CHAPTER ONE.

The Tracy's bond of love is strong, unbreakable. They won't think twice about closing ranks to protect one another. But when one of their number has been getting out of hand it has prompted them close ranks again, only this time it's to 'Payback' the offender. The Tracys' led by their father devise a plan and Gordon's engaging personality, amber eyes and winning smile won't save him this time. Hope you like it.

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"Right you all know why you're here?"

Jefferson Tracy listened to the murmured affirmatives with a nod.

"Okay then, time's short so let's not waste a second of it…….."

At that moment everyone in the room jumped, holding their breath, as the door to Jeff's private study was bumped and jostled open. Collective sighs of relief were expelled as the matriarch of the family bustled in, bearing a tray.

Several hands reached forward, but the eldest grandson got there first and relieved her of it.

"Mother?"

"Well son, don't let me stop you," her twinkling blue eyes rested on him as she took up residence in the nearest seat.

This earned her a frown from her son. "I'm sorry mother but we're in the middle of a meeting here….."

"And I know exactly why you're here. Now if you think I'm going to meekly skid-addle out of here while you continue this discussion without me you'd just better think again."

"You know why we're here?" he said, while thanking Scott and accepting the cup of coffee offered him.

"'Course I do. There's not much goes on around here I don't know about."

This brought forth several expressions of alarm on the faces of her grandson's, who hoped she didn't mean literally.

"Well Jeff?"

He could see from the stubborn set of her jaw he'd have an easier time moving a bull elephant with a feather duster than getting his mother out of the room.

"Hmm; very well then mother; I can see I've little choice."

"You forget I've been on the receiving end of that young man too and if anyone deserves to balance a few books around here it's me."

Subconsciously several thought she already had, while they had yet to do so, but collectively, all knew it was pointless arguing with her.

"Very well then." he looked around him to ensure he had everyone's attention, "as you know things have been getting out of hand lately, and much as I love that son of mine, his little games have gone on long enough unchecked. Drastic action is called for, that's why you're all here. Now normally I'd be the last one to ask you to lock horns, and I'm aware at the first sign of trouble you'd all close ranks anyway. I know that there isn't anything you wouldn't do for each other," the glances he received confirmed his supposition. "But this is different; we wouldn't be having this meeting if you weren't in agreement. Things have reached breaking point. I hardly dare relax my guard for a minute, wondering what he's going to dream up next and it has to stop! Last night was the final straw." He received several concurring nods. "From my reckoning we have about…" he consulted the piece of genius on his wrist…. "Fifteen more minutes. Tin-Tin's keeping him occupied so let's get down to brass tacks. Precision timing will be needed, it's imperative there are no slip ups, so synchronise your watches and activate the new alarm systems Brains' has installed in them, now. Jeff waited until they had complied.

"As you know those alarms are now linked to the workshop/lab sensors If Gordon approaches within two hundred yards of the workshops, their alarm systems will be activated and trigger the alarms in our watches, giving us all enough time to intercept him. It's important you keep your watches on, or near you at all times. Okay, on to the details of 'Operation Payback.'" The room took on a hushed air as Jeff proceeded to outline his plan.

"You'll need to co-ordinate your roles, work in pairs and have your wits about you at all times to ensure this mission is a success. But be warned, it won't be easy. Your brother's a slippery customer, he's fast and he's intelligent. He's also cunning and devious. The fact that we're here today is testament to that, and you're going to have your work cut out to stay one step ahead of him. There'll be no going back once we begin operations, so I have to be certain you're in agreement on this. I'm going to ask one last time for your consent.

Scott; are you in?"

Scott nodded firmly. He knew he'd gotten of lightly compared with some of his siblings, but he still hadn't forgotten the way the king prankster had swapped all the numbers in his little black book. Several attractive young women were now giving him the cold shoulder as a result and they were only the ones who took it well. He still broke out in a sweat when he recalled the scenes on the Vid-phones between those who hadn't. And then, more recently, there was the prank to his hair. Unconsciously he ran his fingers through the thick dark steely mass. Thankfully, he'd managed to keep that one quiet, and escape the ribbing that would undoubtedly have followed.

John; are you in?"

John rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. Several pairs of eyes flicked discreetly in his direction, surreptitiously inspecting the blond man's face, while trying to appear blasé. He was still extremely sensitive about his appearance. His steel blue eyes rested briefly on Brains, recalling it was another of the engineering genius's experiments that had inadvertently given that brother of his the means to play yet another trick on him.

Gordon had gone to the lab to see if Brain's would fix his personal LMD system when he noticed the test tube that was about to discarded. In answer to his question Brains naively informed him this particular new compound reacted adversely when in contact with certain chemicals, chlorine included. The results, though harmless, lasted for several days on the skin, leaving it green. Never slow to miss an opportunity, Gordon siphoned enough and slipped it in John's suntan lotion.

He should have realised his brother was up to something, from the keen interest Gordon was favouring him with.  Goaded, he took Gordon's bait and dived into the water after him. At first he misinterpreted the reactions for admiration, as he cut through the water, that was until he noticed the blotches and streaks of green appearing on his arms and torso, and the comments of "The Hulk would be proud of you," from a grinning Gordon and knew he'd fallen victim again. He hadn't minded at first, had even laughed good naturedly, until he found that no amount of showering would erase the blotches and that he'd have to live with the results for days.

"You can count me in Dad."

"Virgil?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world Dad."

The serious artistic son nodded and cast a sympathetic look at his blond brothers' face. Okay, so John had fared worse, but that didn't mean he'd escaped unscathed, oh no. Virgil cast his mind back to the most recent of the pranks Gordon had played on him. He'd been working outdoors on a new canvas, and some of the oil tube tops had proved surprisingly stubborn to his manipulations, and not having the means to soak them in boiling water to loosen the caps, as he would if he'd been indoors, he'd  had to use force instead, then the paint refused to budge from the tubes. As it turned out, it had nothing to do with the paint having dried in the tubes, but rather a copper haired joker who'd rigged the paints to explode the minute they made contact with the air, leaving some interesting patterning on his face, much to the hilarity of his family, including his Grandmother. He looked her way now as his father addressed her.

"Mother?"

She just smiled and nodded emphatically, knowing she would never forget Gordon's audacity in daring to pick on her for one of his pranks.

She had only just come to the base from her Parola Sands home near San Miguel, where her youngest Grandson had won his trophy on the racing circuit. That in itself was quite a story but for now she was remembering her second youngest Grandson's caper. He had told her that food beetles had been discovered in all the supplies and that as a result all the food had been thrown out, and she'd believed him. It had caused her quite a panic as she'd scoured through the cupboards and found every one empty. When he came clean and confessed he'd put all the food in the basement she didn't know whether to be relieved or smack him. In the end she did neither, but played the young monkey at his own game. 

"As you're all aware Tin-Tin has given her vote, and you all know the reasons why. Alan's doing his tour of duty so that lets him out, and since I'm chairing this meeting you know how my vote has gone." He paused for a moment to recall that day several weeks ago now when he'd been peacefully scrutinising the stock market figures at the breakfast table and how his son had disrupted that peace with his revelation that Alan's pet alligator Eglantine, was, (as he'd believed) in amongst his Koi. Oh he'd recovered all right, and mentioning fish was still a sore subject with the young medal winner, but it appeared it still hadn't broken him of his predilection to play pranks left right and centre. Jeff then looked over to the quiet young man with blue thick rimmed glasses.

"Brains?"

"Oh er sh-sure …th-thing Mr. Tracy."

By and large Brains was left in peace by the prankster, the jokes going mostly over his head, but Brains had one relaxing past-time. He liked, very much, to lose himself in a game of chess. He cast his mind back to the previous evening. The board had already been set up when he sat down with Jefferson Tracy in the lounge. He'd been very absorbed in the game, plotting several moves ahead, as he usually did, and had dismissed the interested party on his right as nothing more than an irritating distraction, that was until he'd gone to move his bishop. As he lifted the piece the whole board came with it and those pieces that hadn't been glued down rolled in all directions over the floor and under chairs. His opponent and employer was as dumbfounded as himself, until both had looked straight into the mirth filled amber eyes watching them and knew Gordon Tracy done it again.

"Right that's settled then. So now to put the plan in action."

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Chapter two up in a couple of days.