So sorry it's taken this long to update guys, I've been unbelievably busy
with a-level results and organising uni, anyway here it is the penultimate
chapter, as always, I hope you enjoy it!
_____________________________________
Fallon smiled to himself as he pressed his back against a nearby pine tree. The heat from the explosion whooshed against his cheek, he heard the tell- tale sizzling of trees being scorched close to the impact.
He hadn't planned to kill of Matchstick at first but as soon as the guy had left to go abduct Tracy's other son, he knew he could kill two birds with one stone. Matchstick knew too much and if Jeff Tracy's do-gooder middle son happened to be in the car when it went up, then that was just a blessing. He had wired the bomb beneath Matchstick's car when the larger man had been in the bathroom, it had all been so easy.
He had to give Tracy's son credit though, he hadn't expected to see them drive up to the cabin. He had assumed Matchstick would have disposed of the kid somewhere. Unfortunately the youngster seemed to have a lot of his father in him and had turned the tables.
Well, no worries, hopefully the bomb had taken both of them out.
Fallon stole a quick glance around the tree to see the charred shell of a car, burning. He felt no sense of remorse. Not seeing John's exit of the car Fallon could barely keep from laughing as he saw another car pull up with familiar figures inside.
'Perfect' he murmered 'absolutley perfect.'
*********************************
Scott, Virgil and Jeff had heard the explosion before they saw it. The large 'BOOM' shook the car, before they'd eventurned the corner to see the cabin.
Jeff put his foot down, dreading what the explosion could have meant, they finally caught sight of a charred car. It lay on its side, flames shooting from every window, pine trees nearby were also alight. The cabin seemed relatively unscathed.
Jeff brought the car to a standstill, but had barely pulled to a stop before Scott had thrown himself out of the car, Virgil was quickly after him, attempting to restrain his brother.
'JOHNNNNNNNNN!' Scott shrieked, ignoring Virgil's attempt to hold him back from the burning car.
Virgil suddenly let Scott go.
And then it hit Jeff, he felt the air rush from his lungs. His son had been in the car. He must have been, he'd arrived before them. Jeff desperately glanced around, but of his middle son, there was no sign. He rushed towards the burning car.
*********************************
'NOOOOOOOOOOO!' Scott felt like he was dying, every time he tried to get close to the car, the searing heat sent him reeling back, every instinct in his body was screaming at him to save his brother, every muscle in his body was telling him to stay back.
His eyebrows felt singed, Virgil beside him seemed to be in an even worse state, his eyes were streaming and he kept running towards the car and then had to back off.
'JOHNNNNNNNNNNNNNY!' Virgil kept shouting over and over.
Scott tore his eyes away from the car for a second as his father shot passed him, towards the shell that held what remained of his brother.
This was a nightmare.
Scott watched in shock as his father actually reached the flaming doorhandle.
Then when he thought there was no way things could get any worse, they did.
********************************
My father's on fire,my father's on fire......' Virgil's mind was screaming.
For a few horrific seconds he just stood there watching Jeff's arm become engulfed in flames, and then instinct took over and he and Scott rushed forward.
Grabbing his father around the waist, Virgil wrestled him away and then knelt on the ground as Scott ripped of his sweater and kneeled too, smothering Jeff's burning right arm.
While Scott saw to their father, Virgil stood slowly and shakily to his feet. His eyes never left the car.
John was in there.
John who had been his best friend since he'd been born, John who'd stolen Betty-Lou Stevens from him in 7th Grade,John who'd had their mother's old music scores specially repaired just so Virgil could play them on his 18th birthday. His friend, his brother, his John.
Virgil felt sick and shaken, shaken to his very core, his heart told him to keep hoping but his eyes told him no-one could have survived the wreck in front of him.
Swallowing hard he began screaming, 'WHERE ARE YOU JOHNNY?' his eyes swung horrified from the car to the surrounding area, 'WHERE ARRRRRRRE YOU?'
*********************
'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?' Alan shrieked as they heard the sounds of the cabin windows smashing, with the impact of the explosion.
Gordon's heart was pounding, 'I don't know.'
Both the youngest Tracys sat for a moment in silence, for a moment there they'd thought that the explosion had been the bomb beneath them. Both were slightly shocked to still be alive.
Alan gave a nervous laugh, 'I thought that we were dead for a minute there.'
Gordon let out a breath, 'me too.'
Alan was quiet, his voice was a mere whisper when he spoke again, 'Gordo, I don't wanna die.'
'Me neither Al' his brother replied, his own voice shaky, 'me neither.'
********************
John swallowed hard as he slowly regained conciousness, the first thing he noticed was that his head was throbbing the second thing he noticed was that he was lying against a tree, the third was the thick smoke all around him.
Coughing he attempted to get his bearings, what the hell had happened, one minute he'd been standing on the step, reading the letter and then..................
THE CABIN!
John shoved himself to his feet in horror, the cabin must have exploded, Gordon! Alan!
Swallowing the bile in his throat he attempted to see through the smoke, he saw the most beautiful sight in the world. The cabin!
Where it stood in front of him, it was still standing, no holes, no imploded roof, nothing.
John frowned on confusion and shock, then where the hell had that explosion come from. And that wa when he heard it.
'WHERE ARE YOU JOHNNY?'
Virgil? John thought to himself, thank God they'd arrived.
He stumbled through the smoke, hands flailing infront of him.
'WHERE ARRRRRRRRRE YOU?'
There it was agin, his brother's voice. John realised he must have been thrown around the back of the cabin by the impact. He stumbled forward and then the smoke seemed less dense.
He made out figures, and saw to his horror that it was the car he'd driven in that was on fire. Quickly he rushed forward.
And saw Virgil staring at him, his expression stunned.
'Virg.......'
That was all John said, Virgil rushed forward and before John could utter another word, had flung his arms around him.
***************************
'John,John,John' Virgil whispered as he hugged his younger brother to him, unable to believe or hope that John was okay.
Behind him he heard Scott shout 'JOHN!'
He also knew instinctively that Scott was standing beside him but he felt unwilling to share his little brother yet. Virgil cupped John's head with his hand as he held him against his shoulder.
'You're ok' he murmered finally, 'you're ok'.
'I'm fine.' John responded pulling back.
Scott immediately moved forward to take John in his arms.
*************************
'Oh thank God' Scott murmered as he embraced his brother.
John squeezed him back for a moment and then Scott felt him stiffen and pull away.
'DAD!' he shouted,alarmed at the huddled form of his father on the ground.
John rushed over. Scott smiled as he watched his father trace John's face with his finger, Jeff was openley crying, cradling his arm in his knee as he pulled John into a one armed hug.
Scott hated to break up the emotional moment but he knew they had to find the other two.
'John where are the squirts?'
John pulled back from his father with a look of horror, 'Dad.....'
'What?' Jeff asked, his forhead again wrinkled in worry.
**********************
So to you my dear friend I leave you this final gift, this form of payback you could call it. You get to see your little boys explode right in front of your eyes.
Screw me and I screw you Jefferson,
Simon Fallon
Jeff swore as he held the scorched paper in his hands, 'so Fallon was behind this all along.'
John nodded, 'it appears so Dad.'
Scott cursed loudly, 'I never liked him!'
Jeff nodded, 'not many did Scott.'
His three eldest had wanted to burst straight into the cabin, but Jeff was desperate to do this properley, this bastard was not going to hurt any of his sons.
Tentatively he opened the cabin-door, when he had looked around, he nodded the all-clear to his boys, who followed him as carefully as possible. All were terrified of somehow triggering a device, who knew how many Fallon had rigged around the place.
Jeff made his way towards a door, he walked slowly towards it, Scott, Virgil and John following. He reached out and turned the doorknob.
*******************
Gordon and Alan stiffened as the door began to open, both believed it was Fallon coming back to finsh them off.
Their mouths fell open in shock as thier father walked in.
'DAD!' Alan shouted,moving on his chair, a smile almost splitting his face.
Gordon knew to keep calm, they couldn't move much knowing how sensitive the device was beneath them. 'Don't move Al.'
He smiled as the rest of his family walked in though, his gaze resting on Scott, 'so what took you guys so long?'
********************
Scott desperately wanted to just tear his baby brothers from the chairs and haul them out of there but he knew he couldn't. They were sitting on some kind of bomb!
His mind worked desperately, even as he spoke to Gordon, 'we got here as soon as we could, you cheeky squirt.'
He, Jeff, Virg and John edged slightly forward. John peered at the device beneath them.
Scott knew how important it was to keep up the pretense that everything was fine, he didn't want to frighten his little brothers, he was frightened enough for all of them.
'Hey Virg?' he said forcing himself to keep his tone light, 'I bet they only got themselves into this to get us back for not taking them to the soccer game hey?'
Virgil seemed to pick up on what he was trying to do, as his reply was equally chirpy, 'You bet they did!'
Scott was please with himself, his pretense appeared to be fooling them.
*******************
Who did Scott think he was fooling? Gordon thought to himself as his father knelt next to John to look at the bomb. They all knew that the bomb would blow them sky high and yet here was Scott trying to pretend everything was fine and that they weren't sitting on enough explosives to blow up the Hoover Damn.
Still Gordon had to give him marks for trying and because he was a thoughtfull brother, he decided to play along with Scott's little charade.
*********************
'Yep' Gordon replied, 'we've been cooking up this prank for weeks haven't we Al?'
Alan was annoyed, Scott was fooling no-one with his chirpy routine and Gordon was just as bad, they could die here. Not born with either tact or diplomacy Alan retorted.
'Do you think we could quit the small talk and focus on the matter at hand please?'
Scott frowned 'don't panic'.
'Scott, with all due respect, you're not the one with a bloody bomb beneath your ass ok?'
Despite the situation Gordon began to laugh, everyone stared at him, except Alan who was still tied with his back to his brother.
'I'm sorry' Gordon giggled, 'he just cracks me up!'
'Well I'm pleased to see you find it funny Gordo!' Alan shot back, irritated that his brother could laugh at a time like this.
'Oh Al, don't be such a bore, we might as well enjoy our last moments hey?'
Gordon's remark was met with silence as every one suddenly became very serious.
********************
'It looks like it might not be trigger sensitive' John told Jeff as Scott and Virgil knelt down next to them. 'It's attached to some sort of timer, that's all I can tell.'
John loved his laser communication study at high school and had excelled in the explosive device area of the topic. He thanked god for it at that moment.
Scott nodded, 'so what do you suggest we do?'
John looked his brother in the eyes, 'well first off I suggest you get out of here, we don't all need to be in here, there's no reason for all of us not to make it, if this thing goes wrong.'
Gordon started giggling again, 'well on that note of confidence.........'
Scott ignored him, 'No,' he told John, 'they go, we all go.'
John looked at Scott a while longer and then nodded, 'Ok, well what I'm going to do is take the case of this baby and then see what's going on underneath. We just need something I can get the case off with.'
Alan handed John the screw driver, very slowly. Jeff did not miss it, 'I thought I told you to get rid of that.' he told his youngest son, Alan looked sheepish.
'Never mind' Jeff mumbled. He glanced at John, a sheen of perspiration which was partly due to his burned arm and partly due to the situation broke out across his forhead.
'Dad, can you hold this side' John told him as he indicated the top to corners of the bomb. 'I'll get the other side and then we can take the lid of, ok?'
Jeff nodded and took the corners, the room lapsed into silence, John gently eased the knife into the casing of the bomb and eased back the lid. Jeff gingerley took the case and handed it to Scott as John gave a small gasp.
'What is it?' Virgil asked, his big, brown eyes, betraying his fear.
'There's a timer' John said in a whoosh, 'we've got a minute before this thing explodes.'
Then to everyone's amazement he quickly reached over and began untying Alan's ropes.
'JOHN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' Scott shouted, horrified that the device would go off with all the movement.
John did not stop, 'It's not a movement detected device' he told his brother, 'it's timer activated which means we can move all we want, but we have to get out of here now!'
Virgil and Scott immediately rushed to untie Gordon as Jeff helped John with Alan.
John and Jeff untied Alan in less than twenty seconds.
'COME ON!' John shouted to his two elder brothers who were struggling with Gordon's bonds.
'I can't untie the stupid knots' Scott shouted his voice rising as he became panicked.
'John how long have we got?' Virgil shouted.
'40 seconds!' John yelled, 'Hurry up!'
Jeff turned to John, 'you and Virgil take Alan outside now!'
Alan shook his head vigourously, 'NO, NO, NO!'
Jeff stared at John , 'JOHN PLEASE!'
John's eyes darted to his brothers back to his father, 'I can't.'
'JOHN!' Jeff shouted , 'WE ARE WASTING TIME!'
Everyone became more and more panicked, 'Dad?' Gordon shouted.
Jeff was still yelling at John, 'GET OUT NOW!'
'NO I CAN'T!'
'ALAN TAKE YOUR BROTHER AND GO!'
'NO I WON'T LEAVE GORDO!'
'DAD' Gordon tried again.
'I NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE CARE OF HIM!' Jeff was indicating Alan with a finger.
Gordon had had enough, 'DAAAAAD!'
Everyone fell silent, and looked at him, 'please go, all of you just get out of here, leave me.'
Jeff looked appalled, 'never'.
'Dad, please, please, go.' Gordon was crying now.
Scott was shaking his head, 'we're not leaving you' he said firmly.
'20 seconds!' John shouted.
Jeff bellowed now, 'JOHN, VIRGIL, TAKE ALAN AND GET OUT OF HERE NOW!'
Gordon nodded, 'listen to him.'
Scott nodded too, 'He's right.'
Virgil was crying, still tearing at the rope around Gordon's hands.
Gordon looked him in the eyes, 'please Virg, this is the only way, you have to go on living, please, fpr me?'
Virgil let out a cry and moved away grabbing one of Alan's arms. John was still shaking his head. Virgil looked at him, 'come on, we have to get him away from here.'
Alan was struggling against them, 'NO, NO, NO, LET ME GO!'
Scott stepped forward and punched his brother in the jaw, 'I'm sorry Al.' he murmered, knocking his brother out.
Scott, Jeff and Gordon shared a final glance with Virgil and John.
'We love you.' John said sobbing.
'Always' Virgil replied.
'GO,' Jeff shouted, 'NOW, GET OUT OF HERE!'
They turned and hauled Alan out of the door.
'13 seconds!' Jeff announced.
'Please go, please go, please?' Gordon kept murmering. 'I don't want you to die, please!'
'We're not leaving Kiddo, so get used to it!' Scott shouted.
'Scott, maybe you should........'
Scott interruppted his father, 'No Dad, NO!'
Jeff nodded.
Scott suddenly broke through the rope and Gordon was free. 'I'm through, I'm through' Scott shouted.
Gordon was on his feet in a shot.
'5 SECONDS!' Jeff shouted.
*****************************
John and Virgil stood watching the cabin, willing their father and brothers to come out.
'Come on, come on, come on....' Virgil murmered.
John lay Alan down on the ground, next to the pine trees, 'where are they?'
Virgil shook his head breathing erratically.
John stood, 'I can't do this, we have to go back for them.'
Virgil nodded, 'I know.'
They had taken no more than three steps forward when they were thrown backwards with the force, the cabin which contained the rest of their family exploded into a million pieces before their horrified eyes.
*******************************
DUH, DUH, DUUUUUUUUUUH!
HMMMM, SO,
WILL JEFF,SCOTT AND GORDON DIE?
FIND OUT IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF 'NEXT STOP: DANGER' COMING SOON!
_____________________________________
Fallon smiled to himself as he pressed his back against a nearby pine tree. The heat from the explosion whooshed against his cheek, he heard the tell- tale sizzling of trees being scorched close to the impact.
He hadn't planned to kill of Matchstick at first but as soon as the guy had left to go abduct Tracy's other son, he knew he could kill two birds with one stone. Matchstick knew too much and if Jeff Tracy's do-gooder middle son happened to be in the car when it went up, then that was just a blessing. He had wired the bomb beneath Matchstick's car when the larger man had been in the bathroom, it had all been so easy.
He had to give Tracy's son credit though, he hadn't expected to see them drive up to the cabin. He had assumed Matchstick would have disposed of the kid somewhere. Unfortunately the youngster seemed to have a lot of his father in him and had turned the tables.
Well, no worries, hopefully the bomb had taken both of them out.
Fallon stole a quick glance around the tree to see the charred shell of a car, burning. He felt no sense of remorse. Not seeing John's exit of the car Fallon could barely keep from laughing as he saw another car pull up with familiar figures inside.
'Perfect' he murmered 'absolutley perfect.'
*********************************
Scott, Virgil and Jeff had heard the explosion before they saw it. The large 'BOOM' shook the car, before they'd eventurned the corner to see the cabin.
Jeff put his foot down, dreading what the explosion could have meant, they finally caught sight of a charred car. It lay on its side, flames shooting from every window, pine trees nearby were also alight. The cabin seemed relatively unscathed.
Jeff brought the car to a standstill, but had barely pulled to a stop before Scott had thrown himself out of the car, Virgil was quickly after him, attempting to restrain his brother.
'JOHNNNNNNNNN!' Scott shrieked, ignoring Virgil's attempt to hold him back from the burning car.
Virgil suddenly let Scott go.
And then it hit Jeff, he felt the air rush from his lungs. His son had been in the car. He must have been, he'd arrived before them. Jeff desperately glanced around, but of his middle son, there was no sign. He rushed towards the burning car.
*********************************
'NOOOOOOOOOOO!' Scott felt like he was dying, every time he tried to get close to the car, the searing heat sent him reeling back, every instinct in his body was screaming at him to save his brother, every muscle in his body was telling him to stay back.
His eyebrows felt singed, Virgil beside him seemed to be in an even worse state, his eyes were streaming and he kept running towards the car and then had to back off.
'JOHNNNNNNNNNNNNNY!' Virgil kept shouting over and over.
Scott tore his eyes away from the car for a second as his father shot passed him, towards the shell that held what remained of his brother.
This was a nightmare.
Scott watched in shock as his father actually reached the flaming doorhandle.
Then when he thought there was no way things could get any worse, they did.
********************************
My father's on fire,my father's on fire......' Virgil's mind was screaming.
For a few horrific seconds he just stood there watching Jeff's arm become engulfed in flames, and then instinct took over and he and Scott rushed forward.
Grabbing his father around the waist, Virgil wrestled him away and then knelt on the ground as Scott ripped of his sweater and kneeled too, smothering Jeff's burning right arm.
While Scott saw to their father, Virgil stood slowly and shakily to his feet. His eyes never left the car.
John was in there.
John who had been his best friend since he'd been born, John who'd stolen Betty-Lou Stevens from him in 7th Grade,John who'd had their mother's old music scores specially repaired just so Virgil could play them on his 18th birthday. His friend, his brother, his John.
Virgil felt sick and shaken, shaken to his very core, his heart told him to keep hoping but his eyes told him no-one could have survived the wreck in front of him.
Swallowing hard he began screaming, 'WHERE ARE YOU JOHNNY?' his eyes swung horrified from the car to the surrounding area, 'WHERE ARRRRRRRE YOU?'
*********************
'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?' Alan shrieked as they heard the sounds of the cabin windows smashing, with the impact of the explosion.
Gordon's heart was pounding, 'I don't know.'
Both the youngest Tracys sat for a moment in silence, for a moment there they'd thought that the explosion had been the bomb beneath them. Both were slightly shocked to still be alive.
Alan gave a nervous laugh, 'I thought that we were dead for a minute there.'
Gordon let out a breath, 'me too.'
Alan was quiet, his voice was a mere whisper when he spoke again, 'Gordo, I don't wanna die.'
'Me neither Al' his brother replied, his own voice shaky, 'me neither.'
********************
John swallowed hard as he slowly regained conciousness, the first thing he noticed was that his head was throbbing the second thing he noticed was that he was lying against a tree, the third was the thick smoke all around him.
Coughing he attempted to get his bearings, what the hell had happened, one minute he'd been standing on the step, reading the letter and then..................
THE CABIN!
John shoved himself to his feet in horror, the cabin must have exploded, Gordon! Alan!
Swallowing the bile in his throat he attempted to see through the smoke, he saw the most beautiful sight in the world. The cabin!
Where it stood in front of him, it was still standing, no holes, no imploded roof, nothing.
John frowned on confusion and shock, then where the hell had that explosion come from. And that wa when he heard it.
'WHERE ARE YOU JOHNNY?'
Virgil? John thought to himself, thank God they'd arrived.
He stumbled through the smoke, hands flailing infront of him.
'WHERE ARRRRRRRRRE YOU?'
There it was agin, his brother's voice. John realised he must have been thrown around the back of the cabin by the impact. He stumbled forward and then the smoke seemed less dense.
He made out figures, and saw to his horror that it was the car he'd driven in that was on fire. Quickly he rushed forward.
And saw Virgil staring at him, his expression stunned.
'Virg.......'
That was all John said, Virgil rushed forward and before John could utter another word, had flung his arms around him.
***************************
'John,John,John' Virgil whispered as he hugged his younger brother to him, unable to believe or hope that John was okay.
Behind him he heard Scott shout 'JOHN!'
He also knew instinctively that Scott was standing beside him but he felt unwilling to share his little brother yet. Virgil cupped John's head with his hand as he held him against his shoulder.
'You're ok' he murmered finally, 'you're ok'.
'I'm fine.' John responded pulling back.
Scott immediately moved forward to take John in his arms.
*************************
'Oh thank God' Scott murmered as he embraced his brother.
John squeezed him back for a moment and then Scott felt him stiffen and pull away.
'DAD!' he shouted,alarmed at the huddled form of his father on the ground.
John rushed over. Scott smiled as he watched his father trace John's face with his finger, Jeff was openley crying, cradling his arm in his knee as he pulled John into a one armed hug.
Scott hated to break up the emotional moment but he knew they had to find the other two.
'John where are the squirts?'
John pulled back from his father with a look of horror, 'Dad.....'
'What?' Jeff asked, his forhead again wrinkled in worry.
**********************
So to you my dear friend I leave you this final gift, this form of payback you could call it. You get to see your little boys explode right in front of your eyes.
Screw me and I screw you Jefferson,
Simon Fallon
Jeff swore as he held the scorched paper in his hands, 'so Fallon was behind this all along.'
John nodded, 'it appears so Dad.'
Scott cursed loudly, 'I never liked him!'
Jeff nodded, 'not many did Scott.'
His three eldest had wanted to burst straight into the cabin, but Jeff was desperate to do this properley, this bastard was not going to hurt any of his sons.
Tentatively he opened the cabin-door, when he had looked around, he nodded the all-clear to his boys, who followed him as carefully as possible. All were terrified of somehow triggering a device, who knew how many Fallon had rigged around the place.
Jeff made his way towards a door, he walked slowly towards it, Scott, Virgil and John following. He reached out and turned the doorknob.
*******************
Gordon and Alan stiffened as the door began to open, both believed it was Fallon coming back to finsh them off.
Their mouths fell open in shock as thier father walked in.
'DAD!' Alan shouted,moving on his chair, a smile almost splitting his face.
Gordon knew to keep calm, they couldn't move much knowing how sensitive the device was beneath them. 'Don't move Al.'
He smiled as the rest of his family walked in though, his gaze resting on Scott, 'so what took you guys so long?'
********************
Scott desperately wanted to just tear his baby brothers from the chairs and haul them out of there but he knew he couldn't. They were sitting on some kind of bomb!
His mind worked desperately, even as he spoke to Gordon, 'we got here as soon as we could, you cheeky squirt.'
He, Jeff, Virg and John edged slightly forward. John peered at the device beneath them.
Scott knew how important it was to keep up the pretense that everything was fine, he didn't want to frighten his little brothers, he was frightened enough for all of them.
'Hey Virg?' he said forcing himself to keep his tone light, 'I bet they only got themselves into this to get us back for not taking them to the soccer game hey?'
Virgil seemed to pick up on what he was trying to do, as his reply was equally chirpy, 'You bet they did!'
Scott was please with himself, his pretense appeared to be fooling them.
*******************
Who did Scott think he was fooling? Gordon thought to himself as his father knelt next to John to look at the bomb. They all knew that the bomb would blow them sky high and yet here was Scott trying to pretend everything was fine and that they weren't sitting on enough explosives to blow up the Hoover Damn.
Still Gordon had to give him marks for trying and because he was a thoughtfull brother, he decided to play along with Scott's little charade.
*********************
'Yep' Gordon replied, 'we've been cooking up this prank for weeks haven't we Al?'
Alan was annoyed, Scott was fooling no-one with his chirpy routine and Gordon was just as bad, they could die here. Not born with either tact or diplomacy Alan retorted.
'Do you think we could quit the small talk and focus on the matter at hand please?'
Scott frowned 'don't panic'.
'Scott, with all due respect, you're not the one with a bloody bomb beneath your ass ok?'
Despite the situation Gordon began to laugh, everyone stared at him, except Alan who was still tied with his back to his brother.
'I'm sorry' Gordon giggled, 'he just cracks me up!'
'Well I'm pleased to see you find it funny Gordo!' Alan shot back, irritated that his brother could laugh at a time like this.
'Oh Al, don't be such a bore, we might as well enjoy our last moments hey?'
Gordon's remark was met with silence as every one suddenly became very serious.
********************
'It looks like it might not be trigger sensitive' John told Jeff as Scott and Virgil knelt down next to them. 'It's attached to some sort of timer, that's all I can tell.'
John loved his laser communication study at high school and had excelled in the explosive device area of the topic. He thanked god for it at that moment.
Scott nodded, 'so what do you suggest we do?'
John looked his brother in the eyes, 'well first off I suggest you get out of here, we don't all need to be in here, there's no reason for all of us not to make it, if this thing goes wrong.'
Gordon started giggling again, 'well on that note of confidence.........'
Scott ignored him, 'No,' he told John, 'they go, we all go.'
John looked at Scott a while longer and then nodded, 'Ok, well what I'm going to do is take the case of this baby and then see what's going on underneath. We just need something I can get the case off with.'
Alan handed John the screw driver, very slowly. Jeff did not miss it, 'I thought I told you to get rid of that.' he told his youngest son, Alan looked sheepish.
'Never mind' Jeff mumbled. He glanced at John, a sheen of perspiration which was partly due to his burned arm and partly due to the situation broke out across his forhead.
'Dad, can you hold this side' John told him as he indicated the top to corners of the bomb. 'I'll get the other side and then we can take the lid of, ok?'
Jeff nodded and took the corners, the room lapsed into silence, John gently eased the knife into the casing of the bomb and eased back the lid. Jeff gingerley took the case and handed it to Scott as John gave a small gasp.
'What is it?' Virgil asked, his big, brown eyes, betraying his fear.
'There's a timer' John said in a whoosh, 'we've got a minute before this thing explodes.'
Then to everyone's amazement he quickly reached over and began untying Alan's ropes.
'JOHN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' Scott shouted, horrified that the device would go off with all the movement.
John did not stop, 'It's not a movement detected device' he told his brother, 'it's timer activated which means we can move all we want, but we have to get out of here now!'
Virgil and Scott immediately rushed to untie Gordon as Jeff helped John with Alan.
John and Jeff untied Alan in less than twenty seconds.
'COME ON!' John shouted to his two elder brothers who were struggling with Gordon's bonds.
'I can't untie the stupid knots' Scott shouted his voice rising as he became panicked.
'John how long have we got?' Virgil shouted.
'40 seconds!' John yelled, 'Hurry up!'
Jeff turned to John, 'you and Virgil take Alan outside now!'
Alan shook his head vigourously, 'NO, NO, NO!'
Jeff stared at John , 'JOHN PLEASE!'
John's eyes darted to his brothers back to his father, 'I can't.'
'JOHN!' Jeff shouted , 'WE ARE WASTING TIME!'
Everyone became more and more panicked, 'Dad?' Gordon shouted.
Jeff was still yelling at John, 'GET OUT NOW!'
'NO I CAN'T!'
'ALAN TAKE YOUR BROTHER AND GO!'
'NO I WON'T LEAVE GORDO!'
'DAD' Gordon tried again.
'I NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE CARE OF HIM!' Jeff was indicating Alan with a finger.
Gordon had had enough, 'DAAAAAD!'
Everyone fell silent, and looked at him, 'please go, all of you just get out of here, leave me.'
Jeff looked appalled, 'never'.
'Dad, please, please, go.' Gordon was crying now.
Scott was shaking his head, 'we're not leaving you' he said firmly.
'20 seconds!' John shouted.
Jeff bellowed now, 'JOHN, VIRGIL, TAKE ALAN AND GET OUT OF HERE NOW!'
Gordon nodded, 'listen to him.'
Scott nodded too, 'He's right.'
Virgil was crying, still tearing at the rope around Gordon's hands.
Gordon looked him in the eyes, 'please Virg, this is the only way, you have to go on living, please, fpr me?'
Virgil let out a cry and moved away grabbing one of Alan's arms. John was still shaking his head. Virgil looked at him, 'come on, we have to get him away from here.'
Alan was struggling against them, 'NO, NO, NO, LET ME GO!'
Scott stepped forward and punched his brother in the jaw, 'I'm sorry Al.' he murmered, knocking his brother out.
Scott, Jeff and Gordon shared a final glance with Virgil and John.
'We love you.' John said sobbing.
'Always' Virgil replied.
'GO,' Jeff shouted, 'NOW, GET OUT OF HERE!'
They turned and hauled Alan out of the door.
'13 seconds!' Jeff announced.
'Please go, please go, please?' Gordon kept murmering. 'I don't want you to die, please!'
'We're not leaving Kiddo, so get used to it!' Scott shouted.
'Scott, maybe you should........'
Scott interruppted his father, 'No Dad, NO!'
Jeff nodded.
Scott suddenly broke through the rope and Gordon was free. 'I'm through, I'm through' Scott shouted.
Gordon was on his feet in a shot.
'5 SECONDS!' Jeff shouted.
*****************************
John and Virgil stood watching the cabin, willing their father and brothers to come out.
'Come on, come on, come on....' Virgil murmered.
John lay Alan down on the ground, next to the pine trees, 'where are they?'
Virgil shook his head breathing erratically.
John stood, 'I can't do this, we have to go back for them.'
Virgil nodded, 'I know.'
They had taken no more than three steps forward when they were thrown backwards with the force, the cabin which contained the rest of their family exploded into a million pieces before their horrified eyes.
*******************************
DUH, DUH, DUUUUUUUUUUH!
HMMMM, SO,
WILL JEFF,SCOTT AND GORDON DIE?
FIND OUT IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF 'NEXT STOP: DANGER' COMING SOON!