie up the man. 'Great save, John,' Scott said in his way of expressing his gratitude as he tightened the last knot around the man's hands.
The Italian soon woke up, finding his hands and feet bound together. Looking up at the three forceful faces surrounding him, he knew he was no longer in the position to 'call the shots,' as the one with the darkest hair had put it earlier.
'Where is he?' Scott said forebodingly.
Knowing that it would be pointless to deny what he had done, Leo said, 'With my brother; they left in a car about fifteen minutes before now.'
'Where did they go, and why aren't you with them?'
'I truthfully do not know, to both questions,' he said, shrugging. Well, he honestly did not know where they had gone, but he suspected to Milan, the nearest city, and he knew that he was not with them because he had been left behind, and had waited for the other three to arrive.
Virgil turned to Scott, after realising something, and said, 'What if that other guy's armed too?'
'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,' Scott said, hoping and praying that they would not come to that particular bridge, because crossing could be treacherous.
~~
'I don't think he's following us,' Gordon said with confidence, glancing to the back of the car where glass once was. The draft rushing through did not make Gordon feel any warmer.
'I go a little longer,' Giovanni said, his eyes fixed on the road lit by the dim headlights of the car.
'Whilst we're not saying much, do you think you could tell me how I got into this?' Gordon asked, having spent some time wondering this whilst confined in the basement.
Giovanni remained silent for a moment as he tried to comprehend what Gordon had said. 'Yes, I tell you. My brother and I, we do not have a good life. We live with our mama and brother, Alfonso. Alfonso older than us and he steal to live. He die in car one year before now, and mama sad, and sick. Leo and I learn to steal to live, like Alfonso. We in café to steal, but the bomb. We wake up, but the fire trap us. Big car put out fire, but fall into hole. You in big car. Leo say we look after you, and get money, but he call your friends and say you for ransom. I try to stop him, but he have a gun. He say for me to hit you, make you knocked out, but we go!' Giovanni said in his attempted English.
'I understand,' Gordon said, realising that it was all an accident. Him being kidnapped was all an accident, just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If he and John hadn't have been talking, he would have been concentrating fully and would have seen the crack in the floor. But, he wouldn't have been talking to John if he and Scott hadn't have argued before. He wouldn't have been driving the Firefly if Virgil's arm weren't damaged, which wouldn't have happened if Scott had dived on him instead of Gordon. Gordon wouldn't even have been on the rescue if Alan hadn't have got the flu, which Alan may not have got if he, Gordon, had have spotted that child first, but instead he was dazed from having broken down the door. He wouldn't have done that, or snapped at Alan that morning, or even become angry at Scott before the accident if he hadn't have been acting irrationally, which wouldn't have happened if he had not received that letter about Carly's death.
Gordon startled himself at what had contributed to him being where he was at that moment. Some of them were irrelevant, but the events, the circumstances, had built up, and there he was, being driven down an unknown Italian road by a stranger, who was one of his former kidnappers. Surely, he had to be dreaming.
'Hey, Giovanni, don't worry,' Gordon said, suddenly realising that the young man was driving increasingly fast, as he grew increasingly tense. 'Leo won't catch us now, we're too long gone, so you can take it slower now.'
Giovanni slowed slightly, saying 'Ten miles from Milan, we are there soon.'
'That's good,' Gordon said, exhaustion coming out of nowhere and overpowering him. His eyelids fell shut, and remained so for a few seconds until he heard the screeching and squealing of brakes and tyres. Before Gordon knew what hit him, the car struck a tree and came to a crushing halt. Gordon had no time to react as his head smacked on the dashboard and he passed out.
~~
'John, its impossible,' Scott said, trying to reason with his brother. 'Wait a couple of hours until sun up and then we'll find him, you know it's no good looking in the dark.'
'They could be anywhere in a couple of hours,' John said in protest. 'Besides, we'll be okay looking with Thunderbird Two's Thermo-Sensor.'
'What do you think, Virgil?'
'John has a point,' Virgil said after a moment, never one to take sides without a good reason. 'They could be in any number of places in two hours, but at least we've got a vague path to follow after twenty minutes of travelling.'
'All right, we'll keep going,' Scott said, sighing and sitting back down on his seat.
'What's the deal, Scott, don't you want us to find him?' John said heatedly, baffled at his brother's reluctance to carry on.
'Of course I do! I just thought that there would be a better, more efficient way of doing it,' Scott retorted, offended that his brother would even consider him a quitter, especially when his brother's well-being was in jeopardy.
'If you can think of one that's on board Thunderbird Two, I'm listening,' Virgil said in a slightly tetchy tone. 'We certainly can't go back to Base, it would lose us too much time.'
'What does the Thermo-Sensor say?' Scott asked, changing the subject and avoiding the argument that seemed to be building.
'So far, I've only picked up signals the size of animals, there's nothing large enough to be a human yet,' Virgil said, his eyes still glued to the monitor.
'Hey, what's that?' Scott said, pointing out of the window as he spotted something of an orange-yellow colour in the distance.
Virgil steered his aircraft in the direction that Scott was facing, and neared the object quickly. 'It's a fire, on what looks like a vehicle,' Virgil said, his voice weakening towards the end of his sentence.
'All right, John, you handle the fire extinguishers, and Virgil, join him once you've landed. I'll get the fireproof gear,' Scott said, instantly ready to act.
Virgil landed as close to the fire as he could, and the action began. John grabbed the powerful extinguishers and started to put the fire out, with Virgil quickly joining him. Scott rushed in, dressed in a fireproof suit, and began went to the driver of the car first, as this was where the fire was worst. He wrapped Giovanni in one of the fireproof blankets and carried him from the car before laying him on the ground.
'Check him,' Scott called to Virgil as he headed back to the car. He opened the door, which took some effort since it was partially crushed, and then began to pull his brother from the wreck. As Scott lifted him, Gordon began to cough uncontrollably. 'It's okay, Gordo,' Scott said, gently laying him near Giovanni. He checked and found that Gordon was breathing and his pulse was strong.
'How is he?' John asked, rushing over after successfully tackling the fire.
'He's going to be fine,' Scott said, placing a reassuring hand on John's shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~