As Victor came to, he could tell that the sun was just about to rise. He must have been out for hours. Since he was still shirtless from the day before, he was very cold and shivering. When he started to move, sharp pain seared just under his shoulder, then he realized he was once again tied up. He rolled over onto his back and found that he was in the front yard, near the fire pit. Sitting around in a circle a few feet away were four men dressed in black, with colored sashes on and their hands tied behind them. He did not see Teresa or Miguel anywhere. He recognized the one guy with the blue sash as the one he hit and Miguel had called him a friend.
John was the first to see Virgil move. He whispered softly so as not to arouse Jorge's men, "Virgil's awake."
The others turned to look at Virgil.
Alan was the closest, so he whispered over, "Virgil, you ok?"
Victor gave them a blank stare. He thought, 'He called me Virgil, is that my name?'
"Virg, you ok?" Alan whispered a little louder.
"Do you know me?" Victor asked.
Alan just turned back and looked at his brothers with a hurt look on his face. "He still doesn't know us."
Scott was about to reply verbally, but instead just quickly nodded yes as several of Jorge's men returned from digging their friends out from under the barn roof, and pulling the one out of the pit.
Victor heard soft sobbing coming from the house. When he looked over to the door, Jorge was coming out pulling up his pants and wearing an evil smile. "That will keep her quiet for a while, my friends" he said with a sneer. His men all laughed, knowing what he did to her and yet too afraid to not agree with him. Victor knowing exactly what Jorge did, spat, "What did you do to her?! You leave her alone!"
Alarmed, Alan yelled, "Virgil, shut up!"
Jorge crouched down next to Victor and grabbed his hair, lifting his head off the ground. "I am going to enjoy killing you slowly. I haven't made up my mind yet what to do, but you can be assured that by the time I am half way done with you, you will wish you were already dead." He slammed Victor's head back down on the ground.
Then looking towards Alan he said, "I will decide what to do with you when I find out more about you. You are not soldiers or mercenaries. You could be worth something alive. Pray that you are, because if not, you die too." He got up and walked away.
Scott had been furiously trying to think of a way out of this mess. He knew how to get out of cave ins, burning buildings and floods, but even with his military experience, he couldn't think of how to get out of their current problem. His watch had vibrated several times during the night. Since all his brothers were here, he was assuming it was either Brains or Tin-tin. He desperately needed to tell them that they were in trouble, but he couldn't answer the call.
Victor was worried sick. He knew the soft cries were Teresa, but he didn't know where Miguel was. The last thing he remembered was fighting Eduardo. Did Miguel escape? He wished he knew.
Gordon said softly, "I have been working on my bonds for hours now, and they don't feel any looser."
"Me, too." Replied Alan.
Scott and John just nodded in agreement.
After a while a battered Teresa came out with a tray full of food for Jorge's men. She didn't look at Victor or the Tracy brothers. She just placed it next the fire which had now been started by one of the men. She turned, eyes downcast and walked back into the house. Victor's heart ached at the sight.
Jorge once again appeared about mid-morning and spoke with Eduardo. They were speaking quietly, Eduardo nodding periodically. Eduardo motioned to two of the men, and the three disappeared into the forest.
Jorge then circled around the brothers. He crouched down between Scott and John to be at eye level. He doesn't say a thing, but studies them carefully. He looks at their sashes, especially the emblems, studying the helping hand and seeing the letters IR.
Finally he says, "I know who you are. You are International Rescue. I have heard about your fantastic rescues, and it was you who was in the village last week, getting the children out of the church. I didn't think such a large world wide corporation would concern itself with the desires of a boy wanting to rid of the man in his mother's life. Since when do you become involved in family quarrels, eh?"
Looking towards the path that Eduardo just left on he asked, "Where is your plane? Did you land it in the same spot that you did last week? Did you bring the same large green one? Do you know with that fantastic machine I could easily win this war and become dictator of this country. I won't need an army, just the plane." A dreamy glare glazed his eyes at that thought.
Gordon the first to defend IR yelled, "You'll never be able to get TB2 off the ground."
Jorge pointed a pistol at John's head. "Oh I am sure you will be very willing to show me how to fly that plane of yours." All the color drained from John's face as he felt the cold steel of the gun barely touching his temple.
"Woman!" Jorge called into the house, "Where's my lunch?" And he got up and went back into the house.
Alan said worriedly, "We can't let them take Thunderbird 2!"
"I am confident that they won't be able to get inside her, never mind fly her." Scott assured. "I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about us." Scott confessed. "I wish I knew where Miguel disappeared to. I haven't seen him since we got tied up."
The day just dragged on. Jorge periodically came out to taunt the brothers or Victor then disappeared inside the house again. The Tracys couldn't plan much as his men were constantly patrolling around them and making sure they were still tightly bound.
As the sun dipped towards the horizon, Eduardo and his men returned. The look on his face was enough to tell Jorge that they had failed. "I worked on that damned plane for nearly 3 hours, and I couldn't even scratch the paint!" he said angrily.
Jorge asked, "Did you try shooting the lock?"
"The lock, the door, the windows, it was just a waste of good bullets."
Jorge grew angrier as Eduardo detailed his attempts at breaking into TB2. He turned and kicked at the nearest object, which was Victor. Victor grunted at the hard blow but swung his legs around and swept Jorge's legs from under him. He fell with a thud.
Jorge jumped up red with fury. He pulled out his gun, and grabbed Victor by the hair again nearly yanking him completely off the ground. "You will die for that!" He cocked the gun and placed it between Victor's eyes.
"No, this will be too merciful. I want to you linger in agony for all the pain you caused me. I am going to take you apart piece by piece." And he pointed the gun at Victor's good leg.
"DON'T DO IT!" Cried Alan.
Before he could pull the trigger, Jorge looked up at the group of black clad men. Narrowing his focus to Alan, the now familiar evil sneer once again spread over his face. "Now I know which one of you will tell me what I want to know about the plane. All I have to do is shoot your friends here, one by one, like this." He pointed the gun at John and fired.