Disclaimer: see chapter one. Please read and review and remember all facts about Tasmania and Australia are correct and real because that's where I live! Mouse, August 2003.

Impossible Choices: A Brothers Sacrifice

By Mouse

It was the middle of the night by the time Virgil arrived at the rescue site. Thunderbird one gleamed in the moonlight and Virgil quickly ran over to it. He entered his access code and went inside. It was, as he feared he would find, the arms locker was half-empty and the hover bike was gone. Cursing softly under his breath, Virgil took a handgun and left Thunderbird One. He went over to the guards that had been left on the sight.

"The International Rescue operative, he hasn't returned yet has he?"

"No sir. We were just talking about maybe going looking for him, make sure he's okay."

"I'll go. Have you got a bike or something I can use?"

"Yes sir. Four wheeler, over here." The man led Virgil over to the bike and handed him the keys.

"Did you want one of us to come with you?" Virgil was tempted to say no, but thought of John alone with The Hood, he didn't know what he'd find out there.

"Please. Do you have a first aide kit handy."

"Sure. I'll get Baz to go with you, he's a medic as well and has been out to the site already, he knows where it is."

"Great, thanks." Minutes later found Virgil following the other bike, heading deep into the Tasmanian wilderness.

The doctor came out of the operating theatre smiling in relief. He found who he assumed was the International Rescue personnel's father waiting with the other young man. He entered Scott's room with both young men's charts and a smile on his face.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Good thank you. This is Doctor Merry, he's looking after us." The man stood up and held out his hand and Dr Merry shook it, not surprised at all to find the grip strong and sure.

"Thank you Doctor, for looking after my boys."

"It's been my pleasure sir."

"How are they both?" Dr Merry glanced down at Scott's chart.

"Well this young man is doing well. He'll need some minor surgery which I'd like to do tomorrow to repair some damage to the ligaments in his shoulder, but other than that he's good." Dr Merry put down Scott's chart and opened Gordon's. "Now, the young man with the bullet wound in the back. We were extremely lucky with that as the bullet didn't hit his spine or any major blood vessels or organs. It lodged in one of his ribs, which we were able to successfully remove. We're replacing his lost blood but other than that, he's fine. He's in the next room, I figured you'd all want to be together. We have armed guards on this floor and everyone has been moved off it except these young men here. He should wake up within the next twelve hours. A little sore and tired, but none the worse for wear." Jeff was relieved and once more he shook the doctor's hand.

"I can't thank you enough for your work saving my boys." Dr Merry smiled.

"It was a pleasure and an honour, believe me. Now, I'm going to check on the other young man and then have a bit of a nap in the doctor's lounge down the hall if you need me."

"Thanks again doctor." He nodded and left them to it. Grandma stood up and smiled at Scott.

"I'll go sit with Gordon for a while. I'm sure there are things you want to talk about." She left and Jeff looked at Scott.

"All right son, do you want to tell me what happened out there." Scott sighed, he knew this was coming.

"We'd just finished the rescue. Gordon was on the chair coming back over to the other side of the water. He was about halfway across when there was a shot and he slumped over. John had been watching the winch and I'd been watching with binoculars. We saw the blood and put two and two together. John got the winch to bring Gordon in faster. We got him out of the chair; John began first aide while we got a stretcher. We got him onto the stretcher and started moving towards the bikes when there was another shot and I felt this terrible pain in my shoulder. Last thing I remember is telling John to look after Gordon and John's face. Then I woke up here."

"John told Alan you thought it was The Hood. Why?" Scott frowned.

"It kind of makes sense father. The workers we rescued said they'd heard an explosion and then the dam busted. Plus he picked off Gordon first; we know how much The Hood really hates Gordon after what happened a few months ago. It sort of makes sense he'd try to pick him off first. Plus he was out in the open like he was. It's the only explanation that makes sense Dad." Jeff nodded.

"Okay Scott, I agree with you there. I just wish Virgil would hurry up and return with John."

"What? John's not here yet?"

"No. And I'm starting to get worried."

The ride through the bush had taken on a nightmarish quality for Virgil. His only connection to reality was the headlights of his bike shining on the back of the bike in front of him. His mind raced with thoughts and images. Out of all his brothers, he knew that John would be hurting emotionally and mentally from seeing what happened to Scott and Gordon. Virgil knew himself that it had taken weeks to get over the images of Gordon and Alan lying near Thunderbird Two after the Hoods last attempt to kill them. What must his gentle brother be going through? He hated to think. He just hoped and prayed he would be in time to stop John from doing something stupid. Just then, the bike in front stopped and Virgil pulled up alongside of him.

"Here we go mate, this is the site of the rescue." Virgil left the lights on and got out a torch. He looked around and spotted John's hover bike hidden in the bushes. He went over and pulled it out, checking it. When he opened the small compartment in the front of the bike, he spotted John's watch straight away. He picked it up and pocketed it, shining his torch around.

"John!" By now he didn't care if his shout alerted every man and his dog. He wanted to find his brother.

"Hey mate, you might want to take a look at this." Baz was shining his light on the ground and Virgil came over. It was the shattered remains of what looked like a high-powered sniper rifle. Virgil moved his torch around.

"Looks like that's what was used to shoot the others." Baz's voice was soft as he spoke. "Any word on them by the way mate?"

"Yes. They are both going to be fine."

"That's a relief. You lot are good blokes, I'd hate to see anything happen to you."

"Thanks." Virgil's torch picked up something and he walked over and then gasped. It was a rifle from Thunderbird One's arms locker and he picked it up. The clip was next to it and he examined it. One shot had been fired, hence the shattered other rifle. It had then been unloaded and sat here. What was John thinking?

Jeff sat in a chair by Gordon's bed. His mother was sitting with Scott right now, and he was sitting with Gordon. He watched his son's chest rise and fall, memories of a previous vigil with Gordon coming back with force. He sighed; his son's were lying here in hospital; shot of all things; because of his dream. They knew the risks, and each of them had pledged themselves to International Rescue without hesitation. He was inordinately proud of his boys. And from now on, he was going to make sure he told them more often. He closed his eyes a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose against the headache that was occurring. The people in the hospital had been terrific, protecting their privacy and not being nosy at all. Plus they were warm and friendly, something he'd come to expect from the Australian people. Over the years, Australia had been one of the places he had enjoyed visiting. He seriously began to think about something that he could do to say thank you to the hospital staff, he knew that they were going above and beyond for his family and it was nice to know that people still had respect for others in this day and age.

Josie Tracy sat by her grandson's bed and watched him sleep as well. Seeing her two grandson's in the condition they were in had tore at her heart. But she was strong. She had gone through the loss of a daughter in law and been at Gordon's bedside for his accident a few years ago. She knew how to be strong for her family. But to see them all shot up like this was terrifying. She knew that this must have been tearing John up inside. The quietest Tracy brother took things a lot harder than his brothers did, and she knew that once things had settled down, she'd have to sit down and have a serious chat with John.

Virgil's torch swept in arcs of light around the rescue site. Still no sign of John and now he was getting extremely worried. Suddenly the other man with him gave a yell and Virgil ran over to where he was standing.

"Mate, I think we've found them." Virgil's torch soon found the object. Below them, about ten or twelve feet, lay two bodies. One was clearly John's; the other body was The Hoods.

"Oh hell. Come on, you'll have to give me a hand getting down there."

"Right you are mate." Virgil ran back to the bikes and quickly got some rope out. He ran back to find Baz had rigged up the torches in the trees to provide some light. They quickly tied to rope off on the tree and Virgil tied it around his waist in a quick abseiling knots. Nodding at Baz and making sure the first aide kit was secure on his back, he quickly scrambled down the small embankment. It was steep, slippery and dangerous in the dark. He landed and quickly got out of the rope and ran to the first body, the torch he had attached to his harness bobbing and weaving as he did.

The Hood was the first one he came across and Virgil noted with grim satisfaction the knife sticking out of his chest. He was most defiantly and finally dead. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he and John must have fought, because the knife was one from Thunderbird One's arms locker. He knew that John wouldn't have been able to kill The Hood in cold blood, s they must have fought. Virgil reached over and yanked out the knife, wiping it clean on The Hood's clothes. No one would shed a tear over his death that's for sure. Virgil put the knife in the pack and got up, heading as fast as he could to John's still form a few metres away.

"How's that one?"

"He's dead. That's the one that shot and wounded the others, probably set the dam to explode as well." Silence greeted his words for a moment.

"Good. Your friend?"

"Checking now." Virgil knelt down next to John's form and reached out slightly unsteadily with his hand to feel for a pulse. Trembling slightly, his fingers sought John's pulse and it was with a sigh of relief that he felt it faintly under his fingers.

"Is he okay?"

"He has a pulse thankfully. Checking the rest of his injuries now. Can you bring over the backboard for me please."

"Sure thing mate." Virgil shone his torch over John's body, slowly cataloguing his injuries. The first thing he did was put on the neck brace, noticing with a frown that his hands came away sticky with blood from the back of John's head. He gradually worked his way down John's body. There were bruises and minor cuts that were to be expected. His right wrist was also at an odd angle, so that was obviously broken. Virgil reached over and gently ran his hands along John's torso, feeling each of his ribs and discovering at least three or four broken ones. He then moved down further and what he saw caused him to gasp. Bone was sticking out of John's lower leg, blood slowly seeping out of it. Cursing softly at his brother, Virgil began to quickly treat what he could. Moment's later Baz was back at the top of the embankment.

"Backboards here mate." Virgil thought for a moment.

"Baz, how long would it take for us to get back to the rescue site?"

"About thirty or forty minutes in this darkness."

"How long would a chopper take to get here?"

"There's still the rescue chopper on stand by at Fingal, probably not even ten minutes."

"Okay, call them. John's hurt really badly. How long to get to the hospital?"

"Twenty minutes flying time."

"Okay, call them for me please."

"On it. Backboard coming down." Virgil was glad that Baz had been sent along. "Need a hand?"

"Please."

"Righto. I'll call in and get that under way, then I'll come down."

"Thanks Baz." Virgil put the other man out of his mind as he wrapped bandages around John's leg, careful not to touch the bone. He then placed John's wrist in a splint and had just begun to rise to get the backboard when John groaned and opened his eyes a fraction.

"John? John, can you hear me?"

"Yeah…Virgil…what happened?" Virgil smiled down at his brother.

"You've just scared twenty years of my life off me that's what. But looks like you took a tumble. Broken leg, wrist and ribs. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty crap…. Gordon, Scott?"

"Both fine and out of surgery and resting."

"Good. Hood?"

"Dead." John was silent a moment and then closed his eyes again. He opened them after a moment and they were full of pain.

"I couldn't shoot him in cold blood Virge, I'm not like him." Virgil reached over and smoothed John's hair from his face and smiled.

"I know. But looks like you two had a good fight." Virgil decided not to tell him about the knife. "Looks like the fall broke his neck. He's finally out of our hair." John gave a tired smile.

"Good. Look, tell the guys I'm sorry okay…" John's voice was getting soft and Virgil strained to hear it.

"Why? What for?"

"For not being…as good…. as they are….I should have…done more…to protect… them." Virgil smiled down at him.

"John, you're as good as any one of us, better in some respects. And as for protecting them, do you think anyone of us would let you? You're not Scott you know." This got a small chuckle followed by a gurgling type of cough. Virgil started to worry and didn't notice as Baz came over with the backboard and knelt down on the opposite side of him.

"Give…them my…love….and tell Father….sorry…" Just then John's eyes closed and his breathing slowed right down.

"John… come on John, wake up. Stay with me." Baz reached out and checked his pulse.

"He's still alive, just unconscious. From the look of his injuries I'm not surprised. Does he have a head wound?"

"Yeah, back of the head?"

"That explains it then. Probably got minor concussion. Look, the chopper will be here in five minutes or less. We have to get him set, I assume you'll be going with him?"

"Yeah. I can't leave him."

"Good. Come on then, let's get him on the backboard." Virgil stroked his hair once more and then steeled himself.

"Alright. Let's get this done. He's strong, he'll be fine."

Ten minutes later Virgil found himself slowly being winched up, steadying the cradle with John in it against the sway of the down draft caused by the helicopters rotor blades. They got the cradle inside and the doors shut. Two paramedics were waiting and began hooking John into monitors and oxygen. The helicopter went off at speed towards the hospital. Virgil quickly gave them a run down of his injuries and they checked each one off. The worrying injury was the head wound, but nothing could be done until they got to the hospital and a CAT scan was done. The two paramedics were full of praise for Virgil's correct treatment of the injuries and were pleased at his knowledge. Like everyone else involved in this nightmarish situation, they were friendly, helpful and kind. Virgil once more marvelled at the character of the Australian people. The most disaster ridden continent on the planet it seemed like sometimes yet they still smiled, laughed and helped out their fellow man when he needed it. They were just going over John's vitals once more, getting ready to arrive at the hospital in about ten minutes when all of a sudden alarms blared out and Virgil practically jumped out of his skin.

John's heart stopped beating….

Tbc…

(Okay, so I'm mean, but I'm still debating on whether John lives or not.. let me know what you think….)